if you're gonna let me down, let me down gently

So, my landlord showed up this morning as I was leaving for work (which made me a few minutes late) - and when he examined everything in the apartment after I was gone, both the clothes dryer and the oven were working. Bizarro. At least I pay my rent on time, so he can't totally complain, right?

Anyway, work was a long and painful slog without any breaks - from 9-6pm I was in meetings literally all day except for 10-11, which was not enough time to get work done (but plenty of time in meetings to tell other people to do work for me, I guess). Then I left and had dinner with Marty (who is visiting from Dublin) and his wife Jen, and also Christine (who is based here and who I'm determined to befriend because #yolo). Christine chose a vegan place that was oh-so-close but oh-so-far from my beloved Chipotle (they share a parking lot; they do not share carnitas). Most of the dishes involved some sort of fake meat, most of which I can't eat because a lot of fake meat involves gluten products. But I had a chickpea tikka masala that was pretty tasty - it's naturally vegan, and so while I probably should have avoided the rice that came with it, I decided that this was the best tradeoff. And the conversation was fun and we were all introverted enough to want to be done by 7:15, so that was perfect.

Then I came home, drank a glass of wine, and read a couple more chapters of MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MANUSCRIPTS - one about a v. important Bible from the 700s that was made in England but ended up in Italy, and one about the Book of Kells (which was breathtaking to see in Dublin oh so many years ago, but the twelve years since I lived in Ireland is a blink of an eye compared to the ancient history of that book).

And now I need to sleep - I actually wrote this morning (again) and I want to keep it going. Goodnight!

say you're sorry, honey, but you never really show

I woke up this morning and wrote before work again - two days is not exactly a streak, but I'll take it. Then I went to work, where I slogged all day without a break. By 5ish I was totally done, so I came home, ate some leftover frittata almost immediately (I was starving because one of my meeting coincided with lunch and I didn't do a great job of feeding myself), sat around and read Twitter for an hour, and then pulled myself together to get stuff done. I threw some laundry in the wash, tidied up the kitchen, and talked to [censored]. [censored]'s dryer isn't working, so of course I had to make fun of that...which may have cursed me, because my dryer stopped working while we were on the phone. lolol sob.

That meant I had to hang up a whole load of clothes to dry, which was not my intention. It appears to be an electrical issue, since my stove also stopped working (without throwing any breakers)...so if I die in my sleep tonight, I love you all very much.

sssanyway. I then spent some time sitting around, some time shoe shopping online (v. necessary), and some time doing some work stuff (not very much, just enough to not have to stress about it tomorrow). And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

all night doctors

I actually got up at 6:45am and wrote for an hour before work. This does not deserve substantive fanfare...but maybe it deserves some fanfare, given how very loath I have been to get out of bed in time to do anything of note before going to the office.

After that, the rest of the day was relatively smooth, although I was at the office until almost seven thanks to a late meeting with someone in Singapore. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, solely to buy coffee beans, but I ended up buying everything necessary to make a stir fry tomorrow, which I suppose I'll be happy about tomorrow even though I was tired and starving by the time I walked in my door tonight.

So I ate some leftover frittata, messed around on the internet briefly, and then read a chapter in a book I bought this weekend about medieval manuscripts (don't judge). And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

it's a little blurry how the whole thing started

I slept for eleven hours last night, and while I wish I could repeat that feat tonight, it's not in the cards. Today was pretty lovely, all in all - the sleep definitely helped, as did the fact that I had plans that forced me to leave the house for a ten a.m. brunch. It only took a few minutes to drive to Brasserie Ten Ten, which is a French bistro that I'd been to once before - a coworker is visiting from Dublin, so a bunch of us arranged to go out while he was here. The food was pretty tasty, although mine wasn't totally perfect - but that's because the duck I had for free at work earlier this week was better than today's duck. Yes, I'm totally spoiled.

After brunch, Christine and I walked around Pearl Street. I dragged her to my favorite paper store (I'd never bought anything there, which I rectified today in a big way), and then we went to the bookstore, where the four books I bought were eclipsed by the six that she picked up. Mine were all nonfiction that could serve as research for my young adult fantasy, which I now think I'm going to dive back into (more on that in a future post).

Then I came home, took care of some stuff around the house, and called my parents, who seemed to be doing well enough. Then I had a chat with my friend Kristen (Barbara's daughter), since we didn't get to catch up the last time I was in SF. And then I made supper (frittata with ham, potatoes, onions, and cheddar - pretty yummy), and I ate said supper while rereading my gargoyle situation. I also read what I'd written for SPINSTER HONEYMOON and found I liked it way more than I remembered...but I need to make some decisions and just commit to a project and start writing, since I can't keep dithering and doing nothing.

