Restful Weekend

Sunday, March 6, 2011
11:31pm

Sitting here in bed, watching steam rise off my chipped, green inspiration mug. John made me a cup of chammomile and mint tea to drink before bed. This weekend I have accomplished very little for school. I graded quizzes tonight, but other than that, I did nothing. I was just utterly exhausted. Part of that has been due to the ever-lovely PMS, and the other part has just been from the last several weeks of this intense pace and then the past two weeks just feeling incredibly stressed over various things.

On Friday, if this says anything, I didn't even work out. Those who know me know I rarely take more than one day a week off exercising, and frequently I don't even take that. Since I had already taken Tuesday off, the fact that I took Friday off, too, should speak to my level of tiredness. I'd said earlier in the week to John that all I wanted to do on Friday was just stay home with him. So that's what we did. After school, we went to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. He had a turkey burger... I had a steak. I was feeling like I just didn't care how much food I ate, so I consumed the steak, zucchini, and french fries, and then pouted for some Italian creme cake. We split a nice, rich slice, had some coffee, then came home and took a nap. While I did do other things besides sleep... though I don't remember what that was now... reading and messing around online I suppose, I didn't move from the bed for any extended period of time after 5pm on Friday.

On Saturday morning I got up and went to the Rec Center and put in a good, hard workout. It was a challenging one, but after a day off and so much rest the day before, I felt fine to do it. Circuits of all out sprints followed by resistance training. Rinse and repeat. Home. Shower. Well, not shower immediately. John and I went to Subway first to pick up lunch. I felt the man serving us was incredibly rude to me, and I don't deal well with that. I didn't want to make a big scene, so I satisfied myself by responding snippily... fyi, I'm a great customer in a restaurant. I always say, please, thank you, and tip well. I don't think it's "cool" to belittle waitstaff, as I have worked in food service on many occasions and understand the challenges. However, this guy was being a total d-bag. Somehow that spiraled into and argument between John and me. Mmm.. I nearly kicked down the bathroom door. I am grateful it wasn't latched shut, or I probably would have. In the end, I think we just both reached a critical level of stress, and I know that I, for one, have some things I could work on.

Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 I was down at Colson Hall. Cari had asked Daniel and I to help discuss our trip to Bolivia with those stopping by for the open house. Sometimes I just don't know what to say about experiences I've had. I tend not to go into things with a lot of expectations. I remember my main expectation about Bolivia was that I would feel scared, and I did... but that's just me being me. And when I am in another place or a new situation, I don't tend to judge it against previous experiences quite that much. Truly. My brain's just not set up that way. Even now, any new class I'm taking... I don't know how the new instructor is going to handle it. In group situations, I don't necessarily anticipate how people are going to behave. It kind of puts me in a suspended state where I just witness things as they unfold to me, and in some ways that's great. But... in that case, what do I have to say? Frequently, not much. I don't know why I just went there. It didn't have much to do with what we actually did on Saturday. I think I was just thinking in advance, what if I have to speak about my personal experience in Bolivia on the fly? I was sort of concerned that's what we'd have to do. But fortunately there were pictures and it wasn't an in-front-of-people situation. It was just sitting in front of her office and chatting with whomever. Again... I didn't know what to expect or anticipate. Lol.

So after that, came home, got ready, Andy and Joe came over, then Carly, and we loaded in her car and took off for Wheeling. Mom, Liz, Carman, and Wes were all up there, too. The Celtic Festival was really nice. I enjoy the spirit of Celtic music. I had a few beers and wound up dancing where I wasn't necessarily supposed to. But I feel like... there are far more obnoxious behaviors than dancing, and even when I'm sober I'm always trying to get people to dance, so really... that's no big thing. Carly and I danced in the corner, and after a bathroom break, John and I danced in this open area above the stairs. I was surprised by his willingness, but he seemed to be just as full of joy at that moment as I was. I had a blast and proceeded to pass out on John's shoulder the whole way home.

Joe slept on the futon in the living room, and this morning we all had pancakes, bacon, eggs, coffee, and strawberries together. John made breakfast. I'm not sure about my early morning competence in the kitchen. Without that initial hit of caffeine... oof. I tried to wake up Joe by various methods, such as waving fudge and bacon in his face, but it didn't work. He must have needed to sleep.

After breakfast, I feel back asleep on the futon while the boys played games on their phone. Then I got woken up to tell Joe goodbye, and John and I went in and slept 'til 2 in the afternoon. I've done quite a lot of sleeping this weekend, but I needed it. Even though I'm getting tired now because it's late, I still feel like I'm more rested than I was at the end of the work week. Although I'll have to work harder through the week now, I think this sleep will ultimately prove more beneficial to my overall state and performance throughout the week than being a little more ahead in work would have. My nerves and body have just been... raw. But this weekend I ate and slept a lot, and I'm feeling better.

I did Zumba here at home today... didn't feel like getting dressed and going to the Rec. Showered. John came home... he did some work at Brook's today, and then we went grocery shopping at WalMart. We had Digiorno pizza and asparagus for dinner, and I graded my students' quizzes.

As far as tomorrow goes, I have a handout ready to use, which should really guide most of the class. Still, I might look over things before I go to sleep. And in the morning, I'm teaching Power Pump at Healthworks instead of Zumba. Some of the women expressed that they'd like the mix, so I asked for it and got it. It's less overwhelming teaching Power Pump in the morning than it is teaching Zumba. Physically, it's just as challenging, but mentally, I don't have to be as with it. I just go anatomically through the body and make sure I hit every major muscle group. I don't have to remember a whole hour's worth of choreography, and sometimes it's nice to just go to bed on Sunday night and not be worried about Monday morning's hour-long salsa, merengue, hip hop fest.

Anyway, I suppose that's all for now. The week's gonna hit me like a sack of bricks tomorrow, but I think I'm at least rejuvenated enough now to meet it with some energy.