please don't make any sudden moves

I had an okay day, all in all, although I had a headache most of the evening - I think maybe the botox I inject in my jaw to keep it from clenching (thanks, 2020!) is wearing off. Or maybe I was just stressed, or hadn't had enough water, or had too much sugar, or didn't eat at the right times - my body is certainly finding ways to remind me that I am aging into decrepitude and can't bounce back as quickly.

sssanyway. Despite that, I had a good day - work was fine, and I had a tasty lunch (leftover salmon / mashed potatoes / brussels sprouts) + a v. tasty dinner (takeout thai food, which was especially good because I haven't had thai food in months). I also spent some time at lunch using my leaf blower on my patio, which was v. fortuitous because it was still nice in the evening and so I was able to sit outside on my patio furniture for the first time in months. This was the first day that felt like summer might almost be here, and I'm hoping it stays clear because sun is always good for my mood.

And now, I should probably consider going to bed - goodnight!

i can see the end as it begins

It's definitely time for bed - I had a rare 10-11pm meeting, and while I'm thankful that they're much more rare than they used to be in previous roles, I'm still feeling tired and cranky for having to take this one. The rest of my day was pretty good, though; I had some meetings, got some work done, and then headed north to meet up with Caroline for dinner.

Caroline and I have seen each other a couple of times during the pandemic, but it was all backyard patio stuff. Tonight, we met in Lafayette, near her new house, and had v. tasty Mexican food (and even tastier margaritas) at a restaurant that just happened to be one of the last restaurants I went to before coronavirus shut everything down. The evening was delightful - we had a lot to catch up on, and it was also wonderful to have enchiladas served on a real plate instead of soaking into a to-go container.

After dinner, we went to her new place so that I could get a tour. Then I drove home and talked to my mom on the way - my dad's latest surgery today went quite well, so that's a hopeful sign. And then I journaled, did my meeting, and am now contemplating bed - goodnight!

cruel professor, studying romances

I have nothing of note to report tonight. My return to work was as brutal as it usually is on Mondays - I got up in time to make coffee, foam roll my back, and wash and dry my hair, but I really wasn't feeling in it to win it.

However, the meetings I had were good ones, and I was able to stop around five so that I could make dinner. I made a seared salmon with spicy red pepper aioli, some brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes, all of which really hit the spot. And I talked to my dad for a little bit, which was nice - he's going in for another procedure tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well.

Then I cleaned up my kitchen, did a couple of loads of laundry, and watched Top Chef while giving myself a gel manicure. And now I think it's time for bed so that I can get up tomorrow and hopefully be a little bit more put together - goodnight!

prove yourself, you are the move you make

First and foremost, happy birthday to [censored]! [Censored] turned [censored] years old today, and usually we do not get to celebrate in person since I'm rarely in Iowa in mid-May. But since we were in the same location, we got to eat the lemon cake that I baked for him last night, and I coerced him into blowing out some candles, so that was v. exciting.

However, I did not stay all day to celebrate - I flew back to Denver this afternoon, although I anticipate that I'll only be here a few days and will likely drive back to Iowa next weekend. So, [censored] was forced to celebrate the birthday by driving me to Des Moines in the rain, which is probably not what he wanted to do. When I got to the airport, I had time to grab some food before boarding - and I got upgraded on my flight, which was v. exciting. The airports were shockingly full - Denver was a madhouse, and felt like pre-pandemic levels of travelers, which I was honestly not excited about because I do not like large groups of people anymore. But I made it here entirely uneventfully, picked up my car, and grabbed a few groceries on my way home so that I have something to eat tomorrow.

And now I think I'll try to go to bed early - I haven't gotten enough sleep the last few nights, and it would be nice to rectify that this week. Goodnight!

i drank champagne with kings and queens

I'm too tired to blog tonight and had intended to go to bed two hours ago. But suffice it to say that my dad got out of the hospital today, and I only spent five hours or so sitting around (one hour at a Starbucks patio with my journal, four hours in the hospital parking lot - but that included a random visit from my sister and two of her kids, and I also spent most of the time sitting on a sidewalk instead of cooped up in the car). On the way home, we stopped at Long John Silver's at my dad's request, which I haven't had in at least a decade because of the gluten, and I have to say their deep fried fish is still amazing.

Then we got home, I took a nap, and then I ran into town to get a few tings at the grocery store. A little later, [censored] and I picked up Mexican takeout, and then the four of us ate and talked until 10:30ish. During that time, I also baked a lemon cake for [censored]'s birthday, and I hope it turned out okay - we'll find out tomorrow (or rather, today). And then [censored] and I watched too many youtube videos, and now I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

blue are the people here that walk around

I'm way too tired to blog tonight. Today didn't go quite as planned - my dad had stents put in his leg, and it was supposed to be outpatient, but while the surgery went well in the sense that it opened up blood flow, it was a lot more stenting than they expected to do and they had to admit him overnight.

So, [censored] and I spent another six hours or so sitting in our favorite parking lot at the hospital. We ran an errand beforehand to get some stuff at Sam's Club, and I left the parking lot a few times to get a couple of tings at a grocery store, pick up a Starbucks order, use the bathroom, etc. We were also joined by Aunt B for awhile, and while the public safety car kept creeping past us to see why we were there so long, we were generally undisturbed.

Mom finally left the hospital sometime after eight pm, and we decided to stay in a motel tonight. But since she smokes and the only motels with smoking rooms are pretty dire, this was perhaps a questionable decision. My room (non-smoking) is fine, but since I have been fantasizing for months about staying in a fancy hotel with a spa and room service, it's a real kick in the teeth to instead be staying in a room with flickering lights and no shampoo.

So after we checked in, we went to Perkins (a Denny's equivalent) at 9:30pm. The food was really good, or at least really needed...tater tots and gravy go a long way toward making me acquiescent about a bad motel. Then [censored] noped out of staying here under the pretext that someone needs to feed the cats tomorrow, so he left at 10:30pm and should be at my parents' house at midnight.

So at least I have this room to myself, and at least the air conditioner finally started working so it's not a million degrees. And at least we're fifteen minutes from the hospital and hopefully my dad will get out tomorrow. We shall see, we shall see. Also, I need to check on my hobo stab insurance before I go to sleep, so I think it's time to sign off. Goodnight!

sleep the day, let it fade, who was there to take your place

I'm back in ye olde Iowa after a thoroughly uneventful travel day, which almost felt like a vacation because it involved french fries and not answering work emails. I woke up this morning and made coffee, took care of final house tings, trimmed my bangs (the most important part of my preparations), showered, finished packing, etc. Then I drove to the airport, which I used to go to so frequently that it was almost annoying, but since this is only my third plane trip in the last fourteen months, it still feels fresh and novel. Okay, maybe not fresh, since I'm still paranoid about catching covid (especially because I don't want to bring it back to my dad - or my mom for that matter). But definitely novel.

I got to the airport early enough to have lunch, so I treated myself to a caesar salad, french fries, and a glass of sauvignon blanc (that + the dramamine I bought in the airport ensured my survival on the v. turbulent ascent out of Denver - dramamine for the motion sickness, sauvy b for the nerves). The Denver airport restaurants are mostly reopened, perhaps at reduced hours, but capacity has been cut, so the tables were spaced out enough that it felt pretty safe. Then I strolled to my gate just in time to board, stowed my carry-on, and spent the whole plane ride (with the exception of five minutes of ascent when I thought I might panic vomit) reading THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. So far so good - I'm about halfway through and I am enjoying it, although too soon to tell if I'll end up recommending it.

When I got to Des Moines, Des Moines airport proved to be as delightfully easy and efficient as always - between the point when my airplane touched down on the runway and when I was sitting in my rental car was less than fifteen minutes, and that was with the plane taxiing to the gate + me walking slowly to preserve my almost-healed strained calf muscle + a stop at the bathroom.

So, I made it back to southern Iowa with no drama and just in time for supper. My parents can get a perfectly prepared whole smoked chicken from a neighbor for $8, which is absurd (per my citified price estimates) and v. delicious, so we had smoked chicken and salad and baked potatoes. Then I took my dad for a drive to find him some cookies, which we don't usually have around because my mom and I can't have gluten (but my dad certainly does, and his foot situation is cramping his style of getting gluten on the sly when he's out and about in his normal routines). It was a really nice night for driving around and looking for cookies, even if cookies are hard to find in rural Iowa - the sun was just setting when we set out, and so we drove around and examined things (and managed to score some rice krispie treats that weren't great, + some brownies that may be made without any real adherence to food licensing rules but are apparently pretty good).

After that, we got home and talked to my mom for awhile, and then it was time for them to go to bed and for me to sit in my recliner in their basement and watch tiktok videos. That seems like such a cliche, but it was a good break. And now I need to sleep - we're going to Des Moines tomorrow for another procedure (on my dad, not me, obvi) so hopefully that goes well. And hopefully [censored] and I don't have to spend more than a few hours sitting in a car staring at our favorite tree in the hospital long-term parking lot, but we shall see. Goodnight!

he can't keep his wild eyes on the road

Today was another work-filled day. I have nothing to report from that, other than that I just did an hour or two of work tonight to try to catch up before flying back to Iowa tomorrow. But I had a break at midday to eat a poke bowl, and I had a break in the afternoon to talk to Alyssa, and I also spent the evening talking to Katie + packing + watering plants + taking care of house stuff. I would say that things are generally in good shape for my departure, even if I probably should have gone to bed an hour ago.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

do you love your neighbor? is it in your nature? do you love a sunset? aren't you fed up yet?

I have nothing to report today - I got a lot of sleep last night, did some work today, and made slow cooker carnitas for dinner. And that, truly, is about as much excitement as I had for today - so I'm going to sign off and try to rest my eyes for the night. Goodnight!

a hundred and five little blades in a line

No blog tonight - I've spent too much time looking at screens today. It started last night, of course - staying up two hours later than planned to (re)read things about Soviet Russia that I mostly already knew was perhaps not the best use of my time. But I slept well and deeply, so even though I was scrambling this morning to get work stuff done that I should have done last night, it was all good.

