Although I lived in Arkansas for my entire childhood, I somehow never made it up to Mount Magazine - the highest point in Arkansas. This weekend, J and I joined some friends at a cabin up there, and it was beautiful. Although we were fogged in on Saturday (visibility was about 20 feet at some points), we did get out to do a 3 hour 4-wheeler tour that afternoon, which was a ton of fun. I've never really ridden a 4-wheeler before, so I was a bit nervous at first. But after about half an hour, I started to get the feel for it, and really enjoyed myself. We went up and down back trails in the mountains, while I tried not to drive into a tree as I took in the sights. The trees were definitely past peak foliage, but still quite beautiful. It was a good reminder of how beautiful some parts of this state are.
We stayed at one of the cabins up on the mountain, near the Mount Magazine lodge; the back deck looked out over this incredible vista (which we didn't really see until Sunday morning, but whatev. It was there.). We took full advantage of the hot tub out there both nights, even though the first night it was about 40 degrees and windy as hell. We also hiked to the top of Signal Hill, which is the highest point in Arkansas. It was interesting to be at a point where there was no more 'up' - you were at the top.
We ate well, drank well, played Settlers of Catan for the first time (I think J is hooked, which will not be a surprise to anyone who knows him), and generally had a very good time. I'm pretty sure we'll want to take the kiddos next time we go - I think they'd dig some of the hiking trails, and the scenery was pretty incredible in places. I'm sure I'll be setting myself up for some whining, but whatever. That's my role, right? That's what a parent does.
Showing posts with label Traveling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traveling. Show all posts
Monday, November 21, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Sigh.
So J got a ticket to the Razorback game tonight from a good friend; they are headed to Fayetteville as I type this. I was gonna tag along and tailgate with friends while they were at the game, but I had already committed to a tennis match, and I couldn't get out of it without being a seriously bad team player.
Sigh. Sometimes honoring your commitments sucks. I totally wanted to go up there this afternoon, but it's not happening. So instead, I'm thinking this might be my night:
Match at 5:00.
Pick up kiddos from my parents afterwards, get them to bed.
Listen to Razorback game on the radio and be jealous.
Maybe a nice long soak in the tub, with a book and a glass of wine.
Maybe bake some cookies.
Maybe even watch a movie (gasp! yes, me!).
Try not to do a repeat of last night's 2:30am bedtime.
And then think of something fun to do with the kiddos in the morning and figure out what the next week holds for us. I also need to get a long run in tomorrow, 7-8 miles. Need to figure out how to make that happen...
Sigh. Sometimes honoring your commitments sucks. I totally wanted to go up there this afternoon, but it's not happening. So instead, I'm thinking this might be my night:
Match at 5:00.
Pick up kiddos from my parents afterwards, get them to bed.
Listen to Razorback game on the radio and be jealous.
Maybe a nice long soak in the tub, with a book and a glass of wine.
Maybe bake some cookies.
Maybe even watch a movie (gasp! yes, me!).
Try not to do a repeat of last night's 2:30am bedtime.
And then think of something fun to do with the kiddos in the morning and figure out what the next week holds for us. I also need to get a long run in tomorrow, 7-8 miles. Need to figure out how to make that happen...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Dragon Tails and Other Assorted Nonsense
I managed to get in a four miler yesterday at the community center before I picked up the kiddos. It was a terrific run, with the third mile at an 8:34 pace, which is fast for me. I'm sort of tempted to try out a 5K somewhere in the near future, just to see what I can do. When I started running, breaking 30 minutes for a 5K (3.1 miles) seemed laughable; that would mean running under 10:00 miles, which is daunting when your average pace is between 12:00 and 13:00 minute miles. But now, sub 30 minutes is virtually guaranteed. I'm not sure exactly how fast I could run one, but breaking 27 minutes would be fantastic.
Anyway. It was good to shake out the legs, and the Shuffle cranked out some stellar tunes. Rage Against the Machine, The Veronicas, Silversun Pickups, and other assorted crazy loud music with a fast beat - awesome.
I've got just a bit more to write about North Carolina, before I leave it alone. I managed to get the kiddos to go on a hike Saturday afternoon - we did a three mile walk with our friend Chris and the four of us. I use the word "hike" loosely, because it really was just a mildly hilly walk on a well groomed dirt path. The kiddos did a lot more strenuous hiking when we climbed Pinnacle, but it was still fun to get them out there. Alyssa gathered flowers along the walk, we stopped and threw rocks into the lake we were walking around. We looked at spiderwebs, leaves, kayaks, boats, and other assorted things nature throws at you. All in all, a nice quiet afternoon, followed by some outstanding barbecue - yummy!
