reasons to stay, reasons to go

I had an excellent day in Okoboji, with several great workshops, a v nice lunch with a writer I met from Illinois, and only a little bit (well, two hours) of day job work. But I'm v tired and I want to get eight hours of sleep before I have to do a half day of conference stuff and then drive home tomorrow - so I'm calling it a night. Goodnight!

what can i say, i'm survivin'

I had a pretty excellent day at this conference - I got up earlier than desired (but after enough sleep), and I made it to the conference site at 7:15 to register. Then I sat around for two hours, most of which was spent intro'ing the speakers - which was worthwhile in the sense that it convinced me to go to a couple of workshops that I might not have considered, both of which were my favorites of the day.

Then I went to four workshops, with a break for lunch in between, and they were all uniformly good (with the exception of some moderation issues in the first one). By the time I was done, I needed some downtime and also wanted to make sure I had enough food to eat (gluten free is often not easy at these things, although they did have a gluten free bun for their maidrites). So I came back to my hotel and then went to a restaurant down the street, where I devoured a burger while some no-see-ums devoured me.

At that point, I was tempted to just come back to my room and work, but I rallied and went to a showing of a documentary about Iowa and pie that was made by someone who is in attendance at the retreat. The film was pretty fun, so I'm glad I saw it. But then I did come back and work for three hours, which was three hours longer than I wanted to work today - but I got done the things I had to get done, so hopefully tomorrow can be a wee bit more chill (but prob not).

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

spin me like a globe

I am having a wee bit of an adventure this week - I am currently ensconced in a motel in Okoboji for a writing conference tomorrow and Tuesday. It's primarily Iowa writers, primarily memoir and blogging and other forms of reporting, and I've been looking forward to it for awhile. 

Of course, despite looking forward to it, it was a mad scramble to get out the door today. I helped (sort of) [censored] put together a plant stand for Mom while I drank my first cup of coffee, and then I realized I should start packing immediately since that had somehow still not happened at nine am. So I threw a bunch of stuff in a bag, took a shower, watered plants, cleaned the kitchen, watered my garden (the peppers are in a race against the first frost to produce something), and finally headed north.

I stopped in the metro for a couple of hours on my way - I meet Drewbaby and Sammie for lunch at Barn Door, which was pretty tasty. They kindly provided last-mile service for some business cards that I had shipped to their house - I haven't been to a writing conference in forever and forgot that I would want business cards until Wednesday this week. By that point it was too late to order to the hinterlands, but I could get overnight delivery to Des Moines. So we had a nice lunch and caught up on life, and my business cards are perfect, so it's a win win. 

Then I went to my usual spot to get a manicure, which always makes me feel polished (pun intended). And then I grabbed Starbucks and headed north. 

The drive was uneventful, and I alternated between a Trevor Noah podcast about AI and the Taylor Swift channel on Sirius. I pulled into Okoboji shortly before sundown, and I think there are only four or five people at the hotel - it's off season here, and I'm guessing anyone here is at my conference, but we'll see.

After I checked in, I walked ten minutes south to a restaurant I drove by on the east in, which was pretty good. And now I'm going to go to bed early since registration starts at the ungodly hour of seven am (Midwesterners are dumb) - goodnight!

laughing but the joke's not funny at all

Yesterday was way busier than I intended for it to be - I thought I would have some time to do real work, but instead I kept getting dragged into meetings, which cramped my style. I did sneak out in mid-afternoon to go to Garden Club - Mom had the program, and it was at Emmy's house, so I wanted to go. It was a nice interlude, albeit pretty much the exact opposite of my day job meetings; we ate a lot of treats and discussed attempted murders, which was pretty fun.

Then I came home, was in meetings until six, and then was too brain dead to do anything (especially cook), and so [censored] and I grabbed Mexican and I was in bed by ten. Yes, this is v unusual, which should tell you how wiped out I was.

Today was pretty good, though - I got nine hours of sleep, and then I spent the morning writing and the afternoon cleaning my office. I also got groceries, did four loads of laundry, took care of my plants, froze some tomatillos, and made scalloped potatoes and ham for supper. [Censored] and I took the potatoes and ham to Mom's, where it joined forces with her baked beans to make a winning meal.

