all of the people i've ghosted stand there in the room

I had a pretty good day, all in all - I didn't get as much done as I intended to, but it wasn't a bad effort. My kitchen remodel continues to move forward at a decent clip, but it also continues to be somewhat distracting. And I had to have a ham sandwich for lunch, but this is not really a hardship, since secretly I would eat a ham (or bologna, or tuna) sandwich basically any day of the week.

My main activity today was crashing the Garden Club - and by that, I mean that my mom invited me to go with the other Garden Club ladies to a wreath-making activity at a local Christmas tree farm. I'm not a member of said Garden Club, but there is an 80% overlap between Garden Club and the other group I'm in with my mom, so I know everyone there (and obviously also know the 20% who don't overlap). The Christmas tree farm was super cute - they had a nice gift shop in a former one-room schoolhouse that they had moved to the site, and their 'barn' was set up to make wreaths in. They'd preformed the wreaths, but we were able to decorate it however we wanted - and I'm quite happy with how mine turned out (even if I needed help making an appropriate ribbon/bow).

After we were finished, we came home, and my mom and I had to crawl out of Lee Ann's trunk to escape the car due to too much greenery being loaded into the car between us and the normal exit. And now, I should go to bed (or at least start winding down) - goodnight!

you check out guitar george, he knows all the chords

I had quite a nice day today, although it was cold enough to feel like fall is going to kick in in earnest. I picked up my mom around 10:30, and we went to one of the Amish greenhouses in the area to buy some mums. Of course, I couldn't resist picking up a couple of succulents as well, but further acquisitions were prevented by the fact that the greenhouse is mostly cleared out at this point in the season. Their mum selection, however, was top notch, and the guy was quite friendly (even though we clearly interrupted his coffee time), so it was a worthwhile adventure.

Then, we proceeded on to the next town over, where my mom treated me and my sister to lunch in honor of our September birthdays. Despite living here now, I hadn't seen my sister in ages, mostly because she doesn't drive very far and I have been entirely focused on getting settled in. But lunch was nice, and I remain a fan of getting potato chips with ranch dressing there, so it was #worthit.

After lunch, my mom and I ran some errands at Walmart and Fareway - I discovered that Fareway now sells a few flavors of Spindrift sparkling water, which I previously mostly got at Whole Foods in Des Moines, so this was a major victory. Combined with the discovery that my local grocery store now occasionally sells corn tortillas, my menu options are looking up. It's still hard to get fresh herbs (so the thing I wanted to make that requires sage leaves will not have fresh ones, and we'll see how it works with dried ones), and chicken is weirdly challenging (clearly people here do not eat nearly as much organic, air-chilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast as in my old life), but all in all I'm making it work. I also got to meet my mom's old home ec teacher at the grocery store, which was lovely.

Then we came home, and I dropped my mom and her stuff off before coming to my house and putting away my groceries. I then ran a couple of other quick errands, came home, took care of tings, ate some leftover chicken tacos (still excellent), and then hung out with [censored] after he arrived from [censored]. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

i tell my love to wreck it all

Today was a bonkers day at work, mostly because I had a million meetings and no breaks and half those meetings were ridiculous. But I did write just the tiniest amount this morning. And I was able to abandon the laptop a little before six and run to the greenhouse to spend some money; they do some rewards bucks through the season that are good for up to half off a purchase in early July, and today was the last day to use them. The greenhouse was hopping for a Thursday, since clearly other people had the same idea - but I picked up a couple of new houseplants and some potting soil, so it was worth the trip.

Then I came home, reheated some pasta, did some personal business stuff, and did some work business stuff. And now it's suddenly midnight and I must sleep immediately - goodnight!

he knows all the words to mr. brightside

[censored] and I had another great vacation day, although vacation day seems like a cruel misnomer. I took it a little easy this morning and mostly rearranged things in my living room (making space for more books, moving a table with plants on it, etc), but then we got cracking on outdoor activities. [censored] spent most of the morning creating a method to shore up my fence, which is sagging badly under the onslaught of my neighbor's untrimmed overgrowth. So [censored] cut some wood to create forms for cement, and then he mixed and poured cement around the fence pillars so that it will harden up and support the fence. We'll see how it looks tomorrow, but that seems like a good short-term solution to me!