But now is not the time for writing - now I need to go to bed. Goodnight!

poured it down so i poured it down

I awoke this morning totally wrecked, which is what I deserved after an long evening of cocktails and laughter with Katie...but I also awoke in a totally great mood despite my physical shakiness. Unfortunately, I couldn't laze in bed - I had plans this morning, so I walked back to Root Down to retrieve my car, swung by Black Eye to get a coffee, and then headed back to Boulder. When I got here, I really just wanted to crawl into bed, but I managed to take a shower and make some more coffee before heading over to Natasha and Chris's house for breakfast (which I was v. late to).

It was delightful to hang out with them for a couple of hours - they've lived in Colorado for several years, so I hadn't spent much time with them since they moved, but it's delightful to be in the same state again. I could have easily kept hanging out, but eventually I came home - with an impromptu stop at a really wonderful greenhouse, full of all sorts of indoor plants (and a separate section for outdoor gardening, although I didn't check that out). I may have to go back tomorrow or Monday to buy a couple of things, as long as I think I'm buying things that I can keep alive even when traveling (which probably means succulents or cacti).

When I got home, I took a quick nap, then got a mani/pedi, then ran to Bed Bath and Beyond to explore their offerings. Then I took myself out to dinner at Verde, which is the Mexican restaurant that [censored], Drewbaby, and I went to over Thanksgiving - I ate grains last night with Katie for the first time in almost a month, and I decided to keep indulging tonight before going back on the meat bandwagon tomorrow. So I had chips and salsa and v. v. tasty enchiladas and a margarita while writing in my journal, and it was all great.

But now it's only 9:30 and I'm feeling like death, so I'm going to curl up in bed with a book and invite sleep to come asap. Goodnight!

say say say hey hey now baby

I had an awesome day...the work itself was long, but it could have been worse. I had a meeting at eight, but then I went to the office and the rest of my day was remarkably clear. Of course, I procrastinated in the face of free time, but that's part for the course.. 

... And then I drove to Denver to see Katie, which was long overdue. We met for happy hour at Root Down, which turned into dinner, which meant I had a cocktail and waaaaay too much wine... But that's to be expected when Katie and I have the chance to go deep on our lives/history/gossip.

So, it turns out that I'm staying at Katie's tonight - this wasn't the plan, but James was sober when we got home and so was able to hook me up with a toothbrush and a contact lens case. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

the way we were before

Today was long, but somewhat rewarding - I didn't make it to the office until ten (so I missed breakfast again), but I had meetings straight from 10am to 6:30pm with v. little break. However, the breaks I did have were good - they had baked potatoes and chili as an afternoon snack, and it happened to coincide with a 'cheese-off' that a coworker had planned and that I'd helped with - I had taken two kinds of bleu cheese, and all the cheeses that people brought were v. tasty.

Anyway, having meetings last until 6:30 is fairly rare in my current situation, but that's what happened, so I was tired by the end of it. But I had dinner plans out - a couple of coworkers were visiting from other offices, so nine of us ended up at Next Door. It was quite fun, and I had a tasty salad (which I didn't even want after all the potatoes and cheese). I should probably go to other places at some point, since I've been there twice already and haven't explored nearly all the restaurants on Pearl or anywhere else in Boulder - but for tonight, it was great.

Then I came home, got ready for bed, and read for awhile - I didn't read the rest of my cracktastic fantasy book that I started the other day because I knew I would stay up too late to finish it, so instead I picked up a nonfiction book that's been sitting on my shelves forever (IRRESISTIBLE NORTH, about two Venetian brothers from the 1300s who may have sailed around the North Atlantic). It's pretty good so far, but I was falling asleep as I was reading it, so now I think it's time for bed for real. Goodnight!

my haircut makes me look like a mohenjo-daran

Today wasn't quite as exhausting as yesterday, although staying up so late last night meant that this morning was an exercise in pain. I actually missed breakfast at work by a couple of minutes, which was a real bummer - but I managed to survive until lunchtime.

I had meetings mostly straight from 10-4:30, but then I ran home (with a stop at Whole Foods) so I could take some evening meetings from here. That was a good call, since I was way more comfy here than I would have been at the office, and I was also able to eat some tasty leftover stew at some point in the meeting process. Then I took care of some grooming (mostly cutting my bangs) and some general household maintenance, and I also actually wrote a couple of pages of YA novel notes in my journal (I know, I'm shocked too).

