Category: around here

That’s What You Call A Weekend

I really got some bang for my buck this weekend. Somehow I had almost all of my time scheduled with fun things to do, yet there was the perfect amount of transition time between each event so that I didn’t feel rushed.

After work on Friday David and I packed up, dropped the dogs off at his parents’ house, and hit the road for Austin. We planned to meet up with my two former roommates who also happen to be two of my very best friends. Here we are the first day we moved in together in 2004:

And here we are now:

Recreating the photo…

No more awkwardness!

Our husbands/boyfriends were all able to be there as well, but unfortunately I didn’t capture any pictures of that momentous fact. Friday night we just went out to eat and afterwards I was so tired I put myself to bed. Everyone else stayed up half the night talking and laughing, but I heard none of it. I had been awake for almost 20 hours at point, see.

On Saturday we slept in and then hit up this place called Chedd’s for lunch which served “gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches”. It was really good and really healthy, too (I wish). After that we had to say goodbye to Megan and Peter, who are moving to Scotland for a year in a couple of weeks. Sad! But also exciting because we might get to take a trip to Scotland! Then the remaining four of us hit up some putt putt golf, during which I surprised everyone (myself included) by winning. Only by a stroke, but I was still proud. And finally we visited this amazing place called The Yogurt Spot. You walk in and there is a wall of different flavors of frozen yogurt and so many different toppings. You fill up your cup with whatever you want, and they charge you by the ounce. I got chocolate with fresh strawberries, brownie bits, and chocolate chips. AMAZING. I have just researched it and there is one of these shops in Houston, but it is far away from me and not in a very nice area. Bummer. However, I am hoping to discover a similar one in my area.

So after that deliciousness we went back to Carmen’s house for a bit where she began teaching me how to solve the Rubik’s cube. IT IS SO MUCH FUN. I am bound and determined to learn it. The only problem is, do you know how hard it is to find a Rubik’s cube in the store today? Hard. David went to 7 different stores with no luck. I think I will have to make a special trip to a Toys ‘R’ Us soon, which is kind of pathetic but I can’t stop thinking about it.

Eventually we forced ourselves to pack up the car and headed home. Once back we stopped by the church gathering that was happening at my in-laws’ house and had a feast of Mexican food. I also had a big bowl of chocolate ice cream, because I didn’t get enough earlier in the day.

Today (Sunday) was church, then California Pizza Kitchen for book club. We discussed The Time Traveler’s Wife and then saw the movie together afterwards. (My review and book club discussion will be coming sometime this week, so if you’ve read it be ready to comment and if you’re reading it now, finish up so you can join in!) And then AFTER book club we headed to my parents’ house for my youngest brother’s family birthday dinner. Family gatherings are always a blast and this one was no different.

Now I’m at home, just finished an episode of Mad Men, and about to crawl into my glorious bed to gather my strength for another work week. So tell me, what did you do this weekend?

August 30, 2009
Good Things

You may or may not be wondering how my week is going. The answer is very well, thanks. Work has been surprisingly manageable lately and I am enjoying taking care of all the patients I have. Usually at any given time I have at least one “difficult” patient, but God has granted me a reprieve for the moment. I don’t know how long it will last, so I am savoring it.

Yesterday I got to spend an entire day with one of my best friends who I hardly ever see. That was good. I just finished watching the very first episode of Mad Men. It was good. I am nearing the end of The Time Traveler’s Wife, and it is good. My husband is sitting next to me reading, and our dogs are laid out on the floor at our feet. Life is good.

It is 9:41 p.m. as I type, and that may be early for some but it is quite late for me. Maybe tomorrow I can summon the inspiration to bring you something of more substance. This will do for now.

August 26, 2009
Power Outage

We had a storm roll through tonight, and our power has been going on and off all evening, with the majority of it off. Our nervous dog Eddie has been beside herself. This is how I spent most of my time tonight:

It wasn’t enough for her to be near me, she had to be ON TOP of me. The pictures, taken with my computer which was on my lap, are blurry because she was shaking.

