Whelp it’s August 1st – somehow another month has passed us by. But I am PUMPED because my birthday is this month, I have a fancy wedding to go to this weekend. And I’m going to Minnesota later on in the month to attend Pinch of Yum’s Food Photography Workshop and get to go to my cabin!

Seriously SO much to look forward to, but first let’s take a look back at my July favorites!

Favorite Products/Services:

Eat Purely

After hearing a lot about Eat Purely, I finally decided to give it a try and I am so glad that I did! Eat Purely is food delivery service located in Chicago and all of the ingredients are sourced from midwest farms. Their website lays out all of the allergens present in each dish along with the nutritional information.

Oh and it is WAY reasonable. Seriously give it a try! If you use the code “ellieo1” you will get $20 off your first order!

Favorite Eats:

Lunch at J’s BBQ

J’s BBQ in Ripon, WI was insane. They also had their menu labeled with GF items and I felt so safe eating there knowing I was not going to get sick. I had the pork cushion (which BTW, how amazing is that name?!) – it’s really just pork shoulder, tangy slaw, and whipped potato salad.

Acai Bowl with BYO Granola

I met my friend Andrea and her corgi Frank (p.s he has his own Instagram) for breakfast at Left Coast for my first ever acai bowl. I know, first ever?! And I brought granola because their granola isn’t GF and I freaking love mine.

Favorite Events:

Wedding Season Pt. 3 – Green Lake, Wisconsin

My cousin got married outside on the edge of Green Lake and it was stunning! The weather was perfect and a whole bunch (18 of us!) of cousins were able to attend. Plus I got to see my mom and two sisters – this is one of my all time favorite photos of us.

Sausage Stuffing

Last weekend we made our own sausages!! It was amazing. My friends have their own meat grinder and sausage stuffer. Everyone concocted their own flavors, stuffed them, and then we cooked them for dinner.

One of the most fun times I’ve had all summer!

Favorite Things I…

watched:

• TV Show // Bloodline Season 3. I’m going to be honest and let you know that I did not enjoy season 3 and not much of season 2 either. I was hooked with season 1, but really felt like they were stretching these last two seasons and I was not excited by it at all. BUT I also hate stopping things part way through, so I finished it.
• Movie // The Big Sick. After months of not going to the movies, we finally made it back to our favorite theater (the kind with the reclining seats!) and saw The Big Sick. To be honest, I hadn’t really seen a preview or knew what the movie was about going in, but couldn’t have been happier with the result! It was sad, and funny, and set in Chicago (I seriously love when movies are shot here because I can pick out where they are!). There was lots of laughter and a few tears and I highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t already.

read:

• Blog // Blogiversary: What I’ve Learned After 4 Years of Blogging by Jess at Hello to Fit. I loooove reading posts from other bloggers about things they have learned along their journey. One of her big lessons learned is that ‘comparison serves no one, and it’s not a productive use of energy”. AMEN. I have struggled with this and it is something that is so easy to do in this online world. But Jess is right. It serves no purpose – just focus on YOU. And congrats on 4 years Jess!!

listened to:

• Artist // Tennis. I had never heard of Tennis until Pat received her album in his Vinyl Me Please subscription. At first it was not my thing, but now I am hooked. Take a listen here.
• Podcast // S-Town. So I finally listened to this podcast after seeing it blow up a few months ago. I loved Serial and knew I would like this too, since it is produced by the same group and it a crime/mystery story. Although it didn’t finish in the way that I wanted, I am happy I listened to it. Now, any other good murder/crime podcasts I should listen to?!

Happy end of the month friends!

Thank you to everyone who filled out my reader survey last week! If you haven’t had a chance do so, I would appreciate it if you could spend 3 minutes filling it out for me. You can get the survey HERE.

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