I guess the theme of this week in my life is friendship.

On Monday, I had dinner with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in 15 years.  It was fabulous.  We talked about school back in the day, we talked about college, we talked about life now.  We laughed.  A lot.  And you can’t ask for much more than that.  It was fabulous.

On Tuesday, an old neighbor stopped by, and over simply orgasmic banana chocolate chip muffins (hers are by far the best thing I’ve ever had) and glasses of milk, we caught up on life, talked about careers ~ remembered some fun times.  It was such a comforting thing, to sit in practically-pjs and just shoot the breeze.  I ate my salmon and corn & tomato salad (courtesy of my mama bear & aunt) and felt a-okay about life.

Yesterday I had a little dinner party, enjoying good conversation with my neighbors and Jeff (he who inhabited our apartment before we took residence).  Jeff and I sat under the trees late into the evening, sipping our wine and talking about life and cooking and food.  (It was Green Curry Redux, and I promise to put up my amendments, because it was, in my opinion, significantly improved).

Today subbed for WeHangsDay (J & J have a very active social calendar!) and we ate meals straight from my favorite food blog, Iowa Girl Eats.  I mean seriously, tell me one person who reads a recipe for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries and doesn’t want to make them immediately?  Or a plum, pesto & fontina panini?  Sometimes, I think my blog should be called “What Iowa Girl Eats made yesterday that I totally had to have and it overruled any creativity on my part.”  But that’s on days when I’m a little sad, and a lot exhausted, and feel a little overwhelmed.  Days like today.

The nice thing about all these friends – and all this breaking of bread- is that I really hate it when the man is gone, and it’s been nice to have people to spend time with at the end of the day.  Because after a rough day, having someone to talk to is the best medicine.

All this makes me really appreciate my bestest friend, my wonderful man, and how no one quite understands me the way he does.  Here’s to hoping he’s home soon.

Ok.  So it’s been a long week and half for me, what with my work situation being so cray cray crazy, and I haven’t cooked much of anything, because by the time I got home, I felt like a limp dishrag and all I wanted to do was curl up into my bed and sleep (which we all know from my previous post, seemed to elude me).

Tonight, I decided that I was going to make myself a nice little dinner to enjoy while reading more of my book (or watching my DVR’d episode of The Bachelorette … :)).  I decided that my craving for salmon was too overpowering to deny it, so I hit up the grocery store on my way home.

As I’ve never actually gone to a deli counter or butcher counter and gotten food for only one person, I was completely taken aback by the disdain of the grocery store clerk who managed to pull himself away from his highly trafficked deli counter area to assist lonely little me standing forlornly in front of the seafood display, looking around helplessly (or, as we restaurant folk sometimes say, rubber-necking).  Listen, I tried to look nonchalant, but when he clearly saw I was waiting and not just perusing, and after he’d assisted his only customer with everything the man could possibly need, was it necessary to make me feel as though he was doing me some huge favor of God to come put a salmon filet in a bag and slap a sticker on it?  Seriously.

Whew.  I know, I know, I should be trying to be a better person, and not dwell on the negative or that which I have no control over.  But I went in there with a smile; I asked politely.  I cannot imagine that it was a huge inconvenience to him to walk another ten feet to a different counter, but I may be wrong.  He could have a seafood phobia, a fish allergy, a general dislike of anything that breaths with gills.  I don’t know these things.  I can only hypothesize.

Either way, I am now in possession of a beautiful little piece of salmon that I have every intention of enjoying as soon as it’s done cooking.  Bon appetite to everyone out there, cooking for one!

As I sat across the table tonight from a friend I hadn’t seen in fifteen years, and we laughed for nearly three hours, I realized something.

Good friends are great, no matter how many years it’s been.

So I say, cheers to the great ladies in my life.

I woke up this morning feeling more rested than I have in quite some time.  It’s been a long week for me folks, and while the majority of the things going on are good, I have gotten significantly less sleep than I would have liked. 

I am not the kind of person who can be peppy in the morning following three hasty hours of sleep.  I am not doing jumping jacks with a wide grin while sipping coffee (I can’t actually drink coffee, which may be the problem). 

I need sleep.  Like, minimum seven solid hours of zzzzz’s.  And last night, for the first time since last Sunday, I accomplished the mission.  For everyone who has to deal with me on a regular basis, you may now heave a huge sigh of relief! 

