Lazy..

It's almost 5:00 pm and I'm just now taking a shower. Yes, my first shower of the day.

I did, however, brush my teeth this morning. At least I have something going for me.

Did you know?

Did you know geese hiss at people?

We found that out today when we were walking the dogs around the lake. We were being careful because the geese had their little goslings (is that right?) with them and I know mama's aren't too keen on people or animals being around their little ones. Right as we walked by I heard a loud hiss. I looked over to see a mama goose hissing at us.

Thankfully hubby had the Big Dog (who was REALLY interested in the geese) and I had the Little Dog (who was not at all interested in the animals.. I mean, they are animals, she can't be bothered by anything that won't pet her and love her) so we were able to pass by them before anyone got hurt.

The funny part? As we walked by, we commented that we would hate for something to happen. It'd be our luck that we'd get in trouble by our homeowners association for harassing the animals or something. You laugh, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. Seriously. Our HOA takes nature very seriously.

Weekend recap

I traveled back to Michigan this weekend and had such a blast. As always, it was tears for a good twenty minutes in the airport after hugging mom and saying our goodbyes. I swear, it's so hard to leave! I had quite the full weekend...

• Traveled late on Friday night, got in around 1:30.
• Big day at the salon-- highlights, cut, eyebrows waxed.
• Family dinner on Saturday
• Daddy's show Saturday evening
• Drinks with the cousins after the show.
• Wii tourney with the cuz, Mom, and my other Mom
• Breakfast Sunday morning
• Pack up, headed to the airport, flew home.

Whew! All that in 36 hours.. well, 35 with the time change.

Speaking of that, anyone else out there completely thrown off with the time change? I felt like I couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning. I'm sure the busy weekend didn't help.

Weekend Recap...

Saturday hubby and I met up with some of my work friends in Annapolis. We had a good time hanging out, watching football, and drinking. The bar we were at has a special shot, the Oyster Shot. It definitely is a raw oyster with cocktail sauce and vodka, chased with a shot of beer. Because I never turn down a dare, you know I totally tried that. It was gross. It won't be something I try again.

After that we headed to meet up with one of hubby's co-workers. It was a total couples date. I don't always do well meeting new people and was not terribly excited for this, but it turned out great and I'm really hoping that she had as good of a time as I did. I know it sounds lame, but sometimes there just aren't enough good couples friends out there and when you find a good set, you really don't want to let them go!

Today we ran a bunch of errands and did some shopping. Now we're just watching football, eating nachos, and drinking beer. Seriously, what could be better than that?

Cute...

Little Dog camping. She did not lay on the ground once. She insisted on sitting in chairs. Such a spoiled little dog. I love it!
Sorry for the blur, but big dog just doesn't take good pictures. She's still cute, though.

Seriously, look at that face. Now you know why she's spoiled rotten.
Both puppies cuddled up together. On the back of my couch. Seriously, they think that it's their couch. They won't move for anything.

Sunday, funday!

Hubby and I headed down to DC to check out the Afghanistan art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. It was the last day for the exhibit and it was super-packed. We're talking bumper to bumper, looking at pieces of art. So packed that I was beginning to sweat profusely (partly because I was a panic-stricken mess and partly because it was 95 degrees in there with a thousand people crammed in 100 sq. feet of a room) and starting to wonder where in the heck we would all go if there was an emergency. Hubby must have read my mind when he suggested we look quickly and not read all the information provided below the pieces.

We wandered around a bit more and then decided to grab some dinner. After walking a bit, we finally agreed on a quaint little restaurant and sat down to watch some football and grab some grub.

Oh! A little random, I know.. but while we were walking around downtown, we totally saw a guy on a orange fuzzy motorcycle. We're talking orange shag covering his motorcycle. Definitely down played the tough-guy-on-a-motorcycle image.

We're thinking the zoo next weekend...

50th Post!

Wow.. hard to believe, but today is my 50th post! I'm not really sure how I had so much to say..

Well, where has time gone? School started and I'm just super-busy right now. Not that it's my excuse for not blogging.. it's my excuse for no material. Seriously, I used to have thoughts about which crazy thing that happened in my day I would talk about. Now it's more of a... what on earth will I talk about?