So I spent the day working, with a lunch break for a tuna melt. I also did some work stuff + some personal stuff tonight, while reheating yesterday's pasta + making egg muffins for breakfast for the next couple of days. And now I need to sleep, or at least shut down my laptop - goodnight!

this isn't what i signed up for

I had a pretty good day, although I definitely didn't get enough sleep going into it - after staying up way too late reading, I slept fitfully and was awake well before I got my usual 7-7.5hrs. But I pulled myself from bed, made an iced coffee, and showered - since I didn't shower yesterday, I considered this a triumph. Then I had a morning call with Veronica, which was, as always, a delight.

After talking to V, I made more iced coffee, made myself hash browns and fried eggs for lunch, and then did some stuff around the house - laundry, kitchen cleaning, stretching, talking to [censored], etc. I also forced myself to leave the house to get groceries. This was not a big errand, since I am going back to ye olde Iowa for a few days at the end of the week, but I needed a couple of things to get me through so that I don't just eat takeout all week (not that there is anything wrong with that!).

When I got home, I talked to my mom for awhile - she seemed to be doing well, and she called me back to report that a calico cat that had been missing for several days had just turned up, so that was a highlight. Then I made supper (the tuscan sausage and chard pasta that I had made a few weeks ago - so simple, so good), cleaned the kitchen, folded my laundry, etc.

And then I finished the book I was reading last night - it was A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW, which I'd started a month ago and then not felt like reading while I was in Iowa. Also I hadn't felt like reading it because I didn't want it to end. But it was incredible, and also right up my alley for obvious reasons:

• I'm obsessed with zee russians
• I'm obsessed with aristocrats and class issues
• I'm obsessed with fancy hotels
• I'm obsessed with fancy meals and fine wines
• I'm currently obsessed with how extroverts make an entire world and life out of a v. constrained environment, which basically describes my pandemic experience

If you don't know why those bullet points are relevant to this book, the basic gist is that, in 1922, as the Bolsheviks are tearing up the old Russia to make way for the new one, a thirty-something aristocrat is sentenced by a tribunal to life under house arrest in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. He likely should have been shot, but he'd written a poem that inspired the revolution - so they let him live, but he could never leave the hotel again. He was quite the character, and the hotel itself felt like a character, and the period through which the book is set is, of course, fascinating.

sssanyway, I quite enjoyed it and have now spent two hours going down a vast and deep wikipedia rabbit hole instead of sleeping, so it's time for bed.

And finally - happy mother's day to all the mothers out there (especially to mine!), and hugs to those of you whose mothers aren't here to celebrate. I hope you all had a delightful day!

all the bad things disappear

No blog tonight - I had a very lazy day (and a nice long chat with Ritu), and almost went to bed at 9:30, but I picked up a book and suddenly it's 1:30am. So I need to go to sleep immediately - goodnight!

i'll be all you need and more

I'm v. tired but I had a v. lovely day (or at least a v. lovely end to it). I woke up this morning in time to have some fairly leisurely coffee before getting started with work, and work itself was not too onerous - I got through most of my inbox backlog (which was a miracle in and of itself) and got some actual work done, and also had some good meetings, so that was all great.

Then I sloughed off slightly early to get ready for my evening plans - Katie and I hadn't been out to dinner in fourteen months (although we've seen each other all the time in quarantine), so we decided to break the seal tonight. We had six p.m. reservations, but we were both not feeling it in terms of work (Katie because she had taken the afternoon off, me because I was tired), so I went over to her place a little before five and we grabbed a drink before dinner. Our first stop was Lady Jane, which we used to go to often in the beforetimes - I had a tiki style drink with an umbrella and everything, which felt like a v. warm welcome back into the fold of people who sometimes go to bars.

Then we went to our dinner reservation - I had booked us an outside table at The Fifth String, and the weather was perfect for it. If anything, it was a little too perfect - it turns out their outdoor tables are still in little greenhouses, which would have been great in winter but was roasting for the first bit of our dinner. However, it cooled off soon enough, and the food and cocktails were so amazing that the temperature didn't matter. Fifth String is where Old Major used to be, and while we always liked to go to Old Major for the ambience and the location, Fifth String has way outdone Old Major in terms of food. My cocktail was perfect, and Katie and I went all in on food - we started with oysters (and omg I've missed oysters), which were delightful. Then we split two prix fixe menus (i.e. ordered things and then shared them) - the appetizers were a wagyu carpaccio and a hamachi crudo (the carpaccio was almost too decadent, since the raw beef was covered in some incredible bites of other things; but the hamachi was just right). The mains were a Japanese pork dish and a halibut on top of the most perfect buttery mashed potatoes. For dessert, we had a strawberry pie and a v. nice sorbet. All in all, the food was to die for, especially after a year of eating takeout or #quarantinechef endeavors.

Of course, it's allergy season and so now I have a sore throat and am convinced I have covid, but other than that it was an incredible night. Katie and I discussed many and varied tings over the course of approximately four hours together, which was way overdue since I've been in Iowa. We ended the night sitting in my car and talking like we often do, and I could have kept talking forever...

...but I'm also old, and clearly that's true because we both paced ourselves and didn't get drunk despite the temptation of those killer cocktails. So we said our farewells and I came home, and now I'm considering bedtime. Goodnight!

stand and deliver

I have nothing interesting to report today - I slogged most of the day, which was neither good nor bad. I took a break from 5-5:30 to do nothing + put a chicken in the oven to roast, then I had one last meeting before calling it a day. It was nice out for the first time this week, so I spent some quality time on my patio cutting up the limbs that had fallen in my yard during one of the recent snowstorms - I still need to use a saw or some other cutting implement to take care of the two main limbs that were too big for my loppers, but I got all the extraneous branches and twigs off and into my compost cart.

Then I finished making dinner (roasted chicken, roasted broccolini with cheddar, and a baked potato - pretty good!), ate dinner, cleaned my kitchen, and then relaxed the rest of the evening. And now I really should go to bed - goodnight!

who needs a house out in hackensack...is that what you get with your money

I had a good day today - I started it by writing a ridiculous email to the office about seating charts, and I'm always happier when I can start my day off by writing jhokes about nonsense and sending them to a couple of hundred people. I then slogged my way through meetings, but none of them were too onerous. I spent about fifteen minutes sitting on my back steps to enjoy the sun during my lunch break, which was well timed because immediately after that, we had twenty minutes of thunderstorm + hail, and then it was sunny again and you never would have guessed there was a storm. Colorado weather is a trip.

So I worked all afternoon, took a break to talk to Alyssa, and then had one unusually late meeting from 6-6:45. After that, I talked to [censored], talked to my parents, and ate leftover stirfry. Then I had a call with Subz - we hadn't talked in ages, so it was really nice to hear her voice for an hour.

And now, I believe I shall go to bed and hope that tomorrow goes similarly smoothly - goodnight!

feels like a night to carry a tune

I'm too tired to blog tonight - today was fairly boring work-wise, with at least one chaos meeting to liven things up (with my coworker who 100% agrees with everything I say while stabbing me in the back, but this time I caught him stabbing me in the face, so we shall see how I deal with that!). I ended the day by making a chicken stir fry (pretty good but needs a lot more salt / umami), talking to my friend Nicole, talking to [censored], doing a crossword puzzle, and generally messing around until now.

And now I'm going to shut off my laptop and start winding down - goodnight!

it's so ironic it's iconic i get off on it

Today was the usual brutal Monday reentry into job and life after being away. In other words, I should have been v. productive and instead mostly stared at my inbox and faked my way through meetings. But I did what I absolutely needed to get done, and then stopped around 5:30 to pick up a grocery order at Whole Foods (there were no delivery windows, but ordering to pick up still saved me a lot of time).

Then I came home, talked to my mom, talked to [censored], and did a bunch of stuff around the house (laundry, empty the fridge of my disgusting, ancient foodstuffs, general tidying, etc.). I also made some egg muffins like the ones I was making in Iowa, but something went hilariously wrong, because they puffed up and spilled over the cup edges and melded into each other. Either the eggs puffed up too much due to altitude, or the ingredients I used (feta, roasted red peppers, and zucchini) had too much water and somehow expanded too much. Idk, but we'll see how they taste tomorrow.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

he always holds the door but i found him in a mosh pit

I'm v. v. tired, which is always how I feel after driving back to Colorado. The combination of the drive (which was rough on my still-healing calf, although I think it'll be okay if I'm careful), the interminable miles across Nebraska, and the return to altitude after several weeks away leaves me feeling dehydrated and almost hungover.

That said, today was as good as the reentry day can be. I woke up this morning and got on the road pretty quickly, thanks to the fact that I had leftover Casey's pizza and a Starbucks coffee drink in the motel minifridge so that I didn't have to deal with finding food when I left. I did end up stopping in North Platte for gas, which was a bit of a jhoke because the pump was going so slow that it was taking a minute per gallon (well, actually, 54sec per gallon - I timed it). So I left with only four gallons, grabbed a coffee, and drove to Colorado, where I stopped in Sterling (I think) for more gas and another drink.

I made it home around 12:30pm MDT, unloaded everything from my car, and promptly spent most of the afternoon lounging in bed. I knew that the likelihood that I would feel like doing anything this afternoon was slim, so rather than fighting it, I just changed into some shorts, opened my balcony door to air out my room, and lazed. I spent an hour talking to [censored], who was on his way back to [censored], since we hadn't had enough conversation the last few weeks (and also [censored]'s drive is almost five hours, which is shorter than mine but still can use some phone call distraction to get through it). I messed around on my phone and sort of napped. All in all, it was a lovely, lazy, blurry afternoon, and it was what I needed.

I did rally in time to order dinner from my favorite Indian place (which was strangely not as good as usual), and I did two loads of laundry and unpacked a bunch of stuff. And then I ended the night with a family zoom call - we were overdue for a call. Adit, John, Jess, Claude, Sam, Ritu, and Bill all showed up, so we were only missing Chandlord (and Priyanka, but it was 11pm on the east coast when it started, so Adit was willing to stay up but Priyanka is forgiven). Everyone seemed to be in fine form, and we got to admire Claude's baby, discuss random people none of us have seen in years, watch John eat some birthday cheese, discuss property values and building material costs (a favorite topic for me and [censored], so I had info to share), etc., etc. All in all people were in fine form and it was a delightful way to end the weekend, even if I should have slept two hours ago.

