Life Lately- March 2023

Hey! Today I'm briefly recapping some of our March 2023.

We made it up to Washington DC (about 30 minutes away) with Shane's family friends that live about an hour away. It was FREEZING and windy, so we didn't last long in DC that day, but we did what we intended to do there and then spent the rest of the day going around town and doing some shopping/errands, hanging out, and ending up at our house for dessert that evening.

We don't get to DC nearly as often as we should (we prefer Alexandria because it's just easier and less chaotic) but we definitely need to prioritize DC more! There is so much there that we have yet to do. Maybe that will be our goal now that the weather is nicer again? It will be time for us to move away before we know it!

We met our friends Sean and Kate in Occoquan for dinner and ice cream one Saturday. We seem to get together every few weekends or so lately, so this was a nice way to mix it up! Shane and I have been to Occoquan several other times; it's about 15-20 minutes away and is another quaint and historic town.

I had a busy last weekend in March with my new Literacy Specialist job for Wright to Read with The Campagna Center in Alexandria! More on that later, but here I am with my new coworkers at our Thursday evening volunteer reception we had. It was at a really cute venue. I had office hours with a bunch of our volunteer reading tutors the next day and then led our annual workshop/training that Saturday. It was sure nice to be out and about and being social for work-related reasons again.

Otherwise, I spent all of March reminiscing over the annual month-long Houston Rodeo while seeing tons of rodeo pics being posted from all my Houston people! Ahh, I miss the rodeo and this time of year in Houston SO much! This memory popped up as a reminder of our first time at the rodeo. Such a different lifetime!

St. Patrick's Day was chill this year, but I made Shane's Papa's Cabbage Casserole again for dinner that night. This is one of our favs to throw into the meal rotation every now and then!

I'm a big leftover for lunch kind of girl, but with how much Shane eats, it's rare that I get leftovers for lunch anymore! I've been on a salad kick again lately. If there's no leftover meat to toss on, we've actually been remembering to use our air fryer again for chicken nuggets (these are cauliflower chicken nuggets seen below) and that is just the perfect way to top off a salad and make it exciting to eat. I also highly recommend throwing in pickles or relish to your salad- it sounds kind of crazy, but I promise it's good! I still wonder why salads at restaurants are 100000x better than any salad I could ever make at home though.

We're still blaming Stephanie's Camden-in-the-womb many years ago for her pregnancy Fruity Pebbles craving that encouraged her to tell me Fruity Pebbles are gluten free...and Shane and I haven't quit them for a good dessert since. They are a popular dessert for us in this household every so often.

Shane and I have been making me lots of smoothies to get a bit more nutrients in...which I'm loving!

I couldn't help but share Brecken's St. Patrick's Day pic. He looks like the epitome of a little leprechaun in this!

We were loving getting all the pics and videos of him endlessly on the move. Such a crazy, happy boy!

I found us a new vet for here in Virginia and had to take the pups one afternoon. It definitely helped going to a new location that was different from where they were spayed/neutered, and they were excited to go in (probably thinking it was like a daycare!), but they were mostly shaking and hiding by me while we were in there. My poor Caylor girl!

They did well though! Love how I go from zero percent being a dog person to solo finagling two dogs around everywhere! 🤣

Love these two peas in a pod...

There was a fire drill at the middle/high school next door, so it was a very exciting day for the Blanchard household...

Warmer days causes more of their play wrestling matches to occur inside as opposed to outside. So grateful that these two have each other!

Overall, Cash has been a very very good boy as of the past year and a half or so...but he has a fetish with sneaking toilet paper. When I finished tutoring online up in my office one day, I looked down and spotted him curled up with his torn up pile of toilet paper. He doesn’t dare mess around like that when Shane is home…

CayCay stays away from that kind of trouble, thankfully! She's too busy thinking she's a human and being the sweetest of shadows.

That was a short recap for our March! It's hard to believe we're already halfway through April. Time is FLYING!

Hope you have a good day. I'll be busy with the gym, a few errands, and then work, work, work today!