And I'm really trying to get out of my vacation routine of walking up late, sitting on the balcony, watching the waves break in the ocean, taking my sweet time getting motivated to tackle a day in paradise...
Snow drifts and negative temperatures really have a way of slapping the vacation right out of you though!!
I promise to do one of those torturous vacation recap posts with too
many pictures and what not this week. You're familiar with those? The
one where you have to read about how fabulous my trip was... yada yada
yada.
I got back into Chicago Saturday night around 8:30pm, but by the time I got to my car, shoveled all the snow so I could even leave the lot and removed the snow that had accumulated on my car, I finally got on the road towards home. It was officially Sunday when I pulled in the lane!
After grabbing the necessities from the car, I was greeted on the porch by one very happy black lab and a sleepy eyed husband.
Sunday I begrudgingly changed from pajama pants and a sweater to yoga pants and a sweater only because I was hosting this months book club meeting. Nothing says 'you've got your sheet together' like yoga pants! Thankfully, we don't meet until mid-afternoon so I had plenty of time to lounge around and still get food prepared for the girls.
And if me gloating about my trip isn't enough to keep you coming back, I'll also be sharing my thoughts about this months book club selection, The Book Thief.
Just a reminder, I won't be posting this week while I'm in Puerto Rico. If you want to keep tabs on the adventure check me out via Instagram! My user name is mgmunro84 and we are going to be hashtag-ing our adventures using #SunandSandJuan
Everyone have a great week and I'll be back with posts and pics next week!
I'm not always the best good, okay fine... the truth is, I'm not good at ALL with vocalizing how much I love him and why. It's not my Love Language.
I love the man dearly, but I tend to not express it in a way he, or
anyone else for that matter, understands. I really need to work on
that!
Ten Favorite Things: About My Special Someone.
one: He mows the lawn! Okay, I started with an easy one, but I've never once mowed our yard and frankly, I don't ever want to. On top of mowing he is also in charge of most of the outside duties that home ownership bestows on a couple. Gutters. Tree-trimming. Weeding the garden. Not the landscaping, that's mine!
two: Matt is satisfied with the here and now. I admire his level of contentment with just being. I'm always striving to 'be better' and 'do more', but Matt finds appreciation in how far we've come not how far we have yet to go!
three: The guy is tenderhearted. He LOVES Bella more than words can express. He snuggles with her, not me, in the recliner every night! He'd rather watch a funny or dare I say a romantic comedy than most gory movies. Which is fine by me!
four: Matt has a very strong work ethic. I remember being so mad at him for
returning calls to customers on our way to the airport for our honeymoon
so that he wouldn't be leaving them hanging while we we're gone.
Looking back, he was just putting in a little extra effort and not
trying to drive me crazy!
five: I love his hair, right before he calls his barber for a trim, when it has grown out just past his ears and the ends are starting to curl! I beg and plead for him to leave it long, but he says it's too "unprofessional".
six: He is exceedingly tolerant. He eats all the new recipes that I find on
Pinterest without complaint, dresses up every Christmas for our annual
party and puts up with my desire to travel even thought he's more of a
home-body. And he just goes with the flow as I try to plan out every
adventure, weekend and bathroom break from here to kingdom come!
seven: Matt is independent and is totally cool with the fact I am too! Our hobbies often take us in opposite directions and I appreciate him being okay with me not wanting to sit in a duck blind on a cold morning, just like I'm okay with sweating my rear off at a horse show in the middle of August and him being at home to greet me at the end of the day!
eight:The hat tip. You know when Matt has had a few or a
few too many when his baseball hat gets pushed up and farther back on
his head. I don't know when it started, long before I came in the
picture. His buddies even make a game out of being the last one to
notice when it's happened!
nine: He's handy. I can come up with countless projects and he tries his absolute best to comply with my sketches and ramblings. We may or may not almost come to blows about the feasibility of what I picture, but he darn sure tries to make it work!
ten: The guy has backbone. If you couldn't tell from the level of snark and sass in this post, I can be bossy, opinionated and I tend to think my way is the right way. Most days he puts up with all I have to dish out, but there are times when he calls me on my BS! While I might not like it at the time, I couldn't imagine being with a guy who let me walk all over him all the time!!
eleven: Look at me go, I'm on a roll! Matt is also faithful. While he is a Believer, I'm not necessarily talking about faith in God here. Matt is one of the most faithful Chicago Cubs fans I have ever met. He is always looking forward to 'next year' and hopes to one day see them win a World Series! I hope for his sake, they do too!
