It’s getting a little difficult to count the amount of times I’ve talked about feeling off or weird on this little space. In the last two months, we’ve left our favorite apartment of all time, spent a few weeks without our things bouncing from place to place, we lost our beloved Schnauzer and it’s just felt so strange. I have just been sick of feeling so off.

Now it’s Sunday evening and we are rewatching the end of How I Met Your Mother before it leaves Netflix. We had a weekend that felt good.

Friday night, we left work, went home and read for a while. There were Lola cuddles and left over Green Mill Pizza. We got dressed, grabbed a six pack of beer and headed over to our friend’s for an evening of cheese plates, drinks and laughs. It’s so nice having friends that live in the neighborhood. It’s even better to have friends that don’t get mad when your dog poops on their floor. Thanks Lola for showing us a new talent that we never knew you had… and another thing we have to worry about when we take you places.

Saturday morning was quiet. There was coffee, newspapers and scrambled eggs. We made plans to meet our friends and one of our favorite babies at Fort Snelling State Park just after noon. We did a little 4 mile round trip along the Minnesota and the Mississippi Rivers. There was good conversation, sunshine and a little hot cocoa. The time flew by and we found ourselves ready for a snack afterwards. We stopped at a new-to-us place in Saint Paul called the Highland Grille and enjoyed a $2.50 beer, the best brussel sprouts I’ve ever had and some other snacks. It’s so interesting that we lived here for so long and there are so many places we never explored or tried. It makes me a little sad, but also really excited about the adventures in the near future.

After our snack stop, we tried to check out the MN Made Christmas Market at Lake Monster Brewing, but it was a complete zoo. We made a quick loop to see what stands were there, but we definitely weren’t waiting in line for beers. We made the quick trip home and hit play on some Stranger Things. After watching the first episode of season 2, we fell into the black hole called YouTube and watched videos of the stars of the show on all the late night talk shows. I’m sharing my 2 new favorites here.

This morning (Sunday), we had another slow start. We finished library books, read the paper and snuggled with Lola. We did some house chores and got organized for our week. Late morning, we got ready and went out to brave the Mall of America. Justin needed some snow boots and we each had a list of items we need to fill out of wardrobe now that we have to be in an office every day and yoga pants and sweat pants aren’t acceptable everyday wear. We survived. We made a loop on each floor, ate some good tacos and got out of there before it was too crazy.

We made an appearance in the afternoon at a one year old’s birthday party. Whenever there is wine, pizza and cake, I’m pretty happy. Plus we got to hang with the family for a little while.

Now here we are. Lola is snuggled in on the couch and we are in pajamas. We have a fun week ahead of us with a few sporting events, a movie night and the possibility of getting a car. We have meals planned and groceries purchased. Plus we are purging our closets and everyone knows how much I love getting rid of things.

Things will probably never feel normal again because our little family is different. We are familiar with the “new normal” idea and I think we are nearing that. Things are put away in our house, we have a normal routine, we have adventures planned in the upcoming months and we aren’t crying multiple times a day. We are working on the positive and the healthy.

We are finishing 2017 strong. Wishing the same for all of you.