Diaries I Read:
This was a really good weekend.
Friday night we hung out at our neighbors� house drinking strawberry margaritas and beer and eating pizza. It started out just the four of us and slowly grew as more and more neighbors stopped by. It was a good time. I ate a lot of popcorn and chips. Mmmmmm, salty.
We went to bed late and slept until 9:00. B too. He never sleeps that late. He�s usually up by 6:30 at the latest, even on weekends, even without setting his alarm clock. Crazy.
We spent the early part of the day cleaning the house, which doesn�t sound like much fun, I know, but it made us feel productive. Plus, B and I make a good team, and taking care of our home together feels like �quality time� somehow, like we�re building our little world together.
Anyway, then we hung out on the couch being lazy for a while. But it was so beautiful outside that we had to get out of the house. So we ran some errands together, one of which was taking my new used bike to get tuned, just in case I get to train for a triathlon one of these days. Then we went home and I cooked dinner, which was good cuz I�m darn good.
Then we went for a long walk with Dixie, and B was trying to train her during the walk. Poor thing, she just wanted to sniff and explore, and B kept yanking her back in and making her heel. I would�ve let her do her thing, but I guess that�s why she doesn�t listen to me.
But other than the constant, �Heel! Dixie, heel!� it was a glorious walk. It had been hot all day, and the evening had just started to cool a little bit, and the sun was going down, and it just felt like those long summer evenings when you were a kid and you had stayed out all day long getting dirty and sweaty and the sun was just about to go down and you were trying to drag out those last few minutes playing tag with your friends before you had to go home and get ready for bed. It was one of those evenings that makes you want to do cartwheels in the grass. One that makes you want to throw your hands out and your head back and just spin. I did. I spun.
Then we rented a movie and ate ice cream (WW, of course) and went to bed.
Sunday morning we got up EARLY and drove to LA for the Nike Run Hit Wonder 10K, which I ran with our neighbor, Mark. It was really hot but fun. Over 20,000 people. Flock of Seagulls, Devo, Ton Loc, and others. Ran through fraternity row. Cheerleaders doing stunts on the sidewalk, cheering us on. Races are just fun. I thought I could run it faster, but I ended up finishing in just about 59 minutes or so, which is basically 10-minute miles. That�s fine. One of these days, I�m going to run a faster race, but that was fine.
We went home and crashed for several hours � man, I love a good nap on a Sunday afternoon. Then B went across the street to our neighbors�, who had set up their patio table on the driveway while their kids played on the Slip & Slide. Again, we hung out and drank beers, and before long the rest of the neighbors had gathered and we ended up with a full-blown block party. I drank a few beers and ate a lot of pretzels and sat there in the sun and sweated. It was great.
Then we went to a co-worker�s house, who had prepared an authentic Indian meal for a bunch of us in the department. I had already made the beer and pretzel mistake earlier, and then I topped it off with too much sourdough bread and spinach dip. And then she kept bringing out course after course of this wonderful smelling rice and naan (?) bread and cucumber yogurt sauce and fritters and curries and it was all so good but I was so full, but it was so good that I kept eating until I was literally in pain. And then there was dessert.
We were all in pain, so we took a late-night walk around the lake, and it was dark and the stars were out and it was still warm from the day. The walk made me feel a little bit better, but I still rolled into bed groaning and holding my poor little stretched-out belly.
And all day on Sunday I kept saying to myself that I wish it were Saturday, that I wish there were one day left in this lazy weekend, that I could stretch it out just a little longer.
But alas, Monday must come. At least I went to bed fat and happy.
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004