Thankful Friday, Summer Edition!

 It's been a fun week. 

I'm thankful for: 

1. Summer!

2. Hanging out with friends at Sonja's birthday celebration on Saturday. 

3. My Girl Scouts award and bridging ceremony on Sunday. No photos because they aren't my kiddos, but we now have 3 Cadettes and 6 Juniors! 

4. A successful bell concert Sunday night, complete with moving looooots of furniture.

5. I got to help facilitate some interesting discussions at my church on race and mortgage lending through our racial justice group.

6. More things checked off my to-do list, woohoo!

7. Scouts, bells, and to some extent the racial justice group are winding down for the summer, so I get a nice break for a few months.

8. I squeezed in a hike at the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge this morning before it got really hot.

Summer Bucket List

My Summer 2026 Bucket List:

1. Go kayaking 2-3 times

2. Virginia Renaissance Faire

3. Go swimming 

4. See a movie

5. Eat down my freezer

6. Take a writing class

7. Read 5 books

8. Read in my hammock

9. Eat a giant ice cream sandwich

10. Go to an outdoor concert

11. Go white water rafting

12. Wander a museum I haven't been to before

13. Hike 2-3 times

14. Host a game night with friends

15. Grill burgers

16. Do an escape room

17. Catch a firefly

18. Eat a popsicle

19. Back up my photos on my computer

20. See fireworks

Thankful Thursday, Wet Week Edition

 We got some much needed rain this past week- 2-3 inches worth! It was a bummer that it was over Memorial Day weekend, but I'm glad we aren't going into the summer quite as crispy.

This week I'm thankful for:

1. I got my CPAP machine working again. New mask + correct settings = Yay good sleep!

2.  I took a lovely 5-mile hike at Great Falls after work today in gorgeous weather. Saw a Pileated Woodpecker, lots of turtles, blue herons and a beaver!

3. A fun game night with my cousins on Monday. Ella found Diagnose This, which is sort of like Cards Against Humanity. 

4. Got more things knocked off the to-do list, which is satisfying.

5. Honestly just chilling a lot over the long rainy weekend.

6. The national Memorial Day concert that I can watch on PBS.

Thankful Thursday, Average week edition

 This week I'm thankful for:

1. The Gaithersburg book festival! It's a favorite of mine- such a great festival so close to home. I got to meet an author that I really like, Stephanie Dray, and got her newest book about Abigal Adams signed! I also picked up a signed copy of Milo Todd's 'The Lilac People'. I got to hear both of them talk about their books (separate sessions) and also went to a session about books on two different shipwreck stories. Yummy food, bumped into a lot of friends, great weather.

Me with Stephanie Dray

2. Catching up with old friends. Caught up with DJ, a friend I hadn't seen in almost 20 years, at the book festival and we spent 2 hours catching up.

3. Flexible work hours so I can take mom to doctors appointments every now and then.

And sometimes to breakfast afterwards :)

4. A lovely thunderstorm last night.

5. Fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Thankful Thursday, Productive Week Edition

 Here's to a week not trying to eat me (much) so I remember to post on a Thursday, huzzah!

I'm thankful for:

1. A productive week. I knocked a good handful of things off my personal to-do list, which feels really good. It also gives me motivation to keep working on the rest of things on the list.

2. It's also been a busy but good week at work. A lot done, good conversations, and I went into the office for the first time since that week in January where we all froze haha.

3. Luna is feeling much better! I'll spare the internet the details, but she's had a very unhappy tummy for about a month as we've been sorting out her pain meds, so I'm glad she is feeling better. I won't even complain that she's back to grabbing dishes out of my sink, because that actually IS a sign she's feeling better lol.

This is Luna feeling better haha

4. Some cool May temps. It's about to get hot I think, but having some 60s and 70s in May has been delightful for walking with Luna and driving with the windows down.

5. Spontaneous dinner with Ilana on Monday :o) We had a great time catching up over Panera; I was so glad she reached out. 

Thankful Saturday, good week edition

 I guess we know it's a good week when I don't remember to post until Saturday, rather than Thursday? 

This week I'm thankful for, in no particular order:

1. My friend Kate told me about Fanta 0, and it's great. Yay soda snack with no calories!

2. I went on a lovely hike yesterday in Patapsco State Park near Daniel's dam. It's always nice to hike a new trail, and this one was pretty easy to find, although not well marked.

3. I'm thankful for the AllTrails app on my phone. It made my hike stress-free instead of stress-ful.

4. I'm thankful for my house. She isn't fancy, but she's mine, and it's so nice to have my own space to flop.

5. I'm thankful I can pay my neighbor to mow my lawn. He's got a great business and I can spend my time doing other things!

6. I'm thankful for the TV show Top Chef. I don't watch a lot of TV, but this is one of my favs, and its fun to watch over chat with Meghan so we can livechat our thoughts.

Thankful Saturday, Calmer week edition

 This week has definitely been better than last week, although that was a bit of a low bar lol.

Lots to be thankful for!

1. I got to camp with my Girl Scouts after all! I was scheduled to camp with them Friday and Saturday nights, but mom in the ER meant that another parent went in my place for the weekend. As it turned out though, I was able to go Saturday night and had a lot of fun! The funniest part was our troop moving our tents into the Glen Shelters because it was going to rain.

2. Luna is walking almost normally now. We're still sorting out her digestive system (maybe too many meds?) but she seems in less pain and is excited to walk again.

3. I just read the book 'The War That Saved My Life' by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and it was so good. Historical Fiction set in England in WWII, YA. 5 star read.

4. I had a day of rest and small adventures. I slept in, made muffins for breakfast, checked out a new bookstore in Kentlands, went birding for an hour at the lake, and bumped into 2 friends there. I also went looking for owls in a different spot and discovered a new to me trail that I want to fully hike at a later date.

5. A Pileated Woodpecker basically posed for me while I was birding and I got some beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.

6. Two of my cousins have moved to Arizona! Their new place looks so nice and I can't wait to visit them.

7. Mom is doing better. Saw her Saturday morning and Wednesday for lunch and she seems like herself and can walk relatively normally (with her walker).