Other than hiking and playing on the deck, there wasn't necessarily a ton of stuff to do. The kiddos were all too young for rafting or anything like that, but when they get a bit older, I think they'll enjoy the hell out of something like that. We did a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, and a decent amount of sitting around talking. The weather was really nice, the kiddos all behaved, and it was actually pretty relaxing. The 10+ hour drive back on Sunday was uneventful and fairly easy, with no hiccups or bumps or anything.
OH! I almost forgot. On our drive out to the mountains, I let google maps choose our route. The one it chose looked a bit mountainous on my small blackberry map, but I didn't really look too hard at it, thinking that all of the routes were gonna be hilly and curvy. Yeah. Should have looked a little harder, maybe.
We turned off I-40 somewhere south of Knoxville, and started what looked to be a 2 hour trek through mostly two lane roads that had lots of curves. About an hour into it, we started seeing shop and gas station signs that had the word "dragon" in them.
Dragon. Hmm. J starts wondering whether this is a section of road that is notorious among motorcyclists for an ungodly number of twists and turns (I had never heard of it). As we went further along, we figured out that we were, indeed, on the "Tail of the Dragon" drive - 318 curves over 11 miles. Fucking insane.
J eventually said he felt like one of those drivers in the old movies who just moves the steering wheel back and forth but couldn't possibly be really steering - except he was. The switchbacks and curves and hills were incredibly beautiful and amazingly NONSTOP. We kept telling the kiddos to look out the front window - so the only one who seemed to get even mildly nauseous was me, and I think that was because I'd looked at the map so damn much. But holy hell it was a crazy ass drive.
Needless to say, we took a very different route on the way home. I'm not sure it was any faster, and it was definitely longer in miles, but the puke factor was drastically reduced. This is always a good thing, but especially so when you have someone who might or might not have woken up that morning with a slightly upset stomach. Can't imagine how that happened...
Anyway. It was good to shake out the legs, and the Shuffle cranked out some stellar tunes. Rage Against the Machine, The Veronicas, Silversun Pickups, and other assorted crazy loud music with a fast beat - awesome.
I've got just a bit more to write about North Carolina, before I leave it alone. I managed to get the kiddos to go on a hike Saturday afternoon - we did a three mile walk with our friend Chris and the four of us. I use the word "hike" loosely, because it really was just a mildly hilly walk on a well groomed dirt path. The kiddos did a lot more strenuous hiking when we climbed Pinnacle, but it was still fun to get them out there. Alyssa gathered flowers along the walk, we stopped and threw rocks into the lake we were walking around. We looked at spiderwebs, leaves, kayaks, boats, and other assorted things nature throws at you. All in all, a nice quiet afternoon, followed by some outstanding barbecue - yummy!
Other than hiking and playing on the deck, there wasn't necessarily a ton of stuff to do. The kiddos were all too young for rafting or anything like that, but when they get a bit older, I think they'll enjoy the hell out of something like that. We did a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, and a decent amount of sitting around talking. The weather was really nice, the kiddos all behaved, and it was actually pretty relaxing. The 10+ hour drive back on Sunday was uneventful and fairly easy, with no hiccups or bumps or anything.
OH! I almost forgot. On our drive out to the mountains, I let google maps choose our route. The one it chose looked a bit mountainous on my small blackberry map, but I didn't really look too hard at it, thinking that all of the routes were gonna be hilly and curvy. Yeah. Should have looked a little harder, maybe.
We turned off I-40 somewhere south of Knoxville, and started what looked to be a 2 hour trek through mostly two lane roads that had lots of curves. About an hour into it, we started seeing shop and gas station signs that had the word "dragon" in them.
Dragon. Hmm. J starts wondering whether this is a section of road that is notorious among motorcyclists for an ungodly number of twists and turns (I had never heard of it). As we went further along, we figured out that we were, indeed, on the "Tail of the Dragon" drive - 318 curves over 11 miles. Fucking insane.
