Lazy Weekend

So next up should be our camping trip post, but I'm going to put that off a little bit longer :)  However, I don't want that to delay the posting of my favorite photo from the camping trip.  I took this with my little sony pocket-sized not-fancy camera!  The dunes, sand, sky, clouds, sun, & moon were gorgeous on the camping trip.

Dunes at our campsite in the "Empty Quarter" of Abu Dhabi

This weekend we had a really nice, relaxing weekend.  I honestly can't remember the last time that we didn't have anything planned for the weekend.  It was AMAZING!  I really didn't realize how burnt out I was in terms of constant activities & plans.  But Paul knew he was worn out and put his foot down a couple of weeks ago and banned me from planning any more weekend activities for at least a month or so without his prior direct agreement [although this might exclude his birthday :)].  I really think that the last time we just relaxed on a weekend was maybe early December?--even then we were preparing for my family to come out.  I think a big part of this was that N & M went on a trip this week (they're on spring break)--and M is basically our group planner.  So without her around prompting us to plan activities, nothing was planned.


We did however end up meeting up with J & N (J works with Paul) and their 3 mth old for sushi on Friday night.  Wow have I missed sushi!  We met up with J & N at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club which is just 5 mins from our apartment on Friday night.  We ended up ordering this "sampler" type dish which had 4 or 5 different types of rolls on it--for a total of 12 pieces.  It was perfect.  Possibly the best sushi I've ever had.  Paul  and I decided that we might have to make this a monthly affair.

Finally, I had a very self-proud moment yesterday.  M had texted me a couple of weeks ago asking if I was any good at "psychics"--I told her that if she meant "physics" then yeah, I could probably handle it.  Well a friend of the girl she tutors wanted help in her high school physics.  I talked with her a little and agreed that she needed to talk to her parents to make sure they were ok with it and that we should meet some time to look over her textbook to make sure I knew what she was studying.  Well, that day came today.  But I didn't go.  I called her yesterday and told her that I wouldn't be able to make the commitment.  It was so freeing!  While it would have been nice to have the extra money (they pay tutors really well out here), I just decided that it really wasn't worth having a whole weeknight committed every week.  First, I just told myself that I'd make do since it was only until the end of the semester.  But the more I thought about it, I realized that it would probably just stress me out and the person that would have to bear the main grunt of that would be my wonderful hubby.  And that the main reason why I didn't want to back out was because I was afraid that the girl & her parents would be upset/disappointed.  And then it dawned on me.  I've never met this girl or her parents, and if I don't tutor her, I never will.  On the other hand, Paul is not only my husband but my best friend.  Why am I more concerned about how someone I never knew will react to my decision than the impacts the decision will have on the relationship with Paul?

It was a freeing and empowering experience to just call her and say I couldn't do it.  I'm not sure I would have done that a year or two ago.

So to summarize our lazy weekend and my empowering moment, here is a quote from one of the blogs that I (used to) follow:

"I have discovered that [...] where I’m going doesn’t seem to matter so much as where I am"