But now it's suddenly almost an hour later than I'd planned to go to bed, so it's time to sleep - goodnight!

we order different drinks at the same bars

Today was a full slide back into corporate whoredom - I was at work from 9:30 until almost six, came home, ate some leftover stew and made a vague attempt to tidy up my kitchen and put away some clothes, read a little bit of a decorating magazine...and then worked from 8pm to 12:30am. Bleh. Needless to say, my eyes are crossing themselves and I should probably sleep so that I can be in a relatively good mood tomorrow - goodnight!

i do my makeup in somebody else's car

I'm back in Boulder after approximately 24hrs on the ground in California - and I'm glad to be back for the foreseeable future. Today was pretty uneventful, although I was a bit tired and cranky after getting only six hours of sleep - I woke up at six a.m. so that I could shower and sneak out of Veronica's house in time to beat traffic (although it wasn't exactly sneaking since she got up to say goodbye to me). This proved to be a wise strategy - while it took 90min for me to get to Mountain View, that included a stop at a Philz somewhere just south of San Francisco, so I had v. tasty coffee to sustain the rest of the voyage. Given that it was raining, this was great time - although it reminded me that Boulder is still preferable when it comes to traffic, even if I occasionally have to scrape six inches of snow off my car.

When I got to work, I put on my makeup and finished getting ready, then ate a hurried breakfast before my first and only meeting of the day. Since that meeting was 5.5 hours, though, it's no wonder I was a bit fried by the end. So I drove to the San Jose airport, returned my rental, and spent some quality time working in the airport - first a meeting, then answering some emails while eating a burger to get me through the evening.

My flight was totally uneventful - I had an empty seat next to me, and I should have worked, but instead I read the whole way (A COURT OF MIST AND FURY, which is the sequel to the book that I was obsessed with this weekend). I had started it on the plane yesterday and reluctantly put it down to see Veronica; tonight, it was so good that when I got to Denver, I sat in the airport for almost an hour reading some more before reluctantly getting in my car and coming home. And now all I want to do is finish it...but I know I shouldn't stay up until three a.m. So, I'm going to crawl into bed and sleep - goodnight!

champagne supernova

No blog - I made it to California surprisingly would incident, but eight hours later than I had planned earlier in the week, which threw everything off. But I stayed with Veronica tonight, which is why I'm not getting to bed until midnight even though I have to get up at six am. #noregrets (until tomorrow, at least). Goodnight!

swore we would never die

I had a v. quiet day at home, which is exactly what I wanted - or exactly what part of me wanted, since the other part wanted to be doing a million things, most of them writing or exploring. But after my late arrival last night, I slept late this morning, and then indulged in a couple of hours of coffee and journaling.

This kind of threw me off for the rest of the day since I had no food in the house beyond some stuff to make scrambled eggs and also a can of tuna to eat later, but the coffee/journaling in the morning was delightful. In the afternoon, I showered, ran a couple of errands, and picked up a bunch of groceries at Whole Foods. It was a bit of a zoo, although not as bad as I was worried it might be - we're supposed to get a bunch of snow tonight, so I assumed some people would be stocking up.

Then I came home, messed around online, and made some vegetable beef stew - I think I underseasoned it, and I also think it wasn't exactly what I wanted in retrospect (the concept was, but since I'm avoiding corn I couldn't have that in the soup, nor could I brown the meat with flour, and I used tapioca starch to thicken it...and also the recipe called for wine, which I didn't want to open since I knew I would want to drink the rest of it, so I think it turned out a little bland). But I'm sure it will be better tomorrow.

I also spent several hours finishing the book I started on the plane yesterday - A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES. It was super hyped and evvvverywhere a couple of years ago, and it had been sitting on my Kobo without me ever quite wanting to pick it up - but I happened to open it last night as we were taxiing toward takeoff, and I read it the whole way to Denver. I finished it tonight, and I thought it was really great; the first part was somewhat predictable since I realized almost immediately that it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and the beats and patterns of that story are woven into my bones. But it was quite lovely, all in all, and I've already downloaded the next book to start when I have a moment.

But now I need to go to sleep - I currently have no idea how tomorrow will shape up given this snow situation. I had made a rather impromptu decision last week that I should fly back to SF tomorrow for a Monday meeting that it would be best for me to do in person, and then fly back Monday night - but the prospect of ice and delays has me nervous. I preemptively moved myself to a later flight so that I wouldn't have to attempt an airport drive in the dark, which means I don't have to decide anything until morning (or pack, since I only have to take a change of clothes and some makeup). But hopefully the weather isn't that bad and everything is smooth tomorrow - or hopefully it's so bad that everything is canceled and I can hole up in my cozy apartment with soup and a book and no guilt. Either way, tomorrow will be interesting, so I should sleep now - goodnight!

back when we were kids

I'm too tired to blog - I spent all day in meetings, which were good but exhausting, and then I went to the airport. My flight was delayed by almost ninety minutes, which was super annoying, but it gave me time to answer email and eat dinner/drink some tasty wine, so it was so good.

