now i'm not breaking, the train's just shaking

I'm v. tired, but my living room is fully painted and looks great. [censored] and I got to my house to paint this morning and discovered that the furnace wasn't running properly last night, so it was approximately sixty degrees (and there may be a longer-term problem with my air conditioner that is a problem for Future Sara). That took the wind out of our sails, so we sat on the floor and drank coffee and contemplated. That contemplation led to me running an errand in the morning that I'd intended to save for afternoon - I went to a carpet store to finalize carpet for installation in February. It's basically the only carpet store in the county, which made it easy to decide where to go - and I think I picked something good, but we'll see how it looks when it gets installed.

Then I came home (after a quick stop at city hall (aka a single room on Central Ave) to check on my water bill, which is sent by one of my high school classmates) and got to painting. We decided to go the conservative / high prep route and mask the walls with paper / plastic rather than attempting the fast-but-risky method of using a paint shield, so it took a couple of hours to mask the room (even with [censored]'s fancy scaffolding). Then we took a quick late lunch break at our parents' house before coming back to my place and finally painting the ceiling. This got paint and dust everywhere, but it went about as smoothly as it could have gone, so no regrets there.

After we were done, we sliced through plastic to be able to get to our rooms, and I took a much-needed shower. Then we went to our parents' place for dinner - Mom made delicious beef and gravy over mashed potatoes, which was pretty great. It would have been nice to take the rest of the night off, but instead [censored] and I came back to my house, pulled down all the plastic / masking / tape, put away the dustcloths, vacuumed, and put all the furniture back in place. The paint looks awesome, as far as I can tell at this point - [censored] did a great job taping near the ceiling, and the blueish-white color is perfect. We capped it all off with some episodes of Letterkenny, which was a great way to end the night.

However, I'm v. tired and yet need to contemplate painting tomorrow while also doing a million things to prep for a major winter storm on Saturday + consider going back to Colorado this weekend (although Colorado is not a great place to be either - hopefully all my friends who live between Denver and Boulder are safe, because the fires there today were horrid). Goodnight!

boom clap the sound of my heart

I am safely ensconced in my bedroom in my parents' house, which does not smell like fresh paint (unlike my house). Yesterday and today were spent mostly in service of painting my living room and [censored]'s room - since we're using a paint sprayer, it required a ton of masking and other prep work, which I spent hours on yesterday and more hours on today. At least today we took a break and came to my parents' house for lunch (which for me was nachos from the leftovers of our taco bar with my sister, which were delish).

We did successfully paint the walls in my living room this afternoon, and so far they look awesome. The previous owner had chosen a yellow that was not at all cheerful, with a maroon accent wall that only accented the hideousness of the yellow. I replaced it with a white with blue/grey tones, and it already looks way better even though everything is still taped. We still have to do the ceiling tomorrow, and then [censored]'s room, but this was a big win.

However, we didn't want to untape doors or stairways that would let us get into our rooms tonight, and it's really quite full of fumes, so we came home early for dinner (roast beef! Thanks Mom!) and decided to spend the night. And now I need to sleep so I can recover in time for tomorrow - goodnight!

get out quick 'cause seeing is believing

I intended to go to bed an hour ago, but if I can write this in the next five minutes I still might make it to bed before midnight. Today was a nice bridge between holidays and housework, though - I did basically nothing this morning, other than drink coffee and talk to [censored] about things that we should be doing (but had no interest in doing).

I spent the afternoon mostly focused on organizing my office - it's still quite barren-looking since it's like 400 sq ft and I only have a desk and a chair and (thanks to today's efforts) a small cart with office supplies. I guess I also have a yoga mat and a foam roller, but that's not exactly high decor. But I put the cart together and arranged the office supplies I picked up at Staples last week, and that made my nerdy office-supply-loving heart happy. I also unpacked the lamp I'd ordered - it's perhaps laughably large, but I have a large desk and it provides a lot of light (important, since Marvin didn't understand the importance of light fixtures when he built this house). So now my desk is set up less than a week before I'll be leaving - but better late than never, and I'm looking forward to writing from this desk in the future.

I also took a long break to talk to Katie, from whom I've been separated for far too long. Then I went out to my parents' house to scrounge for leftovers for dinner - my ham balls were still delicious today, if I do say so myself. And I ended the night by watching two episodes of Letterkenny before messing around upstairs and journaling a bit, so all in all, it was a good day.

Oh, and for posterity, yesterday was good too - I made delish scrambled eggs for my houseguests (happy birthday, Aunt Kathy!) before Kathy, Drewbaby, and Drewbaby's girlfriend left to go to Kansas City for a Chiefs game. Then I went to my parents' house, where it was a mad scramble to get ready for another Christmas - my sister and her kids and their kids came over, so I had to wrap some more gifts and then help my mom with the meal (it was served around 2:30, so I guess I'll call it dinner). We did a taco bar, which was perfect for the quantity and quality of people we had (fine china and a full Christmas dinner would have been wasted on the five kids under the age of ten). It all turned out well and there were only a handful of tears from a handful of children and adults, and only one child was forever traumatized by the stories they heard from my dad, so I think it was mostly a success.

And now I need to sleep so I can get some more stuff done tomorrow - goodnight!

can you meet me halfway

Merry Christmas! I had a v. nice day in ye olde Iowa, as is usual on Christmas. I had to set my alarm to wake up in time to open gifts, which was a bit of a bummer since I typically prefer sleeping in (and never get to on Christmas). But the usual gift opening tradition was nice, and I got some lovely gifts (mostly for my new house), so that was a delight. I also enjoyed giving the gifts that I gave, which included a relatively useless tool for my brother's stocking (I delight in giving him useless tools that I mostly pick up in museum gift shops) and a pill holder for my dad made from teak from the deck of the USS Missouri (where the surrender of Japan was signed, and which is now in Hawaii as a museum).

After present opening, I took a shower, and we had brunch (breakfast casserole and blueberry muffins, courtesy of Mom). I also took a bit of a nap because I absolutely had to. Then, the full festivities began - Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, and Drewbaby's girlfriend Sammie came down for the day, and so I spent the rest of the day cooking / drinking / hanging out. I made a pineapple upside down cake (gluten free), which was v. tasty. I also made ham balls, after a hilarious mishap with the grinder in which I forgot one of the parts and so ended up extruding ham through a single grinder hole in a way that shot ham across the kitchen. But in spite of that, the ham balls were ultimately delicious, especially paired with Kathy's layered lettuce (an Iowa specialty) and cheesy potatoes. And I made cranberry margaritas in the middle of the afternoon and had a big cheese / charcuterie platter (x2), which made for great snacking.

So, all of that was great - and obviously meant I spent my whole day hanging out in the kitchen (which is mostly where most people hung out). We had dinner and continued hanging out for awhile; eventually, [censored] and I brought Kathy / Drewbaby / Sammie to my place in town so that they could avail themselves of guest beds. They toured my place and generally agreed with common sentiments (the bathrooms are horrible and everything else is huge), and we hung out a bit longer until it was clear we were all falling asleep.

And now I really need to go to bed so I can repeat some hostessing activities tomorrow - goodnight!

right at the borderline

I am v. tired, which is not my preferred state for Christmas Eve before two solid days of socializing, but I think I'll be able to power through. I spent this morning cleaning up my house and putting paint-type tings away so that I can host overnight guests tomorrow - the guest room looks great (if you like a vaguely dangerous vibe lacking in any outlet covers) and my kitchen / living room are as good as they're going to get for now (which is saying something, since the big bay window is covered in cardboard / styrofoam to block people from seeing in from the main road). I also did three loads of laundry, vacuumed, etc., so at least that's done.

Then I got roped into helping with a Google-related activity - or, I should say, I brought this on myself, since I agreed to help my dad order security cameras, and today was the nicest day of the next ten, so it made sense to install them. [Censored] and I have a gentlemen's agreement that [censored] is responsible for all tech support of the parents' wired devices and I'm responsible for wireless devices, but these floodlight cams operate in a strange purgatory because they're hardwired into the electrical system (something I can't do) but then are a wireless device from a connectivity standpoint.

So, I spent a couple of hours helping install some cameras - which was, hilariously, a three-person job, mostly because my dad had to lift [censored] fifteen feet in the air on a telehandler platform so that [censored] could wire the cameras, and then I had to install the firmware update, get it onto the network, etc. I'm glad we got this phase done, but it definitely took awhile. And somewhere in there I found out that you can buy a can of soda (aka pop) at the lumber yard for $0.40 (not a typo), so that's a fun fact.

After we were done with the cameras, I had to scramble around my house, figure out what groceries and clothes needed to come to my parents' house, take a shower, etc. I got to my parents' house later than I had planned, but I took a fifteen minute break before commencing the next phase - I made zucchini lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner, in an homage to the lasagna that my grandma used to make every Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, her china is in the wrong basement (my Denver one, not any basement in Iowa), but it was easier to eat it on normal plates anyway. I also browned some sausage for tomorrow's breakfast casserole, and I cleaned up after dinner so that the kitchen will be ready for tomorrow's activities.

After supper, I had to wrap a whole bunch of presents, and now I'm finally done and partially unwound. So, I'm going to try to get at least seven hours of sleep before commencing tomorrow's festivities - goodnight!

trying to catch me riding dirty

I probably should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I needed some time to unwind, and I did so while sitting in bed and aimlessly browsing on my laptop. Today was pretty good, all in all - I finished painting my guest room, and it looks really good, but I'm glad that task is over. I did it later in the day than I had planned because I spent the morning running other errands - mostly going to discuss carpet options with the carpet lady, then washing my car since it was over fifty degrees and my car was filthy, then picking up seven gallons of ceiling paint at the lumber yard (and paying last month's bill just in time for them to charge the paint to my next bill).

