There is really nothing “summery” about this smoothie at all.

There are no berries, no peaches or nectarines, no watermelon and actually no fresh fruit at all.

What is summery about it, is how completely refreshing it is. It’s like a milkshake, but it’s packed with nutrition, so we’ll call it a smoothie.

Thick, icy cold, and packed with some of my favorite ingredients. Let’s call it a cacao-pnut-banana-cinna-smoothie. No one ingredient stands out too much though. It’s just a nice smoothie blend, with an energizing kick from the cacao beans!

Summer Cool-Down Smoothie

1c milk of choice
1.5 frozen bananas
1-2c ice
3T raw protein powder [opt]
1T raw cacao beans
1t unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1.5T creamy pnut butter
1t maca powder [opt]
1/2t cinnamon
1/2t vanilla extract

Blend until smooth!

The ice really helps make this extra thick + refreshing! I always receive questions about the glass straws I use. They’re from the company Glass Dharma and I was given a set to review about a year ago. I absolutely love them!

So what’s been going on with the house?

Lot’s of window taping, which took for-everrr. The wood already looks painted, but don’t be fooled, it’s just pre-primed wood. My uncle did all the trim work and we are in love with it. He restored the trim to look like what was originally in the house. I’m so glad we stuck with the old trim style.

All of the edges had to be primed, where the wood was cut. Also, the nail gun holes had to be filled in with putty then sanded. After all of that dried, I got to painting. These are the before photos, and the “after” look almost the same. Since the wood was white, it doesn’t look too different in a photo. However, in person, it looks much more finished. Super excited to have that done!

We’re so happy we have a small house [1015sqft] with awesome ventilation [14 windows!]. The sun never really blares into our house, but we still get a nice amount of natural light. Even when it’s in the 90’s the house is typically at about 78. With the 3 ceiling fans on, it’s extremely comfortable.

Even Kenna agrees.

What am I up to today? The parents arrive tomorrow [!!!], so I’m trying to get a few house things done.

Today’s task: replacing electrical outlets + light switches

It’s actually a super simple job, but it’s taking much longer than it should. The walls are sort of crumbly where the outlets are, which makes screwing them into place difficult. It’s also not easy getting the wires in + out of the box, but I’m managing to get it done! Slowly…