Smiling = success

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mine was pretty good, and it went by surprisingly fast. I slept in till 8, 8:30, which felt really good, and the whole weekend had beautiful sunny skies and warm rays of sunshine.

Saturday I... honestly forgot what I did! Let's see... ah, yes, went to Albertson's and bought food for the week, did laundry (finally), walked to the beach at about 4pm. I have a hard time taking people seriously. It's 71 degrees outside and people are wearing sweat pants, dark long sleeved shirts and/or sweaters. It's 71 degrees! Is this cold to Californians or something? Meanwhile, here I am, walking to the beach in my capris, tank top, flip flops and beach tote. I must look like a real tourist :). Ooh, and I bought a plant! A nice green fern. It'll bring more life and oxygen to this lonely place (sigh). My brother had a colleague who told him that he and his wife won't have kids until his wife is able to keep a plant alive. I don't think that's bad thinking. Since I'd like to be a mom someday, why not start by making sure I can take care of a plant? Piece of cake, right? We'll see in a few months. I will add that to my New Year's resolution: keep my plant alive.

Today was a little more productive. Had some eggs for breakfast, went to the beach around noon, people were sunbathing everywhere, there were sun umbrellas... it smelled like summer... and SUCCESS! I think from that point forward I've been smiling all day today. I sunbathed for about 45 minutes... it was warm, and there was a nice breeze, which made it not too hot, not too cold. Holy crap. I am reminded how people spend tons of money on weekend getaways at the beach. Guess what? I'm getting equal excitement out of this and not only does it cost me nothing, but it happens every weekend there's sunshine. Now, again, why didn't I come here sooner? :)

So then I ate lunch, watched TV for a bit... and decided to go check out new mattresses. I went to 3 stores, and there's a few I like... but basically they're $600 or more, and I'm a cheapo... but then again, it's Cali, so I expect to pay more (my last bed I bought 6-7 years ago, a double, for only $300 in SLC). There was one though that was so nice at this furniture store, where everything was 40-70% off. the bed was a posture pedic for $749 (originally about 1300), and I'm wondering if I should splurge on that one. They had nice bedroom sets too (dressers, bedside tables, etc on mega sale) and I might go back for that too.

So... that's the weekend. Oh, and something interesting today: on the beach, I heard French... and decided to go talk to them, a young guy and a girl. Why not make friends, especially French friends, I thought? so apparently they're 20 and 19 from Belgium, here to study English on a scholarship, they've been here since September, and leaving in two weeks. Nice kids. It was kinda fun to speak French again, there's no Frenchies my age in salt Lake, really... and it would be fun to embrace the culture again while I'm here. Well, at least I made the effort to go talk to them... something I usually don't do (kinda shy, you know...).

Today I'm grateful for a beautiful summer vacation day. I could have stayed all day at that beach. Sunbathe, walk, play volleyball, peoplewatch... but too bad there's a little something called skin cancer that prevents me from doing so, especially when you're going in the middle of the day.

Have a fabulous week!