But I eventually started painting, and I didn't quite finish when I wanted to - I had to take an extended break so that [censored] and I could pick up takeout Mexican and take it to the parents' house for supper. I probably should have wrapped presents tonight, but instead I came back to my house and painted the final wall. And now, I need to sleep - I have a million things to get done tomorrow and not a million ounces of energy, so I'm going to have to prioritize. Goodnight!

wake up in the morning feeling like p diddy

I was a very accomplished home owner today - I succeeded in painting my guest room (at least the first coat) and so far it looks great. The paint color is called Shady Lady, which is an appropriate homage to the very red, very silky bordello-like sheer curtains that were in the room when I moved in - but Shady Lady is a v nice blue, and I think it will look great with new blinds and new outlet covers that aren't '80s gold.

However, that exercise took most of the day, mostly because I'm very slow and very particular about cutting in, and also the guest room is approximately 14*15 and so is larger than your average metropolitan area guest room. This production speed does not bode well for the living room or office, both of which are more like 450 sq ft each, which is hilarious because I think many of my SSN Francisco living situations could have fit in one or two rooms of this house. But this house is in the middle of nowhere and I can't order food delivery or walk anywhere for (good) coffee, so there are tradeoffs.

sssanyway. [Censored] showed up in the late afternoon, so we chatted while I finished painting. Then I took a shower and went to my parents' house, where we had last night's leftover chicken and wild rice soup and I inspected my day's deliveries (long story but I don't have a mailbox at my place, so things get delivered to my parents, which is mostly good since all presents will be unwrapped there, but is probably getting old for the delivery drivers). I came back to my place around nine, and [censored] and I watched too many YouTube videos, which was great. And now I need to sleep so I can keep doing house stuff tomorrow - goodnight!

where did you come from cotton eye joe

I have nothing of interest to report today - I stayed up way too late last night, so slept way too late, and so I decided not to paint today (which is what I should have done). But I did run to the grocery store for my parents and retrieve some packages that were left outside their garage. Then I spent the afternoon taking care of tings around the house, cleaning and organizing my bathroom with the things I got in Des Moines yesterday, and making chicken and wild rice soup. I made the soup while listening to the SmartLess podcast (Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett) interview Tom Hanks, which was a fun way to spend my cooking time.

Eventually, I took the soup out to my parents' house - my dad had a meeting, so my mom and I ate without him. He did show up and have a bowl after we were done, and he liked it better than he usually likes chicken, so I'll take it. I probably should have stayed to wrap presents, but I wasn't feeling it - so I came back to my place, cleaned my kitchen, wrote a tiny bit, and messed around online.

And now, I'm going to try the miraculous feat of going to bed before midnight so that I can get up tomorrow and get things done - goodnight!

let me relinquish and start to distinguish my past

No blog tonight - I went to Des Moines to pick up a million things, and I was mostly successful in that endeavor (although there are no grapefruit to be had, so my dad's Christmas ambrosia is at risk). When I got home around five, I talked to Alyssa and did a bit of a workout, and then I finished unloading my car, ate a frozen enchilada, put things away, journaled, procrastinated, etc.

And now, I'm going to stop procrastinating and go to bed - goodnight!

give a little of what you have left

I need to go to bed immediately if I'm going to get up before 10am tomorrow (a rare feat this week). Today was good, though - I painted the ceiling of the guest room, and that trial of the paint sprayer went really well. The downside is that spraying itself takes approx twenty minutes and setup/cleanup takes like two hours (it should probably take less than this, but I'm slow due to rereading instructions multiple times to make sure I'm not going to accidentally inject paint into my skin, which sounds like a really bad way to give yourself a disfiguring injury / toxicity / infection). But the upside is that painting the ceiling only took twenty minutes and I *think* it looks good, although dried paint in daylight may tell a different story.

I ended up not going to my parents' house tonight and instead opted for a shower (I wore a respirator and safety goggles and covered my hair, but my forehead got a lot of paint splatter on it) and a sandwich. And, I prepped for a trip to the city tomorrow - I have to get some groceries and some house stuff, but I'm trying to make it as efficient as possible by preordering things for curbside pickup so that I'm not tempted to go in and spend a) time and b) money picking up random tings. And that's why I need to go to bed - a trip to the city involves three hours of driving + whatever errands I run there, and I want to get on the road and be relatively efficient. Goodnight!

the walls are way too thin

I had a less lazy day than yesterday, so I'll take it. I did, however, sleep until almost ten, so I really need to go to bed approximately 2.5hrs earlier than I've been going to bed (aka I should go to bed right now). When I got up, I took care of some more Christmas shopping, ate some yogurt, and then made chocolate chip chewies for my mom's birthday. It's a miracle that they turned out well - I thought I had all the ingredients, but discovered in the middle of mixing that I had bought almond extract instead of vanilla, which would have been a disaster. So, I had to abandon the dough in the middle and run to my parents' house to borrow their vanilla. Then, it appears that my oven is running at least 25 degrees lower than stated - the cookies baked, but they took longer than they should have. All that said, the cookies tasted amazing and were pretty close to perfect, so at least it all worked out.

After I baked, I talked to [censored] for awhile - clearly neither of us wanted to be productive because we talked about very little for a very long time. But I did manage to get some tings done, and I also washed the walls in my guest room - I am not going to go so far as to say that I'm determined to paint tomorrow, but it seems like it would be a good idea to do it so that I can see how much time and materials to budget for the rest of the project.

Eventually, I went out to my parents' house - as mentioned, it was my mom's birthday today (happy birthday, Mom!), so we hung out. We ended up ordering Mexican food for dinner, which I went into town to pick up, and my chocolate chip chewies were v. well received. My dad had also made candy this afternoon (chocolate peanut clusters), based off a recipe he got from the guy who runs the lumber yard, so the house was v. chocolatey.

And now, I should really go to sleep if I'm going to paint tomorrow - goodnight!

all your diction dripping with disdain

I was v. lazy today - I was going to paint my guest room, but instead I watched four hours of YouTube videos on how to paint my guest room. In that time, the person whose channel I was mainly watching probably could have painted the whole room, but I have #noregrets because I wanted to pick up some new techniques before getting started.

Beyond that, not much of note happened. I did have a happy hour with my friend Sara, whom I hadn't talked to in quite awhile - it was virtual, of course, but it was still delightful. Then I went out to my parents' house, where I mooched supper off of them and also ordered some more Christmas presents. And then I spent the rest of my evening making lists and measuring and generally plotting what to get done while I'm here.

And now I should go to bed so I can accomplish something tomorrow - goodnight!

check your passport, it's no trick, take the chapstick, put it on your lips

It's almost one a.m., but if I go to bed now it will still be earlier than I managed to go to bed last night. Today panned out pretty much how I wanted it to, though - I got up too late to get quite as much done as I intended, but I enjoyed what I did do.

The main task for the late morning was starting a bolognese sauce that takes approximately five hours to cook. It's not a complicated recipe, but each step has to cook down, and then it has to simmer for at least three hours after that. The end result was excellent and well worth the effort, but it did require some chopping / stirring / monitoring for quite awhile.

Once it got to the simmer stage, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing house stuff - I put together a console table for my living room (which took awhile, since it involved 32 bolts), washed and changed my duvet cover, and vacuumed most of the carpeted areas of the house. Eventually, I had to stop doing house stuff and shower, and then I took my sauce and some other items and went out to my parents' house.

As it turns out, the sauce was well received - when I got there, I boiled some water, made gluten free spaghetti, and also made garlic bread (technically texas toast with garlic) while heating the sauce back up. My dad seemed to enjoy it, which was kind of a surprise because 1) his appetite isn't always great and 2) he sometimes turns his nose up at my non-midwestern recipes. And my mom seemed to enjoy it too, both because of the taste and because she didn't have to cook it. So, everyone was a winner!

After that, I spent some time figuring out Christmas gifts for my sister's family, which took awhile. Then I came back to my house, tidied up the kitchen, and ordered some more stuff for my house. And now, I need to sleep before I completely ruin the morning - goodnight!

stacking up my house of cards

I forgot to blog last night due to slight post-travel delirium - I made it back to ye olde Iowa safely, grabbed some groceries on the way home, and also had dinner with my parents. I'm sad that my Hawaii vacation is over, but I'm excited to do some projects and also hang out here for the rest of the holidays.

Today, though, was strange - we were anticipating severe winds and weather, but they didn't arrive until later in the day, so I theoretically had time to do stuff in the morning. This mostly involved unpacking, doing laundry, etc., and also taking care of a few work things that were time-sensitive and had to happen today. I also cleaned my fridge, which was way overdue since it wasn't properly cleaned when I moved in and I hadn't had time or inclination to deal with it earlier. And, someone came to measure the house for new carpet / flooring - this is perhaps not the most pressing problem with the house, but the carpet in most of the house is approximately 33 years old, and so while they maintained it well, it seems like a good idea to replace it before I fill the place with furniture (but ideally after I paint).

I didn't go to my parents' tonight due to the storm - instead, I hunkered here, which was the right call since my parents lost power and I didn't. The wind was quite extreme at times, but as far as I know I don't have any real damage - time will tell when I inspect in the morning. This storm also hit my brother's city pretty hard, which is unfortunate since they're still recovering from last year's derecho, so hopefully this didn't cause too much additional damage.

And now, I really should sleep, which is what I should have done two hours ago - goodnight!

how'd you like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island

Unless something changes in the next thirty minutes, I will not be spending Christmas on Christmas Island...or any other island, unless you consider ye olde Iowa to be an island of some sort. I'm sitting in my seat for my flight from Honolulu to Denver, with a layover there before proceeding to Des Moines. Today was an idyllic last day in the tropics - I got up early, lazed a bit, grabbed coffee, and wrote for awhile. Then I met up with Heather and we spent the day at the pool - I had what was probably my last rum of the year, and also definitely my last suntan. It was pretty perfect by / in the pool, and I wasn't ready to leave....

... but all things end, so eventually I went to our room, packed, showered, and readied myself for departure. Heather and I had one last dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, which was perfect - we sat outside as the sun set, and said our goodbyes in style. Getting to the airport and to my plane was smooth, and hopefully I'll sleep most of the way to Denver. All told, this trip (Seattle + Honolulu) was incredibly excellent, but I'm ready to get back to my regularly scheduled life. Goodnight!

i made a million dollars and i spend it on girls and shoes

It's pretty hard to beat Hawaii in terms of vacation destinations, but I probably don't need to rub that in. Today continued to be idyllic - rather than eating the subpar/overpriced hotel breakfast, I ran across the street to pick up iced coffee and eggs at Starbucks. Then, I wrote for an hour, which was semi-productive - I feel like I'm slowly, slowly feeling my way into this story, which is great, but I'm also impatient and want to be in it *now*.

