you look like my next mistake

I'm really too tired to do today justice. I slept longer last night than any previous night for a couple of weeks - but that was enough to kick my body out of flight/or/flight mode, so I was a little lethargic getting ready (especially since I had to check out of my Mountain View hotel).

But it was all good - I had a couple of meetings, then had lunch with Tomas (who I worked with a few years ago; we shared a cube and a trip to Germany). I usually don't see old coworker friends because they all are scattered across a campus that is now miles long, but I made a point of clearing my calendar so I could go to his building in the afternoon and see him in person.

It's a bit weird going to those buildings right now - the light and feel is v. remimiscent of building connections like I did years ago, especially since I was in the building where I sat for the first six months oh so many years ago. But I made it through all the nostalgia, had an awesome lunch with Tomas, had a couple of meetings, said a too-brief hello to Joann, and met up with Eugene - so all in all it was great.

Then I drove to Belmont, where I hung out with the Shedletskys...and then I came to SF, checked into my hotel, and had dinner with Adit and Priyanka at Heirloom Cafe. It was super tasty, and the company in both cases was excellent...but you don't get any more because I'm falling asleep as I type. Goodnight!

the legends and the myths

After getting up at 5:30am, driving down to the South Bay in time for an eight am meeting, working until almost six, driving to San Carlos, working some more, and then having a long dinner with Barbara, Anne, and Veronica, I'm way too tired to blog - so check back tomorrow. Goodnight!

you don't know what it's like to be nameless

Another long day in San Francisco, but it was good despite that. I made it into the office in time for an eight a.m. meeting (after a lyft ride with a driver who was dealing with a lot of problems, which sounded pretty heartbreaking), then ate breakfast before having another day full of summit. I was done with meetings by 5:20, which was just in time for me to stroll across the street to the Ferry Building...

...where I had a drink and a snack with Katrina at Market Bar. Of course, I couldn't help but remember a v. boozy afternoon/evening there with Irish Matt ten years ago, but tonight was v. sedate - we caught up on life, and while we didn't have nearly enough time, at least we renewed the connection.

Then I came back to Japantown, accidentally took a nap, then came down to the bar and avoided alcohol but had another snack while doing some work. And now I need to go to my room, pack, and sleep - I have to get up super early to drive to Mountain View, so going to bed now would be a v. good idea. Goodnight!

you got a fast car, i want a ticket to anywhere

I had a lovely day in the city of sin, despite being at work (or work-related activities) from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. I spent the day at the San Francisco office - a different San Francisco office than I usually go to, since my company keeps expanding and swallowing new buildings whole. This was a summit, which, as you know, means that I had one all-day meeting rather than 12-18 30min meetings - somehow, staying engaged for a single day is weirdly more tiring than switching contexts every thirty minutes. But I revived myself at lunch with some polenta (which I picked the asparagus out of, since I still hate it despite being an adult now), and I had some v. entertaining interactions throughout the afternoon (even though the subject matter was not entertaining), so that was all fun.

After the summit, many of us went for drinks at a tiki bar called Pagan Idol. The tiki bar had lots of fake smoke and real koi, which made for a weird atmosphere, but my drinks were tasty and the company was super fun. We welcomed some crashers who have left the team, which was super fun (even more fun because we couldn't really talk about work) - and I learned that the great-grandmother of one of my coworkers was a famous artist in France (during a time when her whole life was a study in luck, fate, and the ability to survive, since she was a Jewish woman who left Ukraine and ended up in France right before WWII). Of course, a lot of the conversation was waaaaay less high-brow than that, but it was all pretty fun.

A core group of us left the bar and had dinner at La Fusion, which I had been to a few months ago with Jenni. We had sangria and lots of meat, and I was feeling high on life...but I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, so I bid them all adieu after the restaurant and came back to the hotel. And now it's definitely time for bed - goodnight!

don't pick up the phone

I had an amazing day, but all the fun wiped me out and I need to go to bed right now. I rolled out of bed at 7:30 this morning, showered, and went to my old neighborhood to have breakfast at my favorite cafe (ten points if you remember, without prompting, that it's owned by Tony). I sat at the bar and had huevos rancheros and chatted with Tony while he was cooking - I got there early enough that I was able to say more than a couple of words to him, which was exactly my plan, so that was fun. It did make me nostalgic for my old neighborhood, but I think Colorado is still the right move despite the memories....

