Soothing Sunday: Elements of a Wonderful Weekend

Happy Sunday! Yesterday got away from me, and I forgot to post, but I had a lovely day yesterday, and a lovely evening on Friday, so I can tell you all about it! 

Do you ever have those weekends where Monday rolls around and you think 'man, I wasted the whole weekend!'? I definitely do. But then sometimes I have weekends where even halfway through Saturday, it feels like a full, happy, exciting weekend. That was this weekend for me. What's a perfect weekend for you?

The snow is genuinely melting!

First Real Salon Visit in 12 Months

The COVID restrictions in my area are not very broad, so salons have been open for quite a while. However, I have not been comfortable enough to sit in a salon for the hours that it takes to color my hair. So I have not had a hair color appointment since early 2020. I have had some quick haircuts in places like Great Clips, but I also have not had a hair appointment involving a shampoo and a style.

But my grays had been coming in quite aggressively, so I figured between the warmer weather, the higher vaccination rates, and the lower infection rates, I'd be safe enough getting my hair colored. I hope I was right!

I wish I had taken a better photo. The salon was so cute. Lots of blush and natural wood. Lots of indoor plants. The atmosphere in the salon was also very soothing. It seemed like the stylists all got along. And a few times, my own stylist made comments about how caring her manager was. I love to hear that kind of thing.

I ended up getting a 'lob' with just a little bit of a curtain bang. I got an all over color in a warm coppery brown. The shampoo and head massage were totally blissful. I was really happy with the whole visit!

Friday's Fish Adventure

My husband and I observe lenten Fridays, and don't have meat. We are also trying to patronize local businesses that are doing Friday fish specials. This week, we ordered takeout from a local BBQ restaurant that is doing Friday creole fish baskets. It was absolutely delicious!

This is like the ugliest food picture I've ever taken... but it's because everything was way too delicious for me to wait to start eating! Hah!

Fried catfish, hush puppies, spicy fries, coleslaw, and remoulade. 

We also decided to do a blind taste testing of a few local IPA beers. We really like IPAs, and we have found lots of different local breweries that are making good IPAs. So we decided to try a blind taste test to decide which ones we could identify without a label and which was our favorite when compared to the others! It was weirdly fun, and although we usually don't need to open four beers in one night, it was a fun night for it.

Gardening

Funnily enough, all the plantings at the salon where I had my hair done prompted me to re-pot my indoor plants for the first time in a year. My husband has a big bag of topsoil in the garage, so I took my plants out for some sunshine and new soil! It was a quick project, but I'd been putting it off, and it ended up being so soothing to have my hands in some dirt!

Here they are, in their fresh soil glory. I think they look more lively already!

What I Watched this Weekend:

• Series finale of Wandavision. What a clever, fun, cool show! I think the middle of the season was the absolute best. I liked how it ended, but I think part of my disfavoring the ending was that I did not want it to end!
• Field of Dreams. I know, I know. I'm strange, but I had never seen it before! My husband absolutely loves that movie, and he'd never managed to convince me to watch it. I didn't even know the plotline, honestly. So I was surprised and delighted by this unusual, sweet movie!
• Captain Fantastic. I think I heard of this movie when it first came out, but a colleague mentioned that it had been put on Netflix recently and said it was good. So we watched that on Friday night. All in all, I thought it was ok. I think it was a little rose-colored, but it was an unusual and interesting premise. 

Today's Delights:

• We got a new oven/stove! Our old one had been having a lot of issues, and based on the extent of the issues, and the relative costs, we ended up getting a new one installed! It's so shiny!
• Because I feel relatively confident that we won't have any more snow this year, I put the cushions back on our patio sofa, and swept up outside. Everything looks fresh and inviting. I can't wait for it to be warm-warm, so we can have coffee, dinner, drinks al fresco again.
• When we moved more of my things from my old apartment into our combined home, we brought a few of the cookbooks that I haven't really used in a while! It's fun to go through them and review a few more new recipes to mix into our weekly meals!

I'm feeling so hopeful about getting back to normal! SO HOPEFUL! I'm delighted. -A