A Relaxing Weekend

We were so excited for this past long-weekend, because it was the first one in a long time that we would have two consecutive days with nothing going on - time to just relax and enjoy each other's company.

Out of the six weekends previous to this one, two were spent out of town, and the other four were all really busy with a wedding, Christopher's band playing twice, and various social engagements.  All of these things were fun, but we were starting to feel drained, and in much need of some quiet, alone time to visit, zone out, catch up on sleep, and just hang around together.  Sunday and Monday were designated for that, and if anyone would have asked if we were free on those days, we would have said, "no, we have plans," which wouldn't have been a lie.

It's important, at least for us, to schedule in days at home with no obligations, responsibilities, or commitments.  If we don't write these in the calendar and plan for them, the days will fill up with activities.  These commitment free days are important to us, not only for our sanity, and to bond in our marriage, but also because our hobbies both require extended time at home to develop and enjoy - Christopher with writing, creating, and practicing music, and me with cooking new things, baking, creating recipes, and blogging. 

All that being said, one of our other hobbies is entertaining, and we spent the first day of the weekend doing just that!

On Saturday morning, after a nice breakfast, we got prepped for dinner guests we'd be having later that evening.

I made a pot of soup, baked buns, and got the slow cooker going:

Then I prepped dessert, and got some sides and the meat started.

The appetizers were grapes and cheese, which I forgot to photograph, along with brie-stuffed mushrooms.

Next up we enjoyed cauliflower soup:

The main course was smoked pork shoulder, with a homemade mustard dip on the side, potatoes gratin, salad, cabbage rolls and dinner buns:

My plate:

Dinner turned out well, and it was a really nice evening.

For dessert we had Saskatoon berry crisp with ice cream:

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Do you schedule days to do nothing?  Do you feel that you're taking care of yourself when it comes to how scheduled and busy you are? (I used to be absolutely terrible at this, to the point of burnout.  It took me many years of practice, but I finally have gotten better at taking on less).