a lovely saturday evening

My Saturday afternoon was different than usual, but quite delightful just the same. Julia and Dana came over and cooked with me and after enjoying some delicious potatoes and garlic from the Boston Farmer’s Market (and hors d’oeuvres of avocado-turned-guacamole and sliced mango – did summer return??), we watched the movie “What Women Want” on TNT and ate some of Dana’s delicious crescent roll turned cookie creations.

They left around 10 and I had the apartment to myself. The funny thing was I didn’t really know what to do with myself: I wasn’t ready for bed, I wasn’t really in the mood to just watch TV, and I really didn’t have homework that needed to get done until the next day – and my apartment was all out for the night. So, with the TNT beginning a new film (“The Holiday”), I created a little craft station for myself and made two little paper Christmas trees (with ornaments of course). After that was done, I realized how much I love “The Holiday” and propped up pillows and my big pink, fluffy down comforter and got cozy on the couch to watch this movie.

Some of the reasons as to why I love this film:

--Jude Law is in it: he is incredibly attractive. He has a British accent. He “weeps.” Need I say more?

--Iris (Kate Winslet) befriends this adorable old man right next door and watching them interacting and getting to know each other just makes me so happy

--I love the scene when Iris finally says no to Jasper, the jerk whom she can’t fall out of love with no matter how awful he treats her

--the music: beautiful and peaceful

--gets me into the Christmas spirit

I watched this movie all cozied up and was just SO HAPPY. I know that there are many more exciting things I could have been doing on a Saturday night, but I had a delightful night with just myself…it was so weird to actually feel bored and then to snuggle up on the couch (I LOVE living in an apartment!!) and watch a good movie and then go to bed around 1 am.

I love adventure and doing fun and crazy things, but I also love nights in the house, watching movies, doing crafts, baking, etc. and I’m learning that I don’t need to be “productive” every second of my life. It’s okay to be lazy sometimes, to eat brownies and chocolate chip cookies without going to the gym, to decide to procrastinate a little on my homework so that I can spend some quality time with friends, and to not set my alarm clock. I think that it’s good for me to not always maximize every second of my time because it shows that the world doesn’t revolve around me and how well I do things – because no matter how much I get done, it is never sufficient and always fails in comparison to the glory of Christ. If I focus too much on how much I’m getting done, I may forget WHO I’m getting it done for: myself or for the kingdom of God.

I am thankful for spare time: empty time: time that doesn’t need to get filled. Because empty time is often just as important as “productive time.”