Who are you?
I'm Brian. I do Sunday Routine with Cass. For money I help businesses and groups explore new ways to create great experiences for the communities they want to be a part of. I work for GMD studios and play bass in a band called Controller.
I’m Cass. I created this site. When I’m not doing Sunday Routine, I do a few different jobs. Currently I work as a cook and write food and lifestyle articles for money. Most recently I was the Communications Manager for a startup called The League of Kitchens.
Slow Waking
Cass: Weekends are always different for me, but I definitely always think of them as creative time. I LOVE not having to get on the subway first thing in the morning. Waking up really slow and lethargically on weekends is something I look forward to all week.
Brian: Sundays are eclectic. Sometimes we'll be out to meet a Sunday Routiner and do a photo shoot, or we'll have friends in from out of town and want to show them a proper Williamsburg fancy brunch. Most weekends start with me getting up before Cass (she sleeps like a log on weekends), putting on some coffee and laying out a bunch of stuff to organize what I want to work on.
The Ideal Weekend Begins With...
Cass: First thing I do when I wake up on a weekend morning is stay in bed as long as I can. I literally wake up, decide if I’m still tired or not, and then even if I’m done sleeping I’ll stay in bed and just stare at the window for like ten minutes.
The weekends are when Brian takes the dog out in the morning, so I can stay like this, staring at the window for as long as I want. When he comes back in, he’ll bring me a cup of coffee in bed and Opie will come over and wag her tail and whine until I pet her and give her kisses. She’s the best.
Brian: Before Cass wakes I'll take the dog out and, if its warm enough, throw the ball for her for a while and listen to podcasts.
I listen to a lot of podcasts - my favorites are Planet Money, EconTalk, BW's Theory of Everything, In Our Time, Entitled Opinions. I like how there is lots of flexibility in the form of sound bits getting put together. I’m working on one called CassCast right now, which goes <sound clip> + <cass clip> + <song>. My buddy says it’s twee (and that we sound stoned).
"Weekends make home feel a lot different..."
Cass: The ideal weekend is one where I get at least one full day to be at home (usually Saturday) - to sleep in, talk to friends, catch up on work, sleep some more, play with the dog, cook a big meal and drink red wine. Seeing friends on a Saturday night is pretty regular and a part of the day-end routine.
Brian: I work from home a lot during the week, and go through a lot of the same motions on weekends as I do weekdays, but weekends make home feel a lot different. I lay out a bunch of books, notecards and project scraps and get to tumble down the rabbit holes of my own choosing. It's like opening a bunch of tabs on my computer, but requires me to use a pen. For a lot of stuff, the computer gives me the feeling that I'm an extension of the machine and have to figure out what it wants. A good pen helps me figure out what I want. (A bad pen is an outrage - my friends are always stealing my good pens).
Breakfast Or Hangry
Brian: When I get back from taking the dog out I put some coffee next to the bed and let the dog sniffle at Cass's arm for a bit until she wakes up. If I don't eat I get upset, so I'll make eggs or granola and eat it while I read whatever I've laid out in front of me for the day.
Clean Up
Cass: After coffee in bed the routine is pretty regular: Shower. Clean up mess in kitchen (usually from some Baroque Friday night dinner we prepared out of leftovers and gourmet snacks). I hate crumbs so I get rid of those first and dump the empty beer bottles and look in the fridge for something small to eat. If I’m lucky Brian will make eggs in a basket and share with me, otherwise I just drink coffee until my hands shake (trying to not do this as much due to the notion that my body is becoming less resilient re: caffeine/alcohol).
"A lot of times on Sundays we get to make something, or learn about making something..."
Brian: I try to work on three things every weekend. One will be a thing to learn about, which I'll scribble a lot of notes on in my purple notebook, then type them all into a .txt file. One will be a making something, and one will be to work on a band thing. Sunday Routine fills a lot of these boxes. A lot of times on Sundays we get to make something or learn about making something with the Routiners. When we went over to Rachel’s place, her husband Duane let us record a song in his studio. Jim and Julie gave us their dance/memory card game, and took us through what is the best online tutorial for making high-quality sock puppets.
"I scrub the toilet and I'm like, what..."
