work perk

There was a caramel apple station at lunch today. I find caramel apples to be messy and difficult to eat, so the woman chopped up the apple and gave me a bowl of caramel sauce for dipping.

less is more

I defriended an acquaintance on Facebook today, after many months of finding all of her Facebook activity supremely irritating (spammy messages, constant updates asking people to buy her prints or "Like" her gallery, awkward semi-nude profile pictures, and weird non sequitur updates straight out of the trash bin of a failed romance writer). I don't know why I waited until now, because it was so annoying for all of that time, and so satisfying once I finally told Facebook that yes, I really wanted to remove that friend. It's like finally killing a mosquito that has been in your room for ages -- it didn't really cause you that much harm, but you're so much happier once it's gone.

free

The cafes at work were giving these away for free today! $11 seems expensive for a 140 page book, but free is a bargain :)

greater expectations

Despite the fact that I've been super-busy at work lately, and despite the return of TV, I've managed to hit 75 books, and I still have ten days to go until the end of my one-year cutoff. I'm thinking I might hit 77 or even 78. What's especially surprising is that more than half of those have been since early July. If I keep going like this, I should set my sights higher next year and go for 100 or 150 in a year.

say cheese

Mac and cheese for dinner! My sister and I used to eat it for lunch when we were home alone, my college roommate taught me to add cream cheese to make it richer, and my dearest friend in Zurich introduced me to Annie's, so it has lots of good associations. Plus it's easy.

weekend

I had a work thing last night, and the uselessly competitive side of me derived some satisfaction when my team won the trivia game. Got home, did some work, managed to fall asleep without pills (which, at least for me, is much harder than it sounds), slept harder than I've slept in months, and had hilarious dreams the whole time. I woke up convinced it was Monday, and was pleasantly surprised that it's Saturday.

prank hard or go home

This is what we did to the work station of one of my coworkers while she was on vacation. We put most of her things in there with her desk, chair, phone, and monitor, including her scissors and most of her knick knacks. It took her a while to get access...

back to back

I managed to book back-to-back chair massages at the end of a very full (but productive) day, and the double massages then went into overtime.

end of drought

And just like that, all of my shows have returned, and TiVo has lots of new shows waiting for me, as if the summer break never happened...

change

The first thing I do when I come home, no matter what time of day it is, is to change into my pajamas.

wag

There is little that is more heartening than an ecstatic dog who is happy to see you, thrilled to get a treat, vocally appreciative of your skills as a masseuse, tolerant of the indignities you visit upon him, and content to get tucked in at night in preparation for another day of the same.

more ahh

Pancakes in bed, some errands, grape soda, fresh pedicure, another book finished and five new ones to start.

ahh

This was the most frantic week I've had in a long time, probably since last November. Yesterday, after just getting a draft out under the wire, I went straight from work to a fun dinner and drinks with friends. Stayed up late talking, despite being exhausted (sustained brain work is so physically draining, which is something that never stops surprising me), then slept in. I stayed awake for almost two hours, then succumbed to an amazing, dream-filled three hour nap. Ran a quick errand, finished the tail ends of two more books, made dinner and watched TV with my boyfriend, and then he gave me a 90 minute backrub while we chatted and caught up on all of the gossip and nonsense that is usually scattered throughout the week when we're less busy.

So productive, but in all the best ways.

working for the weekend

Thursday and Friday were pretty much the same as Wednesday: Lots of frantic phone calls and meetings, lots of drafting, lots of forgotten meals -- I think I spent 24 out of 48 hours working on one document, (and a lot of other time trying to cram other work in between the Big Thing I was working on) which is kind of sad. But the important thing is that I got the most urgent thing out the door on Friday at 6:30, so I think I've bought myself a pass for the weekend :)

going to 11

I put in a really intense thirteen hour workday yesterday, got a ton done, got home, booked plane tickets for an upcoming wedding, did all of my physical therapy exercises, and still made it in by 9:30 today to do it all over again. Hoping that today will be more like a ten hour workday, but I'm pretty pleased with how much I've been getting done this week.

i like them odds

There's a good chance I'll close a dozen deals in the next week or so, which would be a huge relief.

Also, there were poached eggs with tomatoes and crispy parmesan wafers for breakfast in the cafe today!

greener

My town recently started providing compost pickup on recycling day, and stopped requiring that recycling be pre-sorted. It's getting easier and easier to be less wasteful, which appeals to both my lazy side and my environmentally guilty side.

new beginnings

Although I love summer above all other seasons, and have really been enjoying my gluttonous reading habit for the last few months, I have to admit that the appearance on my TiVo of a new episode of one of my most guilty TV pleasures gave me a real thrill, partly because I want to see the show, and partly because it is a harbinger of all of the other season premieres that are coming oh so soon.

dream world

I love when my boyfriend tells me about odd things I say when I'm asleep or falling asleep. It's always an amusing way to start the day.

Apparently, last night as I was falling asleep, we were having a conversation, but I started dreaming at the same time. He was answering some question I had asked, and I said, "You're interrupting my dream! I was dreaming about a giant ball of duct tape." I then told him to continue with his story. After he finished, I said, "What did I tell you about my dream before? [I had apparently forgotten already.] I was having such a good dream."

