Friday Notes

This week has been exhausting, and I am even more grateful than normal that Friday has finally rolled around with a little reprieve. I have so much to get done this weekend, but I'm determined to squeeze in some time to relax a little too. Since I haven't found much time to blog this week, here's a little recap of what we've been up to:

 -- We saw Admission last Friday night and loved it! Tina Fey is adorable and fantastic (as always) and the storyline was just the right balance of sweet and hysterical. Definitely recommended!  
-- I'm hanging in there on the "lift heavy things" addition to my workouts. My soreness is finally gone, and I'm starting to find that some of the  are getting easier. Surprisingly, my biggest challenge in the past few weeks has been running -- I'm not sure if it's the strength training or just a typical wane in my endurance, but for a while there I was clocking only a mile or two a day, and even that required a serious self-pep talk. Last weekend I headed out for a run on a beautiful day and it turned out to be one of the most pathetic few miles I think I have ever covered. But yesterday and today I got through a 5k without too much mental anguish, so hopefully I'm getting back into the swing of things.
 -- We had a quiet but lovely Easter last weekend (last weekend? seems like forever ago!) My sweet hubby filled my Easter basket with a few of my favorite things -- pretty colors and lots of chocolate:

(with only the slightest of hints when it came to the nail polish). I've been wearing the mint this week, and while it's definitely a change from my typical pick-a-shade-of-pink, I think it's perfect for spring.
 -- The weather was overcast but relatively warm on Easter, so we took the pup for a long walk and stopped at a nearby creek to play a bit. We brought Dan's nice DSLR along and snapped some adorable pictures of Teddy splashing around and following his daring dad across fallen trees. He had a blast and we did too -- it's so much fun to watch him play and explore. Once I get the pictures loaded, I'll share a few.

we've been letting him sleep in bed about one night a week -- he loves it, and I usually wake a up with a paw or three invading my space

 -- Speaking of the pup, he has made it halfway through his first session of puppy classes and is impressing both us and his trainer with how quickly he picks up on things. He's got sit down (although he has known that for months) and he's a pro at "loose-leash walking" (essentially heel). This week we are working on down and "leave it," and he's catching on so fast. I joke with people that he's smarter than Dan and I, but sometimes I wonder if it really might be true. The best part, though, is how much he loves going to class each week. He gets so excited when we get in the car and he can barely contain himself when he sees the trainer. He plays with the other pups really well (thankfully he hasn't dragged any of them around lately) and loves to get attention from the other owners. We are seeing a difference at home too: he has always been well-behaved but his hyperactive energy seems to be settling down a bit, thank goodness.

a rare quiet moment

 -- Our other poor furball has been sick this week. He's been sneezing like crazy for a few days, and this morning his congestion seemed better but one of his eyes was running. He hasn't been too lethargic and his appetite is normal, so we've just been keeping an eye on him for now. Hopefully he starts feeling better this weekend, because his poor little sneezes are breaking his mother's heart!

 -- I've been dying to try Starbucks' new hazelnut macchiato to see if it lives up to all the recent hype, but I'm always a little nervous ordering something different there... I know that even if it's terrible I'll still have to drink it, because who throws away $5 coffee? I've been getting tired of chai, though, so I braved it this morning on my weekly Starbucks run and I'm so glad I did. Definitely worthy of all the hype and more. It was wet and chilly this morning so I opted for the hot version, but I can't wait to try it iced this summer!
Just a few highlights from an exceptionally busy week -- I'll be kind and won't bore you with work, laundry, cold rain, and similarly exciting occurrences. Thankfully, this weekend is supposed to be warm and beautiful. Hope that you have a wonderful one!

   Love,

    Meg

And Now for a Little Excitement...

