Thank goodness yesterday was Thursday

Thursdays are one of my top three favorite days of the week.

In college, Thursday meant the end of the school week, for all practical purposes. As many semesters as scheduling permitted, I had no Friday classes at all, making Thursdays all the more satisfying.

In the real world, and specifically in our apartment, Thursday is the elected day of relief. Relief because another week of work is almost over, weekend plans are in the works, because Friday is tomorrow and because most importantly, it is pizza night. Work is always manageable on the fourth weekday, and there's so much great DVR'ed TV to go home to.

Yesterday I went to the gym after work (it is May/swimsuit season, after all), dropped off my things at home and went to get a manicure and pedicure. Not a weekly indulgence, but every time I get my nails done I can't help but think "I should do this more often". It's a quick and fairly inexpensive way to simultaneously relax, get your feet massaged and leave more put-together than you came in. Totally brill.

While sitting in the window at the salon, hands and feet drying under fans, I couldn't help but notice an alarming trend. Directly across the street from the nail place was a Crocs store. That's right- an entire store devoted to hideous footwear (unless of course you are four years old and everything you wear is cute). Inside the Crocs store, I counted no less than a dozen patrons browsing the neon selection. I also had to wonder at the fact that enough people buy them as to substantiate an entire store, in Manhattan no less.

No offense if you own any- I never got on the Choco's bandwagon either. I remember going to work at a camp after my freshman year of college and thinking everyone was crazy for paying upwards of $75-$100 for those things. Guys wearing sandals is always a little tricky in general, but I even openly questioned the girls who sported them. There is no reason that "practical" should have to mean "ugly".

Anyway, back to the greatness that is Thursday.

I left the salon, which is always a tricky maneuver because when you get your nails done you touch everything and walk like you're investigating a crime scene. To add to the dysfunction, it had dropped about 15 degrees and was raining when I walked outside again. To paint a picture: 50 degrees, dark, raining, Nike shorts, long-sleeved t-shirt, toe separators, flip-flops, umbrella in one hand, cell in the other.

I called AV, who was at the post office, and we met up to get pizza, which was conveniently right across the street, which is also right by our place. Done and done.

Pizza in hand (white pizza being my personal preference, regular cheese for the girls), we made it back inside at 8 PM to settle in and watch... nothing. Eastern Standard Time translates to: The Office and Grey's Anatomy both don't start until 9 PM. 9 PM! I know, that's so long to wait. We usually try to clean up a little and in the case of last night, pack, but to no avail.

As far as planning our weekend, we've already had our plans for this weekend in the works for some time now. The proximity of New England cities to one another make weekend trips inexpensive and easy to plan, which is something we have not taken advantage of until today.

This evening we leave on a Greyhound that's Rhode Island- bound to see our friend KJ, who lives in Providence. I, for one, have not been to Providence since the summer before college started, when I went with KJ to see her college campus while visiting her family at their beach house. I also recall buying a cute orange sweater set at the Gap in the Providence mall that trip, as well as legitimately fainting* in the home of one of their close family friends one morning in Connecticut the day of my first visit to New York. It also rained that day.

Great memories.

I'm told that you've never really celebrated Cinco de Mayo until you have spent it in Rhode Island... I for one, am just amazed by the sheer fact that it's May and I'm still wearing a coat.

*Another story for another time

"To the European, a Yankee is an American.
To an American, a Yankee is a New Englander..."
-Old Yankee joke