Sunday, which I call my Suburban Domestication day! Sunday Craig and I woke up and briefly talked about some tentative plans for the day and then he mentioned that he had some yard work to do. I said, I would like to help…as it turned out Sunday there was no tourism or things like that. We went to Home Depot and got some supplies and came home and spent nearly the entire afternoon pulling up weeds, trimming bushes, cleaning the yard, raking and general manual labor around the house and it was truly a great experience. Projects like that don’t seem like work when you are doing it with someone and enjoying the company of each other. After we finally finished bagging up 20 bags of debris we headed to the grocery store and bought some groceries. It was a real treat. Craig grilled the best steak I have ever had. They were grilled to perfection along with baked potatoes and salad and ice cream for dessert. We just chilled out and watched a movie at home.

Sometimes I get so busy on my trips and caught up into the frenzy of trying to see and do as much as I possibly can in the time that I have that I miss the chance to just settle down and relax. In this case…it was hard manual labor but it felt good to be outdoors, sweating, helping someone, and just having some good conversation. Plus never having a home or growing up in a home I’ve never had the opportunity to do these kind of home upkeep projects. So it was also a learning lesson for me