it's a cruel cruel summer

Happy New Year from Iowa! Today was rather ridiculous, all in all, although it wasn't really my problem - but the milk plant in Allerton broke a water main overnight, and so my dad got a call this morning asking for an emergency fix. This was, at the beginning, a true emergency - by the time they discovered the break, they'd drained the town water tower, which meant everyone in town had basically nonexistent pressure in their pipes. This was a potentially catastrophic problem since it was so cold last night that pipes could freeze and break if water stopped flowing....

But despite all the ice in the vicinity of the break, and temperatures so cold that most of my dad's equipment wouldn't start, and the fact that they had to jackhammer through concrete, etc., etc., they ended up fixing it, and no one in town was left without water. So I guess that's lucky, even though it started out as a v. unlucky day.

I spent the day mostly getting ready to go and taking care of last-minute things (which I'm sure some people, such as [censored], would have preferred that I had left undone). I also made some danged quesadillas to go along with the guacamole I made (the guac I made today was even better than yesterday's guac). And I went with [censored] and Dad to visit my grandma one more time - she's super confused, as usual, and was angry that we came in during all the snow instead of staying safe at home (she can see the snow through her window, which has been here for days, but didn't realize the real danger was the fact that it's now -15 with windchills of -30+).

Then we came home and had a totally delicious supper - we ate some pork that my dad had cured/smoked (which was amazing). It would have been the uncontested star of the show, but Mom tried a new recipe for twice-baked potatoes that was so fucking good, and she also made bacon-wrapped lil smokies, which were totally awesome as well.

And then we played two games of Ticket to Ride (Dad and I both won, much to my mother and [censored]'s chagrin). I hung out upstairs until 11:30, but then I came down and finished packing as the new year began.

And now I should sleep and dream of all the things I hope to accomplish in 2018 - goodnight!

train across ukraine

My time in Iowa is almost over, but I still had one major event to get through - Wampler Family Christmas (tm). Even though it's ridiculously cold (and getting even more ridiculously cold tonight/tomorrow), Uncle Mark, Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, Aunt Becky, and Uncle Brian all came down so that we could hang out for our usual holiday celebration. It was a lovely day - we ate tacos (v. non-traditional for us) and baked potatoes, and Iowa State won its bowl game, and our white elephant resulted in some great gifts (the carrot sharpener and bag of carrots that I put in was a surprise hit).

And after everyone left, I made another batch of chocolate chip chewies, and then my parents, [censored] and I played Ticket to Ride, which I won handily. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

but you were living in another world trying to get your message through

Vacation is rapidly coming to a close, so I had another sloth-filled day of #smalltownlife. I didn't drag myself out of bed until eleven a.m., which was pretty freaking great. Then I spent some quality time eating, drinking coffee, and playing with a new bullet journal. I haven't journaled regularly since I moved to Boulder, but now that I'm mostly settled in and also planning to travel way less in Q1 than I did in Q4, I'm hoping to build those habits again.

So, I alternated between messing around with setting up my journal and taking care of random small tasks online. I also, at some point, went into town to pick up groceries for tomorrow (the roads were a little slick, but I was also driving my old Sunfire from 2002, which never had quite the ability to handle snow that any other vehicle has). And I played with my parents' kitten, which is the first kitten we've had in forever who will let us play with her.

Then we had supper, and then we watched the Iowa State/Kansas State basketball game (I stopped watching at halftime and it apparently got much more bleak after that). Then I wrote in my journal, played some Civilization (longer than intended, shorter than desired), and now I must sleep - goodnight!

he knows when you're awake

I haven't been in the mood to blog the last couple of nights...and even if I was in the mood, I was always falling asleep on my feet by the time I got to bed, which meant any post would have been nearly incoherent. The last couple of days have been delightful, with lots of playing and no work at all (although I need to do some writing-related work tomorrow for sure).

Tuesday was mostly a lazy recovery day after the holidays, and we played Codenames in the evening before I eventually played Civilization until very late. Yesterday I woke up and went to Des Moines, where I got some jewelry cleaned/checked and stocked up on bougie necessities (a case of wine to leave here for future trips, along with a bunch of stuff from Whole Foods). It was v. cold yesterday (like -4 when I left the house)...but that's nowhere near as cold as it's going to get this weekend. And then when I got home, we ate ham and scalloped potatoes and played Ticket to Ride ([censored] won, alas). And then I didn't play Civilization - instead, I stayed up talking to my dad until after one a.m. But then I played Civ until about three, which made for a very late night...

...which meant I didn't crawl out of bed until eleven this morning. I spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the kitchen with my mom, and I also made chocolate chip chewies - I haven't made them in forever, but I still remember the recipe by heart, and they turned out perfectly even with gluten free flour. We had tasty beef and mashed potatoes for supper, and then we were going to play a game, but everyone seemed to be falling asleep instead...except for me, and so I (you guessed it) played Civilization.

The Civ marathon will end soon enough, though - it's a good end-of-year palate cleanser, but I'm starting to itch to accomplish something meaningful (like writing a book, or at least journaling regularly again; or cooking tasty paleo things; or getting deep into financial planning; or any number of other things that don't involve playing Civ). But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

he sees you when you're sleeping

Merry Christmas! I had a fabulous day, although I should have gone to bed an hour ago (when I started falling asleep over my laptop). I successfully woke up at eight (under slight duress) so that we could open presents, which all went swimmingly (I gave and got some great stuff, yay). Then we had breakfast - Mom made some v. delish breakfast casserole that I would happily eat again, and Dad made the same ambrosia that he makes every year, which is always great.

I spent the afternoon mostly being lazy, but I left the house briefly to go into town with [censored] (an errand that probably should have been put off since it was cold as fuck outside (I think it was below 10 degrees all day), but we needed fresh air). Then we spent the evening playing a new game called Codenames, which involved a lot of word strategy, which was v. fun and frustrating. We also ate prime rib, which was perfect, and it ended up being a v. lovely evening.

But then everyone went to bed and I played Civilization for a couple of hours...but I'm so tired that I'm going to bed now even though my desire to play is strong. Goodnight!

south city midnight lady

Merry Christmas Eve! Today was lovely, but it lasted a v. long time - I woke up at 9:45am solely because I had set my alarm (playing Civilization last night was not the best idea from a sleep standpoint....nor from an addiction standpoint, since I haven't played in years and yet right now *all* I want to do is open the game even though it's one a.m. and I need to sleep immediately). I spent the morning drinking some coffee and then helping to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner (you might call it lunch) - vacuuming, peeling potatoes, wrapping a couple of presents, etc.

My sister, two of her three kids, and my great-niece and great-nephew showed up shortly before 2pm. We had a delish turkey dinner with all the usual trimmings (green bean casserole, corn casserole, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach salad, five cup salad, apricot jello salad, etc) courtesy of my mother, who put in way more effort than was necessary, although it was v. much appreciated. We eventually opened gifts, and eventually it was time for Zane and his fiancee to leave, followed eventually by Sammi and her fiance and her two kids (Jaicee is eight, cute, and totally a handful; Thompson is seven weeks old, slept the whole time, and was quite cuddly).

But Jackie stayed super late - Allie had to work in Des Moines today and didn't get to our house until 7:45pm, which was two hours after her siblings left. I spent some of that intervening time drying dishes and watching '60 Minutes' (CBS programming at its finest), and also talking to Jackie...and when Allie showed up, we hung out for a few hours. But by 10:30 it was definitely time for them to leave, since I still had many packages to wrap and not nearly enough time/energy for them.

But the wrapping is now done, and even though I really want to play Civ, I am going to try to resist temptation and go to bed - goodnight!

the trick you said was never play the game too long

I almost certainly shouldn't have stayed up until 2am playing Civilization V... And I almost certainly don't care about the consequences. I haven't played a game of Civ in many years, and it felt like it was time to decompress by throwing a couple of days of my life at the task of considering AI-driven civs. If AI keeps going the way it currently is, that could actually come in handy, amirite?

So, today was gloriously slothful. I slept late, played civ for a couple of hours, and only went upstairs when the need for coffee and food outweighed my desire to play. Uncle Mark showed up around then, so I talked to him and the family while eating a sandwich.

I spent most of the afternoon hanging out, and we left the house to have dinner in Seymour (prone rib, yum). But when we got home, [censored] and I should have wrapped presents, and instead I played Civ for almost six hours. That means I should sleep so I can accomplish something in the morning (either wrapping presents or conquering the Persians, unclear). Goodnight!

leaving on a jet train

#sorrynotsorry for skipping the blog last night. I worked from home yesterday, which meant that I got up and worked for a couple of hours, then ate breakfast and discussed (discussed, not argued, because I'm a lady) politics with my dad for three hours, then had a couple of meetings, then supper, then some find CBS programming, and then I worked from eight p.m. to one a.m. This turned out to be a great thing, because I hadn't really had that amount of time to focus in the last few weeks, and so I knocked out all but ~20 of the 300+ emails in my inbox. And that means I can go into my vacation feeling much more on top of things than I otherwise would have.

But since I was way over staring at screens, I had to log off as soon as I was done working - which meant I missed my chance on zee blog to wish a timely happy birthday to Jessica. Happy birthday, JWan!

As you may have guessed, I got up later this morning (although 9:30ish isn't that late for me when I'm on vacation). However, I worked all morning and early afternoon (including writing an email that [censored] suggested I should start by saying 'Dear loyal subjects,' but I decided I didn't want to start the holidays by losing my job). That put me slightly behind on my errand plans...but eventually I showered, stole Mom's car (and Mom), and went to Centerville. I had some last-minute Christmas shopping to take care of (mostly a couple of stocking stuffers), and she needed some groceries, so we accomplished all of those errands rather efficiently.