...but Colorado doesn't have easy access to Sonoma, so maybe I'm wrong. After breakfast, I picked up Lauren (aka Subz) and we went up to Sonoma for the day. Our first stop was Gloria Ferrer, where we had some delicious sparkling wine (my fave) and I ended up signing up for the wine club again (don't judge, I love them). It was just slightly chilly on the patio, but it was totally gorgeous, and they had lap blankets, so it was pretty perfect.

We left the car there and took a lyft into Sonoma proper, where we wandered around the square and stopped in at Schug, where we had a delightful conversation with an Italian guy who was doing an internship with them (I dumped my tastes after a couple of sips, but did buy a bottle of cab franc). Then we had lunch at The Girl and the Fig - Subz and I both agreed it's not quite as good as its hype, but it was still yummy, and I had fond memories of earlier trips there (with Ritu, Bill and Terry when Ritu/Bill were choosing their wedding venue, and with Kathia a lifetime ago).

After lunch, we took a lyft out to Scribe, which I'd never been to before - it requires reservations for tastings, and Lauren had gotten us in, which turned out to be amazing. We had a couple of couches to ourselves on a veranda overlooking the vineyards, and it was a perfect place to chill for a couple of hours and sip wine and eat tasty snacks. We eventually caught a lyft back to Gloria Ferrer and came back to the evil city, where I was sad to say goodbye to Lauren - it was a super fun, wonderful day, which I was v. much in need of, and I'm glad we got to spend so much quality time together.

When I got back to my hotel, I promptly took a nap, then talked briefly to [censored] before wandering out in search of food. I went to Jitlada because I was craving Thai and it's only a couple of blocks away from my hotel - it wasn't quite as good as what I was wanting (because what I really wanted was pad see ew at Lers Ros, but I didn't want to go that far away), but it definitely hit the spot. And now, after feeding myself, taking care of a few tings, and getting ready for bed, it's time for sleep - goodnight!

talking in my sleep at night, making myself crazy

I really wanted to be lazy today, and so I let myself indulge a little bit (mostly by sleeping in, drinking coffee, and journaling). But I couldn't be lazy forever - I had to catch a flight to SF tonight, which meant that I had to pack, run a bunch of errands, tidy up the house, etc., etc.

I made it to the airport in time to eat a burrito bowl and toss back a margarita - the margarita wasn't very good, but it was good enough to relax me during the inevitable scary turbulence getting out of Denver and over the mountains. I journaled a bit more on the flight, but mostly a dozed and played Sudoku. Then I retrieved my rental car, drove through sudden rain to San Francisco, checked into my hotel....and ran into none other than Can Sar, who was sitting in the lobby having a drink. I've stayed at this hotel several times in the past few months, but this was the first time that the bar was fully open - and it looks gorgeous (which is probably why the hotel prices are going up).

So, I talked to Can for a few minutes, then came upstairs, unpacked, messed around on the internet, and read a long, extraordinary article about two British spinster sisters who saved at least twenty-nine people from the Nazis (funded by one sister's career as a romance novelist). You should read it too. But now I need to sleep - goodnight!

think i'll dust 'em off, put 'em back up on the shelf

I had another v. long day, but I ended it with relaxing on my couch and watching three episodes of Top Chef, so it could have been worse. I got up at 7:30 feeling like total death, and I barely made it into the office for my 8:30 meeting (I was five minutes late, but my coworkers are accommodating). Part of my delay was that I had to deal with a bunch of wet clothes - the thing that I didn't mention last night is that my dryer went out again last night when I started to dry some stuff, and it took my stove with it. This is the same thing that happened back in January. At the time, my landlord claimed that something must have happened in the neighborhood because it was all working fine when he came to check it out (and has been working since).

