Weekend highlights

Friday
- I weighed in at Weight Watchers before work and was happy to learn I was 1.4 lbs. down. I hadn't worked out a lot, but I was mindful of my eating.
- We hung out with Josh & Jami, our regular Friday night dates.
- I let their 3-year-old daughter play with my hair, one of her favorite activities when I'm around. It cracks me up, and I don't mind having to remind her every now and then to "be gentle," especially when she leans over and kisses the top of my head before declaring her work of art (mostly just my hair piled on my head) as "nice!"
- We had sushi take-out, which was delicious. It's hard to imagine the days (before college) when I didn't love sushi.
- We watched The Good Shepard. I fell asleep. Enough said.

Saturday
- I decided to try out Merry Maids for a deep cleaning of our condo. Brent and I do an ok job of keeping things tidy, but I thought the bathroom, in particular, could use a good scrubbing. The two folks who were here for 2 1/2 hours did a good job, but I was surprised that they didn't actually scrub our tub or shower walls. They cleaned the fixtures and the glass doors, but didn't seem to touch the other parts. The main office called after they left to see what we thought. I explained my surprise and they offered to send them back out, but it was going to be a hassle to reschedule so I let them take off some of the charges instead. I don't know if I'll be using them again. They seemed to have spent an inordinate time cleaning the blinds in our bedrooms, which was also weird to me.
- We didn't leave our place while the cleaners were here. Instead we sat outside on our communal patio. Brent and I both got a bit of a sunburn on our arms. Oops.
- Brent and I both needed new workout shoes. He needed them for running. I needed mine for, as I described to the sales guy, "Mostly for weights and cardio machines like the elliptical, but they have to be ok in case I someday decide to actually start running." I chose some cross-training ones that are quite cute and comfy.
- I also got new eyeshadow from Benefit (a la Sephora). I love the color (Get Figgy) and have never used a cream eyeshadow before. I'm excited to officially try it out tomorrow.
- We tried a new bakery that opened up in Santa Monica called Yummy Cupcakes. I should have paid more attention to the warnings from my friends who tried cupcakes from Yummy's location in the valley. The frosting was way too sweet and the cake was dry.
- We were strolling through Sur La Table when I heard someone yell out, "Hey! I know you! You're on the Knot! I've seen your pictures!" It was the cashier, who was planning her wedding around the same time as us. She recognized me from my postings on the site's message boards. She and her husband also used our photographer, Next Exit. We chatted a bit. Brent was a bit mortified.

Sunday
- We lazed around most of the day. I read a lot. Currently I'm quite into Little Earthquakes.
- We tried out our new shoes at the gym.
- After the gym we swung by Pinkberry. We were both adventurous - Brent ordered a smoothie. I ordered the shaved ice. They only offer one size. When they brought it out from the back, I heard Brent dying of laughter and a collective gasp from the yogurt shop patrons.

It was freakin' HUGE! Granted most of the cup was filled with shaved ice, it was still quite a sight. And truthfully I wasn't a big fan. I know shaved ice, as my first job ever was at a shaved ice stand. I'll stick to the regular yogurt/fruit combo.

Probably the biggest accomplishment of the weekend was that Brent and I finally decided where we're going for our big trip this year - Italy! Brent declared after visiting our favorite nearby Italian deli this weekend, "We're going to Italy. All those olive oils and pastas and cheeses at the deli sealed the deal for me." And it's the land of (some of) my people. We're soooo excited! Andif feels great to have come to a decision. We'll probably go at the end of September/early October for 7 or 8 nights. We haven't decided exactly where we're going, although we're hoping to make it to Cinque Terre.

For those of you who have visited Italy, any recommendations? What were your most/least favorite cities? Keep in mind that Brent and I appreciate history, but we're not big museum people.

"There are four kinds of business. Tourism. Food service. Railroads. And sales. And hospitals/manufacturing. And air travel." - Michael, The Office