Week in the Life: Weekend Words and Photos

Weekends are good. Girls' weekends are better. Girls' weekends spent scrapbooking are the best.

Friday started out rainy, which was fine with me - I was going to be stuck inside at work all day, then taking off for Wolcott right after work.  I drove down the back country roads with my car full of scrapbooking goodies and the radio blasting and ended up at my friend Marie's father's cottage on Port Bay.  Our other friends Judy, Anne Marie, and Anne Marie's daughter Catie also joined, and you know when these ladies get together, hilarity ensues.  I packed pretty light for a scrapbooking weekend, mostly because I ran out of time to pack and organize my photos.  I made it my goal to get caught up on my ALSBs and cut out and mount my mountain of stamps.  While scrapping, we kept a good mix of television on, a little Julia Roberts movies here, a little Food Network there.

Sunday was more of the same:  eating, scrapbooking leisurely and laughing a lot.  Jason works on Sundays so I picked up some food at Wegmans on the way home and sat down with my book, my dinner, and my wine.  When Jason got home, we sat down to our usual Sunday night schedule - Breaking Bad and The Newsroom.  (Both.  So.  Good.)

And that was my week.  Compared to last year, I took way less photos, but I'm much more excited about printing and putting together my album this weekend.  Last year's album is still being sorely neglected.  Maybe in 2014 I'll find the perfect balance of taking enough pictures and having enough energy to put them in an album.

Week in the Life: Wednesday and Thursday's Words and Photos

Wednesday, September 11th

Oh yeah, that's crumpets and ham salad in my shopping basket.  Don't you wish I bought food for you?

The week was moving both slowly and quickly at the same time - too much to do at work and not enough time to do it.  Things like deciding whether to renew my gym membership (I didn't), getting calls about my car getting recalled (old car, don't have it anymore), and trying to plan a joint 30th birthday party (still in the works) were also on my mind, making me feel a little stressed out.  Plus, it was hot again.  (Feels like 99?  No thank you.)   So I did what I do best and hung out with friends.

Sal and I went over to our friends Scott and Laurie's house and made dinner there.  I used my favorite black bean enchilada recipe - so yummy, and it makes one batch for freezing.  We got to hang out, eat, drink, and play with this cutie, Lizzie.

Because neither of us had food at our houses, Sal and I ran to Wegmans to grab stuff for lunch.  I got some lunch meat, and then Sal said - "Ew, look - ham salad."  I was like, "YES!  I love ham salad!", which prompted Sal to say, "That was not the reaction I was expecting."  I love ham salad.  Not sure why.   But I threw it in my basket with my crumpets and roast beef.  I ended up trying to keep cool in bed by reading a bit before finally falling asleep

Thursday, September 12th

By this time in the week, my picture-taking had dwindled dramatically.  I tried to keep up on my documenting of the week, but really, this was such a busy work week that I didn't do much than go home, eat, and go to bed.  On Thursday, I finished packing for the scrapbooking retreat I was going on the next day for the whole weekend.  I created my very organized list (kits, art mediums, stamps, tools I needed to bring), watched some Glitter Girl videos to get mentally prepared for scrapbooking, and tried to organize my scrap room.  Jason helped a lot by making dinner - his specialty, breakfast.  It was yum yum yummy.

Week in the Life: Tuesday's Words and Photos

So if you don't know much about Upstate/Western New York weather, it's unpredictable.  I always have a sneaking suspicion the skies are going to open up and snow is going to fall.  But we got lucky last week for two days.  Monday felt like autumn - 50 degrees, blue skies.  Tuesday and Wednesday, we were right back into summer - 90 degrees, humid, sunny.  So I definitely had to take advantage of that.

The day started out a little rainy, but ended up beautiful.  I left the house for work and it was not a disaster for once - points for me!  We have these weird little cherry things from a tree in front of our house and they've been falling like leaves recently.  Work was uneventful and I had texted my friend Sal about going out to enjoy the weather after work, so I couldn't wait to leave and get the last bit of summer for the year.

Jason, Sal and I ended up at Marge's Lakeside Inn - the dive-iest of dive bars, but awesome on a warm day.  The backyard of this place backs up to Lake Ontario and you drag your chairs up to the water and dig your feet into the sand.  All while holding on to a cold beer.  Pure happiness.  We all ended up at Quaker Steak for all you can eat wings at the end of the night (so healthy, and so good). It was like a final hurrah for summer.  Bring on the sweaters, boots, and pumpkin beer now.

Week in the Life: Monday's Words and Photos

I decided to participate in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life again this year.  I really enjoyed taking photos last year and, more than a year later, loved looking back on these photos.  (You can see these photos my scrolling down not so far, because my blogging has been less than prolific since last April...)

I took a much more relaxed stance this year and didn't hit the amount of photos as I did last time, and I'm OK with that.  Considering I haven't completed the album I had planned last time, I figure a low volume of pictures this time around will be easier to handle.