But now I'm convinced that it's electrical in the apartment, which means I'm also convinced that I'm going to die in some fiery hellscape. I flipped the breakers off last night, tried them again this morning just in case, but everything was still off (although it seems to be a 220 phase thing, since the oven/electronic display doesn't work but, oddly, the electric burners do). So I left and emailed my landlord, and hopefully he'll fix it while I'm gone.

sssanyway. I spent the day in a plethora of meetings, as per usual, and somehow forgot to eat lunch, which was a tragedy. I left at four, came home, had one more call, and then loaded up my wet laundry and went to Christine's house, where I did a load of laundry while we talked, ate takeout (chicken kebabs and some tasty hummus for me), and did some work stuff that we had to do together (some exercise where we evaluate other managers' evaluations of people, don't ask). This was much more fun to do together in a house rather than alone in conference rooms, so I'll take it (and my clean laundry) even if it was a weird way to spend Friday night.

Then I came home, folded my laundry, emptied my dishwasher, and watched three episodes of Top Chef: Colorado. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

let me kick it like it's 1986

This week has been incredibly, brutally long - but I had a lot of fun last weekend and am going to have more this weekend, so I'm just rolling with it.

I got up at 6:30 this morning (unusual), was in the office by 7:30, and as I was walking down the hall, I dropped my keys. Of course, one of my old bosses (who was a director a decade ago and is now a bigshot VP) happened to be coming down the hall (he's in Boulder for some reason), and he just said 'get it together, Swampler!' in front of the other business-y types he was with, then kept walking. Lol.

That could have set a bad tone for the rest of the day, but all in all it was pretty positive. Summits, meetings, lunch with my boss, etc., etc....and then I was supposed to go to a happy hour, but I came home and relaxed for an hour instead. Then I went to a team dinner (yes, another one); we went to T|ACO, which should have named itself TACO because T|ACO is annoying to type into Google Maps when looking for directions.

But the food was tasty and the conversation at my table was super fun. I got home around 9:45, messed around for longer than I should have, and then worked for the past hour+. The slogging will get better as soon as I'm through with performance reviews (at least this part of performance reviews), but tomorrow's not looking so hot either....

But now it's time for bed. And finally, happy anniversary to my parents! Yay for getting married thirty-eight years ago!

wolves without teeth

It's only ten p.m. and I have a million things I need to do, but instead I'm going to go to bed and dream the impossible dream that I'll actually get up in time to do stuff in the morning. Today was v. long, but v. interesting and mostly fun - I had meetings all day, but they were mostly enjoyable, and I had a fairly entertaining lunch at which we discussed horses and ukuleles, so it could be worse.

I left around 5:45 and picked up a blast from the past - my friend Tolu (of friendship renewal fame) is in town for this summit that has brought everyone and their mother into town, and so we had a long, leisurely dinner together. I hadn't seen him since before I went to Bali, which feels like a lifetime ago, so we had much to discuss. We went to Kitchen, which I really like, and we shared some tasty pork skewers, and then I had some gluten free pasta bolognese that was completely perfect. We lingered over tea after finishing our meals, since we had a lot to catch up on - it was great to see him, and hopefully I'll see him again sometime when I make it to the bay area.

But all good things must end (as he reminded me, when he told me that having kids has taught him that everything is impermanent), so I dropped him off at his hotel, came home, and realized I have absolutely no energy to do all my work tonight. So, it's time for bed instead - goodnight!

be brave, clench fists

Super tired...I had meetings straight from 9:30 to 6, then went out for dinner with Jen (a visiting coworker). We went to Emmerson, which I'd been to with Terry a month ago - I had a v. tasty pinot and a v. tasty porkchop, and we shared some fudge-type dessert that was delish. I also ate some of the bread, even though I shouldn't have, but it was one of those nights.

And then I came home, tidied up my kitchen, painted my nails, and worked for an hour. Le sigh. But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

goblin city

After spending the whole weekend getting nothing done, today was payback time. I got to the office around 9:15, slogged straight until 6:30, had dinner with a coworker who is in town from Singapore (there are many coworkers and so many dinners), came home, messed around online and took a nap, and then worked from 10:15 to midnight. Gross, I know.

