One is the loneliest number

Yesterday morning Torsten took an early flight to DC for a week-long business trip, the first either of us has had to take since we moved to Denver in February. I got up at six a.m. as well to drive him to the airport. When I got home the house seemed exceptionally empty. I guess since we both work from home it hardly happens that one of us is home without the other--or if only one of us is home, it's him.

As an aside, I'm a little jealous that Torsten is in DC right now, and only because that's where my hairstylist is, and I REALLY need a haircut. My hair is down past my shoulders right now, and while I like to imagine that it's like Keri Russell or Sarah Jessica Parker on one of their good long-hair days, in reality it's just too much. It's not as curly when it's long, and it's hot, and it gets in the way, and it's starting to lose its shape--it really needs some layers. But I have had so many people butcher my hair in the past that I am trying desperately to hold out for my own stylist and hope that there's a business trip to DC in my near-ish future as well.

Anyway, now it's just me and Montana for the week. It feels so cavernous in here. It's one thing to live alone in a two-room apartment--which I loved--but quite another to be on your own in a family-size house. It almost makes me wish I had kids right now so that I would be distracted. Except not really, because then I'd be dealing with kids on my own, and I wouldn't have had the luxury of crawling into bed and going back to sleep for three hours when I got back from the airport.

Yesterday I took the dog to the dog park, organized the dining room, cleaned the kitchen (and I mean REALLY cleaned it), cooked a soft-food-appropriate dish to last for a few meals, sat on the patio reading for awhile, and watched several episodes of Sex and the City. It was peaceful but not anything I couldn't have done when Torsten was here, so it's not like I'm luxuriating in shaking up the routine or anything.

So, OK, I'm trying to make plans for this week so that I'm occupied. I'm doing a pretty good job, I think. So far on the list:

• Lunch with Jeni
• Phone date with my BFF
• Follow-up appointment with my surgeon (does that count?)
• Pedicure (my first since the wedding, I think)
• Doing some unpacking, and maybe some cleaning
• Going to a movie (I'd like to see Up but Torsten wants to see that too so I should wait on that and pick something girly that he would hate... any suggestions?)

Plus, you know, working and walking the dog and all that normal stuff. And sleeping in our giant bed all by myself. (Because SOMEONE doesn't want the dog on the furniture, and even in his absence, I will respect his wishes.)

So, I think it's shaping up to be a decent week. Any suggestions on other stuff I should add to the list?