A New Week

It's a new day, and a new week. I can't believe this is my first April blog entry. Actually, I CAN believe it. Last week was a rough one. Work was insanity and kept me swamped every day. Home was pretty nuts, too. There was a death in the family, so it was a fairly emotional week for everyone. It was a bad week, but a good week, too. I got a small-ish hourly raise AND a fat bonus. Sweet! Also, in the height of the madness, I ended up spontaneously meeting up with Cynthia and JJ for beer and Indian food and some much-needed girl time. It was perfect. 

The weekend went fast, as weekends always do. Friday night we watched American Gangster, which was okay, I guess. On Saturday Rob had to teach again. I was awake at 6AM for unknown reasons, and when we had a where-is-Rob's-wallet frantic search at 7AM, I knew I wouldn't go back to sleep. So I had an impromptu meeting of my Saturday Morning Quilting Club, consisting of me, Bellow, and Iris. More on that in a separate post, with pictures! 

I decided that, since I was feeling restless and I had my bonus and all, I'd go shopping. So I headed out to the malls around 11, got lunch at Panera, which is only navigable during non-peak hours, and shopped. I ended up running the gamut: two pairs of Payless shoes, a strapless dress from Marshalls (that I will be adding straps and possibly a ribbon belt to), a skirt + short-sleeved sweater top + little cardigan from Ann Taylor Loft (I had a gift card left over from Christmas and they were having a sale!), and I answered the siren song of the Banana Republic and walked out with a pair of nicely tailored plaid pants for a mere $32. In all I spent around $140 for a bunch of great stuff. But I gotta say, I had a hard time with some of it. Especially at Ann Taylor (the Loft, even!), where everything was $40. There were some cute little satin blouses, really simple, for $44. I wouldn't even let myself try them ON because I know I can make one for less than $10. It was hard to shop and to spend money on stuff I can probably make myself, so I stuck with knits and denim and things I surely wouldn't do at home. I suppose, really, it's a GOOD thing that I have a hard time shopping, and that it's because I can make a lot of that myself. Still, it was tricky. 

The rest of the weekend flew by and I spent most of yesterday on the couch, doing some hand-stitching. I watched North Country on cable, and we watched Confederate States of America on-demand before catching John Adams on HBO and heading to bed. 

For inexplicable reasons, I awoke at 5:18 this morning thinking of Rock of Love 2. Who's it going to be: Ambre or Daisy? I'm firmly in the Ambre camp and have been since the beginning, but who knows what Bret's, um, heart will decide. After lying in bed for another hour, I decided to just get up and watch the weather. I went out to the living room, turned on the TV, and picked up the hand-stitching I had left off on last night. I finished my project by 6:40, then hopped in the shower. I took my time getting ready, was early leaving the apartment, was early getting to the train, and even snapped some pictures on my cell phone along the way. I was listening to the Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist, and it was an awesome way to start out the week. 

A new day, a new week, Smashing Pumpkins, blue sky... 

And a big week it is, too. Tomorrow is my birthday and a dinner out with a small group of friends, Wednesday is the big annual Book Show that will now require me to be more careful than in the past. As one of my manufacturing contacts said to me last week, "You have a target on your back." Indeed. There are a lot of salesmen there, and a lot of people who think that buying a production manager a drink = said manager buying printing work. That's not nearly the way I do business, but I'm new and there are a lot of people who don't know that yet. Anyway, Thursday is potentially a belated birthday dinner out for Rob and me... Another busy week, but hopefully in a different way than last week. 

So here's me, today, on the train, listening to the Pumpkins, sitting in the sunshine, looking optimistic. YES, that IS my optimistic face!