Then we came home, I ate some potato chips and my beloved A&E french onion dip (snack of champions), and then I went into town with Dad to see my grandma, who is in the hospital with an infected leg. This was slightly tough since she remembers basically nothing other than who he is and that he'll take care of her - she didn't realize, multiple times, that she's in a hospital (although she realized multiple times that she'll still be there at Christmas, which upset her every time). Dementia is a total bitch.

Then we came home, and Mom made mac and cheese and some ham, which was totally delish. And then we played Ticket to Ride, which my father won. And now, I think I'm going to journal and go to bed - or maybe just go to bed. Goodnight!

she sets the city on fire

I have successfully arrived in ye olde Iowa after an easyish travel day punctuated by mild annoyances. I woke up this morning, finished packing, moved my car down the street (they're trimming trees in my complex today, which was v. poorly timed since it meant I had to leave my car at the office), and then took care of the last pieces of stuff around the house so that I could vacate it in good shape. Then I stopped at REI, which is practically a 24/7 operation in Boulder, and bought a new long coat - my previous long coat is a little too tight over sweaters, and it's about to get cold as fuck in Boulder, which reminded me that I need to get a legit winter coat while I still have a chance. No, the patagonia down jacket that I wear all the time in SF/Boulder is not sufficient for winter, even if SF in summer often feels like winter.

Then I went to the office and slogged as much as I could, interrupted by an alcohol emergency (long story) that necessitated me dropping some champagne off somewhere before taking a lyft to the bus station. I tried the bus to the airport for the first time and it worked out quite well - it was definitely cheaper than parking at the airport or taking a lyft all the way there (the bus is ~$9, but my company bought us bus passes, so it was free except for the lyft to get to the bus station). It took longer than driving would have, but all in all it was a pretty pleasant experience (although it was super hot on the bus, but I've already forgotten that pain, so we're all good).

When I got to the airport, I stopped in for a snack at Cantina Grill, where I worked on my laptop until I realized I needed to leave immediately to walk to my gate. My flight was slightly oversold, so I didn't want to be late to board - especially because the plane fit like eight people, so any late arrival would have been super obvious. Okay, it fit more than eight, but not a lot more - I had both a window and an aisle seat because the plane had a seat on one side and two seats on the other, if that tells you anything about the comfort level of the flight....

We were twenty minutes late taking off, but we made up some time in the air, and when I landed my parents and [censored] were waiting. We had dinner at Johnny's, as per usual (they carry one of my favorite pinot noirs (Meiomi), which was nice even though I wasn't particularly in love with the meal this time) - but any lack in food was made up for by our favorite waiter, who we always happen to see when we go there. Then we drove home, and now i need to sleep so that I can work tomorrow (working from home to get some stuff done, but then hopefully taking the rest of the break completely off if I can swing it). Goodnight!

over the castle on the hill

Today was pretty good, all in all, but I'm ready for a break. Luckily, I'm about to get one in the form of ye olde Iowa - I'm mostly packed and mostly ready to go, although I have to take care of a bunch of last-minute stuff in the morning and then go to the office and put in a few hours of day job responsibilities before heading to the office. So, on that note, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

i was younger then, take me back to when

Today was pretty lovely, all in all, although I just noticed how much my tan has faded...I'm never particularly tan to begin with, but after my endless summer during the first six months of this year (well, except for London, which was endless rain and writing), I had a bit more color. Turns out that two phones and two laptops in constant rotation still aren't enough to give me a relaxed, fun-filled glow...

sssanyway. I totally slept through my alarm somehow this morning, and I awoke exactly an hour later than planned - it's like my body knew I wanted to wake up at 7:45am, but didn't realize that I was now in a different timezone. So I had to scramble a bit to get ready for work, which means I missed breakfast, but I made it in time for a meeting (at which my presence was totally unnecessary), so that's good. I then spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on emails (quite unsuccessfully), talking to my parents (successfully), and generally messing around online.

But I cut out at 4pm to meet Katie for happy hour/dinner in Denver. We went to Cuba Cuba, which I'd apparently been to before and had absolutely no recollection of - the blog says it was in spring of 2012, and I remember other things we did that day (a Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, brunch, teatime), but I didn't really remember dinner. This may be because their mojitos are potent and totally addictive - I had a ginger one tonight that was so delicious that I wanted ten, but I had to refrain. We also shared some empanadas and some plantain chips, and we had a couple of entrees, and it was all delish.

Then we went to her house so I could say hi to the girls (and, more importantly, so Katie could rescue James), and then I came home (with a stop at Target to pick up some tings). And now I'm going to sleep and hopefully not sleep through my alarm tomorrow.

But most importantly, happy birthday to my mother and to Chandlord - yay for another year of life!
Goodnight!

i'm high as a kite, i just might stop to check you out

I'm back in Boulder (temporarily) after a long but entirely uneventful day. I woke up without any hangover at all thanks to actually pacing myself last night - Veronica's party was delightful, and it was even more delightful to wake up this morning without being a) too tired or b) too headachy. I've been one of those two things for what feels like a very long time at this point, so today was the break that I needed...

So yeah, I woke up, moved my car so that I wouldn't get a ticket, showered, packed, etc. and was out the door by eleven. My flight was earlier than I'd remembered it (probably a time zone thing in my head), so I didn't have time to grab brunch - instead I went to the airport, returned my rental car, and ate some incredibly spicy chile verde at Urban Tortilla (it was yummy, but perhaps too spicy for me - but I ate it all while tears formed in my eyes, so #noregrets). I also got a coffee and called my parents briefly, and then it was time to board.

I'd intended to do all sorts of work/play on the plane, but instead I slept basically the whole way. When I landed, I retrieved my bag (checked so that I could bring home a bottle of John and Jess's limoncello!), retrieved my car, drove home, and spent the evening doing laundry, watching Top Chef, and doing v. little else.

And now I need to sleep - only 2.5 work days before I leave for ye olde Iowa, so I have a lot to get done before then. Goodnight!

big hands i know you're the one

I can't blog tonight - I wish I could, since I had a delightful day (brunch with Claudia, aka Santy Claude, and Sam at Saul's, Jess's birthday party, coffee with Adit, a post-drive nap, and Veronica's birthday party until one am). But I'm falling asleep while typing, which results in really poor posts - so you'll have to wait for the full update tomorrow. Goodnight!

shareholder value

I woke up this morning feeling slightly less like death than I have the past few days - it helped that I blocked off my calendar until 10am, which meant that I actually got some decent sleep. Of course, my lyft driver took me to the office while listening to a weird combo of Rammstein and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which was not the most relaxing way to start my day (especially since I hadn't had coffee yet).

But work was good today - some meetings, a nice lunch with Alice (nice in terms of conversation; I plated a really weird mishmash of food that didn't make any sense and wasn't particularly tasty), and a lot more meetings this afternoon.

I left before four, though, to meet up with Katrina, whom I hadn't seen in a while - we had drinks at Hi Dive, which is a dive bar on the water that may or may not have rats (we saw no signs, but it seems like a plausible rumor). But then we had to adjourn - I met up with Chandlord and Santy Claude at Benjamin Cooper. There was drank, met some randos of Vidya's (although it's always great to hang out with Adam!, and eventually walked to Chisme, which is like a fast casual place with way better tacos than takeout Mexican).

Of course, Adit and Priyanka came too, and the Priyanka left before Adit, Chandlord, Adam and I adjourned to the nearby bar hidden beneath the Liholiho Yacht Club. The bar was super fun, and my second drink (which Adit ordered) was way more drinkable than whatever else I could have gotten.

But now I'm falling asleep as I write this - goodnight!

i feel it coming

I know I often say I'm beyond tired, but tonight I really mean it. I woke up at 5:45 this morning so that I could beat traffic to the south bay, and I was successful - even if it meant taking my makeup and my hair dryer with me, since every minute I spent in SF this morning would make my commute about two minutes longer later. Leaving that early meant I successfully reached Mountain View in an hour (unheard of) - but it also meant that I'm wrecked.

I then had work allllll day, as I do (although I wrote for about twenty minutes this morning). By six I was definitely done, so I went to a different, fancier building on campus, where I ate dinner and wrote for two hours while waiting for traffic to die down. Then I drove back to the city and wrote from 9:45 until now - but I finished a short story I was trying to write and sent it off to the blogger who asked me for it, and now at least that's over.

And now I'm going to sleep - I blocked off part of my morning, which means I might actually get eight (or nine, if I'm greedy and willing to be late to something) hours of sleep. Goodnight!

i'm practicing your name so i can say it to your face

I'm so ridiculously tired - I only had five possible hours of sleep last night and I kept waking up during that already-too-short interlude, so I awoke this morning already feeling like death. But I made it to the airport, grabbed something to eat, boarded my flight, slept fitfully, and wrote for a little bit. I landed in SFO sometime shortly after nine a.m. here, but I was dragging from exhaustion, so it took awhile to get out of the airport and pick up my rental car.

But I got a sleek new Nissan Rogue, which I like quite a bit - not nearly as big as last trip's Chevy Tahoe, but it's a nice small SUV. And I stopped at Philz on the way to work so that I could get some more caffeine into my bloodstream. Thus fortified, I worked until almost six...I didn't get nearly enough done, but c'est la vie.

Then I cut out and drove to Palo Alto, where I took a twenty-minute nap in my car that may have been the only thing that saved me. And then I had dinner with the original Jen Lui at Mayfield Cafe (owned by the same group that owned my beloved Des Amis - this place isn't the same, but my short ribs were pretty tasty, so I'll take it). Jen was great, and I'm glad we were able to hang out...