But that means I need to get offline and stop staring at screens - goodnight!

somebody save your soul 'cause you've been sinning in this city, i know

Yesterday involved way more fun than my body had budgeted for, and that meant that today required paying the wages of my sins. I slept in yesterday morning, and then spent most of the morning/early afternoon taking care of office-related stuff - mostly sorting through all the piles of documents that I've let stack up for the last six months so that I can start figuring out my taxes. This is going to be an exercise in pain since there are so many documents, receipts, etc. to sort through - and since I've been basically ignoring my writing business for the past six months, things are really not in order.

But I had to slack off around three so that I could take a shower and get ready for fun. Katie and I had a 5:30pm reservation at Ophelia's, so I drove to Denver and met her at her house so that we could lyft over together. We both forgot that yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which meant downtown was super messy with people pretending to be Irish (the same people who also pretend to be Santa during Santacon, and patriotic during the 4th of July, and Mexican during Cinco de Mayo, etc., etc.). Ophelia's was also messy, since there were a lot of drunk people (which I judged, although as the night turned out, I was being a total hypocrite).

The food, though, was v. tasty - we had some excellent arepas and some kobe beef sliders, and a lot of fries, and it was great. I was pretty sedate at Ophelia's - I had two cocktails over two hours, and Katie and I talked lots about life (mostly me, yay - jk). But when we were done at 7:15, we weren't quite ready to go home...

...so we went to Lola, where we somehow ended up staying for five hours, drinking more margaritas than was advisable while covering many and varied topics of conversation. The music was perfect (I kept thinking things were by Roxette, when really they were by Heart, and [censored] would be very disappointed in me), and the drinks were strong, and we were high on life, and it was one of those perfect nights where overindulgence seems like a good idea...

Spoiler: it wasn't a good idea. Or, at least, it didn't feel like a good idea this morning, when I awoke in Katie's guest room feeling like death. I hung out for awhile in an attempt to recover, which was helped along by James picking up breakfast burritos for us - but considering that sitting in a rocking chair at one point made me want to vomit, you can tell I wasn't in the best place physically. That said, though, it was a lovely morning - we sat in the sun in the backyard, and I was rocking my plush pink robe (I know how to make myself at home at Katie's), and hanging out with Katie and James is always blissful.

I came home around noon and promptly crawled into bed, where I nursed my pain for awhile. Then I ate a snack and called my parents. While I was talking to them, all the great weather disappeared - the sky turned dark, and then suddenly it hailed, and then proceeded to rain. I wanted to just hole up in my house for the rest of the night, but I had dinner reservations with a visiting coworker in Denver...so I took a shower and drove back to Denver after only having been home for ~5hrs.

On the way, the rain suddenly turned to snow - I ate breakfast outside this morning, but by dinner everything was snow and ice. The roads were warm enough that it wasn't sticking, though, so I made it to Denver on time and picked up Navin from the train station. We had dinner at Avelina, which I hadn't been to before - it's your usual hip new American kind of place. I liked the decor a lot (warmer than many minimalist new American places), and the food was pretty tasty - however, what I ordered was probably a little too rich (short rib with beet risotto). Still, I would probably go back. And it was really fun to hang out with Navin, so I'm glad I went.

But now I need to sleep and try to effect the rest of my recovery - goodnight!

i'm gonna give you all of my love

Today wasn't the brutal slog it probably should have been...I had lots I intended to do, but was feeling a little burned out from the week (or perhaps feeling pre-burnout for the week ahead). So I worked from home this morning, which meant lots of coffee and yogurt to fuel my morning. Then I went to the office for a late lunch, a meeting, and some email time. I came home at 3:45 and took my last hour of meetings from home, and then I should have kept working...

