For the first time in my adult life, I have a job that allows me to have weekends off. And it’s weird. I’ve been at my current job for about 2 months now, and I’m still not used to it. I still feel like I’m supposed to have random days off in the middle of the week, or none at all. Let’s just say my previous job required a lot more of my time.
Now weekends are filled with whatever plans happen to come up, and I’ve created my own independent routine. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, and I still don’t really know what to do with it. K is usually working or doing field exercises, so I try to plan some fun things with friends and get some work done around the house. And as an added bonus, I get to work more on my blog! Here’s a glimpse into our weekends in the summer.
Friday Night
After a long week, we love going out for a date night or joining some friends for dinner. There’s always so many great restaurants in our area to choose from, so we usually head down to the Old Port and walk around until we see a place we like. It’s a great environment for an exciting night out, and there’s plenty of places to go dancing as well!
Sometimes we decide to keep it simple, and make a nice dinner or have a little cookout. We recap the week that we had, and just relax for a while. We have an awesome patio with a little fire pit, and little string lights that stretch across it. It’s the perfect spot for entertaining friends and family, or just having a fire for the two of us. On nights when Kyle is away I bring my glass of wine out there and just sit in the quiet for a while.
Saturday
I always plan to sleep in on Saturdays. I actually get excited for it all week. But then when it’s actually time to do it, I’m up at 6:30 with K and I’ve completely missed my chance. I usually lay in bed for an hour though anyways, and check all of my social media feeds. I hate having my face in my phone when I’m actually spending time with people; I think it’s incredibly rude unless you’re taking pictures or something. So I try to do these things when I’m alone.
Next, I usually check on the laundry and see if anything really needs to be put in. Laundry is K’s thing honestly, he enjoys it for some reason. Which is great because it’s my least favorite. I try to get as much done as I can in the morning so that we can do whatever we want at night. I usually walk throughout the condo and see what needs to be cleaned, which is almost always the living room. Whenever we get mail, it ends up dumped on our coffee table and it drives me crazy. I’m too much of a neat freak for my own good.
Once things are tidied up, I go through my planner and see if we have any bills that are due during the week. This past Saturday I paid 3 of our reoccurring bills, which really sucked. This past winter we purchased a new mattress, which was long overdue for us. But it’s a really nice mattress, and with that came a not so nice price tag. So we financed it for 0% interest (no brainer) and I don’t regret it one bit.
Once the rooms are all set, I head outside to check on the patio. We’ve had some really hot days lately, so my plants are usually kinda dry. I do my gardening and sweep away all the pine needles, by which point my neighbor usually comes out to say hello. We live pretty close to our neighbors, so we’ve gotten to know them all fairly well. Some of them are great, whereas some of them are not so great.
By now it’s usually 10 or 11, so I start planning out some posts for the week. It might sound like a waste, but after a busy week sometimes it’s nice to just sit inside for a bit. I usually make myself a little office on my couch, or head over to Starbucks to get some planning done. I always try to pick a location where I know I’m going to end up anyways, so if I’m headed to the mall afterwards than Starbucks is the perfect place.
I try to dedicate atleast a couple hours to my blog, even if I don’t get any posts done. I’m always editing pictures, planning future post ideas, or freshening up the overall look. I like to have some time to check out other blogs as well, and find new people to follow.
After the “work” side of things is complete, I’m gym bound for a couple hours of cardio and weights. This is my favorite part of the day, and by now it’s usually about 2-3. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of running again, so after stretching I head over to the treadmills for atleast 1 mile, if not 2. I’ve been trying to firm up my arms as well, so lots of push-ups, side planks, lateral pull downs, etc.
On the weekends the gym is fairly empty, but it starts to pickup around 4-5 when I’m leaving. By now, we’ve usually made plans with friends and I head home to get ready with K. On weekends when he has training I usually go out with some of my friends, or head over to my parents house for some family time. Last Saturday night we ran a ton of errands and then met up with some others for drinks.
Sunday
I don’t know about you guys, but I hate Sunday’s. They mark the end of the weekend usually, and here on the East Coast a lot of places are actually closed on Sunday’s. But either way, I try to make the best of it. The past 3 Sunday’s we have started our morning with a nice cool run. Then we head out for breakfast usually, a tradition that we started when my brother was still here. Sunday’s are always great beach days because there’s a lot less people than Saturday, so we try to relax and float around for a few hours.
We both love to hike, so if we don’t have plans or we aren’t headed to the beach, we try to find a new mountain to explore. Two weekends ago we hiked Cathedral Ledge in the White Mountains, which was beyond difficult but so worth it. We’ve actually hiked a ton of mountains together in the past 5 years, including Mount Washington itself.
Dinner is always spent with my family, either at my parents house or out somewhere. My parents are in the middle of building a new home, so every time we show up something is different. The last time they built a house I was only 7-8, so it’s cool to see the process as an adult when I actually understand it somewhat.
We always try to FaceTime my brother, who is deployed overseas right now. He loves getting to talk to us all together, and I know it brings my parents some comfort. He won’t be back until early spring when their house has been done for a few months, so I try to take him on a mini video tour so he can see the process.
By 8-9 we usually head home and prepare for the upcoming work week. I’ve been reading a ton lately so I like to lay in bed and unwind with a good book. K is usually watching funny YouTube videos or reading a magazine. Sunday nights are always super relaxed and quiet.
As we get closer to fall, our weekends will start to vary with some of my favorite activities: apple picking, haunted houses, hay rides, and Halloween festivities! Stay tuned for future posts on our weekends in the fall.
How do you spend your summer weekends?
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