a most glorious normal day

You know those days where everything just seems to be going wrong? Well....today I had the exact opposite of one of those days. Everything just seemed to be going right, even though nothing in particular about my day is especially out of the ordinary.
I woke up at 7:30 to the sun streaming in through my window. This was after sleeping for 10 hours!!!! Woke up did some cleaning around the condo (trust me there was a lot to be done - post exam / post ski trip). I ran out to Costco to get my tires rotated and then walked to the Target and Old Navy nearby. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside - 64 degrees! Had leftovers for lunch, cleaned a little more, and then decided it was way too beautiful to be inside cleaning. I left to go to starbucks to have an iced coffee and a snack. I sat outside and read a book for fun! Then at my mother's suggestion went to the White House Black Market that is in the Hershey Outlets. They were having a sale (all dresses $39.99, plus a bunch more). I spent over an 1 1/2 hrs in there - shopping and debating between a few things. Most of the stuff I bought was for clinical rotations next year. After I walked out to my car with my new purchases, I called my mom to gush about the amazing savings. It was in my car that I realized I had a coupon that if I spent $6, I would get $25 off! Of course I headed back inside the store and ended up buying 2 more things!
After I got home, I called my friend Rich and we walked to the grocery store together - enjoying the beautiful weather. I needed to pick up a few ingredients for my cooking experiment. From another blog I read, I picked up an idea for dinner (walnuts, garlic, and lemon pasta). Per usual for me, I took it as a starting point. I learned this from my father - a recipe is merely a jumping off point. You find a recipe that sounds good and then you tweak it. Take out stuff you don't like, add in stuff that you do or whatever happens to be in your fridge that you need to use. The unique thing about tonight's recipe was that I was not using any measurements. It was all guess and taste and see what happens. I love cooking. It is the entire process that I enjoy. It starts with choosing the recipe and modifying it in my mind. Then shopping and picking out the ingredients if necessary. Then setting the mood with music to sing/dance to in the kitchen while cutting, grating, tasting, and creating. This is truly cooking.
I am proud to say that I was happy with tonight's meal. Basically it was all improvisation and no measurements! My creation for the evening was baby portabella mushrooms, with garlic, cream, lemon, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, and walnuts over whole wheat rotini!

I told you - there was nothing terribly out of the ordinary in my day, but it was that feeling of normalcy of not being rushed or pressed for time that made it so enjoyable. As a med student these days are rare and are to be cherished.