Whoo hoo hoo, we went to the Zoo.

This past Saturday arrived with the sun shining and the birds singing. It was absolutely not the kind of day you could spend indoors, even if you have lots of things on your to-do list.
So we went to the Zoo.
Husband and I have a long history with the Zoo. Our college held its Halloween dance there, and we went together in that awkward "pre-dating" phase. It was the first stop of many on our first actual date. Before we got married, we could hear the elephants and the monkeys and the little train from both of our apartments. Actually, we even {briefly} considered holding our wedding reception there. It was absolutely gorgeous but a little too stinky ;)
But we hadn't visited in three years. We had to fix that.
HIghlight: we both got to feed the giraffes. I now want one as a pet.

Hunger Games fandemonium // Taking a break // Getting ready to feed the giraffes!

We decided to walk there, since it was so nice (it's just over a three miles, round trip), and then visited a coffee shop in town afterwards. In all, we walked about eight miles without really realizing it, not including the walking we did inside the Zoo. We went to bed early that night.

Little notes

Dear husband:
Congratulations on landing your new job!! I am so proud of you, and the sales team won't know what hit it. Just one week more of the call center and you're FREE!

Dear Mad Men; Why are you only in my life once a week?! I miss the times we used to share; you and me and Netflix. It would be great if you could fix this.
Dear little 'ol apartment: I am sorry for saying all those mean things behind your back. You really are pretty great, and we're blessed to have found you. I have decided to stop being so awful to you, and start appreciating you more. Let's be friends, mmkay?
Dear Southern California: You have been so lovely lately, and the husband and I are really grateful. Although the sunburn was a bit much.
Dear Zoo; Thank you for being within walking distance from our house. We had a lot of fun on Saturday. And the  "giraffe feeding program"? Pretty awesome. We'll be back soon.

Dear Trader Joes: We need to talk. You can't keep making new and yummy products, because I'm powerless to resist you. It does, however, make for great picnics. Although could you please stop offering samples of your cheese? It's becoming a problem.
Dear papers sitting in my inbox: I love you. I love you. I love you (maybe if I'll say it enough, I'll start to believe it).
Dear Sunday afternoon: I have decided that you should be twice as long as a regular afternoon. We have such fun together.
Dear refrigerator: please don't die. I hear your poor old self struggling for breath all day long, but I'm really not sure what I would do if I came home and you were dead. Ugh.
Dear Ferrari:Way to make me look bad.

Snapshots of this week

Holy cow. It's friday! (when did that happen?)Sure, it's dumping rain  like a fire hose outside, and I'm a teensy bit afraid I'll get hit by lightning if I leave the building (it's already hit a car on campus today!), but it's FRIDAY.
On the horizon, I see lazy mornings, a shopping trip, two glorious episodes of Mad Men, and maybe a date with my sewing machine? We'll see. Don't want to be too ambitious. ;)
Here are some "little moments" from this past week, as captured via instagram.

Crusty whole-wheat bread fresh from the oven // Bobby-pin curls

"Little House on the Prairie" dress I can't wait to refashion // Blurry bubblegum and bling nails

An after-work surprise*: Macaroons and wine // Flooding outside my office patio has begun!

*I have to tell more about this story. I hadn't had a very good day at work, and so husband commanded me to go upstairs and leave the cooking to him. He made us turkey and goat cheese paninis with tomato soup, which was delicious, but something was a little.... off... with the soup. It was really rich and incredibly thick. I find out later that he didn't see the "condensed soup" label on the can.
Love him.

Random bits, neither awkward nor awesome.

So I was planning on writing an Awkward and Awesome post today, but I just don't have it together today. My brain is focused on Personality surveys and Correlational analyses and Signal Detection theory and.... Wow, I need a life. Anyway, forgive the randomness; I've got a lot on my mind:
One of my coworkers forgot his lecture notes for class, so I ran all the way across campus* with them for him. The ones I had brought to him were for the wrong class. I had to run back to his office, find the right ones {which had slid under his desk on purpose and were hiding from me}, and run all the way back. I thought I was going to die.

*Yes, i realize that "all the way across campus" isn't really all that far. I still almost died.

Work is taking control of my brain {as evidenced by above intro}. I have graded a total of sixty papers in the past week. I still have forty left in my "in" box. And another round will be turned in next week. Killmenow. {also, on a somewhat related note, why do we never accept help when it's being extended to us? I sent an email out to my students last week asking them what they found difficult about this past paper so I could change those things for the next one, and no one responded. Srsly? I'd have said "the whole thing" just to see what happened.}
I'm feeling an almost uncontrollable urge to dye my hair. I am trying to hold out until after the school year is over, just in case it turns out awful, but we'll see how well my self-control holds. Talk me down, people.

like this, kinda. via laurenconrad

Oh also! We've started to think about our "summer vacation". We got bumped off our honeymoon flight {long story, maybe someday I'll share here} and were given free plane tickets that expire at the end of the summer, so we're itching to use them! Husband doesn't get a summer break, obviously, but we were hoping to take some sort of extended-weekend trip.  We've picked a weekend {somewhat arbitrarily but still contingent on the bazillion weddings we get to attend this summer}, and are planning on just picking a place that sounds cool. {any suggestions?}
That is all.

Nine.

Because the weather is bipolar today and the sky can't decide if it wants to rain or shine, I'm choosing 9 things that bring sunshine to my days. Nine things I love today, because I'm too lazy to think of 10. I do have a full-time job, you know. 
I love that I live in a place where I can get sunburned one day because I spent my lunch break reading in the sun and then get poured on the next (I really do. Keeps me guessing. And I like to pretend it makes my body have to work harder, so I can justify eating junk food. HA wouldn't that be nice).

I love my family and everything about them. And I love it when I get to spend a WHOLE WEEKEND with them. AND I love when they send me home with snackies. We just finished the lemon bars left over from Easter yesterday and I died a little inside. I might need to make some more.

My family at Easter. We do in fact love each other.

I love holidays that celebrate something real. Like Easter and Christmas. Although Thanksgiving is great, too. Yummy yummy.
I love my job, love that what I provide for the department is appreciated, and love that I have two months of vacation coming up. Conundrum? Perhaps. But Life is a conundrum.

I love that somehow we've been getting cable in our little apartment. Which means we get Animal Planet. After last night, I am convinced I can be a cat trainer.

I love discovering new things. Like the fact that Turkey Bacon will dissolve at a cellular level if it gets mircowaved for too long. AND, when this happens, the apartment will still smell like nuclear animal products for days afterwards. I'm a better person for knowing this, you see?

I love living in a country where freedom is a given (and love visiting places that do not take freedom for granted).

I love that husband-o-mine. And I am so proud of him. That is all I'm allowed to say this week.
I love {the day after} laundry day. Laundry day itself sucks, but it's awesome to have access to all your clothes again.  My heart does a little dance every time I see my favorite shirt and pants come out of the dryer {Do you have a go-to outfit that you wear immediately after it is clean? I totally do}.
{And please don't judge me for the fact that almost half of those things are food-related. I'm hungry.}