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!

son of a whore and a scotsman

I have not figured out my entire life on Day 1 of my mini-retreat to the mountains, but I gave it my best effort. Today was glorious, all in all - sunny, warm (but not too warm), and perfect for relaxation. I had breakfast; I walked across the meadow; I laid out by the pool and started SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER, which is a memoir that came out last week to all sorts of (deserved) acclaim. Then I got a massage, because that's what one does here - it was the first massage I'd had since covid started, and it was so amazing that I'm getting another tomorrow.

After the massage, I had a margarita and a salad on the patio while journaling, and then I talked to Alyssa for our usual Wednesday check-in. Then I read some more of the memoir before going for dinner, where I journaled some more. Then I brought a glass of wine back to my room, and I was too intoxicated by the book to finish the wine - instead, I gulped down the last section of SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER like it was the finest libation imaginable. The narrative arc of the book was deceptively simple, focused mostly on her experience as a child in a difficult household marred by a father in prison and a mother who couldn't manage to keep it all together without succumbing to (understandable) rage. But the prose was gorgeous, and there were some interesting questions about what's forgivable, how families engage and model 'appropriate' behavior for each other, etc. All in all, I loved it, and I'm glad I had it with me today.

And now, I should probably sleep - I want to repeat most of these feats tomorrow, but with a different book and perhaps a bit more journaling and a bit more movement. Goodnight! 

as night is falling

Second night at my work retreat, and I'm getting close to tapped out on people...but it's all been good so far. I woke up this morning none the worse for wear after last night's wine at eight thousand feet, and I had just enough time to finish some slides this morning before my sessions started. I had to lead a three-hour breakout session with my team, and I think it went pretty well - and I didn't get fired for putting my fist in my mouth last night, so I'd say things are going great, thanks for asking.

After lunch, I had some free time, so I took a quick nap and then got a massage at the spa (my life is very hard - and my whole team hates me, since they signed up for horseback riding or the 'pioneer challenge', which sounded a lot like torture). But I had some meetings from 4:45-6:30, which we took in the bar. Then we had dinner, and an awards ceremony, and then a trivia game (I didn't win an award, but my team won trivia, so I'll take it).

And then me and Alice and Hugues adjourned to the bar, which closed at ten, and so we took our drink (and Matt, who showed up just in time for last call) to the game room, where Alice and I played ping pong and then we talked for quite awhile. And now I need to sleep, since it's back to Boulder tomorrow (after some more team building stuff in the morning). Goodnight!

pardon me i'm bossin' up, pressure up

I probably shouldn't have stayed up until three a.m. last night, but today was a total delight despite being a little tired by the end of it. I got up in time to shower and throw some iced coffee in a mug before driving down to Castle Rock - it's about an hour from here with no traffic, but that all felt blissful in my new car (did I mention that I got a new car? oh, I did? #sorrynotsorry).

My first stop was meeting my friend Barbara for lunch. We went someplace in an old church, and the food was a bit hit or miss (but unclear whether it was our fault for the ordering or their fault for the food - I liked my pasta, although it needed salt, but Barbara's kale salad was far too kale-y). But it was awesome to see Barbara - we hadn't hung out since RWA, which was less than six weeks ago, but it somehow feels like twenty. When I realize just how much I've had going on this summer, it's no wonder I'm exhausted....

Anyway, Barbara was great. We talked about all sorts of fun and important things, both past and current, and I was reminded just how much it nourishes my soul to hang out with other writers rather than always seeing my techie corporate types (no offense to you techie corporate types, of course, since I am also one of you).

But all good things must end, especially lunches, and so we eventually parted ways so that she could go back to Colorado Springs and I could continue with my Castle Rock adventures. I ended up hanging out in my car for an hour (did I mention I have a new car?) and talking to my parents, since it's Sunday and that's what Sundays are for. Then, I drove out to my aunt's house for an early dinner - she's in town this week to hang out at her Castle Rock house, and so I went there to see her for a bit.