I think things have finally calmed down, and I’ll be back with you tomorrow with my thoughts on being a wife after seeing Julie & Julia. But right now I must get myself to sleep, since I have to work in the morning. Happy weekend to everyone else!

August 21, 2009
weekend review

I’m propped up in bed ready to read for an hour or so before drifting off to sleep and then starting another week. Before I do that, though, I wanted to share a few things with you from the weekend.

We babysat our nephew Lucas for the first time.

He was adorable, calm, smiley, perfect for the first half. Then he got hungry, so he started to cry. We fed him every last drop of milk that we had. We burped him and got four really good ones. We changed his diaper. We held him and walked around with him, and sang to him. He continued to cry…for about an hour and a half. It was actually quite cute to see David’s reaction to this. He was so worried that something was wrong with Lucas. We eventually had to call his parents to come home, because he was still hungry and his food supply was nowhere to be seen. Before they got home I managed to calm him down by doing deep knee bends and walking up and down the stairs a million times. It was a serious workout.

You can see the slightly frazzled look around my eyes.

I signed up for the Tour de Pink.

The glitch was finally worked out on the website, and I signed up for the 12-mile bicycle race in Houston that will take place September 13! I’m really excited because it will be my first bike race. Here is where I ask for your help, though, because in order to participate I am required to raise at least $100 in addition to my entry fee. Please donate; even just $1 gets me closer to that goal, and I would love to surpass it if possible! Here is a handy dandy link for you:

Some other stuff happened too.

Including, but not limited to: David’s second cousin’s baby shower, cooking and grilling, a long bike ride, leading worship in church, and starting The Time Traveler’s Wife. It was a good weekend, and it’s going to be a good week.

August 16, 2009
sleepover

On Saturday night David and I invited our pastor’s kids Isaiah, 5, and Samuel, 3, to spend the night at our house. We obviously don’t have kids yet, but we love them and Isaiah and Sam are two of our favorites. After their parents Bryan and Misti dropped them off and we consumed some Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, snack packs, and chocolate milk, we got right down to the business of having fun.

We started with a rousing game of Spiderman Sorry, which Isaiah “won”:

Then it was time to play hide and seek. My best hiding place was an empty box turned on its side which I curled up in and pushed up near the wall. It was a big box. But the most fun was hiding with the boys. Isaiah and I were huddled up in the hall closet waiting for David to finish counting, when I hear him whisper, “How long does it take to count to 40?”

“Forty seconds,” I replied.

“Wow, that’s a long time!” Isaiah responded.

We had promised the boys a “camp-in,” so after hide and seek we got busy putting up the tent and then made s’mores. In the fireplace, of course, using real tree branches from the backyard to roast the marshmallows on!

After that we attempted to calm them down enough to watch a movie. We settled on “Hotel For Dogs”. David, Lauren (who came over for the fun), and I were cracking up when Don Cheadle was on screen and Isaiah pointed and said, “Look, the president is in the movie!”

After the movie it was seriously time for bed, because this girl was about to collapse. David asked Isaiah how he usually goes to bed. Does his mommy or daddy tuck him in? Isaiah’s answer was, “We usually eat sweets until we fall asleep.” Yeah, right!

We ended up moving the boys’ tent into our room, but they were only in it for a couple minutes before climbing into bed with us. About 2:30 a.m., though, Isaiah woke up and decided to move back into the tent. I think he wanted to be a tough guy. :)

My spot was right there in the middle, cuddling with a couple of cute boys! One of them I get to keep. :)

In the morning David got us donuts for breakfast!

Then I let the boys play with the camera a little bit, which is why I have a bunch of pictures that look like this:

But I did manage to get one good one with them:

It was interesting carting them to church in my little truck with two tiny jump seats in the back, and Samuel did manage to bump his head twice, but he also said to me only a few minutes after we’d left, “Kafleen? I miss David and the dogs.” So sweet! I’m not sure who had more fun, them or us. :)

July 20, 2009