After I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen, came upstairs, made some lists, and mostly failed to do anything on them. And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

like the control

I had another v busy day - so busy that I didn't even have time to put on makeup, beyond a swipe of mascara to look a little more awake. But all the various meetings and tasks were fine, and I took some time in the middle to fry bacon and make myself a perfect BLTA. Granted, I was listening to a work call on my headphones the whole time, but it was still a tasty interlude. 

When I finally wrapped up, I sat on my balcony until the bugs started to get me, and then I made a version of a caprese salad with tomatoes from my garden and some balls of mozzarella. [Censored] and I ate this with the leftover pasta that I made the other night (which wasn't great, but was also no effort, so I'll take it). We also watched the end of TWISTER, which was ridiculous as usual. And then I lured Katie into calling me, which was a total delight.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

defying gravity

I've had a couple of pretty brutal days at work - mostly because there are a million things going on and I am somehow involved in approximately 800,000 of them. So yesterday was a long slog, and I woke up today and slogged again.

But tonight I cut out at 5:45 and went into town for the first PEO meeting of the year. We had a dinner hosted by some of the members, with roast beef and green beans and potatoes and some dessert, and it was all pretty tasty. The group is dwindling, so only nine people were there, but it was a nice evening. I also chatted with Mom briefly in the parking lot, so that was good. And then I came home, did a bit of work, talked to [censored], and did some personal stuff to round out the night.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

johnny rosin up your bow

I had another bananas day at work - nothing bad, just more than I could get done, and all with tight deadlines. I continue to remind myself that at least it's all pretty interesting, and at least I have become friends with these people, which is more than I can say for many of my previous forays into workaholism.

But getting up at 7 and then slogging relentlessly until 5 made for a long day - not long in the context of life in corporate america, perhaps, but my brain was moving at a meltingly-quick pace for most of it. So I v. gladly took a break to meet up with Mom, Kerry, and Jerry for dinner. We went to the Brick, which used to be Ludlows, and also simultaneously used to be the Legion Hall and the flower shop (depending on whether you're tracing the lineage of the establishment by the new establishment's current building vs the old establishment's previous building). Whatever it's called now, the food was pretty good - I had a ribeye and some fries, and the salad bar was reasonably tasty. It was fun to see Kerry and Jerry on this trip, so hopefully we'll see them again sometime as travel and life allows.

After dinner, I came home, did nothing for an hour, talked to one of my coworkers for work and funsies, and then did some work just to get the most pressing tings done. And now I am going to rest my eyes and go to bed - goodnight!

you turned my airlock on

I had a pretty good first day back - I didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to, but I got fully unpacked and did some good planning for the week ahead. I also spent the evening at Mom's - her cousin Kerry is visiting, along with Kerry's husband Jerry, and so [censored] and I had dinner with them. Given the lack of options on a Sunday night here, that means Casey's pizza, but that's always tasty.

Eventually, Kerry and Jerry went to their motel, and [censored] and I came back into town (although I will see them again for dinner tomorrow before they head out). And now I need to go to bed so I can slog through a million things tomorrow - goodnight!

collecting trophies for the songs they wrote while we lived in the shadow of the moon

I am back in ye olde Iowa after a v. long but uneventful travel day. I was able to get sufficient sleep last night to make up for Thursday's shenanigans, and I grabbed a bit of breakfast and some coffee downstairs before showering and putting my last things in my suitcase to head to the airport. My hotel last night was <10min by uber to the airport, and I went through Terminal 2 to avoid the construction chaos of Terminal 3, so this travel day was much smoother than my last attempt to depart SFO.

