Weekend Recap and Thoughts

At least mentally, my weekend started on Thursday. Dan and I laughed along to Louis CK at The Riverside and then joined friends at Boone and Crockett for a whiskey-ginger beer (me) and White Russian (Dan).

I could say that it was nice to be out of the house in heels, or that the drinks or Louis were extraordinary, but in reality - it was really, really nice to sit next to Dan for a few hours and just drink and laugh. 

He's been working on his business, internship and schoolwork non-stop since September and it was nice not to have a conversation about schedules or bills. 

This weekend was rainy and dreary, perfect weather for getting stuff done around the house. 

Perfect setting, sure.

But, that's not what I did. 

On Saturday, Ingrid and I ran painless, mildly-annoying, errands. On the way home we drove by Purple Door Ice Cream and Clock Shadow Creamery. After an awkward and abrupt U-turn, it was decided that a hearty dose of dairy in the form of Salted Caramel Ice Cream and seriously squeaky cheese curds was in order. 

A truly delightful little shop. 

That night I went to The Smoke Shack for dinner with one of my oldest and dearest friends on her way back home to Chicago. There's something truly therapeutic about spending time with an old friend. We don't talk that frequently, but when we get together, it's as if we saw each other yesterday. Instead of rehashing relationship woes or talking about our careers, we discussed skin care for about 45 minutes and then laughed about the fact that we talked about skin care for about 7 minutes. 

Today, we went for family walk and then I attempted to muster up the energy to do more.

"More" for me, meant doing laundry, going grocery shopping with Ingrid, roasting veggies, making this fantastic Turkey, Kale and Brown Rice Soup while munching on these wonderful Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: 

recipe and photo via

And, I randomly had left-over cream cheese frosting in the freezer just waiting for this merry occasion.

In hindsight, this sounds like a perfectly enjoyable weekend. It was a perfectly enjoyable weekend. Yet this afternoon, I was "shoulding" all over myself (current or not, one of the best Sex and the City quotes). 

I should go running. 

I should change the laundry. 

I should do something with our budget. 

I should work on Ingrid's Halloween costume. 

I should make a meal/work-out plan for the week. 

I should remove my nail polish. 

I should really go change the laundry. 

And even though "life goes on" with chipped nails, I was annoyed with myself for not having the energy or motivation to get out nail polish remover. 

As we sat down to watch the Packer game (with our cheese curds, natch), I realized that I had a full, wonderful day with my family and reminded myself to get over whatever weird expectations I had for myself. 

I was able to relax with Ingrid. Laugh with Dan. There's a fridge stocked meals for the week and my running shoes, chipped nails and laundry will all be there tomorrow.