I swear I don't go shopping this often...

You guys probably think I'm some kind of shopping spaz after this and this happened last week. But I swear I don't normally go shopping this much!
Yesterday I went outlet shopping with a co-worker/ girlfriend. It was a perfect day to do so, 70 degrees and sunny.

Saturday fun starts with lunch!
Actually, that's a lie. Saturday fun really started with a trip to the gym at 7:30am to get my sweat on. I did 20 minutes on a StairMaster, and 15 minutes on an Arc. I usually try to do cardio for at least 45 minutes, but I was pressed for time, because I had to shower and eat breakfast before tutoring at 9:00. I need to work on my gym-time management. 
*tutor tutor for 2 hours...with a big iced coffee to wake me up!*
NOW comes lunch and shopping!
Before shopping, we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for a quick lunch, to fuel us for a big afternoon of shopping.
I didn't take a picture of my lunch...but it was amazing. I was planning on doing the salad bar and a bowl of soup, or the mini-vegetarian burger "sliders"...but then I saw a server walk by with a sandwich on a pretzel roll. I immediately scanned the menu and found that all of their "premium" sandwiches were full of meat, but served on that beautiful pretzel roll. So, I ordered the "Avocado Turkey Burger", minus the turkey burger, bacon, and onions. It was AMAZING!! On a pretzel roll was: lettuce, tomato, pickles, swiss cheese, and big slices of avocado. And a really cute little dish of fries! Perfect shopping fuel. :)

Shopping time!
After lunch, we headed to the outdoor outlet mall. We knew that our target stores were LOFT, Banana Republic, and Gap...and we were pretty successful.

so pleased.

I found this cute cardigan at LOFT. It's thin, almost like t-shirt material, which will be perfect as the weather warms up. My shopping pal got the same cardigan...we'll be wearing it to school someday and be twins. :)
I struck out at Banana Republic and Gap...maybe next time! We stopped in the Crocs store to look for some shoes for my friend's 1-year-old baby...and I was amazed at the amount of Crocs in such a small store.

floor-to-ceiling rubber.

Next stop: Rack Room Shoes!
We were looking for some sandals to go with a dress my friend bought, and I've been eyeing a pair of Sperry dock shoes for a while now... (yes, this picture was taken on my bed. I'm a creep.)

eyeing turned to buying!

These are the most COMFORTABLE shoes I've worn in so long! I love the pink plaid accents, too. Feminine and cute. I can't wait to wear them this spring with jeans, capris, shorts, etc! I probably will not be wearing them on any docks or boats, as much as I'd love to.
We finally left the outlet mall to head back home around 4:30, with big plans to grill out for dinner at my friend's house!

Get ready for a meatless product review...
I stopped at my house to pick up a few dinner items, grabbed Ben, and off we went. We made a pit-stop at a grocery store for grilling foods: Ben got brats, I got Tofurky Keilbasa meatless sausages.
Now. I'm all about the meatless faux-meat products. But this one...was...AWFUL. I do NOT recommend this to any of my veggie readers. Though they looked good in the package, once they came off the grill they were dry with a matte finish...not shiny and glistening like the meat-filled counterpart. The taste was so bland, I covered my "sausage" with bbq sauce, but still couldn't finish it. And good thing I didn't...that meatless sausage packed a whopping 240 calories and 12 grams of fat! Not worth it.
After that disappointing experience, I filled up on homemade pasta salad and fresh chips and guacamole...and watched as my friends ate their hamburgers and brats with a teeny bit of jealousy. :)
We played with the puppies...

fuzzy Pomeranian named Dash

Played with a baby...

dancing? more like squirming and fussing. MOM let me dowwwwwn!

And had a nice evening with friends. :)

Sunday Funday?
This morning I woke up with a sniffly nose, a congested head, and a scratchy throat. With the time change, I was feeling so disoriented. I stumbled out of bed and fed Isabelle, then made myself a big fruit salad to eat in bed. :)

Today calls for: more snooze time, more fruit and veggies, lots of water, and those dreaded lesson plans.

The 5 things that made my Friday

On a scale of awful to amazing, my day gets a A-. I have no idea what that means, but since it's my blog, I can make up whatever kind of arbitrary rating scales my  heart desires. Right? Right.
(side note: I tried to teach my students "capeesh" this year. They struggled with it. Then I tried "comprende", but it turns out that my kids really should probably just stick to English. My district is getting Rosetta Stone software this year...so maybe that will help. Orrrr maybe it will make their little brains even more confused and we'll all run around speaking a mix of Spanish/German/French/Italian/English and pull our hairs out and change professions.)
I digress.
Ok, here's why my day rocked:

1. A great 3.5 mile run, plus .5 mile walk in 42 minutes.

good job, shoes. you can stay another day.

2.  A delicious, filling breakfast.  Cinnamon raisin bagel thin + a smear of pb + half a banana + a gallon of iced coffee= jawesome.

I eat my breakfast on a bagel bag.... SO classy.

3. My computer got a virus, and our tech girl was able to re-image that baby in roughly 25 minutes. SHE'S A KEEPER.

...hello in theeeeere? obviously this was pre-intervention.

4. New jeans. 7 for all mankind. Need I say more? Well, yes. I need to say more...to convince you ladies to invest in these jeans. Seriously, these jeans are my favorite 7s so far. They just feel GOOD. Stretchy...perfect length...nice big pockets to flatter the butt...not too low of a waist...perfection.

source of perfect bum in jeans (clearly not mine)

5. Jamaican bread. A friend and coworker's husband is from Jamaica, so they occasionally make a trip to Charlotte, NC to visit a Jamaican food store. My friend brought me a few pieces of this crack delicious bread. It's really dense, yet so light tasting! It's a little sweet, and kind of chewy! SO SO GOOD.
Mine wasn't in loaf form, just a few slices...which I ate before I left school. Sorry, Ben. Maybe next time I won't be a selfish hoarder of all things delicious and carby. :)

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What was wonderful about your Friday?
Any great plans for the weekend?

My day, start to finish.

4:40 am: alarm goes off...I hear it POURING rain, think to myself "waaaaaaakey wakey! no eggs! no bac-ey! run time!" and promptly turn off my alarm and go back to sleep.
5:40 am: alarm goes off again...I hear it pouring STILL, and hit the snooze button.
5:48 am: alarm goes off again...still pouring...but I realize I need to wash my hair and force myself out of my snuggly warm bed.
6:40 am: leave for work, am pleasantly pleased that my car thermometer reads "58 degrees". mmmm spring.
7:00-7:55 am: eat my sad, sad plain oatmeal breakfast and work on my B.T. papers that are due at 3:30.
7:55-2:00 "teach"...aka let students work on their laptops while I work on my B.T. papers and an IEP.

shhhhHHHHHH, guys!

2:00-2:15 pm: pace around my room nervously as I await my post-observation conference with my principal
2:15-2:45 pm: meet with my principal, find out that I'm not, in fact, FIRED. sweat buckets, smile and nod, and thank my sweet lucky stars that I'm not a disaster after all.
3:00-4:00 pm: meet with staff and principals to hear about the upcoming school year's budget. find out that if the county commissioners don't want to give our school district $7 and change million, our district is going to FALL. A. PART. cuts include: no middle school athletics, outsourcing custodial services, no 3-5th grade tutors, $1,000,000 from E.C. (that would be MY department), 1.5 mile "walk zone" for bussing, fewer teacher assistants, fewer supplies, no pay raises, etc etc the list goes onnnnnnnn...
4:00-4:15 pm: quick quick IEP meeting (no parent, so that makes it fast)
4:15-5:15 pm: last ever BT 3 meeting; turn in 10 pages of "reflection on my accomplishments", eat 2 shamrock cookies, discuss budget cuts, soak my feet by running through puddles.
5:45 pm: finally get home. find a delightful surprise on my doorstep!

check out that bling!

5:45-6:70 pm: assume the horizontal position on the floor, talk to husband about day, debate eating dinner, make a egg and avocado sammie on a cinnamon raisin bagel thin.(no picture...it was good but ugly)
7:00-7:45 pm: feed a out-of-town friend's cats, run to Harris Teeter for some groceries, including sprouts, apples, nectarines, bananas, carrots, veggie sliced cheese, and THIS BABY:

takes me back to my wedding dinner!