But I'm finally home, and it feels so good to be in my bed that I may stay there all day. Now though I need to sleep - goodnight!

i fell in love with the sparkle in the moonlight

I'm really tired - after staying up way too late last night, I woke up with a sore throat and a cranky mood. This wasn't helped by having meetings all day...and I ended up canceling on the Shedletskys. I was supposed to have dinner with them, but I wasn't feeling well all day, and the idea of driving up to Belmont in the rain after a day of exhaustion filled me with dread and a sneaking suspicion that I would fall asleep and die on the drive.

However, I did sneak out of the office for a bit to have a drink with someone whose departure from the team is imminent. When I came back to the hotel, I collapsed and took a nap, then packed my stuff and did a bit of work (nothing too difficult, since I can't handle difficulty right now). But now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

la sagrada familia

I worked way too much today - straight from a meeting at 8:30am to 5:30pm, when I left work and sat at Paul Martin's steakhouse and had a glass of wine and a burger while answering emails on my phone. Then I came back to my hotel, worked, had a meeting with the Singapore/Tokyo team at 9pm my time, and then worked from 10pm to 1am without a break. Dumb, I know.

But the work was interesting, and there are worse things I can be doing with my time. Perhaps better things too, but I'll take what I can get.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

i've got two left feet and a bottle of red wine

Today was pretty great, all in all, but I'm totally tapped out and need to go to bed immediately if I want to recover before tomorrow. I woke up v. early in SF, showered, threw my stuff in my bag, and left the hotel around 6:40 so that I could get to Mountain View before traffic was awful. It took me an hour and a half to get there, but that was better than it could have been, I guess. When I got to work, I put on my makeup and blow dried my hair, and then had time to eat breakfast before my day-long meeting began.

The meeting was great, all in all - it involved brainstorming and designing, which is my favorite kind of meeting. I also ate a v. weird whole30-approved salad while watching teammates use the company bowling lane, which was peak silicon valley. Then we went straight until 5:30 without a break, so I was exhausted by the end...

...but I still managed to drive to San Carlos to have a v. delightful dinner with Barbara, Anne, and Veronica. We went to West Park Bistro - the food was really tasty, but the service was super slow and a little spotty (they never cleared the last of our plates), but the slow service gave us an excuse to linger and talk to each other, so that was a good thing. It was really nice to catch up with my writer friends, and it was also nice to have a chance to talk for real - Veronica's birthday party in December was also a total blast, but it wasn't quite as conducive to conversation as the restaurant was.

But all good things come to an end, so I drove to Mountain View and checked into my hotel and unpacked, etc. And now I'm going to sleep so that I can get eight hours and hopefully restore my balance/sanity (or at least immune system) - goodnight!

hold back the river let me look in your eyes

Apologies for not blogging last night. I've had a v. eventful couple of days in my old hometown, starting with brunch with Heather (aka dear respected madam) yesterday, which was a perfect way to end my time with her. Then I drove from San Jose to Marin to see Grace - Grace is one of my favorite writerly people, and while our time together was all too brief, we enjoyed some delightful conversation over tea next to a (nonfunctioning) fire pit at a store near her house.

Then I drove back to the city of sin and had a v. perfect (for me) night - I actually gave myself a night off from the social whirl, went to Gardenias (v. near my hotel, and a place I'm v. familiar with) and had a pork chop and three glasses of wine while journaling for a v. long time. No, wine isn't whole30 approved - I've decided that while I'm traveling the whole30 thing is v. difficult, but I'm being v. strict on grains and sugar and mostly strict where possible on the rest of the weird restrictions. And if this is the last time I'll be in SF for awhile, my soul craved one of my favorite kind of nights - holed up at the bar of a nice restaurant, watching the wait staff execute their carefully orchestrated dance while sipping wine and writing in my journal.

It was #worthit, but when I came to my hotel I was so tired that I fell into bed without even taking my contacts out, let alone washing off my makeup. Oops. I didn't sleep all that well, no doubt impeded even more by the guy outside at 4am who was either high or mentally ill (or both) and kept screaming about killing someone and stabbing them in the eyes. Since I'm on the sixth floor, it's clear this guy was really going for his verbal threats, even though I heard nothing to indicate that he was talking to anyone but himself.

