The Friday List (nice things you did for yourself this week)
Bought myself this. Because sometimes the kid in me needs a $6.00 toy. I also treated myself last night to my third viewing of House of Flying Daggers. I also decided to take the week off from reading the newspaper. All I’ve been looking at every morning is the entertainment section and the comics. What a treat that’s turned out to be. I can almost pretend I’m not a Muggle.
And you? What sweet things did you do for all of yourselves this week?
Technorati Tags: The Friday List, Self-Sweetness, Kindness, Pampering, Blue Dog of Happiness, Our Name Is Mud, House of Flying Daggers, Sometimes You Should Just Buy Yourself That Toy
July 13th, 2007 at 6:25 am
This might sound like a stretch, but here’s a really nice thing:
Our air conditioning unit broke. Just flat-out gave us the middle finger and broke. So, we had to get a brand new one. Yup, that’s a few thousand dollars there that we don’t have just sitting around. So, we had to say goodbye and sayonara to a trip to the ocean we were planning, that we had scraped and saved for and anticipated so much, and it would have been our daughters’ first time to see it.
But, at the exact moment I was standing in my mother-in-law’s living room (where we had packed up and moved for the day, ’cause it was 90 degrees in our house), crying over the stress of it all (sorry to sound martyr-ish, but really it was a stressful day), one of my best friends from way back in high school — who was hugely pregnant and had had a LONG, LONG, very difficult, very trying journey toward this baby — called to say that her baby came early (33 weeks, no less) but he was fine, and better yet, he’s named Oliver.
So, that put a stupid ‘ol air conditioner into perspective.
And my nice thing is that I recognized that.
The other nice thing is that I still can’t believe I’ll be at Robin’s conference, and I can hardly wait to meet everyone.
Oh and one more: Eisha and I, as co-bloggers in crime, recognized that our to-be-read pile is too huge for each one of us to not take a blog-vacation. So, she’ll be taking one next week while she moves, and then she’ll take over while I take one and try to get caught up.
Oh and really good coffee, as usual. Robin, are we still actually all bringing an item of food to the dinner? ‘Cause mine was going to be coffee. Are we really and truly making it a potluck, or is it now just a potluck-in-theory?
July 13th, 2007 at 6:25 am
P.S. I like your blue dog. What’d you name him?
July 13th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Jules, I’m so sorry you won’t be able to go to the ocean! I know that’s something you’ve really been looking forward to. But that daily comfort of air conditioning is more important right now, obviously. You’ll get your girls to the ocean yet. And they’ll be so delighted you’ll hardly be able to stand it.
Best wishes to little baby Oliver. Welcome to the world, bud.
That blogvacation (blogvation?) sounds good and necessary. I could use some catching up myself. It’s nice you and Eisha can tag team it like that!
As for the conference, I think it’s just potluck-in-theory now, since we’ll be having our dinner party at the hotel. They might not like us trying to sneak in our own fabulous coffee and desserts. And this way we can all just relax and let someone feed us.
P.S. I hadn’t thought to name my dog. I was enjoying the “Blue Dog of Happiness” label too much.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:30 am
I’m reminded of a Far Side cartoon (I think) where the line was (approximately) “The bluebird of happiness having left his life, Martin is visited by the chicken of depression.” That cracks me up just thinking about it.
Not to rub in the ocean thing after reading Jules’ post (so sorry Jules that your trip is postponed), but the nice thing I did for myself was squeeze in an extra visit to the beach on Tuesday morning and stay later than I really should have.
You see, we went to Virginia Beach on Sunday, but spend the day visiting with my mom, bro, and niece. On Monday morning we did go the beach, but had to cut it short to get home and babysit. I was working on Tuesday evening, so in theory, we should have left at 10:00 so I could get to my house, chill, and get to work at 6:00 p.m. Instead, me and the kids went to the beach until 1:00, showered at mom’s house, left at 2:00 and drove directly to my work where their dad picked them up. It was so borderline irresponsible - if there had been real traffic, I wouldn’t have made it - but that’s part of what made it so great, besides getting that extra, needed time on the beach. (Again, sorry Jules.)