While [censored] was doing cement work, I did a bunch of cutting of tings - I broke down all the stuff [censored] cut down yesterday so that I can compost it over the next couple of weeks, which was all a good endeavor. I also helped [censored] with some stuff related to my irrigation line, which was going to get buried under [censored]'s fence solution. And I ran and got some groceries and we also order sandwiches from Snarf's, which were a total delight.

Sometime in the afternoon, Aunt Becky came over - she's in her Colorado house as of yesterday, so we invited her up for supper. She got here early enough that we were able to hang out for quite awhile, and I made caprese salad (roasted tomatoes + mozzarella) and the proscuitto-wrapped stuffed chicken breasts that [censored] like, with some mashed potatoes for good measure. We had a lot to catch up on, and it was nice to do so over tasty food (even if my dining room now feels like my office to me and may feel like that forever).

After we were done eating, Aunt B went home and [censored] and I made a Home Depot run. I had told him I wouldn't make him go to Home Depot four times on this trip, but he has gone twice (and I went to Lowes without him yesterday), so it's a good thing he's leaving tomorrow before we can hit his limit. We picked up a couple of tings + a new irrigation control box, which [censored] installed tonight.

And now, I'm falling asleep in my chair and I need to get up and at 'em tomorrow to get tings done before [censored] leaves. Goodnight! 

playing too much of that dr dre

I'm back in Denver, safely ensconced in my upstairs office, where I spent the last twenty minutes making a list of all the things I want to get done with my two days of remaining freedom before my vacation is over. Of course, there's no way I can accomplish everything I actually want to get done, since that would require writing two books and finishing ten house projects and relandscaping while also taking baths and doing my nails and riding my peloton and pursuing other forms of vanity. But there are some solid things that I can knock out this weekend while also letting myself enjoy the sun and heat and last minutes of relaxation before I enter 'chaos girl summer' (as I described my current work situation to a coworker today - I would prefer a hot girl summer, but chaos may have to do).

sssanyway, I woke up this morning a little loath to get out of bed, but I finally forced the issue, got up, and took a shower. Then I had my last breakfast at the ranch - it was a leisurely morning on the patio, and my tanner-than-usual arms indicate how intense the sun is up in the mountains even when I'm out in the mid-morning and slathered in sunscreen. After breakfast, I threw my things into my suitcase and checked out of the hotel - I'm sure I'll go back someday, either with work or for another retreat-type excursion, but it felt good to head back to my own house.

The drive back wasn't quite as bad as the drive up, mostly because the return trip usually keeps you in the lane that hugs the mountain rather than the lane that zips merrily alongside the abyss. So, I made it back to Denver without incident (but without finishing the venti cold brew that I picked up on the way out of Fraser, since I didn't quite feel like drinking it while navigating switchbacks). I had a bit of time at home to eat some lunch (tuna dumped out of a can and mixed with some mayo and pickles - not quite as fancy as my last couple of days, but it certainly tasted good), and then I went over to Kelly's to hang out for a little bit since I probably won't see her for a month. Then I went to a greenhouse and loaded up on plants - I didn't really feel like going, but I do feel like planting some annuals in containers, and I figured that tomorrow the greenhouse would be slammed.

After that, I came home, ordered a pizza, took care of some business, and then walked to pick up the pizza. I also talked to [censored] and to my parents while sitting on my own patio - it needs some cleanup and I need to leaf blow and do some trimming of various things, but it's nice to be back.

And now I should sleep so that I can make the most valiant attempt possible on my to do list tomorrow - goodnight!

so tell me when it kicks in

Today was my first weekend day home in a v. long time where the weather also cooperated to get tings done. I woke up this morning without the hangover that I probably deserved after last night's excursion with Katie - but then, I am much better at pacing myself in my late thirties than I was in my late twenties (or maybe it's because Adit's not in Denver, unclear). So I messed around and made coffee and wrote to-do lists, and also made myself a rather decadent breakfast sandwich with egg, bacon, and cheese.

Then I hit the yardwork - I hadn't really had a chance to clean up this spring since I've been in Iowa so much, and I needed to get things situated so that I could turn my sprinklers on. That took many hours over the course of the late morning / afternoon, but I'm pleased with what I got done - my compost cart is completely full of various yard debris, my yard is mowed (or rather, string trimmed - it's a small space, so I just used the string trimmer to avoid the hassle of mowing), my back patio looks well kept, and my sprinklers are on. Unfortunately the backflow preventer is dripping, which is not really a surprise given that I had a plumbing issue over the winter - but otherwise the system seems to be in decent shape. So, I'll have to find someone to fix that, but at least it's not super hot yet and we're not in a drought, so this should all be fine.

