The weekend, misc.

Given our abrupt re-entry post-vacay, I was Very Happy to not have many major plans this weekend.

Ethan did have an overnight tennis tournament, but we didn’t go. They played Friday during the school day (why? I really don’t know) and then Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. Hopefully we’ll catch some other closer matches soon! He did well- he and his doubles partner are undefeated so far. 💪

I spent Saturday morning doing a bunch of “life catch up” + some Q2 (and April monthly) planning.

Earlier this year, I made a Google Doc template for Quarterly Planning (based HEAVILY on Sarah’s recommendations in Best Laid Plans), tweaking it to work for my needs. I created another version for Monthly planning, too, with some different steps.

I have been looooooving this!! Seriously, loving.

The quintile template I made:

I really needed that structure.

I love having as much space as I want to type in the Google Doc. It feels sort of “journal-like”, also- I change the image at the top, reflect on the past quarter/month, think through what’s on the horizon, review my calendar(s), etc.

Then at the end, I fill in the finalized goals at the top.

This has helped me so immensely!! I feel so much more organized and aware of things that are coming up. I have then been incorporating tasks/ upcoming to-dos/reminders directly into my Google Tasks lists system and/or calendar.

All the credit to SHU for the framework and ideas- this is just my own adaptation. Read Best Laid Plans for much more!

---

We also did our taxes on Saturday, finally. That…. did not go well. 😩 We ended up owing a ton, for the second year in a row. (Totally MEANT to make adjustments after this happened last year and we did not, so… here we are, again. ugh.) Fortunately, this did inspire us to take immediate action this time, so we have already made adjustments + set up additional withholdings (as in, we did it instantly after we filed. WHY did we not do this last year?!? So dumb.) Anyway, the whole thing sucked- let’s move on.

Saturday night we went to Ivan’s cousin’s house for a little b-day gathering. (The people who watched Charlie.) We brought Charlie along so he could play. He did, some, but their young puppy is pretty relentless right now! He would not leave Charlie alone… Just wanted to play constantly. I think Charlie got annoyed and eventually he decided to spend the ENTIRE evening sitting on my lap at the kitchen table. Ha. Everyone was saying he has “mamitis” (Spanish for someone being overly attached to their mom). I am not sure what his deal was. He didn’t seem to be upset to be back there or anything, he just seemed to want to stick very close to me. Maybe he thought if he went off to play, I’d leave him again when he wasn’t looking?!? 😥

Sunday I spent a long time doing more financial stuff, mostly auditing all our expenses from the trip and catching up on Monarch, etc. We also finally got groceries!!! 😅😅

Sunday night at 6, my coworker and I attended a super fun event at Comedy on State, a popular comedy club downtown on State St.

One of our head transplant surgeons just released a new book (his second), and he was throwing a launch party/ book signing. He rented the whole place out for this private party.

But here’s the kicker- HE did the stand up comedy!! Talk about being multi-talented- from transplant surgeon to 2x author to stand up comedian?! His wife is also a vascular surgeon at UW and she did the welcome/ intro- and she’s really funny too! Ha.

It was a total blast. I also got to catch up with a bunch of nurses I used to work with on the inpatient unit but hadn’t seen in ages.

It ran from 6-10 but the comedy part ended a little after 9, so I was home well before 10.

Fun fact, I had never been to a comedy club before! AND, I actually just recently listed “go to a comedy club” on my List of 100 Dreams, when Ivan and I were generating lists in the car while driving from Dublin to my sister’s house. So now I guess I can cross that off the list. 😉 (Although- it was so fun, now I want to go again, with a real comedian! Though Dr. Mezrich was honestly hilarious, and his delivery was every bit as good, if not funnier, than “real” comedians.)

Otherwise, the weekend was pretty chill. The weather was WARM and felt so amazing. I really wish we could just stay in the 60s-70s now….

I hung out in the sunroom a lot, with the screen door open. I’m happy to be home and be near my little snuggle bug again. 💕

I’m also happy to see so many signs of spring. Daffodils blooming in my front yard!

I have a whole bunch of posts I’m itching to write: my usual monthly recap post for March, my Virgin Islands pros/cons post, some travel Q&As, the kids + money post I promised a long time ago….oh, and I was hoping to recap our past South Dakota trip, as requested by my favorite blog reader to chat all things travel with, Emily! (they’re going this summer! South Dakota/ the Black Hills is THE BEST). OH, and I’ve also been meaning to update you all on my mystery cough…

Hopefully I’ll get to some of these soon. 😉

Alright, gotta run- Happy Monday!

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for the chance to check something off my List of 100 Dreams (go to a comedy club). Maybe I manifested it by adding it to my list. Next I’ll try manifesting another one, like how about, “go to Fiji” 😜 (Ok, granted, “go to a comedy club” is not particularly a high bar! lol I could literally go to that comedy club almost any night of the week if I wanted, ha…)

P.S. Sharing a couple memes I saved this weekend that made me laugh: