Rituals

Last night when I came home from work, I hung up my coat and then started drying the dishes from last night while Adam washed them, and we were done Adam went into the living room to watch hockey and I set about getting dinner ready for the night. I put on the "Amber" station on Pandora, I threw my pink WIlliam Sonoma apron on and I set about defrosting the tilapia, throwing a lemon-caper sauce together on the stove, steaming the green beans, all while sipping a glass of Pinot Grigio and, let's face it, taking a break every now and then to dance or sing into my chef's knife.

And it hit me that this is something I do basically every night. I don't come home from work and put my feet up. I don't come home and turn the TV on. I don't come home and immediately put on the computer. Yet I am still relaxing because this ritual of come home, have a glass of wine, get dinner started, while blasting Amber dance remixes, is comforting and relaxing to me! I look forward to that time of the day.

And it got me started thinking about other rituals.

For instance, making shopping lists, particularly food shopping lists has become a total ritual for me. I usually go food shopping on Wednesdays so on Tuesday night I will take inventory in the kitchen, pull out some cookbooks or gather printouts of recipes I had found online and wanted to try and then set about making my list. First I make a meal plan for the week - then I list the ingredients I need for everything (that I don't already have) on that meal plan. Then I rewrite the list in order of location in the supermarket. This might be more OCD than ritualistic but again, I love it! I think it's relaxing to have that kind of order.

My next ritual makes me seem like kind of a hobo but it is what it is. I have my morning routine down to a science. Of course I have my off days but in general it goes like this:

Alarm goes off at 6AM

Hit snooze twice.

Bring outfit for the day into the bathroom (which was picked out last night)

Shower

Moisturize and dress

Brush Teeth

Leave house by 6:40AM

Arrive to work around 7:15

Apply makeup in car while blasting things like Pink Martini or the Miss Saigon soundtrack

Get actually into work around 7:25

End scene.

I don't know why I don't put my makeup on at home? I technically don't even have to be to work until 8AM but I am just used to coming in early. And I've been doing it this way for so long that on weekends I'll be applying makeup in the bathroom mirror like a civilized person and think "I can't get this eyeliner on right...I'm going to do it in the car on the way to the party".

Which brings me to my final ritual: makeup! AT LEAST mascara and lip gloss every day, no exceptions. And it's not for anyone else, it's me. I can't function without "my face on". Truth be told most days it includes a little coverup, a touch of bronzer, some neutral-y eye shadow, eyeliner and then mascara and gloss. And my nails are always painted. Naked fingernails (on me) make me twitch.

So clearly I am a freak but what about you? What rituals do you have?