J eventually said he felt like one of those drivers in the old movies who just moves the steering wheel back and forth but couldn't possibly be really steering - except he was. The switchbacks and curves and hills were incredibly beautiful and amazingly NONSTOP. We kept telling the kiddos to look out the front window - so the only one who seemed to get even mildly nauseous was me, and I think that was because I'd looked at the map so damn much. But holy hell it was a crazy ass drive.
Needless to say, we took a very different route on the way home. I'm not sure it was any faster, and it was definitely longer in miles, but the puke factor was drastically reduced. This is always a good thing, but especially so when you have someone who might or might not have woken up that morning with a slightly upset stomach. Can't imagine how that happened...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Home Again, Home Again
HOME. Finally.
What a great trip, even though it was a LOT of driving. We made Nashville on Wednesday night with a bit of low flying (5 hours, even though google maps said it'd take 6...), and we were in the mountains by 2pm on Thursday. The group of friends on this trip are all friends from our Houston time, even though only one of the five families still lives in Houston. But we've known most of these folks for nearly 10 years, some of them for longer, so we've got some pretty good history with them, and lots of good memories.
So. A total of five families made this trip, making 10 adults and 8 kids, aged 6 years to 4 months. It was a FULL house, but for some reason it seemed to work ok. The house was three levels, and noisy as hell, meaning that if anyone was on the main level (kitchen, main room, etc.), you heard them both upstairs and down. Mostly wood floors and wood ceilings through the entire house, and I don't think there was any insulation between floors, so just walking across a floor was noisy. Our kids were older, so we probably had the best end of the deal - no babies waking up, and ours are a breeze to put to bed. I'm pretty sure it was not as easy for everyone else with younger kids, though.
But once the kiddos were in bed at night, everyone that was still awake trooped out to the deck (which was huge), turned on the baby monitors, cranked up the blender for margaritas, and sat outside in the nice mountain air, shooting the shit, reminiscing, and generally having a fantastic time. There was an outdoor fireplace that one of the guys got going each night for s'mores and a bit of heat, 'cause it was quite a bit cooler at night than it is in AR. It was awesome.
The last night we were there, we finally managed to get all ten of the adults on the deck at the same time. One of the crew hadn't ever seen a shooting star (she called herself a "shooting star virgin"), and it was the first really clear night we'd had, so we all spent about an hour craning our necks at the stars and counting satellites, airplanes, and finally, shooting stars. To give you a flavor of the evening conversation, she "popped her shooting star cherry." There were many worse jokes than that, especially as the margaritas got stronger and the bottle of jack emptied. At some point, we even cranked up the 80s music (I'm sort of embarrased to admit that one). And of course, it was completely dark on the deck, so hilarity ensued when folks tried to move around (see: glasses kicked, things dropped, and lots of laughing). Stories were told, lots of bad jokes were made, and we eventually realized this was the first vacation we'd managed to get all five couples (well, now it's families I suppose) together. That was pretty amazing, considering how many trips the crew has taken over the years.
Plans were definitely tossed around for the next trip like this one...we'll see what happens. Getting 18 people together in the same place at the same time was a feat that I think every person expressed surprised at pulling off. Everyone was waiting to see who would back out of this one, but no one did. I'm guessing no one wanted to deal with the shit that would be thrown if they were the couple that backed out ... He he he. But yeah. Five different cities, four different states, and we managed to pull it off better than we did when we all lived in one city. Fingers crossed the next time works out just as well...
What a great trip, even though it was a LOT of driving. We made Nashville on Wednesday night with a bit of low flying (5 hours, even though google maps said it'd take 6...), and we were in the mountains by 2pm on Thursday. The group of friends on this trip are all friends from our Houston time, even though only one of the five families still lives in Houston. But we've known most of these folks for nearly 10 years, some of them for longer, so we've got some pretty good history with them, and lots of good memories.
So. A total of five families made this trip, making 10 adults and 8 kids, aged 6 years to 4 months. It was a FULL house, but for some reason it seemed to work ok. The house was three levels, and noisy as hell, meaning that if anyone was on the main level (kitchen, main room, etc.), you heard them both upstairs and down. Mostly wood floors and wood ceilings through the entire house, and I don't think there was any insulation between floors, so just walking across a floor was noisy. Our kids were older, so we probably had the best end of the deal - no babies waking up, and ours are a breeze to put to bed. I'm pretty sure it was not as easy for everyone else with younger kids, though.