Today was super fun, all in all. I got up earlier than I wanted to to move my car, which was made slightly more interesting by the dead bat on my windshield (I did not touch it, obvi, since rabies is not my jam). Then I showered and drove to the dirty east bay to have brunch with John and Jess. I was going to make it clear that I am in it for John and Jess instead of Saul's (which is not entirely true), but since Jess made it clear immediately that she was there to eat my bagel (which comes with my order even though I can't eat it), I think all pretenses of friendship are over.

sssanyway. We had a delightful breakfast (don't call it lunch), and then they went home to retrieve the baby from the nanny and I got my nails done in a rather impromptu fashion. Then I drove back to the evil city and went to the marina for awhile, where I sat/watched the water/journaled/wandered around Fort Mason and bought a stupidly expensive $6 juice.

Then I went to visit Lauren (aka Subz) - we had tea and sympathy at a cafe near her house, and it was perfect. I, of course, wish that we had more time, but child duties called. But I'm glad we're still friends almost thirteen years after living together in India (and almost sixteen years after I went to Berlin with her now-husband), and it's always great to hang out with her.

Then I went to my old haunt at Morning Due and had a snack and journaled some more before meeting up with Adit (no one calls him the cat) at Schmidt's, where we had heated mulled wine and conversation until we both had to rendezvous with our other plans. In my case, that meant picking up Vidya (aka Chandlord) and dragging her to the Marina so we could eat at Bistro Aix (one of my old faves). I had the chicken and we split the burrata (ooops, dairy, but #sarasnotsorry).

But now I really need to sleep since I have to get up in seven hours - goodnight!

barcelona

I'm falling asleep and also typing this on my phone, which does not bode well for clarity or accuracy. But today went as smoothly as possible - I left my house later than planned, but I was all packed (in a carry-on even though I always want to bring everything). I had an empty seat next to me, which felt so luxurious, and I spent the flight reading...

... But I am having asleep while I write this, so I'm going to shut this down and go to bed - goodnight!

i don't understand why you're so cold

I v. ill-advisedly stayed up until after one a.m.....especially since I'm leaving for SF tomorrow (in less than twelve hours) and haven't packed. But today was pretty great, all in all - I had a lot of meetings, but they were all interesting instead of onerous, and I basically commandeered one of my favorite conference rooms (with lots of sunlight) as my private office all day. I also took a break after work to check out J Crew / Nordstrom Rack (I got a cashmere sweater with skulls on it, which was entirely unnecessary,  but #yolo). And I wrote several pages in my journal tonight, which was insightful and #worthit.

But now I need to sleep so that I can pack and make my flight tomorrow - goodnight!

i only want to sing your song

I need to stop looking at screens *immediately* - which is what I told myself an hour ago. Today was chock full of meetings and talking - it started at nine a.m. and continued straight through to six, including a presentation to my team and also a presentation to the new team I got reorged under (luckily, 130 people doesn't feel like very many when most of them are on videoconference).

So, needless to say, I was wiped out by the end. I came home, tidied up my kitchen, and reheated the last of some ribeye for dinner - along with two fried eggs and some hashbrowns (maybe not totally whole30 approved, although they didn't contain any forbidden ingredients, so #yolo). This was the height of restraint on my part, since all I wanted to do was drink a bottle of wine and watch Top Chef until I passed out. Instead, I did some laundry, did some dishes, and then worked for two more hours because I'm a masochist.

But now I'm really logging off and going to bed - goodnight!

what about us

I'm not quite as tapped out tonight as I expected to be - despite the fact that I had my first meeting at nine a.m. and have been doing work-related stuff until 10pm, thanks to the fact that I had a manager dinner tonight and came home to have a conference call with a team member who is currently in India. To be completely accurate, I did do some non-work stuff on the way home from dinner, since I stopped at Whole Foods to buy coffee beans; I also threw a load of laundry in the wash, which I now need to retrieve. Yes, my life is glamorous.

But the meetings were all good, and I had some time to enjoy a very tasty salad while looking at the mountains, so things could be worse. Also, dinner was at a totally ridiculous place called Shine, which I chose because it was both vegan and paleo friendly. I also chose it because it serves 'potions' instead of beverages. The potions are not just a combination of flavors; they are infused with sound waves, such as the sound waves of a baby's laughter. I know, right? I was pretty good on sticking to the whole 30 things (I avoided all grain, dairy, etc.), and I shockingly didn't have an alcoholic beverage despite the fact that work events typically make me want one or five...but I did have a potion, which had a variety of juices, herbs, and some honey. This probably means I have totally failed my whole30 and will die alone, but I'm just going to keep going since I don't think a teaspoon of honey is enough to destroy my life.

