Weekday Monotony

Life has fallen into a very comfortable routine since I last posted on here. Josh and I get up together and get ready for work, spend our days doing what we do, and both come home around 7 to cook dinner together before watching some pre-recorded show. While this might be monotonous to some, it's so nice to me to have a "normal" now. I spent the last few months feeling flustered because I never knew what the day, much less the week, was going to hold. Would I find a job? Would Josh have to work Saturday? What should I do with all my down-time when I have no one to spend it with? That was getting very old! I am one who thrives off of routine and structure. I guess that's why I relate so well to my autistic kiddos!

While our weeks are quite predictable now, our weekends are our chance to live it up! (Ya right, like anything we do could be constituted as "living it up!") Last weekend we made our first true trip to downtown. We had been down there for our engagement pictures and when I had a conference last year, but the two of us had never spent time there together exploring what Austin has to offer. Josh took me to dinner for my birthday at an AMAZING Italian restaurant with a really neat ambiance, including low lighting and an accordion player. I know what you must be thinking... an accordion player sounds kinda cheesy, right? But it was so beautiful! The food was pretty incredible, too. We then spent time walking to the capitol to explore the grounds a bit. The rest of the evening was spent simply walking up and down the streets, going in a few stores and hotels. It was definitely an evening out of the ordinary for us. Granted, going to eat anywhere other than Chuy's, Cheddars, Chili's, or Cracker Barrell can be deemed "out of the ordinary." (I never noticed that our favorite places to eat all start with a "C." That's just bizarre!)

This past weekend Mom and Dad came to visit. Due to grandparent baby-sitting duties, they weren't able to come up for my birthday weekend, so they came up Saturday to take us to lunch and bring me presents! It was kind of nice having my birthday celebration spread out over two weekends! After running some errands and teaching them about the glorious website Hulu, they headed on back to B-town.

This coming weekend we are making a trip up to the Houston area to visit Josh's sister, Melody, and her husband, Ryan. We haven't had the chance to spend good, quality time with them much, so we are really excited! We are hoping to see some other friends while we are there, too. Pretty soon, Houston trips are going to get hard. There are just too many wonderful people living there and we don't have enough time in one weekend to see them all!

On a Lilly note, she is getting more socialized every week with new dogs. We have been taking her to a dog park here in town the past few weeks. At first, she was VERY hesitant to be around the other dogs. She's always been social with the dogs she's known her whole life, but not so much with new friends. However, the more we go, the braver she gets. She would still prefer to just play fetch and ignore the other dogs, but she will tolerate them playing with her now.

All-in-all, life is going well in the Ponder clan. We are enjoying the new life this year has brought with it, (especially the new paycheck!), and continue to look forward to what else it brings!