I've been trying to split up my days between school work in the morning (from 8:00 until noon or so) and then doing at least one productive thing in the afternoon in addition to going to the gym. Tuesday, I did a little yard work in the front yard (hopefully will get the rest finished on Saturday). Yesterday's productive thing was making "perfect" chocolate chip cookies from this month's Cooks Illustrated. I love Cooks Illustrated because it's only got a dozen or so recipes along with product reviews so I don't feel like I'll never make the things in there. I try to make at least one recipe from each one. Both Paul and I agree that these are really good cookies. A little extra work is involved because the butter is melted and then the sugars are whisked into the butter and there is some rest time involved. But the end results are well worth the extra time involved--the cookies have a hint of a toffee flavor and the perfect chewy/crunchy mix. Yummy.
Yesterday evening, I received a phone call from a friend, Audra, who wanted to know if I could come be a "warm body" for a photo shoot her husband was doing. She knew I am on Spring Break and thought I'd be a good sport. Her husband is a photographer and was doing work for a local group of restaurants in town, taking pictures for their website and probably print ads. Paul couldn't make it--conveniently, he had meetings at 11:00 and 2:00 (the first two photo shoots were at 10:00 and 2:00). I called Devlyn but she wasn't able to play hooky this afternoon since her company had just had a shake-up yesterday and 30 layoffs so she thought it wouldn't be the best idea. Paul suggested I call his coworker/our friend Jenny who also knows Audra. I told her Paul was being a stick-in-the-mud and told her what was up. Happily, Jenny was game for this little adventure.
We were instructed to dress like we were going to actually go to these restaurants to eat. Paul called this morning to let me know what Jenny was wearing--he wasn't sure she was dressed right because she was wearing a shirt that was "kinda low cut with floofy sleeves" (apparently, he thought/told her I was just wearing jeans). I reassured him that she probably looked fine and we would have dueling cleavage if nothing else. I wore a long-sleeved scoop neck shirt, trousers, and a fancy necklace. And we both looked fine. It was a lot of waiting while everything was arranged just-so--almost 1.5 hours before we were needed. The plate was moved slightly to the right and the glass slightly to the left and the stuff on the mantle rearranged three times. There were three tables prepared for the shoot--one with an appetizer, one with entrees, and one with desserts. There were two couples and three women for the shoot. Jenny and I were going for the dessert table but that was overruled because the three of us women together at the table might send the wrong message (what? that this restaurant is great for ladies' night out?). So we were relegated to the appetizer table and another man (one of the servers) was scrounged up for the dessert table so there would be three couples in the shot. It was less than 30 minutes for the actual shoot while we sat, pretended to chat, laugh, not look directly at the server who got recruited to be in the shot at our table as well (she was jokingly telling us that the other server/man couldn't eat that dessert because he was on the job). For our time, we'll receive gift certificates for the restaurant. I'll take it. I really like the restaurant but it's definitely fancier than our usual spots. We've been there once before for an anniversary dinner and I had to tell Paul to just hush about the $100 tab because 8 years of marriage was worth it.
After that, I headed over to World Market again to pick up the desk chair I'd been wanting. It wasn't in stock earlier in the month when I'd been there. I'm debating buying this print for the guest room as well. I'd actually marked it in the Ballard Designs catalog I received yesterday and then saw it this afternoon at World Market where it costs less. Paul isn't crazy about it but he's hardly ever in that room. I don't know--I think I'm going to ponder it a bit longer. I also found a small wall clock I really like at my favorite little shop when I stopped in on my way home. I didn't get it today but I think I'm going to go back and buy it.
After dinner, Paul and I finally got around to rearranging furniture. The old futon is now waiting in the garage to be taken to the curb tomorrow. I'm still a little sad to see it go. We moved the double bed up to the upstairs bedroom. It works well up there. The way that the room is now arranged, it's a little squished when you first walk in the room but I think there is more floor space with it this way. The big box is still sitting in the living room. My mother-in-law called while we were finishing up moving furniture and she asked about the new futon (she's one who's seen the humongous box just sitting there). All in good time. We have to have something to do tomorrow. Paul had actually helped one of his coworkers move some furniture from an upstairs apartment this afternoon as well so Paul was ready to take a long hot bath. Plus, that darn chair took longer to put together than I thought it would. It wasn't hard, just took longer.
A busy but productive and fun day and a nice way to spend time on my Spring Break.
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2 comments:
Sounds like a fun day. A mix of the usual and unusual. I like the desk chair. Doesn't look all the comfy, but very nice. Love the print. The colors would work great in that room plus I like what it says. :) Enjoy the short time left before having to head back to work.
The chair is actually not that uncomfortable because it's the right size. I also bought a cushion for the seat. I think I'm drawn to the print for the colors as well as the saying on it.
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