A Fogless Weekend

There was fog hanging just above the farm as far as I could see this morning.  It's a weird image.  Almost like we lived on the moors referenced in Wuthering Heights or some other equally mysterious book.  For me, though, that fog clarified how hazy things have been in the last few months.  Since July, I felt like I've been living on fast forward and things have only just slowed to normal speed this month.

Fall does that.  Or maybe October requires a slower pace--one that requires four day weekends, deeper breaths, an appreciation for color and time with family.

For a few days, I left my immense pile of grading and didn't feel badly to take a couple of days hanging out with my family near LilBro's current residence.

And since all vacations begin with Favorite in a hat...

Here he is in all his gansta glory.  And if you can't read it, his shirt says, "I keep it real."  What other caption could a big man in a teal shirt need?

Favorite and I stayed overnight so we could visit Babies 'R' Us to finalize a few decisions regarding bigger items that don't necessarily require a positive gender identification.  The coolest thing about our visit?

The only problem is now Favorite believes all places of business should have a few parking spaces dedicated to expectant mothers.  I tried to explain that even if they did?  I would probably park farther away and walk.  His argument was undeterred.

We also decided we will likely purchase one of these (or something similar):

The Jeep stroller comes fully outfitted with an iPod hookup and speakers.  It's a sweet ride, yo.  Frankly, though, after walking/running with friends and pushing three different types of strollers, Favorite and I have agreed that a jogging stroller may be a good choice for us. 

While I am walking some now (and maybe running occasionally...depending on who is reading this), I do intend to return to my running schedule after Little Navajo is born, and I do intend to work toward competing in at least one 5K and working my way up.  I doubt I'll ever be marathon material, but I do enjoy this whole I-never-thought-I-could-run-except-now-I-do high.

The family arrived the next morning and we spent the day shopping and hanging out.  We exhausted ourselves early enough to eat dinner with anyone over the age of 65 (around 5 o'clock) and LilBro chose a restaurant with the intention of developing "The Meat Sweats."

"The Meat Sweats" come as the result of eating a large portion of meat in one sitting.  And even though that was his goal, I'm not sure LilBro was altogether successful.

He ordered the build your own burger platter and might have exceeded his expectations by a bit.

Not that he wasn't up for the challenge...

He even got a little support from JaketheSnake who had been his running buddy earlier in the day.

Eventually, though, he succombed to the glory that was the build-your-own-burger.

When dinner ended we went our separate ways because a few of us had a two hour drive back to the ole homestead. 

Frankly, I was glad to be heading back to my king-sized bed.  You don't know how small a queen is until you've been sleeping in a king for a while and you try to fit your slightly overgrown butt into the same bed with a man who approximately the size of an adolescent buffalo.

My long weekend ended with some time with prezi.com--a successful encounter, I might add.  Since my first experience, I feel like I've become at least a capable user.  And it was cool to seamlessly include pictures and videos without constantly googling instructions about embedding.

Oh, and I saw a movie with my mom:

I don't know what this says about my personality, but I couldn't resist a movie where a group of girls remixes Blackstreet's "No Diggety."  Don't judge me.  The movie itself was a bit blah, but I love remixes and acapella groups so the music was a lot of fun. 

Then my mom convinced me that the shellac manicure was worth it, so even though I never wear nail polish, I sat for forty-seven layers to end up with this:

(There should be a picture here, but my computer just stopped reading my car for some reason.  I'll try to fix if I have some time tonight.)

Verdict?  A good weekend.  And a reminder to appreciate what's in front of your face instead of moving on fast forward all the time.

A lesson that bears repeating, no?