So, we hung out for a couple of hours, eating cheese (yum) and then steak and Iowa sweet corn (even more yum, even if the sweet corn was a few days old - it's still one of the best things in the world). I'll be glad when she's actually in Colorado full time, provided that I don't pick up stakes and move on with my wandering nomadic heart (although that's unlikely - maybe I mentioned it, but I got a new car, and I'm also planning to buy a house in the next six months, so perhaps my withered roots will begin to grow).

But I eventually left down there, drove home, was going to do some work, and instead read about India on my phone and tried not to fall asleep too early (when I really should have just gone to bed at nine, but once I start researching something, I can't help myself). Now, though, I need to sleep - I want to write in the morning before work, and that requires some decent downtime now. Goodnight!

the wonderful unknown

I'm still exhausted - but I spent this morning lazing in bed after last night's debauchery, so I somehow made it through today without dying. Last night was pretty epic, though; starting with wine tasting at 3:30pm, continuing with wine through dinner, and then ill-advisedly switching to tequila shots and s'mores was probably not the wisest idea I've had in awhile. But, judging by the faces of everyone who I left at the firepit at midnight last night (for once, I went to bed when I felt like it and didn't shut down the party - I know, I'm shocked too), none of us had particularly wise ideas.

Still, it was super fun and #noregrets. However, I was supposed to get another massage this morning and instead canceled it - yesterday's massage was so intense that she bruised my shoulders, so a massage would have been wasted on me today anyway, and I preferred to stay in bed. But eventually I vacated my perfect bed, showered, packed, and went out in search of coffee and food. I journaled for a bit while looking at the mountains, and then I had lunch with all the people who were in pain (and some people who showed up this morning for today's round of the retreat, which is staggered across multiple days - those people all looked bright-eyed and happy, but right about now some of them are probably making the same poor decisions that some of us made last night).

I could have stayed later, but I was over it, so I drove a few people back with me to Boulder. I got home a little after three, messed around the house, called my parents (belatedly, since we didn't talk Sunday), and then went out to have dinner at my favorite mexican place, which went a long way toward restoring me. Then I came home and took an hour-long nap, but I had to wake up to talk to someone from Hyderabad (I really hate nighttime calls sometimes). And now I'm going to go to bed - tomorrow's calendar looks super painful, so sleep is imperative. Goodnight!

i found someone to carry me home tonight

Today turned into a magical, mystical day that I thought had been lost to my company over a decade ago. The Boulder office does a summer retreat, and so I'm at Devil's Thumb Ranch - a delightful resort/spa/ranch place up in the mountains.

But I'm too tired / tipsy to blog about it - I got a massage when I arrived, and then did wine tasting from 3:30 to 5:00, and have pretty much continued to drink from five to midnight. For those keeping score at home, that's over eight hours of alcohol consumption. It's not on par with the sales conferences of my youth, but it's getting close. So on that note, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

you moved to west LA or new york or santa fe

Due to the new car situation, I actually got up relatively early and left the house to explore a bit of Colorado, rather than playing Civilization and pretending to write like I usually do. I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park - I knew it would be busy on a peak summer weekend, but I also wanted to get out and enjoy some mountainous views, so I decided to chance it.

All in all, it was a lovely drive - even the drive from Boulder to Estes Park is pretty great, and then the park itself is amazing. I had planned to do a loop, have lunch in Grand Lake, and come back to Boulder via Golden. However, right before I got to the continental divide, traffic came to a sudden stop - and stayed stopped. I heard from someone who passed by that there was a medical emergency and they were trying to land a helicopter in the parking lot at the visitor center. I was desperately in need of a bathroom (since I was planning to use the bathroom at the visitor center), and also did not plan at all for this trip and so had water but no food (since I intended to make it to Grand Lake in time for lunch).

So, I executed a somewhat fear-inducing three point turn (okay, maybe it was a five point turn) on the edge of a cliff and went back the way I came. This meant no continental divide, but it also meant that I didn't urinate all over my new car, so I felt like I made the right decision.