Now that my fingers have thawed out a bit, I can recount our crazy, wonderful, chilly, ridiculous weekend.
It started out quietly enough (too quietly??) with a cozy Friday evening on the couch. In a sleepy haze that morning I had managed to put short ribs instead of pot roast in the fridge to defrost, so we had an odd but tasty dinner of slow-cooked short ribs over leftover mashed potatoes. It was actually so good that I might make that mistake again next time...
I got sleepy early and the hubby kindly shooed me up to bed so that he could play a video game without my constant requests to turn the machine guns down a little bit. I fell sound asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, only to be shaken awake what felt like minutes later by Dan.
"Do you smell burning?" he asked.
"I don't smell anything. What the hell are you doing? It's still dark outside."
[I am not a very kind person in the middle of the night.] 
But something about Dan's dashing around made me sit up and sniff a little more... and then I definitely smelled it. Over the next few minutes, the smell got much stronger, but we couldn't figure out where it was coming from -- there was no smoke, no noise, and definitely no fire. Dan even poked his head up into the attic, where our resident squirrel (another story for another time...) got the fright of his life, but luckily didn't seem to have started a campfire. We hemmed and hawwed a bit, but eventually decided that Dan should call the non-emergency line for our county. I went to the bathroom quickly while he dialed, but as soon as I heard him start to recite our address, I started to get a little concerned. Dan mouthed to me "They're coming," and I'm not proud to say that my first reaction was a rather dramatic groan (safety first, all). I yanked on sweatpants and two coats, took a claw in the face while wedging one animal into a carrier, and we dragged one sleepy puppy, one furious cat, and our own bewildered selves outside.
In minutes we heard the sirens piercing through the frigid darkness, and I started to cringe. "The neighbors are going to hate us," I moaned, "Are you sure they really needed to come?"
Sure enough, we ended up with two large trucks, huge spotlights, and lots of flashing lights parked in front of our house while at least a dozen firefighters trooped in and out for an hour. Despite the fact that it felt like the middle of the night, this whole debacle actually started around 5:30 AM, so we stood in our driveway from about 6-7 (pre-sunrise), freezing and waiting for any sign of flames. Luckily there were never any of those, and the firemen eventually decided that the smell (which they smelled too, thank goodness... I was a little worried that our phone number might be destined for some kind of "boy-who-cried-wolf" list) was from a malfunctioning heat pump/air handler. Truly, I can't say enough about how kind and thorough these guys were -- they examined every inch of our house (I'm still recovering from the mortification I felt upon discovering the door to our "junk" closet wide open) and didn't complain a bit about the terrible hour or the awful cold.
In the end, we were left with a very cold house, no heat for a few days, and a lingering smell. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors, friends, and family who checked in on us throughout the day, and one friend in particular who went way above and beyond, delivering a truckload of firewood and our two favorite little girls to play for a little while. We spent much of the day by the fire, napping off our early morning. Luckily the weather warmed up nicely, and that evening while Dan headed out to pick up dinner, I took the pup for a gorgeous long walk and dreamed of spring.
That evening, we set up camp in the living room:

(not the best picture, but you get the general idea)

I felt like a little kid in a fort, but a lot less comfortable... turns out, no matter how many blankets you put down, you'll still find at least one bone directly on the hard floor at all times.
Sunday was slightly less exciting, thank goodness (although it was my mother's birthday, and that's exciting! Happy birthday, Mom!) We slept in a bit, knocked out a workout, met up with some friends from out of town for a drink, drove around for a bit in the snow, and then headed home (with a hot cup of coffee) to get a fire going and settle into our makeshift sleeping quarters again. 
If Saturday night had been merely a little rough, Sunday night was pretty miserable. There was a lot of tossing and turning and poking my poor husband, hissing "The fire is dying! The fire is dying!" Thank goodness for him, because he got up several times each night to throw another log on and ensure my toes stayed warm.
Thankfully, after a (ahem) brisk few days (understatement), our heat was restored yesterday and I can feel my extremities again. There is still the matter of the "fixed" air handler that is now causing our kitchen floor to vibrate like a train might be passing through the house at any moment, but I am able to handle that minor hiccup much better now that the icicle at the end of my nose has melted.
Despite the annoyance, I do have to admit -- it was kind of fun to camp out with Dan and our furballs for a few days. Even though I certainly can't sleep on the floor like I used to (the days of birthday sleepovers are long gone, and you won't hear me protest), I enjoyed changing things up and hunkering down in front of the warm fire with my boys. I'd say my sore back was worth the extra puppy snuggles, laughter, and the billion or so episodes of NCIS. And now, I'm just enjoying the warmth and crossing my fingers that it will be a very long time before a fireman has to dig through my closets again.

