Long productive weekends

Isn't this amaryllis pretty? I had bought it mid-December in the crazy hope that it would bloom in time for Christmas, but it did not. It's been fun watching it grow from the bulb. I was worried it wouldn't bloom because I don't have a green thumb but 'lo and behold, I've been surprised by the changes in the last week. Just 4 days ago, the buds had broken out of their, um, pods(?):


To today, with the leaves a few inches taller and the flowers in full bloom:

It's been a long weekend literally since I took Friday off as a sick day. My stomach wasn't feeling good Thursday afternoon so I spent Friday at home taking it easy and eating lost of bland congee. It was productive though as I started work again on my jewelry, which I had been neglecting the last week. I finished 3 pairs of earrings and 3 necklaces. I would have finished a fourth necklace, except that I forgot that Bamiyan closed at 4pm Saturdays and since my mandarin class ends at 4pm, it was obviously too late by the time I arrived after class.

I've made good progress on filling my order, but I've still got lots of work to do administratively in terms of sourcing packaging. I've been meaning to go check out this one store for the last few weeks now but haven't yet made it out. I can't be putting it off any longer.

I also got my butt out to the gym, which I had also neglected the last week. I went for a run yesterday morning, but it was a crappy short one (perhaps because I was running on a mostly empty stomach?) but I made up for it this afternoon by running 5.29Km.

From the Stacks Update: I've been so busy with my business that I haven't had time to keep up with the challenge. I've got a couple chapters left in The Line of Beauty, which is only the second title from my stack and given that there's only 10 days left in the challenge, there's no way I'll be able to finish another 3 books in time - particularly when the books I've picked aren't exactly light reads.

I've bought a number of new books - most have been jewelry/gem reference books, but I went to Chapters after my aborted visit to Bamiyan yesterday afternoon and picked up the last 2 books in the Griffin and Sabine series, Alexandria and The Morning Star on sale. I was so taken with the trilogy when it first came out - the format was so refreshing - a story told through correspondence. How could one not be intrigued with the vicarious thrill of reading someone else's mail? Anyway, I had initially borrowed the trilogy from a friend, and had subsequently received book 1 as a gift. I bought The Gryphon a few years ago so will have to pick up books 2 and 3 sometime to round out my collection.