Happy Wednesday! I am happy to see the middle of the week already! This is a busy week of link ups with my blogger friends so I am catching up on a few today. It’s always fun to think about their questions and see how everyone else answers, too. Let’s get to it!

This month the Share Our Lives ladies, (Jen, Joanne, Sarah, Dara, and Adrienne), are talking about how you spend your birthday. My birthday is in September so it is a pretty busy time of the year. We are back to school and figuring out our new routine for that year. Truthfully, I would love to wake up at the beach on my birthday but I don’t think it will happen for a few years. This year my birthday is on a Tuesday so I will probably spend it teaching darling children.

I always have my cake on our family’s musical cake plate. It is old and struggling a bit, but I must have it!

I’ve had off on my birthday a few times. Twice we had flood days for hurricane remnants that have come through our area. The last time it turned into a beautiful day and I spent it reading on my driveway in a beach chair! We’ve also had off for Rosh Hashanah on my birthday and I spent that day at a cool playground with the boys.

A few years ago, the boys had practices so my mom and I dropped one of them off and went to a nearby restaurant for a delicious glass of wine and appetizers together. That was fun!

We’ve been to a local winery when my birthday is on a weekend. It was fun to celebrate there!

I think for the next few years, I will go to work on my birthday. An elementary school is a great place to have a birthday because the kids are so excited to wish you happy birthday as loud as they can! 😊 I will likely spend my birthday evenings at a game or driving someone to a practice. We’ll likely go out to dinner or get carryout. Jeff always makes the kids’ lunches on my birthday, but lunch will be included at their school next year so that tradition is over. Lucky him!

Today is the Let’s Look (Erika and Shay) linkup. In January, I shared about low level goals. In February, I shared how we are keeping our marriage strong. They are looking at wellness routines this month. To be completely honest, my wellness routine could use a little attention right now. I set a few goals for myself recently to get back to a wellness routine that helps me feel good. Here they are and a little update.

• Lifting weights before school – Nope, I need to get to bed earlier to make this work. I have been doing some strength training in the afternoons though. I wouldn’t say it is part of my routine yet, but I am doing some.
• Sticking to the meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – Yes.
• Using my Crest white strips every day – Nope, but I am determined to get this started today!
• 24 ounces of water before 10:30 am – I am doing this and I am feeling great about it.
• 10,000 steps every day – Yesterday was the first day I missed since I set these goals about 20 days ago. It was raining hard all day and I didn’t hop on the treadmill.

I’m doing pretty well on those goals and they are definitely helping with my wellness.
Ideally, my wellness routine would include:
-strength training 3-4 times a week
-walking at least two miles a day
-fresh fruits or veggies at every meal
-at least seven hours of sleep
-time with Jeff
-time with the boys
-time to read every day
-time to relax

Now, I just need to figure out how to do all of that and my job and help get Jack and Luke where they need to be. No problem, right? 😉

I am joining Joyce for a quick hodgepodge of questions. They are always fun to answer!

1. What’s something you’re curious about right now? Our wonderful neighbors officially moved out last night. It was pretty sad to say goodbye again yesterday. I am curious about the new family moving in. I hope they are fun and friendly!

2. If you could plan the perfect girl’s weekend getaway, where would you go and what would be on the agenda? Do you have anything like this on your calendar in the next few months? I would go to a little beach town that has little shops and dive bars. We would go for a walk or run, go to the beach, walk to get lunch, go back to the beach, walk to dinner, go back to the beach or the house and do whatever the night leads us to. Gosh, that sounds so lovely right now!! I don’t have anything on the calendar right now.

3. What’s the most unique item in your refrigerator right now? I don’t have much that is unique in our refrigerator. Even though we have two refrigerators (kitchen and garage), space is at a premium with all of the milk, eggs, meats, and veggies I like to keep on hand. I do keep our garage refrigerator stocked with drinks (seltzers, sodas, gatorade, protein shakes, etc.) so that they are ice cold when I am ready to drink one.

4. In this season of your life, what do you find most challenging? Time. Making enough time for everything I want to do. Oh boy is it a challenge. I am prioritizing our family of four in this season, but it feels like I am missing out on time with our extended family and my friends. I could also use a little more time to exercise (see above) and take care of myself.

5. Do you collect anything? If so why that? At work, I collect fun pens. I take attendance at the beginning of every class to make sure I know who is there and to start the class by saying hello to each student. I use a different fun pen each week. Recently, I put the collection in the showcases in the library and the kids have loved it. I occasionally get pens as gifts from kids and they were excited to see their gifted pen in the collection! I’ll add some pictures when I get to school today.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I could look at old pictures FOREVER! I was looking for some pictures of the boys with our neighbors that are moving and got sucked in for a good long time. It is a good reminder to keep taking pictures, candid and posed, even if the boys aren’t excited about it. I don’t need to post or share them, but they are so good to have!

That was fun! Joyce always writes the best questions to get me thinking! What are you curious about these days? What does your wellness routine look like? I can’t wait to see! Have a great day full of sunshine and books!