I made it back to Estes Park without incident, grabbed McDonald's for lunch, and sped back to Boulder. Then I talked to my parents - they had the usual things with round barns and work stuff going on, but unfortunately they also had very sadly lost their kitten, whom they had raised over the winter and who had kittens of her own six weeks ago. She disappeared Friday night, and whatever got her was quick, because they found her via the circling of buzzards :( [Censored] told me yesterday, and it was v. sad since she was super sweet. Hopefully some of her kittens make it, but we'll see.

After I talked to my parents, I took a lyft to the Audi dealership and picked up the RAV4 (absence did not make the heart grow fonder, especially since I've moved on to a sexy new mistress). Then I grabbed groceries, came home, at supper, and messed around online until now. And now I'm going to go to bed early and plan to get up and write in the morning - hold me to it. Goodnight!

i'm living on such sweet nothing

I have a headache and really need to be in bed, but I suppose today could have been worse. I got up this morning, messed around the house, and then ran an errand that took a couple of hours. But then I came back to my house, rendezvoused with Vivi (who had spent the night in my guest room) and took her downtown to grab lunch. We tried to get into Snooze, but the wait was 45mins...so we walked down the street and ended up grabbing lunch at Next Door (which is next door to The Kitchen). I had a very delicious hamburger on a gluten free bun that felt like it saved my life, and Vivi had tacos, and we spent some quality time talking about writing and life and our oft-nomadic lifestyles...

Then I didn't really want to come back to my warm apartment, so instead we drove up into the mountains and visited Nederland. It's a totally appropriate thing to do if you just want to kill a couple of hours in the mountains - the drive is gorgeous, it's only thirty minutes, and the town is weird and charming. So we walked around a bit, and then had ice cream in a cafe that is made of a series of connected train cars (so #onbrand).

When we got back to Boulder, Vivi grabbed her stuff from my apartment and I dropped her off at the bus station so that she could catch the shuttle to the airport, since I wasn't nice enough to take two more hours to drop her off there. Then I came home, did a bunch of romance-related business until like eight, then talked to my parents (v. late for them, but they were gone most of the day), and then did day job stuff for the last hour so that I could accomplish something that needed to be done before tomorrow.

And now, it's time for bed - tomorrow's madness will come all too soon. Goodnight!

hit me with your best shirt

I had an awesome day, but I need to go to bed immediately even though it's only ten p.m. and my inner night owl is crying at my self-imposed surrender to the working world. I spent too much time this morning lazing about, but I did manage to get up, get around, and scramble to finish pulling my house into some semblance of order after all my travels.

I also spent a few minutes (which wasn't nearly enough time) talking to my parents - it was earlier than I usually call them, so they weren't expecting me, but I had to call and say happy mother's day. But I couldn't talk for long, because at 2:30pm, Katrina showed up - she's in town for a conference later this week, so she's staying with me for a couple of days, which is super fun.

We hung out at my place for a few minutes so that she could get acclimated, and then we took a driving tour of my surroundings. That meant we drove immediately into the mountains - it really is incredible how quickly you can be in the mountains here, which I definitely don't take enough advantage of. We went to Nederland, which I'd been to with Drewbaby last November. The drive was gorgeous in a misty, atmospheric kind of way - it rained off and on all day, so the mountains themselves were shrouded in clouds, but the foliage is much greener than usual, so it was v. pretty.

We had a drink and some chips at a brewery in Nederland, which we entered after waiting out a downpour/small hail situation while parked outside. After that, we took the long way back to Boulder by driving through Golden - we didn't stop there, but we enjoyed the drive. We made it back to Boulder just in time for a reservation I'd made at Santo, which is a newish New Mexican restaurant owned by the same chef who owns Blackbelly (and who won a Top Chef many years ago). I have to say, I was a little disappointed; the service was too slow (we ordered three appetizers and an entree to share, and they decided to course out the appetizers so that we got a small salmon tostada by itself, then waited fifteen minutes for the soup/salad, and then waited another twenty minutes or so for the enchiladas...no bueno). The soup was pretty tasty, and the enchiladas were good, but the rice and beans with them were boring (and they initially forgot the rice). However, the servers were really friendly despite the slowness, and the prices were decent, so I'd be willing to try them again when they work out the kinks.