And on that note, it's time for bed - goodnight!

they know your name and they know what you're about

I'm sitting in a motel in Lexington, Nebraska - a town in which I've never stayed before and may never stay again. Usually I would stay in Kearney, or push on to North Platte. But when I got to Kearney, my usual place was full and most other places were too, so I made a reservation for a room in Lexington instead. This is a strange town for the rural midwest - when I looked at restaurants (before settling on a takeout casey's pizza bc it was almost 10pm and that was easiest), I was shocked by how many different cuisines Lexington has for its size, including (apparently) Ethiopian, and also several taquerias that were open super late. I guessed there must be a big meatpacking plant or other job source nearby to make those restaurants successful, and I'd say I was right.

So at least I saw something new on this trip, even if it's not that exciting. Yesterday was a bit stressful with my dad's appointment in Des Moines, but they're home and hopefully things will improve. Today I decided I needed to go back to Colorado for at least a few days to check on my sprinklers and yard stuff, so I packed some tings in my car, ran some errands, talked to my parents and [censored], and said my farewells. I didn't leave until almost three, so I knew I would spend the night somewhere, but I'll get home tomorrow with time to clean (or at least decompress before working Monday). I'll go back to iowa in a week or two, but it will be nice to see my house for a bit.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

you know i'll follow you

Today was a long day - I'm taking time off tomorrow, which meant that I worked more than usual today in an attempt to clear enough stuff off my plate. Today wasn't the worst ever, but it wasn't the best - too many meetings, too many little dramas. But I had salmon and cream cheese on a bagel for lunch, and I had takeout Mexican for dinner, so it definitely could have been worse.

But that's all you're getting since I need to wind down and go to bed - goodnight!

baby we're a dying breed

I had a lot going on at work today, so I'm probably more tired than I should be - especially since some of my meetings got canceled and I was able to actually get some stuff done, which is an added bonus. But I ended the day with a session with Alyssa, who worked some wonders for my ongoing strained calf situation - I can walk on it without much pain, but it's certainly still not right, and so we did a lot of movement drills and nerve-type work to try to straighten things out. Even though a lot of her exercises look like total bullshit (like, sticking my thumb out in front of me and then rotating my torso while following my thumb with my gaze), they are amazingly effective - and she also warned me that I would be tired tonight even though it seemed like we did v. little.

So she was right - I'm tired, but my calf feels better. I then spent most of the evening hanging out with my parents - my mom cooked some fish that someone had caught from our pond (they come over and fish occasionally, then clean some of the catch for us - apparently yesterday they caught something every time they threw their line in, so we had eight nice filets of crappie or something (also, if crappie is not something you're familiar with, it's pronounced 'croppie' and is like a real fish that people catch)). She also made fried potatoes, and I threw together a salad, so it was quite a feast. Then I chatted with my parents until around nine, when it was firmly time for them to go to bed and for me to think about going to bed...

...and instead I did a crossword puzzle and was generally lazy. But now it's time for bed for real - goodnight!

i remember her, i don't remember me

Nothing to report today - I had a bunch of meetings, as per usual. But I was somewhat productive when I wasn't in meetings, so I'll take that. My last meeting was more social than work-related, so I had a glass of wine and caught up on the latest gossip. Then I had dinner with my parents - my mom made roast beef with potatoes and carrots, and it was delicious. I also watched some 'Cajun Pawn Stars' with them - anytime I can watch weird people discuss weird objects, it's usually a good time.

And now, I'm tired and not accomplishing anything of note, so I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

we're cut from a stained glass mountain

I'm too tired to blog - today was the usual grind of meetings, although I took a lunch break to eat dinner leftover tacos adjacent to my dad (he did not eat tacos). When I was done working ,I took dinner duty and made a tasty chicken and wild rice soup in my instant pot. And then I spent the evening doing tings around my room, giving myself a gel manicure, etc.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

a shimmering balance act, i think that i laughed at that

I had a v. lazy Sunday, thanks for asking. I got up relatively early and spent the morning drinking iced coffee while journaling, watching videos, and talking to [censored]. I also caught up with Veronica, whom I hadn't talked to in ages - it's been tough to keep up with friends in addition to family+work, but I am making an attempt. Then I spent some quality time in the kitchen with my dad. And at some point I took the gater out and drove around the field - I thought it would be idyllic to park it by the pond and take in the sights, but there were gale-force winds and two mating pairs of geese on a double date who didn't like my presence. Still, I didn't let any of that scare me away, and instead sat in the sun (and the intense wind) and talked to Terry for awhile.

Then I ran an errand in town, came home, messed around with some writing, and maybe took a v. short nap. My mom was on dinner duty tonight and she made tenderloins, which were delish. And now I'm unwinding and trying to make myself go to bed early, so I'm posting this early in hopes that I eventually remind myself that bed is preferable to late-night doomscrolling. Goodnight!

i've got intrusive thoughts like burning my hair off

I had a pretty nice day in ye olde Iowa, even if I've already hit my yearly quota of Saturdays in Iowa before we're officially a third of the way through the year. When I woke up this morning, I made iced coffee and chilled, and then made myself some huevos rancheros for breakfast. I had the house to myself for approximately the twenty minutes it took to make and halfway eat them (parents were at the hospital for my dad's daily antibiotics, and [censored] was off being [censored]), and then Aunt B showed up to hang out for the day. [censored] returned at some point too, so the three of us chatted until my parents came home.

At that point, my dad conned me into making chocolate chip chewies, so I did that while hanging out with them in the kitchen. Then I left Aunt B and Dad to their devices and spent some quality time organizing my supplies and cleaning the downstairs kitchen (yes we have two kitchens, but I never cook downstairs beyond making coffee because it's not really stocked for cooking). At some point I took a drive and dropped trash off at my dad's shop in town (yes we have a private dumpster, don't you?) - it was a gorgeous day, and it was nice to get out in it for a bit.

Then I came home, put fresh sheets on my bed, finally showered, and then went to pick up take out for dinner. As you know if you're a regular reader, we usually get takeout from the Mexican restaurant in town because it's a) delicious and b) four miles away. But my mom was in the mood for prime rib, which is our alternative takeout option - it's fifteen miles each way, if you take the most direct route that involves cutting across seven or so miles of gravel roads before getting to pavement. As I said, it was a lovely day for a drive, so I didn't mind - and the end result was that I got prime rib for dinner, so that was pretty satisfying.

After dinner, I hung out in the kitchen with my parents and made some egg muffin things for breakfast for the next few days. Then I came downstairs and sat in my gram's recliner and did a crossword puzzle, so I guess I'm officially old. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

turn around bright eyes

I had my first productive-ish day at work in ages today - if I could repeat this feat tomorrow, I might almost feel caught up (or, if not caught up, at least not ridiculously behind). I was rewarded for my labors by eating a delicious supper made by my mom (cheeseburgers, fried potatoes, roasted broccoli, plus some leftover caprese salad). And then I should have done more work, but I mostly watched weird music videos with [censored].

And now I think I'll go to bed early so I can repeat the feats tomorrow - goodnight!

like does it ever really stop

No updates tonight: I went back to work and felt like I'd missed a lot of stuff, but I managed to survive it. I had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch though, which is my go-to when I'm stressed, and that went a long way toward fueling the rest of the day. It even helped despite the fact that I talked to [censored] throughout my lunch break (jk, [censored]!). Then I had more meetings, slacked off around five to talk to Alyssa, talked to Katie for awhile, and then had dinner (leftover stirfry from last night).

I had to work a couple of hours tonight to make up for lost productivity, but it went well enough - and now I desperately need to sleep. Goodnight!

dig deep, can't hide from the corners of my mind

It was a v. nice four-day weekend [editor's note: that's partially a lie; it was a four-day weekend, but it was only somewhat nice rather than v. nice]. Today was a bit more relaxing than yesterday, mostly because I willed it to be so - I slept a little later, wrote in my journal while nursing my coffee, played some word games on my ipad to relax, and generally tried to unwind a bit. I probably should have gone for a walk, but it was cold out, so I mostly chilled in my room.

This evening, I made the rather grandiose plan to cook two stir-frys at once, neither of which I'd made before. This was a delicate balance, since I had to prep ingredients for both, get the rice going, make sure I knew which bits of tings and which sauces were going into which pan, etc. Luckily [censored] hung out with me while I cooked and was the perfect sous chef (and by that I mean he occasionally handed me iced tea spoons and also made jokes).

But despite the complications of cooking two main dishes, dinner was banging, if I do say so myself. I made a Mongolian beef that I will absolutely make again, and a cashew chicken stirfry that I would also make again (although I might experiment with some different sauce options). The beef was a real winner - I almost quadrupled the recipe so that we would have leftovers, but we hit it pretty hard tonight. This recipe made for super tender beef (if you slice the flank steak correctly and sear it without overcooking - if you don't, sorry, it will be inedible) and the sauce was delightful.

So, I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out, even if it took longer than planned and ended up on the table later because my parents had company (people around here are slowly hearing what's going on with Dad, which means more visitors and more calls). After we were done eating, I hung out with my dad for a bit, then cleaned up the kitchen. Just as I was wiping the counters and soaking the last pan, John called, so I took a break and talked to him for almost an hour. We hadn't talked in ages and ages, so it was really nice to catch up. Jess also took a turn on the phone to say hi; hopefully I'll make it to California for an extended trip this summer, since we are long overdue for some in-person engagement.

So, talking to John and Jess made my heart lighter, which was much needed and appreciated. Then I finished washing that last pan, messed around online, and generally procrastinated on going to bed. But I suppose sleep would be a good idea since I have to work tomorrow - goodnight!

cause i'm a vintage girl hangin' with the flashback kids

I have nothing particularly insightful to say today. I took the day off, which was theoretically good for recharging, although I don't feel recharged - but I didn't have to spend much time on zoom today as a result, so that seemed to help. I mostly spent the day taking care of tings around the house - I made a bunch of egg muffins for upcoming breakfasts, which I think are delicious. I also dropped [censored] off in town, and used that as an excuse to drive out to the park and inspect the reservoir where Katie and I used to spend lazy summer afternoons rowing around the lake in a rowboat. Those were simpler times, albeit simpler times in which I was exposed to far more farm runoff chemicals than I am now.

