For Best Results, Add Sunshine

Good morning, cruel, cruel world.
Monday, AGAIN?
Looks like another weekend has come and gone. Makes me want to curl up in a ball and quit life for the next 5 days. BUT…bills need to be paid and the dogs need to be fed, so I guess I’ll keep my job (god forbid the dogs not get fed)

Speaking of pups, have you ever seen a happier lab/dalmatian mix in your life?

Or a cuter little [insert breed here – your guess is as good as mine]?

Brian and I took a break from working on our little 3-bedroom money pit on Saturday to go hiking. Boy, was that necessary! I’m pretty sure that my crappy mood all week was the direct result of incessant rain and never-ending “to do” lists.

All work and no play make Lily an angry, ANGRY woman.

So, yes, hiking was just what the doctor ordered. It was a great day! Milo took to the trails like a champ, trotting along off-leash like a perfect little man. Good Boy Milo! And Jericho was awesome as usual, except he was noticeably slower than previous years and quite content to amble along at a reasonable pace. Stop getting old, Jericho! Of course, this is the same dog that decided to go into retirement at the ripe old age of 3, and has been acting like a crotchety, wizened old man ever since. You’re not dead yet, silly dog! And Brian and I were definitely in our happy place, which got us psyched for the trekking season and had us eagerly planning our first overnight trip of the year (probably back to Virginia, you nosy bastards).

More pics of the hike to come - as soon as I pull them off the camera. Maybe tomorrow?

Brian also purchased this bad boy over the weekend:

Behold the Argon 85, in all it's 5100-cubic-inches of glory (there's a penis joke in here somewhere). Now personally, I'd rather buy a pack that can't possibly fit more than 50 lbs of crap in it, but Brian is an ambitious SOB. We'll see if he's still psyched about the pack when he's carrying all of my stuff PLUS all of his stuff in that bohemoth...

So it was all I could do to convince him that packing for a Memorial Day trip on May 10th is probably not necessary, and our camping gear should stay in the basement instead of all over the living room for the next 2 weeks. Still, HOORAY for backpacking! CAN’T FRIGGIN’ WAIT to get back outside!

And of course Sunday was mother’s day which was…nice? Long? A little of both, and also weird because my mom was up in Syracuse watching my sister graduate with a Master’s Degree in “bad-ass opera singing”.

I was sorry to miss it, because apparently VP Joe Biden was the speaker and my sister sung the national anthem for a stadium full of people, which meant that at some point her face was up on the giant screen, and she said that she was so nervous that she practically peed herself.

I love watching her squirm bwahahahah

But I would be remiss if I didn’t give her a big ole’ Tapdancing in the Dark shout-out. CONGRATS, EM! You did it! (now go get a job)

With my mother up Syracuse, I spent Sunday visiting with Brian’s Nanna and having a cook-out with his family.
Love his fam.
Don’t love spending a perfectly good Sunday driving all over PA and NJ to see them.

But what can you do? Mother’s day only comes once a year.

BUT…that said, the weekend went by without getting anything done around the house. Dishes are piling up, floors are covered in pet hair, and the basement is still in purgatory (yes, still). So this week we need to seriously step up our game and pull the house back together, all the while trying to exercise and spend time with the animals and maybe…just maybe…manage to watch an entire movie without falling asleep half-way through.

A girl can dream, can’t she?

Allright, Monday, It's Go-Time!!!!!!