However, my life will be destroyed if I don't get some sleep - goodnight!

good morning sophie

I tapped out my social energy today - or maybe I'm just physically exhausted from trampolining, not clear. I also haven't gotten quite enough sleep in the last week to recover from staying up reading until super late one night last week + staying up until 2am putting my office together Saturday night. So even though it's 10:13pm, I'm going to close my laptop, go upstairs, and go to bed as soon as I finish this post (I swear!).

But today was good(ish) - I had an early meeting that I took from home, and then I went to the nice office and had three minutes to grab breakfast to take to my next meeting. We ended up meeting, quite unnecessarily, in an old RV that has been brought in and parked next to the barista - so I ate my breakfast on a formica tabletop in a 50s-style RV while discussing some tech requirements for something. Yes, my life is the opposite of what it was a year ago when I was en route to Bali....

Then I had some more meetings, spent 90mins writing an email I didn't end up sending, ate some lunch, went to my building (less nice, but still fine), and then had a team offsite. We went to a trampoline place in Arvada, and the person who organized it bought a two hour pass because we had the money for it - but we all realized pretty quickly that two hours of trampolining (even with trampoline dodgeball and trampoline basketball and a variety of other things) was way more trampolining that any of us wanted. So we adjourned slightly early and went to Denver to have a drink and dinner - which was so close to Katie that I really just wanted to see her instead, but I had to drive people home, so I couldn't sneak out.

We ended up at a place called Recess, which was perfect - Andy's girlfriend (who also works at our company) met us there with their dog, and we sat out on the patio under a heat lamp that was almost unnecessary - it was 60+ degrees here today, so eating outside in January was actually viable. I tried my best to stick with the Whole30 - I didn't have alcohol or grains or cheese, and I skipped my beloved ketchup because of the sugar.  But I did get fries, which were almost certainly cooked in some sort of forbidden oil - but if that was the only thing that I slipped on, I'm not sorry.

Then I drove some people back to Boulder, came home, wandered around like a zombie, changed my sheets, and journaled to clear my head. And now I'm really, truly going to bed - goodnight!

i don't understand why you're so cold

I'm going to bed right now - today was all work and no play, and I spent the last three hours building slides (which I'm rusty at, since I haven't had to build a lot of slides so far in my current job - but that's probably changing). But tomorrow involves a lot more fun than today (theoretically), so I need to sleep in anticipation - goodnight!

i feel like i'm always dreaming

I had meant to log off an hour ago - but at least it's only 10:15pm, rather than 1am like it usually is when I make a statement like that. I spent some quality time tonight answering email, which I believe all of you know is my least favorite activity - and there are lots of things lurking in my inbox, many of which were several months old. I'm still not through everything, but I feel much better about my contribution as a human now that I've gotten through some of them...

The rest of my day was also fantastic, all in all. I woke up at 8:30 feeling like I could have easily slept another couple of hours, but Katie was coming at 9:30, so I needed to get going. However, I was moving v. slowly due to last night's late bedtime (I ended up going to sleep after 2am), so when Katie showed up, I wasn't wearing a shirt and hadn't finished my makeup. The shirt was rectified before she found my front door, and she's seen me without makeup many times (and also as a teenager, when no amount of makeup could fix my face and the makeup choices that I made probably made it all worse).

So Katie hung out upstairs and looked at all the high school photos I found while I slowly put on makeup (it's hard to move fast when you take a break every thirty seconds to look at the photos she was laughing at). I had a real treasure trove of high school stuff, and it was pretty entertaining to look through it all. Then we walked down Pearl Street and had brunch at Zeal - it's very paleo, which was good since we're both doing Whole30 and couldn't eat a lot of brunch options. I didn't totally love the bowl I ordered, but that was my own fault since I don't particularly love kimchi and the fact that I'm doing Whole30 doesn't mean I'm going to like kimchi any better now - but I wanted to taste something different than sweet potatoes and kale, since I get plenty of that in the rest of my life. But the vibe was delightfully Boulderish, which is very similar to Palo Alto or Berkeley or Marin - rich people pretending to be progressive hippies by eating free range organic food and complaining about economic growth while simultaneously blocking all property development so that their personal real estate wealth will keep going up.

So I enjoyed my $5 kickstart coffee (coffee with coconut oil and butter, so silicon valley) and my meandering conversation with Katie - it felt right at home (because it's not so different from San Francisco) and also totally alien (because it was the first meal I had out since getting back from Iowa, and Zeal is pretty much the opposite of Seymour's only restaurant).