After all that, I was dirty and wiped out, so I took a bubble bath with some extra bath salts for my muscles. My calf is almost fully healed after the injury it sustained six weeks ago, and I didn't really notice any issues today, but I want to keep it that way. So I enjoyed my bath, then called my parents - and after that call, and knowing that my dad seems to be on the road to recovery, I decided to postpone my drive back another few days. I had planned to drive home tomorrow, but I was wrecked from yard work and have a v. busy work week ahead, so I punted and am going home Friday instead.

So, since I didn't have to pack and load my car and shut up my house tonight, I promptly shut down instead - I reheated some pasta, poured a glass of wine, and watched a couple of episodes of Top Chef: Portland. This has to be one of their better seasons - all of the chefs, even the ones who were eliminated early, seem awesome, and I again wonder whether the pandemic and the restaurant shutdowns meant they got even better contestants across the board than they normally would have. So now I'm dreaming of food and restaurants and travel, but it will still be a bit before any of that happens.

But there is hope, and I'm starting to think about travel and where I might go (no offense to Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska, but I would like to add at least one more state to my repertoire this year). That's a dream for another night, though - right now it's time for bed. Goodnight!

listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

Suddenly it's late and I need to go to bed immediately. But I was v. productive today - shockingly so, considering that I usually spend Sundays indulging in the Sunday Scaries and talking on the phone. It's even more shocking because I didn't sleep well last night, and so I woke up groggy and not at all in it to win it.

However, I did manage to meditate, journal, and take care of a couple of tings this morning and make myself an omelette, so that was all a win. Then I met up with V for a virtual writing date - I messed around with the epiphany that I had about the book yesterday and validated that it really is an epiphany. It's going to require replotting the whole thing and perhaps dramatically shifting my understanding of it, but that's pretty exciting and I'm planning to tackle it in the morning before the day job sucks me in.

After V and I said our farewells, I did some laundry, ate some lunch, and took a brief nap. But then I rallied - my task for the afternoon was to blow out my sprinklers, and I actually accomplished it and am pretty sure I did it correctly, so that was v. exciting. The air compressor that my dad and I bought last year has now paid for itself in terms of not having to hire someone else to blow out the sprinklers - and I feel v. satisfied for having done it myself. Of course, it took about an hour by the time I messed around with getting it hooked up and then blowing out each zone - switching zones required going back to the garage to switch the control box, and each zone needed to be blown out with 2-3 compressor cycles of air, which meant some time spent recharging the compressor between every cycle. But it's done now, so I don't think I have to worry about flooding my basement with a broken pipe anytime soon.

After I was done with that, I talked to my parents for an hour or so while taking care of some stuff in the garden (trimming back stuff that needed trimmed, planting some iris that Barbara had given me and hoping it survives). Then I made instant pot beef stew - it takes time, but it's so so worth it, and this may be the best batch I've ever made.

And now, after having done some more adulting things this evening, I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

i think i've seen this film before and i didn't like the ending

I'm sitting in a hotel in Kearney, Nebraska, and I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but my soul is still on Mountain time even if my body is physically located in Central time. Today was about as good as it could have been, given that prepping for a road trip in the apocalypse feels a bit Mad Max: Fury Road-ish (but without the weird lactation subplot) (but also, now that I think about it, spraying chrome on my face while saying 'I live, I die, I live again' would not be the weirdest thing to do in 2020) (if you didn't see Fury Road, apologies for the last two parenthetical remarks).

sssanyway. I got up in time to do some stuff around the house, and then I had a quick writing date with V, which was delightful. Then I worked for awhile - I needed to get some stuff done before taking off, of course, and so I slogged for several hours and wrapped up the stuff that absolutely had to get done. At some point, though, I threw in the towel - I needed to take my petunias + my peace lily over to Katie's. Since I will be gone approx ten days, most of my indoor plants can survive a short drought, but the peace lily is v. thirsty all the time, and the outdoor containers can't go that long without water either. Hopefully the peace lily survives going back and forth to Katie's house - but it seems fitting, since it was a gift from her when my gram died anyway. Although I guess most gifts aren't taken care of part-time in perpetuity by the gift-giver, so idk what the etiquette is here.

sssanyway again. After Katie and I spent ten minutes having a depressing conversation on her porch (side note: every friend or coworker I've talked to this week has hit a wall with how awful everything feels), I quickly ran to the grocery store to get ice and bread for the cooler, and then went home and finished loading my car, taking out the trash, etc. By the time I got out of Denver, it was a little after four and was most certainly rush hour. This was the first time I've driven in anything approaching real traffic in like six months, so it was a bit of a shock.

