Cynthia posted last week with a bunch of ideas for pure fun, and I couldn’t resist, especially since a few of them lined up with things I wanted to do this weekend anyway.

This is the first weekend in a very long time that hasn’t been taken up by packing, moving, unpacking, or otherwise getting settled… and I really, really wanted to take the opportunity to make the most of it. And not in the way that you traditionally think when someone says that they want to make the most of a few days off. I wanted to sleep in, sit on the couch and do nothing, and mostly just take some time to recharge.

On Friday night, while Dan was stuck late at work, I painted my nails, since last week’s manicure was already chipped badly. With Cynthia’s list in my ear, I couldn’t help it… so I painted my nails alternating pink and an orangey coral. Since I couldn’t decide between the two colors anyway.

And I totally love it. Even if it is a little silly.

And then on Saturday, we finally, finally slept in a little bit, and had some bagels from my favorite bagel place that I’ve been hoarding in the freezer, since we still haven’t found a bagel place near our new apartment. We watched Kindergarten Cop (seriously, how did I ever forget how funny that movie is?) and just … sat. And it was wonderful. And then? We walked across the street to the ice cream store, because we haven’t tried it yet and holy crap it’s within WALKING distance. We both got ice cream cones, just because we could, something that you really can’t do when you’re driving to and from the ice cream store. And that was pretty wonderful, too.

And then we drove down to Seaside for a friend’s birthday dinner, where much beer was consumed, and we even escaped before the Jersey Shore-ish crowds gathered on the dance floor.

Sunday included more sleeping, and then I made huevos rancheros for Dan for the first time. He’s a convert. We spent the afternoon on the couch; Dan played xbox while I caught up on my archives project, and then we watched the Mets for a while. Then! We had ice cream and fresh fruit, and watched movies and more movies.

I even hung my Es, which is super, super happy.

We found a tasty local Thai restaurant for dinner, and rounded the weekend up with more couch. I could get used to this.

So last week was a pretty gigantic one for me and for Dan together. And I’m feeling like I need a week to recover from my week off. Dan and I both have made a habit of taking the week that contains both of our birthdays off from work, and it’s a tradition I completely adore. Last year’s Birthday Week Extravaganza was one of the best weeks, ever. This year’s birthday week ended up being moving week, and while I was reluctant to surrender the All Birthday All The Time mentality, having a full week plus a few days on each end to deal with everything having to do with moving out of two separate places and into a new one, together, was completely vital.

Here are some of the highlights, as well as some photos I want to preserve for posterity.

I started the week off with a Harry Potter double feature with my brother and a few of his friends. We saw Deathly Hallows Part 1 at 9pm, and then Part 2 at midnight on Thursday. And it was AMAZING. Both to see them back to back, to be seeing it at midnight, the first moment we could, and the movies themselves. Dan has never seen the movies, so we’ve been rewatching all of the Harry Potter movies amid moving, and having this story I love as an anchor has been kind of nice.

The first weekend was spent doing projects at our new place with my parents. We painted over the ugly mint green walls in the dining room (and I totally forgot to take before pictures!) and put up blinds and curtains. We went out to dinner with Dan’s family to celebrate his birthday, my birthday, and his brother’s birthday, which is also within a week. And Dan ate a one pound burger and then had to pose with a stuffed cheeseburger.

Then we had to go back to the couch drawing board, after our first choice ended up being way, way too big. We went to several stores and I got to experience the joy of someone who is both very tall and has exacting requirements about how high the back of a couch should be, and exactly how his feet should rest on a recliner or ottoman. Luckily, we finally found a couch and a recliner that we both love, that were super on sale, AND that didn’t come in ugly colors. We also spend an incredibly fun afternoon at Ikea, where I yet again drooled over Expedits, but where we bought necessary but not as jazzy things such as a table for Dan’s desk, coffee table, and some end tables. (And meatballs.) Oh, and we saw a Somerset Patriots game for Dan’s birthday on Monday night.

Of course, the part that I’m leaving out to save time is that in between all of these bigger errands and fun birthday things were multiple trips in both of our cars between my old apartment and our new one, and between HIS old apartment and our new one. Every time we were passing by, we dropped stuff off. We really just used up every moment, and had very little time to just sit.

(my color-coded box labeling system actually got COMPLIMENTS, you guys. Not laughter. I’m still shocked. Each room had a color, and then I also wrote on the label what was in each box. It was both pretty and helpful!)