Why have I not been sleeping, you ask?  I’m not sure, say I.  But I believe it’s a combination of anxiety about work (in a very good way, which is awesome! but it’s anxiety nonetheless), having late night Skype conversations with the man (who is 2 hours behind East Coast time, and enjoying quite the social life down in the tropics) and restlessness of being alone in my house.

See, the thing is, a few years ago, I had a really traumatizing experience, and the sandman has been much more elusive ever since.  It’s one thing to have a strong, solid man lying next to you and sleep peaceably.  It’s quite another to be all alone, in a very old house with quirky noises, and already be slightly on edge from previous nights’ lack of sleep.

My solution?

Head on down to Mama Bear and Dad’s house.  Last night I had the great fortune of enjoying a delicious summer meal prepared by my Mama Bear and lovely Aunty, as well as the company of some of their lovely friends. 

And yes, I forgot to take pictures.  I may have implied this previously, but I’ve been a tad bit on the sleepy side recently.  I can tell you that we had crabmeat on delicate leaves of perfect green lettuce, avocado salad, fresh tomatoes and tiny fresh mozzarella balls, and mango salsa.  I loaded it all on my plate, and savoured every little bite.

Following dinner, we enjoyed dessert, which included raspberries (need I say more?) and then an after dinner drink on the patio.  FYI, it was 95 degrees at 10pm.  No joke.

Finally, I retired to my room, and fell into blissful slumber (only interrupted by a good night call from the man which was short and sweet).  Ah, sleep.

I feel like a new woman!  I’m ready to take on the world … or the piles of work still sitting on my desk that needs to be done by tomorrow morning.  Either way, same difference, right?

Happy Sunday everyone ~ relax and stay cool!

Happy Friday to everyone out there whose work week is over!

My advice? Stay cool while this heat wave keeps beating us up, and do something fun tonight to relax.

Me?  I’m sitting on my uber comfy couch, with my new Daniel Silva book “Portrait of a Spy,” my new issue of “Entertainment Weekly,” a glass of cool, delicious Chardonnay, some yummy munchies made for me by the best restaurant staff in the world (obviously I’m biased ~ and 100% correct!) and I plan on watching a super girlie movie while I have the luxury!

It’s a Friday night in, ladies and gentlemen, and I plan to savour every minute!  Savour yours as well!

Til tomorrow!

I am almost literally propping my eyelids open as I write this.  Who knew that fatigue existed to this unbearable extent?  Oh wait … I’m pretty sure doctors knew ….

Tonight I was treated to another dinner, a regular WeHangsDay evening, but J & J, with twinkles in their eyes, served dried and fried plantains, in honor of the man (and more specifically, where he is).

By the time I arrived (*ahem* fashionably late … or so I told myself as I raced to get there), I was ravenous.  (I know, I know, when am I not?  “Excellent question”, says Mr. Burns).

I practically inhaled the dried plantains and tomato sauce (which I thought was salsa, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was better!), finished my burrito before either had eaten half, and then had more (yes, I know, but it was sooooo goooooood).

My delightful hosts ~ after the majority of my food was gone ~ casually asked if I took pictures of food I didn’t make.

Grrr.  Whoops.  I need more sleep!

Suffice it to say, simple is always classically perfect, and tonight, J & J served up scrumptious burrito fixins and I piled up grated cheese, garden fresh tomatoes, arugula, perfectly ripe avocado slices and juicy seasoned chicken cooked to utter perfection by Mr. J on a warm and gooey soft flour wrap …. and then housed it.  I mean, I devoured that thing as though if I stopped, it might run away or disappear.

Wish I’d savored its sweet perfection a little more ~ the flavors were so divine … not too much, not too little.  If I wasn’t stuffed to the brim (and beyond, to be honest) I’d probably be getting hungry again just thinking about it.

When my eyelids inevitably drop, I know I’ll dream about it.  It was too good not to.

And yes, I know I’m raving about a few simple ingredients wrapped together in a smorgasbord of taste in each bite … but it totally and completely hit the spot.

Yum.

PS.  Peeps, I have officially joined Twitter. (You heard it here first … unless you’re addicted to twitter and already knew … in which case, you heard it there first).   Yowza, it’s a complete inundation of soundbites and snapshots of information (in 160 characters or less, if you please) from … well … every person on the face of the planet, their dogs, chia pets, and stuffed monkeys.  Holy moly, I had no idea.  If you get the hankering, check me out @simplygwyn.  True story.

So, now that I’ve written a complete post in a state of nearly drunken fatigue, I think the only proper thing to do is get my sorry self into bed, and get some zzzzz’s.

Until tomorrow.  Buonanotte!