July 13th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Mother Reader, sometimes you just have to squeeze every little bit of fun that you can out of a day. And look how smoothly that worked out. Sounds like it was worth that temporary stress about whether you’d make it on time. Nice!
July 13th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Robin, I love the dog!
Jules, so sorry to hear about your canceled trip, but glad to hear about a healthy Oliver.
My nice things I did for myself this past week:
- I bought myself orange pants and a vest, a very short black skort, and jean-shorts, all for my upcoming sailing trip. I also bought all the little incidentals I need, so now my brain is in travel mode — I’m ready!
- I had blinds installed in my house, which I now realize will look pretty, give me privacy, and keep the house cooler. Somehow I missed the concept of keeping the house cooler before now.
- I took a bubble bath, watched sappy movies (13 Going on 30, thanks to Robin!), and read some Harry Potter.
Have a great week everyone. I’ll be travelling the next two Fridays, so I probably won’t be able to post again until August.
Be well!
July 13th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Nancy, love the whole sailing/travel outfit! Things like that really do put you in the mood.
And did you love 13 Going On 30> Wasn’t that just the best girl movie??
July 13th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Jules, I will be in Chicago a few days before the conference, and you can count on me to have scouted out every good place to get coffee within a, say, 20 mile radius by our Saturday festivities. We will not lack for good coffee. We just may have to go out for it.
Robin, When my husband was sick, I decided that I was giving up on the news because it was depressing me further in a big way, and I’m afraid I’ve never taken it up again. I refer to Entertainment Weekly and Vogue as “the newspapers,” and I rely on my friends to tell me when major world events are going on. Then I decide whether I’m going to spend some time reading about them. Or not. In general, I distrust newspapers, and I really, really distrust television news. I do get our extremely local weekly town newspaper, which I peruse mostly because I find our town politics funny. I guess this all goes to say that I’ve been doing this not-reading-the-news thing as a nice thing for myself for, well, a long time. And it *is* nice.
In other nice news? I went out to see the new HP on opening night with my BFF. We were up way too late, and I enjoyed the whole thing way more than I thought I would.
July 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Robin, 13 Going on 30 was lots of fun. Thanks for the recommendation!
July 13th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Adrienne, I’m glad to hear your report about giving up the news. I’m so used to obsessively reading every scrap of newspaper in the house, even if it’s news from a week ago, but I really like it this way. I find I’m shaking my head a lot less, and that has to be a good thing.
By the way, I’ll be joining you and Jules for that good coffee you’ll have scouted out.
July 13th, 2007 at 8:34 am
One of my nice things was not making myself late to yoga class by getting sucked into the blogs before I went! (And guess what my teacher offered for a meditation thought? Deepak Chopra’s 7th law. Uh-huh. Your reach extends here, Robin.)
My other nice thing was eating sushi, drinking wine, and watching Music and Lyrics. Loved it. Much funnier than I expected. (Or perhaps that was the wine. I don’t care.) I also caught Barefoot in the Park on TCM. I just love banter. Banter, banter, banter in a movie makes me happy. Must be why I like the old ones so much.
So sorry about the beach, jules. Maybe we can have Kidlit conference #2 at the beach. I know someone with a house on the Outer Banks…
Robin, LOVE the dog. It’s *almost* as cute as the one my daughter made for me years ago.
July 13th, 2007 at 8:35 am
So weird. I ALSO bought a Very Short Black Skort.
I have to say, what kind of parent names their kid “Oliver”?
This was a dinner week. I don’t think I had a dinner that cost under 100 per person. This means dinner was a little TOO good this week. Ordering dessert was fun, too. I simply chose dessert by estimating which one was smaller than my head.
And now starts my vacation and my 10 year anniversary.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Jules, before you or your friend get offended, Patrick’s little boy is named Oliver, too. Awww-liver.
Patrick, congratulations on your 10th-year anniversary! You’re still fooling her! Way to go!
Sara, I really enjoyed Music and Lyrics, too. I’ve seen it twice. That 80s video at the beginning had me laughing so hard–they really nailed it! And isn’t Drew Barrymore just cute as a button? And I’ll always love Hugh Grant.
That’s so funny about your yoga class! Good job dragging yourself away from the blogs to go do that.