   Love,

    Meg

Friday Favorites

Didn't I mention last week that my picks were a little all over the place? Well... you ain't seen nothin' yet. Today, we make last week's choices look positively coherent.

 -- First, a Friday Favorites dream-come-true: look what arrived on my doorstep yesterday...

Even cuter in real life!

 

decked out for St. Patrick's day

 -- The hubs and I are on a working-out-together kick -- he has come with me to the gym every day except one this week, and we've been doing stuff together while we're there. This means that for the first time in forever (forever) I've been doing strength training, core work, and all those other things you're supposed to add to the cardio for a well-balanced workout... yuck. I'm lucky to have my very own personal personal trainer to make me feel like a wimp encourage me to keep pushing, but I'm going to be very ungrateful here for a minute: this strength stuff is for the birds. I have been so incredibly sore all week, words truly can't describe it. Sitting down hurts. Standing up hurts. Breathing hurts. I can't even begin to get comfortable at night, so I've been sleeping horribly. And let. me. tell. you. I sneezed on Wednesday, and I swear my life flashed before my eyes. I was absolutely positive that my head was going to pop off in that instant. Dan keeps telling me that it will get better, and today I am finally slightly less achy (until I try to move, at least). All I can say is that this had better be worth it.
The "favorite" part of this little topic (I bet you didn't think there was one!) was that I've been able to spend lots of quality time with Dan. Because of his funky work schedule, sometimes I feel like we barely see each other during the week. But even when I was yelling at him to get out of bed already and we were glaring at each other as we got dressed for the gym before the crack of dawn, it was nice to get to see his face a little more this week. He hits just the right balance of encouragement and making me laugh like crazy... which would be wonderful if it didn't hurt so damn much.


 -- After our gym date last night, we headed to check out a new local grocery store and grab a few last minute ingredients for dinner. This place has a ton of bulk nuts, snack mixes, and candy (dangerous), and as we browsed I spotted these beauties.

I have not eaten or even thought about mustard pretzels in YEARS, but I used to love these things when I was little. I bought a little container, and oh my goodness, they took me right back to childhood. They are super salty but incredibly good.

 -- Speaking of childhood food, I whipped up another kid favorite for dessert last night. When we were grocery shopping last week, I pointed out the pre-made Jello version of the "dirt" dessert, and Dan's eyes got all wide. I sent him back for chocolate pudding mix, grabbed a container of cool whip, and even tracked down a bag of gummi worms. Last night, we indulged:

  -- On Wednesday, we took Teddy for his first real puppy class. We signed him up a month ago, but our class didn't fill up and eventually got canceled, so we're starting again now. Our new class includes a sweet Doberman, an adorable German Shepherd, and a teeny-tiny terrier mix. Teddy did pretty well and made it clear that he's going to be a teacher's pet: while the other puppies played after class, Teddy stuck close to the trainer and did his best to look cute. The trainer even picked him up (not exactly an easy feat, since he's grown so much) to give him some love, and Teddy was clearly in heaven. We definitely have a mooch on our hands. 

The best part, though? During a "puppy recess," Teddy meandered over to the other pups, picked up the leash of the little bitty terrier in his mouth, and dragged both it and the attached dog halfway across the room to us. He sat down right in front of Dan, leash still in his mouth and terrier still struggling to get back on his feet, and looked at us like "I brought you something, can we keep it??" Everyone (including the terrier's mama, thank goodness) got a good laugh.

 -- And in the interest of equal air-time for all furballs (no one likes a furry mutiny), we'll end with this little graphic that I whipped up the other day:

Truer than you can imagine... he is not a morning cat.
Happy weekend, everyone!

   Love,

    Meg

Just A Little Fluff...

Between new popes, big work meetings, and trying to figure out how to wrangle dinner out of our near-empty fridge for the past few nights, I'm not good for much today. It's taking everything I've got to keep from eating the entire contents of my lunchbox right now, and it's only 9:45. Subjecting you to any attempt at cohesive sentences would surely be cruel and unusual (as is the spaghetti sitting in the refrigerator, calling to me). Luckily I have a few friends who are always glad to help...

Hard to tell from the picture, but the other day puppy got so tired that he just couldn't hold his head up anymore... so he rested his chin on the coffee table (just the right height!) for a while.