My flight to Denver was uneventful, and I spent my layover in Denver eating nachos and drinking a margarita at Cantina Grill, which is exactly how a layover should be spent. My flight to Des Moines was also uneventful, and I landed a little before 9pm CT - so after stopping for gas, I got home around 10:30. Then I talked to [censored] for a bit, and then I came upstairs to do a small bit of day job stuff that I probably should have done on the plane (but I preferred to sleep on the plane, so no real regrets there). And now I need to go to bed so I can do a million tings tomorrow - goodnight!

we're as simple as we want it to be

I had an excellent day yesterday - a lot of work, but also they got me cake and treats from Mariposa, which was great. We all went out for happy hour at 5:30... Which turned into far more than a happy hour because Adit, Geoff, Timothy and I stayed out until midnight.

So, I was dragging today, but I survived. I woke at five to say goodbye to Chandlord, who was leaving before I needed to, and then I went back to bed. Eventually I got up, and then I packed everything in to my bag and then to the office. Jamie, Jackie and I were the only ones who came in, so we did a variety of tings together. It was all pretty painful since I was short on sleep and also didn't eat enough yesterday, but c'est la vie. 

And now I need to sleep  - goodnight!

synaesthesia

I had a pretty lovely day, all in all. I got enough sleep, woke up early, and went to Philz to work for a couple of hours before my meetings started. Then I slogged all day (with some entertaining side conversations with Adit about T-shirts, which are somehow part of our job responsibilities), and it was all generally fine.

And then I caught a waymo to Ocean Beach to see Veronica and Adam. I took a waymo even though they tend to be a little slower (since they have to obey stop signs and speed limits) because it's almost forty minutes to get across the city and I didn't want to be exposed to a driver's conversation and cologne for that long. Veronica and I had a v tasty Indian takeout dinner, and the place she ordered from had gluten free naan, which was a rare delight. And of course catching up was great, so I'm glad I made the trek to the far west side of the city of sin.

And now I'm safely ensconced in Chandlord's guest room and ready to sleep - goodnight!

shake shake shake

I'm too tired to blog - I got up sometime after five but before six and showered, then took an Uber to the Philz closest to my office so that I could get some early morning work done in peace (and with the biggest coffee possible). I was at the office for an eight am meeting, and I slogged until four, when I took a break to go to Burlingame and have dinner. Of course, I was very early to dinner since I was so desperate for a break, so I did a bit of window shopping and then sat at Starbucks for 90mins and did some minor work tasks that were appropriate for the level of thinking I was capable of. 

Then I met up with Anne, Barbara, and Veronica for dinner at Pizzeria Delfina. The service continues to be weird, but I had a v tasty pasta (instead of my usual gf mushroom pizza) and it was a delight. And it was great to see my writer friends, even if we were missing Grace and people were going through various calamities. Anne gave me a v unnecessary ride (from Safeway back to delfina), and then I took an interesting Uber ride with a Nepalese guy and we talked about the revolution. And now, I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

Then I took an Uber home

young dirty love, come get us strung

I'm safely ensconced in Chandlord's house, sacrificing my hotel room because hotels are $1000-5000/night this week due to a conference (SF is so back). Today was a bit disjointed as a result - I didn't sleep super well, and so got out of bed later than planned, and then had to grab coffee, shower, pack, etc. 

But I took a couple of meetings from the hotel, then went into the office to take more meetings, have lunch with Adit and Baz, and generally do various work things.. Then I came to Chandlord's, unpacked, went across the street to one of my old favorite cafes, and worked for a couple of hours before ordering Thai and generally chilling. 

And now I need to go to bed so I can slog tomorrow - goodnight!

peace of mind

I have had a v. eventful few days. Work continues to be a slog, which is why I haven’t had the energy to post at the end of the day - but it’s a (mostly) fun slog, so I am not that resentful of the increased demands on my time.

So, let’s see what we missed (what you missed in reading + what I missed in documenting):

Thursday was my birthday (#neverforget), and I celebrated as soon as I woke up by having a funfetti cupcake instead of a granola bar with my coffee. I spent the day slogging through a variety of tings and also fielding texts from a variety of people - the advantage of a 9/11 birthday is that it is remembered by people even if they don’t have it on their calendars, so I feel like I hear from more people than average (and then feel guilty because I definitely don’t remember everyone else’s birthdays).

