One Day In, One Day Out.

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We had a good weekend. Saturday morning was stormy, so after our weekend muffins, we lit the candle and candlier and napped in the flickers. We had milkshakes later...that small vanilla shake was pure bliss. I spent most of the day reading Joyce Carol Oates's You Must Remember This. For dinner, I had Campbell's pasta and Italian sausage soup...very comforting.

On Sunday, we went to Southern Pines. I put on my sparkles and dark silver eye makeup. We had lunch at Olive Garden. The bread sticks and salad are big endorphin releasers. I had shrimp and crab ravioli; Josh had portabello mushroom ravioli. Of course, the desserts looked dreamy, but we were getting stuffed fast, so we each had a dolcini--a tiny dessert in a sort of squat shot glass on a doily. He had strawberry cheesecake, and I had chocolate caramel mousse with curled chocolate shavings.

We went next to Michaels, where with my 25% coupon, I spent $27. I got a round box decorated with jewelry and perfume bottles. I'll use it for my extra makeup. Two bigger boxes with gray, purple, and black books, journals, globes, postcards, and flowers will hold...I don't know yet. I got some new metallic gel pens to try and then raided the $1 bins full of Shabby Chic notepads and stationery with pink flowers and crowns. I also found Oliver on his seahorse!--three tiny tissue boxes and four little spiral journals.

We had been surprised to spot a Waldenbooks. Everything was 30-40% off. Something is so luxurious about just buying books. Normally, we spot something at a bookstore and take a photo, thinking we'll check the library or buy it on Amazon. But we indulged today. Josh got Crime and Punishment and Palace Walk. I got a decorating magazine, Northanger Abbey (I must finish Austen and the Brontes!), The Writing Circle (most likely fluff...Josh says it will be a nice postpartum book), A Mango-Shaped Space (a YA book I've wanted to read for a while...it's about synesthesia), Life in Miniature, Outside the Ordinary World, The Book of Lost Things, and Eva Luna. And no, I hadn't yet found proper spots for all the books we already had.

At home, I put stickers in two journals and finished You Must Remember This. I had read JCO's journal and a book of short stories, but this was the first novel. It's devastating but does end with hope.

I think I'm ready for the week to begin. Ready enough, anyway. I hope I'll have energy to read and write a little after work each day.

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