In between loads of laundry, I discovered this scene.

Teddy insisted on carrying this stick for almost half a mile. He kept dropping it (not overly coordinated, my boy) and pulling on his leash like crazy until we went back for it.

This guy takes after his mama... always sleepy (and hungry... and ready for a good backrub...)

Blurry face because I had to zoom in close enough to capture the bit of tennis ball fuzz stuck to his lower lip. Concerned look because he couldn't figure out quite why I was laughing at him.

The best way to stay warm on a cold night: our own personal, purring heater.

 Hard to have a bad day with these two faces in it!

   Love,

    Meg

Speed Blogging

Time to play a little catch-up, since my vacation from work turned into a vacation from all-things-internet last week. It's always nice to take a break from social media, but nice to get back to it, too! In the interest of time and your attention span, here's the past 10 days, each in 100 words or less (kind of like speed dating, but less creepy): 

Friday:

Made it to the gym early for the first time in forever, had a crazy day at work, then met Dan at the mall (my very least favorite place in the whole wide world) to do fun things like purchase a new suit and look at ties (yawn). Can’t really complain, since I was rewarded with Taco Bell for dinner. I call that a win. 

Saturday:

Worked out super early, then hit the road (in the snow!) for my college town. Met up with wonderful friends, had lunch, and checked into our suite. Freaked out upon discovering that the wedding ceremony was to take place outside in 30º temps, was incredibly relieved to find that a last-minute change had been made and I would not lose a limb to frostbite. Enjoyed a beautiful ceremony, catching up with friends, yummy cupcakes, and dancing with my hubby. Headed back to the suite to celebrate our friend’s birthday. Just as I was getting into bed, the terrible sickness began. 

love this picture!

Sunday:

The terrible sickness continued. The morning was rough. Dan, who left at the crack of dawn for a day of military training, was also sick and was sent home, I was still 2.5 hours away. My wonderful friend kept me company while I considered dying and helped me finally prepare for the drive home. Drove an hour without pulling over to be sick (miracle), stopped at Wawa for a slushie that made me feel a billion times better, finally got home. Hubby and I crawled into bed and slept for 15 hours straight. 

Monday:

Dragged myself into work, still feeling horrible. Didn’t get much work done. Struggled mightily to stay awake, not get sick, not hack off my aching head with a letter opener (that’s gruesome, sorry). Felt the best I had all day at 4:55, when I crawled into my car and headed home for another 15-ish hours of sleep. 

Tuesday:

Felt a bit better. Went to the gym after work for a slooooow recovery workout, then grocery shopped for “snowstorm essentials” (ice cream, wine, wheat thins). Made amazing pasta for dinner. Stayed up way too late, much like a kid bargaining for a snow day -- I was absolutely sure that I’d wake up to 2 feet of the white stuff and a day off. 

lemon chicken, capers, and chives over angel hair

Wednesday:

Woke up to 2 feet of snow, jumped for joy, promptly stopped when I discovered that my office was still open. Cursed under my breath while husband drove me to work over increasingly dangerous roads. Sat at my desk sad and alone, as everyone else was snowed in. Finally left around 1:00, fit in a quick workout, and finally plopped down in front of a beautiful fire to read and eat for the afternoon/evening. Snow day: salvaged. 

snow!

Thursday:

Slept late. Read in bed amidst husband/cat/puppy snores (heaven). Took Teddy for a long, snowy walk. Ventured out to pick up our favorite sandwiches for lunch. Spent another evening on the couch with a fire, a good book, and a glass of wine. Ate delicious breakfast for dinner, despite a sadly failed attempt at hollandaise sauce. 

Friday:

Got up at a reasonable hour, hit the gym for a nice laid-back workout. Stopped at Whole Foods for gorgeous tulips (on sale!) and Dunkin for a humongous coffee. Got some work done, took the pup for a walk, cleaned up the house a bit, watched some Netflix. Headed out to see wonderful friends for the evening. Enjoyed great food and even better company.

looks like spring!

Saturday:

Gorgeous day, took full advantage with a run outside. Ran into this guy also out enjoying the weather:

Cleaned like crazy all day. Happy to report that our bedroom carpet does still exist. Completed five loads of laundry, scrubbed the bathroom floor, and spent at least three hours doing dishes, I’m pretty sure. Ate takeout since I couldn’t look at my kitchen for one more minute, watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days for the billionth time, and collapsed into bed.

