Go me!

Yesterday was seriously the running around day from... I don't want to say hell, but it was pretty hectic, and by the time 10:30 pm rolled around, I was fast asleep on my futon, not even being able to make it through my customary episode of "Sex and the City."

Basically, the day started early, like it always does, around 7 am, and then by 9 am, I was at the gym for body pump. At 11, I was in my neighborhood again, picked up a couple of gifts, came home, made rice, cleaned the bathroom, hopped in the shower, made a shopping list and by 11:45, was on the road again. While on the road, I used my hands-free set to talk to Liz about our upcoming vacation, and at 12:20, I was at the restaurant, where I made another quick call to Florida Girl to see what she was up to. at 12:30, had lunch with some friends from the MBA program, and at 2:30 pm, was back on the road to my neighborhood again.

At 3:15, I was at my local grocery store; there were others closer by, but when I'm in a rush, I prefer my usual grocery store because I can whip through there fast and I know what they have and what they don't have. At 4 pm, I was at home, I made a quick call to the Fainter to tell her I wouldn't be able to join her on the Great House Search, and just a bit after 4, I started cooking. I made chocolate mousse, a cucumber salad, spankopita, rice salad, and mushroom soup -- all from scratch, with the exception of the mousse which I had a little help from in the form of powdered chocolate. And oh, I bought fresh mushrooms pre-sliced and washed, and bought roasted peppers instead of roasting them myself (price was comparable yesterday), but I did de-stem the spinach, instead of buying the already de-stemmed and washed bag.

I finished all the cooking, cleaning and gift wrapping by 6 pm -- the soup was still simmering on low, because it's a cream-base, it can't be boiled, so I needed to keep the burner on. At 6:01, I sat down, and watched the first inning of the Home Team meeting up with Liz's team, and then around 6:15, my company arrived. We watched more of the ball game, ate around 7:30, and then at 8:30, saw that the Home Team had won the game (finally!), and then we listened to a variety of music from Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, trying to figure out which Sarah Brightman song had been in the background during PBS' fabulous series on "The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance."

They left around 9:45, and I made a feeble, half-hearted effort to clean up, but then decided I really, really liked my futon, and so that's where I ended up camping out and eventually falling asleep. Around 11:30, I got up and went to sleep in my bedroom. I slept like a log and this morning, annoyingly, I did wake up at my usual 7 am, but I was able, with some effort, to turn around and go back to sleep until about 8:30.

Today is going to be a more relaxed day. I plan to go to the gym (pilates), and then putter around doing some things around the house, including cleaning up after yesterday's dinner. I owe a few phone calls and emails, and I need to get some writing done. Also, I'd like to finally watch the last hour of the first "Pirates of the Carribean," which has been in my DVD player since... the first week of July. I also have "Bride and Prejudice," which is Aishwarya Rai's crossover from Bollywood films. And finally, of course, the last part of the Medici series will be on tonight.