Adventure Day #5: Believe Me When I Say It Was A GREAT Day

How is it already Week Five?  Yet how is it not August already?  Strange how I can't seem to decide where time really belongs with the month and the day (let's not even talk about the timing of morning versus afternoon these days...), but yes, I have come to the realization that it IS Week Five of my lovely Adventure Shoes blog.  Stand back a second and consider what that means when looking at the Big Picture:  there are about five weeks in a month (I graduated a month ago?!) and 52 weeks in a year.  With some quick calculator math and a lil rounding skills, I'm 10% finished with a full year.  (I feel like this calculation is wrong--feel free to correct my math if anyone is paying attention enough because one month of 12 months isn't equal to 10%...but whatever.)

So yesterday's Adventure Day happened in its entirety, and it was a great day (as hinted above in the post title).  Ready to hear about all the Adventures?  Because I'm ready to tell about them!

Waking up before my alarm (happens frequently but that's just an ALi characteristic) was actually ok.  I got up, checked my phone, and had a voicemail already!  If anyone knows me well enough, they would know that I really get excited over voicemails, and yes, I know it's a bit ridiculous, but I'm ok with that.  So the day started off on a high note, and I practically jumped out of bed, well-rested and ready to tackle the Adventure Day, with quite a few things planned before me.

Did I mention that it was 6:55a.m. when I woke up?  Yup, because I needed the van to transport myself around on my Adventure Day, Big Sister ALi drove the littlest brother to school for his last Monday of his sophomore year of high school.  (It sounds pretty epic, but I was in my pajamas as I usually am when I drive him to school, and I was still pretty groggy from waking up, so I'm dissappointed to say that I probably wasn't the best company on the morning drive to school.)

Back at home--and I needed breakfast.  That always means tea, fruit, and some kind of substance.  Yesterday was Numi Pu-erh Chocolate Tea, purple grapes, 12 grain bread, mixed nuts, and I think some Greek yogurt, too.  I really love breakfast.  (Random fact for ya!)  Following the morning meal and plenty of computer time, I got my stretching time in as I jammed out to music.  The problem:  I thought I was alone in the house.  Brother Zach actually hadn't left for work yet and was causing a ruckus in the laundry room upstairs.  Sister ALi was quite a bit thrown off by the sudden noises from above and began calling out to whoever was in the house.  No response.  But...no barking from the dogs?  Strange.  Cautiously, I crept upstairs and saw six foot tall figure illuminated by the light in the laundry room.  Immediate reaction?  Heartbeat increases and immediate feeling of panic absorbs my thoughts.  However, I did quickly realize who it was, and I scolded him for scaring me (Big Sister duties).

Me on the left and Cherie
on the right.

Fast forward time a bit, and I did eventually get showered/dressed for the day so that I could ready myself for lunch with my high school guidance counselor Ms. Mack (who I now call Cherie, although that still seems so weird to me, four years later).

Littlest Brother Jonah joined us both for lunch, too, which was a treat, since I've never had lunch with him at school before.  Jonah chimed in every now and then with some commentary on topics of interest to him, but mostly Cherie and I chatted about life updates, shared stories, and future plans.  It was wonderful to see her after so many months away, and I had been looking forward to our lunchtime catch-up for quite awhile. 

And did I mention that I got treated to LUNCH (pictured to the left).  Serendipity, a local coffee shop/bistro has this salad that I LOVE, mostly because the peanut dressing/sauce is my absolute favorite.  If they'd let me, I would buy a full bottle of that stuff and put it on EVERYTHING.  But mostly I have Cherie to thank for my delicious lunch, and she even treated me to a mango smoothie--she is simply too kind, even buying Jonah a Sprite to complement his own lunch.

I returned home after the Lunchime Adventure and made an easy decision to enjoy the 80+ degree weather by lounging outside.  I wasn't initially ready to jump right into the hammock, so I hung out on the back deck reading a magazine.  See the picture to understand why this wasn't the best idea...

Do you see the ink marks on my legs from the magazine bleeding in the heat?  Whoops.



I finished the magazine fairly quickly and had not had enough time in the sun for my liking, so it was off to the hammock for some quality Hammock Bonding Time!

I'd say that the picture to the left is pretty good, and I'm typically not a fan of my own photography, so I'm actually ok with saying that.  It was a gorgeous day, I got the perfect amount of sun and shade by laying in my beloved hammock, and I even managed to fit in the Adventure Shoes, despite the fact that I wasn't wearing them.

And as one might have guessed, I spend most of the quality Hammock Bonding Time reading boooks, most of which are borrowed from Mom.  It just so happens that in the pic to the right, the book I am reading matches my shirt--another photographic coincidence in effective photography?  Sure, why not!

Now, Hammock Bonding Time might have been the typically uneventful yet nonetheless enjoyable occasion of lounging in the sunshine.  However, I did have company yesterday afternoon.

 Yup, this is Duncan.  He made Hammock Bonding Time quite interesting.  He kept going underneath the hammock and STARING at me while BREATHING very loudly.  It sounds creepy--but it cracked me up!  I couldn't stop laughing, especially because:  A)  He would periodically decide that he was my guard dog and would dash from beneath the hammock to bark at/chase the birds in the backyard B)  He has never done any of this around me before and C)  He is so darn cute, and I have a weak spot for a certain Corgi named Duncan.

 So eventually I went inside (*sigh*) and did a whole lot of nothing before picking Jonah up from school.  The stinker was a bit inconvenient yesterday for me because I had a 4pm meeting with the other camp co-leaders, and Jonah exited the high school at 3:49pm.  Let's just say that there was no messing around when I drove him home and headed to Meeting Destination.

And it was a very good, productive meeting!  We were there for over four hours, but time really did fly by, and we ordered all crafts/decor supplies for camp in two weeks and began planning specifics for field trips, too.

Upon returning home, I needed to eat food (let's just say that I was quite hungry), and THEN I was much overdue for a Tara Bell phone call (Sunday was phone tag day with her).  So I FINALLY got to talk to her about anything and everything, which we successfully did for a whole hour!  She is in Virginia these days, having her own Adventures, and it is of utmost importance that we keep up with one another!


But wait--following the lovely phone call with Tara Bell, I had a different kind of phone notification:  A message from a certain Fish!  (See photo right for proof).  Oh wait, you probably don't know him as Fish.  He goes by Brian usually.  He's pretty awesome.  So we Skyped for a long while, and he got to hear a preview on the Adventure Day.

But that was just about everything worth noting about the great day that I had on my fifth Adventure Day.  I love that I still have readers at this point.  I love that I still have a couple followers.  I'd love it even more if you'd choose to follow me from this point forward, but either way, keep in touch, continue to read my blog, and live each day to the fullest.

I'm looking forward to sharing my next Adventure with you!

~ALi