Preparing for the storm...

As always, my week at work was a blur of early morning alarms and late nights in my classroom. I had several make-up conferences scheduled, which meant I left my apartment long before the sun rose and did not return until well after it set. Wait, scratch that. There was no sunrise, because it was snowing. In the first week of spring. And if the snow wasn't enough, the NYC weather gods decided to throw in some lightning and hail one night too. Happy spring everyone.

By Friday night, I was exhausted. Knowing that I would fall asleep the second my body hit the nearest couch or bed, I asked Brian if he wanted to go out to dinner instead of staying in and cooking/ordering food. We decided to meet up at Leng Thai in Astoria and had an amazing meal. I didn't even have to think about whether or not I wanted my favorite vegetable spring rolls; it was just that kind of week. I should have mentioned those in my guilty pleasures list...

I decided to dedicate the majority of my weekend to preparing myself for all that is to come in April. Over the next month, I have family visiting, Brian's birthday, my best friend's wedding, a trip to Florida, a MN wedding, and a weekend in Boston. I cannot wait for it all, but also get slightly anxious thinking about the lack of weekend time ahead to do all of my normal weekend activities (laundry, grocery shopping, gym workouts, etc.) So this weekend, I did all that I could to prepare for my lack of upcoming downtime. First on my list was laundry. Oh, dreaded, dreaded laundry. I would really give just about anything for a washer and dryer in my apartment. Because there is nothing worse than lugging twenty-plus pounds of clothes a block to the laundromat, stuffing economy washers way too full with no knowledge of who's belongings were in there right before yours, changing a twenty dollar bill for quarters, and then sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair flipping through magazines as the time slowly ticks by. But, I will say, there is also a pretty great feeling once the drama of doing laundry is over and my apartment smells of fresh laundry and my drawers are stuffed full of clean clothes.

The next item on my list was to watch some of the shows that were quickly filling up my DVR box. Apparently, a nap was also part of this task. I lay down on the couch with the goal of watching one or two shows, and woke up confused (and more rested) a few hours later. After quickly running around my apartment tidying up a bit and doing a quick go-around with the vacuum, I headed out and briskly walked to Bamboo Nails. I was in desperate need of a manicure and felt at ease once the final coat of Malaga Wine was painted onto my freshly filed nails. From the nail salon I booked it over to the gym for a quick run. Afterwards, I picked up a cup of coffee from Starbucks before heading home to get ready for the evening.

One of the families from my class hosted the second second grade cocktail party of the year on Saturday night. Brian and I attended the first cocktail party earlier this year, and had a great time getting to hang out with the parents from my class outside of school with no second graders in sight. Saturday night was equally entertaining. As we parked the car and walked to the apartment, I told Brian I planned on staying for about a half an hour and then going out to dinner at a nearby favorite Italian restaurant. Flash forward two and a half hours as we were buttoning our coats and saying goodnight and thank you to Patti for hosting a great get-together. I guess I kind of lost track of time. It was really nice getting to catch up with the families. It also made me so happy to glance across the room and catch Brian chatting away; he is quite the social butterfly. Since most restaurants were closed by the time we left, we headed back to Queens and chowed down on homemade mozzarella sticks at our favorite diner.

Sunday was dedicated to the errands I usually never get to run without a car. Luckily, we had a rental. A Mustang convertable to be exact, which would normally be amazing. But, as you can see from my outfit and pout, it was a pretty big tease with our still very present winter weather. Oh well. It was still a car with a big trunk and plenty of room for shopping bags from my two favorite places- Target and Trader Joe's.

After a quick stop at Starbucks (hello Peppermint Mocha), we drove through the congested streets of Queens to our first stop- Target. Brian may have been making fun of me a little bit with this picture, because I think my face really did look like that for most of the ride there. I was just so excited to get to stock up on the essentials like jumbo jugs of Tide and 25 lb. boxes of cat litter without having to carry them on a normally grueling walk and commute home.

Did I mention how much a love Target? I was not lying when I described it as one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I walked into the store with the objective of purchasing a roll of aluminum foil, laundry detergent, and cat litter. I walked out over an hour later with a cart full of Easter goodies, DVD's, cosmetics, a new cat toy for Boo, and several cleaning products. And no aluminum foil. Oh, the irony.

YUM! Peeps!

After Target, we drove over to Trader Joe's and were delighted to find the store much less crowded than the sister Manhattan and Brooklyn locations. After stocking up on our favorite goods, we only had to wait in line a few short minutes before checking out. Score. We treated ourselves to dinner at The Neptune Diner in Astoria. You've gotta love traditional Greek diners, with menus spanning several pages with everything from chicken wings, to spinach pie, to prime rib dinners. All of which we ate, along with a mile-high piece of banana cream pie to complete our meal.

I feel so much better knowing that some of my errands are now taken care of for the next few weeks. Thank goodness for my favorite shopping, errand running companion and our sweet (rental) ride. I hope everyone had a great first week of spring, and at least some of you got to enjoy sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures!