The week in Alexandria visiting Chelsea went by in a flash, but we managed to fit in lots of fun, beginning with the fabulous birthday dinner at Chart House mentioned in the last post, followed on Sunday by the not-nearly-so-fun watching the Broncos get trounced by the Patriots. Ouch.

Monday, we all had to work, but David and I had time for a walk down King Street and lunch here . . .

. . . where everything was so picturesque I snapped away like the tourist I am . . . .

See what I mean?

Tuesday night we met Chelsea and Will and his parents at Los Tios Grill, a fabulous Mexican restaurant in Alexandria (technically “Tex-Mex-Salvadorean”). WOOHOO! The one thing nigh near impossible to find in France is Mexican food, and I LOVE Mexican food. Forgot my camera, but I was pretty busy chatting and enjoying my dinner and margaritas. Yum. And bonus, spunky-charming waitress who kept us all laughing. Love nights like that.

Thursday night Chelsea had invited a few friends to meet us at Top Golf . . .

. . . which turned out to be super entertaining. It’s like a driving range, but not so boring–and a pub, but not so sedentary. Perfect combination, if you ask me.

Chelsea has almost zero previous golf experience, so she was just thoroughly having fun.  But after Jen soundly beat us the second round, I started thinking, “Game On.”  And although Jen’s shots continued to be absolutely beautiful and straight, she very kindly missed a few of the targets during the third round (and, okay, the counter cheated her out of a few points, too). Anyway I managed to score highest. Be very impressed. So instead of a highly unflattering shot of me, I’ll show you this . . .

But now really look at it, and be sure to admire the impressive consistency of my scores. Sheesh. Truly stunning. After my first six balls, as you may imagine, I was NOT HAPPY. At all. Interesting that once Chelsea reminded me to just relax and have fun, I started nailing the targets. Disturbing that I needed that reminder while chatting with friends and drinking Man-Mosas (Mimosas with a bit of beer to cut the sweetness–better than they sound).

Which brings me to today’s little lesson for Sunny: Perfectionism does not create perfection. It just sucks the fun and life out of whatever you’re doing imperfectly.

Here’s wishing you a joyfully imperfect week! (Unless you’re the Denver Broncos. You Broncos can feel free to be as perfect as you’d like!)

Thanks, Chelsea, for the fun and the wisdom!