Already February...

I feel like I have the Monday blues today - which is silly since I'm off today and nothing about my week seems especially taxing. I guess sometimes we all just have one of those days. Maybe it isn't so much Monday blues as not feeling like the words are flowing as easily today as they did last week? I can't be sure but I feel like I'm rambling...

Red Velvet M&M's...not all that I'd hoped they'd be.

I don't know why, but Monday through Wednesday seem like a blur. I spent last Monday just like I'm spending this Monday - doing a lot of this and that, here and there. Monday afternoon was spent with my friend Katie (new friend = yay!) just talking and talking and talking and planning to watch Despicable Me 2 because I haven't seen that movie yet and I need to. It was so windy here on Monday that I was fairly certain we were all going to blow away - I knew there would be more winter weather here but no one ever mentioned that it is crazy windy in this part of Virginia! Hold on to your hat and don't blow away!

Tuesday was work and Wednesday was work and then an interview for a possible full-time job. I won't elaborate too much more on that at this point because I'm waiting to see what will come of it - I will say I feel like the interview went well and I'm hoping for the best....especially since I've been looking for seven months now! Wednesday evening was spent at church, where I spent most of Bible study cuddling with one of may favorite humans under a year old - I did also pay attention to the Bible study; I even offered some comments. I'm good at multi-tasking like that!

She is NOT amused with me & my faces.

Not even the addition of a blanket on the head can produce a smile this week.

Thursday - Watson says "holy crap it's cold, can we just go back inside!"

The rest of my week passed like a lot of my weeks: working and reading and passing time. I spent my Thursday and Friday nights peddling cards to weary (and often weird) shoppers and rounded out the start of the weekend by selling stuffed animals that sing and dance throughout the Saturday morning hours. My weekend (as it so happens to be this week: Saturday - Monday) really started on Saturday afternoon and I made good use of it; exploring and getting out and about to see things in town and the surrounding mountain communities!

Friday night treat - a raspberry mousse cup from a new French bakery! 

This little guy is spoiled rotten - and I'm fairly certain he knows it.

I trailed along with my parents on Saturday afternoon to the Walking Mall in Old Towne Winchester for a chocolate festival - there were multiple stores involved and you could taste chocolate and all kinds of chocolate related things from 2-5. We had some delicious hot chocolate at a pet store; the owner gave me some complimentary dog treats for Watson and he was a huge fan of them! We had some very interesting chocolate at a gift shop; one of the bars had rosemary and some other herbs in it and was dreadful, I had to immediately taste a different piece of chocolate to get that taste out of my mouth! We stumbled onto an amazing furniture store that had rooms and rooms of beautifully refinished furniture at absolutely amazing prices - I found several pieces I fell in love with before we left the store and I'll definitely be making a return trip.

We rounded out Saturday night with dinner at Olive Garden with some of our friends from church - we had a waiter that was a wee bit on the ignorant side. Why do I say that? When he heard that we originally hailed from Mississippi he was quite certain that my Dad used to be a farmer - because apparently the great state of Mississippi is nothing but flat land and farm hands. Oooh wee...some folks need to get an education.

Out & about in Old Towne Winchester!

Watson got a treat on Saturday evening - he was such a sweet pup, he deserved some goods!

Engrossed in House of Cards...hehehe...

We spent Sunday roaming the countryside - first having brunch at the Mimslyn Inn in Luray before heading up into the mountains to tour the Resort at Massanutten Mountain. My parents won some weekend stay with them at an RV show and as part of the deal for claiming the prize, they had to take a 90 minute tour of the property - and let me tell you, it was NOT 90 minutes. The tour was fine and whatnot...but it started at 1 and we weren't done until 4:15. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not exactly 90 minutes, is it? We got to see the ski slopes and all the amenities provided by the resort but I finally had to excuse myself at the end because our tour guide/salesman was angling hard to get my parents to buy into their timeshare program and he obviously didn't know who he was dealing with....because it wasn't going to happen. Ha-ha!

Happy Brunch! A bit of Mimosa, Mimslyn Punch & Sparkling Cider!

The Mimslyn Inn in Luray - a lovely spot for brunch & I'm sure also a lovely place to stay!

The fountain outside the Inn - still a wee bit frozen!

The valley from the Massanutten Overlook - so lovely!

Skiing anyone? 

The resort has an indoor water park - which I must admit was pretty neat.

So - there you have it. The week seemed to pass pretty quickly; I've said it before and I'll say it again, with every passing month I feel like time moves faster and faster. Hopefully this week will be full of some exciting new possiblities and the start of a new adventure here in Virginia - but only time will tell.