Then we came home, and we pretty much immediately wanted to go to bed, so that's the plan I'm pursuing. Goodnight - and happy mother's day to those of you who are celebrating!

i'm a hotbreaker

I had quite an enjoyable day, but I'm totally exhausted - I think I got less than six hours of sleep last night, which is not a feat that I want to repeat tonight. I had to be in the office by 8:30 to have breakfast with a coworker, which was 100% too early, but at least it was tasty (and fun to gossip).

Then I had meetings most of the day, but I did get to spend some time in the sun - there was a happy hour at Sanitas, which is a brewery across the parking lot / railroad tracks from my building. Dashing across the railroad tracks didn't feel entirely safe, although it was more the steep, rocky incline on either side of the tracks that felt problematic. I can't drink anything at Sanitas - there's some sort of law here that breweries can only serve their own beer rather than getting a liquor license for anything else, and I can't drink beer and none of them seem to make cider. But that's okay, I didn't want a drink anyway - especially since there were also tacos, which were totally delish. And I got to eat them while slowly broiling in the sun, so that was delightful.

After that, I felt done for the day mentally even though it was only 5:30ish. So I walked back to the nicer building (where I had breakfast) to retrieve my car, then went back to my building to pick up a couple of packages, and ended up talking to some of my team for awhile before finally leaving. Then I went to Target, came home, tried on the clothes that were in the packages I picked up, and generally wasted the rest of the evening without opening my laptop or doing any work, yay.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i'm gonna give you all of my love

Today wasn't the brutal slog it probably should have been...I had lots I intended to do, but was feeling a little burned out from the week (or perhaps feeling pre-burnout for the week ahead). So I worked from home this morning, which meant lots of coffee and yogurt to fuel my morning. Then I went to the office for a late lunch, a meeting, and some email time. I came home at 3:45 and took my last hour of meetings from home, and then I should have kept working...

...but instead I read Twitter, made some pasta for dinner (gluten free spaghetti carbonara, yum), messed around online, and watched like four episodes of Top Chef: Colorado. The season just finished airing (no spoilers, please!), and I want to binge all of it since it's set in my new home state and I am already in love with the food scene here. While tonight was one of those quiet nights with nothing going on, I felt happy every time I saw the Denver skyline or the Boulder Flatirons - so I think Colorado has been a great decision, all in all.

But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

let it snow

I had a pretty great day, but I v. stupidly stayed up until 2:30am and now I need to go to bed immediately. I spent the day with Christine (one of my coworkers) - we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park, which was totally gorgeous. Most of the roads are closed for winter, but we drove around what was open, got out for a bit to take some pictures, etc. We also wandered around Estes Park for a little bit, and then had a late lunch at a surprisingly good restaurant - I had poutine, which basically just meant lots of fries and lots of cheese, along with some non-standard green chile pork and a fried egg on top.

Christine dropped me off at home around 3ish, and then I spent the rest of the day mostly lazing about - I took a long nap at some point, and read a bit, and messed around online, and generally did a whole bunch of nothing. Not exactly what I intended to do tonight, but pretty much what I needed. And now what I really need is sleep - goodnight!

half of my heart is in Havana

I need to go to bed immediately so that I can get eight hours of sleep before I have to wake up and go to work. I'm sitting in a hotel room in California, as I so often am - this morning was a bit of a scramble to get ready, but I made it to the airport in time to have lunch (and a margarita) at Cantina Grill. [censored] will either be pleased or displeased to know that they've revamped their menu - I had a burrito bowl, which I thought was waaaaay better than the burrito bowls of the past, but it also had green beans next to the rice/refried beans/chicken, so your mileage may vary. For me, at least, it was v. tasty and v. welcome. And the margarita was welcome too, since it took enough of the edge off my nerves to survive the couple of minutes of rather intense turbulence during the ascent out of Denver and over the edge of the Rockies.

