Weekend Recap
Friday-- Austin had had a week of some rather stressful worky goings-on so we decided not to go anywhere. We watched two more episodes of Lost and then I made homemade pesto using our own basil and our new food processor. It was pretty good and the Austin gamed and I read most of the night.
Saturday-- We ran to the grocery store to get grilling stuff for a going away party for one of Austin's buddies. We did brats and a few sides plus beer and cider. Two of Austin's friends and later the guest of honor showed up for the grilling then I took them to a bar to drop them off but I stayed for a drink and a horrible game of darts (horrible on my part). I don't normally drink cider so it didn't have the nice effects of wine, making sleeping a real pain. I think I got just a few hours.
Today-- I woke up tired but made breakfast and then got a call from a friend who was going to be passing through town. I had known about this possiblity but never heard anything back so I didn't think it was going to work out. Well, it did so that gave me the motivation to clean up the house a little and myself too. We had a nice visit with the two of them and took them to our favorite Mexican place which they loved.
Now I'm catching up on laundry and have lowered all the blinds to trick myself into getting ready for bed earlier. The 20 hours of sun we get every day make it hard for me to go to bed early and hard for me to sleep in. Tomorrow, however, I'll be waking up at the sweet hour of 4:45 a.m. to head out of town with a colleague to do some research on how Mexican farm employees are learning English on-site. This research may or may not lead to a presentation this spring, we'll see. I know it will prove very intersting but leaving at the crack of dawn just doesn't inspire me. Thankfully this opportunity did not come up during the academic year, I can handle it for a day.
Visits
For the past few days, I've been visiting some girlfriends. I spent an afternoon with LeeAnne up to some top-secret activities that involved white dresses. LeeAnne later made the best fish tacos ever; the recipe was from Cooking Light magazine which I happen to have so I'm going to make them again tonight.
Then I went on to visit my friend Julie. We had cosmos and the next day went shopping for teacher stuff and books. That evening I had dinner with my cousin Lisa to celebrate her engagement.
Now my visiting is done and I'm back to my home project list, namely shredding the junk mail that has accumulated for too long. The closets have all been cleaned and now I've moved on to the office. It's not the most fun work but having clutter levels reduced has been so freeing and makes us happy.
Oy!
I've been re-reading "Pride and Prejudice" this summer and the funny thing is that my inner reading voice always ends up taking on a British accent. It's rather distracting to be reading and having your brain attempt to make a good British accent that doesn't stray into Irish or Scotish or Pirate. Maybe it's from watching the "Bridget Jones Diary" movie because all I can think now is "Mistah Daaaaaahcy!"
Simple Pleasures
Finally, it's dark and rainy and I love it. Putting on my favorite black cardigan and getting a chai latte earlier today was great.
Weekend Weather Report
Yesterday was oven-like though we were comfortable inside and had our own private party. Instead of meals, we decided to do some grazing and got crackers, nice bread, hummus, cheese, and some veggies. We also had a "Lost" marathon. It was a good way to pass a hot Saturday and we were feeling sluggish anyway.
This morning we ended up sleeping in longer and as soon as I woke up, I knew why. It was darkish out for the hour so I jumped out of bed and looked outside and it was... cloudy. We looked at the radar and there is a big blob of cloud stuff coming right at us, though the forecast still predicts near-record highs. Being unlicensed meteorologists, we think that a bit of rain will come through and then it will get hot and sunny after the system passes. Still, I'll take the dark for now.
When I was a student in Barcelona during fall semester, I had just come from a week in Paris where it was often gray and rainy-ish. This was perfect weather for taking shelter in museums or cafes, feeling all tucked in with a cuppa and a journal. I loved it. In Barcelona it was blue skies and sunny. All. The. Time. Some people crave this kind of weather but after awhile, it started to actually become depressing to me. I wanted a rainy day, perhaps cool enough to pull on a sweater, and I wanted to go own a table at a cafe and write. I wanted to properly enjoy a bowl of hot soup; it was fall after all. I recall about one day of rain in Bcn and everyone hated it, dreaded it, complained about it but I revelled in it.
Austin and I have been getting sick of this hot, summery weather that makes us feel so sluggish. He understands my self-diagnosed Sun Syndrome but today, at least for awhile, we have clouds and dark! I could tell instantly how much more energetic I felt, fresh from sleeping but cleaning up the kitchen and running around the house with much more zest.
I guess this is why fall is my favorite season and my ideal geographic location is the Pacific NW. Luckily I married a man who shares those feelings so even when we're stuck in the dog days of summer, he at least gets why I sometimes sneer at the sun as though I was suffering from the worst hangover ever.
Thank Goddess for Central Air
Back in my hometown, people often ask "hot enough for ya?" as a means of small talk in the summer. Our predicted high today is 101 with the same temp for tomorrow and Monday. Then on Tuesday there will allegedly be a frosty dip of ten degrees down to 92, sweet relief, ha! Anyway, Austin and I are laying low and hanging out inside most of today. As he remarked, one almost feels guilty seeing the drenching of sunshine and the soft breeze moving through the trees yet still deciding to stay inside and laze about. That's the plan, though, because 100+ degrees is just not reasonable.
Here's a summery picture of a morning glory flower; I am especially pleased that I grew it from seed although it didn't really require skill. The packet said "do not eat" and I later discovered that eating morning glory seeds can produce hallucenogenic results. Too bad I missed out on that.
Heading Up North
We're going to visit my parents this weekend since we haven't been up there for awhile and we want to go see The Frame Man. This guy does framing (hence the clever nickname) and has a studio in his home. His prices are incredibly low and the work he does is amazing. Austin and I bought art in Barcelona that we want to get framed. There are several pieces of us and we bought a special piece for each parent as a wedding gift.
Then on Monday, I get to visit Bad Z who is in town from L.A., woo hoo!
Adventures in Housekeeping
So I get married and suddenly I'm a 50's housewife, crazy! But seriously, having this summer off has been great. I've actually managed to do a lot of projects I had been wanting to do and life feels so much more organized.
Today's adventure was cleaning out the fridge. I had made a flan that spilled on the bottom shelf in the back so there was that sticky, oozy sugary caramel all over. I had to pull all the removable fridge bits out and throw them into the bathtub in order to get them cleaned. Then there was the trouble of the cold, congealed stuff that was stuck to the non-removable fridge parts. I had to get rags of hot water and lay them on the blobs a few times to soften them up enough to scrub them off. Oh, and of course in moving pieces and rags around, some of the goo ended up on the floor too. It was a long process but now I have the cleanest damn fridge this side of 1953!
Besides worky stuff, last night I finished a Spanish novel that I had been meaning to read, "La Sombra del viento." It was really good, about a little boy who finds a mysterious novel and starts searching for the author. It felt like such an accomplishment to read a whole novel in Spanish for pleasure. I couldn't put it down! That sensation hasn't happened very often in the past and this is the first book en español that I've read since leaving my grad program a few years ago.
There are a few things coming together on the professional side of things, too, even though it's summer. I don't want to get ahead of myself but I've been looking into some interesting opportunities that would make the summer feel a bit more productive than just the domestic stuff.