...but now that I'm at my hotel (in the city, which was SUPER DUMB since now I have to drive back down tomorrow), I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

she wants to break up every night

Today didn't go quite as planned, mostly because I spent too much time messing around while getting ready (thus losing free time that I'd meant to spend writing or working), and then packing and straightening up my house and taking care of menial tasks took my whole night. And now I'm only going to get five hours of sleep, which is rather unfortunate...so I should probably go to bed immediately. Goodnight!

you want paradise, but someday you'll pay the price

I want to keep writing, but I need to stop staring at screens....conundrum. Today was pretty good, all in all, but I probably should have relaxed a bit more at some point. I woke up at 6:45 (shocker), which enabled me to be at my desk by 7:45 (double shocker), and I wrote for an hour (extra triple quadruple shocker). I still haven't finished the short story I'm working on, but I've written ten pages between yesterday and today, which is about ten more pages than I've written in the last two months, so I'll take it.

But I eventually had to go into work, where I grabbed breakfast and then worked nonstop from 9:30 to 5:30. Then I ordered a gluten free pizza to pick up on the way home, came here, and watched an episode of Top Chef to decompress. And then I pulled the laptop back out and wrote some more. And now, although I want to keep writing, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

i was lightning before the thunder

Today was pretty great, all in all - still hermity, but in a much better mood than I was yesterday. I got tons of sleep, then spent the morning/early afternoon dealing with more house stuff. That included unpacking the last box in the living room, which was super exciting - I still have a few more things in the living room to put away, but it's almost done.

And then, you will be shocked to know, I actually wrote a few pages. Yes, I'm surprised too. I only got it together because I'm already running late on turning in a short story that I promised someone, but I had a great idea for it, and I think it will come together tomorrow if I get out of the office in time to focus. Or, alternatively, I'll write before work - but that requires going to sleep right now so I can get up in time to do it.

So after the writing, I talked to my parents for like an hour and a half, and then talked briefly to my sister, and then spent some more time organizing stuff. And then I thought I was going to briefly skim a couple of old scenes since my story idea has to do with a minor character in a previous book - but instead I reread a bunch of Lucy/Max's book, along with big chunks of the two books before that. It's an odd feeling, rereading stuff from a year or more ago - some of it is still vivid, and some I don't remember writing at all. But the main takeaway was that I was really proud of how those books turned out, so I should probably get back to writing more books sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, though, the day job requires my attendance tomorrow - so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

raise your glass

I should have gone to a holiday party tonight...but despite getting my nails done this afternoon, I simply wasn't feeling it. I really would have liked to have gone out in general, but I needed a break from coworkers (even though I like my coworkers!) - my job has taken over my life in rather dramatic ways, and this is my last full weekend at home until January, so I decided to indulge in my desire to be a hermit rather than doing the good corporate-citizen thing and going to the party.

This was, in some ways, driven by yesterday, when I worked straight from 8am to 3:45pm (with a ten-minute break for some furniture guys to deliver a new tv stand), and then dashed over to the Boulder County offices to get new license plates for my car. That task was accomplished fairly well, and then I took a break to go shopping (ironically, for something to wear tonight, which turned out to be unnecessary). But when I came home, I really wanted to do nothing, so I ate something unmemorable (having turkey burgers and fries in the freezer made for something easy, but not particularly great), drank a bottle of wine, and watched the end of Project Runway. I also, stupidly, totally unnecessarily, stayed up until after 1am, which made this morning painful...

...because I had to get up and put some clothes on, since I was expecting a tv delivery. I'd bought a tv from Amazon on Black Friday and selected today for the delivery, and it's really humongous - perhaps too humongous, since it's almost twice as big as my previous tv, but it's rather delightful to have a big tv and access to all the content I've missed in the last decade. The delivery didn't arrive until 10:45, and they weren't quite as helpful setting up as I'd been led to believe - they put the legs on backwards, which I luckily noticed before they left since it would have been impossible to change by myself - and even then, they weren't centered, but that was something I was able to take care of when I noticed it later.

But it's all good, and you can probably guess that the tv was a bigger draw than the party. After I set up the tv, I took a nap, ate some leftover pasta for a late lunch, and called [censored] to discuss [censored]. Then I got a mani/pedi - I think I found a good place, and it's walking distance from my house (although I drove because I was cold and lazy).

On the way home, I tested out a new grocery store (also walking distance to my house) and, on a whim, bought some stuff to attempt to make a thai green curry with pork and veggies. It turned out super yummy and was very easy - and I'll probably be eating a lot more of it, since that particular brand of curry sauce is legitimately whole30-approved and totally gluten free, and pulling it together was very simple.

Then, I made the gametime decision to bail on the party and curled up to watch three episodes of Top Chef (last season, which I didn't see). And now I'm going to attempt to be in bed before midnight (shocking) - goodnight!

i been up all night, no sleep

I need to go to bed immediately - happily, it's my bed in Boulder for the next few days, not a bed in some other city (aka the city I actually had a bed in for ten years). I woke up this morning at 5:30am after less than six hours of sleep, which was a v. unwelcome start to the day - but I made it to the airport in time to have my favorite Mexican breakfast, so I guess it was okay. I spent the first part of the flight sleeping and the second part working, as per usual. When I got to Denver, I grabbed a coffee to keep me going, and then drove to the office, where I made it with two minutes to spare for a meeting (yes, that felt v. jetsetter; no, my life really isn't very glamorous).

But I only had one meeting, and then I promptly left the office to go to a team offsite. There are only five of us in Boulder right now, so it was the perfect-sized cozy group to go out for high tea. We went to the Boulder Teahouse, which was, oddly enough, built in Tajikistan, disassembled there, shipped here, and reassembled - which made for a really interesting space. The food, though, was all traditional British teastuffs (although they had a v. excellent chai). The gluten free options were pretty decent, and the company was great (made even more great by a glass of sparkling wine, of course). It was a really fun way to spend a couple of hours, and definitely far more relaxing than spending the rest of the afternoon in meetings.

After that, I wandered around Pearl Street for awhile - I verified that there is a paper/pen/ink store here that is more than qualified to fill my needs (but I didn't buy anything, which is so shocking that I have to point it out). I did, however, buy overpriced mittens that are more suited for skiiers than jetsetters - my body is not ready for these below-freezing temperatures. And then I came home, turned the heat up (it was set to 58 and it was actually 58 when I walked in, which is different than past trips, where it warmed up enough during the day to prevent such shenanigans), huddled under a blanket while waiting for the heat to kick in, and inadvertently took a nap.

But eventually I had to do some work, so I did, and now I'm realizing I should have gone to bed an hour ago. "Should Have Gone To Bed An Hour Ago: The Sara Wampler Story" is probably the name of my memoir. Goodnight!

without ever letting you go

No blog - I have to get up in six hours to go to the airport, so I'm prioritizing sleep instead. Goodnight!

it's quiet uptown

I have a million things I haven't done, but I need to go to bed - my summit was successful today, but I didn't get enough sleep last night, and I was also out at dinner from 5pm to 9pm (slowest dinner ever - Salt House was delish, but between the pre-dinner drinks, the unnecessary appetizers, dinner, and tea, it was a lot of time). Still, I had fun hanging out with people - the benefit of a day job is that there are people to hang out with, and I am taking full advantage.

But now I need to sleep since I have meetings alllll day tomorrow and want time for breakfast beforehand - goodnight! 

death don't discriminate

I'm not too tired to blog, but I am feeling like I need to stop typing immediately and go to bed - a bed which is in SF, not Boulder, although I'm only here for a couple of nights and don't have time for fun. I spent the day working/getting ready to go, drove to the airport around 3:30, and had Cantina Grill and a couple of margaritas to get me in the right place for the turbulence leaving Denver (not too bad this time, but I successfully slept through most of the ascent, which was the goal!).

But I worked at the airport, and I worked some on the plane - and the plane was quite civilized, since it was twice as big as the number of passengers, so I had an empty seat next to me. Then I took a lyft into the city, checked into my hotel, and worked for another hour and a half. I'm in town for yet another summit (which sounds so important, but basically just means that I have one meeting that lasts all day instead of 9-18 meetings in 30-60min blocks)...so that means I won't get any actual work done tomorrow, and so I had to get a bunch done tonight.

So yes, that all sounds as boring as it was - but I'm weirdly in a good mood despite it, so I'll take it. Goodnight!

i'm willing to wait for it

I had an even more hermity day than yesterday, since I didn't bother to leave the house...but since I'll be gone for the next few days, I think I made the right call. The day mostly passed in a blur of house stuff - it's rather bizarre to be dealing with sooooo many clothes after spending many months this year wearing the contents of 1-2 suitcases at a time. I've done a crazy amount of laundry since moving in, since the stuff that was in storage needed to be washed - and the laundry extravaganza continued today. But I'm nearing the end of that situation, and my closets and dresser are getting very close to fully organized, which is delightful.

Of course, I promptly had to pull stuff out of my closet so that I could pack it. But that's the way I roll now. I also took a long break this afternoon to talk to my parents (in fine form, especially when discussing murders/guttings/castrations - human murders, not raccoon murders! I'm shocked too!). I also talked to [censored] about [censored], which probably resulted in me talking him out of buying a [censored] even though I get a discount and my team supports it (this is why I'm in operations, not sales).

Then I made some spaghetti all'amatriciana (fucking delicious), cleaned up the kitchen post-cooking, and did some day job work. And now I must sleep, since tomorrow is coming all too soon (in fact, since it's 12:08am, I guess it's already here). Goodnight!

last christmas i gave you my heart

I slept approximately a million hours last night, and I spent the morning lazing about reading all about nothing on my phone and in some magazines I'd stockpiled. I didn't do much this afternoon, either - I think I hit a wall on just about everything, and I was also feeling the beginning of a sore throat (which seems to have subsided thanks to all the sleep I had). So I eventually showered and went out in search of pho - it wasn't as good as the pho place I've been to in Denver, but it was pretty tasty and only five minutes from my house, so I'll most likely go back when I'm need of a pho phix (sorry, that was dumb).

