Yay for Thursday

Oh it is finally Thursday!  Yesterday was SUCH a day!  It's lovely when I'm super busy because the day flies by, but it was also aggravating.  Plus I had to work a little late, missed my regular bus and then the next one was late!  I barely beat Ben home last night.  Now that I am that close to vacation the alcohol ban was lifted and I had a wonderful bottle of sparkling wine to ease my frustrated mind.  And for dinner a great steak salad with left over steak from the night before.  Steak salad is one of my very favorite things.  What's another you say?  Pizza ... which I haven't had since January.  So that's what is on for tonight.  When I get back from vacation I am going back on the diet to lose the last few pounds but there was no way in hell I was going to stick to a diet in Europe, so this is going to be absolutely wonderful.

I am working here until I can't stand it any longer - probably around 1:30.  Then off I got to run a few errands and get a manicure and pedicure.  Then home to do a final load of laundry and pack.  I know I will pack too much.  How many times have I said I want to pack light?  A million?  But I'm going to take 3 pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, a couple light dresses, five or six tops, shoes ....I'll try to cut it down.  I've got to lug the thing, or wear it.  We're carrying on.  It's Ben's preference and I pick my battles.  I can carry on if need be.

Well I've got a few bazillion loose ends to tie up.  I am going in.

Two more days

It is so very difficult to be here when I'm not that busy and I am looking forward to an exciting vacation.  Yesterday the morning just dragged by.  I had one meeting and that was it.  And I wasn't hungry for my lunch, so I just stayed in my office and took off at 1:30 because of my late meeting.  Of course I was hungry by the time I got home, but I wasn't about to eat my lunch at 2:30, especially since I wasn't all that keen on building another big salad.  So I cleaned up the kitchen and then Ben was home because he wasn't feeling well.  Too excited and stressed is what I think. 

The late meeting was pretty easy and then it was dinner time.  I was about ready to eat anything at that point.  I made some asparagus and we had lovely steak.  I wasn't as dead tired as I had been the night before and so I stayed up and got caught up on Once Upon a Time.  And then read for a while.  It was quite warm yesterday and it stayed warm all through the night.  Tink mostly spent the night on the floor under the bed. 

Another nice day today, Noon Knitting Wednesday.  As I figured, only one run this week but I'm okay with that.  I'm a little sore but not too bad. 

No knitting.  I wanted to take up the new Venomous Tentacula I'm doing but thought better of it.  I need some quiet alone time to really get back into the swing of that.  It is going to be really really pretty though.  I brought my Dune for today.  It's a good noon knitting project, especially since I won't be using it until next fall.

Oh please make the morning zip by.

Early run

It started out nice and warm yesterday and got hotter and hotter as they day wore on.  I decided to try to beat the heat and get out to run early so I headed out at 10:30.  That was a good decision it turns out.  It was plenty warm at 10:30.  I had a decent run, especially considering it was the first one since I had been sick with bronchitis.  Unfortunately I believe it's going to be the only one I get this week.  It's my early day today and I've got a few things to do before I head home for my late meeting.  Tomorrow is noon knitting and Thursday I'm leaving early to start my vacation.  But once is better than none, yeah?

I was SO so so tired yesterday though.  Not just because of the run.  It was all I could do to stay away until 8 o'clock.  I did my chores and had dinner and cleaned up and then went into bed to read.  I lasted about 30 minutes before I had to shut off the light.  I needed it.  I feel pretty good today.

There are still a lot of details I need to nail down before the trip as well.  I need to get a fire under me!!

Such an early spring

No complaints, but just an observation -- we are having an incredible spring.  Again this weekend it was approaching 80 degrees.  We spent a good amount of time out of doors and on Sunday driving around with the top down.  I went to the mall Saturday morning to get some jeans that fit.  Oh I had forgotten how much fun it is to shop when things look good on you!  Not to say that I don't want to lose a few more pounds, but at least now I look like myself again.  I got some nice comfy sandals and a pair of jeans at the Gap and another at Macy's.  However I ended up going back to Macy's in Redmond on Sunday because I had to switch out the jeans.  The sales person had given me the wrong cut when I changed the ones I tried on - regular length - for the short length.  And I wanted to see if the Gap had the flare jeans I had wanted to buy in Alderwood.  And they did, so I ended up with three pairs of jeans and a cute T-shirt dress.  Very good shopping this weekend.

Sunday I got the raised bed and all of the hanging planters cleaned out and new dirt in the raised bed.  All ready for when I get back.

And now to make it through four days and then vacation.  Four days.  Beautiful days though.  It's going to be hot again today.  I think I'll have to get out for my run by 10:30 this morning.

Yay Friday!!

Oh joy!  Next Friday this time I will have left Tinkerbell off at the boarders and I'll be getting ready for the trip.  Yesterday I got all of my tickets and AirBnb confirmations printed out.  All are correct.  Now just wait wait wait wait

The weekend will be fun.  Saturday I am going shopping and Saturday night a party.  Sunday?  I don't know.  Maybe just knitting and if the weather is fine go out in the garden and do a little clean up.  I can't plant until we get back.

I didn't touch the new Venomous Tentacula last night.  It is a project that needs some good light.  It should move quite quickly though.  I need to get back on it.  It will be a perfect spring wrap.

What else?  All I can think about is vacation.