Oh Andie Anderson, you get me every time.

Sunday:

Got up in time to sweat a little before kicking off my mom’s day of (early) birthday fun. Headed out to a vineyard for tastings and a glass of wine in the sun, then stopped at a great lunch spot. Saw a local production of Into the Woods (one of our favorites) that was extremely impressive. Finished off the evening at our new favorite Italian restaurant. Happy (early) birthday, Mom!

 

   Love,

    Meg

Wordless Wednesday... on Thursday

Because that's the way the week has been going so far. Humor me, won't you?

[furballs enjoying a fire]

[a suddenly quite dog-sized former puppy looking handsome]

[two friends who would love to share that popcorn with you]

[a pair of good-looking guys]

[Toby the explorer gets a little boost by stepping on his brother's head. We're lucky I managed to capture this moment, what with the laughing-so-hard-I-almost-died.]

Love,

Meg

How to Make Valentine's Dinner for a Man Without Losing Your Mind (Almost)

There's a recipe in here somewhere, I promise.

 -- Get home from work/running errands and immediately collapse into bed turn on laptop to get some work done, only to discover that 1. the internet is out for the third time this week and 2. the laptop is acting suspiciously like it still has that virus that you spent four hours trying to vanquish last week. Give up, collapse into bed.

 -- Take blissful hour hour and ten minute hour and twenty minute nap. Struggle mightily to wake up. Jump for joy that the day's headache is, in fact, still with you. Pop a few Advil.

 -- Sleepily stumble downstairs in sweatpants and slippers. Grumble at the cat, who has a thing for scurrying under feet that are sleepily stumbling downstairs.

 -- Move piles of dirty dishes around the kitchen and stack precariously until you have a small workspace.

 -- Take one block of sharp cheddar cheese, 1 bag of pepperoni, and two cans of buttermilk biscuits from the fridge. Try not to look last night's dinner in the eye.

 -- Spread out a silicone mat.

 -- Go back to the fridge with a spoon, eat a few bites of last night's mashed potatoes directly from the tupperware. 

 -- Cut/hew/chisel surprisingly solid cheese into roughly pepperoni-sized squares. Complain to a napping puppy about your new blisters. Feel a little bad for yourself that not even the puppy cares.

 -- Freak out a little when you realize that you've never actually opened a can of biscuits by yourself. Follow instructions carefully while wincing and  holding can as far away as humanly possible. Chuckle a bit when can opens easily with a anticlimactic "pfffft."

 -- Remove one biscuit of dough. Cut in half. Roll one half into a ball, then flatten in a circular shape with heel of hand. Spread until the diameter is 5 or 6 inches.

 -- Stack a pepperoni and a square of cheese in the center. Gather edges of dough and bring towards center, pinch together to seal.

 -- Place ball (sealed side down) in a greased 9"x13" pan (or 8"x14" pan or 12"x12" pan or 26"x50" pan, whatever floats your boat... and fits in your oven.)

 -- Repeat approximately a billion times.

 -- Suffer a minor heart attack when the second can of biscuits pops open in your hands with a sound like several thousand fireworks exploding at once. Worry about puppy's hearing, as he barely batted an eyelash.

 -- Continue cutting, rolling, flattening, stacking, and pinching.

 -- Bid adieu to the cat, who has decided that even he is bored with the process and wanders off to stare at a wall somewhere.

 -- When the pan is finally full, stretch your arms and pour yourself a glass of wine in celebration. Pull out a second pan. Keep trucking.

 -- Frantically remember that the oven isn't even on yet. Set it for 450. Extricate the shredded biscuit can from the trash. Turn oven down to 350.

 -- Fill second pan. Raise white flag, place two remaining biscuits on a cookie sheet for tomorrow's breakfast.


 -- Brush biscuits with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder.
 
 -- Put pans in oven. Check every 30 seconds to ensure that crazy, tempermental oven is not a. on fire or b. set to “Easy Bake.”


 -- Remove one pan after 14 minutes, the other after 22 (from the same oven rack). Ponder the fact that the first pan is significantly more cooked.

