Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Everybody working for the weekend


There is just something luxuriant about a long weekend.  So much so that Tia and I opted to extend it a little further by taking off Friday as well.  It was the first weekend in some time that I can remember really relaxing, in between all the projects and errands we lately find ourselves embroiled in.  Of course, we did some of those too. 


Friday was a spa day.  Started with some chouquettes (an eggy donut-like pastry topped withsugar) and chocolate croissants still soft from the oven from St. Honore.  We then ambled down to the spa, where we soaked our feet, drank tea, and had warm oil scalp massages…followed by 90 minute full  body massages.  It is a rare treat that we both expect to be rarer once the baby comes (both because of cost and time).  We finished up by dropping off some paint for recycling and lunching at Grand Central (who have the BEST cowboy cookies you can buy…second only to the ones Tia makes).  Of course, being us, we then managed to get outside and trim some hedges, mow the lawn, and otherwise work on house projects. 

The rest of the weekend followed a similar pattern, leisure and work.  Of accomplishments and down time.  We drove up to the casino (lost a sum total of less than $10 between the 2 of us), took in a happy hour at Trader Vics (the most amazing crispy coconut shrimp and some seriously potent Mai Tais), and made dinner for my in-laws.  Also, we pressure cleaned the driveway and walkways, trimmed every hedge, bush, and plant in the front yard, weeded, hung shelving, cleaned, registered at Target for baby stuff, put together a bed frame, bought a mattress and hauled it home, and ran a smattering of other errands.  We also faced off with my old arch enemy….mulch.

For some reason, mulch ALWAYS misleads me.  It seems like each bag should go so much further, should cover so much more ground.  I had guessed maybe 8 bags of it for the front in between all the plants (and mind you, it isn’t as though we live on a palatial plantation-like plot of land) and Tia went ahead and picked up 12, which should SURELY be enough.  Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t nearly enough.  So, we have one half a finished product and one half looking better than it did before, but rather less than impressive comparatively.  Damn you mulch!  

So, what’s left?  Well, as Tia reminds me always, the projects NEVER end when you own a home.  We still need to paint the stairway, mulch the other half of the yard, and finish up the back yard’s planting.  Plus, god knows how many other things I have forgotten.  The projects aren’t all fun, but they are rewarding and I am invested in the outcomes.  Still, it is nice to be able to step away now and again and just do something fun with no real goals or intentions.  Now if there were only a few more long weekends.  Preferably every weekend.  

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