But once the kiddos were in bed at night, everyone that was still awake trooped out to the deck (which was huge), turned on the baby monitors, cranked up the blender for margaritas, and sat outside in the nice mountain air, shooting the shit, reminiscing, and generally having a fantastic time. There was an outdoor fireplace that one of the guys got going each night for s'mores and a bit of heat, 'cause it was quite a bit cooler at night than it is in AR. It was awesome.
The last night we were there, we finally managed to get all ten of the adults on the deck at the same time. One of the crew hadn't ever seen a shooting star (she called herself a "shooting star virgin"), and it was the first really clear night we'd had, so we all spent about an hour craning our necks at the stars and counting satellites, airplanes, and finally, shooting stars. To give you a flavor of the evening conversation, she "popped her shooting star cherry." There were many worse jokes than that, especially as the margaritas got stronger and the bottle of jack emptied. At some point, we even cranked up the 80s music (I'm sort of embarrased to admit that one). And of course, it was completely dark on the deck, so hilarity ensued when folks tried to move around (see: glasses kicked, things dropped, and lots of laughing). Stories were told, lots of bad jokes were made, and we eventually realized this was the first vacation we'd managed to get all five couples (well, now it's families I suppose) together. That was pretty amazing, considering how many trips the crew has taken over the years.
Plans were definitely tossed around for the next trip like this one...we'll see what happens. Getting 18 people together in the same place at the same time was a feat that I think every person expressed surprised at pulling off. Everyone was waiting to see who would back out of this one, but no one did. I'm guessing no one wanted to deal with the shit that would be thrown if they were the couple that backed out ... He he he. But yeah. Five different cities, four different states, and we managed to pull it off better than we did when we all lived in one city. Fingers crossed the next time works out just as well...
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Some Days...
Ya know, I woke up this morning feeling pretty damn good. We're spending the week at the beach with some other families, so we're being lulled to sleep with the sound of the waves. This morning, I slept until around 8, which was heaven. I didn't realize how crappy I'd been feeling the last few days until I woke up and felt decent this morning. The tennis matches I played over the weekend took a pretty good toll on my body, which was not unexpected - post tournament days are often challenging. I just remember it usually lasting for a day or so, not THREE, but whatever. I felt better this morning, and then it sort of went downhill from there. Should've just stayed in bed...
Started out the morning with a slight confrontation with some friends, which was not a big deal in and of itself, but still stressful. I suck at confrontation, and anything like that just stays with me for a day or two. It also reminded me of how frustrating life can sometimes be. Balancing self, kids, spouse, and friends is just challenging all around, no matter what you do.
Then I managed to get myself stung by a jellyfish while wading in the ocean. I wasn't even in over my knees! I sat down in one of our beach chairs, cussing like mad at the sting, and promptly got whacked on the head when the tarp we've got set up on the beach blew down. There's a rather large, painful bump on the top of my head now, but at least it didn't bleed, right? Sheesh.
And this evening, I totally lost it after the girl had one too many arguments with another kiddo in the house. In truth, there probably wasn't any great reason for me to lose it - I just ran out of patience and energy, and the day's frustrations built up to the point where I just was done.
I hate days like this. I know that they are gonna happen, and it's just part of life, but they still suck.
Started out the morning with a slight confrontation with some friends, which was not a big deal in and of itself, but still stressful. I suck at confrontation, and anything like that just stays with me for a day or two. It also reminded me of how frustrating life can sometimes be. Balancing self, kids, spouse, and friends is just challenging all around, no matter what you do.
Then I managed to get myself stung by a jellyfish while wading in the ocean. I wasn't even in over my knees! I sat down in one of our beach chairs, cussing like mad at the sting, and promptly got whacked on the head when the tarp we've got set up on the beach blew down. There's a rather large, painful bump on the top of my head now, but at least it didn't bleed, right? Sheesh.
And this evening, I totally lost it after the girl had one too many arguments with another kiddo in the house. In truth, there probably wasn't any great reason for me to lose it - I just ran out of patience and energy, and the day's frustrations built up to the point where I just was done.
I hate days like this. I know that they are gonna happen, and it's just part of life, but they still suck.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Overheating
So at the beginning of this tennis shindig, I had a vague wondering about when my age would start to become a factor in my tennis matches. A lot of the singles players are probably still in the early 20s, and some younger than that. And while I don't yet FEEL older than early 20s, I'm absolutely in my mid 30s. And many of the other singles players are not.