Then, I met Heather (aka dear respected madam) by the pool and hung out for a few hours. I didn't spend the whole day there because I feel like I'm perilously close to starting the burn phase - my skin is slightly prickly, and if I'm not careful, I'll tip over into lobster land. I know red is a traditional Christmas color, but I'd rather not be coated in it this week, so I'm trying to stay safe. But I did spend a few hours there this morning, and have a piña colada and a poke bowl, so I got the best of everything before escaping the killer afternoon heat.

Then I talked to my parents, who were in fine form. I also messed around a bit and generally relaxed until it was time for today's main event - Heather had booked tickets for a sunset catamaran cruise tonight, which left from the beach next to our hotel, so we did that together. It was pretty perfect - ninety minutes on the water + an open bar (which just meant mediocre-but-drinkable mai tais on tap) + a double rainbow over Waikiki. I felt vaguely seasick right after we boarded, but the dramamine I surreptitiously took before boarding + the fact that we got under way quickly saved me. The whole ride was v. pretty and the boat was fun, so it was definitely a worthwhile activity.

After we got back, we changed quickly and then successfully walked in to Taormina (a Sicilian Italian restaurant near the hotel). I had an excellent mushroom risotto, which is definitely not something I'm likely to get in Iowa unless I make it myself, so that was great. And then we came back to the hotel, after doing a bit of shopping, and now I really need to sleep. Tomorrow is my last day here and I leave tomorrow night, so I have many things to do + relaxing to accomplish in the morning. Goodnight!

you don't ever wanna step off that roller coaster and be all alone

I had another great day in Hawaii - today was warmer and I felt like I got a little too much sun, but otherwise it was lovely. I continue to wake up absurdly early, so I put on some clothes and journaled downstairs while drinking coffee and watching some ducks (cute: ducklings!; not cute: two adult ducks fighting over their little patch of koi pond). Then, Heather (aka dear respected) madam and I had breakfast before staking out our pool chairs for the day.

Today was almost cloudless, which sounds paradisiacal, but in reality it just meant that there was no break from the sun. That meant I spent more time hanging out in the pool today - it's only 3.5' deep, so even I can hang around in it comfortably, and it's definitely meant for lounging rather than swimming. So, we hung out and talked; we had lunch by the pool; I tried to read a book about writing and storytelling but mostly just lazed around. At some point I awoke with a jolt from whatever half-nap I was in and decided I needed to get some air conditioning immediately or else I was going to die, but once I cooled off from that moment, the rest of the afternoon was smooth sailing.

Towards the end of the afternoon, I came upstairs and showered - Heather was already in our room, since she gave up on the sun before I did. Then we wandered around and window shopped for a bit before grabbing dinner at Buho - a Mexican place that I came to when I was here for a writing conference oh so many years ago. It was not as good as I remembered from a food standpoint, but it's open air on a rooftop, and my covid wariness certainly appreciated that.

Then we came back to the hotel and I took care of some personal business while Heather read. And now I should consider going to sleep - goodnight!

fight the break of dawn

I spent the entire day lying in the sun and I have #noregrets thanks to diligent application of sunscreen (well, maybe a slight regret, since I didn't drink enough water and have a wee headache). I was up absurdly early because I went to bed so early last night, so I snuck out of the room, grabbed a coffee, and journaled while the sun came up. Journaling while the sun comes up is not something I normally do, but it was nice today.

Then Heather (aka dear respected madam) and I had an early breakfast, which put us in position to dash for chairs when the adult pool opened at 8am. This was basically like an old time land rush, but for two chairs by the pool instead of a plot of farm ground. I got us some great chairs and I didn't get shot or stampeded, so I felt v. accomplished.

We then hung out pretty much all day (although I took a break in the morning to shower after my daring feat of securing chairs). I even had lunch at the pool - a poke bowl that was actually slightly preferable to yesterday's, but not as good as Wednesday's and also overpriced. Heather and I talked a lot, which was great. And I spent the afternoon reading most of THE CRUEL PRINCE, which I'm really enjoying, and I'm definitely going to finish it in bed tonight.

At five, though, I heroically put the book down (today involved a lot of heroics) and got ready for dinner. Alyssa meet me and Heather at our hotel, and we went to Noi Thai, which weirdly has a location in Seattle, a location in Bend (where Heather lives), and a location here. It was delicious, and it was fun to introduce Alyssa and Heather to each other.

And now, I'm going to finish my book and go to bed at another absurdly early hour - goodnight!

say you don't know me or recognize my face

I had a fantastic day in paradise - I woke up stupidly early, but that's par for the course. So I had an early coffee, and then I did some writing - the story is starting to coalesce and I don't want to lose it, so I sat in the lobby and wrote for a bit of the morning hours. Then I took a walk and got a poke bowl - it was farther away and not as good as yesterday's poke bowl, so I don't think I'll be going back, but it was still nice.

Then I spent the afternoon hanging out by the pool and reading a book (THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black). Somewhere in there, Heather (aka dear respected madam) finally arrived - she was supposed to get in earlier, but her first flight was delayed and she missed her connection, so she missed most of the sun. But I greeted her in the lobby when she arrived, and she unpacked / we explored for a bit. Then we went out for a totally fantastic dinner at Stripsteak (a Michael Mina restaurant in Waikiki) - it was over the top good and I feel a little ill from how good / rich / intense it was, but we were both delighted with the experience.

And now, I really need to sleep - it's only 9:22pm, which isn't going to help with my jetlag, but sleep is more important than pride at this point. Goodnight!

wave after wave, wave after wave

I had a great first full day in Hawaii - I mostly spent it getting settled, which felt delightful. I got up stupidly early due to the time shift, so I showered, ate breakfast, and then wrote for a bit. I also did laundry - while I packed pretty well for this trip, it was cold in Seattle and I didn't stick completely to my wardrobe plans there, so I needed to freshen a couple things up.

Then I went out exploring, bought some sunscreen and snacks at a pharmacy instead of the overpriced, and ate a delicious poke bowl - I'm a little worried that the poke bowls here will ruin me for my favorite poke bowl delivery in Denver, but that's a problem for Future Sara (and there will be several weeks of poke bowl drought when I'm in Iowa after this). I also got a manicure at a strange little hole in the wall place where they asked me after if I wanted to meet their cat, which made me glad I wore a mask the whole time since it probably saved me from some allergies. And I spent the afternoon napping / relaxing / brainstorming this book / brainstorming a Christmas shopping list, so that felt great.

I did end up leaving the hotel again - Alyssa, whom I've mentioned here regularly for the past ten+ years, lives in Hawaii now (I met her in the bay area, but she grew up here). So she picked me up around five, and we had a delightfully long dinner at a restaurant down the road. We focused our attention on fish, and it was great - we shared some excellent scallops and a really nice steamed fish with some ginger and scallion congee. I also had a mai tai in a v. cute pineapple-shaped glass, and I can say with certainty that that mai tai was better than the one I had here last night.

Alyssa was in great form and we had a lot to catch up on, so we chatted for a few hours, and I felt v. lucky to get to see her in person. And now, I really need to sleep - my friend Heather (aka dear respected madam) arrives tomorrow, and we have many plans after that, so I need to get some rest. Goodnight!

she's the last true mouthpiece

I'm completely exhausted since my body still hasn't adjusted away from Central timezone and I just threw it two hours even further away, but I had a v. nice day (all things considered) and am now in Hawaii (Oahu to be exact). I woke up in the middle of the night at Ritu's and got an email that my flight was delayed three hours - this was due to the crazy storm they had here over the weekend, which knocked out power to the Maui airport and affected my inbound plane. But by the time I got to Hawaii tonight (three hours later than planned), the rain was gone, so that's lucky.

Since my flight was delayed, this morning was a little more relaxing than I intended for it to be. Bill dropped me off at the airport around ten, and I checked in and spent some time in the AmEx lounge, which was nice. It would have been nicer if I were still hanging out with Ritu (preferably there, on our way to somewhere fancy), but at least I got some quality time with her the last couple of days.

After I boarded, it was all smooth sailing. I read all of THE LAST GRADUATE, by Naomi Novik - I had been saving it, and I knew I would be annoyed at the end because of the requisite cliffhanger at the end of the second book in a trilogy, but it was excellent.

I also, serendipitiously, saw a parade of Pearl Harbor and other WWII vets - my Uber driver couldn't get me all the way to my hotel due to closed streets, so I walked the last five minutes dragging my bag. I paused to see quite a few of the vets, though - with the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, there aren't a lot of survivors left, so it was nice to see the parade.

Then I settled in, grabbed dinner at the restaurant downstairs, and settled in some more. And now I really need to sleep - it's only 9:32pm here, but I could use ten hours of sleep while still getting up early enough to do some fun things. Goodnight!

this is hungry work

No blog tonight - I'm falling asleep, which always leads to weird typos like last night. But I had an excellent day - Ritu and I snuck off to downtown Seattle, where we saw the Chihuly glass museum and had a decadent lunch. She also took me to the first Starbucks location, where I got a mug you can only get there, so that was exciting.

But I deeply need to sleep before my flight tomorrow, so it's time for bed - goodnight!

but when you close your eyes

I had a fantastic day in Seattle - Ritu is wonderful and the Cascadia fault didn't kill us, so I'm taking it as a win. I didn't get nearly enough sleep to start things out, but that's CCTV CCTV par for the course when seeing Ritu and trying to cram two years of friendship into two days.

We hung out around the house in a very desultory fashion thinnest I'm mñ333 morning, and Bill made an excellent shakahuaka for breakfast. Then we showered and rallied and went to a zipline park to entertain the kids - Ritu and Bill live on Mercer Island, which feels almost rural / almost like Tahoe despite being in the middle of Seattle. We also grabbed some hot beverages and went downtown to see the Christmas lights, which was fun.

