Why Do Weekends Pass So Quickly?

How is it Monday again? This weekend passed in an absolute blur; the month of October seems to be passing in a blur, and something tells me it's got a lot to do with the real estate class that is taking up so much of my time! All in an effort to bring about new and good change in my life - to be sure - but spending every Saturday of the month in class, whoosh!

The dog-o was definitely not feeling it on Friday morning - the only thing he was interested in was getting himself situated as close to the fire as possible. As the weather starts to (finally) cool off, Watson can most often be found snuggled as close to the fireplace as possible and most mornings he is definitely not interested in taking a walk outside - because that means he has to get out of his bed!

I spent my Friday evening taking my Dad out to dinner (so sweet, I know...ha-ha!), studying for my real estate class and catching up on the most recent episodes of This Is Us. I am so looking forward to the Saturday in November when I can sleep in - which is pretty funny because I'm not really a late sleeper anyway... Alas, it's not yet November and so sleeping late wasn't on the agenda on Saturday.

I; of course, had class from 9:00 - 5:00 on Saturday. I sipped coffee and learned about leases. My Dad met me for lunch at Panera and of course; because I'm required to be indoors almost all day, every Saturday has been gorgeous this month! I enjoyed sitting outside for lunch and we left the door open for class in the afternoon. Once I got home, we had grilled burgers for dinner...which of course made Watson stalk the table to ensure he got a bite (or two).

He's not spoiled rotten guys - not at all, ha-ha! Watson and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and snacked on peanuts...although Watson was more interested in the adventures of eating all the peanuts than he was in the adventures of Jack Skellington. He buried his face into the empty peanut can to lick every last drop of peanut dust...

  

Watson also spent a large portion of Saturday night napping...and I caught a pretty funny picture when he woke suddenly out of a dead sleep...ha-ha!

Sunday morning I woke up WAY too early...and immediately decided I'd watch Outlander because I just couldn't possibly wait any longer for the reunion episode. It was spectacular - of course, ha-ha! I joined my Dad for church - we are all still kind of shopping around for a new church in the area - and then we had lunch at Applebee's.

Watson also finally seems to be doing "outdoor" things in the backyard...

 

The weather was pretty gorgeous on Sunday afternoon and so we went over to the Virginia State Arboretum, which is certainly one of Watson's favorite places. They have a grove of Gingko Biloba trees that turn the most amazing shade of yellow when Autumn arrives - they haven't quite turned yet, but I plan to keep an eye on them and get some pictures when they turn. We walked around just a bit and Watson had a grand time...

 

  

Another stop we made was at Long Branch Plantation - my Mom and I used to attend a monthly book club here that was so much fun, but the plantation is under a different management and they do very little with the plantation, so far as I can see... It's still gorgeous though...

We perused the grounds - they are open from dawn to dusk - and saw almost no one. It seemed like we had the place to ourselves and we were able to snap pictures here and there...until I saw some guys climbing up the back driveway with three huge dogs - not a single one on a leash. We decided that might be our clue to head out - we'd already been there about twenty minutes and so we headed back to the car.

  

  

The views from Long Branch are pretty spectacular - but yet again this year, the trees in the mountains seem almost scorched from the late Autumn heatwave and the color is less vibrant and more muted. The mountain views are still incredible though...

 

We stopped on our way out so my Dad could snap some pictures of the horses gathered near the fence - and my dog absolutely flipped out as soon as my Dad got near the horses! I know my dog is fiercely protective of his people and I guess he thought that the horses were going to make a meal of my Dad. I calmed him down but he was so uneasy until my Dad was back in the car with us. Such a silly pup!

 

I spent the rest of my evening reading, cleaning around my little home, having some leftover soup for supper and generally just getting ready for the week ahead. I closed my night (and my weekend) watching Poldark and texting throughout the episode with my "little sister" McKenna all the while. It's our weekly tradition, ha-ha!

And now - the week begins anew...