I also had another outing to get my brows waxed - this place is a block from my house, which makes it super convenient. I think the girl did a good job and I think I liked her, but it made me miss my San Francisco beauty people all over again - I didn't connect with her the way I connected with Amanda, who was amazing at both brows and life. However, it was also like half the price of an SF brow wax, so maybe there's something to be said for that. And it was, as I said, less than two minutes to walk there - I also like Katie's waxing person in Denver better, but that requires planning ahead and making an appointment and driving to Denver. Yes, this is a #firstworldproblem, but it's one I need to figure out if I want to start establishing some routines here.

Anyway, after I got my brows waxed, I walked around a little bit, then came home and cleaned furiously for a couple of hours. I've barely been here the past month and I wasn't really unpacked before that, so I've neglected the actually cleaning even though I've been steadily trying to get things put away. But tonight I scrubbed the kitchen, mopped all the hard floors, cleaned both bathrooms, and vacuumed the stairs, so things are looking much better. I need to vacuum upstairs tomorrow, and I also need to put some clothes away, and I also need to pack for California again...but all of that can wait for morning.

When I was done with that, I watched an episode of Project Runway (only one or two more left of this season, and I was bummed about who went home on the episode I watched tonight - but I know if I look up what she's been up to since the show, I'll find out immediately who won, so I'll have to stay in suspense until I watch the rest of it tomorrow). Then I spent too much timing making lists and messing around online, since there's a lot of things I want to accomplish tomorrow (and this month)...but the best way to accomplish any of it is to get some sleep first. Goodnight!

my perfect rock bottom

I'm back in Boulder and back in my own bed, which hopefully means I'll get some solid sleep - and hopefully also means that I won't be confused in the middle of the night like I was a couple of nights ago, when I got out of bed at three a.m. to use the bathroom, walked there without really opening my eyes or turning on the lights...and promptly hit my head on the wall by the shower, because I didn't remember that corner being there and was probably picturing some other hotel bathroom layout in my head. Oops.

So as you might have guessed from last night's post, today was an exercise in pain. I'm lucky that I woke up at seven, since I hadn't set my alarm for the right time and I was supposed to leave at 7:45 (and I needed to shower and still hadn't packed). I went to bed at two last night after far too many drinks with about ten people from the offsite - it all started very sedately with a happy hour at four p.m., but after most people left, I discovered myself with a bunch of people from the Dublin office, all of whom were determined to keep the party going. So we adjourned to another bar down the street and stayed until after one, which was really totally unnecessary (but very fun, and the best way to get to know the Dublin crew better).

But that made today pretty bleak - I definitely had a hangover when I woke up, and I also had to take a lyft from the hotel to my car (less than a mile away) because I'd obviously had to leave it in downtown Sunnyvale overnight. Luckily, everything this morning went smoothly - Caroline and I grabbed the car, drove to the airport, returned the car (goodbye land yacht, my new friend!), got to the airport, and made it through security in time for me to have breakfast at Urban Tortilla, It was totally out of my way, but Mexican breakfast is a lifesaver.

I slept throughout the flight, as you might have guessed. When I landed in Denver, I ran into one of the guys on my team who happened to be on the same flight, so I offered him a ride into Denver proper - I had thought I'd hit my introvert wall, but it was nice to have someone to talk to so I wouldn't fall asleep while driving. When I got to Denver, I dropped him off, then went to Avanti and ate some truly excellent gluten free pasta. Katie and I had plans to meet up tonight, but when she left work we agreed that we didn't really want to hang out at Avanti - instead, I met her at Lola's, which is tasty Mexican food (you can tell that Mexican food and pasta were what my hangover needed). We had a great time there, with way too much queso and some v. insanely spicy margaritas (probably a good thing, since I was not in a place where I really needed to finish my drink).

Then we went back to her place and I said hi to the girls, who are adorable as always. Katie put the girls down and James and I talked about work and watches for awhile, and then Katie/James/I kept talking until 9:30 or so. I could have spent the night there, but I really wanted to be in my own bed tonight, so I drove here - where I promptly took a nap (although a nap at ten p.m. is a bad idea). And now I'm going to bed for real - goodnight!

jingle bell rock

No blog, too much team building - goodnight!

more cowbell

I don't feel like blogging. The summit went well today, but I'm exhausted - events require a lot of on time, and they always drain me even when I'm getting a lot of inspiration from them. Today was no exception - I had a lot of fun in the morning session, both with what I participated in and what I led, and then I had a short and sweet lunch before loading people up in my ridiculously large rental and heading to San Jose.

I parked in a garage when we arrived, and we were cutting it so close to the maximum height that we were all ducking (completely uselessly) as I was going up the ramps. Then we had a sushi making class - it was fun, but they turned it into a competition that none of us had any interest in, and I hope no one is a natural typhoid carrier because we all were touching all the food.

But it was fun despite all that, and I stayed until the bitter end (as is my wont). Then I drove people back to mountain view, got to my hotel, called my parents (my niece's new baby is having emergency surgery tomorrow to correct a stomach problem - hopefully he'll be okay), too a nap, and spent the rest of the night in the bar drinking wine and answering email. #partyanimal

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

not a yes sir, not a follower

I should close my laptop and go to bed - I got back to my room around 8pm and have been working steadily since then to try to catch up on stuff that is slipping through the cracks of my packed calendar. Today was good, though; I made it to the office (after a bit of a scare on the freeway when the back window on my ridiculously oversized Tahoe came open without me seeming to have done anything to open it), had breakfast, and then sat in summit sessions all day.

But it wasn't that onerous - we had an hour and a half for lunch (which gave me time to change into a Snow White dress and a panda head - don't ask, it was v. professional), and a happy hour from three to five, so it could have been worse. Then I ended up having dinner in downtown Sunnyvale with Christine (from Boulder) and Marty (from Dublin) and his wife (also, obvi, from Dublin). But I'm glad dinner ended early, since I needed some time to myself (with my laptop, my steady companion).

And now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

half of my heart is in Havana

I need to go to bed immediately so that I can get eight hours of sleep before I have to wake up and go to work. I'm sitting in a hotel room in California, as I so often am - this morning was a bit of a scramble to get ready, but I made it to the airport in time to have lunch (and a margarita) at Cantina Grill. [censored] will either be pleased or displeased to know that they've revamped their menu - I had a burrito bowl, which I thought was waaaaay better than the burrito bowls of the past, but it also had green beans next to the rice/refried beans/chicken, so your mileage may vary. For me, at least, it was v. tasty and v. welcome. And the margarita was welcome too, since it took enough of the edge off my nerves to survive the couple of minutes of rather intense turbulence during the ascent out of Denver and over the edge of the Rockies.

But once the turbulence subsided, I had a v. easy flight - I worked the whole way, answering emails that I'd been neglecting, which puts me in great shape to neglect emails again this week during my time in California. When I landed, I grabbed a coffee and headed to the rental car center, where I checked in, got my car...and discovered that while I had paid for a nice boring intermediate car (like a Hyundai), I instead got a Chevy Tahoe. They were completely out of midsized sedans, so it was either take a gigantic SUV or drive a minivan. I have some pride remaining, so I opted for a Tahoe. I undoubtedly looked totally ridiculous in it, and as I was leaving, the guy at the gate (who makes sure you're not stealing the cars) took an abnormally long time to check everything out on my license/receipt, and then asked me if I was okay. I have no idea what that question meant, but I can only assume that he doesn't think that people who look like they're twelve should be driving an SUV.

sssanyway. I drove around in a loop and returned to the airport, where I picked up Caroline, who flew in from Denver on the flight after mine. She's my peer, and our manager was having all of us over for dinner tonight before the summit, so I drove us straight there. Dinner was fun (although glutenous, since no one asked before ordering lasagna for the catering...but I had a v. nice meal of salad and a bunch of the salami/prosciutto/cheese/olives from the appetizer tray, so it was cool) - I chatted with a bunch of people, and we had a musical interlude when my boss's four-year-old gave a dance performance (he rocked out to 'Under the Sea', 'Single Ladies' as sung by the Chipmunks, and 'Let It Go', which was quite the medley - but he was actually super talented).

But now I'm totally unpacked, ensconced in my bed, and eager to use it for sleep instead of for internet activities - goodnight!

i'm gonna stand by you

I need to go to bed RIGHT NOW - I have to leave for the airport in eleven hours, and I haven't packed and I also need to do a bunch of work in the morning. Lol. But today was mildly relaxing (I laid in bed reading news until ten) and also moderately productive (four loads of laundry, an office that is mostly organized, a semi-complete Christmas list, and a bunch of other tasks resolved). I didn't leave the house, but I did talk to my parents (as usual) and Terry (totally unusual, since I haven't been keeping in touch with anyone the last couple of months) - so at least I had some social interaction, even though I could use about a week of hermitville right now.

But I don't get a week of hermitville - instead I get a week of an offsite/onsite, which sounds thoroughly exhausting right now but will probably be fun when I get there. Goodnight!

push and pull like a magnet too

Everyone is gone and I want to do absolutely nothing. I woke up at 6:45 to say goodbye to Mark, Kathy, and Drewbaby, then promptly went back to sleep for another hour. But I had to get up again to eat, make coffee, shower, and say my farewells to [censored], who drove back to [censored] today. I also spent some time talking to Aunt Becky and conned Uncle Brian into putting my new windshield wiper blades on, so that was great.

But eventually I had to leave - today's main errand was getting a car inspection so I can complete my Colorado registration. That went as smoothly as it could have gone, and I was home by one. Then I ate a sandwich, sat around, and succumbed to the lure of a long nap.

After that, I was pretty useless the rest of the day - I was trying to get my office unpacked so I could start writing again, but I was v. slow and prone to procrastinating. I also spent way too much time on Twitter, which I haven't done in two months - at first it felt good to be back, but I can already sense how much happier (or something) I am when I ignore it.