Wednesday was Moving Day, or The Day With The Truck where we emptied my old apartment. I’m infinitely grateful to my parents, my brother, and my sister and her boyfriend for yet again carrying all of my shit. Especially to John, James, Dan and my dad for getting the orange couch out of my apartment over the balcony. (That couch went to my parents’ house, where it is PERFECT in my old bedroom, or the room they are now calling the “back bedroom”.)

It was a long, hot, sweaty day, but we had bagels and pizza from the (very, very tasty) pizza place we can now walk to, and we got a ton of unpacking done, too. Then Dan and I drove into New Brunswick for microbrewed beer and greasy food.

Thursday was my birthday, which I’ve written about already. 30 wasn’t like any other birthdays I’ve had, but it was good to get some unpacking done, and to get dressed up to head into Princeton for my usual trio of Paper Source, Triumph Brewery, and Bent Spoon cupcakes.

On Friday our furniture was delivered, which was pretty fantastic, not only because we finally had a place to sit in the living room. And then we drove down to Lakewood to see the Blueclaws play, which was more fun than you’d think given the 90+ degree weather. And Saturday, we spent a long time at Dan’s old apartment so he could pack and so we could (blissfully) just sit and watch a movie. Sunday was the day I finally unpacked more, and the day that allowed me to finally feel like we’re settling in.

(my parents surprised me with a giant bunch of birthday balloons. when was the last time you had balloons? they are SO fun.)

Now that I’m back at work, people keep asking “how’s the new apartment?” and “how was the move?” and all I can come up with is that it was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTING. Amazing, frustrating, stressful, fun, and oh yeah, our birthdays were in there too, but just so exhausting. I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally just full. And a bit overwhelmed. But now it’s Tuesday night, and I’m typing this while sitting on my new couch next to my red striped and yellow striped throw pillows while watching a baseball game, and I’m finally starting to feel like this is really, really, really good. But I’m also glad to be getting back to normal life. Because enough with the Big Stuff for a while, right?

Almost four years ago, I was in a car accident. A very, very scary one. The kind where you hear screaming and don’t realize that it’s you until a few moments have passed. It took a long time to get past it in the months that followed. My beloved car was totaled, but it kept me safe when I might have been very seriously injured. The entire driver’s side was crushed, glass broken, roof buckled. I never posted the photos online for a few reasons, most of which that my mom and sister were NOT interested in seeing them. I’ve hidden the photo in my flickr archives if you’re curious. (I will always be loyal to Subaru, because that car saved my life. Full stop.) It was traumatic; while I moved on with life and healed on the outside, I could still hear the crash in my head every time there was a loud noise. Commercials made me teary. I got very superstitious about driving through stop signs, and my driving became even more cautious than ever.

But life went on. You get over things, the shock fades in time.

Except almost two years after the car accident, just when things were fading in a way that they didn’t really bother me so much, I got notification that the person who hit me was suing me.

The details aren’t important, except that during the nearly two years since then, this has been a huge stress in the back of my mind, one I couldn’t really talk about and most certainly didn’t want to think about. I didn’t want to describe, in detail, the events of that afternoon. I didn’t want to try to remember conversations or the ticket I got in the mail afterwards, the one that I just paid online because I couldn’t imagine going to traffic court when I didn’t have a car or the money for a new one… but I also couldn’t have imagined how that one ticket would come back to bite me quite so thoroughly.

It was paperwork and bewilderment, and realizing that there are aspects of the legal system that just seem so UNFAIR.

Months went by. A deposition was scheduled. I fretted about it. I lived through it. (And was impressed with myself at how I got through it.) I went to the beach that day and found so much solace in the dark clouds.

so many tears of frustration that day, but all I could think about was getting to the beach. I felt so much better.

A few months ago, I came home to a letter that the case was going to trial in early June. And I ruined another pillowcase with mascara tears. It got complicated. I worried. I was preoccupied. I sat in jury duty for three days trying to imagine testifying about this, being cross-examined again, in court, for real. And I crossed my fingers REALLY HARD.

