Weekend Recap 5/3-5/5

Another weekend has flown by at lightening speed and I am left sulking on my way to work that its all gone. (At least I'm assuming so. I'm writing this Sunday night and scheduling it for the morning. Who knows, I could be sunshine and rainbows.)
Now that the sun is out and temperatures are up, I'm finding it harder to get to work on Monday mornings. I just want to go out and play!
Friday afternoon started out though, with not any playing at all. As a volunteer coach it's not required for me to help out at high school meets, but seeing as I would eventually like to get a paid coaching job in this district or out, the more I help out hopefully the better.
It was a hand timed meet; I worked at the finish line writing down the times with some of my middle school-ers running the times over to be announced.

Sounds easy enough.

And I mean it was. But  I'm pretty sure that's because I'm a teacher.
There was a lot of multi-tasking. It was a 5 team meet and half of the timers where high-school-ers. So sometimes the  times didn't match up with places, or just no times at all.

And then the computer that was printing out the events got coffee spilled on it. So up in the botth they weren't really in a place to figure out places, and I didn't have the official sheets left, just the tiny lists of every runner in each event not split into heats...

So I was taking down times, scanning sometimes 8 sheets of results and figuring out places, making columns and lines to organize the tiny printouts, and organizing my middle school runners.
All at the same time.
 Go-go multi-tasking super-powers!


Thank goodness Dave came with a huge ice coffee for me, and then stuck around and directed high-school-ers that wanted to ask me where to check in for their even away from harms way.
It was also pretty nice to have some of my most reliable kids hanging around and helping me out.

After we left the meet at 8:30 PM (WOOF!) we headed to our local Greek Pizza place where the owners are literally Greek. They were close to closing but we're regulars so they sat down and ate their dinner with us with the whole place to ourselves. Let me tell you that pizza hit the spot!

The next morning we went on a hike up a small mountain with my Mom, Dad, and their dog Molly.

But before we left, Bruin and Linus got some sun.

Oh and just in case you don't follow me in on Instagram or Twitter, while I'm showing photos of my pets, here are a couple of Bruin giving Linus his nightly bath on last Monday.

You're welcome. 

Back to this weekend.

There's nothing to make you feel like you need to get into shape like your Mom kicking your butt up a mountain. Not that she's out of shape. She's one of those crazy runners that stays in amazing shape even after having 4 kids.
Don't hate her because she's beautiful.

It was pretty steep and quick, but was fine once we got into  the swing of things.

We decided not to summit since we were pretty ready for lunch around 1. But we did find a place with a nice view to eat at.

Here's Dave with apparently a  turtle/giraffe neck, nom-nom-noming on his sandwich.

I don't have any photos of my parents or their dog because I took a nap while everyone else ate.
Don't worry, Dave got photos of that. 

Bruin is my cuddle-buddy even at the top of a mountain.

This was right before I rolled onto my side and gave a few snores. It's fine. Pine needles were really meant to be nature's pillow.

 That would be Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. (We were hiking in Maine.) Still snow. To think Dave wanted to hike/ski that this weekend. NO THANKS.

The descent was nice and we got to have some pretty good conversation, and watch the dogs spaz out on the trail together.

Here were our sweaty butts when we were done.

Dave wet my bandana in a brook to cool me off. It was perfect.

 On the way home we stopped for Ice Cream. We're those people that get vanilla ice cream with a dog bone on it for our dog.
Bruin deserves to be completely spoiled before we start having kids in a few years and he's not the only one we take hiking.

 Another shot of Bruin getting it done.

When we got home, we were pooped. We took showers, poured some boxed wine into juice glasses and caught up on our "Thursday" shows on Hulu. Pretty awesome.

Sunday was pretty relaxed. Dave showed off how handy he was when he took off the dog bed cover to get washed, realized the foam was falling out, and patched it with some old pants. 

Good as new!

Sunday afternoon we also decided it was about time to hang up the twine that the Morning Glories and Moon Flowers will *hopefully* climb up on our front porch/awning.

 

We have had mixed luck with gardening, so we're hoping this project will work out. Or else we're just those young kids with the strong on the front of their house.

 Dave put in the nails and tied the knots because I get all wobbly when I get onto ladders.

 We of course didn't plan ahead for the actual planting of the seeds, because we forgot to soak them ahead of time. So I guess they will be going in tomorrow.

If we remember them.
Or the cat doesn't go fishing and eat them all while we're at work.
That would be some weird poop in the litter box.

To end the weekend, Dave and I needed to go grocery shopping.
Now we've been both trying to think of ways to eat healthier. We did some research on some different ways to cleanse and get a little more natural and realized that we actually have a lot of sugar in our diets.

