Weekend Grade: A-

I can't keep grading my weekends with the elementary school grading scale... too limiting.

Can I start by saying that every spring I am amazed by how much the weather affects not only my mood, but my productivity and energy level? There is definitely something to be said for either Vitamin D or just plain sunlight... I seriously start to feel a few years younger by the time April rolls around.

Friday was a GORGEOUS day. It was quite roasty, but who cares. I'm SO over cold weather. After work, I met up with my friend Jodie and her kids at Mexico for dinner, and we even sat on the patio. Really it was too hot and sunny to sit out there, but I am famous for sitting outside at the first sign of sun without actually taking into consideration if eating there will be a comfortable dining experience. Whatever, I'm glad we did it! After dinner with Jodie, I made it home in time to throw something together for my overworked husband to eat when he got home around 7:30pm, and then we had our usual outage season tussle over whether 8pm was an appropriate bedtime for two adults on a Friday night (for him, yes, for me, no... I try to hold out until AT LEAST 9pm!). Typically this dispute ends with us going to bed, Bryan putting in earplugs and me turning the TV down low. It works. :)

Saturday I gave up sleeping in to head up to Charlottesville to hang out with my mom, brother and sister. Bryan had to get up just after 6am to go to work, so I just got up with him and then headed west to C'ville. I was super giddy as I drove up there, both because I was getting to see the fam AND because I was getting to see C'ville. I love that city. I have such wonderful memories of the time I lived there and then after college when my work took me there a few times a month... I would really not complain if for some reason we had to move there.

My mom had to work half a day at the dentist's office, so it was my job to entertain the siblings while she did this. And what better way to entertain two teenagers than to go shopping? The only hitch was that we got to the mall right around 9:30am--the majority of the stores don't open until 10am. Lucky for us, Sears was already open! So in we went.

Sears is strange. I usually only go there to shop for tools with Bryan, so I don't really have any concept of what goes on outside of that department. In the Charlottesville store, there were MANY senior citizens, MANY people wearing outfits that were better left in the early 90's, and several associates dressed in cowgirl attire. One lady, donned in tight jeans, pink flannel shirt, pink cowboy hat and sunglasses, accosted us and asked us if we had bathing suits yet. Uh... what the hell? It was very strange. I told her we were looking for shoes and hauled it to a shoe aisle where she couldn't talk to me anymore without seeming like a stalker. She weirded me out, mainly because I saw her before I saw all the other people working there dressed in rodeo outfits, but also because she was wearing sunglasses inside. I. Hate. That. Oh, and because she was really concerned with what we were going to wear to the pool this summer. Woman, I am still trying to wear my favorite winter clothes one more time! Don't hound me about swimwear!

We shopped for a while throughout the day, in between hair appointments and dental appointments. I love shopping with Victoria & Zech... it takes me back to my Barbie days, because I can dress them in all the things I'd be wearing if I were 16. Plus they both look like models, so they look good in pretty much anything you put on them. (Except no short skirts for the little sister--she's 5'11" and a good, decent girl... some of these skirts the teenagers are wearing barely cover their bottoms!!) And Vic got her hair cut that morning, too, so she looked even more modelicious... I swear, that girl could be a in a Pantene commercial. And while I love my curly locks, I do drool at the thought of having straight, luxurious hair like hers. Zech even got some of those plaid patchwork shorts the kids are wearing to further elevate his resemblance to an American Eagle catalog model... like I said, who needs Barbies when you have little brothers and sisters?!

We parted ways in the late afternoon, and I came home for my trip to Lowe's and some Crazy Lawnmower Lady antics. Bryan was beat when he got home just before the sun set, but managed to stay awake long enough to watch a few Discovery channel shows...

Sunday... oh, rainy Sunday... you would think I would have laid around all day like you're supposed to on a nasty day like that, but no... I was incredibly productive. Bryan got to sleep in a bit and then headed off to work at around 9am, and I got up and read the paper and made a plan for the day. I've found that doing things in 15-minute increments works well for me, so I mapped out all the things I wanted to get done, and did them. Including lots of cleaning, some organizing, some planning, some reading (yes, I timed it), some cooking and an ungodly amount of laundry. Unfortunately I have the bad habit of using every set of sheets and every towel I have before washing the used ones. Yes, I know this is awful. But it's true. And so after I got through the regular laundry, I started in on the loads of towels and sheets... I'm pretty sure I did seven or eight loads. (DO NOT even ask me to think about what laundry is going to be like when we get around to having children. Oh lord!) And then I went to Target and spent LESS THAN $50! YES! Miracle of miracles.

Finally, Bryan came home and reminded me why this weekend has the minus after the A: he works too much!!!! I can't wait for stupid outage season to be over.