...but instead I read Twitter, made some pasta for dinner (gluten free spaghetti carbonara, yum), messed around online, and watched like four episodes of Top Chef: Colorado. The season just finished airing (no spoilers, please!), and I want to binge all of it since it's set in my new home state and I am already in love with the food scene here. While tonight was one of those quiet nights with nothing going on, I felt happy every time I saw the Denver skyline or the Boulder Flatirons - so I think Colorado has been a great decision, all in all.

But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and there's a million things i haven't done

I should go to bed immediately - it's after midnight, which is not late for my soul but is def. late for my current worker-bee situation. I went to the office at nine this morning, rocking some flowy, flowery silk pants from Rent the Runway and my new red velvet high-heeled boots - yes, this is extremely overdressed for Boulder, but #sarasnotsorry. I was sorry, however, to have to get to the office by nine, especially since I had meetings almost straight through until 6pm.

Then I came home, ate some leftover pizza, journaled a bit, and took a nap. Yes, this was all v. lovely. But it's performance review season at work, and so I ended up working (with slowly declining productivity) from 9pm to midnight. It wasn't all terrible, though...I have a trip to Dublin coming up, and so I spent a few minutes pinging with a coworker about meeting up in Paris the weekend before, which will make me super happy (and will hopefully provide ample fodder for my gargoyle book).

But now, after all that, it's time for bed - goodnight!

bassnectar remix

I've been listening to electronica while trying to work for the last ninety minutes. If that sounds like a terrible time to you, you'd be right!

But today wasn't alllll work. I barely managed to get into the office by ten (I would like to blame daylight savings, but I usually don't get to the office until ten if I don't have meetings before that). And I somehow only had three meetings today, so I actually got a decent amount of work done - never enough, but at least it was something. I left the office a little after six, came home, put a potato in the oven, started to clean my kitchen - and then got a phone call from Chandlord (remember her?). We talked for almost an hour, which was great - she was entertaining enough to keep my mind off my hunger while my potato baked, so #winning.

After we hung up, I ate my potato with the leftover chicken and mushrooms from the other night (super yum). I also ended up talking to [censored] for almost an hour, after an innocent question over text turned into a 'short' phone call that turned into a long phone call. But I've only got one [censored], so a phone call every once in awhile is probably a good thing, right?

Then, finally, I did some more work, but now I need to sleep - goodnight!

you will remember me for centuries

I had to start with at nine this morning, but after my late night last night, I simply couldn't get out of bed in time to make it to the office (which is ten minutes away). So I took my first couple of hours of meetings from home, stoppin coffee and eating yogurt and trying not to die.

Then I went to the office, where I worked for the rest of the afternoon. But it was a gorgeous day out, and I knew I needed a break to reset my mind/productivity... So I went to Pizzeria Locale, where I sat at the bar, had two glasses of wine and a perfect Neapolitan-style gluten free pizza, and wrote some stuff related to the gargoyle book. I had an incredible realization that may reshape everything I have so far and may fix whatever had been blocking me... But we'll see when I try to write tomorrow.

But now I need to sleep and hope that this perfect night off results in greatness tomorrow - goodnight!

they have big teeth

I awoke remarkably clear-eyed today - but then I realized I had somehow fallen asleep with my contacts in. This does not bode well for my mental clarity this week.

Today didn't help with that clarity either - I had a 9:30 meeting, was at the office until 4:30, went to the grocery store, came home, forced myself to relax while reading part of a book (THE SILK ROADS - it's great!) while waiting for a baked potato to bake, and then ate supper (last night's leftover chicken + a potato = heaven).

What wasn't heaven, though, is that I had meetings with counterparts in Singapore and India from 7pm to 11pm. Gross. However, I put them all together into tonight so that I don't have to work late the rest of the week - and we'll see how that strategy pans out for me.

But now sleep is more important than continuing to whine about this, so goodnight!

you pick me up you make me a believer

Today was one of those quiet, somewhat sullen days - I blame the switch to daylight saving time (which I am v. excited about in the long run, since I like seeing sunlight after work, but today was a rough adjustment). I wanted to write, theoretically, but was really not in it to win it. And so I spent far too much time on Twitter and doing some online browsing of patio furniture and generally messing around, when I should have just gone outside or read a book or done literally anything else.

