This weekend I enjoyed something I haven’t experienced in a while. On both weekend days, I woke up on my own. No alarm, no baby, no husband waking me up because he’d taken the baby at 5 a.m. and now it was my turn. On Friday night I went to bed at 11:30 p.m., and started drifting in and out around 7 a.m. At 7:30 a.m. I got up and made coffee (and woke my husband up since it was his morning to go do a long run). The little guy got up around 7:45 a.m. On Saturday night I went to bed at 11 p.m. I’d set my alarm for 7 a.m. to do my long run, but I started drifting in and out around 6:30 a.m. I got myself out of bed around 6:55. I was out the door for my run before the 2-year-old woke up.
I love that feeling of drifting in and out. It’s like a natural snooze button, only unlike a normal snooze button, it’s one’s body directing it. So there’s no harsh wake-up. You get snippets of dreams. You’re in this dreamy groggy state, but wake up refreshed. I don’t want to hope for too much, because the little guy has regressed many times before (and indeed, as I post this Monday morning, I heard him at 5:30 a.m., though I just turned over and let him keep making noise. Either he went back to sleep or he just played, and I got him at 6:30 a.m.) But it was certainly lovely to get two days in a row like that!
In other weekend news: I gave a talk in northern New Jersey on Sunday, so I spent a fair amount of time in the car. I listened to several TED talks from the playlist of the top-viewed talks of all times. I couldn’t listen the whole time because my phone battery died, but it was much more engaging than listening to the radio. I think my favorite moment was when Tony Robbins was talking about the various obstacles that keep us from achieving things, and he had people shout them out. People shouted out time, money, etc. But Al Gore was in the audience too, and he (or someone with him) shouted out “The Supreme Court.” Robbins had to run with it — and he did.
On Saturday, we visited some friends who have a farm. The kids were in heaven, getting to fish (the 7-year-old caught two big ones) and ride their horse, Molly. Even the 2-year-old got a turn on Molly. Alas, the kids have now added horses to the list of pets I keep getting asked for. (Side note: watching a 2-year-old around a fish pond is a harrowing experience).
I finished Hemingway’s Garden of Eden on Saturday. It was published posthumously which, given that the story itself deals with the concept of story drafts, is always complicated. If anyone else has read it, I’m curious to know what you think.
A frugal fail: In my most recent Nordstrom Trunk, they sent me a navy blue shirt with white stripes (sort of a nautical style). I liked the coloring, but not the cut or the price, which was pretty steep for a T-shirt. So I thought I’d look on Amazon and see if I found something similar. Sure enough, I did! With a nice V-neck (my favorite). And only about $17. So I was all excited, until it came, and I saw that the V-neck is trimmed with black fabric. On a blue-and-white striped shirt. It makes no sense whatsoever. Argh. Maybe no one will look closely.
My 2004 van doesn’t come with a built-in phone charger like the new cars have. My husband found me a cheap solution that fits in the cigarette lighter. My phone is always charged and ready to go after a long trip. If the $17 V-neck excites you, this $1.99 two port plug-in will make you swoon! 🙂 https://www.google.com/search?q=phone+charger+in+cigarette+lighter&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=phone+charger+in+cigarette+lighter&tbm=shop&spd=14559358378495388158
Maybe it’s meant to be sort of a statement neckline?
It’s not super obvious in the picture, if that makes you feel better!
@Kristen – yep, not super obvious in the picture…which is why I purchased it online. I think it’s more obvious in real life 🙂
I read a posthumous Hemingway collection called Islands in the Stream that would probably not appeal to fans of his usual machismo posturing, as it reveals him to be a broken-down old alcoholic still trying, and failing, to pull that off, which was much more interesting and appealing to me, as it rang more truly human–particularly a straightforwardly sentimental, nostalgic reminiscence of wishful thinking about one of his wives (no idea which). Garden of Eden sounds interesting–now I’m going to read that too!