Simple Joys of the Week, May 23rd Edition

Holy Hanumanasana, I leave for Costa Rica tomorrow morning! 

Am I ready? Nope. My suitcase has been sitting open on the floor since Monday, and although I thought that this setup would lead me to start packing BEFORE today, it did not happen. So today I'm packing, prepping, tying up loose-ends here on the Cape, and hopefully fitting-in a pedicure and yoga class so that I'm fully prepped for this journey ;) 

But, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we jump into the weekend, lets talk SJOTW from the past week! What brought you joy over the past 7 days? 

My simple pleasures are below... 

HEAR: Sylvan Esso's full album [Self-titled]
Are you sick of hearing me talk about this duo? Well, get used to it, because I'm really excited about them! I don't know why, but their music has struck a chord with me and I'm simply loving their first album, which I bought this week. Among my favorites? "Hey Mami," "Dress," "Play it Right," and, well, every song, now that I think about it :) You can listen to "Hey Mami" below:

SEE: Sayde's new Cape Cod collar ;) 
Sayde is official--she's a Cape Cod dog and she's proud of it! We've been waiting for our local pet boutique to get these collars in XS (yep, that's the collar size she wears--haha!) and they finally did this week! Can you believe how adorably patriotic she looks? Ben looked at it the other night and said, "My heart just melts when I see her wearing this collar, because I think of how far she's come from Arkansas." So true, so sad, but also, so happy. 

TASTE: Grilled asparagus
We got a grill last weekend! And Ben put it together (he was very proud) and then we [he] grilled our dinner on it! We're real people who have a grill in our backyard! It's crazy the things that you can do when you move out of the city. And yes, obviously the grilled asparagus was AMAZE. Like, melt in your mouth. Nothing like that grill taste, amirite?!?

SMELL: Citronella candles and tiki torches burning [aka our back patio night]
On the same night that we grilled out, we decided to have a "practice run" for what it would be like if we [ever] had people over for a cookout. So, we lit big citronella candles, lit all of the tiki torches that surround our back porch (they were here when we moved in!), turned on the strand lights that are strung over the porch (also here when we moved in!), brought our speakers out and put on some reggae, and it was quite the evening. The smells, the sights, the outdoor sounds--it felt like summer had arrived and that we had arrived along with it. Yessssss ;) 

TOUCH: Freshly-mown grass under my bare feet
Ben finally mowed our crazy-looking lawn last weekend, and wow, did it make a difference. Did our neighbor have to come over and give us some pointers on how to take care of the rest of the yard? Yes, because we have absolutely no idea what we're doing when it comes to taking care of a real yard, but it was still great. After the lawn was mown, Ben, Sayde, and I ran around barefoot/barepawed and played, and it was a great time.  Again, it felt like SUMMER. 

Other SJOTW? Seeing pics of some of my new paintings hanging in The Little Beach Gallery (more on that soon!), enjoying some of those Peanut M&Ms and that 1/2 Diet Coke that I mentioned on Tuesday, teaching yoga (of course), getting ready for CR, and taking Sayde on a beach walk every single day (dogs aren't allowed on the beach after Memorial Day, so we've been soaking it up). 

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I hope your 3-day weekend is jam-packed with simple pleasures...