But I did take a shower, so I guess that was a plus. I also talked to my parents, who were in fine form. And I managed to do two loads of laundry, trim my bangs, pack up some packages to send back to online retailers, clean the kitchen, and make lunch (scrambled eggs) and dinner (slightly more impressive: chicken breasts with creamy mushroom/onion/parmesan gravy, which was surprisingly delicious).

I should have done day job stuff tonight, but instead I made some hot chocolate and ruminated in my journal, spilling several pages' worth of ink about what's bothering me and why I'm stuck with the writing. Don't get too excited, I didn't come to any seriously dramatic revelations - although I think I'm getting there. The writing will happen again - it's just that everything that I want to write requires me to dig even deeper into my psyche, my memories, my old wounds and fresh scars. In other words, writing is a total bitch sometimes, and it has been easier to avoid it for the last few months than it was to dig deep into myself while also trying to get settled into a new job/city/life. But I'm reaching the point where I'm feeling a little more settled, and the ache to write may eventually overcome my avoidant tendencies.

Tonight, though, I should probably get some sleep - goodnight!

let it out

Yesterday and today were both great, thanks for asking. Yesterday started with too much time at the day job (story of my life), but I left a little after four and went to Target. When I got there, there was an in-progress scuffle going on outside between a guy and some security guards - the guy broke free and ran away, and the crowd dispersed after that. I almost turned around and left, but the situation was over and I was desperate for shaving cream, so I went in anyway. But as I was pushing my cart away from the entrance, I idly thought that it was a good thing that my family didn't know I had voluntarily gone in after the guy disappeared...if he had happened to come back with a gun, at least my family wouldn't have known that I could have avoided it all, amirite?

sssanyway. After Target, I came home, did a bit of stuff around the house, and then packed up my journal and went to River and Woods (where Terry and I had brunch). I haven't really found a bar I could work for after-work writing shenanigans, but River and Woods is a distinct possibility. I really liked the wine I had, and the poutine with green chiles and short ribs was great (basically fries with cheese, spice, and meat - pretty hard to mess that up). I also journaled a lot and befriended the bartender, so all in all it was pretty winning (even if I was too tired to blog).

Today, I had grand plans to drive down to Colorado Springs to see my friend Barbara. I woke up later than I should have for that endeavor, and I really shouldn't have done anything but getting ready and walking out the door - but my place was a mess, so I tidied some stuff up before I left. The drive was pretty uneventful despite several accidents along the way.

And, of course, the best thing was seeing Barbara. Our meal was delicious, although our waitress was one of the most annoying servers I've been exposed to in awhile. But we had tons to catch up on, so we were there a couple of hours. It wasn't nearly long enough to cover everything, but it was great to get a start.

Then I stopped at Crate and Barrel on the way home and got some decorative stuff for my house + checked out possible chairs for my living room. When I finally got home, I spent some time putting the decorative stuff out where it's intended to be so that I wouldn't just leave the bags sitting in my kitchen for a week...so my living room now looks pretty great.

But I've been falling asleep while writing this, so I should go to bed for real - goodnight!

when we did not know the answers

I only got 6.5 hours of sleep last night, so I was dragging today. Luckily I had relatively few meetings; there was an international women's day event at work, so I went to a keynote by a pretty cool woman who started a self-defense company for women and then moved into public speaking, and went to another event that was slightly less awe-inspiring but still good.

Then, at six, I went out for dinner with someone I work with - we went to Bramble and Hare, which I've been wanting to try, and it was def. worth it. I had a v. tasty shortrib and also a salmon entree, and the wine was perfect, and I had a great time. However, when I got home I was so tired that I fell asleep sitting up on my couch - so now I'm throwing in the towel and going to bed for real. Goodnight!

look at this photograph

Today was great, all in all, although most of my socializing happened between 12pm and 6pm, and most of my work happened between 9pm and 12am. I went to work around 10, rocking a fun floral blouse thing from Rent the Runway (might as well look fabulous while I'm drowning in work, amirite?). I only had a couple of meetings + some lunch, and I had plenty of time to troll a coworker (my trolling was so effective that at least one of his direct reports was laughing so hard that they couldn't lift their head from their desk, so I consider that to be a great investment on my part), so that was all totally delightful.