 -- Put cookie sheet with two extra biscuits in the oven. Heat up leftover spaghetti sauce (from a jar, who are we kidding?) for dipping. Serve dinner. Sigh as you pretend that each bite of pepperoni roll is actually lobster, and that you're really in a fancy restaurant with candles, expensive wine, and an extensive dessert menu. Come crashing back to reality with every blaring car commercial. Remove cat from lap at least three times. Remove cat from table twice.

 -- Freeze. Remember biscuits in oven. Jump up from couch and race through thickening smoke to open oven door. Sprint to smoke detector and start frantically waving your arms. Make a face at the puppy, who is looking at you like you've finally lost it. Wonder if perhaps he's right. Extricate two rather hard, rather blackened biscuits from oven. Mourn for a moment over the passing of tomorrow's breakfast. Turn off oven. Pop another pepperoni roll. And maybe another Advil.

(Adapted from this recipe and this recipe. I made these super simple this time around, since it was my first try and I was hoping to thrill my pizza-loving husband (he wasn't disappointed). I will definitely branch out next time with different pizza toppings, and I'm envisioning a yummy barbeque version of these, too.)

*For those of you who worry, rest assured: I consumed only a half glass of wine and just one Advil over the course of the evening. I do know that these two things don't mix well in regular-sized doses. Also, know that I didn't actually set anything on fire and had not left the biscuits in the oven for an unreasonably long time... I just have a particularly crabby oven.

Happy (almost) weekend, everyone!

   Love,

    Meg

What I'm Up To Lately

After a little bit of a break from writing around these parts, I thought I'd jump back in by catching you up on what I'm enjoying these days!

What I'm Watching:

This was my "single lady weekend" this month (ie the hubs was at training), and I used the few minutes not spent cleaning to indulge in a little non-husband-friendly viewing. First Position has been in my Netflix queue for so long, and surely did not disappoint. It's a real-life Center Stage, as wonderful as Dance Moms is terrible, with a cast that will make you wonder what exactly you've been doing with the past 10-15 years of your life. I spent most of the movie lamenting to the cat that I'd never in my lifetime be as successful as 11-year-old Aran nor as mature as 14-year-old Michaela... but beyond the self-esteem issues it might provoke, it really is a fantastic movie and definitely confirmed my conviction that in my next life, I'll be a dancer.
I also started Parenthood and made it through the first two episodes while folding laundry/finding excuses not to put that laundry away. I'm definitely intrigued so far, and I can even get over the feeling that Lorelai Gilmore has a secret second life, but someone please tell me: am I supposed to like Erika Christensen? I can't put my finger on quite why, but as much as I love the rest of the cast, I just can't stand this girl. I'll definitely keep watching, but I may be (not so) secretly rooting against the baby sister.

What I'm Reading:

I finally (finally finally) finished All the King's Men (which I erroneously referred to as "All the President's Men" once or twice... oops), after two long months. I ended up liking it a lot (it certainly earned its Pulitzer), but I'm a little relieved to be free from the heavy weight of the 1930's south. I am looking forward to watching the movie versions, even though usually all that does is make me long to read the book again.
This weekend, I started a book I've been wanting to read for a while: Marcelo in the Real World. It's great so far and certainly won't take me another two months (my goal is to finish it in time to catch up on my book-a-month resolution, even though I neither started nor finished All the King's Men in January... again, oops).
I'll spare you the pain of recounting all the dry history I've been subjected to lately thanks to my coursera class... but rest assured that it's dry and painful.

What I'm Listening To:

I downloaded a bunch of old purchases to my iPhone a few weeks ago, and so I'm rediscovering some great songs like Foy Vance's Gabriel and the Vagabond and Tina Dico's One (both of which were originally discovered with the help of Grey's Anatomy). I'm also pining over Simon and Garfunkel's Live from New York City, 1967 album, which features stunning performances of so many of their hits, including The Sound of Silence.

