You may recall my nonexistent sleep patterns or just plain lack of sleep. With Cabal no longer waking me up early, my sleep habits have dramatically improved. I am able to sleep six hours on any given night. I am working my way to 7-8 hours. My goal is to decrease cortisol levels (stress hormone) and increase natural production of human growth hormone to help with physical repair of the body from working out, etc. All in all it is to help me feel less stress and more happy. So far, so good.
Last weekend I spent with part of my Asian Mafia lunch bunch. Sharon was the designated driver for her visiting friend Michael, Kim and me. It started out with a couple of hours of sushi/sashimi/sake action followed by an unexpected stop at an Irish Bar where I had a nice cold Guinness. (Of course, the chickie did not know how to pour the thing. There IS a science to it. SIGH.) Why the stop? We were too early for the wine tasting party. Ha!
The wine tasting...Let's just say thank goddess there was food because we tasted almost two dozen wines. The hostess' home was full of people and our group was in a hurry for our next adventure of the evening. Those two combinations had us rushing through the blind taste test. There was no swishing, sniffing or ooh'ing/aah'ing. Either you liked it or you didn't. My peeps were in a corner while I brought each wine to pour and sip for immediate judgement. Your AGOL doesn't mess around when there is a schedule to follow.
We drove miles back for Korean Karaoke after our quick exit from the wine tasting. We moved to beer and cold sake. We had so much fun singing and carrying on. The poor manager downstairs had been ready to close up until we came in. It wasn't a long stay. Kim had to be dropped off home and Sharon wanted to stop at one more bar to see what it was like inside. Those deeds done, the three of us retired to Michael's suite where he had plenty of room for us crazy girls. Get yer minds outta the gutter! There were two double beds and one pull out sofa bed. It was arranged before the evening started.
I was dressed and ready to go before my suite mates in the morning. Less than 45 minutes after, we checked out and made our way for breakfast at a very casual family restaurant. Racy jokes and innuendos were traded in between bites of pancakes, eggs and sausage. The jokes continued when there was a young gal making balloon animals for kiddies in exchange for tips. I had a flower made, but she could barely get through it from laughing with us. The rest of that Sunday seemed blah in comparison. Of course, I didn't quite remember as I slept the day away later in the afternoon.
Fast forward to today. I spent it with my cousin's daughter Kristen after picking her up from her dance class. In my attempt to expand her horizon as a "cool auntie", we had lunch at Acropolis in Ybor which is the sister restaurant to the one by me. My little dolly surprised me by mentioning she liked squid so we had their Greek version of calamari. I also asked the waiter to get a small sampling of the lamb used for the gyro sandwiches so she could try it first. Kristen liked the lamb. After fighting over the "squigglies" (tentacles), we chowed down our gyro sandwiches. It was an enjoyable dining experience with a 10-year old.
The other cool thing we get to do together is some form of art. We about badgered Tawny to let us play with her Cricut machine which can custom cut pre-programmed shapes and letters like the one below. My aunt has one which I know I will have to show her how to operate later this week.
The word love was done in white vellum and the heart in regular red cardstock. The flash wasn't on the camera and it still amazingly produced an interesting picture.
After cutting shapes, I asked Tawny if she could get her beads out and show Kristen how to layout/design her own necklace and have her thread it herself. Twenty minutes later a new souvenir from our outing was hanging around Kristen's neck. How she loves creating art! The little minx is also realizing through conversations that I have boxes and bins of art supplies in my apartment so I guess I will have to let her play with my stuff during our next outing. I've got until early May.
At this very moment I feel that the world is my oyster. I have a clean slate. No attachments and no immediate worries. No, I am not getting a puppy anytime soon despite begging from an adorable 10-year old girl. Let's just see what I can find around the corner now that I have more freedom to plan and to truly play again.
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