So for two weeks we are going to eat "clean" and do a "No Sugar Challenge". This means nothing with added sugars and if they have sugars are pretty low.
Lots of smoothies, salads, and overall, actually, fresh deliciousness.

We'll see how this goes...

This is what the check-out looked like. So many vegetable bags! So much money!

But I think it will be nice to get ourselves back on track and not have sugary stuff every day after every meal.

And when we got home from shopping?
Well we kind of had a "last meal" of sorts.
We did have some frozen Chinese food and Ben and Jerry's in that cart, and we did eat it all. We're going to be good for two weeks, so we figured our body will appreciate it more if we had Chinese and ice cream right?

We finished the night with me updating the blog, Saturday Night Live on Hulu, and getting some grading in the grade-book.

I will keep you updated on the flowers and the sugar-free eating.
I wouldn't want to keep you up at night wondering if I've broken down and eaten an Oreo or not.

Hope your weekend was as eventful as me sleeping on a small mountain and buying some kale in bulk!

Stay Awkward, 
Tricia

Weekend Recap 4/26-4/28

Thought I'd recap my weekend. More so because I have a miserable memory and if someone asked me a month from now what I've been up to I would tell them I have no idea.

Friday after school started out with Track practice. (Yes, the weekend starts Friday afternoon.) Even though it's still hanging out with 7th and 8th graders, it's really nice to hang out with 7th and 8th graders that aren't the 60 that I spend all of my time with. Don't get me wrong, love my precious cherubs.

But when a kid does a sport they actually want to be there, so it's nice to do the coach thing after school after playing teacher all day.

Then I had to book it back home, had a snack, and Dave and I had to clean up around the house because our landlords were having an appraiser in. We also had plans with our friends who lived below us in another apartment to come for dinner. It was their first time seeing our new place so we didn't want it to look like a dump. We tucked boxes into corners, laundry into baskets, and swept all of that pesky dog and cat fur, finishing up by putting Bruin and Linus in the crate so they wouldn't bug the appraiser.

That's right, Bruin and Linus in the crate.

Together.

Chilling like villains.

Not because either of them are violent or whatever. They just both think that any stranger that walks into our house needs to be their bestie.

Not taken this weekend, this is at our old apartment. But I mean I think that this has happened more than once makes it all the better.    

So the appraisal was fast, and our landlords were not only surprised by the cuddling happening in the crate, but also how the place had come together.

    

Then our former downstairs neighbors came over to visit.  (Not the ones we ran away from, the ones before them that were like our second set of parents.)

 They brought over sushi and we made homemade pizza. I love having "family dinners" with these friends because they have such great perspective on life.

Saturday morning came around and Dave wanted to take me out fly fishing.

Notice snazzy pink fly fishing vest.

Now for those of you who don't know, Dave is big on a lot of outdoor sports.

He is a big hiker, he skis, he rock climbs, ice climbs, camps (all 4 seasons) hunts, and fishes.

He's for sure a true Mainah.

While I don't participate in all of the above hobbies (you will not be seeing me with an ice axe hanging off a cliff anytime soon, and I have yet to fire a gun) I do take part in the fly fishing.

First off, it's not boring like the type of fishing where you go out and just sit there. You have to work for it by picking the right spot, putting out a cast, and reeling it in the right way.

Also, have you ever been in a pair of waders, waist high, in a cold river on a hot summer's day? It's such a cool feeling.

Finally, I don't have to take it super seriously. I'm fine with not catching something. I just like being outside, hanging out in a river, usually with Dave or a group of friends of ours that like to fly fish. So that also means that I pick the fly that I like the looks of that day. (OOOH I LOVE BRIGHT GREEN TODAY, DAVE TIE THAT ONE ON MY LINE.)

It is pretty hilarious though when I do catch a fish and I'm using a fly that's "not supposed to work".

Did I mention Dave bought me a snazy pink fly fishing vest?

 That's a perk too.

We made it down to the first river which is strictly catch and release.

 We got our flies on and got into the river.

We got our casts going, got comfortable with our form and fished for an hour.

We moved spots, changed flies, but didn't see much action. I realized I had to go to the bathroom so I got out of the river to, um, spend some quality time with mother nature.

When I pulled the waders off and looked at my spandex pants I realized I had a huge wet spot right where it counts.

And I thought to myself, I think I peed my pants.

I mean this wet spot was exactly what it looks like when someone pees their pants.

Did I feel myself pee my pants? No.

Was it warm? No. Super cold. 

But Dave said there weren't any holes in these waders, and I mean, I did really have to go....

Maybe I accidentally peed myself when I hit the cold water.

