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!