Brrrr

Enjoyable parts of my weekend:

• it is Sunday night, and yet I have one more day off of work. And I got all my errands done yesterday and today, so tomorrow I can be lazy.

• my friend Becky and I went to see 27 Dresses, which was cute. Definitely girly, but a fun and sweet movie.

• I bought some really pretty pink and yellow tulips to remind myself that spring will come.

• the usual good time hanging out with John and Seamus. So far this weekend we have covered nutrition, affirmative action and nature vs. nurture, the lameness of that movie The Terminal (fine actors, poorly written), and the awesomeness of a good belly rub (with Seamus). Oh, and John would like the world to know that the phrase is “the devil is in the details” not “God is in the details.” Tomorrow I will probably get my ass kicked at chess, but I will have fun doing it.

• two good workouts in a row, although no running.

That which I have not enjoyed:

• it is insanely cold here. I know I bitch about winter all the time, but this is ridiculous cold for DC. Tonight, to walk Seamus I wore jeans, an insulated shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a full length heavy wool coat and scarf, a padded running cap with ear flaps, socks, winter boots and gloves. And I was still cold! Even Seamus (in his sweater) was like “hey, I know – let’s not stay outside for very long.” I am very fortunate to have been born in the time of central heating, or I would have spent a chunk of my life as a miserable human being.

• waking up at 4:30 am for no apparent reason, and then not being able to get back to sleep for an hour.

• taking down the Christmas tree. Yes, I know it is mid-January. Whatever. It’s nice having a tree in the house. I broke a brand new ornament that I really liked, and then came this close to chucking the tree with the lights still on it, declaring “LED lights are more environmentally friendly anyway. We should just get those.” I don’t know how the hell we did this, but the light strands were practically braided on to that damn tree. I eventually prevailed, but it took forever and now my hands are covered in scratches.

• I failed at making bread again. I don’t understand why my bread always sucks. I’m good at baking just about everything else, but my bread is reliably craptacular.

Now, that may sound like the most boring weekend ever, but I like my life just the way it is. I got to thinking about that after having an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers on Friday. We’d made an emergency run to Starbucks in the afternoon, which I never do, but I was really tired and I had a lot to accomplish before the weekend. I suppose that caffeine may have been why I woke up at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday, but I’m doubtful. I didn’t have any trouble falling asleep, just staying asleep. Anyway, the barista had numerous tattoos and piercings, and my co-worker asked me if I ever wished I could do stuff like that, to which I replied, “I would dye my hair blue in a second if I could.” Which led to a discussion of being a non-conformist in a corporate universe, and how that doesn’t have to be a square peg/round hole type of experience (although in my particular company, it does exclude the possibility of blue hair). I know that friends I had when I was younger would look at the life I have now and sneer at it.

I have a mainstream job and career ambitions and a townhouse in the outer suburbs. I don’t live in a cool loft somewhere, publishing my own magazine while hanging out in art galleries and traveling to LA, London and Paris on a regular basis – or whatever the alternative, punky version of “keepin’ it real” is. My brother likes to tease me and call me a yuppie. I’m not a yuppie, but I have to admit, I never saw myself being the one of my friends who ended up going the corporate route, and even more, liking it and being good at it. But here I am. And I’m happy, and still a creative, non-conformist person even without blue hair, tattoos or multiple piercings. So, even including Christmas tree scratches, botched bread making attempts and single digit wind-chills, I’ll take my life just as it is.