It’s Lucky 13 For Me

I’ve always loved Friday the 13th, even though most people think of it as an unlucky day.  As my Spanish teacher in high school once said, “how can any Friday be unlucky?”  My thoughts exactly.  And actually, ever since high school when I just had to be a little rebel (I was actually a really good kid), I decided that since everyone else thought of 13 as an unlucky number, it was going to be my favorite number.  It still is, to this day.

And this Friday the 13th is especially lucky because I have the entire day off.  And not just today (for semester break), but also Monday (for Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday), so I have a 4-day weekend.  I don’t have any special plans of going somewhere, but I do have a few things that I’m looking forward to:

Friday –

• Anusara yoga at noon today. BTW – yesterday’s Indian Temple Dancing that I was so looking forward to was cancelled.  Only they didn’t tell anyone.  So 4 of us showed up to take the class, and found out the bad news.  Not the best way to run a yoga studio, but the girl felt so bad that she offered me a card for a free tea at their Mandala Tea House.
• Find a new and interesting spot to take Sofi on a long walk.
• Begin to crochet.  I found a great video series on YouTube and my Happy Hooker book arrived earlier this week.
• Spend a solid hour or two reading.  Scale Warfare and I are reading The Life You’ve Imagined and I’m also interested in starting Hunger Games.
• Babysit my nieces for a couple of hours – maybe some Wii Just Dance?
• Continue my Sons of Anarchy marathon.  I’m up to season 4 now, and I love these characters.  It doesn’t hurt that Charlie Hunnam is so easy on the eyes.

Saturday –

• Zumba at 10am and then yoga basics at 12:15.  Looking forward to a great day of calorie burn.
• Watch my ‘9ers beat those Saints
• Long walk with Sofi at another new location.
• More crochet practice time.
• More reading.
• Catching up on Grey’s Anatomy.  I adore this show, but somehow I’m behind by a few seasons.  I’m going to use my Amazon Prime (which I’m loving!) to catch up and then hopefully watch the rest on Xfinity.

Sunday –

• Personal puppy training with Sofi and Tanya (our trainer).  I think I’ve mentioned before that I live on an incredibly busy street.  I have a really long driveway, though, and I’d love to be able to train Sofi  to stay in the driveway when I open the door or when we’re just outside.  I know it can be done because my sister’s dog is great about it.  Plus, Sofi is so smart and a really quick learner. I’m just so nervous because of the way that Lulu died.  So I figured it was worth it to hire our puppy trainer.  Tanya is coming to our house bright and early on Sunday (9am) to help us learn how to do this.  I can’t wait.
• Another long walk with Sofi.
• Get the house cleaned and organized.
• Candlight Yin yoga. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect way to end the weekend and get ready for the week ahead?
• Coffee with a friend?

Monday –

• Even though everyone will be out and about on Monday, since many people have the day off, I think I’m going to brave the mall to use they $100 gift certificate my parents gave me to Sephora.  Plus, window shopping is fun and it’s been forever since I’ve had time to just look around, so that might be nice.
• Another fun, long walk with Sofi.
• More crochet practice time.
• More reading.
• Get ready for the (short) week ahead – it will be the beginning of the 2nd semester, so the week should be a really positive one.  Fresh starts and all of that.

I can’t wait.  Even if you don’t have a 4-day weekend like I do, I hope you find some time do enjoy yourself.

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Feeling Lucky!

Back when I was a sophomore in high school, it was Friday the 13th, and I will never forget my Spanish teacher telling us:

This whole Friday the 13th being unlucky is an American thing.  I mean, how can a Friday be unlucky?  It’s a FRIDAY!  In Spain, Tuesday the 13th might be unlucky, but never a Friday.”

And from that day forward, I decided that because everyone else always thought of 13 as such an unlucky number, it was going to become my favorite number.  You see, I like being “avant garde” like that.  And I completely agree with Mr. Hernandez, how can a Friday ever be a bad day?

So today’s post is going to be all about how lucky I’m feeling.  (Quite a switch from yesterday’s debbie downer post, right?):

I have amazing family and friends, and I get to see them all the time. Tomorrow LC and I are going to a Zumba class together in the morning, and then we’re going to spend the day with my nieces and my dad, swimming and having fun.  I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday.

I’ve made some great “reconnections” with high school chums via Facebook, and I even head up an Alumnae Food & Wine Club.  A core group of us have become really close, and we do things outside of the club.  Last night I went to karaoke with a few of them, and we had a great time, although none of us got up the nerve (or had enough drinks) to get up in front of the crowd and actually sing.  We made a vow that next time, we’ll be up there crooning our hearts out.

I am finally in the place in my career where I’m making good money.  Now this is relative, of course, because I am a teacher and we don’t get paid what we deserve, but I’ve finally scaled my way up the pay scale so that I am living comfortably.  In these times of economic hardship for so many, I am very, very lucky.

This summer has been amazing, and while I’m sad that it’s coming to a close, I’ve had an absolute blast for 2 months.  Sure, there are a lot of things I didn’t get the chance to do, but that’s what weekends are for, right?

Lulu is a love, and I am so glad she’s in my life.  Having her has given me more purpose in my life, because now I’m not so concentrated on just myself; I have someone else to focus on, and it was just what I needed. Yesterday I found out about a great new book called A Dog’s Purpose, and I think the concept is really cool: ” [it] proposes that a dog’s purpose might entail being reborn several times.”  I’ve put it on my “To Read” list.

I’ve shown myself this week how strong I really am.  I have always considered myself a strong woman, and have lots of evidence to prove that to be true, but this week I’ve put myself to the test by quitting smoking AND starting a 1200-calorie meal plan.  No easy feat (again, as evidenced by yesterday’s post).  As of today I am 3 days smoke free, and this is getting to be a bit easier with each passing hour.  Once I finish today, it will be the longest I’ve ever gone without smoking since I started 15 years ago, and that feels amazing.

I have taken myself out of the dating scene for the past few years, but last night I started talking to two of my girlfriends who met great, handsome, loving men on Match.com.  That’s the one dating site that I’ve never used, which is weird, because it’s the biggest.  I always perceived it to be more of a meat market, but these two girls met wonderful men on there, and they both happen to be plus-sized ladies.  So it kind of gave me some hope that maybe I too, could find someone on there.  I thinking I’m going to wait a few months, because so much is already going on in my life, but this might be a fun thing.  (Last night one of the girls had one of her guy friends join us after we had been there a few hours.  Apparently, he’s looking to meet a girlfriend, and she thought that he and I would be a good fit.  (This was all unbeknownst to me).  He was a good looking guy who seemed very sweet, but there was no love connection on my part.  Still, it did give me a little thrill to hear this morning that he wants to ask me out on a date.  I told her I didn’t think we were a match, because I always go with my gut feeling in matters of love, but it was still nice to think that someone found me attractive).

There are so many opportunities waiting right around the corner for me.  A new place to live (fingers crossed), a new body, and maybe, eventually a new love.

Tonight I’m going to see Eat Pray Love with a good friend, and I’m really looking forward to it.  I read and loved the book, and I’m hoping the film is a good adaptation.  From the previews I’ve seen, the settings look amazing, and with Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, it will be good eye-candy, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

How are you spending this Friday the 13th?

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