A pretty darned near-perfect weekend

Slowly, but surely, I am doing my best to try (key word – TRY) to achieve a balance in my life. The simple fact of the matter is, there are far too many fun things to do and too many great people out there to experience all that life has to offer. And just like with an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet, one can only fill up on so much. Will it be on just cheesecake alone, or with a bite of cheesecake, a taste of brownie, etc., etc?

 

Friday proved to be the most challenging part of the entire weekend. Mid-afternoon, I was just ready to crash out entirely. But, but, but, I had big plans for the evening – I can’t give in to being tired! Tired is for old-people, and I’m still 25, right? (WORK WITH ME, PEOPLE!) So with enough caffeine in my system to kill a cow and pure Portuguese stubbornness, I began to tackle the weekend hurdles with the obstinate determination of a… a… of a determined obstinate thing.

 

I hit the gym, making the stair-stepper my personal beeyotch. Now personally speaking, I hate the stair-stepper… HATE IT! But that is exactly why I use that particular equipment – it just wrecks me. But with a good cardio mix on the ipod, 20 minutes of huff n’ puff goes by in… well… 20 minutes. But it doesn’t feel TOO bad. So with exercise out of the way, it was now time to dance! So having freshly showered, I got my boots on, cowboyed up, and headed over to the local C/W bar for some line-dance. Happy camper that I was, they played a great mix of things that I knew, and I found myself on the floor… a LOT… Enough excitement yet? Oh no. Now it was time to head up to L.A. to meet up with the boys at one of the gay bars up yonder. More booze, great guys, does it get any better? Oh, but yes. Add on one rather unexpected treat – the performance of a woman drag-queen. I don’t think my good sense kicked in until roughly 2:30am, as I crawled into bed feeling the aches and pains of an intense day. “What the heck are you THINKING?!” my good sense asked me. “You ain’t a spring chicken anymore! Do you even think about…” But then my general override kicked in with a loud “SHADDDAP!” to the soul, shortly before passing out.

 

Saturday morning (or later on in the morning, I should say), I switched roles entirely turning into Dom Domestic. Having cleaned up a bit around the house, and doing dinner prep, I found myself in the back yard on a ladder picking peaches. And with those and other to do’s out of the way, I headed up to Pasadena to meet up with friends, do brunch, and then do my annual September activity – olive picking. Once again, up on a ladder, I began stripping branches of their wonderful fruit waiting for the somewhat overworked-process of curing, brining, and flavoring. (Note to self – make time this week to actually get that done!) Getting home from Pasadena with a full belly from a splendid brunch, and a bucket full of olives, I had JUST enough time for a power nap before getting up to finish dinner preps for some friends who were in town. Again, another fanTABulous night with fun people and if I do say so myself, really good food.

 

Ah Sunday. The day of rest. Well… maybe for God, but not for me. Off to the gym! With a killer cardio-routine out of the way (and the throbbing abs to prove it), the rest of the day involved some gardening, some cooking, and ART! I had put this project off long enough, it was time to begin working on painting a wood panel, a la 14^th century style. (Gulp!) So far, so good! Life is splendiferous!

 

Ah… balance. Not something I am particularly good at. But, I’m tryin’.