My Weekend

This past weekend was the perfect weekend for me!  The weather was perfect, the days weren’t packed with an insane amount of plans and I was content. 

On Friday, I danced the night away with my wonderful friends at Arthur Murray Virginia Beach!  We kicked off the Tournament of Champions (TOC) with a Love Cruise!  The Captain and his crew sure showed all of us vacationers a wonderful evening of dancing and toasting!  Bond, James Bond, even made an appearance!  The individuals at my studio are some of the most interesting and caring individuals I know.  We really are a little family…big family…all depending on what your normal is for family size…  Regardless we are a HAPPY family with lots of compassion and energy! 

It’s awesome to dance with someone and realize that either their dance skills or your dance skills are truly improving.  I feel pride for the studio and the teachers when the students improve.  Speaking of improving, I tested out of Bronze I for the Tango, Foxtrot, Waltz, Rumba, Salsa, Mambo, and Cha Cha on Wednesday!  I was really nervous which is completely typical for my before any test regardless of the results of the outcome.  I do well on tests, but I suffer from pretest jitters…big time.

Back to Friday night, after dance, we all went out to the Cheesecake Factory for Jenny’s birthday!  I had a lovely glass of wine and the best slice of banana cream cheesecake these lips have ever tasted!  It was absolutely heavenly!  I want to go back there NOW!  Maybe Friday night?!?  Any takers?  My waistline wants to have a word with me for saying that.  Oops.  The group that went out was awesome!  Europe was the main topic of conversation – lots of us have either traveled extensively or lived in Europe at some point in our lives, so we were all able to talk about our experiences.  It was a really nice evening.  Thank you fellow dancers!  You are more than wonderful dancers, you are endearing and extremely interesting individuals!

Saturday started out with me, little man and Lira puppy at the local state park!  We climbed trees, hiked around, made a bow and arrow, and found a squirrel’s tail!  The squirrel tail was hunted down by little Lira and claimed by Jared.  It now adorns his homemade bow.  When he leaves his bow on the ground, Lira quickly finds it and treats herself to some squirrel tail licking. I chuckle every single time little man says “Oooh Man.  Lira got my squirrel again.”  After some hiking, we came home and I conquered the yard.  I ripped my garden out, cleaned the gutters which were especially nasty since the recent hurricane, trimmed the hedges (my arms are feeling that one) and raked the front and back yard.  It was a beautiful day and I simply had to take advantage of it!  Fingers crossed we get a warm weekend day in December so that I can hang my Christmas lights without losing a finger or two.  After the yard was done, I straightened/organized the garage and then headed inside to shower and go to a house warming party! 

Ryan’s Oregon friends are all starting to migrate to Virginia and I had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of them on Saturday afternoon!  E&L just bought an amazing house!  Super open floor plan, great wooden floors, beautiful light, nice yard, sweet deck, just a wonderful house!  L’s decorating is quite superb as well!  We all ate and drank well while watching the OSU game.  It was a relaxing and very enjoyable afternoon/evening. After that, we took little man to a Laser Tag birthday party and we got some Christmas…personal...shopping done.  Yes, I bought a sweater, a shirt, workout pants that have HOT PINK in them and a pair of mustard jeans!  I am kind of obsessed with colored jeans.  I now have green, cobalt blue, black and mustard J  I’ll pretty much wear any color in the rainbow!  Don’t worry, hubby got golf pants and an under armor shirt and little man got hooked up for Christmas!  Clothing wise that boy is done for Christmas!  I love checking things off of my list!  After that, we headed home and watched some GLEE!  Yes, hubby watches GLEE with me!  We are on season 3 now. 

Sunday Funday was a low key day for me.  My body was rejecting me being alive…not cool body.  We went to Mass and little man when with the other kids for a little bible study for the first time.  He loved it!  Every Sunday we ask him if he wants to go and he says no, but this Sunday he saw someone he knew (thanks to CCD), so he said sure!  The homily was about giving.  We need to be better at giving to those who are less fortunate and living simpler lives.  It was at this moment that I felt guilty for my purchases the evening before.  Father is right.  We do need to live simpler lives and give to those who are less fortunate.  I am going to do a little project with Jared – three jars, one for giving, one for spending and one for sharing.  This way he will know the importance of giving, but will also understand the value of a dollar and how to properly allocate his funds.  We are also going to get an angel from the Angel (Giving) Tree at church and as a family figure out what organizations we want to donate to. 

After Mass, we went to brunch with some friends and then headed home.  I walked the pup in the beautiful sunlight and then I slept/read/slept/read for a few hours until my body decided to like me again.  Once I was back on my feet, I cleaned!  That’s what I do when I am irritated about being lazy because it gives me an immediate sense of accomplishment.  I dusted, vacuumed, spot cleaned the floor, did a few loads of laundry and cleaned the office!  Oh yea baby!  By the time I was done, it was 10pm…time for a little reading and off to bed I went.

Monday…I took the day off!  Go me!  Ryan and I golfed with a friend of his from work and then we went out to lunch and to Old Navy to finish some Christmas shopping.  That afternoon, we all headed to the park again, but this time for some family pictures for Christmas cards!  I’m still learning my camera and LR3 (lightroom3, my editing program), but I am pretty happy with the results.  Fingers crossed they look good on the cards I select.  That evening, Ryan went to see the new Bond movie, while Jared, my girlfriends and I went out to dinner!  We planned on going to the library, but silly we forgot about it being closed on Veteran’s Day.

Happy Veteran’s Day to the wonderful and admirable veterans in my life – Grandpop (USNavy WWII), Dad (USArmy – Vietnam), Husband (USNavy – OIF & OEF).  I am very thankful for your love and dedication to the beautiful country.  I pray that we as a country make those men and women serving us proud.  May we think before we act and act with love in our hearts.

Much love.