July Monthly Recap

July in Maryland is hot and humid, when it's not raining. Not that it rains that much, but it feels like a lot. My month has been really busy, as you'll see. I'm going to dive right into the post.

What's Been Going On

Well, at the beginning of the month was Independence Day here in the States. My family did fireworks out in the yard and watched the Capitol Fourth celebration livestream. The highlight of that was Sofia Carson singing singing the National Anthem. It was beautiful.

Then we've been doing normal summer stuff. We went to the pool twice. I finished watching all the Middle Earth films in order and finished season one of Once Upon a Time. We've also seen a few more episodes of Supergirl season one.

Then, of course, this month was both D23 and Comic-Con, only a week apart. I had to keep up with all the news from each. Like the casting announcements for Disney movies or the new trailers. I may not be able to go, but I can still stay on top of these things.

What I've Done

Writing-

I'm up to 58K words on Return to Wonderland. I was originally aiming of 55K words, but now I've backed that goal up to 70K. I'm really hoping I can reach that.

I've also been working on character edits in my novel The Girl with the Sword. I haven't gotten as far as I would like, but that's okay. I'll work harder next month. Summer only comes once a year.

Art-

I finished the rest of the outfits in my Frozen collection. Here are the pictures.

The Kristoff outfit. The boots are one of the best parts of this one.

Olaf outfit. I love how the ombre bottom of the skirt came out.

And this one is inspired by the trolls. The whole idea came from their leafy collars.

I also nearly freaked out when an outfit I designed inspired by Jay from Disney Descendants was picked to be featured on the Descendants Instagram. It wasn't the only one, but I was still flipped.

I also made paintings for my mom and grandmother that say "Laundry today or naked tomorrow". They were lots of fun to do.

Where I've Gone

• The movie theater. We've gone to see several more movies, including Sing, one of my favorite kids movies from last year that wasn't Disney. (There will be a post coming up on that next month!)

• The library. Because what else are you going to do in the summer than read and watch movies? I've been working really hard at getting my account down to only twenty books. Right now I have 30 or so checked out. (When I was younger, I'd have around 60-80 books at a time. I'm kind of an obsessive reader.) My problem is that every time I go, I see a book I've been wanting to read or something that looks interesting, so I check out more than I intend.

• Drivers education. Bleck. *makes a face* It's super boring, but required if I want to have my licence soon. I had it all last week and this week and three driving sessions, and then I'm done. (Anyone else sympathize?)

• The Walter's Art Gallery. This is one of the highlights of my month. All the teen girls in my church went down to Baltimore and had a great day together. I had an amazing time spending time with my friends. Here's a pic.

Thoughts on August

• It's my birthday! Yay! I'll be twenty, which is horribly scary.

• I'm hoping to have my licence soon. Driving by myself will be weird, but it will be nice too.

• I'd like to finish drafting Return to Wonderland by the end of the month. I don't know if I can do that, but it's my goal.

• More drawing. Hopefully I'll finish a drawing of a certain pirate and maybe get started on a new drawing.

Let's talk! How has your month been? Have you done anything interesting? Tell me in the comments.