Free money! And sunshine!

My grump from the past two days has pretty much lifted. I am still feeling under the weather, but I am optimistic that it's just seasonal allergies, and I just took a Claritin D to test that theory. Fingers crossed that it will work. In the meantime, we're about to have a three-day weekend and my office is closing at three o'clock today. The idea of leaving work in the middle of the afternoon when it's still sunny and so much of the day is left makes me very happy.

And speaking of work, I found out a week or two ago that I won an award for some work that I do as part of a team. I'm not the main person who does that work, so I didn't think much of it and assumed I would get some sort of commemorative plaque and forget all about it. Until I got my pay stub last night and discovered that along with the award comes a cash prize to the tune of multiple hundreds of dollars. Score! That is going straight into the down payment fund (okay, maybe I'll spend SOME of it).

Although I do feel bad for the woman who spearheads the work--she could easily have won this award on her own for the work she does, and then she would have gotten the full amount of the award to herself, instead of having to split it three ways with me and one other person. So that kind of sucks for her, and if I were in her position, I'd be annoyed. But it doesn't mean I'm about to hand over my check to her or anything. Money is money, and that much sweeter for having been gained without much effort. Besides, there is all sorts of work that I AM the lead on that I could just as easily have won an award for, so we'll consider this check a reward for that instead.

And back to what I was talking about in that first paragraph? Three days off plus gorgeous weather plus no plans at all? It's going to be absolutely blissful. There will be lots of sleep, and perhaps a walk or two, and hopefully some sushi, and a few errands, and who knows what else? DC is our oyster! Unfortunately, I suspect that a lot of out-of-towners have decided that this is the weekend to make DC their oyster as well, so the town will probably be swarmed with tourists. We'll just have to hide in our little non-touristy neighborhood to avoid them.

Also, I'm thinking perhaps this weekend would be a good time to spend some of my award money on a fancy dinner at a restaurant we haven't been to yet. Which has the doubly excellent effect of providing me with a chance to wear a fun spring dress!

In sum, weekends like the one we have planned (or not planned, as the case may be) help me suppress baby fever for just a little bit longer. When I see cute babies or adorable baby clothes, I want to have a baby RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND WHY AM I NOT ALREADY PREGNANT? But then I remind myself that once there's a baby, there won't be luxurious, lazy weekends anymore. And that helps me remember why now is not the right time for a baby. That, and also if I'm five months pregnant at the wedding, the dress won't fit.

Oh, and the other thing I want to do this weekend? Is bake something. Possibly cookies. But I'm not really the baking type, so I don't have much in the way of recipes. And that's where YOU come in. Do you ever bake? What's your favorite thing to bake? And can I have the recipe?