July was an absolutely insane month, I cannot believe I got to do all the travel that I got to do. I know that I planned it, but getting to live it was completely different. I had so much fun this month, I needed it so much more than I knew that I did. It was perfect.

If July had a theme song it would have been “Long Live” by Taylor Swift, “I said remember this moment…”

In trying to clean out my fridge I threw this together. Peaches and cherries are such a good combination and it was a great way to use fruit that was bit past its prime.

Over Canada Day long weekend I got the hare-brained idea to walk to the beach. Not the beach in town, but the next beach, the beach an hour walk away. I wanted a blizzard from the new Dairy Queen in town and felt like I needed to “earn” it. Gross I know, but it was kind of fun, although I was dying by the walk home. It was just so hot.

The start of vacation.

The Winnipeg Airport is surprisingly nice.

This is all I saw of Calgary.

I saw these circular fields from the sky over Idaho and took a picture to send to my dad. It’s for pivot irrigation.

The flight path from Calgary to Phoenix follows the Rocky Mountain Range and it was so cool to see. I was also mind-blown by this housing development with the artificial lake, I think near Las Vegas.

Pi Phi Convention 2023!

This was my first time ever in a desert, I was so fascinated by the landscape and the plants.

All the chapters have their own banner. This is the University of Guelph’s, my school.

This made me chuckle.

I bought these cactus earrings over a weekend in March before I knew I would be going on this trip and then a few days later I found out I was going and it felt like fate.

Cookie Shine is one of the most universal and best loved Pi Phi tradition and it’s so much at this scale.

Listen, I will probably never be able to afford to go to this hotel, but the J.W. Marriot Desert Ridge in Phoenix is so nice.

This weekend really reminded me why I volunteer, why I stay involved. It was perfect.

However, by Monday this is what I felt like.

On the Monday we packed backpacks filled with school supplies for foster children in the Phoenix-area.

I think this is as close as we got to an all Ontario photo.

We went for night swims nearly every night after dinner, it was the best.

After I put my collegians in an Uber I grabbed lunch and a drink and had this deep moment of gratitude for my life. I was watching the kids in their polo shirts and golf shorts or skirts working their crappy summer jobs and was just filled with so much gratitude for all of my crappy jobs and how they got me here.

Again, just obsessed with the desert.

Then I flew to New York, I just love this city.

I stayed in Williamsburg this time and loved it.

I took the ferry down to Brooklyn to see the Manhattan Bridge, I love this neighborhood.

I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to the McNally Jackson in Seaport, I realized on Saturday that there was one in Williamsburg super close to where I was staying, but in my overheated delirium I walked here.

Views from the bridge.

And got a lobster roll.

And then took the ferry back down to Williamsburg.

I wanted to go to Ralph’s for coffee and then insanely decided to walk 67 blocks up to the Met. It was absurd, I was so sweaty by the time I got there, and then my debit card wouldn’t work, so it wasn’t worth the walk after all.

I did not know that this truck existed until after I went to Ralph’s, although I did enjoy the store.

The next day I got my card to work at the Met, and went to the Karl Lagerfeld exhibit, I know he was very problematic but he was insanely talented.

This is my favorite room at the Met, I love the light it gets.

I then finally got to see a piece I’ve wanted to see for a long time. The Degas ballerina sculpture is something I wanted to see since I read a fictionalized account of the lives of the ballerinas who posed for him: The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

Then I went to the Hill House Store by the Rock Center. It was so beautiful and I was able to try on the shoes which I was really glad I did because they are so narrow and I would have never fit in them.

And then I saw Wicked, it was so fantastic. I can’t believe I got to see a Broadway play.

I got a bagel on Saturday morning because you have to get a bagel in New York.

And then I took a red eye to London!

I got breakfast at this place called Chucs and it was delicious, it was so nice to sit outside and not be melting.

Then when I was looking on the map I noticed that there was a Café Kitsune nearby and I’ve seen them all over Instagram, but in Paris, and I had to stop by. It was just kind of ordinary? but beautiful.

I then walked through Hyde Park for hours.

And then I got the train back to Gatwick and got on my flight to Belfast, where I was picked up by my Grandparents!

This is just such a cute picture of them, despite that they were going to a Celebration of Life.

Ireland in a photo.

My mom’s best friend and her husband have built this little party hut and it is fantastic. We mostly had terrible weather this trip, but this night was perfect.

My Mom, Dad, and I dressed for my cousin’s wedding.

My cousin Julie, and her new husband!

On the Saturday my grown up cousins and I went out in Belfast.

On the Sunday we went up to the North Coast, my favorite place in the whole world.

The Antrim Show (Fair) was on while we were there and my other Granda has a prize named after him there and my Dad got to give it away.

Then on the Monday my Granny, Mom, and I went into their town for the morning and hung out, and my mom got a dress for my sister’s wedding.

I was very proud of my suitcase weight.

I watched these three movies on the plane back to Canada. All very good.

On the drive back home I stopped at this little lay-by on the highway and it was so pretty.

And then we had a little team barbecue on the day I got back from vacation. It was more than a bit overwhelming, but really pretty.

Here’s to August being just as good as July!

Laura