Normal

Last weekend Felix and I came back from a 5 day trip to Baltimore to be with my family. We flew in on Saturday (a rough flight with a screaming, over tired baby) and Josh picked us up at the air port. I was so happy to see him. Being apart felt so odd. I was able to cope in the day to day alone with Felix and some help from willing sisters, but I missed my other half immensely.

Saturday afternoon we ate Chipotle for lunch and then took a long family nap. Snuggled side by side. Felix with his leg tossed over my hip and Josh with his hand resting in my hair. It had been such a heavy week apart from one another and when we woke we thought some fun was necessary to bring back family unity. We made soft pretzels with jalapeno cheddar sauce from scratch. It was such an interesting experience  They weren't prefect, but we learned a few tricks along the way and I'm pretty sure we will try making them again sometime in the future.

Monday I jumped back into the grind. Felix had his 6 month appointment in the morning (!) and I started getting the house back in order after a week of Josh living like a bachelor. Honestly, I was surprised there wasn't more of a mess to take care of, but the laundry was piled high, vacuuming was needed and all the bathrooms were in a terrible state. (They were going down hill before I left, so I can't solely blame him.) 

I got the first floor picked up, bedroom picked up, dishes done, laundry started, and I cooked a healthy meal from the Fresh 20. (Pineapple pork with broccoli and brown rice.) All while Felix napped, played with toys on the floor, practiced rocking back and forth on all fours, played in his exersaucer and repeated the process throughout the day.

In the evening we ate dinner, then went on a very muggy family walk. As I was cleaning earlier that day I noticed how stinky Willow was, so we got the bright idea to try and give her a hair cut and bath last night. Let's just say instead of a hair cut, it looks like we gave our dog the mange. Poor Willie-Ray.

Today has been similar, bathrooms cleaned, laundry folded and put away, baby laid down for naps, fed sweet potato, living room vacuumed and I'm planning a grilled chicken pasta for dinner. 

I know this post is pretty mundane. But it has actually been a refreshing few days. Having a bit of normal. Normal mornings. Normal afternoons. Normal evenings. Normal meals. Normal bedtimes. Just normal. How is your start to the week going?

Weekend Miscellany

1.

Boscos

One of me and Josh's favorite restaurants is Boscos Brewery. over the last 3 years here in Nashville we have had some really fun memories there. Brewmasters Dinner with Nate and Jo, Josh's 23rd birthday dinner, Josh surprise 24th birthday party, late night dinner and drinks with friends, Sunday morning brunch seeing Dave Ramsey there, meeting there for lunch when we both worked downtown because it was the perfect in between place , and on and on. This past Friday we made yet again, another memory at Boscos.We met up with our good friend Mike and his girlfriend, Christina who is new to the area, for a late meal. It was a great time of chatting and getting to know the two of them as a couple and not just single mike. :)

2.

Steak Dinner

My parents and littlest sister came to visit this weekend. Last Thursday was Emily's 18th birthday and Saturday was my Dad's brithday so they come on down to Music City for a special celebration. It's so great having them around. There are two major things you can count on when you are around my family. One is that there will be great conversation. My dad being a philosopher and my mother being the wise woman she is always have amazing insight into things and bouncing a discussion/idea off of either of them is always a good time. Layer that with me and my 3 sisters talking over each other getting louder and louder, laughing harder and harder and you are sure to end up with some lively conversation, and a stomach ache from laughing so hard. The other thing you can count on is that you will eat. and you will eat well. Saturday night culminated in a classy steak dinner complete with baked potatoes, asparagus, corn on the cob, crusty bread and 8 steaks the sizes of your head. Wash it all down with some carrot cake and ice cream and you have yourself a recipe for being "full as a tick" as my sis-in-law jo-jo would say and "happy as a clam". It was worth it though.

all around deliciousness.

3.

Sunday morning

Worship was amazing. My Hubby preached. I was super proud of Him. God showed up. Nuff said...

4.

PF Changs

The family decided to meet up with working woman and doctor extrodinare, Cynthia for lunch after church since she was one call at the Hospital Sunday morning till Monday afternoon. Cynthia's choice for food was PF Changs. Unlike Boscos, PF Changs has been less than impressive to me over the years. Horrible service and cold food at one in C-bus, and stuck in the mall hallway at one in Indy led me to believe that PF Changs wasn't going to live up to it's reputation of awesomeness. However, this past Sunday changed all that for me. Our server was probably one of the best servers i've ever had and the whole experience from crab wontons and lettuce wrap apps to the dishes we all ended up spontaneously turned to family-style once the plates hit the table to the giant 12 layer chocolate cake dripping in raspberry sauce goodness. My heart has been won over to PF Changs for good now. No good pictures at the actual table, but these ones are keepers.

This is what 30 years of marriage looks like! I'm so thankful for my parents.

Sister love.

Brotherly bonding while despising photos together.

I'm pretty sure I have another photo that looks exactly like this...like wearing the same outfits and everything that was taken a couple years ago at the Causey's house....yup...there it is.

5.

Tour de Hospital

Got to see where Cynthia works after lunch. It's a hospital. No big deal. She saves lives and stuff. I'm pretty amazed at how awesome she is.

Josh taking full advantage of the free soda/coffee offer in the doctors lounge at the hospital. that's my man.

6.

Libera

So the whole point of the trip for my family down here this weekend was to surprise lil-sis Emily with a concert to see one of her favorite groups. It was super fun to see her eyes light up and her huge grin when Dad nonchalantly told her what we would be doing Sunday evening. The concert ended up being great. we arrived no less than 2 hours before the performance to ensure we had good seats because it was general admission and there were already people waiting in line to see that boys perform. I say boys because this isn't just your average 18 year olds favorite band performing, this is literally a boys choir from south london. Apparently they have a cult following and they were actually quite good. pure crisp clean voices soaring notes higher than you and I can even imagine. Their voices are angelic and they came out wearing white monk style robes that cover from head to foot. Here's a picture...

Just kidding. Here's one.

Just kidding again. (p.s. I miss paint. the software program from my childhood.) Really though...this is the only picture I got the whole night. They wouldn't let us take pictures during the concert.

Overall, it was a very peaceful and calming experience that I'm so glad I got to be a part of with my family and I'm so glad Josh was able to endure. Love you babe! Check Libera out here.

7.

My adorable dog.

Just for fun - a stoic picture of willow.

She's so freaking cute!