Friday Fun: How do you recharge your batteries after a busy week?

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Happy Friday – Fun Day!

I don’t know about you, but I have been giving everything I’ve got this week (and most weeks) and come Friday I look for unique ways to recharge my batteries - rest, relax, and have fun, so come Sunday I am refreshed and ready to go for another Monday!

I know recharging is different for extroverts (recharges with people), and introverts (recharge one-on-one or alone).

I like to have a Self-Care Sunday – yoga, face mask, glass of wine and hot tub – a couple of hours of self-care feels like a week-long vacation :)

I have a friend who goes home every Friday night and cleans her house top to bottom, then Saturday morning she has nothing to do but put her feet up, drink tea and read a novel.

What do you do to end the busy week and fully recharge over the weekend? Would love to hear from you, and please add photos where possible :)

Have a super Fri-Yay and weekend!

Jodi

[Matt Doar]

• Catch up on missed sleep
• Talk to family for more than a few minutes at a time
• Eat out together, with a few drinks
• And smoke a great big cigar!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Sounds like the definition of a great weekend :)

[Erica Moss]

Not necessarily at the end of the week, but, in general, to recharge, I love just getting outside and taking photos around New York. There are so many hidden spots & little photo ops — it makes my heart happy. 😄

[Monique vdB]

I ❤️ your photography, @Erica Moss; this is so pretty.

[Erica Moss]

@Monique vdB Thank you, my dear!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Absolutely gorgeous photo @Erica Moss - I couldn't agree more, getting outside for a mindful walk taking in all the sights always gives me lots of energy!

[Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran]

Beautiful click @Erica Moss!! Which camera and lens do you use? Just curious!!

[carolyn french]

Great answer and I love the photo you chose- what a cool hobby, wandertography :)

[Erica Moss]

@carolyn french Thank you!

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Erica Moss - This a stunning photo. You definitely have a great eye!

[Erica Moss]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM Thank you kindly!

[Alana Fernando]

nice click @Erica Moss 😊

[Erica Moss]

@Alana Fernando 🤗

[Bernabe Theodore Costales III]

My weekends are usually pretty low key and follow a schedule similar to my work week, just replace working with sleeping and laundry. I do go out from time to time or play video games or what not, but I find that the general consistency helps a lot with my sleep schedule.

To be fair last Saturday I fell asleep at 4:00 AM playing Warhammer Vermintide 2, but I woke up at 9:00 AM anyway since that's what my body is used to.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

I love low key weekends, they seem to last much longer than weekends filled with events and other commitments! :)

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

Typically spending time with my family whether it be at home, outside, or going to something happening around town. I also try to get into a few board games with family and friends during the weekend as well as during the week. Most importantly try not to think about work and be in the moment of the weekend.

And spending time with our dog as well! How can you not love that smile on adoption day!

[Erica Moss]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM That FACE. 😍

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

Right!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

@BryanTBeing in the moment and not thinking about work is definitely a great practice, good for you! I also love family time with friends and my fur kid Max! :) OMG that adoption smile is beyond adorable, what a lucky pup :) This is Max on a typical cozy weekend :)

[Monique vdB]

Why can't I see these pictures @Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM?!? I want to see the cute doggy face!

[carolyn french]

can't see the pictures either ;(

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Jodi LeBlanc - Max does seem very cozy!

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Monique vdB - I am not sure. Lets try again here.

[Monique vdB]

YAY I SEE A PUPPY FACE. SOOOOO SWEET. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Crack open the gin, take someone else's dog for a walk, play with the cat and I usually throw myself into cooking properly - something a bit more intricate than "heat it up and throw it on a plate with a salad or steamed veg". 

(We can't have our own dog.  Yet)

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Sounds awesome @Nic Brough -Adaptavist-!  I do remember from another post that you might just have the cutest cat alive, in my opinion :) But yes dogs are amazing, hopefully you will have one join your family soon! 

[Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran]

I have mixed types of weekends and each recharges me for sure. 3 to be precise!

Type-1: Hibernation

Sleep, sleep and sleep!!! I just get addicted to my bed and blanket!

Type-2: Tech Lover

Code-in Code-out. I believe beer, music, friends, and programming is simply awesome!!!

Type-3: Explorer

Long travel, explore nature and click pictures. Just love doing that and I cherish each moment!

[Monique vdB]

Love your travel photos especially! @Jodi LeBlanc thanks for encouraging a photo-heavy thread, I'm loving it. 

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Love that you have three types of weekends @Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran :) I've had weekends like type one (in bed all weekend after I organized a conference for 500 people) and it feels so good to netfix binge in bed and have a low key weekend. Then type two sounds great too - I volunteer for Ladies Learning Code so I agree a weekend of tech is pretty darn fun! As for Type 3, now that is unbelievable and my favourite of the three types of weekends you listed! Your travel photos are gorgeous, and I can tell by the photo of you jumping in the air, that you absolutely love life! Thanks for sharing all your amazing photos :) 

[Erica Moss]

@Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran Love your photos! 😍

[Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran]

Thanks @Monique vdB, @Jodi LeBlanc and @Erica Moss!!

[Alana Fernando]

@Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran type 3 is my type 1 😃

[Mahesh S]

Most of my weekend belongs to Type 3 and Type 1. :D With his explanation of the types above, I can just choose instead for describing. :P

[Monique vdB]

I have a six-year-old, so a lot of weekends are spent going to birthday parties or swimming lessons or playdates. Last week was spring break and we went to Disneyland. Fun, but not relaxing!

