It’s Monday again! Isn’t it weird how that happens something like once every seven days? Crazy.

Matt & I have been battling with feeling nothing short of LAZY on weekends I don’t have weddings, so this weekend we decided to shake things up a bit. I’m not really a “nature love” kind of person- I think hiking is kind of pointless, rock climbing scares the bejeebees out of me, and white water rafting? Nope. No thanks. I’d prefer to go to the pool… or a movie theater. But when we woke up on Saturday, the weather was absolutely phenomenal and there was no possible way to justify staying indoors, so we drove out to Great Falls Park to take Lily exploring. She had a grand old time, scaling rocks and small boulders like a mountain goat, and I decided that nature may not be so bad as long as I can retreat back to my cute townhouse after I’ve had my fill.

As always, lessons learned/things that transpired over the weekend:

• I love my Anthropologie Volcano candles- I’ve gone through several at this point, and I love how the scent fills up our home! But I think I may have found a new favorite… Target’s Sugar Blossom soy candle. It’s a pretty, delicately perfumed scent, subtle enough that it won’t overwhelm your senses or flavor your tea as you drink it. And the best past is that it’s a fraction of the cost of my Anthro candles, meaning I can burn the Target ones ALL THE TIME. Like right now, for example. Win, win win win.
• Peaches and nectarines are my FAVORITE summertime fruit, but lately the selection at Harris Teeter has had me a bit bummed. I’ll buy 2+ pounds to keep for lunches throughout the week, and then all but 1-2 of the fruit are mealy and dry, not that dripping-with-summer-nectar kind of thing that I was looking forward to. But I’ve found a cure: picking your own! Yesterday we trekked out to Hartland Orchard with a bunch of church friends and picked dozens of fresh, tantalizingly sweet peaches. Stay tuned for the sure-to-be-disastrous results as I attempt a handful of domestic accomplishments like cobbler, canning and/or jam.
• Last week as I was preparing the workshop I hosted on Friday (more on that tomorrow), I somehow managed to convince myself I’d contracted a kidney stone. Turns out it was just my obliques- we’d gone to the batting cages on Tuesday and, as I haven’t done a proper abdominal workout in several years, my obliques were just letting me know they were still there.
• New favorite vegetable- broccolini. It kind of looks like a cross between asparagus and broccoli and is ridiculously delicious.

I’d also like to brag on Matt for a moment. He’s never been a gym rat kind of guy, but after realizing we both really want to establish healthy habits NOW while we’re still young, he signed up for a gym membership last week and made it four out of the five work days last week. So proud!

Some photos from our weekend of craziness:

Eh, I guess nature isn’t so bad.

Our friends Brett & Callie play in a softball league and one of the men’s teams needed a couple of extra players yesterday, so Matt laced up his sneakers and headed out to play ball. I made sure to catcall at him from the stands, and he likes to pretend he was embarrassed but secretly I know he likes it. Probably.

Happy Monday!