I'll be sharing my album this year - I'm using a Simple Stories Snap album and divided page protectors with the hope that this will make it easier to actually get it done.  We'll see...

So on to Monday's (the 9th) pictures:

I've decided that I'm horrible at waking up.  Yeah, 7 am isn't all that early, but it feels early on a Monday.  I typically leave Jason in this position, where he steals all of the blankets and pillows as soon as I leave the bed.  I had tried to do laundry the night before and I had to dig through my clean laundry to find something to wear (hey, at least it was folded).  I had some leftover breakfast sausage from the weekend so I made Jason and myself breakfast sandwiches.

When I got to work I found a present on my desk - it was something I had ordered from a friend of a friend, so it was really a present from me, to me, but that still counts as a present.  Good thing I had that present to make my day start out nicely, because Excel decided it hated me.  Womp womp.  It was a typical Monday - I caught up on emails from the weekend and filled my desk with too many papers.

I got to unwrap and ogle my new bags from Lucends - I picked out the fabrics I wanted and she handmade these!  Super awesome.  I made and ate dinner while catching up on the Internet and emails as Jason was working late.  When he came home we watched Clear History (hilarious!  Love me some Larry David) and then I went to bed.  I'm reading The Man from Beijing (pretty good so far!) and I'm trying to read something every night before bed.  And yes, that grayish rag there is my blankie.  Still got it.

September Card Sketch

My good friend Anne Marie and I are hosting the monthly card sketch challenge over at Club Scrap.  Here's my card for this month - I'm really happy about using up some of my scraps and some stamps I haven't had the chance to use yet.

Go check out the sketch here and try your own hand at it!  We're already working on next month's sketch - can't wait to share!

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Papillon, Common Threads, All That Jazz / Stamps: Club Scrap: Comfort Zone, Autumn Garden, Brewed Awakenings / Stencil: Club Scrap: Autumn Garden / Inks: Club Scrap Orchid, Leaf

Week in the Life: Saturday's Words and Photos

Number of photos for Saturday: 61, DSLR, iphone

Today Jason and I planned to get up and go - no sleeping in.  At least, not sleeping in too late.

We got up about 9, bustled around for a bit, then headed out to the public market.  Best place to go on a Saturday morning!  Cheap produce and amazing food.  We got some homemade pickles, some veggies for the week, and ate ourselves silly on empanadas and poutine.  We had to end the trip with some beer tasting, of course.

Jason went to go cover a story for work, so I took a nap - it was supposed to be a half hour, but somehow it lasted a bit longer.  We then went to his parents' house for dinner - it was yummy and it was great to spend time with them

Observations: I really enjoy food.  Eating is just fantastic

Overheard: I didn't fill out one of my daily sheets today - hope I didn't miss out on too many good quotes.

Gratitude: Thankful for family, whether it's mine or Jason's.

Favorite moment: Enjoying the food, drink and sunshine at the market.

Week in the Life: Friday's Words and Photos

Number of photos for Friday: 42, DSLR, iphone, screenshots

The number of photos a day is slowly dwindling, but there is only a limited number of pictures I can take at work.  Excel just isn't that photogenic.

I woke up still feeling pretty sleepy, but my morning shower and getting a blog post in helped to wake me up.  Work was uneventful - emails, updating spreadsheets, bagels, pizza (healthy food day) and tidying up my desk.

On the way home I talked to my mom and dad on the phone - it was good to catch up with them.  I made plans for Mother's Day weekend so that I could see both of them.

The weather was cold but sunny, so Jason and I took our freshly shined bikes around the neighborhood a couple of times.  Really felt good to be outside after a week of dreary weather.  I put my camera in my basket and tried to take some pictures as I was riding.  The results were...interesting.

Jason went for a run and I caught up on the internets and started to get ready for our evening out.  You know I was getting gussied up because I was wearing bling and sequins (hello Friday night).  We went to a wine bar that specializes in wine flights, so we got to taste several different wines during the evening.  We got some gourmet chocolate to go along with it (sesame seeds + chocolate = surprisingly delicious).

When we got back, Jason passed out in bed so I caught up with my brother on the phone.  We always talk about food and nerdy things, so it was a pretty awesome conversation.

Observations: I need to appreciate the outdoors more.  Even if it's not perfect weather, if I force myself to go for a ride or walk I usually end up enjoying it.

Overheard: "Be the rainbow in someone's gloomy day." Someone said this at work, and although a bit hokey, I think this is a good thing to strive for.

Home Alone quotes with my coworker Lindsay.  Really, there are some fantastic quotes you can steal from this movie.  Lindsay's quote of choice is "Woof." 

Gratitude: Thankful that I have so many opportunities to enjoy myself - I enjoy my coworkers, I have productive hobbies, I have the space to enjoy the outdoors, and there are a ton of great restaurants and bars in Rochester.

Favorite moment: The bike ride.  Didn't go far, but enjoyed the sunshine all the same.