But now I should sleep - I forced myself to take a break and read a home decorating magazine, which was a good break. But now I must sleep - goodnight!

listen to your heart when he's calling for you

Family Thanksgiving fun is coming to an end...we are all slowly succumbing to fatigue, so even though it's only 10:30, I think I'm headed to bed soon. I spent last night on an air mattress in the tv room, which we blew up using Becky's hair dryer - and I realized, much later, when I landed perilously close to the floor, that the hot air contracted over the course of several hours, so I needed to add some more at five a.m. But I slept pretty well, all in all, and then woke up at eight to discover that everyone else had been awake for hours (#losers).

So, I made everyone some frittatas - leek, ham, hashbrowns, and cheese, which were my favorite breakfast last year when I was living in SF. They turned out really well despite the altitude, and everyone seemed to enjoy it despite the fact that it was brunch rather than breakfast. Or, I bought the love of some of them via mimosas, which several of us enjoyed.

Then, I showered, and we all generally hung out the rest of the afternoon. Katie came out because she couldn't deny the lure of my company any longer, and she brought James, Anne, Julia, and her sister Amy with her. They spent two or three hours here and ate a late lunch - Aunt B made a v. delicious prime rib, which paired well with all of yesterday's leftovers (and there are still leftovers, lol). It was great to hang out with them, obvi, and I would have happily plied them with alcohol and kept them here all night....

...but they had responsibilities (aka Christmas tree shopping), so they left. Aunt Becky, Drewbaby, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Brian went on a hike (which Kathy seemed to think was a death march, since they were cutting it close to the sunset and so couldn't stop to take pictures), and so I took that prime opportunity to take a long nap, which saved my life. Then I hung out the rest of the evening, eating some leftovers, doing some Black Friday shopping, chatting with Racheal and Craig (who came back out), and generally chilling.

But now I should sleep - everyone is leaving tomorrow, and I need to get back to my place and accomplish a million things. Goodnight!

you better you better you bet

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm typing this on my phone and should have gone to bed 2 hours ago, but we had a really good Thanksgiving. I made it out of my apartment alive this morning despite seeing the guy with dementia in the parking lot (the same one who hit a car last week - exciting!). But the rest of the morning was pretty low-key - I made scrambled eggs for [censored] and Drewbaby, and then we loaded up our cars and headed south.

Aunt Becky made a veritable feast - turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, layered lettuce, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, etc, etc. We say around and snacked while that was all coming together (well, we didn't all sit around - Aunt Kathy was actually helping). Uncle Brian's daughter Rachael and her family joined us, so we had a really nice dinner....

... Then, I called my parents, took a very brief nap while everyone else talked around me, and then we played games for like eight hours. We played a lot of some dice game, and then some word games, and then a lot of cards against humanity. There was also a lot of varieties of alcohol flowing, so I'll probably have a hangover... But I got to eat some of the delicious A&E french onion dip that [censored] brought me, so all is right with the world.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

i tuck you in homie buenas noches

I had a family-filled day today, which started by making [censored] for [censored] (I only burned a little bit of it!) while also cleaning up my place. Several other family members showed up just after noon, and after a tour of my place (rather easy, since bathrooms and bedrooms are self-explanatory), we all had lunch. We went to the Boulder Depot, since we like train themes, and the food was pretty tasty - my gluten free flatbread w/barbecue chicken was super delish, and Aunt Kathy's potato chip nachos, while late to arrive, looked pretty awesome too.

Then we went to Pearl Street and wandered around. Wandering got tiring, especially since we weren't buying anything, so we ended up at the Hotel Boulderado, where we had a drink in the bar. The hotel is Victorian and v. nicely renovated, so that was fun interlude.

Then the real adults went back to Castle Rock, and [censored], Andrew [drewbaby], and I hung out the rest of the night. I left them to fend for themselves while I bought some more groceries, and then we had dinner at a place called Verde - it was quite good, and I'm glad I've found a Mexican place with decent enchiladas, since I wasn't sure about Denver's Mexican scene (although it's not Cali-Mex, so it will never be quite as good anyway). Then we walked across the street to the Outback Saloon - it was a dive bar in the best way, and while it was super empty when we arrived (at seven, lol), it was filling up for karaoke by the time we left. We had three rounds and lots of conversation, and I could have stayed all night...

....but instead we came home, and now I need to sleep immediately if I'm going to make it to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Goodnight!

honey, i'm good

I probably should have gone to bed two hours ago, but no rest for the wicked. I did, however, rest this morning (albeit fitfully) - since I didn't go to bed until after one a.m. last night, I let myself sleep until 8:30. However, I'm realizing that I don't sleep all that well when I stay up late answering emails forever, so my sleep was a little disrupted - but I got up, showered, dressed myself, drank some coffee, and took my first meeting from home so that I didn't feel too rushed.

I probably would have worked from home all day, but I had no food in the house beyond a single egg and a can of tuna, so I went to the office and let them feed me. I had meetings straight through until almost six p.m., and then I stopped at Whole Foods to rectify the grocery situation. When I got home, I ate some peanut butter and toast (v. exciting, actually, since I bought peanut butter for the first time since moving in), sent a few work emails, and then tried to organize all my clothes.

Sometime after ten p.m., though, I had to stop - [censored] arrived, fresh from [censored] (although he perhaps didn't feel that fresh, since it was an eleven hour trip from [censored]). He brought me three containers of [censored], which was a super thoughtful gift, and also a sack full of [censored] that has accumulated at home over the past few months. So, we sat on my couch and caught up for awhile, which was delightful - but he could no longer bear the pain in his [censored] after the drive, and we both needed to sleep. So, it's bedtime - goodnight!

secret love song

No blog tonight - I was in the office by 8:45 this morning, left at six, ran errands and ate, and then worked straight from 8pm to midnight (with a break to talk to Katie and another break to do some laundry). So, I think it's time to stop looking at screens so I can try to sleep - goodnight!

please don't make any sudden moves

Today was great, but I'm totally wiped out and unfortunately have a ton of work to do over the next couple of days so that I can relax over Thanksgiving. I slept for nine hours last night, which helped, and then got up, hung out, called my dad for his birthday (happy birthday, Papa Wamp!!!), and then made breakfast for Drewbaby and me. Breakfast was not particularly satisfying because I cooked the hashbrowns poorly (too many hashbrowns, not enough oil) and broke my egg yolks, but Andrew didn't complain, so I guess it worked.

Then we both showered and eventually left the house. We decided to drive up into the mountains to check things out, and I'm really glad we did - ten minutes from my house is a whole different world of rocks and forests, and we saw some truly gorgeous landscapes. We drove from Boulder to Nederland, which is a quirky little town with several competing tourist traps (a frozen dead guy festival, a hand-carved carousel ride, and a restaurant made out of train cars). We explored the town a little bit and had hot drinks at a coffee shop that was hosting a book festival (aka one guy sitting in the corner hoping to sell a book). All in all, it was a v. successful stop.

Then we wound through the mountains on a different road and ended up in Golden, where we had a late lunch in a building that was Colorado's original territory capitol. After that, we drove down to Aunt Becky's, where we said hi to her and then promptly got in the car again to go to a faraway liquor store to stock up for Thanksgiving. All in, I drove over two hundred miles today - but it was #worthit, as they say.

We went back to Becky's after buying liquor, and we hung out there for a couple of hours and had dinner with her and her scandalous pirate husband. Around eight p.m., though, we had to call it a night, and Andrew and I drove back to Boulder. When I got here, I cleaned a bit, took care of my face, and did some work + some internet browsing until now - and now I really need to sleep. Goodnight!

all my friends are heathens take it slow

It's very dangerous that I think that my vacation has already started, since I'm working Monday and Tuesday this week and need to get a million things done. But today was an exercise in getting personal things done + relaxing. I spent most of the morning doing things around the house, with some success, and I also talked to my parents....

...and then I was almost murdered. Technically it probably would have been vehicular manslaughter, and I was 45+ seconds removed from the moment where I could have died, which is a lifetime (literally) when it comes to freak accidents. But I took a bunch of recycling through the parking lot to the bins, and on the way back, I watched a guy back directly into the car behind him (across the parking lot that our units all park/walk in), pushing that car into the garage behind it. He was super confused, and I have run into him before - my guess is that he has major dementia and probably doesn't live here anymore, but shows up occasionally thinking he belongs there. He tried to leave after hitting the car, using the rationale that his own car still started and so he was good to go, but the people who happened to be around stopped him, and the paramedics and police came shortly thereafter and further investigated the situation. I'm glad he and the other people in the parking lot at the time were okay, but given how confused he was (when he tried to leave the first time, he was still in reverse and damaged the car/garage he'd hit even worse), someone could have been seriously hurt.

sssanyway. That's not how my life in Boulder usually is, and that's not how the rest of my morning went. I'm still not totally unpacked, but I made some more progress today before showering. Then I drove to the airport to pick up Drewbaby (my only cousin on my dad's side) - he's in town for the week for Thanksgiving, but we had some solo time today. We put it to v. good use - we hung out at my place for awhile, then walked the length of Pearl St to scope out our options. We ended up at Next Door, which I've been to before and wholeheartedly recommend. After dinner and a couple of drinks there, we walked down the street to Eureka!, where I had three more glasses of wine while talking to Andrew (pour one out for 'Drew', which is what my family used to call him) and watching the Stanford/Cal game (#fearthetree). We had a great, meandering conversation, and I'm looking forward to more tomorrow...but for now, I really need to sleep. Goodnight!

i'm only one call away

Today went pretty much perfectly, but I just stayed up too late and need to go to bed immediately. But until now, things probably couldn't have gone much better. I woke up a little after seven solely because Hamilton tickets went on sale for Des Moines this morning - Des Moines somehow scored one of the earliest stops on the touring show, and Hamilton is there for three weeks next summer. I logged two computers and two phones into the online waiting room during the 45min before the official opening of the digital line, since the policy was that anyone in the waiting room would be randomly assigned a place in the line at 9am. My phones both had an hour-plus wait when the line opened, but one laptop only ended up waiting for twenty minutes - so I grabbed four tickets for a matinee show, which means I can take my parents and [censored] if they choose to accept this mission.

