What Happened in July?
Hello everyone! This July was HOT. Hot and busy! I hope you all had a good month, and are excited to venture into a hopefully milder August. In the meantime, however, let’s dive in to my favorite parts of my July…
So Many Parties
This month was the month of parties. I’m pretty sure I went to more parties in July than I have in the past few years combined. Between Matt’s family having baby after baby, my father retiring, my nephew’s birthdays, and all my friends moving into new apartments and homes, I’ve gone to quite a lot of parties this month.
I was supposed to go to two baby showers, one in Youngstown for Matt’s cousin (which was only fun because I was with his mom and big sister), and his other sister’s twin baby shower (which we couldn’t end up going to because of conflicting schedules). I’m not a big fan of baby showers, mostly because I think they’re very boring. I had a good time being with my in-laws, though, and it ended up being a fun time for the one in Y-Town. Hopefully his sister loves the gifts we got her for her twins!
The first of many retirement parties happened at my father’s place of work this past week as well, and it was interesting to be in a room full of (mostly) strangers that know you very, very well. It was a bittersweet time for his coworkers for sure, and I could feel all the love in the room as they reminisced with each other about all the times my dad made them smile. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who sees that my dad is special!
A Very Short Trip to the Jazz&Rib Fest
Because my dear husband sprained his ankle real bad a few days prior, me and my work friend Chaz went to the Jazz and Rib Festival together to eat some ribs without Matt (although I did bring him home some, so he didn’t completely miss out).
It was entirely too hot the weekend of the Festival, so I only ended up going one out of three days, and even then, I only stayed for about an hour and a half. That was honestly all the time I needed, if we’re being honest. Matt goes for the Jazz, Chaz and I go for the Ribs.
And boy, were the ribs delicious.
After deliberating for a while, the two of us decided to go to Just North of Memphis, which is the same rib stand Matt and I chose last year (and the winner of this year’s Fest). They are still killing it, with their fall off the bone ribs and delicious sides (the cornbread is to die for). Next year, if y’all end up going to the Jazz and Rib Fest, I hope you get a chance to try them! And while you’re at it, go ahead and try all the ribs you can. They’re all so good, it’s a shame that the festival is only once a year.
Yes, Another Spider-Man Movie!
Spider-Man: Far From Home is the latest Marvel movie to hit theaters, and while critics and fans alike wanted something more or different, I absolutely LOVED the movie. Spider-Man has consistently been my favorite superhero even before Tobey Maguire blessed the big screen in 2001 (I loved his Spider-Man, and I’ll fight anyone on it tbh), and Tom Holland is keeping the love alive with this new movie.
I won’t spoil the plot, but I will say that Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as Mysterio was wonderful. I’m never disappointed with his acting skill, and Far From Home is no exception. I honestly don’t know if anyone could bring what Gyllenhaal brought to the table with Mysterio.
My favorite part of any movie is the romance, of course, and Holland and Zendaya sold the idea of a teen romance better than most of their peers. I’m not sure if it was the writing as well as the acting, but I absolutely adored how raw and real Peter Parker and MJ’s relationship blossomed in this movie.
The plot was great, the actors knocked it out of the park, and as always, the action was unparalleled. If you haven’t seen Spider-Man: Far From Home, I suggest you watch it! And if you’ve seen it and you don’t know if you liked it, try it again! It had the coming-of-age story that the Spider-Man brand is known for, with the action and comedy you’ve come to expect from a good MCU film.
And no, I haven’t seen The Lion King yet…if I had, I would be writing about that instead! Y’all know I love me some Beyoncé. Maybe next month I’ll have a review of her performance? Honestly, that would probably consist of a video of me crying over how perfect she is…
New Music? Oh Alright
If you know me, you know I listen to the same three songs all season. This July, however, I made an effort to look for some new gems and some old goodies for y’all to listen to. Between Hayley Kiyoko, Sam Smith, and Banks releasing new music and me rediscovering old favorites, this July was fruitful in the music department.
I will admit, however…I’ve been obsessed with a song that I can’t add to my Spotify playlists, mostly because the real version isn’t on the site. Ever since the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2’s development earlier this year, I’ve been playing the first game nonstop. Trying to 100% a game is no joke, and this game is particularly challenging for someone like me. I don’t usually play RPGs like Zelda, so replaying the game has been an adventure for sure.
Although the soundtrack isn’t as full and bombastic as its predecessors, BotW has an amazing soundtrack nonetheless. The quietness of the game stands in stark contrast to the final battle against Dark Beast Ganon, whose tracks are huge and more like the games that came before. The victorious, chest swelling melody that plays when you are on horseback, aiming at the Dark Beast with the Bow of Light fuels my soul like no other song has this month.
Matt is probably sick of me telling him that the final battle song is one of the best final battle songs in the entire Zelda franchise. I urge you all to listen to this song and reeeeally listen to it. Listen to it more than once, even!
There’s three phases to this song, but I’m only going to put the first one mostly because I don’t want to be too annoying with my obsession. But I highly suggest checking out the second phase song too, because that key change is killer. I also suggest checking out the rest of the soundtrack on Peaches Lamb’s channel, as well as the rest of their channel for more video game/movie soundtracks!
One of my favorite parts of music is picking apart every single instrument that I can make out and listening to just that instrument the entire song. This battle song makes that fun for me, because there’s so much going on. Every element on its own almost doesn’t make sense with the rest of the song, but it all is needed in order to make the song what it is. As an example, if you want to listen to it more than once, the second time around why don’t you listen to just the piano? Then a third time, listen to the percussion, especially in the breakdown section. Seriously, the Dark Beast Ganon song has been my music obsession for this entire month, and I had to tell y’all about it because it’s driving me insane to keep it to myself!
Here’s the rest of my music obsessions for the month, if y’all are interested!
So, there you have it! It’s been a month full of events and heat. Usually June is my busy month, but I think July 2019 has June beat. I hope August is a lot more relaxed for me, but you never know what can happen in a month…!
Thanks for reading! If you want, you can follow me on Twitter for my daily shenanigans. I mostly complain, but there are some gem tweets in the rough!
