Sunday, late afternoon

The holidays, for all their loveliness, are not conducive to the sort of breathing room a girl sometimes needs. Regardless of the season, I suppose, you can get so caught up in planning your life that you neglect the actual living.

I didn’t realize how much I had missed days like yesterday and today, with minimal obligations and a limited “must do” list. I needed this weekend to forget the stresses that have already accumulated in 2007: spending twenty-four hours in a level of purgatory known as food poisoning, the further adventures of a game known as “The Awkward-Off,” young people who don’t know how to walk properly in public places, trying to prevent Sarah’s nose from exploding, and Nancy Pelosi getting sworn in as Speaker of the House.

So yesterday, I had quiche at a French restaurant I’d never been to before in Old Town Alexandria and went for a stroll down the avenue on a warm afternoon with my roommates. A viewing of Mansfield Park to make me sigh. Today, I watched the blue-gray clouds envelop the sky from our darkened living room. Now I'm waiting for the rain while listening to Norah Jones.

I love rain. I think it's a good omen for the new week.