gone with the wind

Another weekend come and gone. Whenever I travel it takes me a good week to get back into the groove of things. And because I travel somewhat frequently (travel ranging from big trips to the much more frequent weekend trips to see my family or visit friends), "regular" life often means either getting ready for or recovering from a trip. This can be good and bad. It means there are lots of experiences to look forward to, and lots to savor when they've passed - but it can throw a wrench in routine - and I've never been very good at having a routine to start with. For the most part, routines bore me, but I'm an adult, I have a small household to look after, a job, a circle of friends - and all these things depend on some sort of regularity of action - be it cleaning or hanging out frequently enough to know what's going on with my nearest and dearest. This was a nice weekend in that even as I recovered from my trip and tried to get back into the swing of things at work and sort stuff out at home, the more pleasant routines made appearances as well. Friday night I came straight home after work intending to curl up in bed as I've been fighting a cold, but found my roommate at home and a girlfriend called and we ended up having a perfect girls night complete with bellini cocktails (my new favorite, the bottle is already empty) and a smorgasbord of dinner cobbled together from a fridge full of odds and ends (note: French bread pizza with sauteed squash, mushroom, onion, olive oil and garlic + mozarella = GOOD). Saturday was spent doing errands and preparing for a southern cooking fest I'd been inspired to hold in lieu of our annual pumpkin party (which my trip to Montreal hijacked). The food turned out great - but a bunch of last minute cancellations mean we had 10 people instead of 17 - and I made enough fried chicken for about 30...oops... We projected Gone with the Wind onto one of our walls (inspired by a party that Lance had) but it wasn't as good of a get together as we usually manage. There was something off - either a funny mix of people, or not enough people, or we were all too tired - I was disappointed. But I suppose after two years of get togethers having this be the first that left me disappointed is not that bad of a track record. And, I am pretty sure I've broken myself of my fried chicken craving after getting up close and personal with more butter and oil than I care to admit in the last 24 hours. The food was damn tasty though!

Today I got back in the water after a month's hiatus from surfing and was pleased to feel completely comfortable (and I'm not even sore!). I didn't really do much surfing, but I swear I had a moment when I felt like I'd metamorphosed into a fish - I realized the way I was guiding my board was completely second nature, it was very zen. I also tried out my snazzy new surf glasses which I could tell the surfers around me found silly but my eyes were happy with and they DID stay on even when I was completely pummeled by the day's biggest wave.

I talked to Allan quite a bit this weekend and we're planning on hanging out in early December. It's been hard to know how to respond when people have asked me about what comes next. His project is a work in progress and nowhere near completion, and as I like to say, he's more or less dating "the world." I feel like the lines of communication are completely open though, and at the very least, I have a very fun and interesting new person in my life. On that note - definitely keep your eye on his site - he's got some crazy adventures coming up!

Here comes Monday...