best weekend ever

this was one of those.

Friday night- i shopped for some new things for the apartment, as our 3rd roomate is currently moving out. and then jesse & i went to Old Chicago (Des Moines' best pizza, in my opinion). we each got individual pizzas so i went all out with my food toppings: black olives, feta cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, and canadian bacon. i decided it was worth the extra dollars since i just had lemon water to drink.

Saturday- we had planned on going camping, but the weather was overcast so we were still hem-hawing about it. so we waited it out, had lunch, went grocery shopping and lo & behold the sun came out! so we made the 2 hour trip to a campground we had never been before because i wanted to try something different, get away from it all, and finally have a chance to use the big cooler i got for my birthday! well, we got there, drove around the lake twice and all we could find was a "road closed" sign. so we were bad and illegally drove around it to find a desolate camping area that was not only closed but looked like a tornado had gone through it! so, after stopping at the nearest town for a chocolate malt, we decided to just go home and camp in our newly empited loft! it was so much fun! we grilled the hot dogs we had brought, played chess, and actually slept in the tent upstairs :) and it ended up being doubly serendipitous, because there were terrible thunderstorms all night!

Today- i was able to cross off about 15 things on my never ending to-do list. i cleaned out my car, my trunk, jesse's trunk (because he had a bunch of my stuff in there), cleaned, organized, and swept the ENTIRE garage, all the while escaping a swarming black hornet :) and after my hard sweaty work, a dip in the pool was just what i needed. after that, leftover old chicago and a couple of my favorite shows. then i was feeling rejuvinated and decided to be more productive; i repotted a couple plants, finally hung up my hummingbird feeder, and cleaned out the hall closet. whew! and i'm not even ready to go to bed.

my synopsis: its amazing to realize again sometimes you don't know what you need until you get it. and apparently what i needed was a whole weekend of no obligations, a freshly emptied apartment (well, partially emptied), and time just to take care of house and home. and it was awesome. now we'll have a 3 bedroom all to ourselves. it will take time, money, and a lot more elbow grease to get it where i want it, but for now, it's nice to have the freedom and the space...apparently enough so to set up a tent!

this time last year i was in an entirely different place- physically and emotionally. it's good to be reminded that good things do happen, all in good time :)