summer starts

And hubbs was sick. Sigh. Monday i went to work, he stayed home. I went to the gym after work and can say that I've figured out the fancy treadmill. Also, 4.0 is too fast for me at the moment. 3.8 is manageable. I also did my nails. 

Summerween! Pink and purple with batty bats!!

Work was meh. Lots of grant writing. It's like writing fiction! I get to tell the story of how we will do a project that will be finished on time and also stay on budget, and will benefit us and our patients. The reality is often quite different. Sigh. 3 more to go. 

Friday I took the day off to be driver for A. You know what that means... Thurs night margs at LA hacienda!!! Hehehe. It was nice. Friday we went to her appointment super early. I found a coffee shop so I could do some journaling. Then I went to a grocery store to wander. It was fun. The thing is, I got A some flowers, and then forgot to give them to her. 

Coffee

I'm an idiot. 

Got home and got my new BAG!!! Love it so much!! 

Hubby and I went to the farmers market on Saturday. I was looking forward to my MASSIVE CINNAMON ROLL... however, the vendor of the fat rolls wasn't there. Sigh... we did find another sourdough vendor tho, so we got bread and bagels. There were 2 cheese vendors, so we HAD to get cheese to go with the bread. Then I needed earrings... well... need is a strong word. But they are SO PRETTY!!!

LOOK AT THE PRETTIES!!!

Hubbs wanted some food, so we gave the old Texas brewing company another try. Gotta say, it was good.

Hubbs had a breakfast shot. Jamison, butterscotch, OJ, and bacon.

I had a PINT of prickly pear mimosa. 

Then we split the skillet. Biscuits, Scrambled eggs, and sausage Gravy. Fruit for me, tater tots for hubbs. Very good.

The rest of the day was lazy. Hubbs finished a game he's really been enjoying. He says it's the best final fantasy game that isn't actually a final fantasy game. I started a movie marathon that just kinda continued thru the day. We heated up some bread, spread some cheese on it, had some marinara sauce and wine, and just had a really nice day.

Did some beyond meatballs, which were good but had a nutty flavor I didn't expect. 

Sunday hubby went to work, I went to Mass and my favorite coffee shop, and figured out dinner for us. I also made a bean salad for lunches. Much yummies. 

I hope all of you are doing well. Sending tons of love and hugs!! May you have the best of luck in all your endeavors 😘😘

Fruits of Urban Agriculture

I made bruschetta with the tomatoes from my tomato plant!!!

And the balsamic from Italy 😁 the basil was store bought tho cuz our basil plant didn't have what it took to survive. 😆 it joined the tomatillo and the one pepper plant in plant afterlife. 

Another week of heavy grant writing. 3 different executive summaries, 3 different project narratives, and 3 different sustainability plans. Sigh. I did get to do some of my REAL job, too, so that was nice. I also got back in the gym. Focusing on cardio this week, then will slowly start introducing weights again. The tat is nicely healed, so I'm not so worried about gym germs. 

So pretty, but still stings. Best comment so far: "is that your FIRST tattoo??" Oh honey, no, it's my 9th 😁 hehe, I'd say 10th considering the puzzle pieces got worked over twice. I'm considering a 3rd time cuz I saw a pic from when the were fresh and... WOW, holy fading ink, batman!!

I've really been missing people lately. I need someone super smart to please create a teleportation device. It's being too long between visits. I want to see my friends!!

This little ham was stealing some of my pillow!!! 

Hubby made chicken taquitos on Friday, after getting margs, chips and salsa, and rice from frescoes cocina. He got the tortillas, chicken, beans, guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and sour cream from HEB. It was all SO GOOD!! I have to say the best thing to come out of the pandemic was take-away booze. 😁🍹

Look at me!! Marg I didn't have to make!! 🤪

Hubbs wasn't feeling well on Saturday, so we stayed home. I cleaned, did some laundry, got groceries, and watched all the Riddick movies. Hubby slept, played games, and felt horrible. Poor man. I meal prepped some high protein broccoli salad... I'm hoping the flavors will meld together as it sits in the fridge. As for the main dish... I'll figure it out. There's a bit of leftovers, so I'm not worried about it. 

I also finished one of my monochrome books.

it was fun.

I started a new one, this one shows the black bits as dots.

Still quite fun.

Sunday hubbs will work, I'm going to Mass and then going to see my friend A. I've got a couple things for her. 😁 I hope all of you are doing well. Hugs!! ❤️❤️

... sigh...

Six grants all due before June 4 and my CEO tries to throw ONE more at me... we may have found my limit.

My honey got us HUGE cookies. And we goblin-ed HARD. 

We needed a nice, relaxing weekend at home. Fri we got papa murphys and watched movies. Saturday we had salad and veggie lasagne with garlic bread, and watched more movies. Hubbs went back to work on Sunday and I'm going to Mass, then a coffee shop, then home to make roasted veg and sausages with pierogies. Apt is cleaned, can is happy, and we are ready for another crazy week.

Work has gotten NUTSO

Monday was just like any other day. Catching up after vacation, getting things figured out for the week, looking forward to Thurs for my tattoo, plans to hit On the Hook food truck with hubby on friday, all was good.

I even finished Melvin 

Isn't he FUN?!?

