Marvelous In M Monday: A Perfect Weekend

The hardest day of the week is almost over -- huzzah! 

Mondays are tough for me, for the obvious reason that going back to work after a lovely weekend just generally sucks, but this morning was particularly tough. Staying up late to watch the Super Bowl? Fun on Sunday night, but decidedly not fun when the alarm goes off before 6 a.m. on Monday morning.

Blergh.

Despite the painful wake-up, this morning's workout was made much easier by the fact that I decided to rent a movie to watch on my Kindle Fire while I commune with the elliptical. So, because a certain husband of mine doesn't want to watch rom-coms with his wife (but really, he's a dude's dude - who could blame him for not wanting to watch girl movies?), now that I've discovered this entertainment source I'm totally going to indulge my love of chick flicks while churning out some cardio at the gym.

First up? Pitch Perfect. It was an awesome partner to keep me company through my 45 minutes of ellpiticizing -- I'm not the least bit bored during my long stretches on the machine, and my workout went muuuuuuch faster today than it has ever before. Also, this movie is hysterical. It'll carry me through two more days of cardio, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stoked about it.

Adding to the excitement of new and awesome gym entertainment (gymtainment?), this weekend was fabulous. Before I go further into that, though, I'll take a brief interlude to thank Katie over at Healthy Diva Eats for hosting Marvelous in my Monday. To say the least, just about everything from my weekend was marvelous -- so, without further ado:

Marvelous is:

...Weekend naps. I zonked out early on Friday night -- and even after a full night of rest, I still managed to take a nap on Saturday afternoon. Now, a word on me and naps: I never take them. Like, ever. My mom reports that I started ditching naptime when I was about one year old, and that trend has continued for the last 31 years. 

Except for Saturday afternoon, which found me very much asleep. It was delicious.

I also apologize to my Mom, who endured my many napless afternoons. 

Reunions with old friends. On Saturday night we went to dinner with one of my buddies from grad school who was in town from New York. I haven't seen him in four years, and it was awesome to catch up with him and another Denver homie. I miss my grad school crew -- they were a huge part of why I loved grad school so much -- so it was fantastic to get together. 

(Seriously, though, I think we should all just live within a few blocks of each other, just like we did from 2006-2008! We'll all hang out and drink home-made margaritas/cheap boxed wine while complaining about obnoxious international political economy books and "that guy" who always asks annoying and absurdly complicated questions 30 seconds before class ends! Just like old times! IT'LL BE GREAT!)

Except with less hand-to-hand combat and more movie nights. 

Coffee and bargain hunting with a dear friend. Sunday started off with a bang when I met up with my friend Holly -- one of my favorite people here in DC -- for coffee, followed by a trip to Marshall's. 

Now, here's the thing about me and shopping: I hate regular shopping. I can't stand going to malls, and I absolutely loathe paying full price for clothes or accessories. 

However, it dawned on me this weekend that I loooooove bargian/discount shopping. Omigod, people, it's thrilling. Being able to get something I like for a reasonable price is freaking awesome. Marshalls? Yes please. Nordstrom Rack? Yes please. 

Reporting for duty. (Image source)

I did a lot of browsing, but not a lot of buying -- I got one cute pair of workout pants for $14, which is a total steal for such things (take that, Lululemon! Booyah!) -- because I wanted to avoid spending much money. 

Now, I'm generally trying to spend less money overall, but this weekend I was doing so for a special cause: after months of crappy reception, memory failures, and overall lameness, it was finally time to replace my phone. I was due for an upgrade on our contract anyway, and after much research, I decided to go for it and get a long-coveted iPhone 5.

HOLY MOSES, YOU GUYS, THIS THING IS AMAZING. (*Hyperventilates*) 

I'd had a smartphone before I got this, but this is approximately 8 bajllion times better than my old HTC. I'm in wuv.

(*Falls on floor from aforementioned hyperventilation*)

You are mine now! Muuuhahahahaha!

Soooo, as you can tell, my weekend was quite marvelous -- here's to what will hopefully be a marvelous week ahead!