Sunday Funday

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When it comes to Sundays it is easy to succumb to the reality that tomorrow is Monday and the work week will be back in full swing. Sunday Depression is real, and we have all felt it at one time or another. But I don't like to think that way - that would mean that Saturday is the only well appreciated day of the weekend. I work hard to appreciate my Sundays and spend them they way they should be spent: relaxing with friends, and not worrying about what tomorrow holds.

My first tip for making Sunday a special day: start it a little bit later. Yeah, maybe that shortens the day, but how great a feeling is it to have legitimately slept it one morning? I usually have trouble sleeping in anymore due to job and internship schedules. Valentine's Day started off on a good note when I woke up and saw that it was 11 a.m.. I was thrilled! Of course, waking up on Sunday may also mean allowing the post-Saturday night hangover to make itself known. While spending the whole day in bed is everyone's dream, it should not be Sunday's constant reality. Here is a handy list of tips that should help to coax you and your pounding head out from under the sheets.

Late starts mean one thing: brunch. Grab a few friends and whip up a sweet and savory meal that everyone can contribute to. You can typically find me on pancake duty! Or take the gang on the road to try out what your local restaurants have to offer. My personal favorite in Pittsburgh is Local Bar + Kitchen in South Side. Their veggie omelet and mimosas are enough to keep my friends and me seated for quite sometime. I have found some great brunch inspiration (home and away) on Pinterest: the "Breakfast, Brunch, and AM Eats" board supplied by the Casper mattress company is enough to have you dreaming of stacks of pancakes and goblets of orange juice. Seriously...you may have a moment.

Feel less guilty about the carb-y brunch and bottomless drinks by going for a walk. There are so many cool neighborhoods here in Pittsburgh so no matter where we choose to go for brunch, you can expect the surrounding area to be so full of curious stops. Plus, you spend just a little more time thinking about things that aren't Monday and e-mails.

Make sure you have all of your ducks in a row. While you shouldn't launch over the emotional precipice into Sunday Depression, you do need to make sure that everything tomorrow is good to go. To be honest, I need more practice on this one. In all actuality, I replace this step by coming home, crawling back into bed with some really comfy sweats and binge-watching Friends on Netflix. But to each her own, right?

Become Top Chef of your dinner. I love cooking - my mother jokes that I have accumulated all of these students loans getting a communication education and I am going to end up going to culinary school. While I really don't intend on doing that, I do put a lot of effort into my meals even living on a college campus. This weekend, I decided to try something in attempt to use up the chicken in my fridge. With some time, effort, and patience (difficult when you are Hungry Hungry Hippo!) I pulled some super yummy coconut chicken out of the oven. This is the recipe that I followed, though I admit to tweaking it just a bit to use up some ingredients. Instead of going with just straight coconut, I mixed in some Italian style panko as well (eyeball it, I did not measure it out).

Close out the day by opening a book. This is another one that I need to work harder on, but when I do manage to grab a book rather than my laptop I feel more rested the next morning. Wind the brain down from a great day with a mystery, fantasy, adventure, whatever you fancy! Currently, The Time In Between by Maria Duenas is on my nightstand. I aim to have lights out by midnight, since is seems that every semester I need to be awake earlier and earlier for some reason.

<3 Ashley

How do you like to spend your Sunday? Share your day!