But the rest of the drive was smooth; I only stopped in Ogallala for gas/bathroom/one of those disgusting 'mocha cappuccinos' that is a powder dispensed from a machine and is like a thousand calories. So I made it to Kearney in five hours, and when I got here I felt like I maybe could have gone farther, but I'd already made a reservation. So I stopped here, checked in, and made a tasty picnic dinner using the jar of cobb salad I'd brought with me (along with a plate, silverware, and even a spatula to get the last of the dressing out of the jar) + the remainder of a bottle of wine that had been sitting in my fridge, which I brought with me rather than letting it go to waste. I also wrote a bit tonight - the book might be shaping up into something great, but we'll see how I feel about that in the morning.

And now I need to go to bed - I have no plans to get out of here super early tomorrow given that it's one a.m., but we'll see. Goodnight!

i just wanted to get back to where you are

Second to last day of freedom - but is it freedom if you don't leave your house? I'm going to say it is. I spent the whole day hanging out at home; I didn't write, but I did spend several hours taking care of v. necessary tasks in my backyard. My trees were shooting up suckers, and I'm in a doomed war with the tree of heaven that is coming up on the other side of my fence (but may, in fact, be on my property - I can't tell, as it's coming up between my fence and the neighbor's fence). So I cleaned up my backyard, cut down all suckers, trimmed some tree areas that were starting to grow into the path to my garage, and weeded my rocky areas.

Then I did some illicit cutting on the tree of heaven from my side of the fence; I can't get rid of the whole thing, but I did clean up what I could. It was quite gratifying, even if it will now send out runners to take over my whole yard (which is already happening), and even if the foliage really stinks when you cut it.

I also tested out my new grill - I am still missing a knob for it and I kind of doubt that Lowes will actually figure it out, but we'll see. However, it lit up immediately, and I did the suggested twenty-minute preburn; it appears that everything is working as intended, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

I had to take semi-frequent breaks while doing this since it was approx 95 degrees, but I filled my entire compost cart and my backyard looks great. I want to plant my pansies tomorrow, but for today I was satisfied. Then I took a quick nap and a shower before joining a call with Jen, Joann, and Jane (the friendship renewal group). We talked for almost two and a half hours - they'd caught up a couple of times more recently, but since I was in Iowa and on vacation, I was six weeks behind on news. It was great to talk to them, and it made me nostalgic for when it was possible to renew our friendship in person.

Then I was pretty lazy the rest of the night - I did some planning and some journaling, then sat around and read twitter, and then attempted to plan out my meals for the week so that I know what to get at the farmer's market tomorrow. And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

take me down to paradise city

I had more work to do this morning than I wanted to, and then I spent a whole bunch of energy late in the day to run a ton of errands. I also got a coronavirus test, which was probably unnecessary - and it hurt about as much as I expected, so that was fun! And I dropped several pots of petunias off at Katie's - I'm headed to ye olde Iowa for an indeterminate length of time and she's graciously agreed to water my indoor plants once a week, but the petunias need more water and have now been slipped inconspicuously into James's watering duties. We hung out far apart on her porch for awhile, and I would have preferred to stay all night...but I had many tings to do, and so we parted ways.

I also dropped some work stuff off at Kelly's, got a car wash, got gas, got some rosé, dropped off some stuff at the post office, and picked up takeout pizza to eat tonight + have for tomorrow. And I spent some quality time taking care of yard stuff, which I really should have done this weekend - but I think I either dug up or cut off every little attempt that the nearby tree of heaven is making to colonize my yard, so hopefully the yard will survive a couple of weeks without me.