What I'm Eating:

Yep, that's right: I just took a wild left turn from entertainment to food. Hang on, friends. As always, I've been snapping badly lit pictures of especially yummy meals, including  pasta (with shrimp and squash and a side of red wine), an impressive super bowl spread (I'd be lying if I told you I exercised self-restraint with the homemade cheese sauce and herbed sour cream. I'd also be lying if I told you this wasn't snapped just before the pizza arrived...), a turkey sub from the best sandwich place in town (a lunch treat thanks to my sweet delivery-husband), and the most incredible white bean chicken chili (please go try the recipe). Thankfully unpictured are the blackened chocolate chip cookies that suffered from a momentary lapse in oven awareness yesterday, on which I'm currently feasting. Crunch, crunch.

What I'm Loving:

You didn't think you could actually get out of here without a pet picture, did you?? I was lucky to have these two to keep me company over the weekend... and to keep things interesting, as Toby interrupted my relaxing Saturday night by sliding off his napping perch and crashing to the ground, taking a lamp with him. At this point, I'm not sure whether these guys are adding or subtracting years from my life...

Happy Monday, all! What are you up to these days?

   Love,

    Meg

Thursday Things

This week is kicking my butt, and not in a good way (although I have been spending lots of time at the gym taking out my frustrations... on myself.) Since I don't have a lot of extra space in my brain, I've assembled just a few random-but-lovely bits.

This post is incredible. Alex the parrot nearly did me in, but Christian the lion makes me cry every. single. time. The video about him is worth watching. It's okay, you can tell people:

[stolen from the comment section]

After that, you deserve a good laugh. I'm sure some shameful pooches will do the trick:

Dogshaming.com elaborates: "Our dogs love the fire but Belle thinks it belongs to her alone. She pushes Jingle away if she starts getting too close and will get so close herself that she is in danger of burning herself on the glass. She has to be pushed out of the way to add wood."

"Clutch is still just seven months old, so we’re all hoping he’ll grow out of it. Until then, we say our hellos outside."

In case bad dogs aren't really your thing...

I'm actually shocked that this hasn't happened to Toby yet... he loves the mini blinds. And in case you feel the need to check in on our fur-monsters, here's what they've been up to...

Toby has been very helpful with my NY resolution to read a book a month.

Teddy is working hard on his "high flying pup" circus act...

... and occasionally sneaks in a nap.

They've both gotten pretty good at ignoring one another.

And that's a wrap, folks. This post is now the second in a row to sneakily develop a furry theme, so I do promise you some animal-free writing in the very near future... although really, who can say no to those sweet faces?

   Love,

    Meg

The Longer The Better

Long weekends are the best. Somehow that extra 24 hours is all I need to feel like I have time to catch up on sleep and get a few things done, and I feel so much better heading back to work on a Tuesday morning. The tradeoff is that four day weeks are always crazier, but I'd gladly endure more of those if it meant sleeping until 8 every Monday.
This weekend was quiet and just a tiny bit productive, too. I made an impressive effort to break my motivational slump, pushing myself through a couple hard workouts and a short but windy run outside. Apparently the gym could tell I needed an extra spark, because I also picked up a nice little gift card as a reward for hitting 56 visits in the first two months of membership. I am already anticipating the massage that these sore muscles have officially earned! I spent most of yesterday cleaning, pushing bookcases around, and doing some heavy (box) lifting. By the end of the day, I had finally unearthed our office (mostly). I'm so excited to have a nice little spot to study!
Here are a few more highlights from the weekend:

a splurge on Friday after work

surprise Friday night dinner thanks to my handsome live-in chef... delicious!

we saw this trio of movies:

21 Hours at Munich -- I knew precious little about the Munich Olympic massacre before this film, and now I know entirely more than I wanted to. It was hard to believe that this horrifying drama was actually real.

Pitch Perfect -- It took me forever to finally rent this one, but Dan and I both really liked it. The singing was great, even when the plot left a little bit to be desired.

Zero Dark Thirty -- definitely did not disappoint. Without getting into the debate on truth vs. fiction, this was a jarring and disturbing but incredible film. I held my breath for at least half the movie and felt both exhausted and inspired when we left the theater. 

I made chocolate pudding for the first time in forever and topped it with homemade whipped cream

Teddy had another fun romp at the dog park on a beautiful day and did some snuggling at home...

... and Toby gave me a little hint of what my studying hours are going to look like.

Clearly the long weekend was a good excuse for extra chocolate, extra time cuddling with our furballs, and extra laughs with my sweet hubby. Not bad!

   Love,

    Meg