Thursday, September 8, 2016

Looking Forward: The Fall Edition

So I've been a bit of a Negative Nelly lately. It's hard to be all 'rah rah life is great' when you are battling a cough that has lasted for nearly 6 weeks (!!!).  In August, I pushed myself to look back to find the bright spots of the month, and today I'm pushing myself to focus on all the fun things I have to look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Today I'm looking forward to going to a birthday dinner for one of Phil's high school friends.This group of friends is so good about getting together for birthdays, which is impressive since some of them have kids and all of us have busy lives! As people have started to have kids, the birthday dinners have shifted from being at restaurants to being at home, but I actually kind of prefer going to people's houses versus a restaurant as it's easier to talk to everyone since you can move around more.

This weekend I'm looking forward to lots of things! Tomorrow night we getting together with another couple. We are grabbing dinner at a local Greek Fest and then heading back to our place to play cards. On Saturday night we have a double date with my run club buddy and her fiance. Then on Sunday I'll hit up the farmer's market with a friend and then we are planning to go to a local state park. It's going to be a full weekend but I'll have downtime on Saturday morning/afternoon so I feel good about the amount of things we have planned.

This month I'm looking forward to doing the Minneapolis Bike Tour for the 3rd year in a row. I haven't biked in a long time as I had to stop doing it as it was bothering my hip flexor, but I haven't been able to work out for the last 5 weeks due to my cough, which means my hip got extra rest and is feeling better. So I *should* be able to do the bike tour with no trouble. Plus I am doing it with a friend who will be pulling her 10 month old behind her so we'll be taking it easy and doing a shorter route (the last 2 years I did the 32 mile route; that's so not happening this year). It's such a fun event and a great way to showcase the Minneapolis bike trails!

Next month I'm looking forward to our trip to Bend, Oregon. We booked our airbnb last month and I'm so excited about it as the location is walking distance from downtown and they provide bikes so we'll be able to use those to bop around. We are planning to do one longer hike in the Bend area and another longer hike in Crater Lake National Park. It should be an awesome getaway for us! Then the following weekend is Julia Child Night which I'm super excited about! This year Julia is taking a road trip through the U.S. so we'll be making small plates featuring food from different regions of the U.S.

In November I'm looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving! We're still finalizing our plans but I think we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with Phil's mom and Christmas with my family. I'm extra excited for Thanksgiving because the Netflix Gilmore Girls Bonus season comes out on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend. I'm sooooo excited for those 4 bonus episodes. We have an early market close that day so I can see myself coming home from work and having a Gilmore Girls marathon. I wish I had some local friends that were obsessed with the show because I'd totally have a little party (and order take-out from like 10 places because that's what Lorelai would do). But alas, the friends who are obsessed with it live far away, so I'll have to watch it on my own (and probably send them an obnoxious number of text messages once I know they've watched it, too).

This fall I'm looking forward to taking a 6-week crochet class. I tried to teach myself to crochet 5 years ago and I managed to make a blanket (shown in this post) but it was such a God-awful experience as I wasn't really sure how to read a pattern or distinguish between stitches. I love knitting but would love to be able to crochet as I think it'd be easier/faster to make things like blankets. So a friend and I are taking a local community ed course which meets at a school in my neighborhood.

What are you looking forward to these days?

16 comments:

Marlys said...

Crotcheting is much faster, in my opinion, but it has been years since I have done either! That blanket turned out beautiful in spite of your greeness, I think.
Sounds like you have lots planned but hope you can sneak in a visit to the lake before Christmas!
I have heard that the area in Oregon you are going to is very beautiful, so know you will enjoy that trip!
Enjoy your weekend!

Leigh said...

You have some fun things planned to look forward to! I'm looking forward to our new house, but not the packing and actually moving part. That's not going to be fun.

Nora said...

I hope I'm on that list of friends you will be texting post-Gilmore Girl watching. I LOVE the idea of ordering takeout from a bunch of different places. I will certainly be watching and maybe will have pizza and pop tarts and other random Lorelai-type foods :)

So much goodness to look forward to. Can't wait to see pics from Bend, OR!

Jeanie said...

I think you've made up for the slow times with a full agenda! All fun!