Then I gave Katie a tour of the new office building, and then we went to Whole Foods together (what is it about produce sections that prompts inappropriate conversations?). Then she went back to her family and I spent some quality time doing absolutely nothing. I also called my parents, who were in fine form. And then I procrastinated some more before making dinner (the second ribeye in my fridge, which I stopped cooking at the rare point so that I wouldn't set off the smoke alarm) and answering emails (yay/boo).

And now I need to unwind and consider going to bed - goodnight!

say you won't let go

I meant to go to bed two hours ago...but you've heard that one before. I'm pretty pleased with what I got done today, though - true, I didn't get up until 9:45, but that was fine by me. I spent the rest of the morning journaling and drinking coffee, which was v. pleasant. Then I made a late breakfast and spent all afternoon/evening doing homemaker-type stuff. This mostly involved organizing my jewelry and tidying up my bedroom (all those annoying last few things to put away were eating into my space...and while I didn't put them all away, it's closer).

Then I went to Whole Foods to grab stuff for dinner - I made my favorite amatriciana sauce (bacon, red onions, garlic, red pepper flakes + tomato sauce that I made a couple of months ago and froze) and tossed it with zucchini noodles instead of spaghetti. This was satisfyingly delicious - it would have been better with a lot of cheese, but as far as the spaghetti substitute itself goes, it was pretty tasty.

Then I spent the last few hours organizing my office. I think I need to buy one more shelf or cabinet of some kind, but that can wait - I'm now at the point where all my books are well-organized, my mementoes and other inspirations are properly displayed, and my bulletin boards are covered in a pleasing hodgepodge of photos, old cards, quotes, and other memories. I think I want to swap out some of the photos at some point, since I haven't printed new photos for the board in a couple of years - but this is a good start. I still have some lingering stuff to put away, and I want to get some art for the wall, but again, that can all wait.

But then I suddenly realized it was one a.m., which means I need to sleep immediately since I have grand plans to have fun, cook, journal, work, and generally be productive tomorrow. Goodnight!

hearts don't break around here

No time or inclination to blog tonight - I had an okay day at work, followed by a brief Target run, followed by leftovers (which still tasted great because I reheated the last of my leftover steak and green beans but added two perfectly fried eggs - probably two more eggs than I should have had today since I had three at breakfast, but #yolo). I also spent some quality time going through old photos so that I can reconstruct my inspiration/memory boards - I found some amazing photos, but many of them should not be on permanent display.

And then I spent too much time on Twitter, followed by some journaling, during which I was falling asleep - so now I'm going to make the sleep real. Goodnight!

i miss the way you make me feel

I had a pretty decent day at work, all in all - it started early since I had a meeting at eight, but the rest of it was smooth sailing. I left shortly before five and got a manicure (necessary solely because I needed someone to remove the gel from my fingernails), then came home and stuck to my promise to do very little tonight - although I derailed myself initially. I had decided I would read a book instead of checking twitter, but to buy the book I wanted to read, I had to get on my phone and update my payment info for my Kobo...and then I read twitter for 45min. Oops.

But Katie called unexpectedly and rescued me from my twitter stupor, so we talked for awhile and made plans for the weekend. Then I ate supper (leftover chicken and sweet potatoes) and read the book I had downloaded....and read all of it, which is why I'm still up at 1:11am. I read KINGFISHER by Patricia A. McKillip (although I accidentally typed 'kingfister' when I wrote that sentence, which would have been another book entirely). It was as gorgeous and incomprehensible as all of her books - the prose is so perfect, and the dream so vivid, that you want to drown in it even though it's all so stylized that it's sometimes unclear what actually happened. Which, actually, is fitting, since many of her stories are about enchantments - which is what the book feels like when I'm in it, since it's enchanting and perfect and I never remember a bit of the plots later.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, and it was nice to spend a night reading rather than mindlessly watching Top Chef. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

lightning and the thunder (thunder)

I just realized I need to go to bed immediately - my first meeting is at 8am tomorrow, which feels cruel since I'm not really ready to be fully back into the swing of things. But today was decent, all in all - my first meeting was at 10, and I took it from home because I made myself breakfast first (scrambled eggs with spinach ([censored]'s favorite!), shallots, mushrooms, and crushed red pepper flakes), which was totally the right move. Then I went into the office - the convenience of being a seven minute drive from the office cannot be overstated. Once I got there, I mostly had meetings, but I was done a little before six - so I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up food before coming home and cooking.

Dinner was ribeye (happily, I didn't set off the smoke alarm - the only good way to cook ribeye on the stove is at high heat, which yields more smoke than one might wish to have in one's apartment) and green beans, and they were both pretty fucking delish - the steak turned out perfectly (helped along by some clarified butter at the end), and I tried a new green bean recipe that resulted in some v. delish, slightly/perfectly charred beans.

