Weekend update

Taking a Friday off just for the heck of it makes for the best kind of weekend. On a whim, on Thursday evening after Toastmasters, I decided to take the day off. As a result, I caught up on my sleep, went shopping, got lots of boring stuff done and still managed to take a mid-day yoga class at my new gym that I can't take while I'm working. By the time Brad and I went to dinner Friday night with our friend Katie, I was well-rested, relaxed and happy. Maybe a little too happy. At Vinology (which has now officially replaced Cafe Felix as our Friday-night hangout) I had one flight of wine -- the equivalent of maybe two 6 oz. glasses, which is not a lot for me -- and couldn't walk straight. I don't know if I was just dehydrated or there was a full moon or what, but let's just say that there was some Alison-taking-care-of by the husband late Friday night. Thank goodness Brad was the responsible one and drove us home. :\

Saturday morning was pretty rough. I got up and did a few chores and spent most of the morning effing around on the internet, eating junk food and drinking water. By the time 2 p.m. rolled around, I was feeling grumpy, lazy and worthless. It was so hard to get myself dressed and out the door, but a 15-mile mountain bike ride at Island Lake in the FREEZING COLD was the best thing I could have done for myself. The last few miles I couldn't feel my toes. I kept having to remind myself that I used to bike in the snow and 44 degrees was wimp weather. By the time I got home, I was starving, so Brad and I cooked up some kale chips and Italian sausage for dinner along with a roasted acorn squash. If you've never cooked squash before, it's so easy -- cut it in half, put in about a teaspoon of butter, some brown sugar and salt/pepper and bake uncovered at 400 for 35-45 minutes. I love the taste of squash so I think this is just about one of the most heavenly veggie side dishes in the world. I'm going to be so sad when squash season is over.

After dinner we went out to see W (which was awesome, BTW. It's not a Bush-bashing film so much as what's probably a somewhat accurate portrayal of Bush as a person -- a fairly intelligent, very charming kid with no business sense who lucks out and finds himself in a position too big for him to handle. And Richard Dreyfuss is priceless as a conniving, slimy Dick Cheney).

Today I'm doing homework and trying to ward off the cold I feel coming on, damn it. Enjoy your Sunday!

Weekend

It's been a fabulous weekend so far. I hosted a girls-only wine tasting party on Friday night for about 12 people, which was lots of fun (I get so nervous when I entertain, so I'm SO glad it went well). An insane amount of wine and snacks were consumed. I never want to see another olive as long as I live!

Yesterday I was determined to work on my paper and my Toastmasters speech, but that didn't happen. Instead, I napped for most of the morning (my wine-fueled night's sleep was pretty restless) and went for an amazing mountain bike ride with Katie at Maybury in the afternoon. How have I never ridden this trail before? It was absolutely perfect for our beginner-to-intermediate skill level and had enough inclines to give us a great workout. I'll definitely be going back.

Last night Brad and I had a date night. We decided to avoid downtown Ann Arbor after the football game and instead went for an incredible dinner at Terry B's in Dexter, which is now my favorite of the Dexter nice restaurant triumvirate. We capped off the night at Paesano's for dessert. It wasn't a cheap night, but it was totally worth it. Over the past year, we've really changed up our eating-out style. We used to eat out 3-4 nights a week at "okay" restaurants, but now we only eat out one night a week and it's almost always at a nice, date-worthy place. It feels like much more of a treat, and believe it or not, we save a lot of money.

Today, unfortunately, I'm left with a massive to-do list. Homework, speech, laundry, grocery shopping. What to do first? Why not write a blog? :)

Hello September!

It's so sad when amazing four-day weekends come to an end. The good news, summer is also coming to an end! And all of you know how I feel about fall. :) Oh yes...I am in love with fall. You would be, too, if your house didn't have air-conditioning. But it's not just the crisp, cool weather that I love. It's everything -- fall clothes, fall food, falling leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving. I would have said bonfires in the past, but there will be NO bonfires this year! I get all nostalgic and romantic in the fall, especially October, which is my favorite month of all time. Brad and I first kissed (2002), got engaged (2005) and got married (2006) in October. I need to move to a place where fall lasts all year. Any suggestions?

