This past week has been absolutely horrendous in terms of everything. A combination of many factors, including too much homework and too little sleep, means I have been cranky all week long (so sorry to those of you who had to put up with me. That blank look on my face should not have been interpreted as anger, but rather as the zombie face of someone who is about to pass out.)

I culminated my week with a terrible Friday, so I was really glad that I had plans to go out with my girls for the last Dine Out of the season. Tear, tear. We went to Mills Marine Bistro, down on West Cordova by the water. It was pretty delicious actually – I had mussels, salmon and chocolate torte. I would definitely recommend it. I was also very amused by how they renamed their shots – for example, they called a “dirty hooker” shot an “unkempt street corner pro.” Someone making the menu had some fun. I also tried Shizen-ya on Thursday for lunch. They had an interesting menu, but I was really craving noodles, so I had udon and salmon with black sesame. Nom.

When I rolled out of bed this morning, half heartedly thinking of the homework I should do, the little workers in my brain held a rebellion. Essentially, they picketed off the section of my brain that does homework, and held up signs saying: “TAKE A DAY OFF OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.” Well, what can you do when the teeny workers in your head revolt? You gotta listen to them, right? (I mean, who knows what damage they could do.)

So, what do I do when I’m not sitting in my room glued to my homework? I had a nice long breakfast with my mom. It was beautiful outside, so I went for a run (“ohgodthankyousomuch” said the little brain worker who takes care of how fat I feel). I did some of my easier homework (reading for English) – and then I cooked. I love cooking, I really do – I just rarely have time. One of my favourite food blogs is smittenkitchen.com (which everyone should check out), so I made some pretty awesome brownies:

They’re white and dark chocolate brownies, made by cutting out the middles of brownie squares and swapping them. The white chocolate ones actually taste a lot like tapioca, for some reason. It made less than the recipe said because I had to cut them bigger in order to make room for my cookie cutter, since I have some serious accuracy issues. Regardless, nom! The recipe is at http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/02/white-and-dark-hearted-brownies/. I also prepped buttermilk roast chicken and beer mustard cheesy pull apart bread for tomorrow. Hopefully they turn out.

I’ve pretty much tired myself out now, but it’s a good kind of tired, as opposed to the tired where I want to lie down in the fetal position. I think I forgot how important it is to take some time once in a while to do things you love to do. We hear it all the time, but despite our busyness we still need to occasionally stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Maybe I’ll be back to being super stressed out tomorrow – it’s very possible, since now I have do all my work tomorrow – but I just feel better today than I have all week.

Plus, I just got a mental image of the little workers in my brain wearing sunglasses and big straw hats as they laze by a pool (a pool in my brain…er…don’t think about it too much). Lucky little dudes.