So I went into the woods, did my business, and wondered whether I should tell Dave.

 If I peed my pants, that is totally gross. But if  I peed my pants that is also totally me.

After realizing on my walk back to the river that he is indeed stuck with me for better or for worse, I displayed my lovely wet spot for him.

I was cracking up, he was cracking up. I told him I honestly didn't remember peeing myself, but I had no other explanation. He rolled his eyes, told me to put the waders on and get back into the river.

He didn't care, he just wanted to catch some fish.

THIS IS MARRIAGE KIDS.

So we get back in the water, start to see some fish jump, but they're not going for anything we're throwing. Our friend Jamie ended up joining us on the river and he couldn't catch anything either.

At one point I was literally 5 feet away from some fish, I could see them in perfectly. I started just throwing the fly right in front of their face. They would look at it, move a little towards it, and I would see their tiny faces contemplate going for it, but then they were just like "Eh, I don't feel like moving to get that."

We had a case of Lazy Fish Syndrome friends. I mean we threw everything in front of them. They just weren't having it.

 But I didn't care. I had a great time hanging out and pretending I didn't pee my pants.

 Plus THE WEATHER!!!!  I could've been doing anything and enjoyed it because I was so thankful to get some sun.

It's really pretty until you realize there's a tire in the middle of the river. This was the catch and release place. No worries.

We decided to move to a different river, and wanted to put some dry clothing on so we could stop for lunch at this local farm/cafe.

I take my waders off for a second time, and it doesn't look like I peed my pants anymore. No.

 It looks like I peed my pants 13 times. So much so that there was liquid in my boot.

So the good news? I didn't pee my pants at all on Saturday.

The bad news? My waders had a leak in them and now we have to fix them. But hey, silver lining is that at least we know where the hole is right?

After eating the most organic BLT of my life we headed to the next spot a town over.

Not only did we not catch anything here, but the current was so strong that it knocked our friend right off his feet and down the river a bit. So it wasn't the most successful trip, but in the end we enjoyed our time outside.

Sunday for me brought yard work and school stuff. I posted here, then Dave and I decided that we needed to start working on our lawn.

 

Our landlord has some stuff piled up from an old shed that used to be on the property, so that stuff is piled in our backyard. It will be going soon, but with that and all of the pine needles it felt claustraphobic. Plus, what a pain in the buttox to pick up pine needles every time we go to pick up dog poo. While our landlords were going to take care of the lawn care, it was again gorgeous outside and we wanted an excuse to be in our backyard.

We also have some things we wanted to do to dress up the front of our house as far as planting goes and figured Sunday was as good a day as any.

First, we needed supplies. Supplies like window boxes, pots, rakes, gloves, seeds and soil. Our first stop was at a discount store here in Maine called Mardens. It has everything you don't need but you will buy because it is on discount due to water damage at some warehouse. We didn't find much as far as gardening but the trip was well worth it because of this gem I found in the furniture section.

I call it: Seduction of a Jaguar. Coming to an animal-print-themed bedroom near you.

3 stores and too much money later, we came home with everything we needed. 

This what my car looks like with garden stuff inside.

We raked and cleaned up the backyard, as Bruin watched with the wind blowing through his hair.

I promise we don't tie Bruin up like this, I'm not crazy about just tying a dog up in the backyard and leaving it because it could get away and it could really hurt itself But we figured since we were right there we could tie him up on the stake we usually use for camping.

Out front we wanted to put some flower boxes and pots.

Fun fact: years ago, before it was a nursery, our house was a general store. So we have this super awkward parking space and even more awkward awning. Per my mother-in-law's suggestion, we're going to put up some twine running from the white boxes you see to the awning and plant some morning glories.

If it works, we will have morning glories and moon flowers forming an almost privacy shade on either side.

If it doesn't work, we'll be the weird people on the street who made the side of their house kind of look like jail.

I'll keep you posted.

And that was my weekend! I'm now sitting on my couch, and planned ( for school) for the week. I think I've got a few blog posts up my sleeve too which will be scheduled to show up sometime this week (including this one.)

Hope your weekends were as weird, awkward, and sunny as mine.

Stay awkward,

Tricia

Friday's Letters

 Linking up with Ashley to write some letters.

