Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend 2012 has been a hectic success. We managed to have a great balance between chores, fun, and relaxation. If only all weekends were this good. And 3-days long.

Our weekend was full of firsts! Here's a rundown:
1. Friday night started with a trip to the AMC Main street downtown to see The Avengers with the in-laws. This was the first time we had been to this theater and finally understand all the talk we hear about it. It has a full bar/restaurant as well as all these cool movie quotes and pictures of movie stars all over the place. Oh yeah, and the movie was good too. C would want me to say that. ;)

2. After the movie, we all headed to Grinder's for a late dinner. This was another first for us. Grinders has been on our list for awhile; it was featured on the Food Network (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, I believe). It was pretty good, and we would definitely go back, but I must admit we didn't fully understand the hype. The food was decent, but honestly the best thing we had was the Gouda potato casserole side dish. That doesn't say much for a place "known" for their sandwiches.

3. Saturday consisted of a morning run, yard work, errands, and cooking club! We were thrilled to host cooking club again at our house. On the menu: Black Thai Burgers with mushrooms, Pesto Mashed Potatoes, Spinach, Avocado, and Orange Salad, and Tortilla Dessert Wraps with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. I finally made homemade ice cream! Another first! AND another thing checked off my list. :)

This was delicious!

4. Sunday we used our hedge trimmer for the first time and FINALLY trimmed our bushes. The sidewalk leading to our front door was being over-taken by green. I'm happy to say that a few hours of hard work and a slight sunburn later, we have our sidewalk back!

5. Sunday night was spent at Celebration at the Station with C's family. The weather ended up being really nice with a cool breeze.

6. This morning we kicked off our Memorial Day with the Amy Thompson Run for Brain Injury 8k. It was hot, but we managed to get our best time yet (this is our 3rd year doing this run) with a time of 48:53. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and doing some much needed cleaning around the house.

Overall, this is exactly what we needed this weekend. I'm thrilled to go back to work knowing my house is clean, my laundry is done, and my to-do list is a little shorter. I hope you all are going back to work well rested and refreshed after the holiday weekend.