I had an epiphany on Thursday, and it's helped me sort things out in my mind a little: I truly am trying to hard. I've just got to accept that I'm not always going to do a perfect job or reach every student. Once I can let that go, I'll be able to have more peace and start to relax a little. That's when I can start having more fun. It'll be a process, though; I'm not going to get there overnight.

I went out to dinner with some friends from work on Thursday night. We went to Denny's, of all places. I balked at first, but we ended up having a lot of fun there. I got to have pancakes, fruit, and egg beaters. I love breakfast foods, so I was a happy girl.

On Friday, my friend B and I were planning on going to that salsa class in the Mission. The art teacher lives in the city, so she offered to give us a ride. She followed me to my house so I could drop off my car, and then we all headed off. Right after we exited the school parking lot, however, some crazy guy backed into her car and dented the radiator. It did a lot of damage. He was driving on an expired license and didn't have valid insurance. It was a big mess. We ended up having to call AAA and have the car towed.

While the art teacher rode back home with her car, B and I walked to the Emery Bay center. We ate dinner in the food hall (terryaki chicken and sushi; yum!), then hung out in Borders while waiting for a film to start. Said film was The Painted Veil, which is a 1920s period piece set in China. It was slow to start, but soon became very engrossing. It's with Edward Norton (yum!) and Naomi Watts. It was very moving, but very sad. Siiiigh. I enjoyed it, though.

I spent most of my morning devouring my new Vogue magazine (one of my favorite things in life), and sleeping in. That's the life. I ended up picking up my sister and her friend at noon, and we all went to an advanced yoga class at the downtown YMCA. It was perfect: not too vigorous, but enough to get a good workout. We all felt to relaxed and zen afterward.

We were a block away from the Berkeley Farmer's Maket, so we hung out there for an hour. They had tons of free samples, so we snacked on breads and cheeses and pastries. It was so much fun! I bought some coffee and my sister bought a whole wheat cinnamon bun, which we all split. That was the life.

My sister and I then went back to the Emery Bay shopping center and lived up up for a few hours. We ate several different types of sushi for lunch, then went to a spa and got pedicures. We sat in those massaging, whirlpool chairs and gossipped while we had our legs massaged and our toenails painted wine-red with gold glitter topcoats. It was so luxurious and relaxing that I decided right then and there that it would become a weekly routine for me. In fact, I think that I might get a pedicure every weekend, and a manicure during the week. It would be something to break up the monotony of the work week. Plus, they do these fabulous acryllic nails for Valentine's Day that I'm thinking of getting. I don't know if I want to commit to them again, but I had them all last year and loved them. Maybe it's time again.

After that, we went to the big shopping center a few blocks away. I ran into one of my favorite seventh grade students, so that was cool. We shopped around the various stores, spending most of our time slathering ourselves in lotions and perfumes at the bath and body stores. We sat in front of the fire, drinking coffee and eating biscotti at Barnes and Noble. Siiiigh. It was so much fun. It was a total girlie day, and it was exactly what both of us needed. Whether my sister joins me or not, I'm going to have one of those days at least once a week. It is so good for the soul.

Right now I'm watching a Hallmark movie (I love Hallmark movies) starring Andrew McCarthy (I also love the Andrew). I'm supposed to meet my sister for yet another yoga class in the morning, so I'm really looking forward to that. I might go back to that nail spa and get the gel acryllics tomorrow, or I might go to B's house to hang out and do my laundry. I usually dread Sundays, but I'm going to try to do something that will give me pleasure tomorrow. Let's hope it works!

Anne