It's the Last Monday of August!

It’s Monday – the workday is halfway over, and I am less than five days from being bound for Germany for vacation! As usual, the weekend flew by but that’s nothing new, is it?

 

After a full work week, a doctor’s appointment, and quick stop at Wal-Mart – I was more than happy to be home on Friday! Ryan decided to pop open the grill and made us some awesome grilled chicken drumsticks and grilled veggies for dinner and I sat on the deck and kept him company while he grilled. Watson was VERY interested in what exactly was smelling so tasty in the backyard, ha-ha! We chilled for the evening because we both felt like we’d had a long week. It was nice to just be calm and quiet.

Saturday morning, Ryan and I attended the funeral for one of his co-workers – she sadly passed away after a short battle with brain cancer – the service was beautiful, and she was well-loved and remembered by so many people.

We joined my parents for a drive over to the Fairfax area and went to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum, an extension of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. It’s filled with airplanes and gliders and spaceships and rockets and all the air-travel related things. I’ve been a couple times before, but this was Ryan’s first introduction and he thoroughly enjoyed exploring all the displays. We also discovered earlier in the day that portions of Transformers II were filmed at the museum – and Ryan thought that was great.

Our final stop before leaving the Udvar-Hazy Center was the observation tower where we watched planes coming and going, landing at Dulles airport nearby – we even saw a 747 coming into land (and snapped some selfies with it) before we made our way to the gift shop and then on our way! We stopped at Sweetwater Tavern for dinner – it’s a favorite of the family but the closest locations are in Sterling and Fairfax – so we can’t eat there too often! I had a lovely cocktail and a delicious burger; everything was really tasty – we all enjoyed our meals!

We made a final stop on the way home at Duluth Trading Co. – this store is a favorite of both Ryan’s and my Dad – and Ryan has been looking for a good pair of khaki pants for work. He tried on a few pair and while he was doing that, I found a beautiful raincoat! Our trip to Germany could involve some rain; it’s common in the Fall in Germany, and while I have a Columbia jacket that is somewhat waterproof – it is not a true raincoat. The coat itself was a bit pricey but it’s an investment piece and is a coat I can have for a long while. So, with our new pants and coat in tow – we finally headed home!

Sunday started nice and calm – I was able to sleep until almost 7:30 and then just take time to wake up, have coffee and be chill. We went to church and some sinus issues caused me to feel pretty crummy by the time the service was over, but thankfully after taking some medicine and having lunch – I was feeling much better.

Ryan and I moved some more of my things our house and I retrieved a suitcase to begin packing in… I did several loads of laundry, made three loaves of banana bread, began packing for Germany and in general got ready for the work week ahead! Ryan and I finished The Hobbit and we joined my parents to play a new game called Everybody Knows – and I won. Ryan said I probably needed to be drug-tested (sore loser) but I celebrated my win nonetheless! After watching the newest episode of The House of the Dragon – the weekend came to a close!