50 Hours

How do you make the most of just 50 hours? That was my question last week before leaving for Salt Lake City. Ordinarily, I would have gone THIS weekend (like right now!) because I have the next four days off from school for what they call "Mini-Spring break." However, this coming week is also Shulamith's regular spring break, and she and Matt are leaving Saturday on a Mexican cruise for their belated honeymoon. Fun, romantic! I'm excited for them.

So my best alternative was to go this past weekend; if I waited until they got back, it would have been six weeks since I saw her, and that is seriously too long. I already used up all my personal leave days for the wedding, so from touch down to take off, I had exactly 50 hours in Salt Lake City.

50 hours. How do you make the most of just 50 hours?

For one thing, you plot out your eating plan right from the start. Priorities, right? We had to find time to hit all our favorites: Cafe Rio, Pei Wei, Cheesecake Factory. Then we needed to fit in one meal at Macaroni Grill because we get free food there. Also, Matt was working there every night, and we wanted to see him. We wanted to hang out with Isaiah too, so we took him to dinner with us at Mac. Grill. With this careful planning, we were even able to fit in Mimi's Cafe and Olive Garden as well. Wow!

Next, you plot out your movies. I knew I wanted to see "Bounty Hunter" and "Remember Me." Shulamith also wanted to see "She's Out of My League," which turned out to be the funniest of the three albeit a bit raunchy. "Bounty Hunter" was cute, nothing spectacular, but worth seeing. "Remember Me" was sadder than I was expecting. I don't do death particularly well, especially when I'm invested in the characters. The movie was good for sure...just sad. And of course the fact that "Edward" starred in it didn't hurt.

Lastly, you plot out your shopping. We were determined not to buy a lot this time, but we couldn't pass up one visit to Down East Basics. There we found adorable dresses on clearance for just $7.00 each. Shulamith bought three, and I bought two. Our other shopping goal was to find her a bathing suit to take on the cruise. Now you all know (well at least the women who are reading know) how much fun that is. Is there anything more depressing than shopping for bathing suits? No matter what style you get, there's just too little fabric covering too little skin for a girl to feel comfortable. Every last flaw is exposed. Bathing suits are a necessary evil. We can't go swimming naked, and we can't wear our clothes, so we have to have them, but shopping for them is just not fun. In the end, we found Shulamith a cute suit, a tankini style with sort of a retro rainbow design.

Fifty hours came and went so fast I can hardly believe it. I miss her already. So much. But we did make the most of each and every one of those hours, and I'll get to go back for as long as I want May 1st when school is over. The countdown is on!