Yawwwwwwn. Good morning! How were your weekends? Anyone else need another day? I’m wiped – we’ve been busy. On Saturday morning, Steve and I were out the door early to – FINALLY – demo kayaks. We had wanted kayaks for years and decided that we would buy them as a fifteenth anniversary gift to each other. For those of you doing the math at home and wondering, wasn’t your fifteenth anniversary a year ago? – the answer is yes, just about. (Fifty weeks, to be exact. Sixteen will be on August 13.) We haven’t been able to find anything to demo for the past year until just this weekend. We had planned to go paddle some Current Designs kayaks that we were both interested in on Sunday (Solstice GT for Steve; Solstice GTS or Equinox for me), but changed plans on a dime when we got some updated information about model availability. Taking advantage of babysitters, we rushed out to a different boathouse than originally planned, and each paddled the model we most wanted to try – P&H Cetus LV for me; Current Designs Solstice GT for Steve. We both loved the paddling experience, and the Cetus and Solstice are now lashed to the top of our car.

If finally buying our fifteenth anniversary kayaks – a year late – wasn’t exciting enough, as soon as we got home we had to quickly shower off the lake water, get fancy, and head out for a family wedding. Everyone was emotional and excited about the day. The bride, my cousin Jocelyn, is a hospital nurse who has spent the last year putting her health on the line caring for patients on a COVID floor. The wedding was supposed to happen last year, but Jocelyn and Jason made the hard and sad decision to postpone because of the pandemic. Not wanting to wait to be married, they exchanged vows in a tiny outdoor ceremony last June (we watched on Facebook) – but this weekend was the big and long-awaited celebration. They are a beautiful couple – inside and out – and we were so excited to get to celebrate with them. And the kids were in the wedding (along with Jason’s niece and nephew) which made it extra adorable! (There was a chorus of awwwwww when the two flower girls and two ring bearers came trotting down the aisle in a big clump.)

After all that excitement, Sunday was a pretty low-key day. We spent the morning relaxing and recovering from the wedding, and finally rolled out for a hike mid-afternoon. (Pictures coming soon – this one gets a recap!) Finished the evening with a cookout – not bad.

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Reading. Pretty slow reading week – typical. I finished Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer on Friday night (LOVED); it was a busy week at work and around the house and I didn’t have as much evening reading time as usual, even for summer. After saying goodbye, reluctantly, to Mrs. Lorimer and Miss Douglas, I turned back to Chesapeake. I’m determined to finish it! At press time I’m about 40-ish percent in, so progress is happening, albeit slowly. (I can see why my grandmother loved James A. Michener – he was right up her alley – but I’m going to need a good long break and a string of shorter books after this.)

Watching. Well, the best watching of the week was my cousin exchanging vows with her handsome soulmate. Everything else kind of paled in comparison, but we did watch some more Olympics – always great.

Listening. Actually, nothing in my earbuds this week. Guess I’ve wanted some quiet time.

Making. Decisions, decisions! After a year of dreaming of test-paddling a kayak and being foiled over and over again, I found a boathouse that not only had the P&H Cetus in stock, but had two colors. I was rather hoping someone would buy one of them out from under me (but just one, not both) and make my decision for me. But when I arrived at the boathouse, they were both still there: blue with yellow trim, and orange with yellow trim. I’d wanted an orange kayak and thought I’d go that way, but I didn’t really like the look of the yellow trim on it, and the blue looked beautiful next to Steve’s red Solstice (and had a newer, redesigned, seat). So I surprised myself by choosing blue. It was the right call.

Moving. Pretty good week of movement, but could have been better. On top of the above-mentioned hike and test-paddle, I got in three decent runs. I wanted to squeeze in another run or two, but on Saturday morning I fell, hard, and cracked my shin. It’s still achy and swollen this morning, although a lot better than it was. It’s probably runnable, but I think I’m going to give it another day or so, because I want to make sure it has a chance to fully heal before Steve and I leave for the Adirondacks later this summer.

Blogging. Bookish week coming atcha! On Wednesday I have my July reading round-up ready to go, and on Friday I’m giving you the first part of a three-part bookshelf tour. I love creeping other people’s shelves, so I hope y’all enjoy.

Loving. I always love watching the Olympics, but I am especially loving the important conversations that are finally starting in connection with this year’s Games. From the excessive control the (male!) Olympic executives exercise over the female athletes’ clothing, to Title Nine’s decision to contribute $1 million toward equal pay for the women’s soccer team, to the crucial conversations about athletes’ mental health – these are all things that should be out in the open, and now they finally are.

Asking. What are you reading this week?