Later, I roasted tomatoes for a caprese salad - this is not something I usually make in Iowa, and I discovered as I was prepping it that the balsamic vinegar expired two years ago, so I made an impromptu trip to town (the other town) to buy balsamic (after [censored] almost tricked me into believing he might have some lying around, which was obviously false in retrospect). Then I chatted with Katie for awhile, which took her by surprise since she wasn't expecting me to answer. And then I finished making dinner - I reverse seared some ribeyes, finished the caprese salad, and made mashed potatoes, and they were all delish.

And now I believe it's time for bed - goodnight!

might not work but i'll take a maybe

Today I made an excursion to the big city (aka Des Moines). I have grand plans to cook a bunch of stuff this week, and that requires groceries, and that required a trip to a city with legit grocery stores. So I got up this morning, hung out with my parents while finalizing my lists, showered, got ready, chatted with [censored] etc. before heading out the door.

My trip was incredibly uneventful - I spent way too long at Target and at Whole Foods, but that's what happens on restock trips. Then I came home and put everything away - this necessitated loading a bunch of stuff into my dad's gator and driving it around the house to the basement patio door, since I didn't feel like hauling my 40lb cooler down the steps.

Then we ate takeout Mexican, and then I said adieu to my parents and came to my room to paint my nails and otherwise mess around. And now I think I should probably sleep - goodnight!

running low on serotonin

I'm still v. v. tired - sitting around in ye olde Iowa will do that to you. Yesterday and today were fine, theoretically - my energy is mostly going toward cooking and hanging out with my dad, and I did a lot of those things today.

But I'm way too tired to blog and need to get up relatively early so I can make a grocery run - goodnight!

manifest a ceiling

I'm v. v. tired (which is three fewer v.'s than last night, so I suppose that's an improvement). The tiredness is more mental than physical, I think - the kind of tired behind the eyeballs and around the corners of the mouth that comes from stress rather than exertion.

I went back to work today, and by that I mean I sat at my desk in my parents' house and pretended to focus on meetings that were difficult to focus on, and ignored emails I didn't have the space for. I had a good conversation with my boss about all of this, though; she's really supportive of everything going on with my dad, so I'll probably take a couple of days off next week to regroup. And I did get some critical stuff done and am sorting out what else needs to get done tomorrow, so it certainly could be worse.

Sometime around five I was done for awhile, so I hung out with my parents and then drove into town to pick up Mexican food (basically the only takeout in town, so it's a good thing we like it since we're now eating it 2-3x / week). It was pretty tasty tonight, so no regrets there. I hung out upstairs a bit more, then came downstairs with the intention of being virtuous and answering work email. But instead I had a v. impromptu, v. overdue zoom with my friend Grace - she and I hadn't caught up in ages, but we exchanged texts about a ridiculous writing drama today, and then we ended up zooming for over an hour. It was very much what I needed, even if it wasn't exactly the same as our previous catch-ups, when we would drink margaritas (three for me, 0.25 of one for her) and laugh so hard that we would come close to wetting ourselves. Still, I'll take a zoom with Grace anytime, and tonight was a delight.

And now, rather than trying to clear my work inbox, I'm going to go to bed and attempt that feat in the morning - goodnight!

the kind that blindside you at four p.m. on some idle tuesday

I'm v. v. v. v. v. tired and should probably have gone to bed an hour ago, even though it's currently only 10:30pm in Iowa. The last couple of days have been a lot (and a lot of time spent in my 2007 RAV4, which I sold to my mom after buying my Audi; I never planned to spend this much time in it again). Yesterday we took my dad up to Des Moines for a procedure, which ended up taking forever because the doctor had to do an emergency procedure for someone else first, and then they decided to keep him overnight.

This news of course came after [censored] and I had spent most of the day sitting in the RAV4 staring at a tree, since only one person is allowed into the hospital with the patient due to covid. Also due to covid, we couldn't sit at a coffee shop, and it was too cold to sit outside. So I spent as much time in the RAV4 yesterday as I would have spent if I'd driven from Denver to Iowa, which is really too much.

sssanyway, I drove my mom back home last night, then back to Des Moines this morning. Luckily my dad got out around noon, so we drove home (with a stop in Indianola for lunch w/[censored], who was on his way to [censored]). My dad had to go to the hospital here for his usual antibiotics after, and I used that time to start prepping some instant pot beef stew. I also talked to Alyssa, which was great. And then I finished making the stew, went into town to harvest my dad's latest asparagus haul (I suspect he has a thief pillaging his asparagus patch since there wasn't much there), ate with my parents, talked to my dad, etc.

And now I really need to go to bed so that I can attempt to focus tomorrow - focusing is something I am having a terrible time doing right now, but I live in hope. Goodnight!

the way is long, but you can make it easy on me

I'm v. tired and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I had to do some work stuff and then I 'had' to unwind by shopping my 20% coupon at Sephora. You can guess which of those tasks was more successfully accomplished.

Today went okay, all in all - I had one meeting this morning, and then I took the rest of the day off to drive my parents to Des Moines so that my dad could see a cardiologist. Long story but we're going back tomorrow, and hopefully the outcome of that will improve blood flow and enable his foot to heal faster.

And now I should probably go to bed if I'm going to get up in time to drive back to Des Moines - goodnight!

underneath the stars, looking for a sign

I'm back in ye olde Iowa after a v. slow jaunt through the Denver airport to get here. Today went as smoothly as I could have hoped for it to go - I got up in time to throw some clothes in a suitcase, shower, and eat some yogurt before my ride (aka Katie) arrived. She was on time, which was v. kind of her since no one wants to take people to the airport - but she claimed she was looking forward to drinking her iced coffee and listening to the radio on the way home without the kids, so I think I might believe her.

When I got to the airport I decided not to get wheelchair / cart service (which I had requested a couple of days ago when my leg seemed dire) - I had plenty of time, so I just slowly and leisurely hobbled through security, onto the train, and around the C concourse. I had time to eat a burrito bowl and ice my leg, and it was all v. civil (with the exception of the fact that there's a pandemic and so it's really not civil at all, but I was pretty careful). Then I boarded, had a v. quick and easy flight, hobbled through the Des Moines airport, picked up my bag, retrieved my car, and drove to southern Iowa to reunite with my parents.

The hobbling was perhaps overkill - I really don't think I have long-term injured myself. But I also can't really afford to turn a strain into something worse, so I'm just going slow and stretching every chance I get. I think I'll be all better in a couple of days, but we'll see.

And now, I believe it's time for bed - as soon as I wish Aunt Becky a happy birthday (happy birthday, Aunt B!). Goodnight!

fork hands

This will be brief because I'm typing on my phone, since as previously mentioned my personal laptop is in Iowa and I am not. Today was possibly the most social interaction I've had in over a year, and it was bizarre. Chandlord is in Denver for the weekend, and unfortunately I am not here for the whole weekend, but she came over this morning so that we could spend a few hours renewing our acquaintance. She escaped the overly-long hug that I've been threatening her with because we're still not out of the covid woods, but we had a delightful morning and it felt like no time had passed since I'd last seen her (which makes sense since nothing has happened in the last year). We went for an outdoor brunch at El Camino - I haven't been there for brunch, but there their "brunchiladas" and their corn cakes were completely delicious.

Then we had coffees across the street before dropping by Katie's to say hi in Katie's backyard. Then I dropped Vidya off at her next destination, with promises that she'll come back and I'll come to San Francisco sometime this summer.

Then I came home and spent several hours doing absolutely nothing in an effort to recover from such a social endeavor. And then Katie came over and we had an extended backyard session - the weather was nice and we picked up food and drinks from Ashkara, and we caught up on many many things.

And now, I should sleep - I need to pack and head to the airport in the morning so that I can get back to ye olde Iowa. Goodnight!

buddy of last resort

I’m typing this on my iPad because my laptop is in Iowa, so this will be brief. I had a decent day, mostly because it appears that the injury I hadn’t told you about isn’t actually serious. On Tuesday, at the airport, I started to run to catch an Uber, felt something pop in my leg, and was sure I had torn a tendon or something. So I spent the last seventy-two hours alternating between my bed and my chaise like a Victorian lady, albeit a Victorian lady with easy access to ice. I also panic ordered a compression sleeve and a fancy ice pack at 5am Wednesday for same day delivery, which helped. Thanks to constant application of ice, compression, elevation, and ibuprofen, I was in much better shape by today - I can basically walk on it and it doesn’t hurt at all when I’m sitting/standing, but I’m still being careful since I don’t want to strain it more. And I went to the doctor today and they confirmed that I didn’t tear anything and just told me to keep doing what I’m doing, so that’s all a relief.

Needless to say this has put a damper on my week - but I also can’t help but think that it was just my body insisting on a couple of days of couch / tv / early bedtime after all the stress of the last few weeks. It’s been kind of nice, all in all, to sit on my couch and order takeout and watch Top Chef. [speaking of Top Chef, I watched the second episode of the new season tonight, and it seems like this might be one of the most impressive and competitive seasons yet. I wonder how much of that is because so many amazing chefs had to shut down their restaurants last year and so were more willing / available to shoot a tv show in the pandemic?]

So, today was mostly consumed by working, taking care of myself, eating sushi for dinner, and watching Top Chef. You would think that I would have spent more time reading coverage of Prince Philip’s death, but I’m so tired of bad news that when I saw it this morning, I just kind of thought “that makes sense, too bad” and went on with my day. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how the stories play out over the next few days, since the brits are currently banned from having more than thirty people at a funeral and just his kids / grandkids get it up to twenty without adding great-grandkids, other relatives, etc.

That said, pretty much anything in the world is more important right now than this funeral, and I should probably rest, so it’s time to sign off. Goodnight!

i said, ooh, i'm drowning in the night

Today had highs and lows, and now I'm thinking about going to bed early. The highs were pretty high - I had to give a thirty-minute presentation to the big boss's boss (who is truly a big boss, and is also the French guy who dropped thousands of dollars on champagne at a work dinner I went to a couple of years ago). The presentation was 'fabulous' (to quote the big boss after), so I live to get a paycheck another day.