Then we rallied even harder and went to Eden Hill, which had outdoor seating [try again another day, covid]... although it was cold enough before they brought a second heater that maybe I would succumb to hypothermia instead. The food was excellent! And the wine pairings were delicious. And I would tell to more, but I'm already more asleep than awake. Goodnight!

said let it rock and let it roll

Quick, late blog tonight - I spent the morning setting up my new tv with [censored] and settling last things at my house and packing for an excursion. Yes, I'm taking an excursion gym my excursion - but since I've spent more time in Iowa the past few months than I've spent in Denver, it seemed like a good idea.

So this afternoon I drove to Des Moines, parked at the airport, grabbed a salad and a can of wine, and flew to Seattle. This involved a layover in Denver, but everything was super smooth and on time. And I even wrote twelve pages of my new project on the flight, which felt remarkable.

I'm now safely ensconced in Ritu's house - Bill picked me up at the airport, and then they plied me with cake and cheese and wine until two a.m. This is basically like our old second dinners, but in their house since they can't leave their kids in the middle of the night. I could have kept going, but it's four a.m. in Iowa and I'm feeling sleep forcing itself upon me. So it's time for bed - goodnight!

and the light in your eyes, the waves on the ceiling

I should have gone to bed two hours ago, but that's not unusual. Today was a fast and hard slog to the finish line - after today, I'm out of office for a whole month, which is v. exciting. Of course, I had things I had to get done before leaving, but I miraculously got through just about everything that I needed to do, so that was quite gratifying.

Once I was done for the day, I went to my parents' house, where I hung out with them and ate vegetable beef soup. Then, [censored] showed up for the weekend just in time for us all to get in my car and go into town to see a Christmas light display. A bunch of groups and individuals put up a massive light display (with different themes for each of their displays) at the fairgrounds, so we drove through the displays and admired the creativity. We also went into one of the fair buildings, where people had decorated individual Christmas trees - some were touching (a couple of trees in honor of people who died this year), some were hilarious (I particularly liked someone who put up a tree with two large photos of the queen), and there were some cute mini ones decorated by kids. My old 4-H club had a tree, so that was some nostalgia. And we ran into my third grade teacher and her third grade teacher friend, which brought back memories - she was quite pleasant, which is v. much at odds with the literal horror books she made us all read throughout third grade.

Then we stopped at my parents' house, and then [censored] and I returned to my house, where I painted my toenails and we spent a lot of time discussing not much. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

last train to clarksville

I'm sleepy and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I got my inbox down to only 30 left before vacation. Of course, a million more will come in tomorrow, but this was a valiant push. Today was mostly a slog - it didn't start quite as early as yesterday, so I was able to write before work. Then I worked all day, with a brief break or two to walk around my yard - it was a gorgeous day, so it's too bad I couldn't spend even more time outside than I did. I made up for it by making a v. tasty huevos rancheros, so at least there's that.

I was done with meetings a little after five, so I did a couple of quick mandatory trainings and then drove out to my parents' house. They had several packages for me, of course - and they also had steak and baked potatoes, which was even more exciting. So I spent a couple of hours hanging out with them, and that was all good. Then I came back to my house, unpacked some of my packages, and turned a couple of boxes into a bedside table so that I could put a lamp next to my bed. That suddenly made my bedroom light enough to do things in at night, and my bed frame got fixed yesterday - so instead of sitting on my v. uncomfortable couch, I propped myself up in bed and worked for the last two or three hours.

And now, I should sleep - tomorrow is my last day of work this year, and I would like to finish the tasks on my list so I can fully disconnect. Goodnight!

knocking on heaven's door

Today was about as boring as yesterday, but I had to do more work. My meetings started at 8:30, so I didn't write before working - but the slog wasn't terrible, and I only have two more days to go before I take a bunch of time off, so that's exciting.

After work, I ran out to my parents' house to eat supper (leftover soup) and pick up the packages that came in for me today. Then I came home, did some house stuff, did some work stuff, and did some life stuff. And now, I should sleep - goodnight!

every perfect summer's eating me alive until you're gone

Today was a carbon copy replica (remember carbon copy?) of yesterday - pretty much the same mix of writing before work, slogging through some meetings (although today I had to present to a senior VP for approx 90 seconds), and answering some emails. I did take a break in the afternoon to make chicken tortilla soup for dinner - my last meeting ended at six, so I had to get a head start on cooking dinner if I wanted it to be ready at a reasonable hour.

So, when my work was done, I took my soup and went to my parents' house and hung out with them for a couple of hours. I got back to my place a little after nine and should have worked or something, but I'm feeling too tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow. So, I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

on a night when bad dreams become a screamer

I have nothing to report today - I got up in time to write before work this morning, which felt amazing and set the rest of the day up right. Then I slogged all day, but it wasn't too hard - just some meetings as I prep to take time off. I had plenty of time to also do three loads of laundry and make lunch, so I'll take it.

When the work day ended, I went to the grocery store, and then I went to my parents' house for supper. My mom made cheeseburgers and french fries, which were great, and I enjoyed mooching off of them. And then I came back to my place and alternated between buying Cyber Monday deals and half-dozing until now.

So, I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

wait for them to ask you who you know

I'm feeling v. sleepy and should go to bed asap - I have to work tomorrow, and since I've almost completely put it out of my mind this week, it may be tricky to get back into it. Today was fine, though - [censored] and I messed around the house this morning, and then we tested my new paint sprayer this afternoon. We were a day behind where I intended to be with painting because of the water heater fiasco, and we didn't actually end up painting anything (other than testing the sprayer on a red wall that is no longer red but also isn't the color I plan to paint it). It's kind of a pain to clean up, but not that bad of a pain - so there's a chance I'll get with it and paint this week before / after work, but we shall see.

After [censored] left to go back to his home, I tidied up downstairs, put things back in order since I'm not painting in the living room, cleaned the kitchen, etc. Then I went out to Mom and Dad's - I had seen them briefly earlier in the day when they had stopped by, but tonight we hung out for a couple of hours. Mom made french fries to go with the leftover turkey, and there was still a bit of pie and apple crisp left, so it was a pretty tasty dinner.

Then I came back to my place, finished tidying, and took care of some online tings tonight. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

all my favorite colors

No blog tonight - I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, and I exerted myself all day. I didn't get a chance to play with my new paint sprayer, but I did get as much as possible prepped for tomorrow. Forward progress on other activities was halted due to [censored]'s more pressing need to install a new hot water heater, but I now have hot water and [censored] is still speaking to me, so I take that all as a good sign.

So, [censored] successfully got the water heater installed and it looks much better than how the previous one was hooked up, so I'm grateful for that. [Censored] also put in the new shower head in my bathroom, so I may truly enjoy the hot water tomorrow. My dad also spent some time outside with a skid loader and a dump trailer - the previous owner had left a raised flower bed made of old railroad ties, which was good in some ways because I could see it looking good when it was full of flowers (and it also kept you from backing straight into the tree stump that was part of the flower bed). But it was also bad because it made getting in and out of my driveway more challenging than it needed to be.

I also ran some errands - primarily to buy paint, which is in such short supply nationally that the lumber yard can't get a lot of stuff and I may not be able to get enough paint there to finish every room in my house in the next month. But, they mixed me six gallons and sent me on my merry way without having to sign or pay for anything (see: yesterday's post about the beauties of charge accounts in small towns). So we'll see what that means...but that's a problem for Future Sara.

And now, I'm falling asleep typing this and have a million things I want to get done tomorrow. Goodnight!

no colors anymore, i want them to turn black

Today did not go as expected, and I am choosing to find it hilarious rather than admitting that it's actually not, in fact, hilarious. [censored] and I had grand plans to paint today, and [censored] had already taken down blinds and removed outlet covers, etc. when I got up. I made some coffee and started taping trim, and all was going swimmingly...

...until [censored] went to the basement for something and discovered that my hot water heater had died and sent a river of water across the basement. Of course, the river did not go to the floor drain because that would be too easy; it mostly headed for the corner where [censored] had stored some stuff. Luckily it only got a few boxes wet; unluckily, some of those boxes were books. But also luckily, [censored] discovered the problem before anything got worse, and was able to shut off water to the house and prevent a catastrophe.

So this, of course, changed today's plan. [censored] and I pushed the water to the drain (using a long-handled squeegee broom helpfully left by the previous owner, as though he's had water down there before....). Then we went to our parents' house to shower and eat, which restored a bit of my mood. Then we went to the lumber yard, where I picked up more paint chips while [censored] loaded up a water heater in his truck. I also established an account at the lumber yard so that I can just charge stuff and they'll bill me later - this is a nice thing about #smalltownlife, since 1) I established the account just by giving them an address (but that was probably easier bc they know me and my family), 2) now [censored] or I can charge house stuff there and I get an itemized bill at the end of the month without having to track what I'm spending on each project every time I go in. Store accounts used to be all the rage - the convenience store I worked at in high school allowed store charge accounts, so people could just sign a ticket and pay the bill later. But I don't think they're a thing in the coastal elite places I have spent most of my adulthood....

sssanyway. [censored] is a complete boss when it comes to home improvement projects (and also, strangely, has a master plumber license despite never having been a plumber), so he drained my old water heater, hauled the new one down to the basement, and is in the process of hooking it up + fixing some other plumbing weirdness while he's at it. While he did that, I kept prepping for painting, which will happen someday. We took a break to go to Mom and Dad's for supper - leftover Thanksgiving was just as tasty as original Thanksgiving. Then we came back into town, and [censored] did more plumbing stuff while I started prepping the living room for paint + measured all the windows for new window coverings (which will have to happen someday, unless future guests want to sleep in a guest room with the previous owner's red chiffon saloon/bordello sheer curtains).