Then I did some stuff around the house, cleaned out my fridge, etc. And now I'm mostly packed, although I still have to throw some stuff in bags and load my car - but I think I should pause for tonight and get some sleep. Wish me luck getting out of here tomorrow - goodnight!

am i anxious or just modern

[censored] is very upset whenever he [censored] at [censored] and I don't blog about it - so please let it be known that [censored] once again [censored tonight. Congrats [censored]!

The rest of the day was v. relaxing and v. uneventful. I accidentally slept until ten, so I am going to attempt to go to bed much earlier tonight so that I can be more productive (or at least engaged) tomorrow. I mostly spent the afternoon outside - it was warm, albeit windy, and it looked like the last stretch of decent weather for a couple of days. I helped my mom mulch (I did about five percent of the work but I'll take credit for more if anyone wants to give it to me), but I mostly just distracted her into sitting on the patio overlooking the fields and listening to the cacophony of birds and insects. At some point, [censored] and I drove into town to get our vehicles from where we'd left them in my dad's shop last night...and so of course it stormed tonight, but there wasn't any hail to total our cars. That trip to town meant that I got to see my dad's prized asparagus bed (which is wasted on me, since I dislike asparagus), and I also stopped in to see Gram and Granddad at the cemetery on the way back (spoiler: they're still dead, although grass still hasn't grown over Gram yet, so there's a chance she's coming and going).

We spent the evening eating supper (leftover pulled pork, potato salad, and a caesar salad) and then played a game of Ticket to Ride. I left my parents upstairs watching a western (Two Mules for Sister Sara, which looked somewhat entertaining), and now that I've taken care of some tings I think I'll meditate/journal/attempt to sleep early. Goodnight!

i don't remember your face, or your hair, or your name, or your smile

The quarantine Sunday Scaries were pretty absent today, until approximately five minutes ago, when I realized this is the end of Week 10 in isolation. But let's focus on the rest of the day, shall we? I let myself sleep until nine, which was great since I haven't gotten eight hours of sleep in awhile. I'm usually a champion sleeper, and I'm still not having any trouble falling asleep - but I'm tending to wake up too early, and also tending to go to bed too late. So, getting a lot of sleep last night was probably what I needed to avoid the Sunday Scaries, even if I still felt exhausted this evening.

sssanyway. I got up, made some coffee, meditated, and bought some turnips in Animal Crossing (this can only be done on Sunday mornings before noon, and you have to buy turnips to play the Stalk Market...don't ask, it's a thing). Then I talked to Jen, Joann, and Jane (the friendship renewal crew). They were supposed to be in Colorado this weekend, and we were supposed to be up in Glenwood Springs enjoying an old west spa experience....but instead we dialed in from our respective homes without a single hot spring in sight. Sigh.

After that, I made myself a decadent egg sandwich that was oozing with cheddar. I should have hopped on a call with some of my writer friends, but I decided to skip it - I've noticed that I tend to have worse weekend days when I spend multiple hours on video chats, probably because I spend all week on video chats and need the occasional break from performing for the screen. Instead, I spent the afternoon puttering around outside - I turned on my sprinkler system for the first time since last fall, and I pruned some wayward branches, and I cleaned off my patio and generally tidied things up. Then I poured myself a coke zero, sat on my outdoor couch, and called my parents. They were in fine form, which is good - unless something unexpected happens I'm planning to drive to Iowa at the end of the week, so we'll get some quality time together then.

After that, I cooked some zucchini lasagna (not onerous - I had frozen a premade batch last month, so cooking it just required thawing it, throwing it in the oven, and at some point adding some mozzarella on top). I also packed up a bunch of returns to take to the post office, since I've been letting my online orders pile up. I texted with [censored] and Drewbaby, mostly about nothing, but some about the Dnieper River (as one does). And I folded / took care of the three loads of laundry I did today, tidied up around the house, and wrote a blog post on zee romance blog about the fish tacos I made the other day.

And now, after accomplishing all of that, and hopefully stepping back from the edge of the abyss that opened up in front of me when I realized this was the end of week ten, I need to go to bed. Goodnight!

i should be on top but i'm always underground

#sorrynotsorry for not blogging last night - it completely slipped my mind, and I remembered about five seconds before I fell asleep. You didn't miss out - my day was pretty chill, and while I had a ton of meetings I was still able to have a nice morning before they started. I also spent some quality time yesterday evening talking to Veronica, then talking to Katie, then trying on some clothes I'd ordered (why did I order clothes? I'll definitely wear the sweats, but not sure the summer dresses are really gonna get much airtime this summer). Also, in v. exciting news, my Animal Crossing island got up to three stars, so I guess I've got that going for me.