After I was done with work, my mom, [censored] and I went to Garden Grove to celebrate my birthday at one of the only restaurants around that was open. I always love their cheese curds and fried pickles even though they certainly are not gluten free; I also had a southern Iowa lemonade, and the bourbon made up for the fact that my burger wasn’t as good as it usually is. So, we had a nice birthday dinner, and I ended the day feeling very loved (especially because someone at work refused to add me to a 9-11pm meeting because it was my birthday, so I went to bed while everyone else slogged).

Friday was chaotic = I got up and went into town to get allergy shots, and then I slogged through more meetings than I like to have on Fridays. I also had to pack to leave for SF, which made things more chaotic. But since I was originally supposed to fly out Friday night, the fact that I didn’t leave until Saturday morning made it just a wee bit more manageable. So I got packed up, watered all my plants and gardens, organized things, and also made dinner - I baked some chicken breasts, cooked the last of a pack of bacon that was going to go bad before my return, sliced up some fresh tomatoes and some leftover mozzarella, and [censored] and I had a surprisingly delicious dinner (and I left him with leftovers, assuaging my guilt at also leaving him with plants to water).

Saturday, I flew to SF. My flight was at 9, which meant leaving home at 6…and I only left twenty minutes later than planned, which is luckily not a problem when flying out of Des Moines. I parked in the garage, walked straight through security with my carry-on, and had time for a glass of nerve-calming rosé at the bar before boarding on time. My flights were both smooth from a timing standpoint, but unfortunately I was banking on eating on the Denver->SF flight, and they didn’t end up offering any food because there was too much turbulence.

So I landed in SF early but starving. Since I didn’t have to pick up a checked bag, I grabbed a late lunch at a restaurant at the airport before taking an uber into the city. I checked into my hotel, fully unpacked, and then went to my absolute favorite mani/pedi place, were they cleaned up my hands and feet and made me feel ready to seize a week of girlbossing in the city of sin. After that was done, I came back to my hotel, took a much needed twenty-minute nap, put on fresh clothes, and rendezvoused for some much-needed family time.

Adit (no one calls him the cat), Chandlord, Claude and I met up at True Laurel for drinks (aka cacktales), and my boulevardier went a long way toward restoring me after my travels. Then we had dinner at Flour + Water, which has gotten v. good for gluten free. The four of us now arrange our seating by our joint dietary preferences - Claude and I avoid gluten and eat meat to compensate, while Adit and Chandlord are veg only but eat as much gluten as possible. We split all the veg/gluten free salads on the menus, and then Claude and I split an excellent gf pasta + some salmon. This might be my new fave gf pasta in the city, which is v exciting since a place called Flour + Water is not typically welcoming of our gf sensitivities.

We also (of course) ordered a bottle of wine + another couple of glasses after. This is sedate compared to the outings of our twenties and thirties, but still felt like going big given our advanced ages. We spent most of dinner playing a game we dubbed ‘Vibe Check’ - the person in the hotseat had to pick a number between 1-10, where 1 is worst and 10 is best. The other three then went around and asked category questions - e.g., if someone asked ‘Biblical characters’ (as Claude did of me), then the main person had to name something within that category that matched the number/ranking they were thinking of.

As it turns out, we know each other quite well - they got that I had picked a 4 (for reference: my biblical characters was Paul bc I acknowledge his role in promoting the church and writing great letters, but do not appreciate his misogyny or how judgy he was after his Damascus conversion - and Claude guessed exactly how I felt; my other answers were all similarly mid), and for the rest of our rounds we all got within 1 of the person’s number. As games go it was quite fun and not nearly as dangerous as games involving shots, so I would 100% recommend.

Sssanyway, after we finished dinner (with an excellent chocolate budino), we walked a few blocks to meet up with Michael, who is friends with Chandlord and Claude. We hung out in his lobby with him and his partner, and drank some truly atrocious canned Paloma drink (lukewarm 52-proof tequila and grapefruit is really not good, but I drank it anyway because I’m polite and also have no boundaries). We chatted about a variety of topics related to book bindings, house renovations, SF neighborhoods, etc., and it was all generally delightful.