 7:45-8:40 pm: pack my lunch, pack my clothes for tomorrow into my gym bag (planning to run before school!), sing "it's a rainy day" to Izzy, test out a few Lifesaver jelly beans to make sure they're edible before taking to school for my kids...

just a few, I swear. :)

8:40-8:57 pm: quicky quick quick blogging
9:00pm:  BEDTIME!

P.S. Look what I got in the mail from my mom and dad! Our first (and hopefully only...lol) one-year anniversary gift! It's a 3-cup Hamilton Beach food processor, "chef's chopper"! I can't wait to try it out this weekend....maybe with some hummus, or black bean veggie burgers?! Thanks, mom and dad! <3

it came with a mini-spatula...which I obv stuck in the hole in the lid.

Triple Tangent Tuesday, lazy-style

Hey y'all.

It's Tuesday.
How was yours?
Mine was sort of silly, and included an unannounced observation from my principal, in which my kids were pretending to be zoo animals and I was managing in a controlled-chaos type of way. At one point, a student was putting tape on her forehead. "GIRLFRIEND, you CANNOT do that right now." 
Can't WAIT for the post-observation conference...fingers crossed that I get to keep my job? Yes, please.

I planned to go to spin class this morning, but slept like garbage last night and opted to get a bit of extra sleep this morning. Probably if I had gone to spin and gotten my sweat on, I would have been all over my monkeys children and had a stellar observation. Oh wells.
Then, OF COURSE I didn't want to go to the gym after school...so me and Chalene did sit ups and the wheel for a bit, while the Siamese rolled around on the floor and showed off her fuzzy tummy. WORK ya BODY!

It's Triple Tangent Tuesday!
(good thing, too...my fingers are too cold to type, and my eyes need to sleep.)

1. It finally looks like spring in my neighborhood!

I loooooove the white trees! (don't worry, none of those are my house)

It can be 80 degrees and sunny, but if there are no leaves on the trees, I just can't fully get into the spring-mindset.
A few days ago we had a mega-rainstorm, and now the trees are blooming and beautiful!
...Now, if only the grass would catch up! Most of our lawns are parched and yellow, like these. Yuck.

2. (this is going to be the lamest "tangent" ever...just so you know.)
Wanna see what I had for lunch? Ok.

spicy black bean burger + veggie cheese on a cin-raisin bagel thin. 

Wanna see what I had for dinner? Ok. Inspired by Sarah's lunch wrap!

apple-spinach-blueb goat cheese quesodilla (on a fiber-licious low-carb wrap!)

 3. Me and the mister relaxed on the couch for a solid 45 minutes tonight, and it was lovely! We only see each other 3 nights a week, plus weekends...Mondays and Wednesdays I tutor 5:30-7:30, and he goes to his second job at 7:30, and doesn't get home until after my bedtime. So, Tuesday nights I have to do some force-snuggling. Haha, just kidding...kind of. :)

 thanks, iphone 4, for making your "amazing 2nd camera" so crappy. but look at that snuggle. <3

Tomorrow I'll do better, I promise.
Over and out, cub scouts.

Inspired and Encouraged

It's Monday...
And I only have a few things to say.

1. This video (via youtube) is beyond amazeballs. I'm telling you right now, if you don't break down into quiet, weepy tears, you've got no soul. This video makes me want to smack myself when I stop running after 1.25 miles... GIRLFRIEND, get it together! I'm going to watch this video when I'm feeling really lazy and need inspiration.
Here's the description:

"A Son asked his father, "Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?" The father who, despite having a heart condition, says "Yes". They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons. The father always saying "Yes" to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his fater, "Dad, let's join the Ironman together."

To which, his father said "Yes".

For those who don't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

Father and son went on to complete the race together!"

2. I spent 67 minutes on the treadmill at my gym tonight. Most of the time was spent running! Here's what it looked like:
miles 0-2: run
miles 2-2.25 walk
miles 2.25-3.25 run
miles 3.25-3.5 walk
miles 3.5-4.0 run
miles 4.0-4.25 walk
miles 4.25-5.0 run
miles 5.0-5.25 walk
miles 5.25-5.75 run
miles 5.75-6.0 run
totals: 4.75 miles ran, 1.25 miles walked= 6 miles in 67 minutes!
This is encouraging...it makes me believe I might actually be able to do the 10k without passing out...which would be the worst kind of embarrassment. Thumbs up to training! :)

3. 5:30 am spin class! Time for bed.