Today wasn't quite so wonderful; I again had a nice morning, and my meetings weren't all bad, and I v. much enjoyed some leftover sweet potato hash with freshly fried eggs for lunch. But my last couple of meetings were frustrating, and so I was beyond done when I finished a little before five. I then vacated my house immediately and braved Home Depot, where I picked up a bunch of bags of mulch, some lawn fertilizer, and a few garden implements. I want to work on my yard and patio this weekend, which requires materials, but I've heard that Home Depot on the weekend is a trainwreck. This seems quite likely based on what I saw - I had to wait to get in, and the people next to me in line were not wearing masks, seemed drunk, and were very belligerent that they just couldn't go in the store.

But I was in and out in twenty minutes, since I'd pre-researched what I wanted to get and so had aisle numbers and bin numbers already written down and could be as efficient as possible. Then I came home and played a bunch of Animal Crossing, while also eating leftover palak paneer and drinking a boulevardier. Yes, this is a coping mechanism, and no, I'm not sorry.

But tomorrow will be much better - I'm taking the day off, and I'm planning to mess around with my yard, give myself some much needed sun and a break from screentime, and then do some socializing to round out the day. Wish me luck with that - goodnight!

i can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord

It's becoming normal to talk to no one and do nothing of interest. You might think that this was normal two years ago, given my blog - but I'm convinced that this hermiting is different than my usual hermiting. For one, when I bail on social plans in other contexts, I don't obsessively wash my hands - so clearly this is different!

Today's social distancing was slightly higher risk - I decided to run a couple of errands. I think I maintained sufficient distance from other people, but we'll see whether I die as a result. I finally succumbed to the panic hoarder in my subconscious who was whispering that I don't have enough alcohol - this is patently false, but I was down to my last two bottles of my favorite wine, so of course I had to rectify that. I went to Molly's for the first time - it's very similar to Hazel's in Boulder, but it's seven minutes from my house instead of thirty-seven, so that was a good discovery. They had my favorite wine in stock, so I bought seven bottles; I also grabbed a couple of other bottles opportunistically, grabbed another bottle of tequila just in case (just in case I start doing shots alone? idk?), and also bought gin because I didn't have any gin and of course the coronavirus is going to make me crave gin and tonics. My inner panic hoarder is really wreaking havoc on my bank account.

Then I stopped at the atm and got cash (see: inner panic hoarder turning on the turn signal when she saw a bank), and then I went to Echter's nursery to buy some new plant friends. Social distancing was easy here since there weren't many people and almost everyone was looking at each other v. suspiciously. I was clearly leaning deep into "find comfort in beauty" - I bought an African violet (because I'm turning into my mom), and I also bought a bromeliad just to add some color. Echter's has a really nice greenhouse, and I could have stayed there forever.

But instead, I grabbed a couple of things at King Sooper (mostly some kitchen spray that I'd missed getting before, as well as some Tostitos and salsa con queso for my innter stressed-out sixteen-year-old - otherwise I feel pretty prepped). Then I came home, straightened things up, organized my plans, took a v. brief nap, and took a shower. Then I talked to [censored], who was in fine form. And then I spent some quality time making chicken and wild rice soup + chopping up celery for future uses. The soup turned out perfectly, so at least there's that. And then I did some day job work, and now I'm done.

Wash your hands and stay home, everyone! Goodnight!

i know better than to ever call you mine

I had a v. hermity, v. (relatively) productive day around the house. It started off stupidly late because I stayed up until after midnight and then had to navigate the time change, but then I made coffee and did some quality journaling and other tasks. I also made a late breakfast (bacon and eggs), and then I got cracking on my outdoor responsibilities.

This mostly meant that I spent three hours cleaning up my back patio. I hadn't raked last fall because it started snowing in early October and pretty much kept snowing until Christmas, and then it was too cold and I was too lazy to deal with it. This may have been a good thing, since the leaves definitely kept the soil wetter than it might have been otherwise. So I got most of the leaves raked up and removed, and I used my leaf blower to clear dirt/dust off my patio, and then I used it to get some of the dust off my outdoor furniture. It's raining tonight (which is a weird sound after months of snow), so I'm hoping the rain gives everything I missed a good wash. It's supposed to continue being nice this week (after being seventy both yesterday and today), so I'm hoping I can enjoy some patio action in the coming days.