As for me, I'm looking forward to getting Rick from his ride tomorrow and then on Saturday exploring one of Canada's cemeteries for dead relatives, followed by two plays at Stratford (Sat. and Sunday). With a little luck, connecting with my best Canadian buddy once or twice! Then looking forward to planting at home for a bit!

Amber said...

I will definitely be texting you about GG! I can't wait to hunker down that weekend and watch it though another part of me is sooo sad for it to be truly over over since I've spent this whole year rewatching all the seasons. I have 1.5 episodes left and I have been avoiding watching them because I just don't want to say goodbye to all the characters I love so much!

Your Bend trip will be SO fun! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

Stephany said...

I still need to finish Gilmore Girls! Eeks. I just started season 5, but now that I don't have cable anymore, I think I'll be able to zip through these next three season before the bonus episodes come out.

What I'm looking forward to... settling into my new home and decorating, a weekend trip with my book club gals, my birthday cruise, cooler weather (and by cooler, I mean under 85 degrees, ha, Florida doesn't get cold until December at least!), and the holiday season!

Erin said...

It would be fun if all the Gilmore Girl lovers could be together to enjoy the fun in November. Thank goodness we can text through it all! Maybe we SHOULD plan like a google hangout after we watch the first one or something!!!!

Unknown said...

Can I recommend something? If you have time, I recommend rafting on the Deschutes River. I've been to Bend / Central Oregon and it's one of my favorite things to do. It's very popular so you should have no trouble finding a tour. Have fun either way! You'll love it!

Gracie said...

Weird question, but did they swab you for pertussis? I ask because the vaccine is less than perfect.

Caroline said...

Gilmore Girls!!! So excited.

katielookingforward said...

I went to the greek festival too! It was so darn good! The bike tour looks great, I'll be in colorado next weekend otherwise i might have done it!

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

I hope to see you guys while you're in OR. It's a funky week with a few things going on between Pete's brother here for a little trip and then an event at the running store and Pete and I both working that weekend. But hopefully at least Henry and I will be able to see you guys somewhere!

I'm looking forward to fall really arriving (and all the beautiful leaves here), but at the same time mourning summer's end because it's been so nice to be able to do so many hikes, park play dates, go to the pool, etc this summer.

Becky said...

I will for sure let you know when I watch Gilmore Girls because I'm PUMPED for it! Also, trip to Oregon - awesome!!!

Things I'm looking forward to these days:
*My birthday this weekend - also the day I get to see Glennon!
*Taking P to a farm in early October - they have animals and pumpkins and a small "tot" area - I think he'll have a blast!
*Our anniversary - I'm trying not to let it get lost in the shuffle - not sure what we're going to do yet but I want us to carve out some time - we'll be married nine years in October - CRAZY!

Abby said...

You have lots of gReat things to look forward to. You deserve that more than anyone I know!!! You've had some tough weeks.

I am sooo behind on blog reading! Goodness!!

That bike tour sounds so fun - tucson does the Tour De Tucson - which is quite the event! Lance Armstrong has rode in it many times - it is fun to be a part of something like that

I've been thinking about your hip but scared to ask with everything else! Yay!!!

Crater lake is a topper on my backpacking bucket list!! Ahh! So fun!

I've got a little slump ahead of me in terms of fun - but that's okay! We have had a lot of fun lately. I'm excited for cooler temperatures!!! 😊

Abby said...

You have lots of gReat things to look forward to. You deserve that more than anyone I know!!! You've had some tough weeks.

I am sooo behind on blog reading! Goodness!!

That bike tour sounds so fun - tucson does the Tour De Tucson - which is quite the event! Lance Armstrong has rode in it many times - it is fun to be a part of something like that

I've been thinking about your hip but scared to ask with everything else! Yay!!!

Crater lake is a topper on my backpacking bucket list!! Ahh! So fun!

I've got a little slump ahead of me in terms of fun - but that's okay! We have had a lot of fun lately. I'm excited for cooler temperatures!!! 😊

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Sounds like a lot of wonderful things to look forward to :-) Oh yeah, Thanksgiving! That's coming up soon for Canadians, and I kind of forgot about it. Better start planning something!

I'm looking forward to celebrating both mine and Christopher's birthdays in October, and also taking Christopher's parents out to a classy restaurant with live jazz for his dad's birthday. I'm also looking forward to cooking Southern food next weekend!