July

July was a colossal blogging fail.  But there's good reason for that.  I've been enjoying my summer and there were some big things that happened in July.

I love soccer.  I don't care that it isn't that popular here in the States.  I love it and I love watching it.  So I was preoccupied with the Women's World Cup that took place through June and July.  The US Women's National Team had a great run.  There were some pretty amazing matches (like the Brazil one, for instance) and I enjoyed watching them go all the way to the World Cup Final.

The World Cup Final was between the US and Japan.  Japan had never before beaten the US.  In the three matches that had been played between the two teams prior to the Final, the US won all three times.  Japan had never before been to a World Cup Final.  And it was one of the classiest matches I've ever had the privilege to watch.  We scored, then they scored.  So it went to extra time.  Then we scored, then they scored.  So it went to penalty kicks.  And in penalty kicks, Japan won.

A silver medal is nothing to feel bad about.  The US really dominated that match, Japan just scored when they needed to.  I'm glad I got to see it.

Also preoccupying me was the launch and final mission of the space shuttle Atlantis.  The shuttle program is now retired.  I lost a lot of sleep for the duration of STS-135.  I got up early to watch the launch and spent most of the week glued to NASA TV, getting mission updates and watching the astronauts in space.  This mission was a resupply mission to the International Space Station.  They were in space for 13 days.

The first thing I ever wanted to be was an astronaut and I have followed the space shuttle program over the course of my entire life.  I'm really sad that it's over.  But I'm glad I had the means to follow these last few missions.

And the other big thing was the release of A Dance With Dragons.  This is the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin.  You may have heard of Game of Thrones, which is the first book and has recently been an HBO series.  These books are absolutely incredible and I can't get enough of them.  GRRM has an amazing writing style and I highly recommend this series.  Just be warned, it's not a PG series, but it's fantastic none the less.

So that was my July.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hope you enjoyed your July too!