Then, I spent the afternoon in an onsite/offsite with some other managers. I ended up in a small group with three women I really like, and we were doing some 'design thinking' exercise (ignore that, corporate-speak), and I ended up being the interviewee (more corporate-speak)...and the end result was that they discovered that I am a workaholic with few friends (few local friends - my California network is alive and well, but also not much use when it comes to drinking my champagne stockpile), so the problem they designed for was fixing my life. Lolol. Most of the possible solutions involved me getting a dog or getting a Colorado-themed tattoo or me running for mayor, but A for effort. However, they all volunteered to be my friend, and while that might sound pathetic, they all seem to be in need of friends as well, so I'll take it.

Then, after getting pulled into a prank involving another coworker, I had happy hour with my team. I didn't have a drink because the place only has beer and no cider/wine, but the group has pretty great chemistry and a lot of fun, so it was v. entertaining. Then I grabbed a gluten free pizza, came home, opened a bottle of wine, and watched the final two episodes of the Top Chef: Charleston season that I'd been putting off watching (yes, I cried, I can't help myself). And then I worked for a couple of hours. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

hold each other

Today was too long - I went to work a little before 9:30 rocking a v. fun new sweatshirt (I'm trying Rent the Runway Unlimited thanks to my jealousy of Terry's NYC life), but that was pretty much the only joy I got out of the day. Okay, maybe that's dramatic - I also enjoyed my coffee, and the fact that it was taco tuesday.

But I had two hours to get work done this afternoon and was v. much looking forward to it...and then ninety minutes of it got sucked up by 100% agreeing with someone, which was a little too much bonding time. So, I got nothing done, came home at 4:50 and took another meeting from 5-6, spent 6-8 reading my last RITA book (not very good, which was almost a relief since I didn't have time to get enthralled), had another meeting from 8-8:30, and then worked until now because I had some deadlines I *had* to meet (an overdue expense report that was so overdue my boss got emailed about it, along with interview feedback). Bleh.

But tomorrow is another day, and I need to sleep now so that I can take time to put on something appropriately awesome tomorrow. Goodnight!

monkey wrench

Today was a long day, but it wasn't a bad day...just a long one. I woke up this morning supremely unenthused about getting out of bed, but I managed to drag myself out in time to journal a bit before showering and going to work.

When I got there, I slogged all day - my big boss is in town this week and I had a meeting with her this afternoon that I needed to prep for, in addition to everything else I usually do. Also, she is apparently a bingo fiend and hosted a bingo party this afternoon in the office, which turned into a highly competitive, not-at-all-relaxing activity that involved doing six bingo squares at a time like we were all pro bingo players at an American Legion Hall. Yes, my life is strange.

Then I took care of a couple of brief things, came home, and skimmed another RITA book (it was cute!). Then I ate a belated supper of leftovers, and then I worked for a couple of hours - my self-assessment for our performance review cycle was due tonight, and since I refused to work this weekend, I had to do it now. But it's done, and now I can sleep - goodnight!

protect me from what i want

I had a v. hermity, v. productive (around the house, at least) kind of day. I awoke in leisure, but I decided that I didn't want to be lazy the whole day, so I made some coffee, sat at my desk, and answered some writing-type emails that I've been putting off. I then spent most of the day doing stuff around the house - laundry, finally moving my old entertainment console out of the way (where it's been for over three months), wrangling all the cords around my tv into submission, and wrapping some pretty paper around some shoeboxes so that I can store candles, remotes, cables, etc. in nice boxes on my media stand rather than having them out and jumbled up in plain sight.