This weekend started on Friday morning, since I had the day off. I got up early to do some schoolwork and met up with my brother and my mom for shopping and lunch. (My brother came into town from Maryland Thursday night.) After a satisfying, productive day, I crashed for two hours at home and woke up to Brad asking me if I wanted to go to Vinology -- my current favorite restaurant in town -- for drinks. Um, hell yes? I'd already eaten dinner, so I had two glasses of Starry Night Zinfandel, which I'd first tried when I dined there with some co-workers last month.

Saturday, I took Michael mountain biking at Olson Park, which is a little-known trail in northeast Ann Arbor I used to ride every Thursday night. We did three loops of the main trail and explored some of the side trails. I always forget how much I love this trail -- it's easy enough for a novice like me to ride the whole thing without getting off, but difficult enough that it gets my heart rate up (both from exertion and the rush of making it through a few challenging spots). We came home, had lunch, napped, and headed out with Brad to the last German Park Picnic of the season. One of us had a few too many beers (to protect the innocent, I won't say who :) so it ended up being an early night.

Sunday we hung around for most of the day and did house stuff, including the putting-together of my new office! The whole schoolwork at the kitchen table with the TV blaring thing wasn't working out -- I definitely needed a quiet place of my own with a door that closed. So we got a new desk for the office and moved the old desk into MY office, which is also the spare bedroom. It has everything I need (a desk with a drawer, a bookshelf, file cabinets, wireless internet, a phone jack and NO TV!). It will definitely help out on days I work from home, too. We're supposed to get all of our fire damage fixed in September, so there will probably be quite a few work-from-home days.


Our "old" office, with a brand-new desk!


My "new" office

After a day of moving furniture, we grabbed dinner with my parents at Szechuan West, which was delicious but unfortunately gave one of our party a serious case of the poops (again, to protect the innocent...:) so it was once again an early night.

And finally, today, I got up early, finished my assignment (one day early!) and went for an early-morning bike ride by myself. Tonight I need to stay in and catch up on some major work (job work, not schoolwork) so I'm not completely behind next week. But at least I get to do it in my new office!

All in all, it was the PERFECT weekend. It was productive but not crazy, and long enough that I actually feel like I got some relaxing done. Man I wish there were more four-day weekends to go around. Goodbye summer, hello fall!

No-fire weekend!

Brad and I just got back from the most AMAZING WEDDING EVER. First of all, the Bluewater Farm Lodge in Andover, NH is one of the most beautiful places I've EVER been, and I've been to a lot of places. It's hard to describe how incredible the scenery is. I would go back there in half a second. It was so amazingly romantic that I think Brad and I fell in love all over again in the New England woods.

We stayed there for three days and enjoyed friends, great food, microbrewed beer, campfires (OK, I stayed far far away from anything fire-related, but it was nice to have the option), and the marriage of one of the most beautiful couples we've ever known, Al and Emily. We stayed in the lodge for three days, and it was like camping without really camping, which is the perfect kind of camping for me! The morning we left, I got up at sunrise and swam halfway across the lake (which, believe it or not, was pleasantly warm). I floated on my back and stared up at the sky and wished I could stay there forever.

But then it was back to reality with a two-hour drive back to Boston. High off the amazingness of the weekend, we had a delay-free, trouble-free trip home, if you can believe that. Even with a 45-minute layover, our flights were all on time and we made it home last night with the time and energy to do a load of laundry!

Perfect long weekend. Seriously, friends, you need to go to New Hampshire. I'm in love.

Weekend update

Today I went for a 7-mile ride on my mountain bike (longest yet!). I'm definitely not ready for the trails yet, but I tackled a couple of big hills on the bike path with minimal pain. I'm also proud to say that I still have the ability to change a flat tire in the middle of a ride after not doing it for a year -- although it took me almost 30 minutes and I ended up turning yet another t-shirt into a grease rag.