While I was cool and collected and on top of my game, my fitbit thought that I got twenty minutes of exercise during that presentation because my heart rate spiked, so it's no wonder my adrenaline tanked after that and I got v. little done the rest of the day. I did have some more meetings, and I had leftover Indian takeout for lunch, and everything was generally fine. I talked to my mom for a bit when I was done working, and then Katie came over and hung out for a bit - she dropped off her car for me to borrow for the next couple of days, and so after we were done gossiping I took her back to her house and got to watch her husband chase an escaped cat v. aggressively (you had to be there for the jokes about that).

Then I came home, ate some leftover Italian food, and generally did absolutely nothing. And now I think it's time to sleep - goodnight!

you live in the dark, boy, i cannot pretend

I had a decent first day back in Colorado - or at least a productive one. I had a bunch of meetings, as usual; I sent some emails; and I had a chat with Alyssa to close out the day. I also ordered takeout dinner from an Italian place I hadn't tried before - they made an excellent gluten free pasta with sausage and cheese, and their pizza was also great, and now I have leftovers for tomorrow. And I took it easy by watching the first episode of the new season of Top Chef: Portland - it just started last week, and I want to watch this season mostly in real time if I can.

And now, even though it's early I think I'm going to crawl into bed with a book and see what happens. Goodnight!

the hook brings you back

No blog tonight - I made it back to Colorado, but I'm tired and need to close my eyes more than I need to blog. Goodnight!

we tried to wash our hands of all of this

No time to blog tonight - I spent the day slogging, but it was difficult to concentrate or get anything done. And I spent the evening hanging out with my parents - [censored] went back to his home today, and so he missed out on the chicken tortilla soup that I made tonight (which turned out well, if I do say so myself). We had a nice enough evening, all in all, even though nothing feels particularly great right now.

Then I came downstairs, cleaned some of the downstairs kitchen, organized some tings, and gave myself a fresh gel manicure before doing a tiny bit of day job work to prep for tomorrow. I've decided to make a quick trip back to Colorado tomorrow; I'm flying because I can't stand the thought of driving there and back, but I also wasn't intending to spend quite this much time in Iowa on this trip and so I need to pick up some clothes and check on my house. So I'm working in the morning, then dashing up to Des Moines to catch a flight to Denver. I'm coming back Sunday, so hopefully things will be smooth - I'm loath to leave, but it will be nice to order takeout and ride my Peloton and generally be bougie for a few days.

And now, on that note, I need to go to bed - goodnight!

up on the sun playing drums with a bleached bone

Happy Easter! This was not how I intended to spend my Easter, partially because I thought it was likely that I would be driving back to Denver today or tomorrow - but it was a good day nonetheless. I spent the morning taking care of tings around the house, and then my dad and I drove over to Osceola so he could look at some work-related tings. I drove his truck again since it has better legroom for him than any of our other vehicles; when I got in, I realized that my right thigh was slightly achy from driving the truck, not from picking up sticks yesterday. His truck is positively gigantic compared to my SUV, with a diesel engine and pedals that aren't configured for someone who is very nearly short enough to be classified as a dwarf. So, driving it is an entertaining adventure, but thus far I've managed it without hitting anything, so I'm calling it a win.

Anyway, we drove to Osceola and back, and it was another really nice day for a drive. On the way over we took the backroads (paved, so I don't know if that technically qualifies as backroads, but it wasn't a straight shot to get there) and it was fun to see parts of the countryside that I don't see often. Then we came home, I took a v. brief nap, and then I spent some time cleaning my room and the bathroom. I eventually took a break so I could make Easter dinner - I made scalloped potatoes (but the Barefoot Contessa's version, which requires gruyere, which I luckily had stockpiled here) and a ham, and my mom made baked beans, and it was all v. delicious.

After dinner, I watched a bit of 'American Restoration' with my dad, then came downstairs, painted my toenails, and did some planning for the week ahead. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and so i wake in the morning and i step outside

I'm quite tired after more than the usual exertion today. I spent the morning being somewhat lazy, but then [censored] and I picked up a bunch of sticks in the yard to prep for mowing season. Since the yard is multiple acres and some parts of it (especially around the old house) are full of ancient trees that shed bark and limbs when a single snowflake hits them, this is quite the task. [censored] did more of it than I did because he started before I was ready, but I was game until my allergies got the best of me. We also drove around parts of the farm that neither of us have been to in years; some of it is actually unreachable from here, while much of it requires driving over the pond dam and then navigating large anthills and washed-out draws. So, that was a fun excursion, and we returned without setting anything on fire (unlike our grandfather, who memorably caught his pickup on fire when he drove it through our field many years ago).

sssanyway. After that I took a shower and drove my dad to Centerville to look at some tings and pick up a few other tings (mostly ham salad for my mom, who gets cranky if her addiction isn't sated on the regular). We had a nice drive - the weather was perfect, and while driving his truck is a far cry from my Audi, it's fun to see the world from a vantage point several feet higher than usual.

Then we came home and I made dinner, but I unfortunately slightly overcooked the chicken (#quarantinechef knew better, but there's enough infection around here and I didn't want to cause food poisoning). And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

sometimes i wish i was on an island, but then i'd miss the sound of sirens

I am v. tired and have already fallen asleep in my recliner once, so I should wrap this up and go to bed. I took today mostly off, although I had one meeting at 1pm that I chose to dial into with my VP; it felt easier to just do it than to try to find another time with a bunch of people whose calendars are impossible, and I needed to get her feedback on something before an even more important presentation next week. So, I wasn't entirely disconnected from work, but it was certainly more of a break than usual.

So I spent the morning drinking coffee and talking to [censored], who got home last night. Then I spent some quality time with Aunt B - she came down from the city to sow some grass seed on Gram's grave, and she stopped here first to hang out + borrow some gardening implements. It was great to see her, even though my hospitality failed and the only things she ate were things that she had brought here last weekend.

Then, the best news of the day: my dad got out of the hospital. He'd gone in on Monday for recurring issues with his foot infection, and he certainly has a v. long road still ahead (and is in a disturbing amount of pain), but it's great that he's back home. So we spent the afternoon hanging out, and then [censored] and I picked up Mexican takeout for dinner. We also watched some 'Cajun Pawn Stars', who were completely ridiculous.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

call me by your name

I'm too tired to blog tonight - I had to get up this morning and make slides before my meetings started, so that made for a long day. I spent most of the day / afternoon slogging, with a quick break to run into town to pick up some red wine vinegar for salad dressing. I wrapped up my screen time by having a call with Alyssa, and then I threw a chicken in the oven to roast, talked to [censored], talked to Aunt Becky, cleaned the kitchen, etc., etc.

But on that boring note, I've been falling asleep in my chair for awhile and should really go to bed - goodnight!

where you can seem as old as your omens

I'm v. tired tonight - I should have done some work tonight, but it didn't happen. I also possibly should have done some work this morning, but instead I ran an errand to pick up groceries in the next county over - my parents' freezer was running low on meat, so I took advantage of a quiet Tuesday morning to run to the nearest grocery store with a good meat counter (30+ miles away) to stock up. I procured approx 30lbs of meat, so that should last us a day or two.

Then I came home and slogged all day, with a couple of wtf meetings. When I was done for the day (sometime after six), I roasted a bunch of beets and was going to turn them into a salad, but I forgot to buy/bring a crucial ingredient for the dressing, so I decided to refrigerate the beets and go to town tomorrow in hopes that they will have red wine vinegar. So my attempt at healthy eating was thwarted, and instead I ate leftover gluten free pizza with my mom.

And now, I believe I shall go to bed and attempt to do tonight's undone work early tomorrow morning - goodnight!

i caught it bad yesterday

I have nothing to report tonight - I worked today, but I was really not feeling it. And I probably should have worked tonight, but I was still not feeling it. The only thing I did feel was the walk I took this afternoon - it was seventy degrees out but super windy, and I belated realized I had made a mistake. The walk north away from our house was nice...but walking back was straight into the wind, and I started getting pelted in the face with little chunks of gravel and was afraid that the trees by our driveway would knock me out with errant branches. So hopefully the warmth continues but the wind abates.

And now I think I'm going to get off screens and go to bed - goodnight!

there goes the last great american dynasty

I had a nice day in ye olde Iowa, although now I'm realizing it's late and I have to work tomorrow and I should perhaps be asleep right now. I slept in this morning, and then spent most of the day hanging out - Aunt Becky came down to see my dad, and she brought pizza ingredients from Graziano's + some frozen gluten free crusts that were pretty good. It was a gorgeously sunny day out, even though it's still chilly; a month ago it was negative 17 and the world outside was covered in relentless snow, but now the pond has melted and the grass is green and my mom's daffodils are blooming. All things shift; all seasons turn; and we ate homemade pizza and were clearly all missing my Uncle Mark, who used to be the one to bring pizza ingredients down from the city.

sssanyway. It was a nice afternoon, and I felt as relaxed as I'm capable of feeling when my dad is clearly in quite a bit of pain and his wound is so slow to heal. Eventually, Aunt Becky headed back to the city, and I watched some Yukon Gold (a weird reality show about gold miners in the Yukon) with my dad. Later, I drove into town to pick up takeout from the Mexican restaurant in town - they wrote a note to my dad saying they hoped to see him soon, scrawled on the side of a styrofoam cup full of queso, which was sweet. Then I finished off the evening by flipping my mattress (it had a Suez moment and got wedged awkwardly against the wall, but I refloated it), remaking my bed, and watching some American Restoration with my dad (this is a reality show about a guy in Vegas who restores things).

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

she totally confused all the passing piranhas

I just realized it's 12:40am in Iowa, not 11:40pm (which is the time in Denver, and the time which my laptop was set to), which means I really need to go to bed immediately if I'm going to get anything of note accomplished tomorrow. Today was spent entirely in service of getting out of the high plains and into the midwest - I spent a couple of hours watering plants, taking out trash, loading my car, and generally prepping before hitting the road.

