A Little R&R

Julian was in desperate need of some R&R.  For the past month, he has been preparing to apply to graduate school, and most importantly, taking the GRE.  He spent many late nights up studying, and most of those nights were after long days at work and helping me with Jillian.  

Yesterday was test day.  Contrary to his demeanor in the past, he seemed calm, cool, and collected the morning of.  And that, in and of itself, deserved praise.   

I knew that no matter the outcome, he would be in need of some well-deserved relaxation after the stress of the test.  Julian joked that either we would go to a bar to commiserate or go to a bar to celebrate.  But I arranged to be off half-day in order to spend some quality time with him.

I must admit, I was a nervous wreck waiting for him to finish.  Finally, he was done and he called with the results (the GRE gives you initial results immediately).  

He did great!  It was a tremendous improvement from when he took the test 4 years ago.  And though there is no guarantee, he gave himself a fighting chance, and that's all we could ask for!

But enough about the test...we didn't quite start the afternoon with a trip to the bar, but Julian did get the beer he deserved...

We ate lunch at Olive Garden and our friend, Franco met up with us to celebrate too.  It was delicious and we were stuffed.  But with 2.5 hours till we had to pick up Jillian, there was more R&R to be had.

So I thought about what I would consider to be a relaxing afternoon and the first thing that came to mind was a mani/pedi.  But I am thinking, "why in the heck would these 2 guys go for that?!"  

I timidly suggested it, remembering that when Julian was with us for Jillian's first mani/pedi, he mentioned that he would like to try it someday.  

Much to my surprise, they both agreed!  

These 2, I swear!  They sat down for their pedis and of course, they chose the "indulgence pedi" (read: one of the expensive ones).  I have never even had the expensive one before!

They loved it!  Julian also got a mani.  Hey, there's a first time for everything...

Since I got a mani and a chair massage out of this, it was great for me too!

Looking back on it, of course Julian and Franco both agreed to this!   Just another thing to add to their long list of bromance activities...

I hope this is just the R&R that Julian needed to recharge his batteries and finish his application.  Only time will tell what the results will be, and our future may change as a result.  Either way, I am sure his hard work and dedication paid off.  For now, he'll finish strong and we'll leave it up to God's plans.