Thanks for your suggestions on what to eat. I took a step in the right direction and swapped out my regular breakfast cereal for Kashi GoLean Crunch a few days ago, and it's awesome -- just the kind of change I was craving. And I packed a PB&J on rye bread Friday instead of my normal frozen panini, which was convenient AND delicious (although it did get a little smooshed in my bike bag).

Hope everyone's enjoying the long weekend.

Weekend update

As an update to yesterday's posts: 1) I bought some new, CUTE shoes! (They're flip-flops with little chunky heels, not pointy heels, so they're very comfortable to walk in.) And 2) my knee feels great this morning. In fact, I would almost say my knee felt better for the rest of the day after the bike ride, even though I spent most of it on my feet. Maybe "getting back out there" is the best thing I can do, and hopefully over time it will help get rid of some of the residual swelling so I can bend my knee all the way (which I still can't do).

After a very busy, productive day yesterday, last night I went to Pub 13, a piano bar in the next city over. I've been completely obsessed with piano bars ever since my Vegas trip, where spending an afternoon (yes, afternoon) in a dueling piano bar in New York, New York was my favorite part of the weekend. Brad had been there before he met me, and had little interest in going back -- watching two guys in Hawaiian shirts belt out Queen and Styx to a dance floor of drunk bachelorettes isn't really his thing.

So we had a girls' night out, and it was a blast! I'll admit, the talent was not quite on par with the bar in Vegas, but you also didn't have to tip $20 to hear a song ($3-$5 was perfectly acceptable) and the piano players were about 85% as entertaining. Also, even though I heard "Don't Stop Believin'" in both locales (apparently a piano-bar standard?), the Ypsilanti version gets an A++ due to the sheer volume of the crowd belting out "He was just a city boy, BORN AND RAISED IN SOUTH DETROIT!" Brad and I once had a hilarious discussion about how whenever that Journey song comes on, everyone in the area suddenly claims "south Detroit" as their home...like, even people from Toledo, Ohio. Anyway, it was a fantastic night, and I need one of my friends to have a birthday or bachelorette party there so I can go back as soon as possible.

Today we're having some friends over for a cookout, and I'm taking the day off from exercise. I've either swam, lifted weights or gone to PT 6 days this week, and I know I need to give myself a one-day break.

Oh, and you'll want to stay tuned for a report on Brad's epic 30th birthday celebration next Saturday! Unfortunately, I have to leave town next Sunday morning and will be gone for the entire week (including his actual 30th birthday), but I'll try to post some photos before I get on the plane.

Three-day weekend

I'm not exactly sure when this became a knitting blog. But anyway -- this weekend, after attempting a few complicated projects (mittens? not so much) and failing miserably, I got frustrated and was ready to give up the whole stitch-'n-bitch thing altogether. Then I reconsidered. I've only been knitting for about a month, and I can make a damn good scarf and an equally good rolled-brim hat. So why not just stick to those things for awhile and practice my technique?

I headed out to Jo-Ann's (I know, I know. The whole grad school budget thing), picked up some thick, chunky wool/acrylic yarn, and whipped out the size-13 (very large) needles, which haven't seen the light of day in weeks. I started furiously knitting a double-ribbed scarf and, after an hour, have almost a foot done on this puppy. It's warm, stretchy and very pretty. It feels nice to be good at something again.



It's been a pretty eventful weekend. On Saturday, Brad and I danced at the Love Bang, which has been our Valentine's Day tradition for the past 3 years. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because my knee was hurting too badly to dance anymore.



Also, my future sister-in-law was in town, so we enjoyed a mediocre Italian dinner with her at Paesano's.



That's it for your regularly scheduled weekend wrap-up. I have the day off today for some dead presidents, and I've already finished the laundry and cleaned two bathrooms.