The past few weekends we’ve had plans from morning through night – it’s the busy season for social events, races, weddings, and beautiful weather.  So this weekend’s fairly flexible schedule was marvelous.

Thanks Katie for hosting another marvelous link-up!

Saturday morning I was planning to catch up over coffee with a girlfriend before I attended the DC Lupus Foundation of America‘s Lupus Summit, but Ryan had a late night out with his friends seeing Iron Man so when I tried to wake him up he didn’t budge.  Thankfully my girlfriend was understanding and enjoyed the extra sleep and so did Ryan – he got his beauty sleep and I got a Starbucks.

The summit was held at The George Washington University Hospital and as seen on the LFA website, the purpose of the program was to allow individuals with lupus to ”connect with members of the lupus community and improve [their] health.”

I was a bit apprehensive of attending but I kept reminding myself that I’d rather be informed than uneducated.  I’ll recap what I learned sometime within the coming week, but overall it was a worthwhile experience.  I walked away feeling more knowledgeable about the disease that I was diagnosed with in the fall of 2009, even if knowing has made me a bit scared of what the future may hold.

After the third session I was feeling a bit overwhelmed so I asked Ryan to pick me up earlier than planned and skipped the last session.  On the way home we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a hike along the Potomac River [and goofed off on the ropes course].

the ropes course is located on the property of the school where my momma works – I used to go to summer camp there when I was younger, but I don’t remember the zip-line being that high!

we missed the Bluebells

After hiking we swung by my momma’s house before going to the gym.  I had a long run planned for Sunday morning so I didn’t want to do much, but Ryan has diligently been working on strengthening his ankle so he wanted to go.  And guess what…  For the first time since his ankle surgery he ran!  It may not have been a long distance but any progress is good progress, hooray!

true story: I was so excited to see him running that immediately after I took this picture I dropped my phone – my headphones got stuck around the bike pedal & the ear bud snapped off

On the way home from the gym we picked up a few groceries at TJ’s and enjoyed a low-key evening with dinner on the couch and a movie.  We watched Bride Wars - I thought it was hilarious and Ryan actually had a laugh too.  The girly girl and wanna be wedding planner in me loves how beautiful the Park Plaza Hotel is…  It makes me want to get married again!

Sunday morning I planned to go for a long run after breakfast but one thing led to another and soon enough it was already time for lunch so postponed it until the afternoon - I can’t run on an empty stomach.  Ryan and I took Charlie for a walk around the lake before going out to lunch.

turkey breakfast sausages & cinnamon oat flour pancakes topped with cottage cheese + peanut butter + pumpkin butter

With a belly full of fuel I drove over to my old neighborhood to run, but .4 miles into it I called it quits.  Sometime on Saturday I tweaked my back so whenever I turned sideways and evidently when I run, I got a sharp pain up the left side starting from my hip to my shoulder blade.  It didn’t hurt when I bent forward or backward or when I walked though…  Update: I woke up this morning and it feels much better – last night’s stretching, foam rolling, and a back rub must have helped!

I was a bit frustrated and held a pity party for one, but rationally I knew that I’d much rather take an unplanned rest day than not be able to run for weeks because I stupidly pushed through the pain.  The afternoon was not wasted though – my momma and I sat out on the deck and chatted about all of the upcoming family weddings we’re attending and I traded perspiring for pamperizing.

Since it was Cindo de Mayo, I felt somewhat obliged to eat something Mexican for dinner but we already had pork tenderloin on the menu for dinner so these two ingredients were the extent of our Mexican celebration   Ya win some, ya lose some…  We finished off the night watching The Guilt Trip and thought it was pretty funny.

I hope y’all had a wonderful weekend and your Monday has been marvelous!  This week is busy for me with a couple of appointments and packing for Boston this weekend…  I’m SO EXCITED!!!

Question:  What’s your favorite nail polish color?

Question:  Did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

— Allison