Relaxing break!

It was so nice to not have work every single day! Sleeping in until 8:30 or even 9:30 (when my body woke up on it's own) felt amazing! I only worked a total of 3 hours the whole week!! I can't remember the last time that happened, probably around Christmas time which really isn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like it. I was social and got coffee and caught up with friends which was probably the most important part of break for me. I find and make time during my busy schedule to see friends and "be around" other people, but that doesn't mean that I'm actually finding out what is going on in their lives and truly connecting with them. Over break I was able to do that with a handful of people that mean a lot to me.

I also spent a long weekend at my parents place in NJ. This was partly just to get away, but it was also partly to see my parents. During college I went months at a time between seeing them and it never really phased me but I knew it was hard for my parents, but at that point they still had my brother at home. Right after college I lived with my parents for a year which was stressful for everyone and it reminded me so much of high school that I thought it would take quite a while for me to miss them. Since they've moved and been away from my brother and I it's been harder on them, especially my Mom. And I've realized that they are very supportive and I really do appreciate it, it's just easier from a distance! So I drove the 6 hours down and got in around dinner time. My Dad was out of town most of the weekend so I had a lot of girl time with Mom. We had dinner and ran a few errands. My Mom works in a local kindergarten classroom in the afternoons and Friday was pajama day so I went in and helped out. We all got to wear our pajamas and eat pizza and popcorn and watch a video. It was really funny to work with kindergartners. I'm used to high school kids and older elementary students, so working with such little students was definitely an adjustment. They were super cute though. They just thought it was crazy that their teacher had a daughter who was also a teacher! That night we drove to Delaware to see my grandparents. They just moved into an apartment there from Arizona so that they would be closer to all of us on the east coast. I hadn't seen them since August so it was nice to have dinner with them and catch up. On Saturday Mom and I had a lazy morning just making breakfast together and relaxing. Then we went to the outlet mall and found some great deals! I found some great dress clothes for work for both now and spring/summer. Mom found work clothes and stuff to relax in on the weekends. She also found an awesome deal on kitchen stuff she had been looking for. Sunday morning my Dad got home so we all had brunch together and talked for a bit and caught up. It was nice to see him, I wish he had been there the whole weekend but he had to travel for work and I didn't decide to come down until the week before so there wasn't too much that could be done. I left their place around 1 and drove home. It was a quick trip but definitely worth it.

This past week has been busy as usual. I started the week off by going to see a movie with friends after work, which meant that I didn't get home until 10:45 and didn't go to bed until 11:45 (because I hadn't eaten dinner before the movie). Starting the week on only 5 1/2 hours of sleep probably wasn't the best idea but seeing friends was good. The rest of the week was pretty normal. I only worked a total of 43 hours and somehow managed to get the weekend off without requesting it off! It's like I'm a semi-normal adult, I just had to work 3 jobs to do that and get lucky by chance! Next week will be harder. Right now I'm scheduled for 51 hours not to mention trying to get homework done and tutor another student for at least an hour in there somewhere. Plus if I'm lucky I'll get to be social, or at least see another human being that isn't a student or coworker in there somewhere.

This weekend is looking pretty promising. I'm planning to get my homework done today if possible, at least most of it. Then tomorrow night I'm making bbq meatballs and chicken wing dip and having people over for dinner and board games. A lot of people are out of town so we'll see how it goes but I had to take advantage of the fact that I actually have time off. Plus I want to try this meatball recipe. I'll post the recipes in my next post along with details of how they turn out.