Weekend WrapUp

Debuting the new Bellina About Town with Sofi!

Another fun-filled, action-packed weekend, which I really enjoyed.

I am so glad that I started doing the household cleaning and chores a little each day so that I could have the entire weekend to have fun and enjoy myself. I’m going to do my best to continue this practice in the fall, although once school starts and I’m back to working full time, it’s going to be a challenge.

Friday I finally broke out of a funky mood that I’d been in for a couple of days. The morning started with a trip to the vet that changed everything – now Sofi is able to go on walks, to the dog park, and to get groomed. She can go anywhere – training classes (which I need to sign us up for soon), doggie boutiques, Pet Food Express, friends’ houses, etc. It’s been a long time in coming and I’m so happy that we’ll be able to do more things out and about. She’s still learning how to go for a walk because I’m determined that she learns loose-leash walking, which is more difficult to train at first, but so worth the extra effort. After all the puppy fun during the day, I spent the an hour going to Friday night Zumba, which was a blast! I’m definitely going back, weekly. .

Saturday we celebrated my niece’s 4th birthday with a family lunch and it was nice to see how grown up my nieces are getting. It’s always nice to spend some time with my family, and as a few of you point out, I’m so lucky to have them all so close. No matter how great your friends are, and I have some fantastic friends, there’s nothing like the love and support you can get from family. At least in my experience.

Saturday evening I took Sofi on another walk, but this time I decided that it was a good idea for the whole gang to come along. And by “whole gang” I mean: Minnie, LC’s 2-year old dog whom Sofi idolizes and adores; my nieces, who are eight and four; and my sister. They say that sometimes you have to learn from experience, and this was no different:

I think Sofi’s love of Minnie gets her way too excited and distracted from the task at hand, namely, walking with a leash. So, until she masters that, I think we’ll be going solo. Which is actually just fine, because walking the dog is such a great way to bond, and I relish my Sofi time.

The rest of the time on Saturday was a combination of a bit of freelance work, light cooking and meal planning, and a much-needed at home facial courtesy of Queen Helene’s Mint Julep Mud Masque.

Sunday my mom and I made a trip to the farmers market, which was long overdue. I haven’t been in months because of my wacky eating plans, and I can’t tell you how great it was to peruse the aisles of summer fruits and veggies and be able to buy anything I wanted. I ended up buying some peaches, dino kale, beautiful variegated summer squash, and some delicious blackberries.

After the farmers market, Mom and I headed to the international market near our house to pick up some Baharat seasoning blend that we needed for this delicious recipe Eating Well Magazine tweeted about this morning. Turkish lamb and eggplant kabobs? Delicious. The recipe actually calls for you to make your own Baharat spice mix, but since we have the luxury of having quite a few Middle Eastern markets just minutes from our house, we figured we’d save ourselves some time and money and get the pre-made spice blend. My mom plans to make it for dinner on Tuesday for her and my dad and I’m going to make it this coming weekend for LC. I’ll definitely report back and let you know how good it was. On a side note, have you guys seen Eating Well magazine? It is phenomenal, and I knew noting about it until Scale Warfare gave me a subscription for Christmas last year. I love it!!

After all the food shopping, it was time to eat lunch, play with Sofi, and get some more freelance work done. Then LC and I went to Restorative Yoga, which was a brand-new and very relaxing experience. After the class, I was calm but hungry, so I put together a fairly quick meal that featured my farmers market summer squash, which were divine:

Summer squash, TJ’s turkey meatballs, and TJ’s harvest grains medley.  Just hearty enough to fill me up while keeping things light.

All in all a really wonderful weekend that I hope to replay at least 4 more times before the summer ends.  🙂

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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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