My favorite kind of weekend includes a game night, plenty of downtime to get household chores done, and a fun family outing like a BBQ at a friend's house or a bike ride along the bay. 

I'm an introvert, so working from home on Fridays really helps me recharge, especially on light meeting days. Then I can go to the gym before work, catch up on RuPaul's Drag Race over lunch, and finish all my projects for the week. Those days really get me set up for the week ahead. It helps that I love my job! 😊

I also love to be anywhere with a pool, ocean, or other form of water. I am currently trying to talk my husband into a backyard hot tub, @Jodi LeBlanc. A glass of wine in the hot tub sounds perfect. 🍷

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Wow @Monique van den Berg - that photo of you and your daughter is a framer – so beautiful and colourful! I have never been to Disney Land (been to Disney World), or California for that matter, definitely on my bucket list.  

I love your tip of working from home on Friday's what a great way to catch up on all your projects and to do list and have a clean slate (or tie up lose ends) before the weekend begins. Yes I can tell you love your job, and that you are fabulous at it too! I work from home full-time as the department I work for doesn't have an office in PEI. I am an extrovert so I thought it would be tough to not be surrounded by people, but it is unbelievable what I can get done working at home versus in an office with tons of random interruptions and popbyers (not sure if that is a word but we call them visitors to your cube/office). As much as I loved when people popped by my cubicle to chat or had questions, I always ended up going to work at night or staying late as I could never seem to get everything accomplished in a hustle and bustle workplace. So I agree, you can be so focused at home that you can accomplish 4x the work in 1/4 of the time.

That's great that you are considering a hot tub for your backyard, you will love it. My husband had back surgery years ago and would wake up in pain every morning, now that we have the hot tub, his body is back to normal after 15 minutes of the heat and jets. You may not want the heat since you live in California, and don't have the snow I showed in my photo, however you could always turn it into a cold tub (70 degrees) on hot days, which my friend does to hers in the summer and treats it like a mini pool :) Thanks for sharing your pics and ways you recharge!

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Monique vdB - Which board game is that in your last photo? I typically try to enjoy a board or two during the weekend. We went to Disneyland this past summer and loved it. We are typically a Disney World family, but loved being at Disneyland! Great picture in front of the partners statue!

[Erica Moss]

@Monique vdB Such a great Disneyland photo. 🙌🏼

[Arun_Thundyill_Saseendran]

@Monique vdB A well framed beautiful pic of your daughter and you and Disney Land :-)

[Monique vdB]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM it is Gloomhaven!

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Monique vdB - I thought so! Just started that one a couple of weeks ago.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

@Monique vdB that Gloomhaven game looks so fun! Thanks for sharing the link :)

[Monique vdB]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM uh oh, that mini is kind of a spoiler since she's not one of the starting classes. I won't tell you any more though :)   What are you playing as? I started out as Quynn, the Quatryl Tinkerer.

@Jodi LeBlanc it's really fun! :)

[Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM]

@Monique vdB - Oh no worries on the spoilers I didn't even realize it haha. I am currently playing as the Vermling Mindthief that I have called RatCat. Two sessions in and loving it.

[Monique vdB]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM Ooh I love the Mindthief. Especially the card that lets you mind control an enemy to attack a second enemy. 

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM, @Monique vdB - I’m jealous, have to wait until October for the German release

[Basem Qreieyeh]

Nice,

Thank you

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Adorable kitty!! :)

[Heth Siemer]

I do one of two things: I either go to my bf's house and take his 4 dogs out to the dog park in my PJs or I stream video games on Twitch.

I don't play to be the best, I just play to goof off. I have a system in place where if you watch long enough you collect currency called "Emra". There's 140ish champions (playable characters) in League to choose from, and you can buy my next champion with Emra and I have to play them. Here's two 30 second clips of me playing champions that people picked for me to make me look good:

https://tinyurl.com/BestLeeSinNA

https://tinyurl.com/y9tdyoe9

And here's a fail, cause let's face it... my stream is called #HethFails:

https://tinyurl.com/HethFails

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Sounds like a perfect way to recharge @Heth Siemer :) I love dogs, and would love walking 4 dogs in the park in my PJs, so carefree! Thanks for sharing your video game clips, congrats on playing champs :)

[Heth Siemer]

I only got to walk one dog this weekend :( and it wasn't too carefree... we were chased by geese!

[Erica Moss]

@Heth Siemer That visual is incredible —  but I'm sure it was a bit scary at the time!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

What a GREAT topic @Jodi LeBlanc ! It's made me realise that I do not have one. Eek! This is really an activity I need. Thanks for making me aware of this.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Hi Andy, looking forward to hearing what you come up with once you do some more thinking about it. Maybe what you do all week revs your batteries already so no need to recharge. When you love what you do, work is no longer work :)

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jodi LeBlanc I experienced one of the worst Fridays ever last week... total fail when it comes to winding down for the weekend. So I kinda have a cool answer for this but there's GIFS involved and some Shakespearan blah blah.... so I'll do it this Friday when winding down properly !
I am still not 100% doing what I truly love.... but this job is definitely 2nd place :oD Loving the challenge!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

So very sorry to hear that Andy! I look forward to your gifs this Friday, sorry for the delayed reply :)