Did I really just survive that?

Fewf! What a weekend. On top of that, what a Monday. It's gonna be a crazy week....

Work has been extra busy the last week or so with all the regular work plus looking through resumes and interviewing. It all seems to take more trouble than it's worth, at this point I am so exhausted from the whole thing that I kind of just want to give up. But as they say, tomorrow is another day and maybe if we surrender the search the perfect person will show up - except the perfect person is leaving. Se la vie....

Anyway, Friday was a long one. I hate being the last to leave the office, especially on a Friday night, but there I was with a mound of crap at 4:30 and planning to take most of Monday off so I was stuck. Unfortunately, this led to being late to pick up Aiden, late packing Aiden, late feeding Aiden, and finally we decided to forgo our trip to Mom's until the morning. I was also extremely grumpy and all out of sorts all evening which led to one of the least enjoyable and relaxing Friday nights ever. It took a lot of coffee and punk rock tunes to get me ready to go snowboarding on Saturday morning.

I was a little worried when we passed Vail and the snow didn't look great but I would take a day like Saturday a million times again - it was 80 degrees on the mountain! The sun was shining, the snow was melting - which made for an awesome hop-a-long work-out when my board stuck in the snow, and I was riding blacks all day. I got so confident that I even tried to work on my toe-side a bit. Unfortunately, this ended in a bit of a knee injury and by the end of the day I could feel every muscle in my leg screaming at me. But again, I would take that day of riding a million more times if I could.

After we finished snowboarding we met Mom and Chris and Bubba at Adventure Ridge for some birthday tubing. Aiden was barely big enough to participate but he would have had to ride in his own inter-tube which I am pretty sure he would not have stood for one bit. So, he hung out at the bottom of the hill with Grandpa instead.

Chasing Snowballs

Climbing in the tube

Checking out the view from the gondola

A little worried about the height

Anyway, after all the fun we could handle, we took in some dinner and cheesecake with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate my birthday - I know, I am still celebrating, and not even done yet. Sadly, we didn't stay the night because I have been swamped with homework and had a house to clean, groceries to buy, food to make, and a book to read for book club on Sunday.

So. Much. Fun. 

From now on, if anyone asks why I read - I think I will say, "Because it gives me an excuse to chat with the girls while drinking cocktails and munching delicious treats, why else would you read?"

Sunday night was so busy, even after book club, there were a million things to do. I finally got Aiden in bed at the end of the day and literally couldn't catch my breath because I was so worn out and so anxious about the upcoming week.

Monday morning, I took off from work because of a mandatory zoo project that I of course left to the last minute. Even though I whined and complained about having to go, it ended up being really exciting. I guess animals are much more fun to watch when you understand what exactly is happening, plus the infant Sumatran  Orangutan was out with her mommy and they were training her mommy to train her. Being so early in the morning and so chilly, no one was there so I got some really good up close and personal time and I enjoyed talking with the trainer and got all kinds of extra notes for my paper - now I have to remind myself how to make computer generated pie charts. But that was supposed to be the worst part of the week and I survived it. So now, I am focused and determined to keep up on my reading - this month is gonna be tough but I will finish all the books on the nightstand by the time finals roll around, or pretend I did anyway...

For your enjoyment....