But once the turbulence subsided, I had a v. easy flight - I worked the whole way, answering emails that I'd been neglecting, which puts me in great shape to neglect emails again this week during my time in California. When I landed, I grabbed a coffee and headed to the rental car center, where I checked in, got my car...and discovered that while I had paid for a nice boring intermediate car (like a Hyundai), I instead got a Chevy Tahoe. They were completely out of midsized sedans, so it was either take a gigantic SUV or drive a minivan. I have some pride remaining, so I opted for a Tahoe. I undoubtedly looked totally ridiculous in it, and as I was leaving, the guy at the gate (who makes sure you're not stealing the cars) took an abnormally long time to check everything out on my license/receipt, and then asked me if I was okay. I have no idea what that question meant, but I can only assume that he doesn't think that people who look like they're twelve should be driving an SUV.

sssanyway. I drove around in a loop and returned to the airport, where I picked up Caroline, who flew in from Denver on the flight after mine. She's my peer, and our manager was having all of us over for dinner tonight before the summit, so I drove us straight there. Dinner was fun (although glutenous, since no one asked before ordering lasagna for the catering...but I had a v. nice meal of salad and a bunch of the salami/prosciutto/cheese/olives from the appetizer tray, so it was cool) - I chatted with a bunch of people, and we had a musical interlude when my boss's four-year-old gave a dance performance (he rocked out to 'Under the Sea', 'Single Ladies' as sung by the Chipmunks, and 'Let It Go', which was quite the medley - but he was actually super talented).

But now I'm totally unpacked, ensconced in my bed, and eager to use it for sleep instead of for internet activities - goodnight!

please don't make any sudden moves

Today was great, but I'm totally wiped out and unfortunately have a ton of work to do over the next couple of days so that I can relax over Thanksgiving. I slept for nine hours last night, which helped, and then got up, hung out, called my dad for his birthday (happy birthday, Papa Wamp!!!), and then made breakfast for Drewbaby and me. Breakfast was not particularly satisfying because I cooked the hashbrowns poorly (too many hashbrowns, not enough oil) and broke my egg yolks, but Andrew didn't complain, so I guess it worked.

Then we both showered and eventually left the house. We decided to drive up into the mountains to check things out, and I'm really glad we did - ten minutes from my house is a whole different world of rocks and forests, and we saw some truly gorgeous landscapes. We drove from Boulder to Nederland, which is a quirky little town with several competing tourist traps (a frozen dead guy festival, a hand-carved carousel ride, and a restaurant made out of train cars). We explored the town a little bit and had hot drinks at a coffee shop that was hosting a book festival (aka one guy sitting in the corner hoping to sell a book). All in all, it was a v. successful stop.

Then we wound through the mountains on a different road and ended up in Golden, where we had a late lunch in a building that was Colorado's original territory capitol. After that, we drove down to Aunt Becky's, where we said hi to her and then promptly got in the car again to go to a faraway liquor store to stock up for Thanksgiving. All in, I drove over two hundred miles today - but it was #worthit, as they say.

We went back to Becky's after buying liquor, and we hung out there for a couple of hours and had dinner with her and her scandalous pirate husband. Around eight p.m., though, we had to call it a night, and Andrew and I drove back to Boulder. When I got here, I cleaned a bit, took care of my face, and did some work + some internet browsing until now - and now I really need to sleep. Goodnight!

we could wave until the walls come down

I spent almost all day taking care of tings around the apartment, which means that I finally have internet. This required some effort, since the setup process required hooking into the router with an ethernet cable, and of all the laptops and chromebooks and other devices I have, none of them have an ethernet port. Lol. But I acquired an ethernet-to-USB converter, and I got my wifi hooked up, and I promptly used it to listen to 'Despacito' on repeat, which probably means I don't deserve internet.