Productive Weekend Recap!

(I always try to start my blogging with a title...and realize I have no idea what to put, and remember that I am constantly telling my students to write and THEN decide on the title! the title needs to fit the text!
Now that I'm done with the post, I still can't think of a good title...so sorry, charlies.)

Hi, guys!

I hope you are all having a magnificent weekend. Mine has been super productive. Remember yesterday's to-do list?  I was able to cross of several items, and it felt great.

Saturday
Saturday continued after tutoring with a trip to Subway for lunch! I got the Veggie Delite on cheddar/herb bread...filled with lettuce, tomatoes x 2, jalepenos, olives, banana and green peppers, and salt/pepper. SO GOOD! I ate the whole thing. :)

12 inches of goodness.

I actually ate this while sitting on the curb at a local tire shop...the first order of business yesterday was getting new tires for my car. In NC, and some other states, cars have to get inspected every year. I'm due for my inspection this month, and THANKFULLY, Ben knows a lot about cars, and could tell that my tires wouldn't pass inspection. So, we looked up the nearest used-tire shop, and headed there with our Subway lunch! We picnic-ed in the beautiful weather, and chatted about life while we waited for my car.
After I got new tires, we headed to an inspection station, where my car quickly passed the multi-point inspection. PHEW! Two things checked off the list!
We were driving home and I knew that Saturday wouldn't be complete without a trip to Rita's! I got a gelati, which is layers of Italian ice and custard. Mine contained layers of vanilla custard and caramel apple Italian ice. DELICIOUS!

Gelati! YUM!

Finally we made it home, and after sinking deep into my cushy couch, I got a call from a girlfriend, who was ready to work out!
Thank goodness! Not enough movement + gelati = sluggish and bloated Amy.
We headed to my gym, which was EMPTY at 6:30 on Saturday night, and decided to do a 15-minute cardio circuit.
Here's what it looked like:
0-15 minutes: Arc trainer
15-30: treadmill run (I ran a 9:30 mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 
30-45: stationary bike (3.5 miles, slow and steady)
45-55: stair climber
It was a great workout, I was dripping sweat by the end! I'm glad we went; I needed a sweat session after my huge lunch and ice cream! And it was wonderful to be at the gym when it's so quiet and empty...we had our choice of any machines we wanted. :)

Sunday
I woke up this morning knowing that I had BUCKETS of school work to do, and that I couldn't leave the house until it was done. I also knew that I wanted to get my eyebrows cleaned up and meet my friend Alyssa for a little lunch and shopping...so I had to get crackin' on my school work right away! I decided that today would be a rest day from working out. :)
I situated myself on the couch with a little breakfast and got to work!

YUM!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

yogurt bowl and a big Tervy full of ice water!

close up: chobani, strawberries, raw oats, sliced almonds, and cherry preserves!

I took a few breaks to snuggle with the siamese...

And by "snuggle", I mean she sat on me and stared out the window.

Around 10:30 I finished my lesson plans and one IEP. I still have another IEP to write and a few papers to dabble with...but I got enough done to allow myself a trip to the mall!
I met Alyssa and we got our eyebrows waxed...the lady had us come into the room together, and we took turns getting our brows done. Good thing we're such good friends! ;)
Then we headed out of the salon (located in the mall), and bee-lined for Ann Taylor LOFT! I looove LOFT...but have to be careful going in too often, their clothing are too cute for me to leave with just one top or skirt!
I did well today; I got 2 tops and a pair of black ankle capris, all on sale. My receipt says I saved $54!
Here are a few pictures of my new tops...and both tops are worn with the black pants, though you can't see much of them. 

shirt one. it's more of a coral than bright orange, like it looks. sorry for my dirty mirror!

shirt two. I look REALLY pleased...can't wait to wear this to school or for play!

this is a Target purchase...a big comfy sweatshirt for lounging! SO GREAT.

Now I'm sitting on the couch, looking at grad school programs at NC State, digesting my delicious Mexican dinner, and trying to mentally prepare for the week to come.
Happy Sunday evening to YOUUUUU!