Welp, there it is. Ten+ reasons why I love my 'special someone'! It wasn't as hard or painful as I thought it would be to get that out... Love you, babe.
The family who runs the barn where I keep Louie at have been out of town and I've been staying at their place and taking care of all the critters. And when I say 'all the critters', I mean 9 horses, 3 cats, 3 dogs and 1 guinea pig! The only trouble this go round was the weather...
Friday we got another round of snow, so after getting all the animals feed and tucked in for the night I snuggled up under some blankets with the house cat, Honey Bun, and watch The Hunger Games.
Who out there is a Hunger Games fan? I've got the series on my Kindle and have read them countless times and I also love the movies!
Saturday the weather warmed up considerably and I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the barn doing some cleaning and organizing. I also took advantage of the weather and rode Louie! It's been quite a while since I've actually been in the saddle this winter and it felt wonderful to ride.
The only problem with the increase in temperatures was all the snow from Friday started to melt just in time for another weather system to move in. This time we got rain and freezing rain, which makes for a sloppy mess around the farm. Thank goodness for Muck boots!
To top it all off, the temperatures dropped considerably as the day progressed and FROZE everything. The driveway between the house and the barn was literally a skating rink! As I was dealing with freezing rain and ice, my friend Allis who I'm meeting in Puerto Rico tomorrow, was torturing me with pictures like these...
After evening chores, I once again cuddled up with HB and watched some Hallmark movies. Did anyone catch 'Remember Sunday' with Alexis Bledel? You might remember her from back in the day on Gilmore Girls. The movie was cute, sad at times, but overall worth sitting down to watch!
Sunday consisted of more time in the barn. The horses are fed twice a day, but when the weather is good they are turned out on pasture during the day time and often times over night. Since the temperatures have resigned to get out of the teens and twenties, the ice hasn't melted and the horses have to stay inside. This means the two groups (mares and geldings/girls and boys) take turns getting turned out in the indoor arena so they can play and stretch their legs!
Around 5 o'clock I headed up to a Super Bowl party at our friends house.
Sadly, I realized how terrible I really am at basic math... I can't even count! My Whole30 actually didn't end Sunday like I thought!
Insert sad face.
It actually ends today or really tomorrow. Which meant no drinkies for this girl at the Super Bowl party.
Ugh, the Super Bowl!
Depressing.
Poor Peyton. I mean seriously, when the Seahawks scored the safety 12 frickin' seconds into the game, I was feeling a little dread! As to not rehash the whole game, I pretty much tuned out after the halftime show, which I thought Bruno Mars did a good job! I would have honestly quit watching the game all together if the Budweiser commercial with the puppy and the Clydesdales would have happened earlier in the evening.
Speaking of commercials, these were my favorites!
Everyone's mouth literally dropped open during the Oikos yogurt
commercial! And then throw in some Full House cast, can you go wrong?
Seriously, that face! And how can you top her statement of "and a
puppy"?
I mean, honestly... this one is adorable! As a lover of Labradors and
horses of any kind, they couldn't go wrong with the combo. I also
keeping my fingers crossed for a budding romance between the Bud guy and
the Puppy gal in next year's commercial!
After the glaring error (okay, maybe it wasn't glaring to everyone)
with last years Chevrolet commercial, the one with the rancher finding
the Holstein calf in the rain, I was hoping that someone would do a
little research this year and actually get it right. In my opinion,
this one was two thumbs way up! I'm a Chevy girl. I was raised on a
Polled Hereford farm. Paring those two things together was a great
choice! Excellent job, Chevy!
These commercials are near and dear to my heart! As a farmer's daughter and a wife to a seed salesman, this is our livelihood. We understand where the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the energy we use comes from because it's part of our everyday lives. We live it. Every. Single. Day. Sadly thought, not everyone understands and I'm so proud of Monsanto for making these commercials to help educate people where their food, fiber and energy comes from!!
So what did you do this weekend? Did you suffer through the Super Bowl for the commercials, like me? Or did your team win the big game?