So Thursday, I played two matches. Both were pretty easy, and I won them pretty quickly, but I was still on the court for at least 3 hours that day, with heat at or above 100F.
On Friday morning, I played a 9:30 match against the other team's best singles player. We started the match out probably in about 85 degree heat, and I knocked out the first set pretty quickly. The second set, however, was long and painful with some crazy intense points. I was icing between games (wiping ice everywhere I could), dumping ice water over my head, back, and shoulders, and drinking water and Gatorade the whole time. The temperature was over 100 by the second set, and you could FEEL the sun.
Towards the end of the second set, I was so focused on winning the match that I think I must've not been cooling as much as I should have. The last game took probably 20 minutes, and she staved off probably 10 match points before I finally closed out the match. It was a great win, but I paid the price for it.
As I was gathering my rackets and water after we finished (the match lasted over 2.5 hours), I noticed that my hands and legs were shaking really hard, and I was having a hard time making them do what they needed to do. That has never happened to me before, and I started to wonder if maybe I wasn't hotter than I realized. After I reported my score and sat down with my team to watch another match, I started to feel really really bad. I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up at the same time - not a good feeling. I had a friend walk with me to air conditioning, where I sat coating myself in ice for about 15 minutes. That helped marginally, but I still very bad. Eventually I wandered over the medic tent to have my vitals taken and make sure everything was ok (it was). An hour or so later, I finally felt normal, but the whole experience was really frightening and humbling.
The scariest part about it was the fact that I didn't even feel it coming on. I tend to check in with my systems (heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle cramps, etc.) when I'm on the court in hot weather, and I think I was doing that on Friday. I was well hydrated (even when I felt the worst), fine on nutrition, never had a single muscle cramp, and was doing everything right. I've played in the hot summer heat nearly my entire life and never had an issue. I've played longer matches than that, although I probably haven't played in any heat worse than that. And I still could easily have stayed out there and gotten into serious trouble without even realizing it. I was very lucky the match ended when it did.
And the real kicker was that the match didn't really matter much - my team lost every other match we played that day. Dammit. And insult to injury? In the match I played on Saturday (and I played it VERY carefully mind you), I think I tore a tendon in my wrist on a backhand towards the end of the match. Right after I'd found out that we were definitely out of contention for the finals.
Oh well. I've been saying I was going to hang up the rackets for a few months after all this is over. Guess I really get to do that now, seeing as my wrist hurts like hell and I couldn't hit a two handed backhand to save my life. On the bright side (because there always has to be a bright side), it's just my wrist and not a leg, knee, or foot. So I can still run. And I did just that this morning - 4 miles in Gulf Shores heat. Hello marathon season, nice to see you again. I personally don't want to look at my tennis rackets for a LONG LONG time.
So Thursday, I played two matches. Both were pretty easy, and I won them pretty quickly, but I was still on the court for at least 3 hours that day, with heat at or above 100F.
On Friday morning, I played a 9:30 match against the other team's best singles player. We started the match out probably in about 85 degree heat, and I knocked out the first set pretty quickly. The second set, however, was long and painful with some crazy intense points. I was icing between games (wiping ice everywhere I could), dumping ice water over my head, back, and shoulders, and drinking water and Gatorade the whole time. The temperature was over 100 by the second set, and you could FEEL the sun.
Towards the end of the second set, I was so focused on winning the match that I think I must've not been cooling as much as I should have. The last game took probably 20 minutes, and she staved off probably 10 match points before I finally closed out the match. It was a great win, but I paid the price for it.
As I was gathering my rackets and water after we finished (the match lasted over 2.5 hours), I noticed that my hands and legs were shaking really hard, and I was having a hard time making them do what they needed to do. That has never happened to me before, and I started to wonder if maybe I wasn't hotter than I realized. After I reported my score and sat down with my team to watch another match, I started to feel really really bad. I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up at the same time - not a good feeling. I had a friend walk with me to air conditioning, where I sat coating myself in ice for about 15 minutes. That helped marginally, but I still very bad. Eventually I wandered over the medic tent to have my vitals taken and make sure everything was ok (it was). An hour or so later, I finally felt normal, but the whole experience was really frightening and humbling.
