"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted." ~ Mary O'Connor

I think I have finally recovered from the weekend. Talk about busy! I really wish I had more time lately to blog, instead of recapping an entire week, each time I do. Things have just been crazy and non-stop lately. Joe and I have also been really hooked on watching all the seasons of Dexter on our Instant Streaming Netflix (best $11 per month ever!), so that doesn’t help either. Each episode is an hour long. And it’s so addictive...

Thursday night my friend Gina gave birth to her new baby boy, so Friday, after putting the munchkin to bed, I headed up to the hospital to see them. Per her request, I brought some apple dump cake with me, which is basically 4 ingredients dumped into a special bowl just for this dessert, and cooked in the microwave for 8 minutes. Easy peasy but sooooo good! I stayed just long enough to get some new baby love, share in polishing off the dump cake, and then headed home.

Saturday we celebrated our friends 30th birthday with a trip to a local winery. Joe headed out around noon, riding with some friends, and I headed out at 2:00 after my mom showed up to watch the munchkin. I arrived around 3:00, and found everyone. I purchased a bottle of wine (a semi-dry red), and poured my first glass. It was very warm outside, the view was absolutely gorgeous and it had been a while since I was fortunate enough to visit a winery. I was feeling good. Maybe a little too good, cuz I finished most of the bottle of wine within an hour and a half. It was a good time and I wasn’t ready to leave, but around 5:45 we started to gather our belongings and head out. I was due at my house at 6:30 to meet up with my girl Anna to head over to an engagement party.

We didn’t get far from the winery before we saw the lights and emergency vehicles lined up ahead, re-directing traffic. We were not too far out of town, but the area we were in was only used (by us) to get to the wineries. We didn’t know the back roads (they were all “back roads”) to take to find an alternate route. We followed the cars in front of us, thought we were making progress, and 20 minutes later, we were spit back out onto the road right by the winery we had originally left. As we came up to the lights and traffic, we were re-directed in the same direction once again. As we pulled up to the man directing traffic, I rolled down my window, explained to him that we had already been through this and it only took us in a big circle. He said go to the top of the hill, and near the fire hydrant, make a right on Schlausselburg (or something like that).

After we pulled down the street, I was so elated to not have the previous car in front of me that had only been driving 15 mph. I pushed down on the gas, and suddenly realized that I was flying down a gravel road. WTF?! Apparently, we had come to a dead end, in which I was supposed to make a sharp left, but instead continued straight. After looking into my rear view mirror, I saw that I had led a couple of young girls down the same wrong turn as well. Oops. I turned my car around, as they backed up. Our cars moved, facing each other, back towards the paved road. The girls were laughing hysterically, it got me laughing pretty good as well. I had a feeling they too, had just left one of the wineries. They motioned us on to go first. I guess they still felt better about following us then going on ahead of us. I wasn’t so sure that was the best idea.

Joe turned on the Sprint GPS on his phone. It was no freaking help at all. It kept telling us to do U Turns or to make a left on a street, but would call it by another name. I think we were in too deep for the GPS. And where the hell was “Schlausselburg”? Or the fire hydrant? I am pretty sure there was no way out, and this guy was laughing at all of the trusting souls he had sent on this wild goose chase. After taking a couple of different turns we finally turned back onto the same main road, this time we were right by the accident.

As someone drove by, we asked them what had happened. Apparently, a car and a motorcycle had hit head on, and 2 of the passengers had to be air lifted out of there. I was no longer in a hurry and frustrated with the hold up. I could only feel bad for whoever was involved in this accident. We waited, somewhat somberly, another 30 minutes or so and cars were allowed to pass through. I finally arrived home a little after 7:30. I did a quick wardrobe change, grabbed my gift, and headed out the door with Anna.

After stopping at Walgreens to get a card (I can’t remember everything, I’m luckily I had a gift that I had already wrapped!), we arrived at the party around 8:15. Luckily the location of the party was only a mile or so from my house. How convenient is that? We found our way to the house and out into the backyard. We made ourselves a couple of drinks and started to mingle. Not long after we arrived, so did someone else I wasn’t too excited to see. Remember this chick? I guess it’s hard to avoid people forever when you run in some of the same circles. I was warned she may be coming, so I wasn’t completely unprepared, but it was still incredibly awkward. Well, for me anyway. Once she walked up, she gave Anna a hug, then turned to give me one. Completely caught off guard, I half hugged her back. Other then some forced, polite conversation, we didn’t speak to each other much the rest of the night. And then she left early.

I’m not gonna lie, the hug not only threw me for a loop, it also kinda pissed me off. I haven’t spoken with her at all since the whole debacle, and I was still feeling just as hurt and confused as I did when it happened. Plus, we were at a friend’s engagement party. Not exactly the right place or time to confront someone about something like this. I couldn’t help but feel relieved when she made her exit.

Apparently, I drank more wine then I had realized. I would have loved to blame all of the purple stains going down my shirt and pants on some drunk idiot, but the glass of wine in my hand was most likely the point of origin. It had been a long day, and I seemed to have lost the ability to regulate myself or know my level of tolerance. I guess that can happen when you drink much less frequently and also start too early in the day. I do wish I had been alert enough to notice the mosquitoes feasting on my feet. No exaggerating here at all, I have at least 50 bites on my left foot alone! I think one of the highlights of the evening was when Anna and I found the dessert table and shared in 3 different pieces of insanely delicious cakes. Mmmmmm.

Another highlight was seeing our friend Brooke so happy. I remember how amazing it felt to be newly engaged to Joe. How filled with hope and romantic everything was. It’s wonderful to see a friend beginning that journey as well.

I made it home around 12:15 or so and after a make out sesh with the hubs, I passed out.

Thank goodness, Sunday morning, Joe was getting up with the munchkin (we alternate between Saturday and Sunday). I woke up at 7:15 with a pounding headache, took my Tylenol, and went back to bed until 11:00. I definitely had to pay for my fun. Later in the day, I took the munchkin with me on a trip out to Trader Joe’s, along with some other errands.

I also wanted to mention that I bought the Trader Joe’s brand Sprouted 7 Grain bread there on a whim. So far, I have had it with an egg, turkey bacon and cheese sandwich, a turkey sandwich, a cheeseburger, and with peanut butter spread on top. It was absolutely delicious in every situation. Not only is the bread super nutritious, it has only 4 net carbs and 5 grams of protein per slice! I am loving this bread!

For dinner we made a double batch of spaghetti so we could bring some of it to Gina and Brian. I remember how impossible it was to cook a meal that first week after being home with a new baby. After I put munchkin to bed, I headed over to Gina’s. I loved snuggling up with the baby, as he slept soundly in my arms while I was there.

Monday morning I was finally starting to feel normal again. Not long after I arrived to work, Joe called me and told me his car wouldn’t start. Yay. So after only being at work for an hour, I headed home, picked up the munchkin and took her to the sitter so Joe could get a jump start from the neighbor and take his car into his friend’s shop. Luckily, it only ended up being the battery. It could have been much worse. Last night my girl Brenda came over to visit me. I made her watch the Bachelor Pad with me. (Sorry Brenda!) What is it about escaping into other people’s drama, that helps you to forget your own? And that show is never short on drama.

So tonight, I am meeting up with Anna for some sushi. I am REALLY looking forward to it. Nothing like an evening with a good friend, some sushi and a glass of wine to rewind and decompress. And yes, I am sticking to a glass, maybe two, but NOT a bottle!

Now I just have to get through work today....