Beyond the internet, the rest of the day was great. I woke up at 9:30, got my coffeemaker set up, and enjoyed my coffee while talking to Aunt B. I also made an omelette (with garlic salt, since I couldn't find my sea salt), did like five loads of laundry, measured all sorts of things in the apartment, and eventually went to Container Store, where I got a bunch of shoe racks on the last day of their shelving sale (which I'm sure will start again in two weeks, but I succumbed to the lure of the discount).

Then I came home, talked to my parents, and went out again to run some more errands and eat dinner at Chipotle, and then spent the last four hours folding clothes, collapsing boxes, organizing things, etc., etc. And now I'm watching the first episode of this season of Project Runway (which I'm ten episodes behind on) on one laptop screen while typing this on the other - someday I will have a tv again, and while I usually don't watch tv, I'm weirdly excited to get back into tv again. Yeah, I know, my life has taken a total 180 in the last two months. I'll examine that fact later...for now, it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i'll wait for you where saturday's a memory and sunday comes to gather me

I survived my first week in the trenches of the working world. It's still going to require some adjustment (mostly on the wardrobe, since I'm not used to wearing real clothes instead of yoga pants every day...and also on the morning situation, although getting up and going for coffee with Katie every morning before going into work was a great way to adjust). But so far, so good.

So I slogged all day, although I had my aforementioned coffee with Katie at Black Eye to get me going, and I also went out for coffee after lunch with someone from the office. And, I finally got the key to my apartment...unfortunately, I won't be there next week because I have to take a last-minute trip to California, but I was able to unload my car tonight after work, so that's great. It's rather nice not to look like a vagrant anymore, even if I got all sweaty and annoyed unloading my stuff and hauling it up the stairs. Then I stopped at Chipotle for dinner, then came back to Katie and James's, and now I'm considering going to bed early because I think I might be succumbing abruptly to the cold Katie had all last week. Goodnight!

possibility days are impossible

Today was back to the grind...but I can already tell that my life will be more sustainable, at least from a commute/balance/happiness standpoint, than it was in SF. Of course, it's premature to make that judgment since my car is still full of clothing and I occasionally pull onto a side street and rummage through it like a fucking vagrant, but in my reality, my current situation is awesome.

I woke up this morning, showered, spent some time with Katie and the girls, and then seduced Katie into going to Black Eye with me to grab coffee before I left for the office. I wasn't feeling any pressing need to get there since I knew I wouldn't be able to resolve my computer situation before 10am...and it ended up being more like 1pm by the time we were finally done (after I'd wasted several hours of a coworker's time to help me through the process since I needed their laptop to fix my issue, but hopefully they'll forgive me). But I had some v. tasty carnitas for lunch (this is why I went back), and once the laptop issues were resolved, I was in business. And I'm pretty eager to get up to speed, which I think is a good sign....

...so eager, in fact, that I stayed until almost 6:30pm, and when I walked out into the parking lot, it became clear that *no one* stays that late, which is a good sign for that work/life balance thing I'm trying to prioritize. I grabbed dinner at Modern Market - it's a chain that I discovered in Colorado Springs, but there's one between the office and my new apartment in Boulder, so I predict many future trips there. Then I drove back to Katie's, with a stop at Ulta to buy more face products to salvage the remnants of my ravaged skin (Colorado's low humidity is not my friend). Katie went to bed v. soon after I arrived since she's feeling like death, but I opened the bottle of red wine I'd given her earlier (swamp taketh and swamp taketh away) and indulged while writing emails.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks

Today was great, but I definitely overheated and now feel like an octogenarian. I took the morning pretty easy, but I made some iced coffee and some delish scrambled eggs and then sat out on the porch and worked for awhile. Yes, I'm living the dream.