The scariest part about it was the fact that I didn't even feel it coming on. I tend to check in with my systems (heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle cramps, etc.) when I'm on the court in hot weather, and I think I was doing that on Friday. I was well hydrated (even when I felt the worst), fine on nutrition, never had a single muscle cramp, and was doing everything right. I've played in the hot summer heat nearly my entire life and never had an issue. I've played longer matches than that, although I probably haven't played in any heat worse than that. And I still could easily have stayed out there and gotten into serious trouble without even realizing it. I was very lucky the match ended when it did.
And the real kicker was that the match didn't really matter much - my team lost every other match we played that day. Dammit. And insult to injury? In the match I played on Saturday (and I played it VERY carefully mind you), I think I tore a tendon in my wrist on a backhand towards the end of the match. Right after I'd found out that we were definitely out of contention for the finals.
Oh well. I've been saying I was going to hang up the rackets for a few months after all this is over. Guess I really get to do that now, seeing as my wrist hurts like hell and I couldn't hit a two handed backhand to save my life. On the bright side (because there always has to be a bright side), it's just my wrist and not a leg, knee, or foot. So I can still run. And I did just that this morning - 4 miles in Gulf Shores heat. Hello marathon season, nice to see you again. I personally don't want to look at my tennis rackets for a LONG LONG time.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Home Again, Home Again - For a Few Days
We finally made it back home last night about 10:00. I was actually a little concerned that I'd sleep for 3 hours, wake up around 1am and not be able to go back to sleep, but that was completely NOT the case. I went to sleep around 10:30 and didn't wake up for good until around 7:30 this morning. I feel surprisingly great, considering how much traveling I did yesterday.
So today I have to hit the ground running. I leave on Wednesday morning to head to Mobile for a tennis tournament, and J and the fam will join me there on Friday. That means there's a lot of packing and a lot of laundry to be done in the next few days (although the laundry is just my stuff; J took care of everything else). I think my mom's gonna help me out with the kiddo packing, thank goodness. So I've just got to figure out what all needs to go to the beach, and what all I need to take for my tennis tournament. Beach towels, sweaty socks, and tennis rackets - oh my!
The trip back yesterday was ok; there were a few bumps here and there (both in air and not in air), but in the grand scheme of things, we made it back to LR on time, and with all of our luggage with us and intact. So all in all, a successful trip. I've hardly even glanced at the pictures yet, but once I get some done I'll put them up.
I've got a few more substantive posts rolling around, but they're gonna have to wait. I've got laundry to finish, 10 more days worth of packing to do, and just a few other things to take care of. But at least the rest of the trips are driving, instead of flying. That makes for much easier packing. And holy cow, I came back to a totally neat, clean house. J and the kiddos put a lot of work into making sure the house was in great shape. Man, it is very good to be home.
So today I have to hit the ground running. I leave on Wednesday morning to head to Mobile for a tennis tournament, and J and the fam will join me there on Friday. That means there's a lot of packing and a lot of laundry to be done in the next few days (although the laundry is just my stuff; J took care of everything else). I think my mom's gonna help me out with the kiddo packing, thank goodness. So I've just got to figure out what all needs to go to the beach, and what all I need to take for my tennis tournament. Beach towels, sweaty socks, and tennis rackets - oh my!
The trip back yesterday was ok; there were a few bumps here and there (both in air and not in air), but in the grand scheme of things, we made it back to LR on time, and with all of our luggage with us and intact. So all in all, a successful trip. I've hardly even glanced at the pictures yet, but once I get some done I'll put them up.
I've got a few more substantive posts rolling around, but they're gonna have to wait. I've got laundry to finish, 10 more days worth of packing to do, and just a few other things to take care of. But at least the rest of the trips are driving, instead of flying. That makes for much easier packing. And holy cow, I came back to a totally neat, clean house. J and the kiddos put a lot of work into making sure the house was in great shape. Man, it is very good to be home.
Friday, July 22, 2011
AWOL
Flight to Dublin leaves in 2.5 hours. HOLY CRAP.
I'm packed. Things are mostly ready. My kitchen is clean - what is the world coming to. It's even clean after 15 people descended on it last night. (just don't look at the floor, please for the love of God don't look at the floor.)
I should have internet for a few days next week, but I'm not sure how much energy I'll have to blog. Or time, for that matter.
So...if you don't hear from me for a week or so, you can just assume I'm having a blast somewhere in Ireland. And hopefully not freezing my arse off. It IS only 65F there right now - compared to our constant 100F, that's really chilly.
