Day 137 of Happiness: Busy as a Bee

Since I only went to work one day last week (was in Orlando until Wednesday and then worked from home on Thurs), the weekend came REALLY fast.  It was great!  One of the best things about traveling is the fact that I ALWAYS get to sleep in - usually trainings or conferences start at 8am, at the earliest, and since I don't have an hour commute I can sleep in at least two extra hours.  So, this means I'm gonna be tired tomorrow as I try to adjust to the before 5am wake-up call.  Boo.

But, I had a busy busy weekend with lots of spots of happiness!

Saturday morning while hubs was working I had coffee and ran some errands with my "oldest" friend.  She's not actually old, but she's been my friend for the longest.  I have other friends that I've reconnected with through facebook, but she's my oldest friend from high school that I actually see every once in a while.  Moving around all the time like I did made it super hard to keep in touch with friends after we parted ways.  When I first moved to the States for 9th grade I **stupidly** signed up for a dance class, which is where I met my friend, H (we were both hopeless modern dancers).  I spotted her and another girl that I thought looked like possible friends (after moving A LOT I was good at picking out people who seemed like they had a lot in common with me - it's a skill I still have).  I was too intimidated to go up to both of them but then one girl went on vacation for a week and I saw my chance.  The first day H was alone I swooped in and introduced myself.  She then invited me to her lunch table and the rest is history.  By the time the other girl return from vacation I was already "accepted" into the group.  I was friends with them all through high school, and I'm still good friends with H.

However, H moved to Germany last year so I don't get to see her too often.  This was her second trip home so we scheduled a coffee date Saturday morning.  My sister took my camera batteries to Vermont with her so I couldn't snap a photo, but here's a picture of us at the Great Urban Race 2008 (or 2009, can't remember):

My next spot of happiness was a surprise birthday party with another old friend, A.  I haven't actually seen him since his wedding over two years ago.  He's not so great at keeping in touch and returning calls.  We used to work together at Luna Bella.  We actually worked together for years and years and he even visited me in Atlanta when I moved there for grad school.  He was one of the only people who visited me.  So, although we never talk or see each other, we're still good friends.  So, he's finally turning 30 and his wife organized a surprise party for him.  So hubs and I headed over there for BBQ ribs and other yummy food.  It was a fun time - catching up with him, seeing his parents, talking to some other people I haven't seen in years.  Good times and a great way to spend a Saturday night.

Today's been kind of crazy and hectic - I signed up for more First Tee classes so now I have a class of all girls (my favorite), then a class of twenty-seven 6 year olds (yikes!!!), then a class of 16 mixed.  It makes for a VERY long day.  So, I came home and whipped myself up a strawberry banana smoothie!!  Yesterday while running errands with H we stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a dutch oven with my last wedding gift card.  We didn't find any good ones so instead I bought a hand blender and smoothie cups for the hubs and me!!!  Woohoo!!  The best thing was I had a coupon for $25 off and it had expired in June - well, the woman working said that their coupons NEVER EXPIRE.  Isn't that great!!  So, I got all that stuff for $3.00.  What a bargain!!  Of course, still no dutch oven, but maybe another time.  Here's some photos of my new products:

This is what my tumbler looks like but it's a K instead, and then we bought a D for hubsters.  We also got lids and fun colored staws.  So, I'm happily drinking my smoothie out of my new tumbler with a pink straw.

And now I'm gonna do some studying and then start making some dinner - I think it's gonna be Chicken Cacciatore.  Yummy!!!

Question for you:

What kitchen item are you craving these days???

Hope you had a great weekend and you're ready for another Manic Monday!!!