I’m going to drag myself away right now and go to an eye appointment.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I’ve been reading Harry Potter whenever I can spare a moment.
July 13th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Adrienne, I won’t be there ’til Saturday morning, but let’s do a mid-day or late-night coffee run — with Robin and with Sara, ’cause she and I have been saying forever we’ll get coffee together and just sit and talk, and with Eisha, who better come or I’ll cry, and whoever else wants to come and we’ll ALL sit and talk. Woo hoo!
MotherReader, don’t feel badly for talking ’bout the beach, yo. I’m so glad you went.
Also, MotherReader, my favorite Far Side cartoons all have to do with hell or nerds — Animal Nerds (two cheetahs stalking a group of elk, when a bucktooth cheetah walks up behind them and says “hey guys, whatcha doin’?”); the one on my fridge in which all these people are in Hell, and someone says, “Oh man, the coffee’s cold! They thought of everything!”; and, the ultimate and my very favorite of all, Nerds in Hell (”hot enough fer ya?!!”). The one you mentioned, MotherReader, is really funny, too.
Nancy, have fun travelling!
July 13th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Well for one thing, I just reserved the last week in August off from work so MotherReader and I can take the girls up to Niagara Falls. (Now that I think of it, I suppose I should call her and let her know…)
And for another, I dotted the Ts and crossed the Is (or is it the other way around?) on a proposal for a nice new high-definition video camera (a $6,500 proposal, all told), and just got the final go-ahead from the finance department. On top of that, I was able to use a specific client’s need to swing a spiffy new Final Cut Pro software upgrade to boot (another $1,500, since we had to upgrade three machines).
Since those last two are really work-related, it might be stretching it to say they were things I did “for myself,” but they will have a direct effect on my outside moviemaking, so I’m counting them.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Jen, I’m reading HP now, too. Spent
a lovely hour in the waiting room at the eye doctor, not caring at all that they kept me waiting. I had Snape to think about.
Jules and Mother Reader, you guys can keep your nerds and hell–my favorite Far Sides were the ones with dogs. I especially like the one of a dog on trial in front of a whole jury of cats. His lawyer is arguing, “Is that the face of a cat killer? A cat chaser, maybe . . .”
Bill, I say any time you can upgrade your movie-making tech, that’s a nice thing to do for yourself. A little more expensive than my $6 toy, but probably a whole lot more fun.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I took almost a week off from blogging. I so needed the time to re-energize.
BTW, I found a copy of 13 going on 30…My goodness, wait until you find out what happened.
My eldest and friends thought it would be a good movie to watch. I mean there’s Freaky Friday, where Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis change places and I’m sure there are other movies along this line. They are all cute and all so I really didn’t think anything of it when the kids put the movie on until….I heard the shrieks and hoots of laughter. Some girls had pillows over faces, but were still trying to sneak peeks. You know what scene I’m talking about.
I freaked and tried to turn off the movie, but one of the girls backtracked the DVD to start the scene over again. Finally I had the movie off, and the girls couldn’t stop laughing. Ack!
July 13th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Vivian, are you talking about the striptease? Come on–that’s hilarious! On the special features the actor who did that talked about how he tried to imagine both his head and hips encased in concrete or something–very little movement. SO funny.
I think that movie could be seen by an 8-year-old. Sure, there’s that line about seeing “his thingy,” but what 8-year-old girl couldn’t sympathize with Jenna’s horror about that?
July 13th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
The nice thing this week was watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX 3D-this ain’t your daddy’s 3D,here:)! They hand out these cool wraparound shades that fit great over regular eyeglasses(which they quickly reclaim at the end of the movie)and you just wait for the green eye signal to slap those babies on.
The movie is excellant,regardless of the high tech,but getting to see it on a jumbo big screen with the 3D that truly lives up to the hype,is priceless!
July 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Lady T, that sounds like the coolest thing EVER! I’m so glad you got to experience that! What a fun life you lead!
July 13th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Robin,
That is exactly the scene! I agree, it was hysterical, for the little bit I saw. And the girls’ reactions were priceless.
That’s funny about how the actor imagined he was encased in concrete. Because I remember thinking this was pretty amusing.
