Today was a bit of a rush, with work deadlines and friends visiting (and the frantic apartment cleaning that accompanies visitors) and an intense discussion of the #YesAllWomen thread on Twitter, so I am only just now sitting down to write two blog posts and finish up some work writing.

Karen has her usual invitation (now that Amanda has passed on the baton) to share weekend activities and Carole made that the Ten on Tuesday topic today as well, so here is my weekend in a nutshell:

1. Nicole, Julia, Michael, and I picnicked along the river as usual for a Friday evening, but it was a little quieter than usual, since The Yards opted not to schedule a concert over the long weekend, unbeknownst to us and about 100 other people. But Orangina and strawberries and cheese and hummus and chocolate (NOT all at once) with friends are a fine way to start a three-day weekend, with or without music.
2. Strolled to Blind Dog Cafe for chocolate chip cookies and homemade soda (lemon for Rudi; vanilla for me).
3. In honor of Geek Pride Weekend, we watched Star Wars.
4. Sprawled on a blanket at Mitchell Park.
5. Finished two books.
6. Completed the two-color section of the Color Affection I’m knitting.
7. Had a pleasant dinner with friends and their kids.
8. Took an unintended 5-mile hike in Rock Creek Park after the heat returned the lion cubs to their den early and the crowds at the zoo sent us out the back gate.
9. Swam at the pool during its inaugural weekend of the season.
10. Planted my potatoes in the garden (finally!) and harvested my first strawberries.

All in all a nice weekend at home with my sweetie.

How was your weekend?

This is one of those lists where you read it and shake your head and think, “Sprite, there’s no way you’re going to get all that done.” I think so, too, but there’s no way to find out except to plow forward full-steam and not look up until Sunday night to count the casualties.

This weekend I hope to:

• Finish my Sock Madness Round 3 socks. (This will be particularly challenging when you see the rest of the list.)
• Put the rest of the early veggies (like peas) and potatoes in the ground at the garden.
• Get to the library to drop off a few books and to pick up one that’s on hold.
• Go to a couple embassies (which ones are still to be decided).
• Attend part of the Funk Parade/Festival on U Street.
• Stop in at the Meet Market.
• Get to the farmers market when they first open. (I’ve seen rumors of strawberries, but I know they won’t be plentiful if there are any.)
• Head up to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.
• Send off rent and a couple belated birthday cards.
• Do a couple loads of laundry.
• Get the rug in the living room to dry (post-flood).
• Deal with at least one bag and one box in the living room (in advance of out-of-town friends visiting next week).
• Sleep.

How about you? What do you hope to do this weekend?

This weekend was just too short, and tomorrow starts way too soon.

Easter weekend included:

• The soft open of the latest location of a local taqueria, owned by a cycley friend of Rudi’s
• Sleeping in
• Lunch outside
• Painting my nails in jellybean colors
• A potluck pre-Easter dinner with friends
• Hours of knitting, but not enough (many one step forward, two steps back moments
• A trip to the farmers market (which netted us peach blossoms, ramps, the first (greenhouse) tomato of the year
• Hours of digging — and some planting — in the garden
• Postponing Easter egg dyeing until tomorrow
• Eating Easter candy

How was your weekend?

This weekend was filled with:

• Bringing my bike home from the office after three months.
• Sleeping in.
• Introducing Rudi to Blind Dog Café and their homemade sodas.

• Weather warm enough for flip flops and rolled up jeans.
• Exploring District Flea and discovering a new, local, microbrewed root beer.
• Buying seeds, soil, and plants from Frager’s.
• Getting up early to sit in traffic to see the cherry blossoms.

• Stopping for hot beverages and a cherry blossom cupcake at Baked and Wired.
• Hitting the farmers market and finding the first nettles of the season.
• Napping.
• The first major gardening session of the year — kale, sorrel, and mache survived, although it looks like the rosemary did not. Also, the first violets of the year came home.

• Knitting on stripey socks and a long languishing spring sweater while waiting for the next round of Sock Madness to begin.

• Not doing my taxes or housework.

So, if you recall, back in the first week of January, I made three goals to accomplish by the end of the month. They were:

1. Darn my sweater and replace the two buttons that have fallen off.
2. Take a bag of donations to the charity bookshop and one to Goodwill.
3. Invite someone to visit.

I’m pleased to report that two of those things got accomplished. I took bags to Goodwill and to the charity bookshop and am working on getting the next round started. I also invited people over to help me get the Christmas tree out of the apartment, although that was not really the relaxing event I had intended when I wrote that as a goal. We’ve had several people over in subsequent weeks to visit Rudi, so I’m checking that off, too. Unfortunately, my darning class turned out to be at the exact same time as Rudi’s surgery, so it got skipped and I haven’t yet sewn the buttons back onto the cardigan.

And in February, while my goals did not make it onto the blog, they were something in the range of: 1) make it so Rudi can get around the apartment safely when he gets home (check); 2) stop crying and snapping at people all the time achieve better stress management (middling success, with significant improvement toward the end of the month); and 3) have a fun birthday (“fun” would probably not be the adjective I’d choose, but it turned out better than it might have otherwise, given Rudi was back in the hospital with a significant complication at the time, thanks to my parents and my brother).

Moving forward, it’s time to set some goals for March.

They are:

1. Regain access to the window. My way of clearing a path for Rudi was to shift everything in the way to the periphery of the apartment, which means that I have two feet of stuff between my window and where you can stand. Since we live below ground, the window sill is at my waist and the window is outdented from the wall, and I need as much leverage as possible to get it open. Late March tends to be pleasant during the day, so I know I’ll want that window open, which means that the stuff that’s in the way has to get put away/donated in order to get to it.
2. Exercise at least twice a week. Once a week is not a problem during volleyball season, but we end the winter league this month and don’t start the spring leagues until April, so I need to make sure I don’t slack off in the intervening weeks. And, frankly, I fell off the regular exercise bandwagon as the weather got cold, so volleyball has been it. Maybe I will figure out a way to bring my bike back from the office (where it’s been since Rudi’s mobility became a priority, since it normally lives in the apartment itself). Or I could use one of the indoor pools around town. Or take a yoga class. Or just walk…
3. Make it past the first round of Sock Madness. Last year, I failed to make it through the initial pair in time, due to life intervening. I’d like to think life and I have reached a consensus for now, so I’m hoping to make it out of the knit-in round and finish my first pair of socks for 2014.

How about you? How are your goals/resolutions going?

The last time I made a to-do list for the weekend, it all went to hell, but let’s have faith that won’t happen this time.

Here’s what’s on tap:

1. Take car for inspection
2. Print out new car insurance card.
3. Go to a yoga class or get a massage or a pedicure. Or, y’know, two or even all three.
4. Do a load of laundry.
5. Have a dinner date with Rudi at the rehab facility.
6. Renew or return a book to the Arlington library.
7. Remove items from the yellow shelves that are not books.
8. Fill out the home dimension request sheet from the hospital.
9. Make a list of what’s going into my swap box next week.
10. Find clothes to wear to a funeral on Monday.
11. Read a book.
12. Repair rocking chair.
13. Wind yarn for next project.
14. Get computer hooked up to tv functioning or find Wii remote or figure out why the radio in the bedroom has stopped producing music (but not alarm noises).
15. Bring the cooler in from the hallway and put things from the kitchen into it.