So...see you in 9 days...
I'm packed. Things are mostly ready. My kitchen is clean - what is the world coming to. It's even clean after 15 people descended on it last night. (just don't look at the floor, please for the love of God don't look at the floor.)
I should have internet for a few days next week, but I'm not sure how much energy I'll have to blog. Or time, for that matter.
So...if you don't hear from me for a week or so, you can just assume I'm having a blast somewhere in Ireland. And hopefully not freezing my arse off. It IS only 65F there right now - compared to our constant 100F, that's really chilly.
So...see you in 9 days...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
T-Minus 47 Hours
So...just under 2 days until I leave for Ireland for 9 days. I think I've actually just about finished packing. Assuming I haven't forgotten anything, I think I'm gonna get away with taking a suitcase that would still be considered a carry-on. NOT that I'm planning on carrying it on with me, but my other option was a big ass suitcase that we take on ski trips. Since I despise hauling large suitcases around...the small one it is.
And while I might occasionally gripe about being short, there are some situations where being 5 feet tall can come in handy. Packing for long trips, and comfort on airplanes are two of those situations. So yeah. I'll be rewearing a few things, may end up washing a few things along the way if necessary, but I'd rather do that than overpack.
This time around I decided to try the rolling method for packing. I've tried it before and had so-so luck, but this time around it may make me a believer. The above picture shows me about 80% packed. Believe it or not, that really is carry-on sized. The thing on top is my toiletries kit, to give you some perspective. Underneath that is 4 pairs of pants/jeans, 5-6 decent weight sweaters, 3-4 long sleeved shirts of varying weight, 1 set of running clothes, pajamas, a few short sleeved shirts, a few tank tops, and probably some other things that I'm forgetting.
And here is the same bag about 99% packed.
I added two pairs of shoes, socks, underwear, a raincoat, and a couple of other things. So yeah. I've got two days to wonder what I've forgotten and turn a currently easy-to-close suitcase into a sit-on-the-damn-thing-to zipper-it-shut.
Anyway. I know you guys wanted to see my packing job for Ireland, right? Because it feels like a huge accomplishment to me. I'm really not sure I'll be able to get it back in there again... And God help me if TSA decides to rifle through it. They may have to give me another suitcase to get it all back in.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Perspectives
Many moons ago (ok, mid 1990s), I was a sophomore at the UA up in Fayetteville. J was a freshman at Texas A&M (we don't talk much about those dark days), and it was at least a 9 hour drive from Fayetteville, AR to College Station, TX. We were doing the long distance thing, and that meant that we were putting significant miles on our cars every few weeks.
A few months into that school year, we decided that rather than one of us driving 9 hours one way, we'd meet halfway in Dallas. J had relatives there who were more than happy to host us, so we made a plan to meet there one weekend.
Now, I grew up in the Little Rock area, and had never really driven anywhere other than in small cities at that point in my life. The idea of driving to Dallas and negotiating my way through the city was a bit nerve wracking, but it was either that or drive 9 hours, so it wasn't that hard of a decision. J gave me directions, and one Friday afternoon after classes, I set out from Fayetteville to make the drive.
Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that I would be getting into Dallas around rush hour. And I'm not sure I'd ever driven in rush hour traffic in a "big city" before that time (pretty sure I hadn't). And it just so happened to rain right about the time I got into town. And I was driving west as the sun came out after the storm, so I could barely see a damn thing on the road because the sun's reflection from water on the road and the steam made for miserable driving conditions. And despite J's directions, I never saw the exit I was looking for. So I kept driving. And driving. And driving.
Finally, I gave up. I was on the highway I was supposed to be on, but I hadn't found the exit I was supposed to take, and it felt like I'd been driving forever. I decided to take the next exit I saw, find a phone somewhere, and call. Assuming I had the number to his relatives' house somewhere in my car. Which I'm pretty sure I didn't...but I at least had some names.
I think.
I was in a pretty stressed state at this point in the trip, as you can imagine, and I was less than prepared for things to go wrong. Welcome to young adulthood, right?
So anyway, I took the next exit I came to. As I was pulling up to the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, I glanced in my rear view mirror. Holy shit. There was J, gesturing to me to turn right at the end of the ramp, and then follow him. Thank God. 10 minutes later, we were at his relatives' house.