And now, I should really sleep - I'm useless with the plumbing projects, but I'm hoping to paint tomorrow even if [censored] isn't available to contribute to that cause because he's doing other even mightier causes. Goodnight!

thanksgiving, sans parade

I'm super tired and need to go to bed posthaste if I'm going to accomplish a million things tomorrow. Today was great, though - I got up this morning in time to make apple crisp (and verify that my oven works, and talk about kitchen remodeling with [censored]) before heading out to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving. Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, and Drewbaby's girlfried Sammie came down for the day, and it was really lovely - I'm overfull, and I had too much sugar, but my mom made an excellent Thanksgiving feast and we all enjoyed it.

And now, I need to sleep - I'm already falling asleep while writing this, so bed would be a better place to do that. Goodnight!

somewhere between the soul and soft machine is where i find myself again

I'm v. v. tired and I spent a lot of money today, but all in all those things are good problems to have. Or, at least, they will provide some of the supplies I need to fix other problems. [censored] and I left around 8:45 this morning to go to Des Moines, and we spent nine hours either driving or walking around big box hardware stores looking for stuff.

This was helpful for me because 1) some of it was not stuff I would have known what/how to buy; 2) [censored] took his trailer, so I was able to get a Best Buy Black Friday deal on a 70" tv and haul it home without having to pay for rural delivery; 3) we can fit a lot more stuff in one trip in [censored]'s truck and trailer than I can in my Audi. We picked up the tv first, then went to two different Menards (a Midwestern version of Lowes) and one Lowes, with a stop somewhere in there for lunch at Panda Express (not as good as [censored] or I remembered). I bought a variety of light switches and sockets, a kitchen faucet, a showerhead, a toilet, a whole passel of wall registers to replace old/broken hvac vents, a laundry sink (for a project in which I might get a sink in my garage, which would be v. handy), and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Of course, just because the stuff is now sitting in my garage doesn't mean that anything will actually change or get done - and the first step (for me) is painting (even if the first step for [censored] likely involves some plumbing). But I feel prepped to make some significant progress over the next month or so, so we'll see what happens.

When we got back to my house, we unloaded and were both pretty fried, but I tidied up the kitchen before heading to my parents' for dinner. We ate a bunch of leftovers to clear out the fridge in anticipation of tomorrow's feast, and then I experimented with an apple peeler / corer for a possible recipe tomorrow. Eventually, [censored] and I came back to my place, and I tested the oven to make sure it works (answer: pretty sure!). And then, I organized my bedroom and put as much stuff away as I could given I have no drawers or shelves.

And now, I really need to sleep - I didn't get enough last night, which didn't make today any easier, and I need to get up and bake before Thanksgiving dinner. Goodnight!

i dyed my hair blue, it came out a seasick sort of green

I need to go to bed immediately because [censored] and I have grand plans to go to Des Moines in the morning to pick up a million house goods. Today was great, though. I got plenty of sleep last night, made coffee when I got up, and wrote for almost an hour, which was fantastic. I then spent the morning prepping some tings and painting samples of paint on the walls in the living room and guest room - I'm not sure I've found the right color, but at least I made a start (which now means I can't change my mind about painting).

I took a break at lunch and went to my parents' house, where I talked to them while eating leftover Mexican food from the other night. I spent the afternoon messing around my house some more - there are a million things I haven't done, and not in the upbeat peppy way of the song from Hamilton. But I have some ideas about next steps, so I'm ready to get cracking.

I took another long break at supper - [censored] had picked up bratwurst from the next town over, so we had brats and baked beans and it was perfect. It was not ideal weather for grilling - it was a clear night earlier and I could see a million stars, but the wind was pretty brutal and has gotten worse. I stood outside with my dad while he grilled, which was not the same as offering to do it for him, but at least there was solidarity, right?

After dinner, I talked to my mom for awhile, and then I came into town and messed around counting things that need to be replaced and giving [censored] moral support while he stood in the basement and looked at the plumbing setup and mumbled to himself. [Censored] also fixed my bathroom faucet aerator so that it doesn't shoot water out like needles, so that was pretty great. And now, I need to sleep so I can get cracking tomorrow - goodnight!

all eyes on me, i feel like i'm a superstar

Today was a great first official day of vacation. I mostly spent it preparing to do house stuff - kitchen stuff, organization stuff, etc. At some point, [censored] and I went to the lumber yard to buy paint - I got a couple of samples, but they told me I can only get three more because they only have three more quarts of the base, so I need to choose wisely. Paint is apparently in short supply and Kent can only order four gallons of ceiling paint a week - so I bought four, and we'll see where that gets me.

I also looked at flooring - it's not the most important thing to do here, but it's a) good to do before there's a ton of furniture, b) probably a good idea since most of the carpet is 30 years old, and c) imperative to know whether I'm doing because it will dictate how careful I am with painting. I definitely didn't make any decisions, but it was helpful to get a sense of what it's going to cost so that I can make some plans.

Then, I ran past the grocery store (and ran into two different high school teachers), dropped things off at my house, and went to my parents' house, where I made tater tot casserole. It turned out deliciously, if I do say so myself. And now, I am going to attempt to go to bed and get a lot of sleep so that I can tackle some other projects tomorrow - goodnight!

one for the now and eleven for the later

I'm in my house in ye olde Iowa, where there are approximately a million things I want to do. Today was extremely uneventful - I woke up in Lincoln, showered, packed, had a bit of hotel breakfast, grabbed a bit more breakfast and coffee at a McDonald's in Nebraska City, stopped for gas in Mt Ayr, and was home by 12:30. I got my car unloaded thanks to some help from [censored]; I'm certainly not unpacked or settled in, but at least my car is empty.

Then I went to my parents' house, which is less than five minutes away, so that I could liberate them from all the boxes that showed up over the last ten days. There's more coming, but the arrival of a trash can today meant their front door was officially blocked. Of course, I said hi to them as well - and after we chatted for a bit, [censored] helped me load everything into my car and [censored]'s truck so that we could relocate it all to town. We got everything but the paint sprayer (did I mention I have a million projects?), but that can wait.

Then I went back home, took a nap, and then ran into town to grab takeout Mexican for dinner. I spent some more quality time with my parents, but eventually I came to my house, where I put together one of the four lamps I ordered (this house is v. dark because there aren't enough lights), hauled stuff upstairs, tidied up, and talked to [censored] about various house projects + (unrelated) various comedy shows. On my drive today I listened to the rest of the excellent SmartLess interview with Ryan Reynolds, and I also listened to Conan interview Weird Al, so comedy was on my mind.

And that's a good thing, because this house is comedy and I definitely have some tings to joke about with it. But for now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

i can tell that we are gonna be friends

I am in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is a town I have spent far too much time in over the past four years (and by that I mean I sometimes stop here on my roadtrips, and anytime is more than I want). I knew I wouldn't get out of my house in Denver in time to make it to Iowa straight through, and I was right - but I did make it out around 12:30, which is better than I had anticipated. 

If I hadn't worked yesterday, that might have been different. But I had to load my car, and it was like playing real-life Tetris - I acquired a bunch of stuff in Denver to bring to Iowa so that I can start in on some house projects, and that stuff + the various tings I need for the next few weeks took up all the available space in my car. It's not completely crazy - I can still see out all the windows, and I probably could have fit a couple more things in the passenger seat. But loading up took quite awhile. I also had to tend to my houseplants, clean out my fridge, eat, shower, etc.

So, all of that was fine, and then the drive was completely uneventful. I listened to some music, and I listened to some podcasts - Conan O'Brien talked to Joel McHale (great), Dax Shephard talked to Stanley Tucci (Stanley was awesome; Dax can be a bit long-winded), and I'm now in the middle of SmartLess (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes) talking to Ryan Reynolds. This was a departure from my usual trend of listening to a slightly depressing nonfiction book while crossing Nebraska, and so far it's good.

I *maybe* could have made it the whole way, but I would have gotten home right before midnight, and that seemed too risky. So, I checked into a hotel, grabbed a burger sans bun from Wendy's, and chilled until now. And I should really go to bed so I can get on the road - I have approximately one million packages in my parents' front entry (so many that now my dad is not just sending photos to me of the accumulation, but sending them to the entire family), so I need to get there before anything else shows up (spoiler: more is coming). Goodnight!

these two sides of my brain need to have a meeting

I didn't intend to skip blogging last night - I was halfway through the post and then distracted myself with other things (and then worked until midnight rather than going to bed as planned), and I went to bed thinking it had posted. But if I skip two days in a row, someone eventually asks if I'm alive - so the scraps of last night's post are now up for posterity.

sssanyway, today was fine - mostly a scramble to get ready to leave for ye olde Iowa tomorrow. That involved running errands, picking things up, and also doing day job stuff - all the usual things to prep for not being in Colorado for the next six weeks. I don't know what time I'll get out tomorrow - I'm almost entirely packed, but I haven't loaded my car, and I need to take care of some house stuff before I go. So, I suppose I should go to bed and fortify myself for the drive ahead.

And finally - happy birthday to my dad, who turned [x] today! Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate in person this weekend. Goodnight!

we took the bones out from the road

(note: I thought this posted last night but apparently I didn't finish it! Oops!)

I had intended to work late tonight, but my desire to work failed me, and so I should go to bed so that I can get up early tomorrow and take care of some tings. But today was pretty good, all in all - I slogged most of the day, and was delighted when I remembered that I had smoked salmon in the fridge and managed to find one remaining frozen bagel buried in my freezer. I took a quick break in the afternoon to run over to a coworker's to drop something off; it's finally actually chilly in Denver, but there's no sign of snow yet.

Unfortunately for my parents, I spent the evening ordering more stuff to be delivered to their house - but fortunately for them, I will be home by Sunday and so can clear out the massive amounts of stuff in their front hallway before more stuff arrives next week. The challenges of stocking an empty second house remotely are certainly interesting, but I'm enjoying the process.

take my shoes off and run

I have nothing new to report today. Work was fine, all in all; and then I ended it with a chat with Heather (aka dear respected madam), so that was a good way to close out the work day. I didn't do as much as I planned to do this evening because I was lazy and daydreaming of travel, but I ate some leftovers, messed around online, and then did an hour or so of day job stuff that didn't get done earlier in the day.

