The Week ends the Week begins

He wakes up in the morning
Does his teeth bite to eat and he's rolling
Never changes a thing
The week ends the week begins- Ants Marching: Dave Matthews Band

I've been listening to a lot of Dave Matthews Band lately... it seems to help with a bit of the sanity issue, and Ants Marching has been running through my head all day, probably because it mirrors my own life right now.It’s finally the crazy season at work, meaning weekends are booked, I'm running from meeting to meeting, and I’m lucky if I get home before its dark outside. I’m perfectly ok with all of this since I do get really great commission from all of my summer functions, but there are days it is easier than others. I’m currently on day 7 of an 18 day work stretch, and I just cussed out my neighbors dogs… clearly something is taking a bit of a toll. I love the summer time, but its weeks like these where the days blur together, the work week technically resets, but the hours feel like they are still accumulating (have I worked 51 hours this week or 70? Its hard to say.) Do not pass a weekend, do not collect days off, go directly to work and wait 2 weeks, or have a nervous breakdown and take a personal day, whichever comes first.  (kidding). It’s the kind of week where everything is scheduled, my workouts, my meals, my blogging time, sleeping… there is almost no room for spontaneity… which is a little sad. The best thing about summer is spontaneity. Hopefully I’ll be able to grab some, even if its only for 15 minutes here and there.   ("Take these chances, place them in a box until a quieter time")

I spent a good portion of my last day off doing some meal planning for this week. I made salad dressings, washed lettuce, stocked up on vegetable (and coffee). Because when life gets this busy its hard to eat healthy. There were some days this week I ended up with drive through burritos, and others with jam sandwiches (but hey the jam was home-made…) but by the time the weekend hit, I had lost all motivation for packed lunches and healthy options. And apparently today I lost all motivation whatsoever, because when I left work today tired, grouchy and totally famished. I worked through lunch, had meetings all afternoon, and an evening event. My less than inspired container of quinoa sat alone in the fridge, untouched all day. My snacks throughout the day consisted of croutons and Diet Coke… This is of course terrible, because when work sucks the life out of you, it’s pretty important to eat a normal meal, and not just a handful of toasty bread here and there. So  I stopped at the store on my way home in search of my sanity, and some inspiration… I think I found both. I impulse bought an Elle magazine, but I also came away with a bag of Parmesan cheese and a plan to make Pesto.  

After I yelled at the neighbor dogs --they are super mean, and terrorize Toby endlessly , and they were being awful… I didn’t just come home and take out my Hanger (hungry anger) on them--  I turned on Pandora, got out the cuisinart, poured myself a glass of rosé and made a giant vat of pesto. Pasta wasn’t on the planned menus, but it was delicious, and satisfying and everything I needed after a long day. We harvested ton of basil from the garden this weekend, and it was desperately needing to get used... and when life gives you copious amounts of basil, obviously the only sensible thing to do is make pesto.

I never follow a recipe for pesto (the cheesy voice in my head just said “I just follow my heart”).  I think the best recipes are often ones you just throw together. My roommate is out in the wilderness for a few days, and she left a bunch of kale in the Fridge, I added that in for a little extra oomph and greenness.  4-5 cloves of garlic, handful after handful of basil, a sprinkling of pine nuts, salt, pepper, agave nectar, and a generous generous helping of grassy olive oil, and of course some parmesan cheese  blended together into a sauce of goodness.  I’m quite sure the best (and at this point, maybe the only) perk of being single is that I can eat as much damn garlicky pesto as I want. The roommate is gone, the bulldog doesn’t care, and my belly is full of delicious pasta… never mind if the garlic is coming out of my pores. Over-share?… probably. Delicious?... Definitely.