That all went so much more smoothly than expected - I was sure that I wouldn't get tickets at all, or that they would be single-seat nosebleeds. So, my day was already set by nine a.m. But it continued to go well even after that - my furniture delivery showed up at ten, and the Room and Board guys were waaaay better than the Crate and Barrel dudes - R&B delivered two beds, a mattress, a dresser, two nightstands, and a bench/ottoman without complaining at all about the stairs, unlike the C&B guys. The furniture all looks great, and I'm super happy with it - and I can confirm that my bed frame is good because I took a nap on it this afternoon, so the initial test run went really well.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between day job stuff and unpacking stuff (plus a quick run to Target to buy another swathe of housewares). I was done by 5:15, though, and I walked around the block to get my hair cut - it was starting to look a little bedraggled, and at some point I'm going to have to find a stylist here despite my love for my SF stylist. I'm on the fence about the woman who cut my hair tonight - I think she did a good job, but my bangs are a little too blunt and her blowout wasn't nearly as good as Lauren's (but then, no one's is). So I may try another salon or two before I commit to a new relationship....

Then I came home and spent most of the evening doing housework. My end tables for my living room came yesterday and I had intended to ply Drewbaby (my cousin Andrew) with beer and tell him they were a puzzle to solve, but I decided to put them together myself. I also rolled out my new rug, which was just slightly too wide for the space, so I need someone to help me lift the couch (which is horrendously heavy because it's a sleeper sofa) so I can tuck the edge of the rug underneath it.

But things are coming together - not fast enough to look polished and well decorated for Thanksgiving, but fast enough that I might actually feel settled in the next few days. Isn't that a novel idea? And now I'm desperate to sleep - goodnight!

glory and gore go hand in hand

I had a pretty decent day today, although I need some more downtime soon - I think I've overloaded my brain with information and things are starting to ooze out my ears. But I got some decent sleep last night, didn't rush myself getting ready, went to the office at 10, and had meetings straight through to 4:15 (no, no break for lunch, but a meeting ended ten minutes early so I was able to grab something on the way to the next one). Somehow, only six hours of meetings feels weirdly luxurious - yes, something is wrong with that picture.

But tonight was great - I left the office as soon as my last meeting was over, drove to Denver, and had happy hour/dinner with Katie. We went to Root Down instead of our usual hotspot, and Root Down is definitely way better - I mean, I love our usual place, but the food at Root Down is great and the bar vibe is way more interesting. I had a Don Draper (which was basically an old fashioned), followed by some wine, and Katie had a couple of other cocktails, and we shared a bunch of food - sweet potato fries, some delish bbq brisket tacos, arepas so good that we had to order another one to split, and a perfect beet salad. It was all so yummy that I'm getting hungry again just typing this.

Of course, we had a lot to catch up on, since I hadn't seen her in almost three weeks - and in those three weeks, I'd been to India, California, and here (here being theoretically the easiest, but also the hardest since I'm just unpacking and fighting about cupcakes all the time). So we took our time over dinner, going deep into gossip about #smalltownlife, and it was all wonderful.

Then we went back to her house, where Anne and Julia promptly attacked me - and by that I mean they attempted a makeover, which resulted in Julia brushing my hair with a stegosaurus. I could have gone home when they went to bed, but my hair looked so crazy that I was definitely going to get pulled over for drunk driving even though I was sober - so I stayed and combed my hair for real while Katie helped James start the bedtime routine, and then Katie came back downstairs and we talked for awhile longer. I'm never ready to leave, but eventually I had to - I have a bunch of stuff fairly early tomorrow (all of which is personal, so don't shed any tears for me), so I should go to bed.

So I came home, bringing with me my old succulent friend - I'd brought a succulent with me from California when I left SF last winter, and I'd left it with James for safekeeping. He not only kept it alive, but he repotted it in a cute little pot with decorative rocks, so it was probably super sad to leave his tender care for my indifferent oversight. sssanyway, the drive home was uneventful, and now I need to sleep - goodnight!

now that i'm not the fire in the cold

#sorrynotsorry for not blogging last night - I woke up in a bad mood and stayed there the whole day, exacerbated by getting worked up to a totally unnecessary degree about cupcakes (yes, it's possible to get really angry about free food - but it was the principle of the thing, I promise). So I spent last night cooking a lot (chicken tortilla soup and also a whole bunch of tomato sauce to put in the freezer), which helped me to feel better, and then I watched two episodes of Project Runway and went to bed.

Today got off to a better start - but I had meetings allll day, which was too much. When I left, I spent some quality time in the parking lot talking to my parents, and then I went to Target to get some home goods (one of which was supposed to be a vacuum, but I showroomed them and then ordered one on Amazon to get delivered Friday). Then I came home, ate some leftover soup (so yummy), and spent three hours doing serious house stuff - organizing, unpacking, setting up my humidifier, scrubbing my kitchen floor, two loads of laundry, etc., etc.

But I stopped an hour or so ago and spend the last hour taking a break of sorts - maybe 11pm to midnight isn't a great break, but I had a glass of wine, put a moisturizing mask on my face, and caught up on my favorite Duchess of Cambridge style blog, so that was more of a break than I've had in awhile. I'm been going a little too hard on work stuff the past few weeks, so I'm really looking forward to taking Thanksgiving weekend off - but there's a lot of stuff to get through before then.

And now I should probably sleep - goodnight!

i'm going mad for a couple grams

Today was a pretty good day, all in all, but I've relapsed into workaholism. Yes, you knew this two months ago, but I'm a little slow on the uptake sometime. In my defense, I had a million and ten things to catch up on after the last two weeks out of the office, so it's no wonder that I wanted to get some shit done today - and also in my defense, I didn't get to the office until almost 9:30, so it's not like I lost sleep over getting to work.

But my inbox is still a lost cause, even after more hours at my desk than I've had in like a month. And I need to figure out a better ergonomic situation - with this much typing, my hands go numb, which is like a prime signal of carpal tunnel (best case) or a host of degenerative neurological or immunological diseases that I have a family history of (where my nightmares take me). But it's also likely that I've messed up my hands with all the unpacking I've done, or the forty-five minutes I spent with a screwdriver yesterday - unclear.

sssanyway. Work was good, and I left at five and stopped at Whole Foods. I was going to make soup tonight, but I instead ate all the skin off a rotisserie chicken, ate leftover pasta, and ignored the soup. #winning. I spent a couple of hours continuing the unpacking festival - I've now organized all of my bathroom drawers/toiletries, which is a win, and I've also organized my entry closet. That means the kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom(s), and hall closet are done - which leaves the living room, dining room, guest room, and office. I can see some light at the end of the tunnel (not my carpal tunnel, unfortunately) - I'm pretty confident I'll be in good shape by the time my furniture shows up on Friday.

Then I answered emails and did work for the last three hours. And now I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

don't let me down

I slept late this morning, but that was the extent of the relaxing that I accomplished today. When I finally got up, I started unpacking...and that was pretty much all I did today. Things are slowly coming together, although I don't think my place is going to be as tidy or pretty as I'd like by next weekend - I may be fully out of boxes, but I probably won't be at the point where I have photos on the walls or drawers that are organized instead of haphazardly filled in a fit of unpacking madness.

But I got a lot done today - mostly organizing books and shoes, which says a lot about my priorities. I can't fully organize my closets until my dresser shows up at the end of the week, but things are getting closer. I also did some laundry, made some delish eggs/bacon/hashbrowns for breakfast/lunch, ran the dishwasher, and put together two shoe racks - which took 45mins, because I bought them at Container Store, which insisted on making them 'sturdy' by using screws instead of pushing them together with plastic bits, and my lack of an electric screwdriver made this an onerous endeavor. Now I have a stripe of possible blisters on my right hand that, in another life, would have been prevented by my kettlebell calluses - but it's been so long since I've swung a kettlebell that my calluses are gone. This is another thing I need to start doing asap - but unpacking (and maybe some writing) comes first.

I did take a couple of breaks, though - mostly to have a long, leisurely talk with my parents, and also to chat with [censored], who was [censored] and so bored enough to talk to me. I also ate some leftover spaghetti carbonara, which was almost as tasty today as it was yesterday.

And now I should probably sleep - this week doesn't look like it's going to be nearly as onerous as the last few, but I need to get up relatively early and deal with the millions of tasks I've been ignoring recently. And at night, the unpacking fun will continue - lucky me. Goodnight!

i may be crazy don't mind me

Y'know, it's pretty nice to have a home. Perhaps the newness will wear off and I'll start itching for the open road again, but at the moment, homes feel pretty great.

I woke up this morning after getting less sleep than I wanted and more sleep than I'd had in awhile. I could have happily stayed in bed all day, but I wanted to make at least some attempt to start unpacking - home will be even better if it's organized. I spent most of the day focused on making progress in my office - I figured out how to arrange the furniture, and I dusted everything, and then I started unpacking the 15+ boxes of books that had sat in storage awaiting my return. Of course, I'm not done, but I made a good start, and I'm hoping I can make even more progress tomorrow.

However, I took a break around four (after some guy installed the blind to my patio - my landlord had sent him, and it was the last remodel-related task he had to take care of, so everything's in good shape). I had to pick up a package at my office, and I bought some groceries so I could cook dinner. When I got back, I spent some more time unpacking, but then I made spaghetti carbonara - and it was really fucking delicious, if I do say so myself.