I feel lighthearted

This day has a wonderful spring feel to it.  It's cloudy but there are patches of blue around.  And vacation is closer and closer.  Today I'm going to print out all of my train tickets and plane tickets and AirBnB confirmations.  And at noon I'm going to walk up the Ave and buy the thing Deirdre asked me to bring her.  This weekend I'm going to the mall on Saturday to buy some pants that fit.  I can't believe how crazy this sounds, but about two weeks before I decided to get back to "normal" size I threw away about 10 pairs of jeans.  Now all I have are HUGE ones and I haven't wanted to buy interim pants because I feel so guilty about throwing away all the others.  So this weekend I will get a couple pair of jeans and maybe a pair of shorts.  When I get home I'll have about 15 more pounds to lose so later in the summer I can get more if I need to.  I suppose I will.  Tops?  I've got tons of those.  Thankfully I didn't throw out everything that didn't fit.  Just the jeans.  But my logic was that jean styles change more than top styles.  And that is true so there was a method to that particular madness.

Saturday evening it's dinner and cards and Sunday?  Hmmmm .... I think I might start going through my cosmetics and all of those cosmetic bags I seem to accumulate from Clinique gifts with purchase.  I need to throw out the old stuff and the stuff I'll never use and pare that down.  I am going to be carrying on so I need to gather all the small sized bottles and jars.  I really really am going to be traveling light.  I am hoping we can do laundry at the gite in Corgoloin before we head to Italy. 

Now to make it through the day.

A little less frantic

Yesterday was a little calmer.  And fewer meetings - only two.  It was my early day since I have the late meeting on Tuesday, so I ran out of here at 1 o'clock so that I could make my appointment with Jane at 2 and get home in time to wrap Ben's present and get my meeting going.  You'd think that would be plenty of time, wouldn't you?  Jane was quick and I was out of there by 2:30, but by then the rain had started.  I got to the freeway and decided to forego the 520 bridge and drive around, since I had plenty of time and the traffic seemed to be moving.  Ah, it was moving, but slowly and even more slowly when I pulled onto the 405.  There was a vehicle on the shoulder and a car with flashing lights so the traffic just crawling.  Accident?  Not really.  But the two vehicles along side the road was enough to shut that thing down.  And it was POURING rain.  What a mess.  I made it home by 4 o'clock so just time to get the present wrapped and the dishes going.  I put Tink outside in the front, and the back, and the front again and she managed to get her business done.

The meeting didn't run over, miracle.  And Ben was happy with his gift -- another miracle.  We toasted his birthday with a shot of Don Julio and off we went to pick up some gorgeous Greek salad and get to the Triplehorn where we had a nice beer and ate the salad.  Tink was happy to be along and I was happy to drink my first beer since January!  Well ... I couldn't have a Diet Coke!  Too much caffeine.  And that was that.  A simple birthday.  Now MY birthday ... I'm already planning the party!

So what's on for today?  Noon knitting.  Even though MaryEllin is gone off to Retirementland we still get to use her conference room and her replacement, Maia, knits as well.  So there's that.  And a little work and I've GOT to get my trip printed out and start working on details.  One more week and a couple of days ..... arghghghghg

That was a fight

Yesterday was really a tough day.  Three meetings plus .... no, four meetings.  After being sick for so long I am definitely not used to being active and working for all of those hours in a row.  Needless to say I was just exhausted when I got home.  Thankfully the dinner was mostly cooked since Ben had put in a pot roast Sunday night for sandwiches during the week.  We just ate a bit on that, heated up some leftover greens from Sunday and I steamed some veggies.  And then it was only 7 pm and I was fading fast.  I made myself stay up and I knit on the beautiful, diaphanous Tentacula until 8 pm.  Seriously.  8 o'clock I crawled into bed and I was asleep in minutes.  Not only that I slept through the night.  Ten hours!!  But you know what?  I feel pretty darned near healthy this morning so obviously I needed that sleep.

I managed to get pretty well up to date and organized yesterday, which is why I could not sleep Sunday night.  I've a few more ducks to get in a row and I will feel back on top of it and ready for vacation.  Unfortunately I've got to wait a week and two days more for vacation to be ready for me.

Spring weather - sunny and warm and then cloudy and cool.  Today is a cloudy and cool day.  It's also Ben's birthday.  He doesn't want anything at all "fancy".  So for his birthday dinner we're going to get take away from a Greek place and go to Triplehorn with Tink.  I am planning something a little fancier for my birthday.

Back in the land of the living

Good heavens!  That was a long haul.  I was at work on Monday for a few hours and then I headed to Emergent Care since my doctor was off on Monday.  It ends up that the virus had morphed into bronchitis!  I was sick in bed for all the rest of the week and even though I was up and about this weekend, I am still not 100%.  I did make it through the night with only 1 coughing fit so that's good.

The bad part of being sick is that I cannot knit!  All that time and all I can do is lay around and read.  Saturday I did feel well enough and I picked up that Noro shawl and got that finished.  It is HUGE and there's no way that I'm going to be wearing it until next Winter so instead of blocking it I put it on the manikin and started a second Venomous Tentacula with the beautiful silk mohair from an ArtYarns box I have.  I know I won't use it together with the variegated yarn it came with but as a Tentacula - gorgeous!  It's so very light that it needs the beads to give it a bit of weight. 

I have so much to do at work and so much to get caught up with.  I had a hard time sleeping.  All I want to think about is my vacation.  Soon soon soon

It's been four months

Well I sure was hoping I would not get that virus Ben had, but Tuesday I was feeling a bit of a sore throat and woke up Wednesday full on sick.  I am still sick, five days later.  It has moved on from a sore throat and body aches to a nasty cough, of course.  And I've got tons and tons of work to do.  I would have stayed home again today except my new house cleaner is starting so I am here at work, where I'm going to try to get caught up and also get an appointment with my doctor.  Wish me luck.