A Week in January

This week started beautifully! I had Sunday and Monday off which is my favorite way to start any week, and the temperatures were in the high 60’s! We woke up early on Sunday morning as the alarm clocks of dogs don’t really understand the “day off” concept! The day began with our littlest girl, Allie, chasing her tail. The middle girl, Wednesday, encourages this activity like some uncoordinated, geeky child trying to play tether ball (that would be me, by the way), just basically taking swings in the air in the general direction of the spinning. Anyway, Allie caught her tail, choked on her tail, had to be rescued from her tail.... it was harrowing!
We took the dogs on a nature hike through our back yard. We live in the woods on the banks of the rolling Piscataway Creek. The dogs love to serpentine down to the river and back with amazing stealth and energy. Sometimes they will chase a deer for awhile, although I can’t imagine for the life of me what they think they are going to do with a deer, once caught. The hike to the water is heavily wooded, steep and muddy, so it is really quite a workout (as I AM a woman and it IS January of a new year and I am NOT Valerie Bertinelli - I did wake up New Year’s morning thinking about my weight and made resolutions to do something about it!)
After the hike, we peeled off our sweaty sweatshirts and plopped down in the sunroom for a game of Trivial Pursuit. We had to take the plastic off the game pieces as it is not really a normal activity for us (my husband, Jerry, and me) to sit around playing games. We’re busy people, for crying out loud! After several beers and several hours, we conceded to our idiocy and moved into the living room to begin the mental preparation involved with THE ALL NEW AMERICAN GLADIATORS! We are so excited about the return of that show!!
Monday was a Girls’ Day, the best! I met my two friends, Dani and Danielle, in Georgetown for lunch. It was beautiful so we sat outside at Paolo’s and devoured a delicious margherita pizza. Dani and Danielle are both younger, thinner and prettier than I am (I am not even so sure I have better insurance), but I put on my game face and made the best of it! They are both so funny, so I thought maybe I could work “laughing my ass off” into my diet plan! I love sitting outside and giving in to my voyeauristic tendancies, but I was amazed how many people were walking down Wisconsin Ave in shorts, capris, tank tops... why do these people have their summer clothes so readily available?
Later, I met another young, pretty friend (why do I do this to myself), Suzy, for drinks and a movie. We saw Juno! Yay! What a fantastic movie! I absolutely fell in love with the Juno character! Ellen Page was amazing! So quirky and fun! I adored the characters of her father and step-mother, although, upon saying that, I realize how well-cast and well-written each and every character was. Someone said that the film glorified teen pregnancy, but I completely disagree with that. I think it used humor and heart to explore another generous and selfless option for girls in that situation: adoption. I thought it was beautiful. I laughed.... I cried....
... and I said, “No, no, no!” to the smell of delicious popcorn that was calling my name!
Tuesday meant back to work, but that’s not so bad. I spend hours on the Metro each day and I was starting a new book, The Journey of Crazy Horse. I should finish the book today, so I will write my review next week. I will say that I love Crazy Horse and the book is making me terribly sad for Crazy Horse and the Lakota people.
I also woke up with Elton John's "Little Jeanie" playing on an endless loop through my brain. I can't even remember the last time I heard that song sung by anyone other than The Voices in My Head. Don't get me wrong, The Voices in My Head are AWESOME, I just don't know where they get their inspiration!
We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this week. Wow! Fifteen years is a really long time. I know people do it, but it seems like an extremely long time to me. Maybe it’s just because I was married at 14, so, you know, I’ve gone through a lot of changes in those 15 years!
On Saturday we met our friends, Brian (“B”) and Amanda in Falls Church to see The Smithereens at the State Theatre. I was a little concerned when I saw the line of people outside who looked like they could possibly be the parents of all the people who used to like The Smithereens. Let me just say, for the record, The Smithereens sounded fantastic. But the whole venue was weird. It was 1000 degrees in the place which was set up like we were crashing a dinner theatre. Since the lead singer has somehow quadrupled in size over the last few years, the hot temperatures led to an extremely sweaty size 4XL t-shirt on the poor man and some real concern for his well-being! Squeezed in the narrow strip of standing space between the dinner tables (still don’t get that) and bar, I was forced not only to start peeling off layers of clothing but to drink a number of beers equal to the rising temperature! This is most certainly a recipe for disaster any way you slice it!
The week ahead will be filled with anticipation and excitement (and starving myself) in preparation to our trip to Boston this weekend to visit Jerry’s brother, Dean, and his awesome wife, Julie, and their four terrific kids! We can’t wait! Please stay tuned, as I am sure there will be great stories to tell after that.
Also, check back for my book review on “The Journey of Crazy Horse”.