Recently

I almost titled this post "Lately", but I immediately  started singing this 90s ballad in my head, and had to nix that from the start. You're welcome for getting it stuck in your head too.

Now that we have that out of the way, I am not going to waste my time or yours apologizing for taking 3 weeks to craft a blog post. It happens. I am sure you three religious readers will forgive me. Maybe. Hopefully.

At any rate, since my last post many exciting things have happened! Allow me to enumerate them for you (with as many accompanying pictures as you and I can both stand). Ready, set, go!

Lucy turned 4 years old! I cannot believe this little puppy is now 4!

Lucy at 6 weeks old - her first weekend at home with me & Harris

For her birthday we spent the afternoon at the park, and then took a ride. It was a glorious day for a little pup!

Little Goose - we love you so so much! You make our lives so happy every single day, and you are the cutest little dog in the world!

The weekend after Lucy's birthday, my best friend, Erica, her hubby, Michael, and their puppy, Loki (aka Lucy's boyfriend) came into town for the weekend! It was so wonderful to spend time with them, and get to share our home and town with them. We tried to cover as much of downtown as we could, and just enjoy our time together. I can't wait for them to come back for another visit!

That next week, I went to New Jersey for a few days for work. Additionally, after almost three years of traveling to Jersey on the regular, I have decided that Princeton is the only part of the state I would deem pretty. 

This logo always makes me think of the circus, anyone else?

That next weekend my little sister and her beau came into town to celebrate her 20th birthday! Holy wow I cannot believe my little Kayla is 20! We had the most fun weekend celebrating and just spending time together! She requested a strawberry birthday cake with hot pink frosting, which resulted in the pinkest cake in the world!

Lucy and the boys were tired! Who am I kidding? Kayla and I were probably passed out right beside them.

Kayla's Birthday Video from Courtney Ligon on Vimeo.

It was also Halloween while they were here!

The week after that, I went to Texas for the week. It was long, and I didn't take any pictures. I know you are disappointed. Oh wait, I forgot. I took pictures of my super bourgeois hotel room the last night. I stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the airport. When I opened the door to my room, I thought for a moment someone was in the room because as soon as the door opened, the tv turned on, started playing music, and showed this message:

The shades also started opening, electronically. And then I took this picture:

And then I ordered sushi and a martini from room service. The sushi was delicious. The martini too strong. Such is life.

I got home from Texas last Friday afternoon, and then left for California for my monthly mentoring circle meeting first thing Monday morning. Harris also started a ridiculously long work stretch this past weekend, and is still going strong. Le boo.

This month's mentoring meeting was hosted by yours truly. So naturally, I made everyone go to California. I mean, why not.

Sunrise from my hotel room. Mountains in the background.

Sunrise from the other side. Ocean in the background.

Pink starfish! First time I have ever seen one in nature!

View from our boat tour.

Sea lions and seagulls going for some fish being thrown from the docks

Sea lion!

A Maersk ship being unloaded. Not the Alabama, FYI.

My mentoring group after our boat tour.

At the top of the Port Authority building in Long Beach.

After our session, we decided to do a little sight-seeing, and hit up Beverly Hills and Hollywood!

Tory Burch

Cartier. They started rolling out the red carpet as we walked by - I wonder who was coming in!

Chanel

Loving the palm trees. Guess they aren't palmettos in Cali?

Bugatti parked on Rodeo

Couple stars from Walk of Fame

Something was going on at Grauman's Theatre (now known as TCL theatre, FYI). We didn't spot any celebs, but we saw the paparazzi and the red carpet, so SOMEONE was there!

Dolby Theatre (aka the Kodak)

Phew. Okay, if you actually made it through all of that, congrats to you! As a treat to you for being so resilient, I have saved the very best for last! Drumroll please....

Harris got a promotion!!!!!!!!!

As of next month, he will start training for his new position, which he will assume January 1st. He will be leading a team, and, most excitingly, will be working normal office hours: Monday through Friday, 8am - 5pm. We could not be more thrilled, and I could not be more proud of him!!! This has been an absolute blessing, and the answer to many, many prayers! He is so excited about the opportunity, and we are both excited to have some normalcy in our lives! I can hardly imagine having my hubby home every night, and weekends together! Ahh...so wonderful!

With that, I will bid you all goodnight. I hope to be better, and to write before 3 weeks pass us by again...

Where Has the Time Gone

Okay, so for the sake of being redundant, I know I said the same thing last month, but holy wow! How in the world is it September?! You remember being a kid, and feeling like time virtually stood still? And remember how our parents would tell us that time went by faster the older you got? Yeah, I never believed my Mom either, but good freaking grief they weren't lying! On a related note, isn't it funny how many things our parents didn't lie to us about? Like, huh, maybe brussels sprouts really are edible (also, how did I go the majority of my life not knowing there was a silent "s" in that word? Probably because I didn't start eating them til about a year ago).

As always, the month of August, particularly the latter part, was fraught with travel and work for the Ligon clan. Unfortunately, aforementioned travel was not of the fun and leisurely kind, but, we made it through, and are happily chugging along in September. I spent a week in Texas followed by a week in the Northeast (NYC, Jersey, Rhode Island, and Boston to be exact) followed by a week in Chicago (I say Chicago very loosely because I only saw the actual city of Chicago from a distance whilst driving around all the suburbs. Sounds cool, but it really wasn't so much, and I am just so glad to be home this week! While gone, Harris as always worked a ton of hours and was on Lucy duty, which is totally a full-time job in and of itself sometimes. I swear this dog is a little person, and a very demanding one at that.

Since getting home last Thursday evening, I have been on full-on wife mode! I got to have several dates with the hubby this weekend, have cleaned and scrubbed the house, gone grocerying and Targeting, and enjoyed the last drops of summer (although, I would much prefer my last drops of summer in the 80s versus 90s, but beggars can't be choosers, right?). I cannot believe it is almost fall! I do love fall, though. The smells and the colors and the crisp morning air! I really hope we get a decent fall this year - you know the kind that lasts longer than a hot minute. I would like to postpone old man Winter as long as possible, but bring on the 50-60 degrees, I say!

Well, this little post has just turned into quite the ramble - bless you all for taking a meandering walk through my brain with me this morning. Happy Monday that is really a Tuesday! I love short weeks!