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!

Last Week

At last count, we were patiently awaiting the arrival of one little sister and two friends of little sister. I am pleased to say that they arrived safely on Monday at lunchtime! We promptly ventured over to the local Mexican place for some (non)authentic cuisine, and then meandered around the downtown area. My sister, Kayla, has deemed herself cursed as every time she comes to Norfolk, it pours from the heavens above, and she had yet to see the loveliness of the area. While it did, ironically, rain just as she was rolling into town, the clouds parted during lunch, and we were able to see the sights (of course, our sweat was a nice alternative to the rain, but that is just the way things are sometimes, you know).

Harris, unfortunately, had to work Monday night, but we had a wonderful girl's night, and met our new neighbors (more to come on them!). We made homemade pizzas, watched girl movies (including She's the Man - what happened to you, Amanda Bynes? Where did we go wrong?), ate ice cream, and laughed a lot. It was so much fun! Tuesday we headed over to the zoo! Who knew that the Norfolk zoo was actually the Virginia Zoo?! I know this may seem like a slight differential, but my expectations for the Norfolk zoo were quite small (so small zoo must, in fact, be lower-case); however, the Virginia Zoo, why that was just marvelous!

Kayla posing with the Courtney mermaid!

A weird bear of some variety

Two little monkeys!

4 little otters!

Giraffe!

Baby Giraffe!

Eee Baby Elephant!

Simba!

Timon!

These little girls!

We left them there!

All in all, the Zoo was quite the success! Tuesday evening we headed over to a pub in Ghent where we had some good food, and played some good trivia! We were actually pretty decent, all things considered. Of course, as it tends to do, time went by too fast, and suddenly it was Wednesday - time for them to head home to North Carolina, and time for me to board a plane to good ole Dallas, Texas. I spent Wednesday night and Thursday in Texas, and then (finally) got home late Thursday night (but, hey, at least I got home!). I spent most of Friday catching up on all the things I missed being out of the office most of the week. And there you have it! Girls - thank you so much for coming to visit us! We hope to have you come back soon!