Who loves weekends?

It is not a huge secret that I don't love my job.  It's totally tolerable, but when Friday afternoon rolls around, I find myself staring longingly out the window at weekend freedom.  Freedom, of course, is a relative term, since Matt and I have had our weekends packed full of activities from weddings to birthday parties to concerts and everything in between.  Still, I love weekends and try to savor every moment that I am not in the lab.

On Friday night, Matt and I decided to grab a quick bite before he headed out with friends.  We have a favorite Indian restaurant that is a short walk into town, but there is often a wait there and they go all out with their meals, so it is not a quick option.  We have been wanting to try another place that is right down the street (just another reason we love Northampton!), so last night was the night.  We split some Chicken Shahi Korma and Chicken Vindaloo with Garlic Naan and Whole Wheat Puri.

Indian food just never looks that appetizing, but it's so delicious!

The verdict was that this restaurant was decent, but will not be replacing our favorite place.  However, service was super fast, so it will be an option for nights that we need Indian and can't go to our usual place.

This morning, I had my usual wake-up call from a little grey furry alarm clock.

Meet Lulu!

We adopted Lulu from a local shelter almost two years ago.  She runs the show at our apartment. She is usually very sweet, cuddly, and tolerant of us constantly picking her up.  In the morning, though, she has an annoying habit of waking me up by licking my eye lids.  I have to hand it to her, it is extremely effective, and since her reflexes are much faster than mine at that hour, she can wake me up and run away before I get a chance to spray her with water or otherwise deter her from scraping my eye lids with her sandpaper tongue.  

So, I got an early start today.  I fed Lu and made myself some raspberry coffee.  I really love raspberry coffee, so as soon as I took a sip, I forgave Lulu for disrupting my slumber.

I only own mugs with penguins on them.

I threw a load of laundry in and decided to make some Pear Spiced Muffins.

These are the worst muffin tin liners ever.  They made my muffins a little wonky, but they still taste divine!

Pears are my favorite fruit and these muffins are amazing.  I hate raisins (I feel like I'm not supposed to hate them, but I really really do) so I omitted them.  I probably could have substituted some other dried fruit or added some walnuts, but I actually really like my muffins plain.  My Grammy Marge used to make me non-blueberry muffins when I was little ( I know, I know, what kind of crazy person doesn't like blueberries?), so I find muffins without adornment very comforting.

I did mention I'm not that great with pictures, right?

My plans for today include finishing up our laundry, bringing my car to my Mom's so Walter can give it a little tune-up, a quick trip to the mall, and tonight we are heading to the Amherst Brewing Company for our friend Chris's birthday.  I intend to have some fried pickles and enjoy time with some of my favorite people.  Happy weekending!

Today I am...

happy that: I'll be finished with laundry by 10am.

less than happy that: nothing!  It's the weekend!

daydreaming about: fried pickles.

Current reading:  Bossypants, by Tina Fey

Next up: Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Nothing yet, but maybe I'll find some sheet music this weekend.