I remember in my 20s and even early 30s when a holiday weekend would come I’d look forward to sleeping late and sitting on the couch. That doesn’t happen anymore.

After getting up before 5 a.m. on Saturday to see my friends run the Spring Lake 5 and then spending the afternoon walking in the rain with the doodle I thought about sleeping in yesterday. But then I remembered I had my new bike and the rest is history.

I got up at 6:30 a.m. and after a quick breakfast and a walk with the dog I put the bike in the car and drove down to the beach to really test out my new wheels (and my bike riding confidence).

I stopped midway just under the Verrazano Bridge to take a minute and enjoy the view.

New perspective to see the view from a bike rather than on my feet

I covered 8 miles in 53 minutes which felt great! But what felt even better was that I felt really confident on the bike and think I’ll be able to conquer longer rides. I’m going to try and build up to 30 miles. After my ride I made a very last minute decision to hit the cemetery on my way home to say hello to someone.

Love Always

He was a fallen soldier in my eyes. He battled cancer with dignity and bravery and lost that battle…. and I felt I should acknowledge him on this Memorial Day weekend along with saluting the many brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for this country, protecting my freedom.

Then it was home to shower and grab the doodle and off we went for another adventure. We drove upstate to visit Duncan’s girlfriend Lucy (and one of my best human friends Susan and her husband). In my mind I kept saying the trip would be just over 2 hours. I don’t know where I got that from. It’s really only just over an hour’s ride. #LackOfRunningIsMakingMeLoseMyBrainCells At some point on the New Jersey Turnpike it clicked and when I realized I had an hour to kill I decided to stop at the Palisades Interstate Park State Line Lookout where Duncan and I got to go for a li’l hike.

The Palisades runs along the Hudson River and I was right at the state line between New York and New Jersey.

This spot is one of my favorite places. I’ve gone hiking here before with friends and also with Duncan. I Love when accidents turn into happy accidents.

lots of cool textures! The last one is a tree trunk but looks like a shredded wheat biscuit =)

He found something. I think it was a bunny.

Nature + Me = Natural Beauty Nature Girl

After an hour of exploring we got back in the car and continued on to our final destination. Duncan was so excited to see his girl!

Now that Lucy lives an hour away rather than 15 minutes they only get to see each other once every month or so. Long distance love! They relaxed in the sun on the deck, went for a walk and begged for cookies. The humans ate a great meal (and I didn’t take a single picture but it ended with apple cider donuts and I ate TWO!) and then it was time for the pups to eat.

I always enjoy spending time and catching up with friends in person rather than via text/email or phone. And Duncan couldn’t resist telling Aunt Sue how happy he was to spend the day there too.

blurred tail = wagging tail = HAPPY!

This morning I slept in until 7:30am! (LOL!) and started cleaning the house. By noon I was on the road to my brother’s house to hang and do a little BBQing.

chillin’ on the patio

Twice baked parmesan baked potato, filet mignon and grilled shrimp with some token greens

After dinner we hopped in my brother’s “mid-life-crisis” convertible and went for Fro-Yo!

wild hair, amazing sea salt caramel fro-yo and a beautiful sunset.

Perfect ending to a perfect holiday weekend!

So what did you do? 

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