Cass: I’m usually on the internet by noon. Before that I try to do non-internet stuff like dust the bookshelf and other menial tasks that involve cleaning products. I hate cleaning the tub but I love the satisfaction of looking at a clean tub. So I might do that on a Saturday morning after I have my coffee. I think of chores as creative time too. You have to step outside of actual ‘making’ in order to think of good and new ideas. I scrub the toilet and I’m like, “what project do I want to work on today? What do I want to do before it’s Sunday night?”
"I'll usually spend an hour or two pacing around the living room with my guitar..."
Brian: I also count writing songs as a "making something" thing, so I'll usually spend an hour or two pacing around the living room with my guitar trying to work on some small hiccup in a new Controller thing, or fumble around until something feels like it has somewhere to go. At this point Cass is usually trying to write and she's Chief of the Fun Police so I have to stop playing.
"I’ve been attending cooking workshops on Sundays"
Cass: Between noon and 4 I’m doing different things. I’m writing, tweeting, talking to my mom, or doing a freelance project. This weekend I transcribed an interview for my other blog, and did my taxes (ughk). Lately because of my involvement with League of Kitchens I’ve been attending cooking workshops on Sundays. They go from about 1-630, and they take me to faraway neighborhoods I’d never go to otherwise: Bay Ridge, Kew Gardens, etc. I actually love having this commitment on a Sunday, because it’s how I’d ideally spend my entire day anyway – cooking with four or five other people, then sitting down to eat a huge meal together when it’s done. I also get to bring leftovers home, so that makes Brian happy.
"We're going to start eating dinner with something called a "VEGE-TABLE..."
Brian: Now it’s mid-afternoon, I'm very hungry and entering the Danger Zone. We keep chips and salsa around for this exact scenario, so we'll get those out and figure out what we're doing for dinner. Lately, we've been having friends over and eating steaks, but I just turned 31 and I'm pretty sure I'm not doing a lot of things right, so we're going to start eating dinner with something called a "VEGE-TABLE." Cass is a bit of a foodie, so I assume this is a European table for eating healthier steaks.
Cass: Around 2 pm after some internet working, I’ll go into a hungry rage. This happens a lot when I’m home – I forget to eat and then I’m suddenly hungry like the wolf. I’ll usually eat something on bread, or cheese and crackers and some olives, and maybe like pieces of orange, and share with Brian who is usually sitting at his desk across the room or playing guitar behind me on the couch, equally starving. I don’t know why we let this happen, but it’s our way.
Sometimes we cook pasta on the radiator. (psyche)
"I get very territorial about the kitchen"
Cass: Around 4 pm I’ll decide what to cook for dinner. I love making soups on the weekend, usually because it’s the best way to use up all the produce from the week that we didn’t eat. I’ll set up my laptop in the kitchen, streaming Radiolab episodes straight from my computer, or the XO show by Keith McNally which I love. I’ll start chopping things and blending things, and around 5 pm I’ll pour myself some red wine. I get very territorial about the kitchen while I’m doing this cooking/radio routine, so I like when Brian and the dog stay out and let me be in there.
"If it’s Sunday and we’re at home, we’ll usually have someone over for dinner"
Cass: Around 6 we’ll eat something together and maybe listen to 90s hip hop and dance around the apartment. If it’s Saturday night, we’ll usually have a thing planned with friends so we’ll leave for that afterwards. If it’s Sunday and we’re at home, we’ll usually have someone over for dinner.
It’s been really nice having this Sunday "friends for dinner" routine, especially since winter has been so long and we haven’t socialized as much. Sunday is a good night when people are usually free. You can invite the people over who you haven’t caught up with in a while, and it’s so much cheaper than going out to a restaurant.
For a while we were going to make our Sunday dinners called “Steaks on Sunday” and cook steaks for our friends, but I think we’ve had enough red meat in the last few weeks that plan has changed.
Brian: Now it's after dinner and I was wrong about the table.
Weekender
Cass: The ideal end to a weekend is a big meal, red wine and 9 pm bedtime. It’s also nice if our heat is working and we made time to do our laundry. Then our pillowcases smell like the mountains in Spring.
Brian: Cass goes to sleep earlier than I do, so once she dozes off I’ll get up and do one last day behind / day ahead catalogue for myself so I can turn my brain off for sleep. This is mostly physical, bundling old notecards with a rubber band and setting up my desk so it has straight lines. I’ll be in bed by midnight and up bright and early to start my week.