Today's drive was entirely uneventful (with the small exception of the herd of deer that crossed my path on the two-lane highway I take through Iowa, but I didn't hit them, so that was basically not noteworthy). I think I made the best time I've ever made - 10.5hrs, which included three stops, and so was exactly 10hrs of driving time for ~680 miles. My stops were v. brief - one on the western side of Nebraska (North Platte), one on the eastern side of Nebraska (Lincoln), and one in Mt Ayr (an hour from my parents), which perhaps wasn't entirely necessary, but it's the last good bathroom stop before home. The fact that I know where all the good bathrooms are on a 680 mile stretch is quite depressing to me, since I really wish I hadn't spent so much time in Nebraska this last year.

But it's good to be home, and I'm lucky I can drive it instead of flying it, so I'll take it. When I got home, I greeted my parents, unloaded my car, settled in, etc, etc. And now, as I said, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

listen all y'all it's a sabotage

I had a v. lazy day - I woke up this morning basically feeling hungover from working all week, and so was slow to get out of bed, slow to get around, slow to make breakfast, etc. That meant that breakfast was really more like brunch - I made huevos rancheros, which was a real treat after mostly living on oatmeal for recent breakfasts. And I messed around my house without accomplishing anything for most of the morning, but #noregrets.

I did eventually rally and leave the house - I made an epic Target run, since I hadn't been to Target for several months and was starting to run low on my hoarded home goods. I obviously could have gone longer without a Target run since my stash is rather epic, but I decided that a Friday afternoon Target run was preferable to going some weekend day. And, for whatever reason, Target had missed me so much that they had sent me a 20% off everything coupon, which is unheard of, so I took them up on it.

And so, $300 later, I'm stocked up on a wide variety of tings (and also have new bath mats because #treatyoself). Then I went to Whole Foods and bought some groceries for the trip back to ye olde Iowa - mostly things for snacks, although I bought beets so that I can expose my parents to my new favorite beet salad, and I also bought prosciutto so I can make them some fancy stuffed chicken.

Then I came home, unloaded everything, ate a snack, ran to Bookbar to pick up a book I'd ordered, came home again, talked to my mom, and spent the rest of the night packing / organizing / deciding what I should take to Iowa. Packing was super smooth because I mostly know what I need in Iowa at this point (and also have duplicates of some things, so I can survive there even if I forget some things). I have to load my car tomorrow, water my plants, load up my cooler, and take care of a couple of other things, but I'm hopeful that will all be smooth and I'll get out of here at a reasonable hour.

But in order for that to happen, I should sleep - goodnight!

choke this love 'til the veins start to shiver

I have a three day weekend courtesy of my employer, and the end of the work week could not come fast enough today. I had meetings pretty much straight from 8:30 to 4:30, with a 30min break in which I made an omelette and some toast to soothe my acidic stomach (despite my unusual stress levels this week, I only had one headache and one day of that acid/sour feeling I sometimes get, so I guess that's a win?). But I wore a hot new lipstick and put sugar and heavy cream in my coffee, so at least I had little bits of decadence to get me through.

Then, after many many meetings, I slammed my laptop closed around five and ran a couple of errands. Then I came home and basically did nothing the rest of the night - I did a bit of journaling, watched a bit of tiktok, kind of fell asleep while playing on my laptop, and messed around and daydreamed of restaurants and hotels and trips and the many things that I will do again someday but am not doing tonight.

And now I should consider bed - I'm going to ye olde Iowa on Saturday, which means that I intend to have a relaxing day tomorrow (and possibly make a Target run, which I'm v. overdue for) and get some packing done so I can head out Saturday morning. Goodnight!

endless ether

I had quite a long day today - I was not feeling in it to win it at all when I woke up, and so I skipped a couple of morning meetings where my presence isn't strictly required so that I could get some work done. I also had a coaching call with Alyssa, who was a delight (as always!). Then I had some afternoon meetings with people who mostly raise my spirits, which was great. And then I ended the day with a presentation to my big boss - not the most relaxing way to end the day, but it went well, so at least I got through that.

I probably should have worked tonight, but I couldn't handle it. So I took a walk after work, then came home and reheated some risotto and some roasted chicken. Then I watched some tiktok videos to spark some joy. And then I gave myself a gel manicure while watching a couple of episodes of DRUNK HISTORY - the show is so dumb and it makes me laugh, so that was a nice way to wrap up the evening.

And now I think I shall go to bed early so that I can aim for productivity (or at least a shower) in the morning - goodnight!

have a seat in the foyer, take a number

Today was pretty exhausting. I thought I had set myself up for some modicum of success - I got up, made coffee, rode my Peloton, and stretched / foam rolled before my first meeting, all of which felt like the kind of healthy choice that should be rewarded with world peace (or at least inner peace). But a lot of people at work were struggling today from all of the news of the Boulder shooting - it's just a lot to handle on top of a year of pretending to work like everything's normal. It's pretty upsetting to feel like we're getting closer and closer to some signs of the pandemic lifting, and we're just going straight back into mass shootings every day without getting any break at all.

So. Today sucked and I had trouble focusing, which was unfortunate since I have a lot of tings to do. But when I was done a little after six, I decided to be done for the night. I made some spaghetti all'amatriciana, which is one of my comfort foods - I usually have the ingredients lying around, since it just takes bacon, red onion, garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, tomato sauce, and spaghetti. It went a little way toward rejuvenating me, but nothing was going to fix tonight. Then I alternated between journaling and watching tiktok videos, and now I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

miss sangria

Yes, I worked today. That was pretty much all I did, since I went to bed last night without having done anything that I had intended to do over the weekend, and so I was behind when I woke up.

But I took a break at five to call my parents and wish them a happy anniversary (happy anniversary!). Then I did some foam rolling and stretching. Then I roasted a chicken for the rest of the week + reheated some risotto and scallops for tonight’s supper, and they were delish. And then I worked for a couple of hours. And through it all I checked Twitter for news of the shooting in Boulder and got sadder and sadder.

And now it’s time for bed - goodnight!

make that money, fake that bunny, ache my tummy - on the fence, all the time

I got eight+ hours of sleep last night, but I don't feel sufficiently recovered for the week ahead - so even though it's not quite 9:15pm and I had planned to do some work tonight, I think I'm going to go to bed early and hope that translates into success tomorrow. Today was fairly relaxing, though - I did some stuff around the house this morning, made oatmeal, and then talked to Veronica for awhile. Then I spent the afternoon mostly not doing much - some laundry, some napping, some prepping of food for the next week (mostly roasted beets, which will turn into salad later).

Then I talked to [censored], followed shortly thereafter by my parents. By the time I was off the phone it was six p.m, and then I made a delicious risotto and seared some scallops, and it was quite a decadent Sunday supper. And now, having cleaned the kitchen, run the dishwasher, put away all but the last load of laundry, and messed around sufficiently on the internet, I think I'll go to sleep - goodnight!

is anybody out there paying attention

No blog tonight - I had a nice afternoon in Katie's back yard before snow returns tomorrow, and I got some tings done around the house this evening, but now I'm totally wiped out and falling asleep on my couch, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

these eyes will not be blinded by the lights

I had a long day - usually Fridays are a little quieter, but I had seven straight hours of meetings, which made eating and thinking and using the bathroom a little harder than usual. One of my meetings was five hours long, but it was gracious enough to allow for a fifteen minute break, which I used to take a walk down the block in an attempt to maintain sanity.

But the meetings all ended up okay in the end (or at least I survived them) so that's all fine. Then I ran some errands, including a trip to Nordstrom to pick something up + a trip to Whole Foods to get enough groceries to get me through the next week. Then I came home, ate some leftover pasta, and watched a couple of episodes of Stanley Tucci's SEARCHING FOR ITALY, which I'm still enjoying. And now I believe I should go to bed - goodnight!

thursday watch the walls instead

No blog tonight - I had a long slog today, full of meetings that were also about managing my emotions while trying to help others with theirs, and those are always exhausting. But I rode my Peloton after work, and I ordered delivery from a new Mediterranean restaurant on Tennyson that is v. delicious and v. promising. The chicken and hummus were delish, so I predict that I'll have a new favorite.

Then I probably should have worked but I was too tired, so I mindlessly watched tiktok videos, did some journaling, etc. And now I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

live from new york

You can probably guess what I did today: I worked. Surprise! 🎉🎉

So I had a million meetings, including a VP presentation, because that's what I do now. But I ended up at five to have a coaching call with Alyssa, which was delightful (with some deeper discussion at the beginning; the killings in Georgia yesterday on top of hundreds of random attacks against Asian Americans in cities around the US over the past several months is terrible, and it's a lot to process and deal with, especially when these issues are sadly nothing new).

Then I talked to my parents while reheating some of last night's pasta, which was still delicious tonight since I figured out how to reheat it in the oven without drying it out. And then I did some laundry, painted my toenails, and gave myself a fresh gel manicure while watching a couple of episodes of SEARCHING FOR ITALY. It's Stanley Tucci's travel/food show on CNN about a variety of Italian cities and their cuisines, and I'm so desperate for new food and new travel experiences that watching this was pretty close to torture. But I enjoyed the episodes on Naples and Rome while exercising some self-care, so it was a good evening.

Of course, I couldn't totally resist work, especially since working from 9:30-5 isn't quite enough for my current situation, so I just did an hour of desultory slidemaking. And now I'm going to close my laptop, do some journaling or reading, and go to bed. Goodnight!

shot through the heart and you're to blame

I'm v. tired and I blame work (and maybe the slice of banana bread I had before bed last night, which may not have been the best bedtime snack). Today was a slog, with back to back meetings with my VP and my boss, as well as a lot of meetings in which emotions were discussed, and that always takes it out of me. But I paused at five to stretch and run to Bookbar to pick up a couple of books - the roads are still not amazing and it snowed a bit more this evening, but things are melting way better than I expected.

Then I came home, messed around online, and made a new recipe for dinner - a pasta with italian sausage and swiss chard and a creamy cheesy sauce with enough lemon zest in it to make it sing. It was super easy and quite tasty, and I'm looking forward to leftovers even if pasta leftovers are never quite as good as the original serving.