Then, however, I went deep into sloth - I did manage to trim my bangs and clean up the kitchen and put away some laundry, but otherwise I wasted several hours online. But tomorrow is another day, and it will be here all too soon, so it's time for bed - goodnight!

searching for my last shaker of salt

I have the worst headache tonight - I can't tell if it's from staring at screens all day, or from the altitude, or from dehydration, or something else. Whatever it is, I'm hoping that some sleep will make it all go away....

But today was a pretty decent first day back at work. I really didn't want to get up this morning, especially since I didn't have my car here (I'd left it at the office over break) and knew I was going to have to either lyft or walk over to get it. I ended up opting for a walk, and I chose to stop at the new building on the way - we just opened a new campus last month, and while my team wasn't one that moved, I'd heard great things about the new space.

And now that I've checked it out, I never want to work anywhere else. The cafe is on the fourth floor with a view of the mountains, so I ate breakfast while looking out over my new(ish) hometown. I also spent some quality time journaling, both personal and work, since that seemed like a good way to kick off my first work day back. And then I spent most of the day in the 'library', which has comfy chairs, a v. quiet vibe, and plenty of ambience for pleasant concentration. I powered through some emails and also got down to business on some stuff I need to get done this week, so that was all good.

But around 4pm I decided I had done enough, so I walked to my building and got my car, then went to Whole Foods to stock up on groceries since I'll be here for ten whole days before I leave again. When I got home, I made some chicken and sweet potatoes (something I used to make in SF before I started traveling) and took care of some writing business stuff that I'd been putting off. And then I watched a couple of episodes of Top Chef - I'm almost done with the season I'm watching (Charleston), which means as soon as I'm through with it, I can start watching the current season (taking place in Denver, so I'm eager to see what they decide to feature).

And now I need to sleep and hope my headache goes away - goodnight!

i want to shut down the club with you

I'm back in Boulder, but I wasn't convinced that this would happen. When I woke up this morning, I don't know exactly what the temperature was, but it was something like -24 (with additional windchill). That, as you might know, is really fucking cold. So cold that vehicles that had been left outside were in danger of not starting. Luckily, [censored] had put his car in my mom's spot in the garage yesterday, so it started (unlike [censored]'s other car, which was outside and totally incapacitated).

And, while I was enjoying a leisurely morning of getting ready, finishing packing, making sure my mom's TV/Roku/Chromecast/Sling were playing well with each other and the wifi, and eating breakfast, I got a text with an airport scouting report - Drewbaby was supposed to leave Iowa last night, but his flight last night was canceled (non-weather), and so he was on a 6am flight this morning. But, that flight didn't leave at 6am because all of the deicers were broken *and* none of the refueling trucks would start.

So, I was half-convinced that I would be stranded in Iowa. But I finished packing, said my goodbyes to my parents, and then hitched a ride with [censored], since he was headed north (albeit several hours earlier than he probably would have gone if I hadn't coerced him into giving me a ride). We had an uneventful ride, although it was still super cold - but luckily [censored] has heated seats, and I was barely in the cold long enough to be affected.

And, surprisingly, everything worked out okay - [censored] dropped me at the curb, and while there were a lot more people than usual milling around the airport, I had no issues at check-in or security. I had time for a quick, somewhat sad salad, and then they actually boarded almost on time, and we took off only ten minutes late. We somehow jumped the queue on a lot of other delayed flights (although Drewbaby had already made it out), but I'm guessing they flew in from Denver with enough fuel to get themselves back (Drewbaby reported that some of the flights that took off earlier in the morning were making stops in Cedar Rapids and other nearby cities to refuel, but we didn't have to do that).

So, I got to Denver with no issues, retrieved my bag, and found the bus to Boulder. I was lucky to get a seat - the bus was totally full, and I was surprised that they let people stand in the center aisle - it's 30mi of freeway from the airport to the first stop, and that's a long time to stand in a moving vehicle. Also, the bus was so heavy with all our bags and all the people that the last two people to board (so, standing nearest the driver) had to get off before we could leave so that the driver could get the bus to lift up from its parked/accessible position, which it apparently couldn't do with the weight of two extra people (?!!). But, as I said, I had a seat, so I read/napped the whole way, and no one died, so it all worked out.

Then I walked home (slightly too far from the bus station with a heavy suitcase, but it was only 12min and I didn't want to wait for a lyft), called my parents, unpacked, did a couple of loads of laundry, read, and watched a couple of episodes of Top Chef. And now I should sleep, since work starts again tomorrow and I'm not ready to confront reality...but I'll survive. Goodnight!