A few highlights from the weekend!
Friday
- A safe drive to Iowa. Broken record, but ever since my April 2018 (I know, GET OVER IT, Kim!) car accident in slush, I am nervous about driving in wintery conditions, and it always seems to snow over this weekend. There was a part during the drive where my car swerved a bit on slush, and my heart jumped into my throat, but we survived.
- Seeing my family. I hadn’t seen them since October!
- Playing and painting rocks with our nephew William.
- Not having to cook dinner (or any meal) or clean dishes (on Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday).
- Exchanging Christmas gifts. I was so so so so excited to give my Dad the rocks I painted for him!
Saturday
- Running in my sister’s neighborhood. She lives down the street from where our maternal grandma used to live, so it’s nostalgic for me to run there.
- Hiding an Iowa themed rock on my run.
- Vegan donuts from ICON Donuts & Sweetery. They had two vegan creme-filled options – a chocolate and a powdered sugar – and I ate both throughout the course of the day and they were delicious. (And as always, it blows my mind how accessible vegan donuts are in my hometown, but not near the suburb of Chicagoland I live in.)
- A late birthday celebration for my snister’s kids. I got to see my entire immediate family, and my dad’s mom and his sister-in-law (aka my grandma and aunt), who I hadn’t seen since October 2019! I had plans to visit them last year but canceled due to COVID-19. It was so great to be together.
- Having a lifting competition with my brother-in-law and nephew (older brother’s son).
- A nice conversation with my younger brother’s son.
- Playing Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. This is a hilarious, fast paced card slapping game, and we were all laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few people have bruises on their hands for a few days. I have a cut on mine.
- Playing other games.
- Painting rocks with my mom and snis. They are both SO talented!
Sunday
- Lots of early morning pets with Dexter, my snister’s cat.
- Playing with my nephew William.
- Hanging out with my family.
- Hiding the rest of the Iowa rocks.
- Seeing a beautiful sunset.
- Meeting Gina, Steve, and Luca for dinner at a brewery in Dyersville. I got a giant pretzel. YUM!
- Getting home (late!) and seeing the cats.
Monday
- Shitterly magnets being $1 each. Perfect timing!
- Unpacking. (I love to put things away and do laundry.)
- Playing with the cats with their new toys from my family.
- Feeling good on my run.
- Listening to a really fun Ali on the Run podcast interview with Lacey Henderson.
- Taking a nap after I got groceries.
- Posting the car rock pics on Facebook and getting a lot of feedback and a couple commissions.
Lowlights
- Failing at communication on our trip duration with Steven. He had to work a full day Monday and I had no idea. We made it back in time though! And that gave me the day off Monday to be extremely lazy.
- Driving back in some snow. Steven drove the entire way (thankfully) but it was lightly snowing and some of the country roads weren’t treated well so it was a bit slick. Eek.
Okay, so I was going to comment on the commissions in the post about the rocks you gifted but I couldn’t find where you said that, and I was like, “Where did it go?!?!” Haha. I read it here, duh. (I like to read a bunch of blog posts and then do batch commenting, lol.) How cool to get commissions!
Car accidents are so traumatic! I think it’s normal to feel nervous whenever you’re driving in a bad weather condition, especially since it’s the same one when you had your accident!
That pretzel looks soooo good. I love giant pretzels.
DEXTER!!!!
Ha, I am so glad you left this comment because I forgot I wrote that and had brought it up again in my RTT post for tomorrow. Derp! I am really excited about it! I have three so far 🙂
They are! I just want it to go away, but like… am I doing anything to make that happen? No, I am not. What could I even do other than get over it?
It was SOOOOO good!
Dexter is just the sweetest kitty. You call her name and she comes running over purring!
Love the matching sweaters! Sounds like the best weekend in a long time – really glad to see a family get together in these times. We could, as everyone has been diligent during quarantine, but are spread too far away to do it.
Thanks! We have one picture with the three of us where it looks like continuous lines between the photos. Ha.
It really was! It was just so nice to hang out and have a good time with a big group of people! I wish you could get together with your fam! <3
Curious about these autocorrects happening
“Shitterly magnets being $1 each. Perfect timing!”
Shutterfly again? 😉
Also checking out this Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza card game. It sounds fun.
Ha, yeah, what a strange, strange autocorrect… hmm… 😉
Oh my gosh, it was a RIOT!!!! Get it!!!
So glad you got to see your family! I am envious but so happy that you had this time. And your pretzel looks AMAZING. Wow.
I am so glad I got to too!
Check that place out in Dyersville if you are ever nearby!!!