Then, on Tuesday at 745 a page went overhead. "Nik call XXXX" I called because my boss was in my office, and our receptionist said the soul-chilling words, "joint commission is here." Boss automatically thinks it's a prank, I tell him she sounded non-prankish. He heads to the front while I check their website and sure enough, unannounced survey. All meetings are off for the next 3 days, PTO canceled, all hands on deck. Rescheduling my tattoo and dr appt, letting hubby know im gonna be working both late and early the next 3 days, and i might have to work fri. I've been thru surveys before, but never in this role. I have a much bigger part in this now. We send out agendas, get people notified of what is expected, and the survey starts. Nik takes off with the physical environment surveyor and i escort the clinical one. Wednesday was more of the same, tho the last day for physical environment. Thursday was some final things and then wrap up. And can I just say, we CRUSHED it. A few findings, but nothing super important/urgent. Best. Survey. EVER!!

For me, the hardest part was just being around so many people all day. Generally I like to stay in my cave, pull my data, make my reports, send my emails, and just be a hermit at work. I was unable to hermit (except at lunch) for three days. It was brutal. My hermiting won't be happening for a while because I'm also juggling 5 grant applications that are all due before June 4 and they are all for significant dollar amounts. So I have to meet with ceo, cfo, cno, department directors, possible partners, etc for all 5 projects. I also have to get after people to get me quotes on equipment they want. Sigh. Work has gotten INSANE and if we get these grants I'm going to need help managing them. I could end up with someone reporting to me. Weird, right? Lol. Someone has to help me tho cuz otherwise I'm gonna forget stuff. 

So thurs night hubbs and I went out for margs cuz thats 100% post-survey protocol! Hehe

tuesdays post survey wine in my new goblet

Thursdays post survey margarita!!

I was able to schedule my tattoo for Friday, so I took that off anyway. Next week I can worry about grants. Hubby and I picked up our friend E cuz she's another Discworld aficionado. We went for bfast, then drove to Dallas. Thank God hubbs likes to drive in Dallas. 😄

We were at the shop from noon until 9, but I think it was well worth it.

Saturday we went to scarby. I kept the 2nd skin on all day, but it did spring a leak (bag of yuck style) so I had to get creative.

Put the new bracelet to good use.

Pre scarby grumpy face

Asking for haply smile this time

See, he doesn't mind! He's just being a goober butt!

He decided that I needed a flower crown, and then we decided we needed drinking horns. His can also sound the call for gondor or rohan.

He also wanted a hat. With this one he can be a pirate or a musketeer. 😁

I got my scotch egg!

We had a good time.

This morning he went to work and I'll meet up with him later at SILs house for mother's day shenanigans. Then I'll start prepping for work on Monday. It'll be hospital week, so that should be fun. Hehe.

I hope all is well for all of you, hugs and love from a stressed out me! ❤️❤️❤️

All the Funness!

Hubbs and I went to Wimberley to celebrate 2 years of marriage. I found a cute BnB and I figured checking out a new town could be fun. I was right. 

Bella Vida - this was our room

They have an AMAZING screened in front porch.

We drove down on sat, and I figured we wouldn't want to go anywhere when we got in, so I had them add a charcuterie board for us. We brought our own wine from Messina Hof. 

They have 2 huge roosters

And real chickens, too. 

They provided breakfast on Sunday, which was home made croissants with egg, syrup, peaches, blueberries, and bacon. Hubby got mine on Monday cuz, you know, no food before Mass. Which, I learned, hubbs had NEVER HEARD OF. I felt SO justified when we got to Mass and the church had a little flier of "how to prepare for Mass" and said "No food or drink (other than water) one hour before mass." I think coffee is ok tho. We went for coffee afterward and found a farmers market! Then we went downtown to wander and I must say that I appreciate a town that allows for open containers when wandering and shopping. The frozè and sangria were so good. We even did a champagne topper since Sunday was the day of our anniversary. Hubby was having fun remembering where we were 2 years ago during the day. (We were getting ready, we were married, we were waiting for the bar crawl, etc.) So cute.

You can kinda see our drinks. 

Decorated boots are all over Wimberley.

Also lots of cute little areas to relax for a bit.

He loves taking pix of me taking pix. Lol. I will say this is one of the best g&ts I've ever had. SO GOOD!! And refreshing after a HUMID darn day.

Eventually hubbs mentioned he would like to relax at the bnb, so we went back. We ended up watching TV, reading, and napping. On Monday hubbs had my leftover breakfast, then we went downtown to see the other side of the street. We ended up at community pizza and beer garden where hubbs had an AMAZING apple pie mead. 

Drawing music.

Cute little park area

Beer list. I tried a couple Amber beers. Quite nice. We eventually decided to head back via HEB. We got a sammich, salad, and carrot cake. So good. Back to the Bnb again, and some relaxing. 

Tuesday we had a nice, relaxing morning and then drove north via dripping springs where we enjoyed some sandwiches from a deli. Then on to Marble falls where we found a kitchy gift shop. Then we checked into the hidden inn on the river before going to chilis for some food and beverages. Poor hubbs overindulged and on wed AM we headed home to the kitty cat.

The rest of our week consisted of ordering groceries and goblining HARD. We got the mail a couple of days, that and checking my tomatoes was the only going outside we did until Saturday. We moved the couch out of the game room and put together the desk hubby ordered. Then he set up his designated painting station and he painted his Warhammer figures. I decided to tackle some of our clutter and put together the bunny I bought FOREVER ago.

3 days of putting together, taking apart, and putting back together.

Saturday we went to the farmers market and then we went for a couples massage. We also went to Twisted Sisters and split an Italian sub and cinnamon rolls.

Massive sammich... dunno why its upside down

Cinnamon rolls.

We had torchys for lunch, then I took a nap while hubby played games with his nephews. 

Sunday I went to Mass and then came home and make pierogies and sausage. Then I tackled more clutter, worked on the bunny, and generally tried to forget that tomorrow is Monday. Sigh... waking up without an alarm clock is a little slice of Heaven.

Back to the grind (for 3 days).