Anyone who I’ve talked to at all in the last few months knows how much this has been hanging over my head. Well, I’m here to tell you, jubilantly, that the case finally settled. SETTLED. It’s over. Could I talk your ear off with my (bitter) opinions of the whole situation? Most certainly. Does it matter, because it’s over? Nope. It’s all done. And it’s about damn time.

well-earned celebratory black and tans

I have a history of buying myself jewelry to commemorate getting through difficult situations. I’m sure some of you think I’m making a big deal out of something small, but let me tell you, that crash was not small, and the impact on the rest of my life has not been small either. Going through something like this changes how you look at life. And it has shown me that I am so much stronger than I knew. So I bought myself some jewelry because HOLY HELL it’s over. And I never have to think about that snowy afternoon in December again.

because pretty is a damn good reward

Way back in the beginning of the year, I was looking at my schedule for the late winter and early spring, and decided that I would probably need a break around the middle of April. So I requested a full week off, randomly, without any plans, just because I had a feeling I would need it. That week was last week, and I am still awfully proud of my foresight. Because I REALLY needed a week off.

So I packed my week off to the gills with super fun stuff, and while I’m a little sleepy on Monday morning, a few hours before I go back to work, it’s the best kind of sleepy.

I started out by spending a day with Dan and his friends Jon and Teresa, and their one year old son. We ate amazing Mexican food (even though the in-house smokers left us smelling like a campfire for days) and watched bits of documentaries and mostly just relaxed. And ate cupcakes. As we were driving home, Dan and I couldn’t quite figure out why we don’t see them more often, and resolved to make it happen WAY more often.

Monday was a day spent with my sister, doing sister bonding things like getting manicures and pedicures, wandering around Urban Outfitters, sharing a cupcake, and then drinking beers before we met up with her boyfriend and our brother for dinner. And again, why don’t we do this more often?

On Tuesday, I got a few things done around my apartment before getting out the rainboots for a potentially rainy afternoon wandering around Princeton with Kasia. The rain seemed to understand our goals for the day – it rained long enough for lengthy trips to Paper Source (where I bought way too many things, but most notably a stamp that looks like a camera) and a totally adorable toy store full of both nostalgic old timey toys and super impressive science kits and remote-controlled bugs and such. Then the rain abated so that we could walk around campus a bit before an extremely tasty and beer-filled dinner at Triumph (where I had a beer sampler to work toward that last item on my 30 Before 30 list)! I could have sat for hours there, but the cupcakes were calling all the way from Bent Spoon, and they never, ever disappoint. Other than Sugar Sweet Sunshine in the city, Bent Spoon cupcakes might be my favorite cupcakes ever. They’re deceptively simple, but always, always delicious.

I did some laundry and had lunch with my mom on Wednesday morning, and then she dropped me off at the train station so I could go into New York City, first to wander around and finally see the New York Public Library’s main branch, a Mets clubhouse store, and Grand Central Station before meeting up with Jodi. She wanted to take me to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Co Ba, and had been raving about this one dish for days.. and she was not wrong, because I am still dreaming about that bowl of noodles. Seriously. We spent far too long in Anthropologie (where I bought a bowl with holes in it, a new e, and another notebook), found cupcakes at Billy’s Bakery, and then had a drink at an on-purpose trashy bar that I can’t remember the name of. But it was so, so fun. I still find it interesting that I can talk for hours with people who, let’s face it, started out as “internet friends” but who have swiftly transitioned to real, true friends.

Thursday was my one unscheduled day, which meant that I kept way, way too busy for any relaxing to take place. I cleaned my apartment, went to Target, got my bangs trimmed, took care of a few crafty details around the apartment, and a whole bunch of other things that I can’t even remember now. I also ate the extra Bent Spoon cupcake that I had been saving. But then my sister came over and we got pizza, garlic knots, and ice cream and sat and talked while watching a silly girly movie. And while perhaps my belly was starting to object to all of the eating I’d been doing all week, it didn’t stop me, either.

Friday was another adventure – I drove up to Connecticut to hang out with Cynthia (and Joel and baby J) for the day. Somehow, I expected the trip to take much, much longer than it did, and knowing that it’s closer than I thought is a great revelation. Cynthia was worried about having a plan, but I was pretty sure we could just sit on the couch drinking tea (and eating more cupcakes and brownies and cookies) and talking most of the day. We did wander around Target, and I got to eat some seriously good New Haven brick oven pizza (or, apizza? I am still confused by that part).

So my week off was awfully busy, but I feel re-energized by all of the good times with great people. And the cupcakes. I’m not sure I’ll resolve to eat cupcakes every day for six days straight again, but it was pretty exceptional while it lasted. I can’t remember the last time I talked so much or ate so much in a week. But it was SO worth it.