But I had to live a different kind of dream this afternoon, since Sarah and I had plans to be social. Our first stop was a late brunch at Ophelia's Electric Soapbox, which I've wanted to go to for awhile - they are a sister restaurant to Linger and Root Down, both of which I love. Ophelia's is in an old brothel downtown, and they've turned it into a restaurant/concert venue. We got there in time to hear the last couple of songs from the brunch band, who were pretty good, and then we spent a lot of time talking over bottomless mimosas (which were served in pint glasses, bad idea) and some incredibly tasty brunch food.

Then we walked down the street and grabbed a drink and some nachos at a bar across from Coors Field (the Rockies' ballpark). The nachos were entirely unnecessary and yet so necessary, and my drink was pretty killer (some sort of mule-type drink with whisky and ginger beer, which I didn't finish because I didn't want to get drunk). Then we went to the ballpark just before the game actually started.

I'm not the biggest fan of baseball - it has some entertaining moments, but mostly I think it's boring. However, games can be fun - and the Rockies have clearly tried to lure more people in by creating a whole rooftop bar area and charging less than $20 for tickets to the bar area (which includes open seating in some nosebleed sections). I decided to prioritize water over drinks, which was probably wise since I overheated in the three innings when we sat in the cheap seats (the sun was pointed directly at us like a torture camp heat lamp). After that, I was pretty fucking done, but I wanted to power on since I thought I'd feel up for more fun (or at least a cocktail) once I cooled down.

Alas, my stomach started to hurt and I never got back in it to win it. We ended up leaving altogether at the bottom of the seventh, and Sarah was interested in coming home as well, so we got back here a little before nine like the old people we are. Then we watched a comedy show (Ari Shaffir on Netflix - really hilarious, you should watch him), and now I need to sleep and hope that it will help me recover from my heat-induced hangover. Goodnight!

look in the mirror, what do you see

I need to go to bed immediately - I v. stupidly (or kindly, depending on your choice of adjectives) volunteered to take Aunt B to the airport tomorrow morning, which means I need to get up at 6am, which is entirely too early for my body clock. But today was great - I slept in, and then I actually wrote for a couple of hours, and it felt so good to get into the story again that I may be excited about it (shock, gasp).

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon packing up all my stuff, taking care of laundry, cleaning, etc., etc. And then we went out for dinner at a restaurant in Castle Rock - I had gluten free pasta, which was way more carbs than I probably wanted, but the carbonara sauce was delightful. They forgot to bring my chicken with it, which was mildly annoying, but I managed to avoid inhaling all the pasta before they showed up with the chicken, so I survived. And the two glasses of wine I had with it smoothed out any annoyance I may have felt over the chicken debacle, so #winning.

Then we came home, and Aunt B and Uncle B went to their neighbors' house while I spent an hour and a half or so editing a writing thing for a friend of mine. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

you don't know how lucky you are boys

Too tired to blog - I got approximately four hours of sleep last night, and then got up at 5:30am to go on a hike with Aunt B. We went to a state park near her place, and it took a bit of time to jockey ourselves into position (we left my car at one end and took her car to the other), but the hike itself was great. It was three miles, not too difficult, and no rattlesnakes in sight despite copious warnings. The advantage of getting there so early is that we didn't boil to death in the heat of the rocks, so getting up was worth it (although I really didn't think it was worth it when my alarm went off).

Then I stopped at Starbucks on the way back to the house, and then I made avocado toast to satisfy my hipster cravings. Eventually I showered and Aunt B and I went to the outlet mall nearby - turns out they have a Lucy store, which is my favorite brand of workout/athleisure gear, so I got a pair of capris, a tank, and a sweatshirt and was rendered very happy for as long as the 'I just bought something' endorphins remained in my bloodstream.

When we got back to the house, I alternated between watching 'The Crown', working, napping, and journaling until it was time for dinner - a v. delish pork chop courtesy of Uncle B (it was a bona fide Iowa Chop, since they brought them with them from Iowa) and some twice-baked potatoes and salad courtesy of Aunt B. I read for a little bit after dinner, and then hung out in the kitchen and talked to Becky until it was time to go to bed.

And now, that's exactly what I'm going to do...goodnight!