I am in a castle in New York, and it is weird and wonderful and terrifying and we're probably all going to get murdered. There are four floors and an attic, and half the time when I'm looking for one room I end up in another one. There is a koi pond outside, and the walls are covered in vines, and my room includes a carve-out for the turret, which is entirely useless. Somewhere deep in the bowels of the house, a guy named Raj lives with his little dog - he is perhaps, theoretically, here to take care of us, but that so far has mostly meant that he turned on some very loud house/club music around the pool and left it playing for ten hours. #priorities
This morning was an exercise in pain - I got approximately four hours of sleep since I worked so late last night, which meant I was dragging this morning and left later than I wanted to. I still made it to the airport on time, but I had to eat my beloved Cantina Grill (which, let's be honest, isn't that good, but I keep going back) to-go at my gate area since they were boarding while I was walking up. But my flight was uneventful, albeit slightly delayed. When I got to Newark, I rendezvoused with Barbara, and we picked up a rental car. Monica met us at the car, and I drove us to the castle - it was about an hour in rush hour with crazy directions, but I managed it without killing us, so I feel quite smug about that.
When I got here, though, I was feeling a little cranky - tired, hungry, and in need of making some quick decisions with minimal indecisiveness. But it took like thirty minutes to explore the house - Stephanie had arrived first (I don't really know her, but she's super smart and seems fun, so that's great), and she gave us a tour of what she had discovered (did I mention that there is a massage table hidden away inside a vault in the basement? this place is SO WEIRD). Then we chose rooms, and then I got mildly annoyed trying to get people to look at apps on the phones to figure out if we could gets lyfts and Instacart (answer: yes), and then I drove Veronica, Monica, Christie, and Barbara to a grocery store so we could stock up. As usual, we bought way too much stuff. We also had to go to a liquor store, since you can't buy wine and groceries at the same time - tragic.
Then we came home and ate dinner at 9pm - Stephanie had picked up groceries before us and made some super delicious chicken, salmon, rice, and veggies, which was yummy. Veronica and I polished off a bottle of pinot grigio in short order, not even delaying to greet Anne, Grace, and Tina, who arrived a little after we started eating. We're still missing Deb, but 9 out of 10 made it tonight, so that's pretty good (unless you're Deb).
Anyway, we stayed up until after midnight sitting around the dining table, which is in a crazily paneled room with little heads carved into the walls (yes, my young adult novel will do super well here). Of course, there's also a salon that is perfect for plotting historical romance, should my heart desire. But fun needed to end since we were all tired, so we went to bed...or tried to go to bed, but instead spent an hour laughing hysterically when Veronica found something that was a cross between a centipede and a demon in her room, and it vanished while she and Anne were arguing about whether to kill it or whether to catch and release it (hint: if it's a demon, never opt for catch-and-release).
But now, I really need to sleep - I doubt I can get the eight hours I desperately need, but I'm going to make a valiant effort. Goodnight!
This morning was an exercise in pain - I got approximately four hours of sleep since I worked so late last night, which meant I was dragging this morning and left later than I wanted to. I still made it to the airport on time, but I had to eat my beloved Cantina Grill (which, let's be honest, isn't that good, but I keep going back) to-go at my gate area since they were boarding while I was walking up. But my flight was uneventful, albeit slightly delayed. When I got to Newark, I rendezvoused with Barbara, and we picked up a rental car. Monica met us at the car, and I drove us to the castle - it was about an hour in rush hour with crazy directions, but I managed it without killing us, so I feel quite smug about that.
When I got here, though, I was feeling a little cranky - tired, hungry, and in need of making some quick decisions with minimal indecisiveness. But it took like thirty minutes to explore the house - Stephanie had arrived first (I don't really know her, but she's super smart and seems fun, so that's great), and she gave us a tour of what she had discovered (did I mention that there is a massage table hidden away inside a vault in the basement? this place is SO WEIRD). Then we chose rooms, and then I got mildly annoyed trying to get people to look at apps on the phones to figure out if we could gets lyfts and Instacart (answer: yes), and then I drove Veronica, Monica, Christie, and Barbara to a grocery store so we could stock up. As usual, we bought way too much stuff. We also had to go to a liquor store, since you can't buy wine and groceries at the same time - tragic.
Then we came home and ate dinner at 9pm - Stephanie had picked up groceries before us and made some super delicious chicken, salmon, rice, and veggies, which was yummy. Veronica and I polished off a bottle of pinot grigio in short order, not even delaying to greet Anne, Grace, and Tina, who arrived a little after we started eating. We're still missing Deb, but 9 out of 10 made it tonight, so that's pretty good (unless you're Deb).
Anyway, we stayed up until after midnight sitting around the dining table, which is in a crazily paneled room with little heads carved into the walls (yes, my young adult novel will do super well here). Of course, there's also a salon that is perfect for plotting historical romance, should my heart desire. But fun needed to end since we were all tired, so we went to bed...or tried to go to bed, but instead spent an hour laughing hysterically when Veronica found something that was a cross between a centipede and a demon in her room, and it vanished while she and Anne were arguing about whether to kill it or whether to catch and release it (hint: if it's a demon, never opt for catch-and-release).
But now, I really need to sleep - I doubt I can get the eight hours I desperately need, but I'm going to make a valiant effort. Goodnight!
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