I also went to the grocery store to buy stuff to eat for the next few days, since my fridge was dire. Then I called my parents, and then I made dinner - chicken tikka masala in my instant pot, along with cauliflower rice. It turned out pretty well - I'd marinated the chicken before calling my parents, and throwing stuff in the instant pot was easy. I don't think the flavor profile was exactly what I was looking for, but it was close enough for a first effort, and I can keep looking for other instant-pot type recipes for the future. And it was totally delicious enough that eating the leftover for the next two days won't be a hardship.

Then I read another RITA book - four down, two more to go. This one was merely okay, so I skimmed most of it - the guy kind of annoyed me, and the girl was a little too perfect (her only flaw was pushing too hard to get what she wants - ugh). But I've read a lot worse, so at least it wasn't terrible.

And now I should sleep - I managed not to work on day job stuff the entire weekend, but I will pay the price tomorrow (maybe). Goodnight!

you don't have to go home but you can't stay here

Today was delightful, all in all. I got nine hours of sleep and awoke to golden light - it was a perfect day in Boulder, with temps nearing seventy and birds chirping as though they no longer have to worry about winter. I had tentative brunch plans with Christine (one of my coworkers), but those materialized a bit later than I'd expected (in my SF life, brunch is around 10am; in her NYC life, brunch is after noon). That turned out great for me, since I listened to Weird Al Yankovic's 'Hamilton Polka' (a tour de force) and then walked down Pearl and had coffee and journaled at Boxcar. It might become 'my' coffeeshop (or at least one of them) - I don't really know how I've gone this long without finding my coffeeshops and brunch spots and wine bars, but it's time to settle in.

Then I met Christine at Snooze. It won't become my brunch place, only because the wait was an hour - but that gave us time to check out all the cute shops around it, so #noregrets. When we finally got a table, I discovered that the food was worth it - I had a 'benedict' with thick homemade corn tortillas, pulled pork, a green chile hollandaise, and poached eggs, along with some delish hashbrowns. I thought it was super yummy, and Christine and I had a leisurely conversation over food and coffee, and it was all great.

Then we wandered around Pearl Street a bit more - it was totally packed, since everyone was enjoying wandering around in tshirts and sandals. Then I came home, took a v. brief nap, and went to get a pedicure. I then spent the whole evening reading another RITA book - I didn't totally love it, but I didn't hate it, and so I'm now v. impressed that I've read three of my six books and actually liked/enjoyed all of them so far. We'll see if the streak continues - I need to read another one (or maybe two) tomorrow, so wish me luck with that.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

hit and run

I'm typing on my phone, so don't expect greatness. Today was good enough; I had some meetings, had a quick presentation to my boss's boss's boss (grand-bigboss?), had some more meetings, and was done around five.

At that point, I was deeply in need of a break, so I went to Verde and sat at the bar and had a margarita and some tasty enchiladas, which made my mouth happy even if I need to start eating better again. Then I came home and, v. uncharacteristically, decided to watch a movie. I watched Wonder Woman (have you heard of it? it was a small arthouse flick that no one saw, I think). I didn't love love it like a lot of my Twitter feed did, but I really liked it, and I cried (yes I cry at almost every movie, shut up).

And now I'm going to sleep and hopefully catch up on the sleep I've lost this week so that I can accomplish a bunch of stuff this weekend. Goodnight!

put that record on again

I meant to go to bed two hours ago, but today was pretty good all in all. I had a solid day at work, and I left around six. When I got home, I read another RITA book, and I adored this one - it was super fun and cute and heartwarming, and I cried a little, so I think it's a winner.

Then I probably should have gone to bed, but I ended up answering some work email so that I don't have to do it in the morning. But now I need to go to bed for realz - goodnight!

let them know there's life in her yet

I don't feel like blogging - today was fine, and I didn't get to the office until ten (although I was dismayed to find the elevators broken, which meant I had to run up five flights of stairs) and had a few free hours today, so it definitely could have been worse.

But it also could have been better, since I had meetings with Singapore and India tonight (individuals within then, not the entire country) and so had to work from 8-9:30. But I got home before six, did some laundry, and made a very tasty frittata. I also spent some time journaling... So all in all, not bad, but not very exciting.

And now I need to sleep and hopefully dream of something exciting - goodnight!