Then, unfortunately, I had to do some work. And then, stupidly, I messed around online rather than reading or doing anything else to relax. But now I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

lost highway

no blog for you tonight...I slogged all day, with a break to shovel snow over my lunch hour, and then a bit longer break from 4:30 to 7:30ish to meditate, stretch, talk to my parents, talk to [censored], eat some leftover steak, etc. And then I went back to the slog and worked the last four hours - I have too many meetings that require prep this week, and so I really need to find a balance between getting the work done and getting some sleep.

But I capped off my night with a slice of banana bread, so we'll see if my latenight snack was great or terrible (I'm leaning great, and now wishing I could go to latenight dining halls like I did throughout college). Goodnight!

i had a dream, i got everything i wanted

Today was the blizzard that I had expected yesterday - Denver officially got over two feet of snow at the airport, and I would say that my neighborhood is safely at 19" or so. It's truly an insane amount of snow, so much so that it feels unique and picturesque instead of just an inconvenience. It appears to be snowing at the moment, but the winds have died down; when the winds were roaring and it was snowing 1-2" per hour this afternoon, it felt downright treacherous. Apparently this is now Denver's fourth-largest storm ever, and while I'm not looking forward to the aftermath of melting and freezing and general calamity over the next few days, today was actually kind of fun.

I also did my very best to relax today - while I got v. little done yesterday, it hadn't felt relaxing, and I was determined to make today relaxing where yesterday wasn't. I mostly succeeded - I slept more than I have in weeks, and the time change meant I didn't get out of bed until ten. I did some writing and journaling and other forms of recording observations, and I meditated and stretched and foam rolled and rode my Peloton. This all felt pretty great for my body and my spirit. I had some leftover chicken tortilla soup, did some laundry, and talked to my parents - they seemed to be doing pretty well, so that was good to hear. I also baked some banana bread in there - I didn't eat any of it when it came out of the oven, in a remarkable exercise in restraint, but I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.

Then I took a v. long overdue shower before making dinner - I felt like part of yesterday's bad mood was due to the fact that I hadn't had beef in ages, so I cooked a ribeye (using the reverse sear method - heating it in the oven, then searing it in a pan with some ghee), reheated some brussels sprouts in the ribeye/ghee grease, and made frozen french fries in my air fryer. The ribeye and brussels sprouts were perfect; the french fries were too crispy, but I think that's because I only made a single serving and should have cut down the cook time. But all in all, supper cured a lot of what ailed me.

Then I wrapped up the night by folding clothes, making some plans for the week ahead, and reading some more of A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW. And now I'm going to go to bed and hope I actually fall asleep despite the time change - goodnight!

i saw the sun begin to dim and felt that winter wind blow cold

Today was a bust. I'm feeling the 'full year in quarantine' vibes, especially since I couldn't go anywhere today - not that I usually go anywhere, but it's nice to theoretically have the option of walking down the street to my favorite card shop, or drive over to the mall to pick up something unnecessary at Nordstrom. We were supposed to get the biggest snowstorm ever in Denver today, and as of sunset it had maybe snowed 2". Inches, not feet, which is what they were predicting. That said, it's snowing pretty steadily now and the weather forecasts are still saying all that snow is on the way, but we'll see what happens overnight.

sssanyway, I was just not in it to win it today. I forced myself to have a call with Laura (an old coworker from many years ago) this morning since we'd already rescheduled a couple of times, and it was great to talk to her, but I definitely felt like I didn't need to spend more time on videoconference than I usually do. Then I talked to Katie just as the snow was starting to fall and we thought we were in for a blizzard, which turned out to be inaccurate. Then I ate some leftover sausages and polenta and thought about getting some stuff done (aka my taxes), and instead talked to Claudia. She was taking a walk and so we were able to catch up uninterrupted...and then when she got home and Téo was awake, we switched to video so I could see zee baby (who is almost one and is walking, so maybe not quite a baby anymore!). And then after all that effort, I watched tiktok videos and took a nap.

But I rallied somewhat this evening - I made perhaps the best batch of chicken tortilla soup that I've ever made, and I'm v. excited to have those leftovers for the next few days. I did some journaling, which always helps my mood. And then I picked up a book that's been sitting on my shelf forever - A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW, about a Russian aristocrat who isn't executed by the Bolsheviks because of his prior service to the cause, but is confined to house arrest for life in a Moscow hotel. I'm not so far in, but I'm loving it so far - but that's to be expected, since I find Russia fascinating (see: my history minor in college, which was mostly classes about Russia and totalitarianism) and also this guy is basically living the quarantine life since he can get things delivered but can never leave and just thinks about redecorating (again, I'm very early into the book, I'm guessing he doesn't just redecorate all the time).

And now, even though I am tempted to keep reading, I think I'll go to bed and attempt to set myself up for success with the time change. Goodnight!

shut your mouth, baby, stand and deliver

Today was boring in terms of what I can report to all of you, but I got done what I needed to get done. That mostly involved work; because I had planned to take today off, I only had two meetings today, so that was great. That meant I actually got some work done, which felt v. luxurious. I also took a break to have a call with Alyssa; working out over video is weird, but it felt good, so I guess I'll take it.

And now I'm mostly hunkered down and waiting for snow. I brought my shovel and my ice breaker inside so that I don't have to slog to the garage for them; I am charging my devices and backup phone batteries in case I lose power; I am fully stocked up on the foods and drinks that will keep me happy over the next few days. And I made a delicious supper this evening - the same sausages and peppers dish that I tried at home a month ago, paired with a tasty parmesan polenta (basically grits, although polenta has a different texture and also is full of parmesan).

So, we'll see how the snow goes, but it's not like I don't spend 23hrs a day in my house anyway, so I think I'll survive. This week marked a year since my office shut down, and I've got to say that it was a bizarre sense of deja vu the last couple of days, going to grocery stores that were completely sold out of dairy products, wondering if I would be stuck at home, seeing long lines at liquor stores, etc. - the snowstorm in Denver is basically recreating early pandemic buying patterns, and that's really not an anniversary I wanted to remember in that way. But my buying patterns have probably permanently been broken by the last year, so suffice it to say I won't starve even if I can't leave the house for a month (although I'll get cranky when I run out of coffee and cream).

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i'll make a cup of coffee for your head

Whelp, I've officially stayed up too late and officially reverted to workaholism. This always happens around performance review season, but it's been particularly ridiculous this week. I worked today from 9am to 5pm (not bad! well actually I lied, many ridiculous things happened, but no more than the average I guess). Then I took a break, put a chicken in the oven to roast, ate some grapes and cheese, and rode my Peloton. While the chicken rested and the brussels sprouts roasted, I took a quick shower. Then I ate a bit of chicken and some brussels sprouts (and all of the skin off the whole damn chicken, like a total carnivore, but I might as well embrace the benefits of having a whole chicken to myself).

The rest of the chicken got picked off the bones and put in the freezer; I'm planning to make chicken tortilla soup soon, but I froze the meat in case I don't get to it in a few days. Then I cleaned up the kitchen, thought about relaxing the rest of the night, and instead worked from 8:30 to midnight. Oops. But I feel better about my to-do list, and I have ample time to work tomorrow (or deal with whatever fires pop up then), so hopefully I can enter the weekend free and ready to party in the massive snowstorm we're getting. Goodnight!

losing you's a win-win

I probably should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I was messing around with my laptop and my #quarantinechef instagram stories. Today was as good as it could be when I had meetings literally straight from 11 to 5, which made grabbing lunch a tad bit difficult (I persevered and ordered a poke bowl). But then I threw in the towel - I talked to my parents, and then I talked to [censored], and then I ate the last of my leftover beet salad and some chicken while talking to Terry about the royals (my favorite topic, although it makes me sad).

Then I decided to get groceries - I had considered going back to Iowa this weekend, but we're potentially getting 2-3 feet of snow here this weekend, and so if I went to Iowa I would need to leave as soon as I'm done working tomorrow. I'm also a bit nervous about that much snow on my trees, especially the tree in my backyard that is lovingly wrapped around my power line in a death embrace. So, I decided to stay here, which means I need groceries to sustain myself for the next few days since I expect I won't be going anywhere after tomorrow night.

So I went to Whole Foods and picked up a bunch of stuff, and I feel quite confident I'll survive (I would have survived anyway with all the food in my basement, but this means I have fresh produce). Of course, if I lose power I will regret that I have food in my fridge, but fingers crossed that doesn't happen. Whole Foods wasn't too busy tonight, although the staff said they had been slammed all day. But the really interesting thing is that I discovered that Katie is right (sorry that I had to discover that, Katie) by going to the Whole Foods by Union Station instead of the one I usually go to in Lakewood - while the Lakewood one is bigger, it also seems to be the main supplier for Denver's online orders, and so shopping there means competing with a lot of employees for stuff. They've often been out of chicken or garlic or other basics when I've gone there...but the Union Station one doesn't get as much order pickup and everything was in stock.

So, I'm as ready as I can be for whatever blizzard descends. And now that I've said that and tempted fate, it's time for bed - goodnight!

how to save a life

Today was a brutal slog - luckily it started by getting the best sleep I've gotten in ages, but then I promptly got neck deep in work and couldn't get out. I had meetings pretty straight from 9:30 to 5, although I had time to pull together my beet salad with goat cheese and pistachios, which was still a total delight. Then I talked to [censored], and then I got dragged back into working from 6:30 to 8. At that point I was ravenous, so I ate some leftover pork and spent a bit of time tidying things up, dealing with personal effects, etc.

But the lure of the work inbox was still strong, so I worked from nine to eleven. This is probably not setting me up for success for sleeping well or being productive tomorrow (which is a shame because tomorrow looks also brutal). But I am operating under the assumption that I will be less stressed if I don't wake up tomorrow in a panic over the work I needed to do. Whether I'm correct about that will be determined when I wake up tomorrow - goodnight!

i'm trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful

Today was a bit of a slog, but I blame the fact that I stayed up stupidly late last night watching royal interview coverage (still, #worthit for the family time) and also stupidly drank wine for four hours, which is unusual and really not an advisable way to end the weekend. So, I got approximately six hours of sleep, and most of that sleep was fitful, which did not make for success this morning.

