Wonderful Weekend

God, but it's been a terrific week. Didn't really think I'd say that after a week on a diet, but seriously, this past week has made me feel like a completely different person. And this weekend was wonderful, too, and pretty productive.

Obviously the whole probably-getting-a-job thing is a big deal. I also got offered an interview at a nifty store called Fire & Ice. Getting interviews is a big confidence-booster. I felt a little less proud of myself today at the book club meeting I went to: there were six young women there, myself included, and the other five women all have good, real jobs. Two are reporters for CBS, one is a social worker, one teaches Creative Writing at Johns Hopkins, and one is a paralegal. Granted, they're all in their mid- to late-twenties, so I know I shouldn't feel too badly about it... but I still felt rather overshadowed by them all. I made it into a joke that I work at a bookstore and they were all incredibly nice and encouraging... but I was almost even more embarrassed because I was claiming a job I haven't even officially gotten yet! I just couldn't own up to pet-sitting to these young, independent, amazingly successful women. Only one other woman was married, the rest are entirely on their own financially!

As intimidated as I was by these amazing ladies, I know that I need friends like them in my life. I am really hoping that I can strike up some relationships with them. They were all so friendly that it made me think maybe I could, but then at the end of the meeting everyone just said "see you next month!" and left it at that. So, I don't know. I've already facebooked the girls I could find, and I'm going to try to make some connections with them. It is so easy, living where I do and with limited access to my girlfriends, to get caught up in this idea of the stay-at-home wife. Which is great for some people -- Amy, for example, always says that she would love to just stay home and do stuff around the house and stuff if they could afford for her to not work. But I learned quickly that I just can't stay at home by myself and be happy. I guess my point is that being around successful women is inspirational and gives me hope that I will be able to make something of myself, and so it was really wonderful today to spend some time with such accomplished young women. They were so much fun! Oh, and we talked about the book, too. :-P

I should write about my wonderful Valentine's weekend. That's right. Matt really carried the celebrations over three days, when all was said and done! Friday morning I walked out to my car to go to work and found a little Victoria's Secret bag waiting for me... I furtively peeked inside, eager to see my present but not exactly okay with my neighbors getting a view of new lingerie! No worries though, it was a gift card. (Always a terrific way to go.) So that was a wonderful start to my day! That night, I opened another gift, this one a little goofy and fun: Madagascar 2, with the bonus Penguin Adventure DVD! We've already watched Madagascar 2, and I can tell you that it is just as fun to watch as the first one! Matt brought home takeout from Cheesecake Factory (following our diet!) so that I wouldn't have to cook, which was great.

Saturday morning, I slept until 10:00. My dear, wonderful husband was up at 7:00 and even went shopping while I slept! I woke up to the sound of the blender and thought, "oh, Matt must be making us breakfast shakes!" Then I remembered that we'd run out of milk a few days before and was confused. So I went downstairs and peered around into the kitchen -- sure enough, Matt had milk and was making shakes. I asked him if he'd picked it up this morning and he said, "Yep! Want a shake, sweetheart?" So I made my way downstairs and loved on the dog for a few minutes, and then I turned to say something else to Matt, and voila! there were roses on the table! How I missed these when I first came down, I do not know. But there they were, along with a gift and two cards, all for me! I loved my presents and the cards were so sweet, and Matt had even trimmed all the roses and put them in a beautiful vase for me. :-)

We actually spent the day cleaning house, if you can believe it -- ah, the joys of a married Valentine's Day! At my request, we watched Notting Hill and then went upstairs and unpacked/cleaned all afternoon. We also got a special treat: we heard from our friends Kyle and Jo that they'd finally gotten a little Yorkie puppy, and we got to go over to their house and meet her. She is just precious. Won Matt's heart immediately. :-P

We went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse with the best of intentions... we even took our little Restaurant Guide so we'd be good... but we broke down in the end. We talked it over while we were waiting for a table. Matt's really been miserable about his breakfast and lunch options, and even though he's had amazing results already (12.5 pounds, man!) he feels like he'll be happier if he actually likes what he's eating. And after just one week of really paying attention to everything we eat, we've both learned a lot about choosing the right kinds of food. So, we decided that we were going to go ahead and get the things we really wanted for our dinner, since it was Valentine's Day and all, and then we'd sort of adjust the diet going forward. Matt wants to have Slimfast shakes for breakfast and oatmeal for lunch, with snacks in between -- not exactly unhealthy! And we'll keep having the South Beach dinners. I haven't really decided what I'll do for lunches, but I think I'm going to stick to eggs for breakfast. So, now that we've learned the essentials and we have lots of meals to choose from that we know are healthy, I think we can be relaxed about dieting. And if we start to backslide, we can always go back to "Phase 1" for a bit and be hardcore for a while.

All of that to say, our Valentine's Day meal was fabulous. Steak stuffed with bacon and melted cheese, and lobster and shrimp dip, and I had two glasses of wine... YUM.

Well, I have gone on tonight, haven't I? Props if you're actually still reading. The end of this awesome story is that I didn't have to cook tonight either (we got yummy Qdoba again) and we also indulged in the chocolate chip cookies I baked last week, which have been tempting us all week long! Also today I had the awesome book club meeting, and Matt took Indiana to his first training session. We are on our way to having a well-behaved dog! At least, I hope we are.

This is quite enough for tonight. I believe I've covered the important stuff. Life is good, ladies and gents. Life is so good.