Listen ya’ll.  May is a month with 31 days.  This year, in Central Pennsylvania, it rained for 15 of them.  (That’s 48%, smartypantses)  Let’s not forget to note that the high temperature on 5/11/2017 was 58 degrees and then 6 days later on 5/17/2017, the high was 92 degrees.  I’m still struggling to understand why we live in a place that it rains more often than Seattle, Washington (only rained 12 days) and gets hotter than San Diego, California (high was 85 degrees) in MAY?!  I’m optimistic June is less Bipolar.  Or at least more consistently medicated.

Weather aside, May was another whirlwind month.  Appropriately, here’s May’s Reader’s Digest version:

5/2/2017: Fourth (and, hopefully, FINAL?!) nosebleed.  Middle of the night mayhem struck again.  A seasoned professional at this point, the dramatics ended quickly and looked much less like a crime scene than previous occurrences.

5/16/2017 through 5/18/2017: I escaped work for three days and went to the 2017 Central PA Addictions Conference.  It was a GREAT break from the humdrum of work and it was really, REALLY refreshing to spend three days surrounded by people that are passionate about what they do for a living.  Another positive, I got a prospective job offer for Maryland in “4ish” years when we plan to move.  The Director of Marketing from my previous employer was an exhibitor at the conference and excitedly offered to hire me again after we move.  Employment options are ALWAYS good!

5/20/2017 – Since we FINALLY finished cleaning up the outside around our house last year since moving in, this year we decided to start doing a little landscaping outside. We enlisted the help of my gardener-extraordinaire stepdad to come up with a plan for what would do best given the excessive shade because of all the trees. He came up with a great plan (map included!) and collected all the plants we needed to get going. So, on Saturday, 5/20, we spent most of the day digging, raking and planting. And it turned out BEAUTIFULLY! We still need to get some mulch and stepping stones and finish the pond, but, hopefully we’ll be able to finish those things in June and call it done. It’s so nice to have it look like we actually live here and give a shit about what the outside looks like!  We’re FAR from done, but, any progress other than just cleaning things up is good progress.

5/21/2017 – Sunday, 5/21 was a pretty momentous occasion! Josh’s youngest brother graduated from Penn State with his doctorate degree. We attended his graduation and then met the family at TJ Rockwells for dinner. (Note to self: the fish tacos aren’t worth getting excited about again.)

5/24/2017 – I got a message from a person involved with the non-profit organization I’ve been devoting a bunch of time to around lunchtime on 5/24, asking if I would be willing to take over the committee that he has chaired for quite some time.  I happily accepted, as I feel like I’ve found a pretty good opportunity to do some volunteer work that’s supported by my employer and give myself the opportunity to increase my networking.  So, now I’m the “Communications Committee Chair” for the organization which involves ownership of and responsibility for the organization’s website, e-mail distribution process, blog and Facebook page.  I’ve been wildly busy cleaning things up and getting the organization more active in the community.  It’s been a welcome addition to keeping me busy throughout the work day and an opportunity to use my brain on a daily basis.  (This is good!)  Oh, and I finally sucked it up and went to my first actual Dentist appointment to have some work done on my teeth.  To say I was anxious was a severe understatement.  But, an hour and a half later and a bunch of water picking, my teeth looked pretty awesome!  We scheduled my next two appointments for June and July and I was outta there.  Any progress is good progress, remember?

5/27/2017 – On Saturday, 5/27, we had a graduation party for the newly graduated Doctor.  The weather was a bit suspect in the morning but it turned out to be a beautiful day.  We ate too much and enjoyed spending some time in the sunshine, surrounded by family.

5/28/2017 through 5/29/2017 – It was FINALLY time for our annual adventure to Kent Island and Red Eye’s Dock Bar to see the Amish Outlaws for Memorial Day!  We had been looking forward to the holiday getaway for months and it did not disappoint!  Of course it rained both Sunday and Monday and was pretty chilly running up and down the highway on the bike, but, it was a great weekend.  We drank a lot, danced a lot and felt it a lot the next morning.  (This getting older shit is for the birds!)  I must say…our prospective future home feels GOOD!  I couldn’t help but get lost in imagining us living just across the way from Red Eye’s, being able to bring our boat (or dinghy) across for the party.  (Saving $200 a night on the hotel won’t hurt my feelings either!)

So, here comes JUNE!  First up…our four year wedding anniversary on 6/1/2017.  (It hardly feels like we’ve been married for 4 whole years already!)  We’re planning on heading to Camp this coming weekend for some quiet R&R in the mountains.  The weather looks like it might cooperate so it should be a good weekend.

June’s going to be a BUSY one!  We’re not even into June yet and all the weekends except for one are full of commitments already.  Hopefully the weather will get it’s shit together and we’ll see more sun and a bunch less rain so we can get outside some more.  Opportunities to ride the bike in comfortable weather have been few and far between so I’ll be thankful if June changes that.  Either way, though, we’ve only got 229 Monday’s to go!