Adit and Chandlord then went with Michael to the Stud (and later to Grubstake, which I’m very sad to have missed, but I couldn’t have survived until 1:30am PT / 3:30am CT after waking up at 5am CT). I walked Claudia back to her car, grabbed an uber from there, and then came to my hotel and fell asleep with the lights on because I was too tired to think.

Today was a great recovery day though. I woke up fairly early, grabbed coffee downstairs, and then chilled and ordered room service breakfast. I also ran over to Chandlord’s to get a set of keys from her - SF hotels are cheap this weekend but out of control this week, so I’m checking out tomorrow and staying with her. Then I came back to my hotel, showered, and walked to the Embarcadero…

…where I had lunch (don’t call it brunch) with John and Jess at Coqueta. I was in the mood for tapas and paella, which I never get in ye olde Iowa, and Coqueta delivered. My salt air margarita was perfect, and the paella was fantastic - and the patatas bravas (fried potatoes if you’re Iowan) were so good that we got a second order. It’s warm in the city right now, so we sat outside, and we people-watched and water-watched and caught up on life in general, and it was all a delight.

After we parted ways, I did basically nothing for a couple of hours (and finally gave up and took a proper nap). Then I grabbed a chai from the Yemeni coffee shop down the street, came back to my room, and wrote for a couple of hours. Eventually I realized I was finally hungry again, so I grabbed a burger and a glass of wine from the hotel bar. And now, I need to start unwinding so that I can hit the work slog hard tomorrow - goodnight!

you could show a little grace, but maybe things just went a bit too far

I had another v v busy day, but things weren't quite as bonkers as yesterday, so I'll take it. I also had smoked salmon and cream cheese on toast for lunch, which made me quite delighted - there are advantages to going to Des Moines and having new types of food in the fridge as a result. And I snuck out at 4:20 to go to town for a library board meeting, so at least I got out of the house and saw more people than just the same usual suspects that I see on video all day every day.

When I got home, I did some laundry, made myself some gluten free funfetti cupcakes for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow (#neverforget), walked downtown to pay my water bill(s), and did a variety of other tings. I also spent half an hour on a late work call while eating leftover curry (better the second day, as is often the case), and then I talked to [censored], and then I did some more work.

And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

grab your wings, this is a storm we're meant to ride

I have had an absolutely insane couple of days at work, which is not how I like to live these days, but c'est la vie. Yesterday was a long and brutal slog, and I went to bed early in hopes of getting up early so I could get tings done today. But I woke up unexpectedly at 4am feeling migraine-ish, and so I canceled on a local board meeting and stayed in bed until eight.

That meant that today's slog started literally as soon as I got out of bed, headache or no. So I took a shower, fueled up with a bunch of coffee, and had many many hours of meetings (while also trying to multitask during some of them). I took a break around seven to make dinner, which turned out surprisingly well - I had an expired can of green curry paste in the basement that I'd never tried to cook with, but while I was awake at 4am I had read some tips for how to doctor it (including many people who said that most thai restaurants in the US use this brand of canned curry paste instead of making their own). So I cooked it up with eggplant from my garden, some chicken, and some fresh basil, and it turned out amazingly well. It was just on the verge of spicier than I wanted, but it was quite good, so I'll have to try their other pastes.

However, after I ate, I had to get back to the slog, including a 10pm meeting with an hour of debrief after. The only advantage of any of this, frankly, was that today was the four-month anniversary of Dad's death and I was too busy to think for most of the day, which I guess is maybe better than the alternative? Or maybe it's not, but workaholism certainly does help mask some things occasionally.

And now I am well and truly done (mentally, not task-wise) and am going to bed. Goodnight!

ensenada on my mind

I had a lovely day in the city of corn - I slept surprisingly well and deeply last night despite being in a strange place and also having a pretty stressful week, so I woke up later than planned and quite refreshed. The "later than planned" timing was by doubt influenced by the fact that I set my alarm...but it was my bedside alarm (at home) instead of my phone. At least [censored] wasn't home and hearing what sounded like a bird had gotten into my bedroom, so no one was alarmed (pin intended).