And now, I should sleep - I have a dentist appointment stupidly early tomorrow, and since I haven't been to the dentist since the beforetimes, I'm definitely overdue. In my defense, that tongue biopsy that kicked off the covid lockdown really scarred me for dental work (and I had no desire to drive to Boulder to my previous dentist just to get a cleaning), but I'm going to Katie's dentist who is six minutes from my house, so it's about as convenient as it can be (even if it is too early tomorrow).

So, it's time for bed - goodnight!

damn mrs. perkins again

No blog tonight - today was fine and I actually rode my peloton after work (the post-ride stretch still hurts my abdomen a little, but otherwise it felt good!), but otherwise I had a v. lazy evening. And now I should sleep so that I can repeat these feats tomorrow - goodnight!

killing your idols is a chore

I'm for some reason quite tired, so I suppose I should go to bed rather than engaging in bedtime procrastination like I normally do. Today was good, though - I was in a much better mood than I was yesterday, and so I got a lot more done. I spent the morning making some chicken tortilla soup for a coworker whose daughter came down with covid yesterday; her son and husband tested positive today, so they are not having a good weekend. I also talked to [censored] for much longer than the few minutes I was asked to donate, but it was great to solidfy plans for Thanksgiving and what we will / will not do at my Iowa house.

Then I ran a couple of errands, took the soup to my coworker's house (which was a bit of a trek, since she lives 45mins away), and got my first peppermint mocha of the season. Then I went to Lowes, where I hit the painting supply section hard - painting in the main task for my break back in ye olde Iowa, so I wanted to make sure I had some baseline supplies. And then I came home, talked to my parents, ate takeout Thai food, wrote for a little bit, and then ordered some stuff for Iowa. My parents' front hall is turning into a warehouse (not the first warehouse in the family, probably not the last) since I'm shipping stuff to them rather than to my own house, and it's probably going to get worse this week since I just ordered some lamps, pillows, and a comforter (thanks Mom!).

And now, I should make good on my earlier statement and go to bed - goodnight!

some killer queen you are

I had a pretty lazy day, which is probably what I needed. I lazed in bed; then I hung out in my living room and made lists and researched home supplies for my Iowa house. I also took a nap at some point, which was surprisingly necessary. And I did manage to drag myself out of the house to buy groceries, so tomorrow will be better for it.

Eventually, I ran out to get a manicure, which repaired my nails - I was three weeks out from my last one, so things were getting a little dire. Then, I picked up Katie and we went out for dinner. This was a cold exercise since we decided to eat outside in deference to Colorado's spiking covid cases, but the place we tried (Attimo) was really good all in all. They're more of a wine bar than a restaurant, so the food options were limited (but tasty). The wine flight, however, was quite good, and our conversation was a delight despite being chilly.

And now, I need to sleep an attempt to make tomorrow less lazy (or at least more satisfying) - goodnight!

here we are in the pouring home

Yay for the weekend - I'm definitely ready for it. I had too many meetings for a no-meeting-Friday (like, six hours of meetings, plus a couple of hours of work before and another hour after). And some of them were so annoying as to be completely laughable. But overall, the day was fine - and now I'm ready to start the weekend in earnest.

Sometime around the end of the day, my phone buzzed to tell me that my dad was waving at me - he pulled into my driveway in Iowa just to wave at my camera and leave. So, we caught up for a bit, which was nice. I should have made something delightful for dinner, and I suppose I did to some extent - I tried a new-to-me cocktail from the Cocktail Codex (which so far has never steered me wrong). It's a Southside, with gin, lime, mint, simple syrup, and bitters, and it was so good that I had two. The second one was paired with chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries from the freezer, which were pretty delicious (especially on the second cocktail; and especially since these gluten free chicken nuggets were pretty good). And then I worked on the design for my Christmas card - I'm not feeling a lot of cheer or good will towards men right now, but I'm going to try to fake it.

And now I think I'll go to bed so that I can do some fun tings tomorrow - goodnight!

i get high like colorado

Today was fine, all in all; nothing exciting, but nothing terrible. I had meetings all morning, and I got up early to do some work before they started. I had an open-faced tuna sandwich for lunch, which is like a practically-free version of a poke bowl (okay, it's nothing like a poke bowl except for the fact that it includes tuna; and it's also not practically free because gluten free bread is expensive and I only by bougie tuna instead of Chicken of the Sea; but it's one of my go-tos and I love it).

And now, despite this post being boring, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

i can crave you, but you don't need to know

I'm super sleepy, but that's what happens when I have an 8:30am meeting (especially when my last meeting didn't end until eleven last night). Today wasn't too bad, all in all, but since I worked the whole day, I have nothing of interest to report. So, I think it's time to start winding down - goodnight!

you ride the waves but don't ask where they go

No blog tonight - work wasn't all that onerous today, but I had a 10-11pm meeting that just ended, and I have an 8:30am meeting tomorrow, so it would behoove me to go to bed. Goodnight!

captivated

I have nothing of interest to report today - I was not particularly enthused to get out of bed this morning, but I was quite productive despite that. I worked all day, with a quick walk down the street around lunch to buy some cards (which also turned into buying a gorgeous journal that will *definitely* make it possible for me to write a book). Lunch was leftover soft tofu soup, and it continued to be excellent - I'm astonished. At lunch I also marinated some steak for fajitas, so I felt quite accomplished from a cooking standpoint.

After work, I took a break, and then I cooked those fajitas - they turned out v. well, especially with a whole avocado's worth of guacamole and some refried beans. Then, I wrote for a bit in my new journal, mostly to prove to myself that the journal is going to solve my entire writing career (I swear it will). Then I did some day job stuff. And then I ended the day by looking at fixtures for the Iowa house - the choosing is sort of fun, but I'm sure I'll rue the day when I suddenly have torn out both bathrooms and am shitting in a bucket (but I'm sure I will have bought a v. nice bucket!).

sssanyway, now it's time for bed - goodnight!

dawn breaks like a bull through the hall

I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night and I was dragging all day, and so even though it's only 9:30pm I think I'm going to go to be early and hope that I can get up early enough to do the work I should have done this weekend. Today was great, though - I spent the morning lazing around and talking to [censored] about measurements for some tings at my Iowa house. Then I spent an afternoon browsing in person at Crate and Barrel and also Room and Board - I don't want to go too overboard buying furniture for Iowa, especially when there are many tings that need to be done before we get into the cosmetics and aesthetics of the furniture. But I also want it to feel comfortable when I'm there, which probably means I need more than just the sectional the previous owner left behind.

After I was done browsing (and got some great ideas), I drove home and talked to [censored] some more. Then I talked to my parents. And then I made dinner - I tried making soft tofu soup, which is one of my favorite comfort foods from San Francisco that I never get here. It turned out surprisingly well - perhaps 10% less good than the restaurant version, but still 90% better than I expected on my first try. So, yesterday's wandering around H Mart was #worthit, and this was so easy that it may become a comfort food here too.

And now, I should sleep - goodnight!

old teeth and a curse for this town

I inadvertently stayed up too late and I'm falling asleep on my couch as I type this, but I had a v. nice day all in all. The last couple of months have been almost absurd in terms of what I've been able to do - between my dad being in the hospital a couple of months ago + my surgery immediately after that, followed by two weeks in Iowa and almost two weeks in Tahoe / SF, this really was my first weekend day here since August when I could actually lift things / walk around / hang out without my belly hurting. So, that was pretty exciting!

I mostly spent it thinking about food - I haven't cooked much at home in forever, mostly because of the aforementioned issues (and cooking when you can't lift more than ten pounds is not ideal). So I made a sweet potato and sausage hash this morning - it's one of my go-tos that I somehow haven't had in months, and it was delicious. Then I went to H Mart in Westminster in search of ingredients to try some new-to-me recipes. H Mart is a Korean supermarket with all sorts of imported Asian food products - and I always feel like it's amateur hour when I go there, since I don't know where anything is and spend a lot of time searching for things in the wrong place. For example, the dried anchovies were not at all where I expected them to be (and not at all something I usually buy). So, my shopping trip took a big chunk of time. But I got some cute little housewares along with the food products, and I got a milk tea to drink on the way home, so that was fun.

When I got home, I did a bunch of stuff around the house. Then, my new neighbors came over for a drink and some snacks - so far they seem nice, and I think we'll get along great. After they left, I put the dried anchovies to use - I'm going to try making soft tofu soup tomorrow, and it requires a dashi (stock) of water, dried kelp, and dried anchovies. I've never cooked with dried anchovies before, but pulling their heads off and removing the inner waste (similar to deveining shrimp) was oddly satisfying, and the dashi smelled amazing. So hopefully tomorrow's experiment turns out well.

I then ended the evening by looking at furnishings for my Iowa house, which was a fun exercise even if it's just an endless series of things that say they'll ship next July. And now I really should sleep - goodnight!

i need to be where you are for no reason at all

I'm still absurdly tired after my epic trip to the west coast, but I'm starting to feel slightly recovered. I had a really nice day today - I slept later than I planned, but work was less onerous than usual ("no meeting Friday" = "four hours of meetings"). So I had time to eat some leftover chili for lunch, and I also walked down to St. Kilian's to buy some delicious cheeses and salamis and other tasty victuals for a girls' night in with Katie.

The excitement of knowing that she was coming over made it hard to focus on work, but I kept going until around five (with a brief stop to introduce myself to my new neighbor). Then I placed a grocery order - Whole Foods' move to start charging $9.99 even to Prime members clearly cut their demand dramatically, because I placed the order at 5:30 and was able to get an 8pm delivery. Paying for delivery was #worthit so that I would have food for breakfast tomorrow + food to cook the rest of the weekend without wasting time on a grocery run, so we'll see what I end up making.

Katie came over a little after 5:30, and I assembled a delightful charcuterie plate (which I am so delighted by that I have decided to embed a picture for those of you who don't follow my stories on the 'gram).

We hung out for several hours, and we drank a bottle of Sangiovese from the stash that I bought at the winery during Nathan's birthday party this summer - I'm happy and deeply relieved to report that the bottle of wine was great, which is good news since I violated the cardinal rule of not ordering wine from wineries after already getting intoxicated (the cardinal rule is in place after too many bottles purchased after the second winery of the day, none of which were ever as good as my blitzed palate thought they were).