To-Do List with the Mister

Good morning!

I'm so glad it's Saturday. 
So, so, sooooo glad it's Saturday. 
It was a long week, full of early mornings, meetings and trainings and tests, tutoring after school, and not seeing my husband (he works two jobs also, and typically is gone 8am-5pm, and again 7:45-9:30pm).
Now that it's the weekend, Ben and I have plans to do lots of REALLY fun things together, such as...

-get new tires for the saab
-get the saab inspected
-buy groceries
-do our taxes
-finish Ben's NC State application (he's going back to schoooool YAY)
-clean our MESS of a house

Sounds wild, right? Haha, time together is time together, regardless of what we're doing. <3

This morning I'm scheduled to tutor from 10:00-12:30, and then the to-do list fun starts!

For now, I'm relaxing in my new leggings and a big cozy sweatshirt...

$8.00 at Walmart!

Eating breakfast with the nugget...

extra wet food for the pretty lady!

my pan is too small!

mmmmm look at all that Frank's!

breakfast of champions, and only about 280 calories!

Time to get dressed and head out for some coffee (I'm all out! It's on the list!) before working with the little ones for a few hours. :)
I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Sorry.

I hope no one has a seizure or gets a migraine from all of the blog design-changing that's happening around here. I liked the bright blue background, but I think it was a little much. This seems cleaner and more neat. 

Thoughts on the current set-up?
Is the font too small? Too pale?
I'd like to eventually have a nice, panoramic picture behind the "Eat, Teach, Run" at the top...but first I need to either take a sweet picture or steal one from the 'net. Lots to do, obv.
I also can't wait until I've actually done a race or two so that I can have a "race recaps" page!!

Over and out.

Fuel.

Good morning! TGIF!  :)

Run: DONE
3 miles in 29:25, plus .5 mile of increasing speeds every 10th of a mile (6.0-6.4 mph)

I really wanted to go to the studio cycle class this morning from 5:30-6:30, and I thought that I could do my scheduled 3-mile run after school...but I know myself, and I know that though I'd LIKE to go back to the gym this afternoon, there's a chance I won't. And I really didn't want to miss my run!
So, I ran my 3 miles in under 30 minute (woo hoo!), did some walking, ran a speedy (for me!) .5 mile, did a few more minutes of walking, and hopped off to stretch and start my work day.
There is a studio cycle class at 5:45 tonight, and since it's Friday, I don't have tutor...so I might go! I really enjoyed Tuesday's class.

Fuel 
I am working hard to learn how to fuel my body appropriately for my runs.
Wednesday night I ate 5 donut holes, then ran a decent but not great 3 miles on Thursday night.
Last night I ate a bag of Turtle Chex Mix and a jar lot of peanut butter, then ran a TOUGH 3 miles this morning.
Um. It doesn't take a genius to realize that crappy food = crappy feeling body, which = crappy energy, which = crappy run.
I know I need to be eating more VEGGIES, more whole grains, and drinking more water!!!

My post-run fuel is:

Plus I'll probably have this in a few hours:

 

I'm not sure what's on the menu for lunch...I have a packet of oatmeal and a nectarine in my lunch bag, but on Friday's some of the staff at my school order from a local deli, and they have AMAZING salads...so that might happen. 

Speaking of fuel, gas is up in the $3.50s in central NC. What the what?? Ugh.

source

Happy Friday!

Does Dunkin Donuts count as "fast food"?

...because this happened at approximately 5:20 pm today.

source

I didn't have a whole pile; I only had 5. 

...Oh. That's how many are in the picture.

Carbo-loading for my 5am 3-miler?
Dinner of champs?
Sugaring up for two hours of not-so-sweet tutoring clients?
Temporary loss of sanity?

Tomato, tomahhhto. 

lion or lamb?

Good morning! I hope you all had a great March 1st!

it's not 2006, thank goodness. source

I'm trying to decide if March came in like a lion or a lamb! 
After some thought, it seems like this can be measured in many different ways.
You could consider the weather, your job, your fitness, your health, or any other aspect of your life.
If the month starts out poorly, perhaps you will foresee/hope for a  favorable end of the month...
If the month starts amazingly, though, isn't it pretty pessimistic to forecast a not-so-wonderful end of the month?

