Goodbye June

June has been a month without injections and endless doctor's appointments. A month to unwind, relax and reconnect with a normal-ish schedule. 

Our vegetable garden is in full swing. The soil is rich and the rain water is plenty. This year we have planted zucchini, variety of peppers, watermelon, various herbs, eggplant and a variety of tomatoes. I cannot wait until we can begin reaping the rewards. There is nothing better than a dinner compliments of your backyard garden.

Green Pepper - Tomato - Squash

My father-in-law has placed an offer on a short sale down the street from us. It will be nice to have another family member in our vicinity.  Baci is sure to miss him dearly, but I am pretty sure he will be missed just as much if not more.  I see lots of mid-afternoon visits for Baci.

I spent a glorious Sunday with my sister-in-law (have I mentioned how awesome it is to have her in my life?) full of chit-chatting about genetics and MTHFR. We then lunched at Dukes Alehouse and Kitchen. They specialize in local and organic cuisine. The chorizo tacos I had were both dairy and gluten free. I know, tacos again? These were different yet delicious. Definitely a place to check out if you are in the Crystal Lake area.

I cleaned our severely neglected closets.  We donated almost 8 bags of clothing. It feels good, so good. We also deep cleaned for the summer, so things are spic and span around here and I love it. How long? Who knows, as my husband has to remind me we live in our house. I am attempting to keep a closer handle on things and attempting to follow some of FlyLady's routines.

My husband has family in from Sicily so we did some entertaining. I must say the day turned out perfect.  When my husband and I put our minds together and work together wonderful things happen. The menu consisted of BBQ ribs, Sicilian sausage, shrimp pasta, caprese salad, salad, cauliflower with green beans and balsamic glaze and of course "Maria's" famous foccacia. The day turned out to be beautiful. Lots of catching up, espresso and bocce ball. We also made a promise to visit them in the next 3 years.  Ciao Sicilian seaside! We need to make it happen.

We have continued with our evening bike rides and exploring our surroundings.

We happened upon this neat sausage and brat shop in Naperville this past weekend. We haven't put the sausages on the grill yet, but the establishment itself is so neat and historical.  You can also dine-in.

Kreger's Brat & Sausage Haus

After a few friend's recommendations we also checked out Peter Rubi - not exactly in our neighborhood but close enough and we will definitely be coming back for locally grown produce and excellent homemade baba ghanoush.

As June wraps up, we begin to look forward to July.  July is full to the brim with weddings, 4th of July and a long weekend trip to Michigan.

July also brings the beginning of our second IVF cycle with an estimated egg retrieval the middle-ish of August.

Bring it on July!