That said, I was able to get up, shower, wash my hair, enjoy my coffee, and do a bit of planning before starting my day, so it could be worse. I slogged through many meetings, then wrapped up in time to take my poor gravel-and-salt-encrusted car to the car wash, where I gave it a bath before my next trip to ye olde Iowa ruins it again. Then I came home, messed around, ate some leftover pork shoulder w/beans, and talked to my mom.

At that point, it was only eight and I was tempted to go to bed - but instead I dealt with some laundry, answered a few emails, organized my thoughts about what work stuff I need to get done tomorrow, etc. Of course, in the midst of that I caught the usual weird second wind that I catch around 9:30pm, and now I feel like I could stay up even later - but that is clearly a lie, and I should go to bed asap. Goodnight!

let's get it started in here

Well, I am certainly awake later than I had planned. Today was pretty productive, from what I remember - I made some oatmeal for the week, journaled, showered, etc. and then talked to Veronica for an hour, which was very much overdue. She was a delight, as usual, and I feel v. grateful to have writer friends who know exactly what a struggle the writing can be sometimes.

Then I spent the afternoon taking care of tings around the house, including another attempt at the harissa-rubbed pork shoulder that I made last weekend. Last weekend's effort was a disaster that was so bad that I threw out four pounds of pork, which is really just a total tragedy. But I was determined to try again. So, I made the rub and put the pork in the oven around one. Then I messed around, did some laundry, and did a couple of hours of day job work to make tomorrow just a little more bearable.

Eventually, the pork was at the right temperature (part of what I didn't like of the original recipe was that she gave a time for cooking it, not a temperature to cook it to, which is really not a good idea when it comes to big chunks of pork). So I let it rest and did some more work, and then cranked up the oven heat, threw some beans in with the pork, and finished it off. The end result was much better than last week - it was actually good, and while I think I could still perfect the technique, I was happy with how it turned out.

Then, as supper ended, I poured a glass of wine....and accidentally watched the Oprah/Harry/Meghan interview twice. I say accidentally because I very much intended to watch it once tonight (I had set a recording and also told myself that if I finished work I could watch it undistracted). But then Adit texted about a live watch as a family, and they were an hour behind me (two hours, actually, since the timezone is an hour back but then the broadcast schedule is even later). So I finished my watch and immediately hopped onto a zoom to watch with Adit / Chandlord / Riturani.

I had a lot of thoughts, but I'm too tired to recap here - basically it's just a sad situation and it's kind of shocking that the royal family (esp Charles) doesn't seem to have learned any lessons in the past forty years. Not so shocking that the palace is full of racist, hidebound courtiers - but shocking that the family didn't do more to figure this situation out. Anyway, it was v. interesting to watch, and it was entertaining to watch it a second time with the family (I did my nails while watching the second time, so at least I have something to show for it).

After the interview was over, we debriefed (and Priyanka joined)...and now it's after midnight here and I desperately need to sleep. Goodnight!

everybody, everybody, let's get into it, get stupid

I'm thoroughly exhausted and falling asleep at ten p.m. It doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping well (quantity or quality) the last few weeks - and then staying up so late to read a book last night pretty much doomed me. I woke up this morning at my usual time, but that meant I'd only gotten five hours of sleep; I stayed in bed for awhile, but my sleep was fitful at best.

So, I am not ashamed to say that I took two naps today. I also went to the grocery store - it was a gorgeous day out, so it was nice to get out of the house with the windows rolled down. At some point this afternoon, I also took a walk around the neighborhood - tomorrow is looking equally pleasant and I hope I can take advantage of it.

My main activity was cooking some of what I bought - I was in the mood for something different, something I might have ordered at a restaurant, and so I made a roasted beet / goat cheese / radish / pistachio salad, and it was exactly what I was in the mood for. I roasted a whole chicken to go with it - oddly enough I have never roasted a whole chicken before despite my #quarantinechef prowess, but I used Ina Garten's method bc I find her to be v. trustworthy, and the chicken turned out as well as she had promised it to.

So, my dinner was excellent. While everything was roasting, I talked to my parents, who seemed to be in fine form. Then I ate supper, cleaned up my kitchen, ran the dishwasher, and took care of a variety of tings.

And now I'm falling asleep for real and wondering whether it's time to throw in the towel...goodnight!

try, try, try to understand, he's a magic man

I have officially stayed up past my bedtime, which I will perhaps regret in the morning. Today was a slog - I had more meetings than I prefer to have on Fridays. But I stopped working at four and hung out with Katie - she came over for a backyard hangout, but we turned it into a front yard hangout because my backyard couches were too damp and the front yard gets more sun in the late afternoon.

So I dragged some folding chairs out front like we were sitting awkwardly at a wedding, and we ordered a quarter of margaritas + guac + tacos from El Camino. There are few things that I will miss about this wasted, wretched year, but getting a quart of margaritas delivered to my doorstep has definitely been a highlight. It was slightly too cold to be hanging out outside, but Katie and I have become accustomed to these hardships, so we shivered and talked and caught up for a couple of hours. We had much to discuss - I was in Iowa for the first three weeks of February and she was in Iowa for the last one, so we hadn't seen each other in over a month. And at least sitting in the front yard gave us a change of scene, even if we looked moderately trashy drinking margs and sitting on my front lawn.

After Katie left, I talked to my parents and also talked to [censored]. Then I thought about playing Civilization, or perhaps doing some other mind-numbing activity. Instead, I picked up a book called MAGIC FOR LIARS and then read it straight through in one sitting. It was basically a magical murder mystery set in a high school for wizards (but they are called mages in this book). It was certainly not the best book I've read this year, but it was entertaining enough to suck me in for a few hours, so I'll take it.

And now, I'm going to take myself off to bed and hope I sleep in long enough to make up for the lateness (but not long enough to keep me from being insanely productive tomorrow, which I need to be). Goodnight!

she wants a young american

Today was a bit bizarre. It started as normal and progressed as normal through most of the day - I had coffee, journaled, showered, had a whole bunch of meetings, ate tuna salad on toast (one of my go-to stress meals), had a whole bunch more meetings, and slogged straight until six in an effort to hit a deadline.

Luckily I hit the deadline just in time to switch my work laptop into a fun zone. I had a virtual wine tasting tonight with a group from work - it was something that one of the VPs I work with had auctioned off in a charity auction over the holidays, and I was one of the ten people who won the auction. She organized a virtual wine tasting that was actually quite lovely - I was sent a box with eight wines, each in a little individual bottle (187ml each, which is the equivalent of a six-ounce pour). The theme was Down Under, so all the wines were from Australia and New Zealand. The host was really fun, and the work group was as entertaining as it can be when you get together with a VP over video chat to drink wine for an hour.

I had not initially intended to open all eight wines since I probably can't drink them all before they go bad (well...seven glasses over the next three days or so might do it). But the tasting was fun, and I figured a couple of them wouldn't necessarily be ones I would want to finish, and I was right. I don't typically like syrahs, and the rosé was weird (it tasted like smoke because of the Australian wildfires, and it was not my jam). But the sauvignon blanc was great, the Australian chardonnay was surprisingly good, and there was a nice red blend + a pinot noir that I adored (so I finished the pinot after the tasting was over).

So all in all it was great, but I basically had the equivalent of three glasses of wine in an hour during the tasting, and while I have been drinking wine steadily in quarantine, it's usually more like one glass over three hours instead of three glasses in one hour. That meant I was tipsy, but I ordered some fancy pasta and pizza from Bar Dough to soak it up (thanks Tipsy Sara for ordering a nicer dinner than usual).

I wrapped up the night by leaning into the relaxation - I turned on Netflix and finally watched ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE, which I should have watched two years ago. It was v. funny and cute, and made me homesick for San Francisco, and I adored it. And now that the wine is out of my system and the yawns are starting, it's time for bed - goodnight!

but he talks like a gentleman

I'm super tired today - my days have been too meeting-filled, and it's taking it out of me. But I had a nice morning before I started working, and my meetings went pretty well (although one ran a full thirty minutes over schedule, which was unfortunate - but I then ate a salad while sitting on my front steps and soaking in some sun, so I'll take it). I was done around six, and then I called my parents, ate dinner, talked to Katie, and spent some quality time putting my bedroom closet back together. I'm not fully done with getting things properly set up again, but my clothes are all hanging in their proper places and that's a huge start.

And now, I think it's time to sleep - goodnight!

sleep just to dream her

I'm way too tired to blog - I did not sleep super well in my guest room last night (sorry to past and future guests if you don't sleep well either), and then I had an absurd number of meetings today. But my painters are done and I've remade my bed and am looking forward to sleeping in it - the paint color looks great and I'm v. happy that my room is now light and airy instead of dark and depressing.

Beyond that, I have nothing to report - my day ended with a virtual happy hour with Vicky, then a chat with my parents, then a chat with [censored] (who may have convinced me to live in a boxcar), and also a chat with Katie. So now that I've written that all down, it's no wonder I'm all talked out and ready for bed. Goodnight!

sea shanty

Things went mostly right today, which was a tremendous relief. My painters showed up exactly on schedule and seemed to understand what walls and ceilings required which colors, which was a vast improvement over the guy who quit before starting the job last time. They got through a lot today, so I'm guessing they'll finish tomorrow, and then I can start putting my upstairs back in order.

Another fun activity today: I got new tires. The tires were timed just right - they've been having shipping delays and had warned me that the tires might not be there on time, but as I pulled up for my appointment, the FedEx truck that had delivered them was pulling away. The tire experience went super well and was approx $500 less than getting them at my dealer, so I was as delighted as one can be while buying tires.

While I was waiting for my car, I caught up with Terry for a bit. Then I picked up a few necessities at the grocery store, came home, and talked to my parents. And then I mostly did nothing - I made a quesadilla with the last of my chicken tinga + a whole lot of guacamole, and then I watched a bunch of SNL from the night that Regé-Jean Page (the guy from Bridgerton) hosted. Why did none of you tell me that there was a sea shanty sketch in that episode????? That maybe would have made last week so much better if I could have watched it every hour.

And now, I am going to attempt the unusual feat of sleeping in my guest room (which is also my Peloton room and also currently is doubling as my closet since all my clothes are piled everywhere). Goodnight!