After a nice weekend of fun filled activities there is nothing that i love more than a Monday night at home. Granted this works primarily because I live by myself but I think anyone is capable of experiencing a purely blissful Monday. Every day seems to always have something going on at night but rarely on a Monday.
Mondays are so unassuming, so delightfully bland, so generic yet so tranquil....if you look at it that way. Some people love Sundays best but I think on Sundays you get the Sunday blues because the work week starts...Tuesdays are whatever, Wednesday is hump day, Thursday is the beginning of the weekend, then there is typical Friday, awesome Saturday, and lazy Sunday. And then......... my glorious Monday.
'The Routine'
Wake up ready up to conquer the week (granted this is to be read with a grain of salt, if you are a negative person, there is nothing I can say to make you look at Monday any better). Monday mornings I attempt to wake up early to pick up around the house the disaster left off from the weekend. The work day may have its ups and downs but that's exactly what can make coming home so pleasant.
Come home around 6pm. Defrost 'the chicken' (I put this in quotations to give it emphasis/the only thing i know how to cook is chicken and I only cook on mondays). Off go the work clothes and on comes la bata-de-casa. I make sure the conditions are right; air temperature at 74 degrees, cold glass of water, windows open to observe the fading vanilla sky.
I sink into my couch and watch the local news at 6pm and World news at 6:30pm. I have been watching ABC World News since I was a child. It was my dad's only rule "I don't care if you clean your room, I don't care if you eat your vegetables, I care that you know what is going on in your World."
So, I would watch ABC World News (before with Peter Jennings now with Diana Sawyer (I miss Peter) during dinner time with the family, and then of course, my one hour gossip slot of E! News. Hey, life is about balance.
I've stopped watching gossip news though. This is primarily due to the fact I dont have cable and refuse to get it because I only watch TV for a total of 2 hours a week and I'm very satisfied with my ABC, NBC, CBS. I get Modern Family and ABC World News ...ill miss you, Conan.
At 7pm I automatically change into my workout clothes. The 2 minutes after World News is crucial to my work out. If I don't jump up and automatically put on my gym clothes and sneakers I may wait another 30 min which then leads to an hour which then leads to no work out at all (ladies, we know this epidemic all too well). So I must jump to it before its a lost cause.
Here come my favorite moments....
I recently had to delete over 500 songs on my ipod just to add 10 new ones I bought. Super smart. Apparently New Computer+ New Itunes= massive deletion of any songs on existing ipod. Why I have not figured out the loop hole to this I do not know. Anywho, recently before my workouts Ive been allowing myself to buy 3 new songs so this portion really excites me. Sometimes I go to power96.com to look up the 'traffic jam mix' palyed on my drive home and get my pickings from there. Yes, im gangster like that.
I loop my key through my shoelace and I'm out the door.
......... Perfection............
There is nothing better than a good run outdoors. I used to get insecure about running in such public places because Ive always been made fun of for the way I walk/Run (my duck strut) but with my ipod ghetto music im unstoppable. Ive finally had my Rachel-like revelation such as that time she went running with Phoebe (if you know what Im talking about i love you..if you dont, watch FRIENDS, geez.)
Once im done running i put my blog-like music to unwind and do my duck strut all the way down again the avenue and back again. This is beyond therapeutic...it clears my mind, i envision the week ahead of me and plan out lil things id like to do for myself, i.e.: I signed up for tennis lessons! I start next Monday.
Come home, check 'the chicken', and take a shower followed by the ultimate face routine: Dr. Perricone's MD Prescription for Youthful Skin Regimen. LADIES, invest. This stuff is miraculous and makes you feel like a million bucks. I was also recently suckered into purchasing the Clarisonic Opal but its one of the best investments ive made. Theres nothing like good skin, we need to take care of it and sometimes you just have to splurge and overindulge in products that are really that good. (no this was not paid for by Dr Perricone, I'm just that much of a fan). That followed by the Victorias Secret vanilla body milk and your set to go.
Dinner time comes and goes. I wont write anything about this because it really isn't that great. My chicken is bland and the salad is lame but whatever, i kinda feel healthy after it so that's its ONE perk. On Mondays I watch The Bachelor (yes, guilty as charged.)
Once The Bachelor comes off the blog playlist comes on yet again, the 'perfect lighting' is lit and the book comes out (teeth brushed and flossed prior, duh). If you have the temperature just right and your cold glass of water next to you and perfect lighting, I think you may hit Nirvana.
Im reading Brain Rules by John Medina. Its beyond intriguing and mentally stimulating and ofcourse, educational. Any other good book will do though. After about 45 minutes of reading i head back into my bedroom. My bedroom, by the way, only has a bed, a nightstand and a lamp. It is for sleeping and only sleeping. When my room had a tv, books, desks, gidgets and gadgets, i couldnt sleep. Now that my room is made only for sleeping, I sleep like a baby.
I spray the lavender linen spray and within 5 minutes of getting into bed, I'm already halfway to REM.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the perfect evening.
Humans are so programmed to always have the need to do something. But sometimes you just have to relish in the beauty of routine and relaxation. Routines are not boring, they are comfortable and sometimes remedial (when not adhered to too strictly, of course). I love spontaneity in life but I also like a nice typical Monday Routine.
When I'm 45 years old and trying to put crying babies to sleep ill look back at my mid-20s routine and reminisce of the lovely days of solitary bliss, of getting to know myself, of enjoying lifes simple pleasures: a good run, and nice book, and, ofcourse, a bland 'chicken.'
Sounds like it was a good day.
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