Around here this weekend.

Hello, sweet friends.

My wish is that each of you enjoyed a weekend as lovely as ours.

♥

I heard back from the camera shop and my big camera should be ready for pick up mid-week, so all of my photos today were taken with my iPhone. My weekend included a few outings, but lots of at-home time and that was just perfect for these past couple of days.

 

Doug and I typically have dinner out on Friday nights, but what both of us wanted this past Friday was time out on our patio enjoying the absolutely perfect Arizona weather. So I swung by the grocery store on my way home from work and picked up supplies for a quick cheese and salami tray, some chicken wings for Doug, and a bottle of wine. I loved our Friday night date night this weekend!

We have cooler temps at night this time of year, so we've noticed that our Rexy turtle is slowing down a bit - possibly thinking about hibernating although he never completely did that last winter. Having our baby box turtle, Casper, indoors gives us at least one shelled friend to enjoy. We need to figure out another solution for a hut for her - Doug has already widened the opening in this one a couple of times {it's an old hermit crab hut if you're wondering}.

Saturday morning I got up early and had a couple of loads of laundry done and a batch of cupcakes made before I left for yoga class. There's a Starbucks on my way home from class, and I've been scooting through the drive-thru on my way home for an iced tea {"iced-Venti-unsweetened-black-tea-extra-ice," they rattle off...} I could have sat out on our patio for the entire afternoon...

And those cupcakes I made? Well, Saturday night Doug attended a high school class reunion at the home of a long-time (high school) friend's house. It was a small affair, and a potluck, so I made a dessert for him to take. When I was finished decorating these I smiled to myself, feeling like I'd just made treats for Douglas to take to his little class. :o)

While Doug was at his party, Carrie and I spent Saturday evening driving to the west side of town to see my nephew Ryne perform and also to celebrate the launch of his new solo CD. It was awesome! And afterwards, Carrie dropped me off at Doug's reunion party where I said hello to his former classmates and then provided him with a sober ride home.

Back in the day, I would give anything to sleep in on a weekend morning. ~sigh~ Lazing in bed till at least 9:00 a.m. felt like such a luxury. But nowadays I'm awake well before 6:00 a.m. and not wanting to waste a minute of weekend time by lounging in bed. So yesterday morning we were up bright and early and decided to head to our local diner for breakfast.

After breakfast we went by the nursery and picked up some flowers to put in our backyard dirt. On our way home we passed a yard sale in our neighborhood and I picked up three little {old} glass bottles, and that heart-shaped garden hoe in the photo above. It's a rickety little garden tool, but for a dollar I just couldn't pass it up.

Doug replaced a couple of rose bushes that never really took off, and he made a couple of flower beds dog-dig-proof. We've found that chicken wire keeps Lucky from digging and also - the big thing - from chewing drip lines and screwing up our sprinkler system. The things we do for love... {The turtle in the background is just a statue. And his name is Chip.}

I hope all of our Canadian friends had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday this past week! Doug and I are hosting our Thanksgiving meal (in November) for his family, and we'll have dinner in our backyard space. Doug has our winter grass seed down, and unless our local bird friends eat all the seed before it sprouts, we should have a lovely green lawn in a couple of weeks.

When I get to work this morning there will be co-workers who are not happy about being at work. There will be office issues to deal with - copy machines that jam, a shredder that's seen better days, and a light bulb in the ladies room that needs replacing. As Office Manager, I hear it all. But there will also be opportunities to help people, to lend an ear or a helping hand. And before we know it, another weekend will be upon us and I'll be drinking another iced-Venti-unsweetened-black-tea-extra-ice on our patio.

Man, I love October.

Wishing each of you a week filled with all kinds of awesome.

♥