well, folks, it was another romantic valentine's day weekend here in the hall household. steve and i were both really icky phlemmy sick on saturday. uck. we were supposed to have a fancy schmancy dinner with tasha and john and we had to cancel for fear that the restaurant would boot us out when we sneezed/coughed/hacked phlem all over the place. :( and so we sat at home. the only thing we left the apartment at all for this weekend was to go to the grocery store. we made that into our own sort of valentine's day date by going not only to the regular grocery store, but also to the fancy schmancy grocery store that is right next door to the regular grocery store (these stores are so different that it can't even be considered a competitive situation!). the fancy one is like a whole grocery store of zingerman's. they have a fancy butter section, for goodness sake! and so we perused the aisles, trying not to cough and hack on anything, and then headed home and made soup.
today i had the day off and steve didn't, so i left the apartment for the day so he could get some work done. my wonderful friend ann hooked me up with a spa review assignment for her magazine, so i went merrily off this morning for a free facial. woohoo! of course, this was the least relaxed facial i've ever had, since the charming proprietress was very curious about all of my other spa attending and reviewing experience, and she kept telling me details that i felt like i should memorize. and to make matters even more sitcom-esque, apparently my pores were so clogged that she didn't think she could get all of the gunk out. she felt horrible but couldn't keep picking (she was the gentle-est facialist i've ever had!) because she was worried it would stress my skin. plus, well, she had other appointments. she was a charming older romanian woman -- quite legendary for her facials -- and did a wonderful job. however, it was very different for both of us than it would have been if i'd just gone and paid and got the facial on my own. not a surprise, i guess...
and then i went shopping. and boy does that wear me out. i looked at everything. i hadn't been to a mall in forever. hell, i didn't even go to one over the holidays. and here i was, getting dropped out of spa-land on the top floor of a 8 floor mall. it took me 2 1/2 hours to get out of the mall, and i was actually trying to. i didn't want to buy much and had actual non-mall shopping to do (hangers, baking soda for the fridge, toilet brush, groceries -- all stuff that was not to be found in the mall). and yet i spent 2 1/2 hours lulled by the musak and the shiny things.
not bad for some people, but for me that is a darn long time in a mall.
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tomorrow steve leaves me for ann arbor. he has a professional exam (to become some sort of certified engineer) and then he heads off to work on some random project in pittsburgh for a couple of days. he gets back in on thursday night and then friday we get to play host again; this time to sarah and alex. i am really excited about showing off our place now that we're pretty much moved in (which wasn't the case for any of the other visitors except maybe my brother). the only things we still have to do are hang up the pictures/mirror, and sort out a few odds and ends that are lying around. and, well, as picky as i am about how our place looks when people come over, that much unfinished work is fine with me for now. after a few more weeks the pictures not being up would bug me, but not yet. i think we're doing quite well, considering.

considering that i'm still pretty sick, i'd better scurry off to bed. steve's been sleeping for at least an hour by now...