Then I told myself I could watch one episode of Project Runway before getting back to unpacking. I stuck to my limit...but then I spent the past three hours looking at and eventually ordering some stuff online. Most of it came from Wayfair, which has some pretty delightful deals - I got a new rug for my living room, since I wanted to swap out my old Adit-inherited rug (which may serve as a rug pad for this rug, since I don't want to get rid of it but have nowhere to store it), and I also wanted to get a couple of end tables for my living room. I'm trying to thread the needle between my conflicting style interests (urban industrial, rustic farmhouse, hollywood regency glam), so we'll see if I succeed in putting together something cool or instead create something totally schizophrenic.

I also ordered a humidifier for my bedroom (crucial in Colorado - if I like it, I'll probably order two more) and a duvet insert for my guest bed (which isn't here yet, but I have hopes that the bed and the comforter will arrive before Drewbaby or [censored] want to sleep on it]. And I booked a hotel for my December trip to SF - although it turns out I now have another December trip, but that one is basically two nights and one day. Yes, that means I'm going back to California three times in the next five weeks. But I've got the next two full weeks in Colorado, so I want to make the most of them.

And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

leave her with a baby sitter, mama, call the grave digger

I'm suuuuuper tired, and also cold since I'd set my house temp to 58 degrees when I left and it's not fully warmed up again...but I'm back in Colorado, and so things are good. I got a solid eight hours of sleep last night, then showered, packed all my stuff, and checked out of my hotel. Luckily, between the fact that everyone in the bay area now works from home on Fridays and that it was also Veterans Day, the drive to the office only took twenty minutes, which was less than half the time it had been taking all week.

When I got to the office, you can probably guess what happened - yes, I had meetings all day. I forgot to block off time for lunch, so I had to be eight minutes late to one of them so I could grab food, but it could have been worse. I was done by 3ish, and so I left for the airport a bit early, which gave me time to eat and have a glass of wine and answer some emails while waiting for my flight.

The flight itself was uneventful - I slept most of the way and we got here twenty minutes early, which was about as good as it gets. I took a lyft to Katie's house, but I didn't see her - I'd left my car there, so I had to pick it up and drive to Boulder.

But now, I have the whole weekend stretching ahead of me and lots of things that I want to accomplish - starting with sleeping for eleven hours. Goodnight!

i'm a rebel just for kicks

I was so exhausted today that there was a point where I thought I might faint. This was, of course, my own damn fault - I stayed up until 3:30am and woke up at 8:30 confused about why I was still alive instead of blissfully freed from my suffering. I know I said too much wine last night, but I wasn't even that inebriated - five glasses over eight hours is not a big deal, but it is when you also don't have enough food or water or sleep.

However, it was all worth it - I stayed up so late talking to people at this conference that I was attending, and it was great to network and get to know them (and all the other corporate words I've started using again). But today was rough. It didn't help that I got a flu shot yesterday, so I wonder if some of my weakness/fainting feeling was related to that. Either way, the fact that I had meetings straight from 11am to 5:30pm without a break was supremely unwelcome, and it took way more energy than it should have to get through them all.

But then I skedaddled (slowly) and drove up to San Carlos to have dinner with Anne and Barbara. It's not very far from Mountain View, but it still took an hour because the whole Bay Area is a total dystopian nightmare. However, our friendship is worth the pain - we had a lovely dinner at Vivace (which Shedletsky had introduced me to), and my gluten free pasta went a long way toward restoring my vitality. Barbara and Anne were in fine form, and it was great to take a break from work and talk about my other work (not that I'm writing at the moment, but I think things will quiet down a little at work after this and I'll hopefully be able to get back into it all).

When dinner was over, I drove to my hotel (farther from San Carlos than the office is, but the trip back only took 25mins), messed around on the internet, sent a few vital work emails, etc. And now I'm going to sleep - I have to get up and pack and vacate my room tomorrow, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!

I'm in love with your body

Too much wine, not enough alone time. Goodnight!

eye of the tiger

Today went about as well as it could have gone, I think - my presentation (to three hundred people!) went pretty well, or at least well enough that my boss and team were pretty complimentary after, so that was good news. And I didn't introduce myself as Sara Ramsey by accident, so that was even better.

I also sat through presentations all day, and when I wasn't watching presentations, I was talking...and talking...and talking. Today's conference time ended with a dinner/mingle situation, at which I continued to talk to people, and I didn't get back to my hotel until almost ten p.m.

So, needless to say, I really need to sleep and unwind for a bit - so that's all you're getting tonight. Goodnight!

i hear the drums echoing tonight

I need to go to bed immediately - I have a couple of long days ahead and not nearly enough sleep stockpiled in my reserves to get me through. But today was good, although my brain is definitely fogged over with jetlag - which doesn't bode well for the presentation I have to give tomorrow, but hopefully adrenaline and caffeine will fix what ails me.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and was promptly late to my 9am meeting because it took 45min to get to the office instead of 20min (this is why I moved to Colorado, not that you would know that I've moved to Colorado since I'm never there). I had meetings literally all day, although one of them was a lunch meeting, so I got to eat, which I guess was a bonus.

However, it wasn't thaaaat bad - I successfully got out of the office at 3:30pm (with two coworkers in tow) and drove back to my hotel, where I registered for the conference that I'm attending. Then I snuck away from the throngs of people so that I could manage my jetlagged energy - I got an impromptu mani/pedi to make myself feel more like a well-groomed member of society, and then I spent the evening holed up in my room, eating room service and running through my preso and catching up on various and sundry tasks (like updating linkedin, which I hadn't updated in seven years, but I figured there was no time like the night before a public talk to make it happen).

And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

lay your weary head to rest

I don't feel like blogging tonight - I really need to go to bed right now if I want to get eight hours of sleep tonight (which is a v. necessary endeavor). I did get lots of sleep last night, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the post-India haze. When I woke up this morning, I had to shower, pack, and get out of my hotel - and I should have just come straight south to take care of tings. But I had a quick coffee/chat with Chandlord in lieu of brunch, and then I grabbed some pens at my favorite stationery store (my hotel was two blocks from it, so it's almost like I couldn't justify *not* stopping, amirite?), and then I grabbed my bags from the hotel and took a lyft to SFO, where I picked up a rental car for my upcoming week.

Then I drove to the glorious south bay, where I grabbed some coffee at Philz and did some not-so-glorious laundry at my office (India and planes wrought havoc on my jeans). I also talked to my parents while doing laundry, which was a good break. Then I checked into my hotel and was only nine minutes late to dinner with Heather (aka dear respected madam). We went to a v. old American style place (steak and potatoes, as opposed to new American, which is all about organic chicken and pureed celery root and kale and other abominations), and it was totally delish - my ribeye was great, and Heather had some of the best ribs I've tasted in awhile, and now my hair smells like barbecue and my stomach is happy.

Of course, my soul is quite delighted too - it's always good to see Heather, and we spent 2.5 hours together, which is never enough but was at least a good attempt at getting caught up. Then I came back to my hotel and actually unpacked, and now I must sleep - goodnight!

my name is slim shady

If I were to give in to my meditative internal state and live solely in the present, I would be asleep instead of writing this. Luckily, the time changes tonight - but since the time has changed for me on the majority of the nights in the last week, that isn't really all that exciting.


sssanyway. Today was all about indulging (#treatyoself). I got a surprising amount of sleep, although it wasn't enough to cure my jetlag. Then I had lunch (brunch, lunch, whatever) at my favorite cafe - Tony was in good form, and my huevos woke me up while the conversation made my heart happy.

Then, I went to Senspa - I was in dire need (@firstworldproblem, shut up) of a massage, so I headed out there to get some relaxation done. The massage was totally perfect, and I napped for at least half an hour after, which was pretty great.

Then, I took a quick shower and took a lyft to Lauren's (aka Subz's) - she had a baby (a real, live baby!) two weeks ago, and I wanted to say hi to the baby (but mostly to the mother). Then I came back to my hotel (after digging through the wine stash I left at Lauren's house), changed, and went out to the outer outer outer Sunset, where I hung out with Veronica and Adam and their dog and cat for quite some time. It all worked out - the conversation (and the margaritas, and the Grgich cabernet) was flowing, and I could have easily had another ten pages if I needed to sum this up more quickly.

[editor's note: I then went to Octavia with Veronica for a late dinner, but I fell asleep while finishing this entry, so I'll tell you about it tomorrow]

And now, really, I must sleep - goodnight!

all the leaves are brown

I'm back in the US after a v. v. long couple of days. When last I blogged, it was late Thursday night my time...and now it's Sunday afternoon in India, but it's 1am on Saturday in San Francisco. In those intervening hours, there were no beds - only planes, ubers, lyfts, airports, and a brief visit to the Singapore office.

My flight from Hyderabad to Singapore was glorious, if only because it was less than half full and the flight attendants invited me to move to the back and claim a whole row to myself - which was long enough for me to be able to lie down, so I got a little more sleep than I might have. But it definitely wasn't enough - I arrived in Singapore feeling slightly like death, and I went straight to the office to try to recuperate. Luckily I work at a place where offices can help with recuperation - the Singapore office is one of the nicest I've been to anywhere, and the breakfast was to die for (all gluten, so literal dying, but soooo yummy). In a real shock, I ran into an old friend at breakfast (Tania, who worked with me and dear respected madam like ten years ago), so we caught up for fifteen minutes or so, which was great.

Then I answered a bunch of emails, drank as much caffeine as my heart could handle, and took a shower before meeting and having lunch with a team I'm going to be working with in Singapore. Then I answered a few more emails, had coffee with someone from that team, and went back to the airport, where I went back through customs, explored duty free, and had dinner and a bunch of wine at Wolfgang Puck before boarding.

