Friday Evening Wind-Down

It's been a long week. Every day has literally felt like Friday; even by noon on Monday I felt like I had already been working for 5 days. It's been busy, and it's had its slow points (which in my opinion are just as tiring as the super-busy hours), and I am looking forward to this weekend more than I have looked forward to a weekend in a long time.

I haven't posted a personal to-do list in a while, so I'll post one now. What I really want is to have a weekend that feels like this Jon Carroll article. Reading it just put me in a good mood - definitely in the mood for Spring (which it is, officially, as of yesterday).

The To-Do List For A Happy Weekend

• Tonight
• a girl's night in, by myself. I'm going to watch a movie (I'm thinking The Philadelphia Story, though I may end up watching The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)) instead. I'm going to eat popcorn, and maybe pizza. And oh yeah - I'm going to take a shower and change into my pajamas as soon as I walk in the door. I cannot wait.

• Tomorrow
• errands galore.
  
• I'm going to go to the Berkeley Farmer's Market, to stock up on fresh veggies and the pepper jack cheese I've been thinking about all week.
  
• I'm possibly going to go to Anthropologie, even though I know I can't really afford anything there, just to look...
• ...and I'm going to go to Banana Republic, because not only are they having a 40% off sale, but I also have a coupon for 20% off. I'm pretty sure the coupon cannot be combined with a sale, but I have to admit that I've kind of fallen in love with (most of) their clothes, and if there's something great at 40% off...well...yeah. It's also a great excuse to go to Bay Street, which means a visit to Teacake Bake Shop. And Saturday's specialty cookie of the day includes candied orange peel and generous chunks of really good chocolate...mmmmm.
  
• I will also be stopping by Trader Joe's for some non-farmer's market basics. Pasta, sauce, chicken, tofu, salami, various sauces and the like. Oh, and raspberry sorbet.
  
• Saturday night is my monthly craft night, although I think only one or two people will be coming. I won't make my traditional onion dip with potato chips, because I've learned that it's just not a good idea to make it unless I am positive that there will be more than 4 people there. I absolutely will eat an entire bowl. I'm not even exaggerating. It has happened.

• Sunday
• Because it is Easter Sunday, and I'm pretty sure most stores will be closed, I'm going to make Sunday be a day of cleaning. There are boxes on my dining room table that I've been meaning to collapse and recycle, the floors are begging for a Swiffering, and there is some general clutter that I'd like to clean up. If I had a washing machine, I'd be doing laundry, but instead I'll wait until Monday and do it at work.
• I would also like to start exploring my backyard and planning for the gardening that I want to start in the upcoming month. Last week I noticed a large line of ants marching back and forth along my back staircase, apparently leading to/under/inside a sort of gross flower pot. The previous tenant did a somewhat awful job of keeping up with the small collection of potted plants, and some of them are just dead, or are just old pots of dirt, or worse, murky water. I'm going to get rid of anything that's not good, somehow (without ecologically unfriendly poison) get rid of the ant brigade, and replenish with lovely things. I don't know what, yet. But they will be lovely. Any suggestions for a somewhat humane ant-killer?
• I was going to see Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking on Sunday night, but I gave my tickets away to a coworker, since I had two tickets and nobody to go with. I didn't want to go alone, because I think this show is something you need to experience with somebody (she's a bit crazy). I forgot that it was Easter Sunday, and had thought it would be easy to find someone to go with. I was wrong.

My shuttle just drove over the Dumbarton Bridge. One of my favorite parts of the ride to/from work (when I'm not sleeping) is to look out at San Francisco from the bridge. It just looks so tiny from here, and sort of peaceful. Like what you might draw if you were a small child told to draw a tiny city. Because that's what it is; geographically speaking anyway. It doesn't take up much space, and there's an awful lot crammed in there, so I really like looking at it from a distance. It's like I'm a giant, looking out at a tiny, bustling city from which I am totally separated. Because lord knows, once you're in the middle of it all, San Francisco doesn't feel so little.

I'll leave you with this Mark Morford article: his take on the Catholic Church and the new sins that have been created/assigned (what do you call it?) by the Pope.