As I’d hoped, it was a nice day yesterday with the boys away. LOVE them to pieces, but sometimes you just need a little break from your own kids!! ha.
I worked and worked all day, as we are approaching a deadline with my team and I wanted a very productive day after taking the afternoon off on Friday. Fortunately, we are on track to beat our deadline, which is great news.
The boys aren’t much trouble anymore, at their ages, to have around while I work from home….but they still cause some interruptions I have to plan around, like drop offs/ pick ups, or making sure they actually eat a decent lunch, etc. From a mental standpoint, it felt so good to have zero distractions again yesterday. Just trying to remind myself that September is right around the corner, and soon they’ll be back in school every day!!
I think I wrapped up work around 5:30-6:00.
Our evening plans consisted of:
- dinner at home
- long walk
- movie night
Dinner:
I started making dinner before Ivan got home, and then we chatted while I finished up and he heated up some tortillas on the stove.
I made milanesas, which are a very thin cut steak that I hand breaded and fried. On the side we had pinto beans cooked with some onion, and because I was trying to hurry and it was easy, some frozen veggies.
This is a delicious meal, and easy. One of our favorites. Normally we buy the thin steak at a Mexican grocery store, but our big local supermarket has started carrying thin cut steak now, too! They even label it “steak for milanesas”.
Walk:
It was a truly beautiful evening, one of those perfect summer nights. As I’ve mentioned, we’ve just been so darn busy that I feel like we haven’t been out and about in the evenings as much as we normally are in the summer. (Like last week, I sat outside swim practice every night…). So this was a treat.
We added an extra loop on our walk, so we probably walked about 40 minutes or so.
I took this beautiful picture right in the park by our house:
I love it! I feel so lucky to have this little city park so close- it’s such a pleasant place to loop through on our walks.
Bonus pic- some flowers blooming in my front yard landscaping right now:
Movie night
Before bed we watched the movie Marry Me, with Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. I think it came out around Valentine’s Day, but we never made it to the theater. It’s on Amazon Prime video now.
I actually really liked it!! I mean, as much as one likes romantic comedies. Which in my case, is quite a bit, I’m not ashamed to admit. It was better than I expected though. (Again, for a romantic comedy.) Light hearted, fun, sweet….and I’ve just always liked J.Lo. (Okay, and super unrealistic, but that’s beside the point.)
It was SO NICE to re-claim our big living room TV just for us!
This whole evening was much needed and felt relaxing and wonderful.
As we ate dinner, alone at our breakfast bar, watching American Ninja Warrior on the little kitchen TV, we said, “Is this what life will be like once the kids move out???” Hahaha. Funny to think about.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for the park by our house.
GRATEFUL KAE 
This just sounds like an absolutely perfect day. Such a nice blend of work time and couple time and time outdoors… and I also loved Marry Me and am a big J Lo fan. Have you seen her in the film where she is a stripper? It’s SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! It’s been out 3-4 years. I don’t remember the name. But so worth watching!
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I haven’t seen the stripper movie!! Another friend just told me about that one too. I have to see that! I remember now when it came out- I think it’s called Hustlers. Not sure how I missed that one.
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You should totally see it! I have really special memories of it… I was away from home for a week on a trial, and had taken my best friend with me, thinking it would be a free vacation for her in a nice city and she’d amuse herself by day. The case fell apart on the second day and I decided to stay there for the week still, so we had all this time to explore and have fun. We saw that film one night in the coolest cinema ever, complete with individual reclining seats and blankets! ❤
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Last night was GORGEOUS. I made my husband walk with me to the ice cream stand where I got my annual sundae and it was just so nice to be outside. Also, the sundae was delicious. (I went to a yoga class before dinner and the instructor was wearing pants with ice cream cones on them and I just started thinking about how ice cream, which I really only eat once or twice a year, sounded really great. So that’s why we went to the ice cream place. I texted a photo of me with the ice cream to my yoga instructor and she sent me back with one of her with ice cream, too! Great minds think alike, I guess!)
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Hahaha, I am very intrigued by these ice cream yoga pants! 😂 can’t say I have ever seen pants like that before! An ice cream sundae sounds SO GOOD. I went to Culver’s last week one night while waiting for Asher at swim practice and got a strawberry sundae. I rarely get sundaes too, and mmmm it was delicious.
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I am not a big romantic comedy person, but I do have a soft spot for Jennifer Lopez! She is so good in everything! Sounds like it was very pleasant to have some time away from the kids. Glad you enjoyed it!
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I fully agree we need time away from the kids! hahaha… and have solo night with husband. looks like a perfect way to spend the night: good food, walk and movie. Milanesas!!! we have it in argentina too, with steak or chicken. It’s so easy to make and everybody seems to like it. I might make some for the family soon.
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That summer evening walk sounds wonderful. Such a beautiful sky.
It’s nice to have the space to just appreciate the beauty around us. It’s so easy to miss it in the frantic pace life can sometimes assume. And to be able to gain that appreciation for the many blessings – sometimes literally in our backyard!
Also, those tacos look delicious.
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I love rom coms but Phil does not! So I try to watch them when he isn’t around. I could have watched it on the plane rides because there were tvs in the seats but I opted to listen to classical music and read my book which was delightful!
I am glad you guys got some quiet time together without the kids around. I know what you mean about loving your kids but needing a break!
We have been spending more time outside after dinner than we have in the last couple of years Will went to bed so early last summer since daycare would wear him out so we didn’t have time to do much after dinner. Now our routine is go for a walk after dinner – Will goes into the bob stroller and Paul scoots. We walk to the creek and back with stops along the way so Paul can throw rocks or still or leaves into the creek. It takes about 45 minutes so by the time we get back, it’s time to put Will to bed. It’s much much better than entertaining the boys in the house! So we are trying to do that as long as we can while the weather allows. If it’s too hot/humid we don’t go but the weather has been much more mild lately which I am loving!
And now that Paul’s bedtime is going better, Phil and I get some time together in the evenings again. Not a ton of time, but 30-60 minutes to watch a show and chat which is a huge improvement over the spring. But we really need some solid couples time so I hope and pray our planned trip to mexico works – the only thing that would derail it is getting covid before the trip but hopefully that doesn’t happen. It’s so far off so I am not thinking about it, but it’s probably going to be in the back of my mind.
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I love summer evening walks. They’re just the best and it seems like you have a nice area close by! That’s a plus!
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