I’ll have to watch this movie later when the kids are asleep.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I am glad to hear that I am not the only person who avoids reading the paper and watching the news because it is too depressing. Sometimes I’ll listen to NPR in the car. I have also found that I hear about the really big news from other people anyway.
My favorite Far Side cartoon is “The Real Reasons Dinosaurs Are Extinct”… and the dinosaurs are all smoking.
I didn’t get to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the 3D Imax, which sounds amazing, but I DID watch it in the oldest theater in England, the Dome Cinema. It even had a balcony!
My nice thing this week is that I am traveling, which I love to do. I am having a great time with a dear friend and seeing lovely sights. I even let myself eat scones with clotted cream and I didn’t count the Weight Watchers points!
I have visited a book store each day. Such decadence!
July 13th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
My friend who lost her husband in Feb is out visiting. My other two good friends went with us to a hot springs for a soak & massage. It was a great for everyone to relax and get re-energized.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Well, I seem to have brought myself home from Australia. That counts, yes?
(Though may I just say for the record that I had a fabulous time. 素晴らしい休暇/Subarashii kyukaa - wonderful vacation. As it’s extremely close to Japan, or at least closer than we are, most of the signs were in Japanese as well as English. Fun!)
Also, I left with three books (only one of which I actually finished…eheheh), and I came home with…eight? Yeah, we’ll go with eight. Plus I went to the bookstore today and got five more (three manga and the two Harry Potters that we didn’t already have - SS and PoA. Shocking, isn’t it?).
I like books.
I also slept in until noon today. (After staying up until four to do a critique, but I digress.)
Glad to be back. And I just know you’ve missed my offtopic rambling.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Miri, welcome back! Did you have a wonderful time? Of course we missed you!
Michelle, hope you’re having a wonderful time in England (why is everyone getting to travel to these exotic places this summer? Kelly in Scotland, Miri in Australia, now Michelle watching Harry Potter in his native country–sigh).
Readerdiane, a soak and a massage? Ahhhh for you!
July 13th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I was really sick last week, so this week I actually left the house a little bit and had some fun! First, I celebrated a friend’s birthday with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in months - we ended up entering a shuffleboard tournament, and my partner and I came in 2nd! I also got hit on by this creepy old guy who was by himself the whole night just watching the tournament, not participating or really talking to anyone. On a Monday night at 11:30, this weird loner guy with a wedding ring on is asking to buy me a drink. uuuuhhhh, no thanks, creep-o. Luckily I was with a very protective group of guys (Robin, you know the type!), so no worries.
I also went to this absolutely fantastic workshop sponsored by Kodak called Stop By. Shoot Film. If any of you ever have the opportunity to go to one, I HIGHLY recommend it! I got to learn the basics of shooting 16mm film for free! You go out, shoot some film with an expert cameraperson, and in a couple weeks you get a DVD back with all the footage you shot so you can see how it all looks! Everyone got to participate in all the different aspects, be it light metering, “acting” focus pulling, “directing”, etc. A really great experience!
There was a woman participating in the workshop who reminded me of you, Robin. Unfulfilled lawyer whose first degree was in English, always did small acting jobs on the side for fun, and is finally ready to make a change in her life. I don’t think she’d be caught dead in fleece though, sorry.
Tomorrow I’m going to see Sicko, and then to a concert, which I’m very excited about. One of my favorite artists announced a surprise show a couple days ago, and I was lucky enough to get tickets before it sold out!
p.s. When I saw your little dog figure, all I could think about is the Congressional Blue Dogs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Democrats All the Blue Dogs have big signs outside their offices with the current total of the National Debt, as well as each American’s personal share. Oh, how this town has tainted me.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Lizzie, boo to the creepy old guy, yay to the protective male buddies (you know I love that!), yay to the film class (sounds great!) and the frustrated lawyer who’s doing something about it and to seeing Sicko, which I need to see right away, too, and yay to all the Blue Dog Democrats.
There’s no way D.C. has totally tainted you, because you still spend extended hours reading HP and watching quirky movies. The truly jaded can’t enjoy either.
July 14th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I worked.
I trained new folks.
I laughed.
I rehearsed.
I dreamed.
I read.
I wrote a little.
I walked a lot.
I interviewed half a dozen people.
I have at least one new website client, possibly two.