Today we headed over to a wine and beer tasting at one of the local liquor stores. It was really fun. The wine was great, the beer was awesome, and the food? Simply divine. We're talking bruschetta and fried ravioli. The ravioli? My personal favorite. Delish.

Since I haven't been home in four weeks, I'm hoping hubby will agree to a night in with a movie or two and one of the bottles of wine we bought. Maybe even two? Bottles of wine, not movies. If you know me in real life, you'll know I fall asleep during movies. I definitely can't manage two movies in one night.

Here's to hoping the next few weeks will provide me with great content for the blog. I'd hate to lose readers (are there any of you out there?) because my life was... gasp!.. boring!

Babies...

I swear everyone around me either has a baby or has a baby on the way. Weird that we're getting so old. Every time my phone rings or I get an email, I swear it includes the words "We're expecting!" Seriously, folks... I'm going to be P-O-O-R paying for all of those baby presents on top of all the wedding gifts we're buying. Oh well, at least they are baby presents for other babies and not our own!

On a side note, I'm starting to get a little anxious for school to start. For those of you who don't know, I will be working in a classroom that has all children with emotional impairments who were not successful in a regular school. I will definitely be good for a few stories this school year. You know, complete with f*bombs, hitting, kicking, screaming, biting, etc. While I'm totally looking forward to the challenge, I'm so nervous for another school year to start. I've been through this twice before. It's not that I'm not prepared (I've worked three days in my classroom this week!) but I just get so nervous for the first day of school. And, in the past.. being a special education teacher who just pulls kids, I haven't had to bring my A-game on the first day of school. We didn't pull kids the first week. So I had a week to put my feet in the water and get used to it. This year? Not so much.

But... I have a week of vacation with my hubby, the dogs, my parents, hubby's parents, and their two dogs, and my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. That's eight adults and four dogs. Camping. For a week. I'm going to be tired out after this.

Oh! I just remembered, to add to my anxiety-- I will be busy for the next four weekends. Unless hubby can find someone to take my place on the NY trip. Talk about stress!

Busy worker bee, then vacation..

I've been working crazy hard in that classroom of mine... thus the lack of witty blogs.

And.. Friday I go on vacation.. so more slacking on my part.

But.... I'm going on vacation with my parents (something random always happens with those two) and my in-laws. I'm sure I'll come back with some material. If not from them, then maybe from the others camping in our campground. Because there's sure to be something I can make fun of when I'm in southern Virginia at a campground.

Sunday "workout"

Okay, so hubby and I have been talking about doing Tai Chi at the gym since we joined (two years ago..) and just haven't gotten around to it. Since hubby is training for the marathon, he's looking for other things to do to keep him stretched. We totally thought Tai Chi would be for us. You know, relaxing, stretching, deep breathing. Fun, right?

Maybe if you don't mind not talking for an hour (which I CANNOT do!) and trying not to make eye contact with your husband for fear that you'll break down into a fit of laughter.

I'm sure it's great for some people, but it's not for us. We're not all about the slow-motion martial arts, finding our "chi", and deep breathing. I spent the whole time wondering if I could find my chi even though I wasn't breathing correctly. At least we had a good laugh AND he took me to breakfast!

A side story... yesterday, hubby comes into the house and tells me that something is wrong with his car. I immediately panic (because that's what I do) and think, "Crap! Ashley just spent like $1,000 on her car.. we can't be doing that!" So I ask him what's up. He explains that when he stops, especially suddenly, there's a loud clanking sound. Crap! That can't be good, right? Breaks shouldn't clank. I tell him we'll keep an eye on it and if it continues, we'll have to take it in.

Later on in the day, we're heading to the store in his car. He reminds me to listen for the noise. Well, we break and I hear it. But it totally sounds like it's inside the car and not coming from the car itself. I reach under his seat and pull out.... a HANGER! Yes, a plastic hanger.

I about died laughing and proudly proclaimed, "That's blog-worthy babe!" and he gave me permission to tease him on here. He's so wonderful.

August?