So, Katie was in great form and we had a fun evening in - it was way more relaxing to sit on my couch than it would have been to go out, although I worry slightly about whether I'll ever recover the extroversion / ability to go out every night that I possessed pre-pandemic. And now, I should really sleep - there are a million things I want to do this weekend, and sleep is necessary to start the pursuit of all of them. Goodnight!

or else i'll suffer withdrawal

Today was a decent enough first day back - I didn't get enough sleep and my meetings started too early to allow me to enjoy puttering around my house, but it was all fine. I also had a poke bowl for lunch, which went a long way toward making me happy. And I was done by five, so I scrounged up a red onion from the basement, thawed out some hamburger, and made my favorite beef and black bean chili, which is one of my winter comfort foods. Winter is definitely coming, even though it's not here yet - and I'm getting the urge to hunker, so we'll see what that turns into.

But now I think I shall go to bed - goodnight!

when the night is overcome you may rise to find the sun

I am back in Denver (yay!) after a slightly longer than planned day of travel. Today was pretty long overall - I woke up early after sleeping somewhat fitfully, and then I walked to the office (with a stop at my beloved Philz) in time for an 8:30am meeting. I did three meetings from there, walked back to my hotel, did one more meeting, finished packing, and checked out around 11:30. Then I drove to the airport, dropped off the rental car, checked my bag, sailed through security, and spent several hours eating + slowly sipping rose + doing a lot of work. This turned into more work + slightly more rose than planned because my flight was delayed by an hour, but I eventually made it onto the plane, where I dozed and drank coke zero and messed around on my phone.

Despite the delay (or perhaps because of it), leaving the airport was v. smooth - my bag came quickly and I got to the curb just as my uber pulled up, and there was no traffic getting home. So, I think I can unwind and get some sleep and hopefully wake up in time to grab coffee somewhere before my first meeting - I usually keep emergency cream in the fridge for when I return from a trip, but this time I don't have any and I'm somehow going to have to survive the morning without it. Goodnight!

are you stuck in your old ways

I had a really nice, really exhausting day in the office in San Francisco - as much as I don't want to be in an office full-time, I will say that it's pretty nice to see people. I had to be there by eight so that I could do a two-minute presentation to a senior VP, and then I dipped straight into a full day of meetings, coffees, lunch, etc., etc. And then I went out with some of my team for happy hour / food at Coqueta - the tapas were great, as were the cocktails, but the gluten was probably a bit more than I should have allowed myself.

And now, I really need to sleep - I have a bunch of meetings in the morning before heading to the airport, and they will be easier if I am a little more well-rested than I am right now. Goodnight!

but i left it way too late

I was back at work today, which was an unwelcome reawakening - it was nice to see some people in person, but I'm also tired and wanting to still be on vacation. So I worked all day, with a nice lunch break. Then I came back to my hotel, took a nap, did a tiny bit more work, and then met up with Lauren (aka Subz) for a long dinner at Tailor's Son. The service was absurdly slow, but that meant we were able to catch up without being rushed out, and I found it quite wonderful. We also ate outside, and I found myself dreading the onslaught of winter in Denver... But that's a problem for another time.

And now, even though I would like to wax poetic about how great Lauren is, I need to sleep - goodnight!

you've been dreamless and sleepin' for years

I am in San Francisco and it feels like home, which is such a strange dislocation because my tiny town in Iowa also feels like home and there is no way for my brain to reconcile these competing desires. Today was exactly the day I wanted (other than the fact that I got exactly five hours of sleep last night). I woke up in San Bruno and had a latte and some conversation with Veronica and Adam (and their dog Gus, who realized approximately eight hours too late that I broke in last night). After we chatted, I took a v. abbreviated shower and packed my bags and said goodbye (sadly)....

And then I drove to Alameda, where I picked up Claudia (who will legally be known as Santy Claude in less than a month, once Thanksgiving is over and her true identity is revealed to the world). We left her adorable toddler and less-adorable husband sitting on the porch while we went to a tea shop, where we indulged in hot beverages while hanging out on the back patio. This trip has served, as always, as a good reminder of how v. much I appreciate the friends I have collected along the way - Claudia and I were random freshman roommates back in 1999 and could have very well found each other contemptible (or, barring that, forgettable), but we're 22 years in and going strong.

So, Claudia and I caught up in a delightful but abbreviated fashion (she had a cold, which her toddler gave her via a loving donation of spit and particulates). After, I dropped her off at home and met John and Jess at Saul's, which is the home of many previous lunches (don't call it brunch in front of Jess). Saul's has created a bunch of outdoor seating due to the panny, so we sat outside and it was pretty perfect for my usual order of corned beef hash. John and Jess also gave me the best birthday present ever - a copy of a board game called 'Raccoon Tycoon', which also involves railroads, and so hits every interest I have. So, I predict some new adventures for Wampler Family Christmas (tm) in the future.

We spent a couple of hours having brunch/lunch + gelato, and then I went back to their place for a bit more chatter. Eventually, I had to come back to SF, so I checked into my hotel, took a nap, and bailed on dinner plans with Chandlord due to extreme exhaustion. The panny has left me unable to deal with so much socializing, and I have to work tomorrow, so I indulged in a lowkey evening of unpacking + talking to my parents. I also had a late dinner + wine at the bar where I had my last hotel bar experience pre-pandemic - I am pretty sure it was the same bartender, but instead of talking to a stranger who had dated someone in the Denver mafia, I talked to a stranger whose wife was at UCSF for a brain tumor. Separately, I am 99.5% sure that someone else at the bar was someone I had had a v. bad first date with years ago; I  compared notes with the bartender, who was reluctant to say anything at first bc she's been burned by secret shoppers in the past, but our resulting conversation was hilarious.

And now, after fully reimmersing myself in my San Francisco ways, it's time for bed - I'm back to work tomorrow, and that requires some amount of focus. Goodnight!

i didn't know i was lonely til i saw your face

I had an amazing day that was much longer than planned, and I'm probably going to be wrecked tomorrow, but #noregrets. The bay area has its problems, but it also has some of my favorite people in the world, and I saw a bunch of them today. I started it off right with a latte with Veronica and Adam, and then I got ready and drove over to Shedletsky's house. They had a babysitter (aka Tina's mom) for the morning, so we had a super fancy brunch at Madera (which I guess has a Michelin star, if you care about such things). It was long and leisurely and slightly boozy, which is like all of our trips and sleepovers together, so it was great to see them after many months separated by the plague. I really did not see this kind of fancy brunch coming when Shedletsky lived next door to me in college back in 2001, since at the time it seemed like he could be the Unabomber, but I guess it all worked out.

Then I left them and took a small break to myself to contemplate my book, and then I met Kristen for drinks in Redwood City. Kristen moved to California during the pandemic, so we couldn't do backyard hangouts in Denver... But we were able to sit on a patio and have rosé and gossip, and that was all wonderful.

Then, I drove back to Menlo Park and meet Joann, Jen, and Jane (the friendship renewal crew) for dinner at Farmhouse Thai. Menlo Park and Redwood City have both changed a lot since I was hanging out there in the early 2000s, and I suppose J/J/J and I have changed as well - we met in the same batch of start classes at work back in 2003, so we've known each other for eighteen years this month. That's impossible to fathom, but I'm deeply glad it's true. We had an excellent dinner there on the heated front porch, and it was so great to see them in person after many months of zoom calls.

Then, I had intended to be back at Veronica's at the civilized time of 9:30... But instead I got lured to the city of sin by Adit and Chandlord. We had a v low-key night in deference to our age... We hung out at Adit's for awhile, and then Priyanka went to bed and Adit, Vidya and I walked (well, Vidya hobbled) to Mothership. We had palomas on their back patio while looking at people's Halloween costumes and discussing covid, cancelation, handsome monkeys, and the origin of the phrase "cut from the program" (which my college friends say and can no longer remember why).

And now, I really desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

polarized feelings, i don't wear them on my face lately

I am sitting in Veronica's guest room (which is technically not her guest room; it's the extra room in her airbnb, which she's staying in because of renovations) in the bay area, down in the peninsula haunts of my youth. Actually, I didn't haunt San Bruno in my real youth, but I did write in San Bruno in my early thirties, so I'm counting that.

Today was lovely, but v. long and I'm v. tired. We had to leave Tahoe today, which made me sad; happily, I drove back Grace and Anne, whom I adore, and it made for excellent conversation. Traffic was really bad getting out of Tahoe due to multiple places where the road was cut to one lane to allow for ongoing cleanup from the fires - it's really quite astonishing that so many houses and town survived given the intense fire damage along the way. So, it took longer to get back than expected, and we certainly weren't pushing it (we stopped for a late lunch, which was v. needed). I dropped Anne off at her place, then took Grace to Barbara's to pick up her car. Happily, Barbara and her husband showed up at the same time that we did, so I got a tour of Barbara's new house (same location as the old house, but I hadn't seen the new version since it got finished just before the pandemic). I'm super sad that our retreat is over, but I'm looking forward to more fun times with the group in the next few months.

When I was done driving + saying goodbye, I drove to Veronica's. I was supposed to just drop stuff here and then head into SF for dinner, but I called an audible and canceled on dinner - I was cutting it way too close, and was too tired, and really just wanted the comfort of Veronica and sweats and a bottle of chablis. So, Veronica and Adam v. graciously pivoted and included me in their dinner prep - we had snacks and talked while Adam cooked, and Adam made us gins and tonics (followed by the aforementioned chablis), along w/v. tasty rice bowls. And we watched some tv and I had retired to my room by ten, which is exactly what I needed. And, as always, Veronica and Adam are a delight, and I'm delighted that I got to spend extra time with them.

And now, I really need to sleep - tomorrow I'm peregrinating around the south bay and seeing a bunch of people I haven't seen in 2+ years, and I'm both v. excited and also already tired. But it should be a great time. Goodnight!

stop for a minute and see where you hide

I am v. sad that today was the last day of my retreat - I could have easily used another week. The fun doesn't end completely tomorrow, since I'm going to San Francisco for a few days after, but I really wish I could spend another week holed up in Tahoe and submerging myself in the writing.

