June is the Friday Night of Summer

I read that on Laura Vanderkam's blog. I love this idea. There have been several times in late August or so, when I lamented that I hadn't done enough summer things.

I'll start with something that we are already doing: dog park Fridays. Depending on weather and daylight savings time, dog park Fridays can extend from March into November. But they are generally a summer thing. Jeff and I try to keep Fridays open to meet with our friends.

Other summer things to do:

• Eat lobster rolls on the water.
• Go to the dog friendly beer garden in Stamford. (This is on the water and has food trucks so can be combined with the lobster roll to-do.)
• Go to arts festivals: the Norwalk Art Festival is this weekend. Westport's is next month.
• Go to outdoor concerts--just got an email today with a list of several concerts-many of them free and many in Norwalk.
• Take Lola to other parks to hike. 
• Go on a picnic.

This is a work in progress. I can add to this list, as I check off items. 

In a Funk

June is winding down. It's been a slow work time for me. High pollen counts have been wiping me out. My journaling, housework and exercise have been sporadic, my blogging a rare occurrence.

I don't know if there's some kind of causation. It'd be easy to blame everything on the pollen. Or did the funk cause the lack of journaling, etc? Maybe the lack of journaling, etc. caused the funk. Watching the Braves sweep the Mets last weekend didn't help--especially because the Nationals were losing to the Cubs.

My time management is shot to hell. I knew June would be slow work-wise, but I told myself I would use the time to continue new SAT practice, start a new docent project and do some household cleaning and organizing. Well, that didn't happen.

Sometimes I just have to let myself be in a funk. That's been a long term strategy of mine. Wallow in heartache and self-pity for a bit, give myself a few minutes to imagine and exaggerate the worst in a stressful situation.

Ultimately, I can't allow myself to stay in a funk for too long. This week I  gave myself a few daily goals and completed them. It doesn't do me any good to look behind and regret. Instead I'll look forward and hope.

What a Difference...

a day makes.

Tuesday I forced myself to go the gym. I hadn't gone since last Friday. Thought about going Monday, but blew it off. It was tough. I did back, biceps and abs. Skipped cardio, and then did seated leg press to justify skipping cardio. Finished with about five minutes of stretching to make an official half hour.

I returned yesterday and felt great afterwards. I did chest, triceps, abs and a half hour on the treadmill. I felt strong. It made Tuesday worth it.

I need to remember this lesson. Sometimes you just have to start.
 

May: The Month That Was

The highlight and priority of May was Lola. The upside of me not working much has been the time that I can spend with her. Lola had been here just over a week as May began. She was just beginning to come out from under the table and get used to us.

Things have progressed well since then. Lola has loved her outings--especially to Taylor Farm. On good days, I take her to both Mathews and Taylor Farm Parks. She usually focuses on the rabbits, but is getting more sociable with the other dogs.

Dog Park Fridays (DPF's) started for us in May--we finally got some decent Friday weather. Lola doesn't quite got the hanging out aspect of DPF.

Lola's been out to lunch twice.We took her to Nik's near the dog park one Saturday afternoon. The next day we took her to Sedona Taphouse and enjoyed beers and sliders outside.That was to celebrate my birthday and Lola's one month anniversary with us.

We are loving our time with Lola and know we made the right choice. 

An Anniversary

Today is the fourth anniversary of a special day in Mets history. Unfortunately the Mets couldn't honor that day with a win.

Sigh.