backyards, brunches, and book clubs

I had a busy (but fun) (and those two don't usually go hand-in-hand for me) weekend. The sad part is that I didn't feel well for most of it. I've had some weird (and mild) stomach issues since Thursday. Bad enough that I feel kinda crappy and exhausted and have been subsisting on saltines and water. Not bad enough that I actually feel justified to cancel on my commitments and stay home in bed. Just moderately yucky. I did spend pretty much the entirety of Sunday in bed, so I'm hoping that means I feel better eventually today. Time will tell, I suppose.

Anyway, despite feeling yuck, there was plenty of good stuff this weekend.

On Saturday morning Matt and I took a mini-road trip to a suburb west of Atlanta to attend a bridal shower (well, I attended...Matt hung out and waited for me) for my friend Alyssa. It was probably the most beautiful shower ever, in a house with the most beautiful backyard ever. Not even exaggerating. The backyard actually brought tears to my eyes. The landscaping! The tulip trees (Japanese magnolias) in bloom! The gorgeous free-form saltwater pool!! The outdoor kitchen area! The nature trail! Ugh. I may or may not have asked the hostess if I could move in with her. Hi, I'm Erika, nice to meet you! And actually, can I move in? Oh, and my husband. And lab. THANKS!! Anyways, enough about their to-die-for backyard. The shower was also fabulous.

We had a Mexican brunch (and no shortage of sangria...which may or may not have been the best idea ever on my empty, finicky stomach...oooops) followed by ALL THE DESSERTS IN THE WORLD. I have never been so mad to have no appetite. I still managed to sample a respectable amount of food, but I was nowhere near my normal form, so it was kind of an insult to Normal Erika's appetite. Ugh. 

While I wined (sangriad?) and dined with the ladies, Matt puttered about and explored the town. A big shout-out to him for wasting the whole first half of his Saturday being my chauffeur and indulging my petty I'm too scared to drive through Atlanta!!!! fears. Anyway, during his time-killing he happened upon some rose bushes on clearance. He's a huge fan of roses and has been trying to coax some long-stemmed yellow roses out of our yard for a few years now, so I wasn't terribly surprised when he informed me upon pickup that he'd bought a few new bushes for us to plant. We trucked back home, took a nap, and then spent a few hours doing some planting. Two of the roses said they were appropriate for container planting, so that's what we did for those two. The other two we put in the ground. I also potted some ornamental cabbages and kales that I bought a week or two ago and hadn't gotten around to potting yet. I didn't put in my zinnia seeds, though. We're all but guaranteed a freeze tomorrow night, so I figured it'd be a big waste of time to put the seeds down.

Saturday night was Book Club!! This was our first time to actually discuss a book, and it was GREAT! We read The Giver this month, which was a re-read for everyone. We had some really good discussion, including lots of comparing and contrasting the dystopian societies of various YA books (most other societies'/governments' control seems to be fear-based, but the community in The Giver is more shame-based...interesting!). And of course, we watched the just-released-last-week trailer for the movie!!

Obviously it appears that the movie-makers are trying to make it look a lot more like a teenage romance thriller than it actually is. They probably screwed everything up, but I'll see it anyway. 

All in all, Book Club was a huge nerdy success and I was very glad I didn't give in to my stomach's lame desire to stay home in bed. Next month we're going to be reading and discussing This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper.

Source

This one will be a new read for everyone, but it's going to be coming out later this year as a movie with Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, and Jason Bateman...so we figured it's probably worth reading! And yes, we're choosing our books based on what's coming out as a movie soon. Seemed like a good way to go! Also, I voted for this book because I just really love the colorful cover. And I 100% believe in judging books by their covers. (And that's not a metaphor for anything. It just really applies to books.)

And now I need to get my brain organized for another week of work. Have a good day!