Hello Monday. Also Last Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday.

Mondays are when I link with Holly and Sarah for their weekend recaps, but since all of last week felt like the weekend, I'm going to start with last Monday, and hit the whole week's highlights. 

Of which there were many. 

You'll need coffee. 

Friends we hadn't seen in a decade arrived Monday afternoon, their first trip to the lake. Since the weather was so nice we went for a short boat ride, then hung out at home and hubs grilled steaks for dinner.

We had a leisurely late breakfast on Tuesday, then took the boat all the way up to the dam.

 

It's a long ride, and we don't go that far very often, but another beautiful day weather wise so really enjoyable. 

Later we went into town for the 'grand tour' then stopped at a local distillery for drinks and apps. This a newer venue and it's always a fun stop. We went across the road to an Italian restaurant for dinner and ran into two different couples we know. Small town livin' is the best. 

Our guests left around noon on Wednesday and hubs and I declared that afternoon our day date. It was the only real window of time we had the entire week so carpe diem. 

We walked. 

That might not sound like much of a 'date', but small moments are what you make them. 

Also, I haven't really walked in months and the doc said to start slow and easy so we went to a local park and walked their flat path that runs through the woods and around the ball fields. I wore my new shoes and it all felt okay. I'm getting a shot in two weeks so hoping that knocks out the remaining pain. 

Anyway, it was nice. Day date episode 4. Check. 

Not that it's a check list but counting helps us stay on track. 

Thursday I worked my usual volunteer stint, then hurried home to make snacks and set up for guests. We have new neighbors hubs and I had not yet met, but a mutual friend let us know about them because they're from her home town in Illinois. So on Thursday we had them all here for happy hour along with our next door neighbors. 

We did heavy hors d'oeuvres by the waterfall. The weather was wonderful and it was so nice to sit outside. We turned the fire table on once it got dark and passed out blankets for anyone who needed one. It was a fun little gathering.  

And now... the weekend. Finally. 

Daughter2's father-in-law celebrated a milestone birthday recently and my son-in-law organized a fun weekend at a Georgia quail hunting venue. My son-in-law's brother drove up from Florida and met them there. The father-in-law was driving from closer to our neighboring state and was going to pick up hubs at a meet up spot just off the interstate to save him the extra time it would take for him to come to the lake, and then have to backtrack. 

Are you following? 

I was driving hubs to the meet up spot at the crack of dawn so I threw on my cozy earth comfy wear and off we went. As we were driving to the meet up spot (about 45 minutes away) a warning light came on in my car saying there was a transmission issue and don't stop the car or it might not restart. Sigh. 

I dropped hubs and went directly to the dealer another thirty minutes away. They were already busy but were so nice and said they'd figure it out. They put a little computer thingy-ma-bob in the car and voila! It's not the transmission. I needed a new battery, plus 'as long as you're here...' 

I ended up getting an oil change, several filters, and some brake fluid. They said it would take about two hours so I settled in to their comfy lounge, in my comfy clothes, drank their delicious hot coffee and watched HGTV on their big screen while I waited. It seems you can buy shoes and luggage while you wait but I opted for coffee only. 

These little minis were  pretty tempting as I know the grands would love them, but one unexpected car bill is enough. 

When I knew I'd have a whole weekend to myself I imagined spending the whole day Friday taking care of stuff at home. Oh well. Sometimes life throws a punch and ya gotta deal. 

I stopped at daughter1's house on the way home because she was having a small party for Little Miss who turned three on Thursday. (Her birthday letter from Nana aka me, is here-Ode To A Wildflower). There was a mermaid theme, nothing over the top but my daughter did put together this super cute balloon arch. The littles all happily played together and there was lunch and cupcakes and a color sheet tablecloth we moms all enjoyed lol. 

I left before the party ended because the pup had been cooped up all day and needed to be freed and fed. I ate popcorn for dinner and stayed up too late watching tv. Not a super productive day, unless of course you count preventing a future breakdown on some country road as being productive, which I do, so maybe in hindsight it was a good day overall. 

Saturday I had plans to meet a long time friend who lives one state over for lunch. We meet halfway and catch up in person now and then, which is so nice. No pics but lots of gabbing. 

After lunch I came home and let the dog out, fed him, let him relax for about an hour, then went back to Daughter1's for a family dinner with the birthday girl, her siblings, and my son-in-law's mom, plus his sister and brother-in-law and their precious new baby. 

While my son-in-law grilled our actual dinner Little Miss made me pretend dinner in the adorable new kitchen her momma and daddy got her for her birthday. We had the best time making 'soup' and discussing the menu options. 

We ate our real dinner and enjoyed the beautiful strawberry cake my daughter made, then I headed home to the pup. He was not happy hubs went hunting without him. 

Sunday I laid low because I was exhausted. For real. Hubs got home about two and we had an early dinner/late lunch of roasted red pepper soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I worked on my blog and did a little laundry while hubs napped. 

And  that was the week. And also the weekend. This week looks somewhat crazy too but October in recent years seems to be busier than May and December. Am I wrong about that? 

So what fun things did you do this weekend? 

If you want to share jump over to the Hello Monday link party happening today. Have a nice week everyone!