TGIF!

.... really doesn't even begin to describe it. I am so frazzled from this week and absolutely ready for a quiet weekend. Of course, the weekend ahead may be a little too quiet for my tastes: Dan has to leave early Saturday morning for drill and then starts his new, far-away job next week (boo), so he won't be home until next Friday. Going to be lonely around these parts!
My brain is too overbooked right now to come up with anything too witty or, you know, intelligible, but here are a few tidbits (which may or may not be of any interest at all) that seem to be shining through the clouds in my head right now.
 -- I put on a pair of open-toe heels this morning to go with a pair of pants that I haven't worn in a while, and as I walked out of the apartment I looked down at my poor toenails that haven't been seen the light of day in at least a month. Oops! Needless to say, the once-cute pink polish is now chipped, faded, and sad. One more thing to add to my "to do" list this weekend, I suppose. Meanwhile, I've been hiding at my desk all day and hoping no one looks too hard at my feet.
 -- I haven't really been hungry all week, ever since I was so sick on Monday. I've had soup for at least 4 meals this week and applesauce for probably 4 more. In a meeting this morning, though, my stomach started to growl, and it was like the past 5 days of light eating caught up with me all at once. I was ravenous, and there was no way that the soup I brought for lunch today (of course) was going to cut it. I celebrated the return of my appetite by taking myself out to McDonalds for lunch (the choices around my office are pretty slim) and not feeling guilty about the calories. Now it's definitely time to get my butt back to the gym -- my 'sick' excuse has officially expired!
 -- Dan came home last night with information about an army-sponsored, all-expenses-paid "marriage counseling retreat" in April. He was nervous that I would take it the wrong way and think he was nervous about marriage or we had problems, so I think he was really surprised when I responded with a "well, where do I sign?!" It sounds like a fun (and free!) weekend, and I am a firm believer that no matter how good a relationship is, it's never a bad idea to learn about techniques for making it better. I don't think we have any need to sit down for couples therapy or anything, but this weekend will, if nothing else, be a chance to get away and learn a little bit about each other. I'm also hoping that we'll learn about how to keep our relationship strong while he is deployed.
 -- Speaking about the deployment, Dan told me recently that he got some interesting advice on how to stay in touch while he is overseas. Luckily, he should have no problems with internet access while he is there, and his friend (who will be going over for his third tour soon) recommended that we keep in touch by email as much as possible, skype once every week or two, and make phone calls once a month. At first, I was a little upset by that, but as I've thought about it more I've kind of gotten used to it. Apparently, if you talk on the phone too much, then you run out of things to talk about and start to fight. We've been together over 5 1/2 years and still find it easy to talk to each other, but I guess it makes sense -- while he is there, our lives are going to be very different, and honestly his will probably be pretty hard for me to understand. As long as he can email me consistently to let me know that he's safe, I'm sure I should consider myself lucky.
 -- In the evenings when we're at home, Dan and I basically either watch whatever is on USA (we love NCIS, Burn Notice, and White Collar) or movies (we have Netflix streaming on our TV, which is freaking amazing). There are no TV shows that we follow every week or even really watch in order. Now that I'm going to be alone in the evenings, though, I would love to get into a good show or two that I can look forward to every week. I'm hoping that this will also get me out of the habit of watching things I'm not really interested in so that I can get other stuff done (reading, cooking, sleeping, etc.) Anybody have any good suggestions of shows to get into?
 -- Tonight is date night, and Dan is making me pick between the two dinner possibilities we've come up with: either a restaurant with a great beer selection and fish and chips with the most amazing homemade tartar sauce, or one with a great wine list and crab bisque to die for. This may be even harder than deciding what to wear....
Happy Friday everyone!

   Love,

    Meg