I'm curious what a "good dream" about a "giant ball of duct tape" would be.

aww

My toilet must have really missed me. It has reached new levels of song, sometimes whooping continuously for the full two minutes it takes for my electric toothbrush to go through a brushing cycle.

back to work

It's great to come back from vacation and have the first day back be a Friday. I don't think I've done it this way before, but it does make the transition smoother.

Also, tomorrow is my boyfriend's birthday, and while we were away, a bunch of our coworkers decorated his office for him. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but those aren't presents. They just wrapped whatever happened to be on his desk at the time in Disney Princess wrapping paper: empty cups and beer bottles, dirty plates, USB cables, mouse pad, etc. It was pretty awesome. Thus inspired, I wrapped him in streamers. Unfortunately, he only kept the streamers on for a few minutes, saying that they were interfering with his ability to work.

home sweet home

We landed early, our luggage came quickly, we immediately caught a cab and got our car, then picked up my dog. Made it home, with only one minor mishap, when I had to borrow a neighbor's phone to get my boyfriend to come back when I accidentally locked myself out when taking out the trash. Oops.

Seven and a half days, six and a half books, seven dives -- not a bad way to spend a week. The nasty cough and the work weren't ideal, but it was still great to get away from my routine for a while.

Also, nothing makes me happier that I don't have kids than sitting near shrieking children on a plane. Such a relief to retreat back to my life, where most of the noise is made by me.

meat loaf

Earlier today, my boyfriend exclaimed in a horrified tone that he smelled "like a soapy meatloaf." I tortured him (and myself) by playing three or four Meat Loaf songs (did you know that some of his songs last eight minutes???) on YouTube. The sacrifices I make in exchange for the joy of tormenting him...

i spy

The hotel has wireless, and I've been logging in all week to stay on top of work, and last night, I opened up iTunes because I wanted to play a particular song, and I realized that some people in the hotel were sharing their entire music libraries with anyone else who happened to be logged into the hotel network and using iTunes. We spent an embarrassing amount of time snooping through people's libraries and snickering at (and playing parts of) their collections of Ace of Base, Spice Girls, ZZ Top, Megadeth, and Fine Young Cannibals.

recharge

Nothing like a fantastic night dive with mantas swooping and flipping around my head for 40 minutes, then a shower to wash the ocean away, then a solid nine hours of sleep, and finally waking up to an inbox that doesn't have a single email that requires immediate reply (yet). I'm sure stuff will start coming in, but for now, my vacation continues...

charge

I charged my Kindle and loaded it up with books before coming on the trip, and decided not to bring the charger, reasoning that it would just take up more space, and that there was no way I could possibly read enough to use up the charge in one week. You can read a lot before you need to charge it.

But I've been reading a lot. I'm halfway through my fifth book, and we still have three days (including a plane ride) to go. Being the type of person who is inclined to start worrying before anything actually happens, I was fretting about the possibility that the charge wouldn't last, and that I might have to buy a paper book for the plane ride.

Today, however, I discovered that my phone charger can actually charge my Kindle, which was a happy moment. It's such a strangely shaped charger, and I only tried it on a desperate whim. I can now read as much as I want to without worrying that I'll run out of battery at the beginning of my plane ride back. And now I know for the future that I can leave the Kindle charger at home and not get worked up over imaginary loss of book access due to excessive reading.

coincidence

We're in Hawaii! Tonight, we were at dinner, and my boyfriend started telling some story about when he and his law school roommate were climbing some mountain in Colorado, and all I heard was "climb" and "mountain," so I immediately asked him if they were singing "Climb Every Mountain" while they hiked, and he looked at me in a strange way and asked why they would do that, and what was the song from, and I then had to remind myself that The Sound of Music was not quite the formative experience for everyone else as it was for me.

After dinner, we came up to our room, and he flipped on the TV, and The Sound of Music was playing. Not only was it playing, but he turned the TV on at the exact moment when Maria walks into the Reverend Mother's chamber, right before she starts singing "Climb Every Mountain"!! I wasn't sure what it meant, but whatever it was, I was right. Right? Vague vindication is such a good feeling.

On principle, I insisted that we watch the rest of it, even though I've seen it a million times before.

ready or not

My gadgets are charged, my bags are packed, my dog dropped off, my library books renewed so that they won't be overdue, my Kindle loaded with new books, and I've finished all the work that I promised to get done by today, which will hopefully buy me time until we get to the hotel and back online.

I think this means that it's official: I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow!

In twelve hours, we'll be on a plane. In 24 hours, we'll be drinking the hotel's signature ginger ale. In 45 hours, we'll be diving. Sweet.

novice

I've learned a ton in the past two years, but the depth and speed of the knowledge of some of my coworkers still blows me away. I still learn something new almost every time I ask someone for help.

i love you tomorrow

Last day in the office before going to Hawaii for a week!

sweetness follows

I had to make a dish with heirloom tomatoes for a potluck dinner tonight, and I was feeling brave, so I decided to take on dessert. I've never made pies other than pumpkin pies, but my tomato tarte tatin came out rather well, and was a surprisingly convincing dessert, drizzled with a balsamic glaze and topped with whipped cream.

Also, a whole dinner themed around heirloom tomatoes can work really well.