A Case of the Sundays

I'm a firm believer that Sunday night is the most craptastic time of the week. And as I sit here, at 5:30 pm on a dark, chilly November evening, the weekend is woefully behind me. I still have Latin to translate, a Greek paper to write, clothes to fold and put away, dishes to wash, and dogs to feed. With my weekend 'To Do' list less than halfway completed, I can feel a wave of panic wash over me that reaffirms the Sunday night-ness of this moment. So in an effort to clear the fog from my brain and get over myself, I'm going to force myself to list at least five things that made me smile or that I did well this weekend. I know, right? I'm practically a motivational speaker.

• There are Christmas decorations out in and around Bryn Mawr. And while Christmas decorations in early November tend to irk me in places like Target (where everything is GLITTER and PLASTIC and ENORMOSITY), the simple decorations that Bryn Mawr puts up (snowflake white lights on all the lamp-posts downtown) make me really happy. Because even though I won't decorate our apartment till December 1, I do love me some Christmas, and if drinking coffee from Starbucks' Christmas cups brightens my day, then I'll take it.
• Today at the grocery store a small army of people and their mothers had come into Bryn Mawr to do their shopping. And man, were they shopping. Everyone's carts were filled to the brim--except for mine. I stopped by on my way back from Target ONLY to pick up heavy cream for the caramels I will be making later tonight in an effort to avoid writing my Greek paper. So after I had waited (in the shortest line possible) for fifteen minutes, I was next in line for the register, when the man in front of me (who had a substantial cart full of groceries) said, "You only have that one thing--would you like to go ahead of me?" And I said, "YES I WOULD! Thank you so much!" As I edged ahead of him in line, I smiled graciously and said, "Really, thanks again. You are wonderful." And with a smile, he replied knowingly, "Yes I know. I am." And...I didn't really know what to say to that. So I just smiled awkwardly (per usual), paid for my cream, and left. Good story. Point being: A stranger was nice to me. Isn't the world grand.
• Had a really terrible run on Friday, but a much better run on Saturday. I really think that I might do this marathon in March. The half-marathon in a couple of weeks...that I'm less excited about.
• Last night all four of us fell asleep on the bed together (normally Ness sleeps in her crate), and when I woke up a few hours later, Callie was curled up at our feet and Ness was stretched out smack in between Preston and me. Totally a precious moment. Except that we don't have those scary teardrop eyes.
• I went into the library yesterday and filed several weeks worth of translation notes, secondary readings, and paper topic ideas for my Epistolography and Ancient Pastoral classes. Going through everything made me not only proud of the work I've done (I've survived my first nine weeks of grad school! CHAMPAGNE FOR EVERYONE! Over the internet!) but also excited (well, let's say excited lite) to write my papers next month. I think I might be able to do this grad school thing...for real.