Life Lately

Life lately has been FULL. Full of bike rides, puppy walks, research, friends and family. I work hard and I play hard and it’s never felt better.

Walks in the afternoon with Luc are still part of my agenda. It’s relaxing for me, and I *hope* fun for him. He’s such a good companion, and puts up with me no matter what.

Walks, then crashing on the couch. I could do this forever.

I dropped my friend’s dog off at the vet on Friday. He’s a Bull Terrier and one of the most unique dogs I’ve ever met. He’s also deaf, so communication can be a struggle sometimes. But he’s a good one…

Dinner out with my parents on Friday night to kick off a long Memorial Day weekend. We ended up at a restaurant where they serve the single best vodka martini I’ve ever tasted. So, obviously I had to order one…with bleu cheese stuffed olives.

A quick 15-mile bike ride Saturday night followed by a beer with the group. We decided we need to start ending our rides like this more often.

24-mile bike ride on Sunday, then afterwards I introduced my parents to “bushwhackers”–essentially a chocolate, alcoholic slushie. In a word: delicious. Another word? Dangerous. Don’t have more than 2.

And finally for Memorial Day I did a group ride at sunrise (5:30am). It was glorious and the perfect way to end a fun-filled weekend.

Even with all of the wonderful things I’ve experienced in the past few days, I still found myself getting “antsy” at work today. I suppose it’s just because summer weather has arrived and my trained response for basically all of my life until now is to drop everything and relax for 2 months. It’s strange, I don’t have a summer anymore and I’m okay with that. I don’t really know what else I would do if I didn’t have my research. Obviously, I love to ride my bike, workout, walk my dog, grab drinks with friends, but these things aren’t permanent. And neither is work. We have to spread life evenly with all of these things to feel well-rounded. Too much play, and we stop appreciating when things are really fun. Too much work, and we stop appreciating the feeling of success and achievement.

I guess that’s what I mean by work hard, play hard.