Penny's Passion: Weekending - April 14, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017

Weekending - April 14, 2017

Happy Monday after Easter!  Anyone else having a hard time thinking about going to work after the holiday?  We had a very nice few days and, I have to admit, the long to-do list I left work on Thursday night with is still over half full.  The weekend took on a life of its' own and I kind of just went with it.  I know I'll probably pay the price this week, but that's okay.  Sometimes you just need a few days completed off!

Thursday night on my way home I got a few things done and felt like it was a great start to a productive weekend.  Eric's order from Old Navy that didn't fit was returned, my car got a bath and I popped in the Honey Baked Ham store for our Easter ham with not a single other person in line in front of me.  Score!

Friday morning we woke to the sun shining and the birds singing.  It was a great morning for a walk and Eric and I took full advantage of it.  When we returned home, he had to get ready for work and I wanted to sit on the patio for a bit in the sun.  Well, a bit turned into several hours of glorious time.  I opened the computed to monitor my work email and between answering the dings I started reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  It felt good to actually hold a book in my hands.  It has been ages since I read a book not on my Kindle.  If you are looking for beach reads, I would recommend adding this one of your list.

This book was so intriguing I actually finished it over the weekend.  That's a real accomplishment for me because usually a book takes several weeks!  Here's what Goodreads has to say about it ~

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
 


The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by [Gaiman, Neil]
Click HERE to purchase
Friday night after church we met some friends at a wine bar to listen to Brad Noe.  Love his music and he just released his first CD of originals.  He plays a mean guitar and if you close your eyes on his Pearl Jam songs you can definitely hear bits of Eddie Vedder.   Hope he makes it big and I can say I remember him when.



Saturday was another glorious day.  I had to run in to work for a very short time then Eric and I caught a movie before he had to go to work.  I let him pick the movie and he did good.  We watched Going In Style.  Fun flick!  I would recommend seeing it.


When the mail was delivered, I noticed the mailman slipping a package in my box.  As fast as my feet could carry me I went to the mailbox to check it out.  It was my Birchbox!!  I swear I heard angels singing when I pulled down the mailbox door.  There was a clay mask sample that I decided to try.  Loved it!  


The rest of the evening should have been spent getting ready for Easter lunch the next day, but it wasn't.  I decided the third season of Grace and Frankie really needed my attention so I binge watched 8 episodes before Eric got home from work.  Finished the rest of the season on Sunday night.  Now it looks like I'll have to wait until the Spring of 2018 for Season 4's release.  So sad we have to wait that long!


Sunday I had to get up extra early to make up for all my laziness to prep for Easter lunch.  We went to early church, then had to grab a quick lunch before going to the St. Louis Blues game.  Thank you Blues for playing a great game on Sunday and giving the fans a win!

Image may contain: 4 people, people smiling, people standing

When we returned home from the game, we cleaned up and got somewhat ready to start the week before collapsing in bed (to finished season 3 of Grace and Frankie).  What a fun weekend!  

How was your Easter?  And how long do you think you can leave your Easter decorations up?!?  I don't think I'll have time to take mine down this week!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.
Over the Moon

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8 comments:

  1. Easter was chill and beautiful. We went to Sunday church, then opened a window and watched soccer on TV for a few hours, reading and writing and dozing. Dinner at my sister's was the perfect cap. (And we put up our Easter decorations on Saturday! They'll stay up a while.)

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  2. What a great weekend. I had a subscription to Birchbox for a while (now I am trying to use up all the samples! Ha!).

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  3. Your Blues have given our Wild a run for their money! I have relatives in STL though so I'm ok with losing them ;) Our Easter was very relaxing, not too crazy, we didn't really get any time off, but that is ok!
    Beth
    http://www.thebethnextdoor.com

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  4. Heck yes, go blues! We go Wednesday, it could clinch the series!! :)

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  5. I started Frankie and Grace last night. Love it!! Oh and I so want to sign up for Birchbox.

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  6. That Neil Gaiman book has been on my list for awhile now. I can't wait to read it! And you make me miss my Birchbox subscription. I used to get it every month for years but cancelled my subscription a year ago and have regretted it. Maybe I'll start back up... Hope you have a great week!

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  7. Looks like you had an action packed weekend! I really want to read that book. It looks really food! Another for the TBR list that is ever growing!

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  8. I'm glad you had such a nice Easter weekend. I did NOT want to go back to work today. haha Yay for getting your first Birchbox! Looks like some fun items. I've read The Ocean at the End of the Lane too; I'm glad you liked it! Definitely a good one for the summer, I do agree!

    I saw Going in Style yesterday and liked it too!

    -Lauren

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