Today was a lovely last day, though - I slept in a bit (but not enough to make up for staying up so late last night), and then I went to Nevada to pick up a rental car. This sounds more onerous than it was, since the state line is eight minutes from here and I just went across the border to the Hard Rock Casino to get the rental car. Then I spent the afternoon brainstorming the book concept we came up with yesterday, which I'm pretty excited about.

The day ended with me and Grace going down to the Heavenly plaza to pick up takeout - since I had a car today, and we haven't had a car all week, the group took advantage of it to get food from a place that doesn't deliver. And now, I'm mostly packed and mostly ready to go, but I should get some sleep if I want to drive to SF tomorrow. Goodnight!

the fear has gripped me but here i go

I stayed up way too late reading, but #noregrets. Today was really great - as I was making coffee and tidying up the kitchen, I asked Barbara to "give me some advice I won't take" (she once gave an entire keynote on how everyone wants her advice but doesn't actually listen to her, while looking at our table, so I continue to find this hilarious). This somehow turned into her and Veronica helping me to brainstorm a totally new book idea that I wasn't expecting and am now vastly intrigued by. We continued the brainstorm over lunch and I think there's a "there" there, so I spent the afternoon messing around with it. It felt fun to play with something new, which is also a great thread between previous projects....so we'll see what happens.

Sadly, Veronica left this afternoon, but the rest of us ordered dinner from a bar and grill type place (tasty, but not the best ever) and hung out for a couple of hours. And then I curled up in the media room and read the entire first Sookie Stackhouse book in one sitting - I should have read it years ago, but I never read it or watched True Blood, and so I was way overdue. It wasn't quite what I expected, probably because it's been so hyped - but it was v. useful for my purposes.

And now it's almost 1:30am and tomorrow is my last day here and I want to enjoy it, and enjoying it will be easier with some sleep. Goodnight!

first sip of coffee

I had a really delightful day, all in all - it's great to be around other writers, and also great to be in Lake Tahoe after two years away. I messed around this morning and then took a walk - partially to mail my absentee ballot for the Denver elections next week, and partially to check out the new Whole Foods that opened here since the last time I was here. It was a nice day for a walk even if things are still really slushy from yesterday's snow, and it was great to get out of the house for a bit.

Then I came back to the house, made a tuna melt (which convinced Grace to also make a tuna melt), and spent some time working on book stuff. I broke for a bit to talk to Alyssa, which was illuminating as per usual. Then I messed around online, ordered dinner for the group (delicious Indian takeout), and then enjoyed said Indian takeout.

The surprise came after dinner - I was completely shocked when my friends all started singing happy birthday and brought out cupcakes, a balloon, gifts, and sparkling rosé. In fact, I was so shocked that I started singing happy birthday because I had no idea what was going on (ha). I had planned to do something fun and raucous for my 40th but had canceled it due to the 'rona, but they decided to help me celebrate tonight. It was such a fun surprise, and I'm glad I got to celebrate with them! And a bottle of rosé (which I shared) + a Sephora gift card (among other things, which I did not share) were pretty #onbrand gifts.

So, that was a super surprise, and I spent the rest of the evening drinking some rosé and basking in the glow of good company (and a working fireplace, which was fixed this afternoon). And now I should really sleep - I want to write as much as possible tomorrow, and sleep would be useful for that goal. Goodnight!

i take my gun to the enemy's side

Today was a strange, lovely day - it snowed a lot this morning, and when I woke up I discovered we had lost power and the house was dark. So I got ready in the dark, went downstairs, found no one was here, and started to investigate - when suddenly the power came back and everything was fine again. The snow was pretty dramatic this morning though - it fell heavily for several hours, and it made for a moody and atmospheric view of the lake.

But by early afternoon it started to clear up, and eventually the sun was out and everything was bright and cheerful again. I didn't get a lot of writing done today - after the power outage everyone was discombobulated, and then around lunch Veronica arrived (yay! and also crazy that she managed to get here with the snow) and so of course I wanted to talk to her. I did a bit of writing in the afternoon, but I broke early to make my chicken tortilla soup. This takes some time due to the chopping + the amount of time it has to simmer, and that was all extended because I made a triple batch. But it turned out perfectly, if I do say so myself, and it was fun to cook for other people after a lot of #quarantinechef activities.

After dinner, we hung out for several hours, and it was delightful. But now I really need to sleep so that I can focus more on storytelling tomorrow - goodnight!

she's got a fake ID and a nose ring

No blog tonight - I already fell asleep and don't want to fully wake up writing this. But today was good (stretching, eating huevos rancheros, talking a lot to both writer friends and also to Terry, my parents, and [censored]) and less good (extreme rain, several hours of day job work I didn't do last week).

So hopefully I can get back to my writing tomorrow, but we shall see... So far I'm having fun, though, which is probably what I needed more than anything. Goodnight!

muscle to muscle and toe to toe

I had intended to go to bed an hour ago, but I did some desultory shopping of tings online (without actually buying anything) and attempts to figure out where to stay in San Francisco next weekend (without actually booking anything). I had a really nice day in Tahoe, though - I got eight and a half hours of sleep to start, and then I made some coffee, took a shower, and made an omelette. I spent most of the afternoon hidden away in the media room reading a book and journaling, which was exactly what I wanted - while I've been doing writing retreats with some configuration of this group for seven years now, and while I usually try to write when I'm on a retreat, I'm treating this one as a combo vacation + refill the well. That means I'm more focused on reading and also spending serious quality time with friends (beyond the usual lunch or dinner excursion) for the first time in sixteen+ months.

Of course, it's a little silly that I came to Tahoe in late October - winter is coming to Denver but it's not there yet, while here we're getting slammed by an atmospheric river that's going to dump rain and snow for the next couple of days (and there's a winter storm warning in the mountains above us). I felt my inner rural Iowan kick into anxiety over the state of our grocery / food situation, since we didn't stock up enough to make me feel like we could survive a storm - so at some point this afternoon I ran across the street with Jules to get some more stuff, and carried back what I could carry (ingredients for chicken tortilla soup + another bottle of wine + some lotion = the necessities).

Late in the afternoon, Grace joined me in my media room hideout, so we both worked/read for awhile and then talked a bit. And then the group broke for dinner - Christie made soup, and we hung out and talked for a few hours. It's mostly the usual suspects (or at least the usual suspects from the last couple of Tahoe retreats) - Barbara, Christie, Anne, Grace, Tina, and Jules, which makes for a v. manageable group (i.e. one in which everyone gets their own bedroom and there are plenty of places for everyone to work and we can all fit around one table). Veronica is supposed to be here too, but due to some scheduling woes isn't here yet - but I'll take any time I can get with her.

sssanyway, I need to go to bed now - I have to do a bit of day job work tomorrow that I didn't get done before I left, and then I want to read something fun. Goodnight!

but it's hard to know what's right when i feel like i'm borrowing all of my time

I'm super tired and desperate for sleep - today was a fun day, but it required getting up earlier than usual so I could finish packing, watering my plants, etc. and getting to the airport. I'm taking the next week off, which I'm v. much looking forward to - but I will share more about that tomorrow. For now, I'm falling asleep and need to go to sleep - goodnight!

i'll take one lift, your ride, best trip

I'm super tired tonight - I didn't sleep all that well last night, and I had a ton of slogging to do today. The whole company has tomorrow off, but that didn't make today low-key, and I'll probably have to do a bit of work this weekend that I didn't get done and really have to get done.

However, it wasn't all work and no play - I cut out a little early to get a mani/pedi, and then I picked up Katie and we went down to the Union Station area to have dinner at The Kitchen. I hadn't been there in a couple of years, but I am reminded that I should go there more often - it was a total delight. I ignored my gluten issue (which was a mistake, since it's an actual issue) and we split a tomato flatbread to take advantage of the last tomatoes before winter, a few grilled oysters that were delish, a miso black cod, and some gnocchetti bolognese that was absolutely the best thing I've eaten in awhile. It was unfortunate that the black cod came after the gnocchetti, because it was impossible for anything to follow that. That said, dessert was pretty great too - we split a sticky toffee pudding that was more cake-like (British) than pudding-like (American), and it was perfect. And, my skills at getting free alcohol randomly comped remain undiminished because the waiter was so charmed by us that he brought us each a glass of madeira to pair with the pudding, and it was such a perfect way to end that I was utterly delighted.

Of course, I was also utterly delighted by Katie - we had much to catch up on, so it was a great evening. Then I came home and rather frantically tried to accomplish tings until now. And now I must go to sleep - goodnight!

he said it's all in your head, but keep an ear to the grapevine

I had a frenetic day - way too many things going on, and not enough time to get everything done. I slogged through my meetings, which were so back to back that it took me grazing for ninety minutes to finish eating the sandwich I'd ordered at Snarf's. Somewhere in there, I got my car back from getting serviced by the Audi dealer - they had picked it up yesterday and brought it back today, and while that service is super nice, I think I would rather drive it in in the future just to control when the whole thing happens.

I also talked to my mom a couple of times - a dishwasher got delivered to my house in Iowa, but the guy brought the wrong one and so couldn't install it. I was about to go ballistic on the dealer, but it turns out it was the driver's fault for loading the wrong one (white instead of stainless). So the driver showed up again with a new one, and I'm super grateful that my mom was able to be there so that I'll have a functioning dishwasher when I'm there again. One replacement of something strange down, ninety-nine thousand more replacements to go!

But after all that slogging (and a quick break to go get botox in my jaw, which prevents me from clenching it in response to all that slogging), I was done a little before six. I should have worked tonight, but I couldn't bring myself to - instead, I ate takeout chicken shawarma (a far cry from the döner kebab pictures that Google Photos keeps flashing me - I was in Berlin two years ago right now, and it feels like a lifetime and a half), did a bunch of laundry, and otherwise messed around the house.

Now, though, I need to sleep - I have another million things to do tomorrow and not enough time in which to do them. Goodnight!