Our weekend and a quick road trip

Happy new week, blog friends.

♥

Ahhh... A little cold front moved in for us this past weekend and our temps were only around 101°F (38°C); a relief from the previous weekend when we were hit with 118° (47°C). Really, 101° is tolerable for us, 118° is just plain awful!

Anyway, enough about the weather...

{the desert in Tucson, Arizona}

Friday evening we met some good, long-time friends for dinner at a nice restaurant in Scottsdale. It was a great way to kick off the weekend, and we came home with a doggy-bag full of rib bones that Lucky snacked on all weekend. I even sent a few home with Carrie for her doggies and I smile thinking of her wondering if they'd know what to do with them. Must remember to ask her how they liked them...

 

You know, I gave up teaching yoga on Saturday mornings, and this was the first Saturday that I was really able to enjoy the luxury of getting out of bed and having no commitments for the day. Very nice! I spent a good amount of time on my own yoga mat, took care of a few things around the house, and did our grocery shopping before it was too dang hot outside.

 

I came home from grocery shopping and mixed up a batch of cookie dough - a new recipe I'd been wanting to try and I will share more about that later this week. Once my cookie dough was mixed and chilling in the fridge, I went mall shopping with my girl, C.

Fun thing that happened this weekend: My aunt, Kathy, visits my grandma every couple of weeks and stays with her for a few days. While she's at Grandma's house she cooks and cleans and takes care of things that Grandma can no longer do herself. (Grandma will be 96 this summer and still lives alone. ♥ ) The past couple of times Aunt Kathy has been at Grandma's house she has texted me and we share photos and messages back and forth for Grandma. So on Saturday, Aunt Kathy texted me a photo of a new chair that Grandma bought and had wanted me to see, along with photos of her pots of plants and flowers on her little patio. I texted back photos of our backyard and a couple of selfies, including the one above of Carrie and me at the mall.

While Carrie and I were out shopping for clothes, Doug was home working on our master bathroom remodel.

Over the years of working together on construction sites, Doug and his brother, Don, have been drawing goofy pictures of each other and then covering them up behind walls and layers of paint. The one shown above was drawn, photographed and texted to Don before being covered with a fresh sheet of drywall. Don's text reply was, "DOUG!!!!" Lol. Those two.

Doug is making slow and steady progress on the bathroom remodel. It's going to look amazing when he's done! :o)

And yesterday we took a little road trip...

I met Mindy and her husband, Carey, while I was in Tulum, Mexico on my yoga retreat. They live in Atlanta, Georgia and were staying at the same resort for a few days. We ran into each other several times over the course of their stay and we became fast friends. This past weekend they were in Tucson for a wedding, so Doug and I drove south to meet them for lunch. It was so nice to be able to sit and share a meal with them! We bid farewell, trusting that our paths will cross again someday.

I had wanted to make a little side trip to see the Saguaro National Park, so on our way home Doug accommodated my request. The park was 16 miles off the freeway and we made it 13 miles before pulling the car over, taking a few photos, making a U-turn and heading back to the freeway. Cactus are cactus and we see our share all the time anyway.

Heading back toward the freeway...

It was a fun way to spend a Sunday, and we were home by 4:00 p.m.

Here's something cool about this week: Doug and I made the decision for me to cut my hours at my corporate job, and [after some negotiating] my boss agreed. Starting this week, I'll be working Monday - Thursday with Friday's off in order to pursue other interests. Specifically, I'm going to begin volunteering in hospice work on Fridays. ♥ For the next two weekends I'll be in volunteer training, then once my required training sessions are complete, I will begin volunteering in various capacities with Hospice of the Valley. I'll share more about this as it unfolds for me.

Time to feed the turtles and get ready for work.

Have a lovely week, sweet friends.

Count your blessings.

♥