Anyway, I got ready, checked out, and went to the mall shortly after it opened, where I happily browsed many stores, bought a pair of black jeans (accomplishing my main mission), and had a slow late lunch at cheesecake factory. Then I went to Target, browsed a couple more stores, did a minor stock up at whole foods, and headed south.

[Censored] happened to land in Des Moines around the time I was wrapping up, so we met for a v tasty Mexican dinner in Indianola. Then I drove home, unloaded, and chilled until I started to fall asleep while looking at my phone. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

I will possess your heart

I had an unexpectedly chaotic day - I woke up thinking it would be chill, but instead I had many meetings and many discussions. It wasn't all day job, though - I also got allergy shots and mailed things and took care of some courthouse business, so at least I got that done.

At 5:30 I decided to play hooky and drive to Des Moines - I want to do a big shopping run tomorrow, and I decided to come up tonight so I could see Drewbaby and Sammie. They picked up Thai food and we drank some wine while watching the Chiefs game (against the Chargers in Brazil) on one TV and the North Polk game on another. The Chiefs game was disappointing, but Drewbaby's alma mater won, so the night wasn't a total wash.

Then I drove to West Des Moines and checked into a hotel so that I can hit the shopping early and hard tomorrow. Goodnight!

i play my music in the sun

I stayed up way too late working last night, which made this morning a bit of a slog. I've been strangely enjoying getting up early enough to get a head start on my day, and that didn't happen today - I still had time for coffee, of course, but I was definitely not feeling in it to win it. It didn't help that I had a million meetings and many important tings were happening in all of them, which left me feeling wrung out and headachy (but also strangely motivated) by the end of it.

But I did make myself some v. tasty bacon and eggs and toast for lunch while listening to a meeting, so that felt like a real win. I also slacked off at 5:45, checked my garden (more eggplant incoming!), and then went with Mom to water the planters in town. We also had dinner together - we changed cars after watering (since the watering jugs were in her trunk, but I would rather drive to dinner) and went to Seymour for ribeye. I also stocked up on their after-dinner mints since I don't have them in my life as often as I used it. The building next to them looks like it's about to collapse, which gives me pause about lingering outside too long, but at least the food is still good.

Then we came home, and I spent the rest of the evening chilling/procrastinating and then doing about an hour of work to get ahead of tomorrow. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

like the old days

I have nothing to report - I have been slogging hard the last two days to take advantage of some focus time while [censored] is gallivanting off in Orlando like the world traveler that he secretly wants to be. Yesterday I did manage to get out of the house and tend to the town's planters with my mom - but there was no need to water today, since we got rain off and on throughout.

So that's all I've got for you, since I need to wind down and go to bed - goodnight!

go slow

I had a v lazy couple of days, which wasn't my intent, but c'est la vie. Yesterday I did a whole lot of nothing, from what I can recall - although I did make potatoes au gratin to eat with the leftover pulled pork for dinner, which was pretty tasty. And [censored] and I watched the second half of the Billy Joel documentary, which was pretty great. Oh, and I met my latest great-niece - Allie and Chris came down and brought Mya, who is less than three weeks old and v v cute (and somehow already trying to roll over, which is shocking).

Today I attempted to be more productive, with mixed results. I was prepared to get after it, and then [censored] for a text from Cheri offering him some stuff out of their shed before they tear it down. Since their shed was Gram and Granddad's shed, I decided to go along for the ride and check tings out. There were a couple of old metal signs that were cool, and Jake had found our dad's initials and handprint in some concrete that was poured in 1978, so that was bittersweet.

After we came home, I messed around in my garden and harvested my only butternut squash. Mom and I also went downtown to water planters, since it's our week to water. And I spent the afternoon journaling, planning, and taking care of various lists - not completely productive, but I have a better handle on what I need to get done. 

And now I need to sleep so I can get up early and do all the things I should have done this weekend - goodnight!