The next eighteen hours passed in a blur - I slept pretty solidly from Singapore to Hong Kong, then went through security to get back on the place and continue the journey. From Hong Kong to SF I slept some more, had a nice chat with the woman sitting next to me (about to graduate from business school at Berkeley and looking at jobs in Singapore - I gave her unsolicited career advice, mostly in the form of 'whatever you do, don't take the job you're considering', but I doubt she'll heed it), read a book (PEAK, about the value of practice in improving performance, which seems obvious now that I write it like that), journaled, slept some more, etc., etc., etc.

Arrival in the US was seamless, thanks to Global Entry, and my CBP guy was friendly, so that was pleasant. Then I took a lyft into the city, checked into my hotel, wanted to crash immediately, and instead forced myself to sort through my clothes, unpack a bit, and figure out what/whether I need to wash anything to get myself through next week.

I also took a melatonin, and I'm hoping it kicks in so I can sleep eight hours - yes, I'm living the dream. Goodnight!

no song tonight

I'm at the airport, and it was the smoothest check in I've ever experienced here - slowly but surely, it's becoming modernized, which is great but almost sad.

I had a solid day of meetings on 5.5hrs of sleep, so I'm totally wrecked - hopefully I'll sleep the whole way to Singapore. I also did a bit of unnecessary shopping and had dinner and drinks with Vishakha, which was a fun way to end my 96-hour odyssey.

But now I need to gather my things and prep for boarding - goodnight!

kal ho naa ho

I mistakenly took a two hour nap when I got home from dinner, but I really needed it, so #noregrets (although I may feel regrets while trying to sleep tonight, especially since I have to get up and pack/check out). Luckily I didn't die from the fish or the ice last night, so that was a real bonus.

Today was good, but long - definitely too much work, too much social time with people I don't really know, and not enough downtime. Still, it was all interesting stuff, so I'm not annoyed - just vaguely starting to feel the itch to prioritize myself again....

....which led into me stopping the writing of this blog to book a massage at my favorite spa in SF this weekend, followed by another twenty minutes of sending work emails. I'm either doing this totally right or really wrong, unclear.

Anyway, I had lots of chai, even more coffee, only felt like I was falling asleep during one meeting, didn't die during any of my cab rides, and had a delish dinner at a place called Mamagoto's, which is Asian-style (dumplings, noodles, rice bowls, etc., probably all of which had gluten, but I'm picking my battles this week). It's also right next door to the office and down the road from the apartments we lived in back in 2005 - if we'd had such deliciousness so close to us back then, it would have changed everything.

And now I must sleep (or pack and sleep in tomorrow if I think that's more viable) - tomorrow night I'll be on a plane to Singapore, so I don't know whether I'll blog, but you should just trust that I'm alive. Goodnight!

fishy business

I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I'm wired and ready to stay up all night. It's probably good that I haven't really adjusted - and I weirdly haven't been super affected by the jetlag, although I have a 20-30min span every afternoon where I want to die. But maybe that's just the existential realization that nothing matters and we're all doomed, amirite?

j/k, j/k. I had breakfast at the hotel this morning, then went to the office and plowed through a bunch of work. I was v. fortified because I discovered the chai cart (not open during lunch, but open in the morning/afternoon), which was super delish. I had lunch with some of the team, then met with some of them, then went over to another office and spent the afternoon/evening with that group. They took me out for dinner somewhere called Fisherman's Wharf, which looked v. nice (better than many restaurants I've been to around here)....but I was alarmed by the fish aspect of the evening, since they pulled a dead fish out of a bucket and showed it to us before cooking it. I expect to die tonight. And if that doesn't kill me, the ice and the questionably washed jalapenos in my cocktail might do the job instead.

If I survive, remind me not to eat things just to be polite in the future (I'm sure I'll forget that lesson). Anyway, after dinner I went back to that office, caught a cab to my hotel, and worked for the last two hours. And now I need to sleep and conserve my energy for whatever vomiting may start later - goodnight!

welcome to the hotel california

I'm in Hyderabad, which was the expected (though perhaps not desired) outcome of all my flight time on Saturday/Sunday. Personally, I would have rather flown first-class to the Maldives or something, but instead I spent the last 4.5 hours of flying time on a small, shabby-ish plane from Singapore to Hyderabad, surrounded by a group of middle-aged men who all knew each other (and stood in the aisle around me so they could better talk to each other), and who were all drinking as much beer as possible and belching with equal enthusiasm. This, of course, was all rather unwelcome after the sixteen-hour flight from SFO to Singapore...

...but then I was picked up at the airport by both a driver and a security guard (my old friend Ismail, who now runs the cab program at work, hooked me up with the VIP treatment - although I felt I was more likely to be murdered by the security guard than the driver, since he didn't say a word to me while the driver was quite friendly). They whisked me to my hotel - being whisked anywhere is only possible at midnight, and only on the new toll road they built sometime since my last trip. That road is so fast, in fact (greater than thirty mph!!), that we were actually nearly hit by two expensive-looking sports cars that were racing each other. I have never seen a sports car here, and I have also never seen anyone racing - the competition here seems to be more about who can fit into the tightest space between two other vehicles, rather than who can go the fastest. So, things have definitely changed.

But some things haven't - I went to the office this morning and had coffee with Ismail before getting started, and it was great to see him. Then I met the team I'm working with here, had lunch, took a cab to another building to see a different team, and verified that the roads are just as horrible and chaotic as always if you try to cross town in the afternoon. Then I came back to the hotel, took an ill-advised but entirely necessary nap, had dinner (murgh makhani and garlic naan, and I don't even care that the naan was totally full of gluten because it was #worthit), and then worked through a variety of meetings and emails for the past three hours.

But now, it's 12:30am here, and I'm wide awake but am going to try taking a melatonin and sleeping anyway. Goodnight!

i've got this sentimental heart that beats

I am sitting at the SFO Westin after a gloriously uneventful flight - I'm glad that everything was on time and easy, since it would have been stressful to be delayed before leaving for Singapore tomorrow morning. Getting ready to leave, however, was not relaxing - I was cutting it down to the wire, and my place will be a mess when I get back, which is my least favorite thing to deal with. However, since much of it still isn't unpacked, that wasn't really something I could solve today. And I took out my trash, cleaned out my fridge, ran the dishwasher, and recycled almost all the boxes that I'd unpacked so far, so things could be a lot worse.

Anyway, I scrambled and got out of the house by 2:15, which was ten minutes later than I'd wanted to, but I drove to Golden and got there three minutes before my official appointment with the Colorado DMV. I signed in for my appointment and they called my number before I even sat down, which seemed v. efficient compared to all the people who were waiting to be called.

So, after answering some questions, I suppose I'm officially a Colorado resident. They punched my California license, so there's no going back (ha - I'm sitting in California while I'm typing that, so maybe I'm wrong). They gave me a nice paper copy of my license, and I'll get the real one in the next few weeks - but I won't be in Colorado for two weeks, so it's a little anticlimactic. But it felt good to check that off my list - and somehow, it was a moment of clarity and realness in the midst of several weeks of feeling like I'm play-acting at being a professional/executive and a functioning member of corporate society. I'm happy to be back at work, but it's all been so fast and such a 180 from the last two years that I don't feel like I've actually given myself the mental space to contemplate and absorb the differences...

...but I have sixteen hours on a plane to Singapore tomorrow to consider this. After the DMV, I drove into Denver and saw Katie for a glorious hour and a half. I was beyond starving when I got to Avanti since I'd skipped breakfast and lunch to pack (two kind bars are not a meal, it turns out), so I got some gluten-free gnocchi with bolognese sauce that was delightful. Katie eventually showed up (we have reverted to type now that we're in the same place), and we caught up for awhile, and then I drove my car to her place so that I could leave it there while I'm gone. We chatted for a bit longer, and I showed pictures of saris to her kids (they decided that Adit = Aladdin, since I showed them pictures from his wedding, but I think Adit = Abu), and then I said my bittersweet farewells and took a lyft to the airport.

And now, alas, I need to sleep - I don't want to sleep too much since my jetlag might go better if I slept the first half of tomorrow's flight and forced myself to stay up for the second half, but there's no way that will happen. Wish me luck - goodnight!

transparency

I spent all day today in a manager training - yes, I have gone so far back into the corporate bubble that they're training me to drink even more kool-aid. It was useful and fun, etc., but by the end I was exhausted - so I solved my woes by shopping, since I needed to look for something I can wear when speaking to several hundred people in a couple of weeks (last minute thing, not that big of a deal, but when all my dress clothes are still in a variety of boxes and may not fit, I wasn't taking chances). Then I ate some Chipotle (dinner of champions), came home, journaled over wine, made some packing lists, and did some more work until now.

But now I need to sleep - I'm leaving tomorrow night and haven't packed anything and also have to go to the DMV before I flee the state, so I should probably get some sleep. Goodnight!

steel stars

Katie called me tonight to confirm something, and when I told her that I was eating a frozen enchilada, she was horrified at how quickly and completely I've fallen back into "2007 Sara" instead of "eat pray love Sara". Yes, I'm shocked too.

I do think it will all slow down...but probably not until the holidays. It doesn't help that I'm still slowly unpacking. But I got my moving blankets folded and off my patio before it potentially snows tomorrow, and I unpacked all of my alcohol (priorities), and I did a couple of loads of laundry and unearthed some travel adapters and things from the piles of stuff that I haven't unpacked yet, so I'm slowly getting ready. I also trimmed my bangs and plucked my eyebrows in an attempt at looking like less of a boho vagrant - we'll see how they turned out. And, of course, I had a 9pm call with someone in India, since that's how I apparently roll now (again).

But now I should sleep; I have an all-day training tomorrow (part of why I'm too swamped), so getting some downtime in is imperative. Goodnight!