This year, I am grounded from travel for the next few months, and so decided to do a staycation at home. However, being in the house for 3 days not doing much would be boring. So I planned to do few things to keep me busy and entertained, but also kept a lot of time for relaxation.
I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the way the weekend turned out.
It started with me leaving work a little early on Friday afternoon, and heading straight to Borders. I could spend hours in a bookstore, and these days spending time there relaxes me a lot. I picked up a few magazines and spent time reading them for few hours. I also had company of my good friend A and we chatted about various things in between our reading. After that, I felt like watching a movie, and my friend A said he had a movie that he had rented from the library that we could watch. Both of us had talked about watching "Tuesdays with Morrie" a while ago....and that's the movie he had rented from the library.
After having dinner at home, we watched the movie. I absolutely loved it. I have read the book, and had heard a lot about the movie as well. I must say it lived up to its expectations. I will not say much except that if you get a chance, do watch it.
Saturday morning was beautiful - bright and sunny. I woke up early but then decided to stay in bed a little longer to get enough rest. I then had a light breakfast, did my yoga exercise, and cooked lunch. I spoke on Skype video chat to a friend's family back in UK - it was wonderful as we saw each other for the first time face-to-face and we also showed each other our homes via video camera. We had lunch, got ready and headed out to spend the evening at Lake Natoma with few friends. It was a lovely evening out there....I love being at that lake and each visit to Lake Natoma fills me with energy as well as relaxes me. We took bread to feed the geese, and spent some quality time with the birds. Here's a picture of me feeding the geese :).
\The NCAA National Womens Rowing Championships were ongoing at Lake Natoma, so we scouted out the arrangements to come back on Sunday morning for the finals.
After that, we went to a friends place to hang out and had dinner with them. I had a blast playing with their 2 year daughter P and was thrilled when I got a chance to feed her dinner. I have a lot of friends whose kids enjoy being fed their meals by me, and I feel so content and blessed to be able to cherish these moments with them. Very few things in life come even close to this feeling.
We then headed home in a hurry as we were hosting a poker night at our home. Our friends arrived on time, we all chatted a bit, and then played poker until 1am in the morning. It was a blast, just as usual :).
I could not sleep in till late on Sunday morning, so just woke up early and chatted with my mother-in-law and uncle in India. It's always fun to talk to relatives back home....they lead such a different life from us and sharing everything with them is fun.
I then got ready and went to Lake Natoma again to watch the finals of the rowing championship. The entry fee plus parking to get into the event was outrageous, so we found a spot across the lake which was free, on a hill, from where we got a clear view of the competition. We enjoyed the last 3 races from out there, and then headed to our favorite joint sunflower-drive-in to enjoy delicious nut-burgers with fresh squeezed carrot juice for lunch. Here is a shot of a bird at the lunch place :).
I met an old friend S, her hubby and her 17-month old son there. It was fun to catch up with her for few mins, and getting a glimpse of her son who was napping in the car. I had not met them since the baby was born, as they moved out of town....so it was good to see him.
We then finished groceries at Trader Joe's and the Indian store and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening at home. I did some writing, some reading, watched some telly, and relaxed. Right before sunset, we drove to Folsom Lake Marina, and reached just in time to watch an amazing sunset which lit the sky up in spectacular colours. This is becoming my favorite things to do after moving into our new home, and makes me LOVE my small town so much. Here's a picture :).
Memorial Day Monday was mostly spent at home...cooking lunch and dinner, doing laundry, hubby spending time in the backyard, and shopping for few home improvement items, which included buying a fan for mom-dad's room and its installation.
I usually don't like to stay home on long weekends. I get bored. And since I love to travel, I just get an itch to plan a trip and head out. It was wonderful to spend this long weekend at home and enjoy the staycation - we got an opportunity to explore local events, meet few friends, enjoy the sunsets, watch movies, relish home-cooked meals, relax and rejuvenate.
Hope you all had a lovely Memorial Weekend as well!
