i love us

It's rare that I spend a Saturday night blogging. We are usually out and about in an attempt to wear out J Squared. I guess the 6 hour long play date did Little Miss J in and J2 seems happy to quietly play by himself for at least the next 15 seconds. There are so many ideas I have for a blog post, but for a Saturday night we'll stick to something simple. Valentine's Day.

I love us. Us being the Chunglunds. Gus and I are together nearly 24/7. We drive to work together. We sit down the hall from each other. Sometimes we are even in meetings with each other. 

Of course, sometimes I have enough of us, and that's when I get together with my girlfriends for dinner, bottles of champagne, and one of every dessert on the menu. You know who  you are ladies, and as my inner Kelly Clarkson would say, "my life would suck without you!"

Recently though, work has been beyond crazy. Crazier than it has ever been in my entire career. Extra long hours, work on the weekend, replying to emails in the middle of the night, questioning whether I can actually say no when someone asks me for something and almost always deciding I cannot so working just a bit longer. All this WORKING, made spending time with my family Valentine's Day weekend that much better. 

Little Miss J and I went to see Frozen on Ice on Saturday. Thank you for my amazing lady friends who expertly navigated the parking situation and security line with only a few dirty looks. Thank goodness for Prime Now! Did you know you can get an Elsa dress delivered to your house in under an hour. MIND BLOWN. The girls had an amazing time and the moms managed to not want to stab themselves in the eye upon hearing Let It Go for the umpteenth time.

 

5th row seats thanks to Carol, who's kind of a big deal!

Sunday was HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! J2 had been asking for a fish, so meet Daniel Tiger the fish. He will get a dedicated blog post at some point in the near near future.

As it were, J2 seemed more interested in Sponge Bob's house than the fish. After the morning together, I had to go to office and get some work done, but at 1:00 I called it quits to hang out with my people. I managed to salvage the remainder of Valentine's Day with Mikuni and ice cream.

Nothing fancy, but it was just what I needed. I do love us. Oh, and Gus came home with a second box of Godiva for me today because the first was hijacked by J Squared.

frozen

Nearly five years after we defected from Minnesota and declared sanctuary first in Phoenix and now in northern California, we were set to return for a weekend in January. I grew up in northern Minnesota. Where you plugged your car in at night so it would start in the morning, and your dad would wake you up before he left for work reminding you that the roads were icy and to drive safely. And yet, I couldn't dig deep enough to channel my inner Elsa and embrace the "heatwave" that was all of 21 degrees Fahrenheit. While locals were praising the above zero temps, I was struggling even with hand warmers in the pockets of my dress.

This, of course, is not to say that we didn't have fun. We saw friends and family, watched two cultures come together to celebrate the marriage of a wonderful couple, and ate my FAVORITE pizza EVER. I did all this in between freezing my face off, re-learning how to navigate ice and snow in high heels, and trying to remember how to get on I-94.

back together with S!

where's the beef?

The Js spent the weekend with their uncle David, and apparently, had so much fun that Little Miss J asked me, "Can I live here?"

It was a quick, jam packed trip. It was not really relaxing, but it was most certainly fun. Since we've been home, I've spent two nights in Riverside, one in Oakland, and will spend another three nights in Riverside next week. The fun never stops. Here's to next time Minneapolis ... next time being in March when I spend a whole 4 days with some of my favorite women on the planet!