After all that outdoor activity, I showered off, threw some potatoes into the oven, and talked to my parents. We finished our usual Sunday convo just as the potatoes were ready to come out, so I moved straight into dinner mode. The potatoes were for twice baked potatoes, which turned out super well - I made four potatoes (eight halves, obvi) and put some in the fridge while freezing the rest for future lazy suppers. While I was prepping the potatoes, I also cooked myself a ribeye using the reverse sear method. My meat thermometer battery is dead, so my steak came out pretty rare, but I like it rare and it was delicious (especially with a potato). Yes, I'm fully in my midwestern roots while prepping for the apocalypse, don't judge.

Then I procrastinated / cleaned the kitchen, and then I did day job work for the last hour. And now I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

glory and gore go hand in hand

I had a pretty decent day today, although I need some more downtime soon - I think I've overloaded my brain with information and things are starting to ooze out my ears. But I got some decent sleep last night, didn't rush myself getting ready, went to the office at 10, and had meetings straight through to 4:15 (no, no break for lunch, but a meeting ended ten minutes early so I was able to grab something on the way to the next one). Somehow, only six hours of meetings feels weirdly luxurious - yes, something is wrong with that picture.

But tonight was great - I left the office as soon as my last meeting was over, drove to Denver, and had happy hour/dinner with Katie. We went to Root Down instead of our usual hotspot, and Root Down is definitely way better - I mean, I love our usual place, but the food at Root Down is great and the bar vibe is way more interesting. I had a Don Draper (which was basically an old fashioned), followed by some wine, and Katie had a couple of other cocktails, and we shared a bunch of food - sweet potato fries, some delish bbq brisket tacos, arepas so good that we had to order another one to split, and a perfect beet salad. It was all so yummy that I'm getting hungry again just typing this.

Of course, we had a lot to catch up on, since I hadn't seen her in almost three weeks - and in those three weeks, I'd been to India, California, and here (here being theoretically the easiest, but also the hardest since I'm just unpacking and fighting about cupcakes all the time). So we took our time over dinner, going deep into gossip about #smalltownlife, and it was all wonderful.

Then we went back to her house, where Anne and Julia promptly attacked me - and by that I mean they attempted a makeover, which resulted in Julia brushing my hair with a stegosaurus. I could have gone home when they went to bed, but my hair looked so crazy that I was definitely going to get pulled over for drunk driving even though I was sober - so I stayed and combed my hair for real while Katie helped James start the bedtime routine, and then Katie came back downstairs and we talked for awhile longer. I'm never ready to leave, but eventually I had to - I have a bunch of stuff fairly early tomorrow (all of which is personal, so don't shed any tears for me), so I should go to bed.

So I came home, bringing with me my old succulent friend - I'd brought a succulent with me from California when I left SF last winter, and I'd left it with James for safekeeping. He not only kept it alive, but he repotted it in a cute little pot with decorative rocks, so it was probably super sad to leave his tender care for my indifferent oversight. sssanyway, the drive home was uneventful, and now I need to sleep - goodnight!

it's still rock and roll to me

Today was lovely, but I'm v. much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I woke up around 7:45 (late for when I told my parents I'd meet them, but early for my willpower) and was out the door of the hotel by 8:30 so that we could have breakfast before our first excursion of the day. We spent the morning at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, which were truly awesome -- I'm not a gardener by any means, but the flowers and plants and trees they had there were really breathtaking.

After that, it was time to say goodbye to Fort Bragg (and Fort Bragg's fog) and head back to the evil city. We were v. leisurely about the whole thing, since we stopped multiple times (including at the most amazingly adorable coffee shop in Cloverdale), but we made it back by ~5pm. I dropped the parents off at their hotel, came home, parked my car, changed clothes (only because I spilled toothpaste on my dress), and collected Terry so that we could walk back over to the parents' hotel and have dinner with them. We ended up at Aix, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places, and which was conveniently located a block from their hotel. While there, I had two glasses of wine to make up for the fact that we did no wine tasting in Mendocino, and we generally had a delightful time.

And now, I must go to sleep; I am working tomorrow (shocking and unprecedented, I know), and I need to get up early if I'm going to get everything done that I need to finish. Goodnight!