TGIF

The week after a vacation can be hard, but this one has been good. It's less physically taxing and exhausting to work while our kids are in daycare versus being on vacation with them! I know that will not always be the case, but in this stage of life it certainly is... So Phil and I were both kind of ready to get back to work - it helps that we both enjoy our jobs. 

The book I'm reading is Cultish by Amanda Montell for my August book club meeting next week. It's a non-fiction book about how cults use language as the ultimate form of power. I just started it so don't have much to say beyond that but others in my club have said it's really good! 

The high of my week was getting some positive feedback on the presentation I gave on a big sales call this week. I found out I was presenting the afternoon of my last day in the office before vacation, and the call was at 8:30 on Monday morning so I didn't have much prep time, although I had recently presented the materials at a conference in July. There are something like 300 people on the call so it's a big audience but it went well and I got some questions which is always a good sign that people are paying attention. 

The low of my week was finding out a good friend's mom passed away on Monday after a long battle with cancer. I had the opportunity to meet her mom a couple of times and she made beautiful quilts for both of our boys so we will always think of her when we use those quilts. Then Wednesday was the 9th anniversary of Phil's dad's passing. I never got to meet him and so wish I had. I know he would have made a wonderful grandpa. So there was just a general sense of heaviness this week.

A recipe I made was this shortcut vegetable ragu, except I sadly leave the mushrooms out since Phil isn't a fan - although they are likely not detectable since the veggies get blitzed! The boys had this with pasta and I had it on zoodles. Will gobbled it up and Paul did pretty well although he did fish out some of the pieces of carrots! Nothing gets past this kid, even when the vegetables are blitzed in a food processor! I don't know enough about Italian food to understand how this is such a shortcut, though. It's not a "quick" recipe in my mind since you have to chop all the veggies, but you don't have to cook it for long so I guess that is the shortcut part? Regardless, it's a really delicious pasta sauce that we make often!

A show we are watching is the latest season of Alive on Netflix. Phil and I have watched multiple seasons of this show. It's amazing how industrious the participants are. For those not familiar with the show, 10 people are dropped in a remote area - this season they are in an area of BC, Canada with lots of grizzly bears! - and the person who lasts the longest wins $500k. On my own, I'm watching "The Bear" on Hulu. Phil and I watched the first episode together and he wasn't a fan. I wasn't wowed by the first episode but heard so many good things about it that I decided to stick with it. It's set in a restaurant kitchen so brings back memories of waitressing in college. 

For workouts I did a short strength training workout on Monday through Beach Body, and then I ran on Tuesday, and will run today and tomorrow. The weather was absolutely perfect on Tuesday morning! I feel so lucky that I get to run around this gorgeous lake! I mean, can you believe these views??

The best money spent was ON OUR MEXICO VACATION IN DECEMBER! Yes, all caps! We finally pulled the trigger and booked our vacation. Because we held off on booking it, the only rooms available were the more expensive ones with ocean views. Oh darn, right?? I am very happy about this, but Phil would have preferred the less expensive "garden view" room. We travel so infrequently since having kids, so I'm happy to spend more to have a view of the ocean and potentially hear the waves from our room. We are going back to the same resort we went to in 2016 in the Riviera Maya area. The beach was amazing there and we are beach/ocean swimming people and didn't want to risk not liking the beach as much if we went to a different resort/area. I'm excited for this get away but also a bit nervous about leaving our kids. They'll be in good hands with my parents and I know 4 nights away - which will probably end up being 6 because we'll drop them off over the weekend, go to Mexico M-F, and then go get them the following weekend - will be good for Phil and me. We don't get much time to relax and enjoy time together sans kids. 

My plans this weekend include getting together with 2 other couples and our kids tonight. Our kids all went/go to the same daycare - one couple selected the daycare and then we've all since enrolled our kids there! Tomorrow morning Paul has a birthday party so we'll stop by that before going to gymnastics. On Sunday, Phil and Paul will go out to his mom's and I'll probably stay back with Will. Will and I will start to go out there more now that he can handle a slightly later bedtime, but sometimes it's nice for Phil and Paul to go so Phil can focus on the to do list his mom puts together for him and Paul can get some one-on-one time with his grandma doing things he enjoys, like putting together puzzles, playing games, etc. That is harder to do if Will and I come because Will gets into everything and wants to do what Paul is doing!

Bonus pics:

Double trouble shenanigan. They were watching a bunny next door and then started a little screaming match. Somehow it did not scare the bunnies off! 

Bathtime fun!

How was your week? Are you reading or watching anything good?