Planning Our Weekend -- Will It Be The North End?

Image from Google Images -- Boston's North End)

One of the changes that I really looked forward to when we moved was having weekends to ourselves. That might sound selfish but back in New York where we had a house (with a BIG yard) and family it seemed that our weekends were always filled up with yard work, house work, babysitting, visits to see the mothers ... and not a whole lot of relaxation and adventure time devoted just to US. It always seemed like it was busy, busy, busy right from the get-go. We'd find ourselves looking at each other on Sunday evening and wondering where the weekend had gone.

(Image courtesy of Google -- Boston's North End)

Another problem was that we failed to plan. We just waited for the weekend to arrive and figured it out as we went along. I'd find myself hanging out waiting for Dave to get up and let me know what he wanted to do (did he have yard work he wanted to get done? Maybe a house project to work on ... which might mean a trip to Lowes?) And inevitably, there would be a phone call that would rearrange any plans we did make.

Frustrating.

I have a friend who plans out her weekend from start to finish. Typically when Saturday morning rolls around she already has plans to meet a friend for coffee and bagels before she does her grocery shopping and errands. She might make plans to attend some sort of exhibit or event in the afternoon (after stopping off at a new place she's heard about for lunch.) There is most likely a special dinner planned (at home or out with friends) and then a music concert in the evening or perhaps a movie playing at the theater she wants to see. She might have agreed to have her grandbabies overnight (which would mean special fun and breakfast planned for Sunday morning ...) You get the idea ... not a moment wasted. She might even just plan an afternoon of lounging on the couch with a good book and a pot of soup on the stove.

My point is that before the weekend even started she knew what she was going to do. There would be no waffling come Monday morning when coworkers asked what she did that weekend ... she could rattle off all the fun ways she chose to enjoy and relax during her time off from the grindstone.

(Image courtesy of Google -- Paul Revere Statue in Boston's North End)

I want to be like that. We just never seemed to take the time to plan and it seemed as though our weekends were mostly spent taking care of something or someone. "We" were never really a part of the weekend equation.

Now we are in Massachusetts. We live in a townhouse and the yardwork is done for us. While we have projects we want to work on around the house, there is a whole lot of time for doing fun things. Like exploring, relaxing, cooking, discovering new hobbies (or just getting back into the ones we'd kind of abandoned when we found ourselves spending Sundays visiting our mothers.)

It's time to start planning our weekends. No more waking up *whenever* on Saturday and spending 2 hours trying to decide whether to have breakfast or hold off for lunch. No more spending half the day trying to decide what fun adventure we'd like to embark on (only to realize after finally making a decision that the place was closed or there now wasn't enough time) ...

Admittedly, so far it's been so rare that a weekend comes along that we're home that when one does, we're just thrilled to be here and haven't really made plans. But we have a fairly long stretch of weekends ahead without company or travel that we can really start having some fun. I really don't want to fall back into the "what 'cha wanna dooooo?" habit so it's time to start making plans.

So far, we're thinking of taking the train (which we've never done) into Boston and exploring the North End, finding someplace to stop for lunch (I already have a list of possibilities.) And we heard there's an AppleFest in Northborough that sounds like fun. And Dave just sent me a text saying there's a Seafood Festival in Hampton Beach (New Hampshire) that has the promise of great food.

(Image courtesy of Google -- an eatery in Boston's North End)

Now it's just a question of logistics. What are we choosing and when do we go? THAT'S our Friday night activity!