Spring Weekend

It was a relaxing one with great weather. We had all these plans to go out to dinner and a concert on Saturday night but made a last minute decision to stick around home and relax instead, which meant lots of cuddles with Lola.

On Saturday morning, I spotted a baby rabbit in our yard. I was able to snap a photo before it took off faster than a cheetah. I find it funny an "Easter bunny" has made it's way into our neighborhood just in time for Spring. Good thing it camouflages well with the landscaping so Lola hasn't spotted it yet.

We ventured out on Saturday afternoon to do some shopping and groceries followed by a late lunch.

Sunday was spent doing Sunday things. Our neighborhood pool FINALLY opened (it was supposed to be completed by December last year) so we went to check it out and took Lola for a walk.

Some things from last week:

- I did my first wheelchair distribution to a local resident in need who couldn't be discharged from the hospital without a wheelchair. It was heartwarming to see how happy the gentleman was to receive his very own wheelchair.

The company I work for is heavily involved with The Wheelchair Foundation which distributes wheelchairs to people in need all around the world. In fact we have a wheelchair distribution trip planned for Nicaragua later this year to bring a shipment of almost 300 wheelchairs to different villages.

If this is something that interests you, feel free to visit our local chapter called Chair The Love to see photos and videos of past distribution trips and charitable events we host to raise money.

That's my weekend in a wrap!

Joining the lovely Biana today for my weekend whereabouts.

Weekend Happenings

  
The weekend was a good mix of relaxing and fun with friends. That small time change for daylight savings gets me every time especially when you lose an hour of sleep so here's hoping this Monday goes by smoothly!

On Friday night we started planning some upcoming trips this year. Unfortunately we came to the realization that the big Europe trip we had hoped to pull together this summer is just not in the books and will have to wait until next year. We did decide on something more feasible and affordable.


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Playa del Carmen here we come! I've never been to Mexico so this is just as exciting with a lot less time off of work and little planning involved since we'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Most of Saturday was spent lounging around watching TV and catching up on some blogging. In the evening we headed out to Universal Studios to catch the Mardi Gras parade with friends and enjoy some Cajun food for dinner.

We met up with the birthday girl and and our awesome neighbors also happened to be at the park so so we all went over to see the UB40 concert after the parade.

Such a fun night out with the birthday girl and friends!

The time change had me all kinds of confused on Sunday morning because we had brunch reservations but that time came earlier than expected.

Brunching at a beautiful lakeside restaurant was the extent of our fun on Sunday. The bottomless mimosas and Eggs Benedict were wonderful but the service was horrendous and had me all kinds of hangry after waiting 20 minutes for a "bottomless" drink and almost an hour for our food since the waiter "lost our ticket". Anyways, after fueling up on some brunch and having a couple pineapple mimosas the frustration subsided and I was good again.

Joining the lovely birthday girl Biana.

Weekend Happenings

We meet again on this Monday morning which means it's time to recap the happenings from the weekend. I hope you enjoyed yours!

My weekend turned out to be more relaxing and productive than expected.  I'm usually too exhausted from the work week to do anything on Friday nights but somehow I had a small pop of energy so K and I met up at Carrabba's for a quick happy hour followed by a delicious dinner.

Carrabba's is definitely one of my favorite Italian chain restaurants because of their Chicken Bryan dish which is topped with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. That and the mussels are so good!

I mentioned on Friday that it turns out I have Tendonitis in my right foot so I have to wear the boot of doom for two weeks. Right foot = driving foot so my mobility is limited or at least very inconvenient with this big bulky thing.

Kate and I had plans to meet up with a girl friend on Saturday for a wine & apps picnic by the lake. Unfortunately our friend came down with a high fever and had to cancel so plans changed and I went out with K to do some shopping and errands.

I restocked on some of my favorites from Bath & Body Works. We go through those foam soaps so quickly and I can't live without their small hand sanitizers to keep in my purse, car, and for traveling.

Saturday evening I worked on so many projects from blogging to photography along with stuff for work and I finally made the Green Tea Body Scrub created by Alexis from the Chemistry Cachet. I like the idea of a natural body exfoliator and the rose water gives it a nice scent.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a baby's 1st birthday party for our friend's son. It was nice catching up with a few friends and seeing everyone's babies as they grow before your eyes.



 

 

Baby Jacob and Mom opening gifts.

On Sunday night we tried our hand at grilling lamb chops for the first time. Lamb is one thing I've never attempted to cook but K whipped up an amazing marinade and the lamb with smashed cauliflower and caesar salad for the sides couldn't have been a better Sunday night dinner.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend Happenings

 
We made it back to Universal Studios this weekend to catch the Mardi Gras parade which is going on for the next few weeks.

I spent most of Saturday morning doing online courses to become Google AdWords certified for my job.

After hours of "work", it was time to have some fun for the weekend. We started off at Islands of Adventure to go on a few rides and then went over to the French Quarter patio at Universal Studios.

Universal really does a great job at recreating Mardi Gras with the street parade and countless strands of beads being thrown into the crowd. Check back tomorrow (Fat Tuesday) for more details and pictures of the parade.

On Sunday morning I spent another 4 hours doing some AdWords courses and passed the final Assessment. The last step to becoming certified is doing a 2 hour test so I'm saving that for next weekend.

The rest of Sunday was spent:
 ~ Having homemade Eggs Benedict topped with salmon for brunch
~ An hour long massage in the afternoon for my back pain
~ Scoring my favorite girl scout cookies
~ Painting my nails with Essie's "Watermelon" for the toes and 'Lady Like" for the fingers.


Joining Biana for her Weekending linkup.

The Weekend with Amazing Weather

 
Did anyone catch the solar eclipse on Friday night? We were looking out for it but didn't see anything spectacular.

The weekend started with some happy hour and hanging out on our patio since the weather is back to being warm again. K just returned from a work trip so it was a perfect night to catch up and watch some movies at home. If you follow me on Instagram (emilyalisonb) you might have seen that Lola joined us sitting on a patio chair like the human she thinks she is.

On Saturday the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we headed to Universal Studios to make use of our annual passes. We went on some of the simulated rides, checked out Harry Potter's Diagon Alley, and saw the show Fear Factor Live where people eat bugs and all sorts of creepy things. K went on a couple of the huge rollercoasters while I sat back and watched.

  

We ended the night with some dinner at Cowfish Sushi & Burger Bar which sounds like a weird concept for a restaurant but has some really delicious food.

Sunday was all about relaxing and getting stuff done around the house. We also watched Dirty Grandpa this weekend which was quite funny.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekend linkup.