 Dear Blogger,
 I thought I'd be smart today by creating an email with my new blog name and new google account. That way I could disconnect the google account that has my email with my full name on it. I could also then get rid of my other email with my old blog title in it. I was going to streamline down to one blogger account and email, and then have my personal email for only big girl things. (We're up to 3 emails here kids.)
But alas, you couldn't make it that easy could you? After joining my new email I copied and pasted allllll of the blogs in my reader to my new account, switched up links, and changed permissions. then When I went to delete the email with my full name I was told my blog would lose ALL OF THE PHOTOS I'D POSTED WITH THAT ACCOUNT. I post a lot of photos folks.
And with two connected to my "About Me" section looked like a crazy person. So in true awkward kid form, I now have two accounts with identical readers (yes, that's right if I follow you, you have "2" of me following you. Congrats) and have given up on streamlining. I also haven't deleted my old email because there's no way for me to shut it down and have everything forwarded. So for the next month or so I'll be checking 3 emails. NOT including my school email.
OY VEY.
(Have any of you suffered through this headache of changing emails, blogs names, blogger accounts? Any happy solutions?)

Dear painters that are painting the outside of the house,
I can appreciate the fact that the landlord called you to paint the house and make it look nice.
But I mean come on, the one day I work at night you are painting right on the porch where I was going to sunbathe? And then move right outside the window next to where I was going to eat lunch? Not cool. I guess I'll hide out in the only room where you can't spy on me: the bedroom. And I guess I'll...clean?

Dear readers and visitors,
If you need to feel a little bit better about yourself and your general competency as a person, feel free and read this post I wrote yesterday. And if it doesn't make you feel better and actually reminds you of yourself, maybe we should be best friends.

Dear birthday,
UM HI YOU'RE ALMOST HERE! SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!
I don't have any fantastic ideas of what I want to do when you come around but I want it to be a good time. If you have any great ideas just let me know. It'll be weird turning 25, but we can do it together.

Dear Will and Grace Marathons on some girly channel,
You make it easy to stay inside both when it's raining and when it's sunny but I can't go outside because there are men painting my house.

Dear link-ups,
You're a good time. You're not only an easy excuse to blog but a great way to discover other bloggers. BUT I wish some of you wouldn't get so big and crowded!
I like being able to sift through as many as possible to find new blogs but when there are like 50 I just get lazy. I also like being found by other bloggers because I often like their blog too. But again, I feel like I get lost. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome all of you link-ups are getting popular, but the amount of people to go through sometimes makes me only want to go through a few. I need to find some new ones without SO many people so I can balance between big and small.

Dear legs,
Shave yourselves. It's summer and I'm bored of doing it all the time just so I can wear shorts to work.

Happy Friday!

ADIOS

So while packing for my impending vacation, we discovered that I am about as good with space management as I am with my time management.


Like I said here, we leave Friday afternoon to catch a flight in the weeee hours of the morning on Saturday. This was our luggage Wednesday night at 9 PM

 Fast forward to 11 PM on Thursday night when we finish packing and then discover that we are 30 pounds over the weight limit.
Gulp.
So instead of sharing baggage we are each getting our own piece of checked luggage. Because I'm apparently a diva now that needs space for things?
Either way, we're about finished, I probably forgot something important like underwear or my right foot but I'll be in Mexico so I'm over it.

Don't worry, what I lack in the planning and organization department, I make up in sheer geekery and ability to read fluffy books and trashy magazines.

Tada!

Because my flight will not go on until I know whether Charles and William's horrible teeth will be passed forth into future generations of Fairy tale politicians.

I realize I have quite the eclectic book collection.
And some of you may be thinking, why does this girl have so many books? She's going on VACATION.
Well friends:
1. I'm a geek.
2. The bar doesn't open until 10 AM so I've got a couple of hours a day to let Chelsea Handler make me laugh so hard I pee my swimsuit a little with her one-night stands and general debauchery.

I told my students I was bringing 6 books. They looked at me like I had two heads.
And then they swiftly changed the conversation to ask me if I was going where all of those Mexican Drug Cartels were killing people.
I couldn't quite figure out if they were worried for my safety or wanted to start a conversation in class about beheadings.
Ohhhhhhhh my little adolescents. 

By the way, if you ever want to experience true stress, pure exhaustion , or the phenomenon of time slowing down,then head on over to your local middle school a couple of days before April Break.
 I think my latest speech to my students was about how I was probably as, if not more excited for my vacation as they were but I wasn't walking around ruining every body elses day so they shouldn't either. ( I think that's when we started to talk about gangs in Tiajuana?)

I digress.

So the bags are packed, I'm ready for school tomorrow, and hubby is in bed.
I decided after my last post that I'd set myself up with a couple of short posts that I'd prepare before so you all don't forget me. And because I think it's a pretty cool idea and want to see if it ACTUALLY works.

Until then, I guess this is Adios. If you're out and about traveling or in Mexico I'll be the girl speaking spanglish, sunburnt, and with Margarita salt on my lips.
It's not pretty but someone's gotta do it.

Stay fabulous.