Week(end) spot

Lazy days of summer.

I'm not exactly sure who coined that phrase but I'd like to meet him. Mostly, so I can tell him he's a liar.

Our summer has been anything but lazy - traveling, training, BODYPUMP certification, Miles' birthday and generally fulfilling life's obligations has left our summer weekends full and exhausting. I felt so out of sorts as August rolled in that if someone offered me a free trip, I might have turned it down. Well, unless it was by myself and involved seeing my best girlfriend.

The start of the school year, always the unofficial end to summer, has seemed to bring a close to the non-stop social engagements. For the past few weeks, Mark and I have found ourselves with pockets of leisure time. I finally made it to the farmers market and had the chance to catch up with girlfriends.

We've been to the zoo, maximizing our membership, and wandered the aisles of Target with no time constrictions or worry. It was like we didn't have a care in the world only to find out what that really feels like this weekend.

My in-laws are kind enough to take Miles, overnight, one evening a month. Mark and I asked to cash in our August "voucher" on Saturday so that we could go to Taste of the Arts. It seemed like the kind of event we always talk about going to but never actually attend. There was live music, art displays and more than 30 food vendors offering tasting-size treats.

None of which I tasted. Because it was 900 degrees. I'm all about the arts and definitely about the tasting but neither Mark nor I thought we'd have a lot of fun trying tamales with sweat dripping down our backs. I'd save that for my long run. The sweat - not the tamales.

Instead, we found ourselves at a nearby bar (where no one knew our name), ordering burgers and downing fried pickles. I was a bit bummed that we didn't do the cool thing but this place had the best burger. It was on a pretzel bun, which was soft and chewy, and it was juicy and flavorful.

We finished up dinner at, oh, 6:30. Yeah, a night without baby doesn't mean you suddenly adopt a more respectable dinner hour. We figured that we could grab a redbox and still get me to bed on time.

Here's the thing about redox, though. No matter what you do - whether you reserve online or go to one in the middle of nowhere - you will have to wait at least five minutes as two people who have no idea what movie they want to see suddenly decide to select five. I became rather agitated and insisted that Mark take pictures of me until it was our turn. The photos were unremarkable but they did show off my $1 Gap shorts.

Just another good thing to happen this weekend.

How was your weekend?