Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bliss - A three-day weekend

I am cognizant of the fact that I just had, in theory, a "semester break", and so a three-day weekend should not delight me quite as much as it does. In my defense, however, I did have houseguests three (!!) weekends in a row (note to self: NEVER do that again, especially if some of those guests are of the parental variety and if others have children of the toddler variety). So, life has not provided me with ample opportunity to relax.
Plus, this past week just kicked my ass. I won't go into too much detail, but I had several meetings, one of which involved talking to a group of parents, mainly mothers, about the rest of the year for seniors. As the senior dean, I will be EVER so slightly involved with events such as the senior trip, baccalaureate, graduation in addition to the daily task of running after students to remind them of X and/or Y. I really do like the teaching aspect of my job, but the administrative piece leaves me somewhat cold.
Back to the topic du jour, which is not to lament my job, but to laud the fact that I have a three-day weekend.
It's definitely nice (quite the understatement) to have an extra day! Not because I'll do something "exciting" but at least I can take one day totally off. That was today - I did not open a book for school nor grade a single paper. Bliss!
The weekend, so far, has involved meeting up with friends at Father's Office, a bar/restaurant with two locations in LA - we went to the Culver City locale, meeting up with a friend of ours from work. I hate that it's a 'hip' and happening and rather crowded place, but I love the setting at the same time. It's nice and open, and the crowd is definitely mixed, varying from hipsters to business types to total nerds. We definitely fall somewhere in-between! In addition to a good bar (mainly a great place for beer, but the mixed drinks are potent and well-done), the food is good. This is not TGIFridays or Chili's. Not that there is anything wrong with those places, but this place is rather famous for its burger, reportedly the "best in LA". And it IS a damn good burger. I actually did not order the burger, but I ate half of Michael's and had to admit that it trumped my duck confit. As tasty as that was, it just could not quite match the burger.
Today, we relaxed - walked the dogs, went for a walk along the beach, did some shopping, took an awesome nap, walked the dogs again...
It seems to me as though we have been shopping quite a bit these days (have we? I don't know), but I had several Nordstrom's gift cards that students had given me around the Christmas holiday, so that's my 'excuse'. I'm actually not a huge fan of Nordstrom's, but we did buy some nice towels for the house, and then today Michael replenished his sock drawer with the rest of the money. Not too exciting, but new socks can give one a small sense of satisfaction. I suppose that was my V-day present to him?! How romantic!

The evening was pretty blissful too: green curry chicken and a movie.
We've been experimenting with more Asian flavors these days, and we'd tried this recipe a few months ago and liked it but did not feel that it was strong enough. So, this time we doubled the coconut milk, the fish sauce and the thai green curry paste. It was definitely an improvement!
The grand finale - "Casino Royale". I happen to LOVE the James Bond movies, and although there are some terrible movies in the collection, there is something equally terribly romantic and exciting about them all. I do believe that this one sets itself apart in many ways (not only because of Daniel Craig!), and I very much enjoyed the movie. Not having seen it since its theatrical release, it was almost new for me.
Tomorrow WILL involve some work, but today has offered me such a lovely respite that I won't mind the work. Okay, maybe I will a little, but not too much. Really.
I'm going to bed now and will read a bit of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I had wanted to read this book for a while, and finally I snapped it up. I'm not too far into it, but so far, I would absolutely recommend it.

1 comment:

Kim said...

Ahh, this does sound blissful. I love 3-day weekends. I feel like two days is just way too short. One day is occupied by errands and chores, the other by a social thing of some kind, and then it's back to the grind. I feel like three days allows for real relaxation. Sounds like you've been enjoying in the same style I am. Have a great day!