My goodness, it's August. August? That means we start school this month. Ugh. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were just letting out for summer break!

So much to do this month, too! Next week, I will be working hard in my classroom to get it organized and put together for the school year and making sure I have everything I need for a successful school year (please note, this will be my first year setting up a classroom on my own.. the past two years I have had help and lots of it). Hubby's parents will be here either Tuesday or Wednesday, and we'll kick off the start of our vacation. Then on Friday we'll head down to Shenandoah and meet up with my parents. It'll be one big happy family vacation. I'm really looking forward to it!

On another side note- hubby and I have never been on a vacation just the two of us. We've always had vacations with other people... my parents, his parents, both of our parents, friends... never just us. Is that strange? I think it is. What if he finds out he hates going on vacation with just me because I'm boring? Eeks!

Anyway, back to the month of August. So we're on vacation, then we come back and we're supposed to head up to NYC for a Yankee's game. Then I head back to school for Teacher Work Week. Which isn't really teacher's working.. it is more like training and meetings. After that, I head to Chicago for a family wedding. Upon my return? The First Day of School!

So August will be a busy, busy, busy month. And one full of stress, stress, stress! I don't do busy very well and I don't do stress very well... so it'll be interesting.

If I tell you next year that I'm cramming all of my summer adventures into one month.. or 3 weeks... remind me that I'm crazy. Thanks.

Sunday

So today has been your typical lazy Sunday, which is my favorite thing about Sundays. Today hubby and I had to run to the mall to pick up a gift certificate for one of the little kiddos I used to babysit and he wanted to check out new cell phones. We left for the mall at 10:00 and arrived about 10:10. We walked up to the JCPenney entrance only to find a locked door. I swear the mall used to open at 10:00. Nope, not this one. 11:00 on Sundays. So we walked around a bit.

We wandered around and decided that we should look at glasses. It's been about three years since I've gotten glasses. In fact, it might be closer to four years. Definitely time to get new glasses, considering big dog ate them when we moved to Maryland two years ago. I found a pair that hubby loves, two random people in the store loved, and I think I love. I'm just not quite sure. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm so indecisive about EVERYTHING. I mean, how can I possibly pick out a pair to wear everyday? What if I get a new outfit and they don't match? Not that I wear them everyday because I always throw my contacts in, but what if I wanted to? What if I woke up one day with the perfect outfit in mind and I had an eye infection and was forced to wear my glasses and they didn't match? Seriously. This is a huge decision.

Oh well. Hubby loves them. He's the one who has to look at me in them every night. It's probably best that he likes them.

Kayaking..

Wow.. yesterday was an active day! Hubby woke me up and asked if I wanted to ride my bike while he ran. Reluctantly, I agreed. Had a nice 6 mile bike ride and came home to get ready to go kayaking.

The neighbors invited us to go kayaking with them on one of LL Bean's Outdoor Adventures. It was such a fun time! For $15 we had two hours of fun in the sun on the lake near our house. We're thinking of taking it up a notch and heading to Annapolis to do it on the Bay. It's supposed to teach you more things and you get to be in a larger body of water with some waves. AND they teaching you water exits-- you know, falling out and getting back in.

That means for the past three weekends, I've done something that was a) outdoors, b) involved water, and c) a little active! If only I could lose weight doing those activities.

Which reminds me... anyone have suggestions for fun things to do to exercise? I despise running. I hate the gym. And I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to anything that feels like working out. I need kayaking, playing basketball, you know.. fun things! I'll take ANY suggestions... as I'm quickly turning into quite the fatty and the option of cutting back food isn't really an option. I love food.

Ahh.. I guess I'll go make breakfast now! =)

The weekend..

... was AWESOME! We went whitewater rafting and had a blast! We didn't lose anyone over board, which was our goal. We had lots of laughs and a few times when we thought we were going to lose someone. The weather was awesome and camping was fun.

I have lots to say... but I'm not feeling very witty. Tonight is my last night with the cuz. She's leaving Wednesday morning, but I have class until way late tomorrow so I won't get to see her. I'm very, very, very sad. So sad that I can't even tell a witty story to save my life.