Well, let's review my March 1, 2011, and see if we can decide!

Yesterday was a nice day, weather-wise...but not the best. It was in the 50s, and sunny.
...oh. I guess that is pretty great, for March 1st.

Shockingly, I had a wonderful work day. I had 2 cups of coffee before 10am, which helped me bounce through my morning.  Some of my students were out for testing, so that gave me a little extra planning time!

As for exercise,  it was a GREAT day. I did spin class at 5:30 am, then walked 4 miles with a girlfriend in the evening. We even ran about a mile of that! Big progress, being that A. it was cold and dark, and B. we were outside, running up and down hills in our neighborhoods.  Two workouts in one day!? Whoa. I feel pretty beastly about that, but not too lion-like.

My food intake was pretty good. I had a yummy bowl of oatmeal for bfast, greek yogurt and strawberries for morning snack, my spicy 3-ingredient salad for lunch (with a nectarine for dessert), a gooey bagel thin with melted cheese as a pre-walk snack, and an amazing pasta topped with spinach and ricotta cheese dinner, with a side of broccoli!
(notice all those adjectives? ----->language teacher! haha)
(I have a few pictures of my foods, but again, the transition from phone->school email/computer->blogger isn't saving my pictures the right way, and so the pictures are uploading to blogger all rotated and unusable. sorry, pals.)

So all in all, it seems like March started out great! But, I'm still not sure if it qualifies as a "lion" or a "lamb". Maybe I'll give it a few more days. :)





How was did your March start?  Was it like a a lion? Or more like a lamb?

Welcome, March!

Happy Month 3, y'all! 
I, myself, am glad to welcome in this longer, more action-packed month. February was getting old. ;)

March has some really excellent things in store.
For starters, this month is 31 days long.Phew! I need more days to get things DONE.
And speaking of the 31st, that's my momma's birthday!

isn't she beautyyyyyful!? :)

March also holds St. Patty's day!
...I don't really get that excited about holidays, but it's always fun to wear green and be cheerful!

March is going to be busy at school.
I have 8 parent meetings scheduled in the next two weeks.
I have 4 papers due for my district's beginning teacher program...remember my miserable Sunday a few weeks ago? Yeah. I have to re-enact that day, but instead of writing one paper, I have to write 3 more. Ick.
I have homework due for a reading professional development training. Articles to read, reflections to write!
Oh, and the end of the quarter is the last week of March...which means the week before will be quarterly assessments...2 days of non-stop testing of all of our kids in reading and math. YUCK!

Thankfully, after ALL that mess, my sister will arrive!

hey, cupcake.

And her little dog, too!

meet Liberty Bell...LB, for short. she's a mini schnauz! <3

stretchy schnauz.

We're planning to do lots of wildness for 3 days. She's going to come to school with me on March 25th, and then on the 26th we're running a 5k!
We will probably do lots of snuggling with the schnauzer, and praying that said schnauzer doesn't eat the resident siamese, Isabelle.

"ma...I thought I told you, Ihate that dog!"

It'll be fun!


Now. There's lots to look forward to, but there are also some goals to work on!

1. no meat! -->not so hard anymore! I'm into week 6 of no meat!
2. more water! all day long!
3. [continue to] follow the 10k plan
4. run the Raising Cane 5k with Katie in under 35 minutes
5. choose a magazine to subscribe to, maybe Runner's World?
6. less late-night eating!
7. attend at least one gym group class per week!

Speaking of classes at my gym, I attended my first ever spin class today, called "studio cycle". 
I arrived early, and got in about 15 minutes of peaceful warm-up cycling before the class started.
The instructor arrived, dimmed the lights, and pulled down screens in the front of the class...and being that it was my first class, I was confused! I thought she was purposefully covering the mirrored-walls!
But she then turned on a projector, and started some films of men doing a bike race in Paris.
WOW! How motivating was that, to watch these hundreds of men biking through the French countryside, paired to super bouncy music!? I loved it! It was SUCH a challenge. Girlfriend was dripping sweat, too!  I can't wait to go back next Tuesday morning.

Happy Tuesday evening to you! I'm off to relax at home for a bit before going for a walk with Alyssa!