As it turns out, he'd given me the wrong name for the exit I was supposed to take, so I would never have actually found the right exit. He got into Dallas before I did, figured out he'd given me the wrong exit name, turned around and driven to the exit just before the correct one to watch for me. He'd been sitting at that on-ramp for over TWO HOURS before I finally drove by. I just happened to take the correct exit, which was amazingly lucky. I could easily have taken the one before, and God only knows what would have happened then.
The rest of that weekend was just as surreal as the arrival in Dallas. I was unused to cities that required 5-lane freeway trips to get places, kids 5 years younger than I who acted 10 years older, and the fast pace life that J's relatives lived. It was completely foreign to anything I'd ever lived. His relatives' house was huge, immaculate, beautiful, and just one of hundreds of others just like it. I couldn't imagine having anything like that, and I distinctly remember being intimidated as hell. J's cousins and relatives were all much more sophisticated than I, and living all sorts of interesting lives that I couldn't fathom living.
This past Sunday night, we all gathered at that same house in Dallas, with the same relatives. Except this time, it wasn't a bunch of 20-somethings looking for their path in life. This time, the house held 12 kids under the age of 10, and 12 adults (cousins, spouses, aunts, uncles, etc.) who hardly remember what life before kiddos was like - or who those people were, so many years ago. The house was comfortable, buzzing, and busy with folks living full lives. We all have a few (ok, some of us have more than a few) gray hairs, wrinkles, and scars that life has given us. And a bit more confidence than we might have had 15 or so years ago. Or maybe we're just too busy trying to live our lives to worry about some of the stuff we used to worry about.
Either way, the contrast between my first (nearly disastrous) visit to Dallas and this most recent one was very sharp. I know there are some advantages to youth, but I'm very happy to be at this place in my life. I might occasionally miss some of the things the me of yesterday had, but I would never want to go back to that time. The lessons learned in the interim have been too valuable.
And I sorta like being able to hold my own in Dallas traffic, too. Don't let the Arkansas plates fool you, asshole Dallas drivers. I can cut you off with the best of 'em...
A few months into that school year, we decided that rather than one of us driving 9 hours one way, we'd meet halfway in Dallas. J had relatives there who were more than happy to host us, so we made a plan to meet there one weekend.
Now, I grew up in the Little Rock area, and had never really driven anywhere other than in small cities at that point in my life. The idea of driving to Dallas and negotiating my way through the city was a bit nerve wracking, but it was either that or drive 9 hours, so it wasn't that hard of a decision. J gave me directions, and one Friday afternoon after classes, I set out from Fayetteville to make the drive.
Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that I would be getting into Dallas around rush hour. And I'm not sure I'd ever driven in rush hour traffic in a "big city" before that time (pretty sure I hadn't). And it just so happened to rain right about the time I got into town. And I was driving west as the sun came out after the storm, so I could barely see a damn thing on the road because the sun's reflection from water on the road and the steam made for miserable driving conditions. And despite J's directions, I never saw the exit I was looking for. So I kept driving. And driving. And driving.
Finally, I gave up. I was on the highway I was supposed to be on, but I hadn't found the exit I was supposed to take, and it felt like I'd been driving forever. I decided to take the next exit I saw, find a phone somewhere, and call. Assuming I had the number to his relatives' house somewhere in my car. Which I'm pretty sure I didn't...but I at least had some names.
I think.
I was in a pretty stressed state at this point in the trip, as you can imagine, and I was less than prepared for things to go wrong. Welcome to young adulthood, right?
So anyway, I took the next exit I came to. As I was pulling up to the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, I glanced in my rear view mirror. Holy shit. There was J, gesturing to me to turn right at the end of the ramp, and then follow him. Thank God. 10 minutes later, we were at his relatives' house.
As it turns out, he'd given me the wrong name for the exit I was supposed to take, so I would never have actually found the right exit. He got into Dallas before I did, figured out he'd given me the wrong exit name, turned around and driven to the exit just before the correct one to watch for me. He'd been sitting at that on-ramp for over TWO HOURS before I finally drove by. I just happened to take the correct exit, which was amazingly lucky. I could easily have taken the one before, and God only knows what would have happened then.
The rest of that weekend was just as surreal as the arrival in Dallas. I was unused to cities that required 5-lane freeway trips to get places, kids 5 years younger than I who acted 10 years older, and the fast pace life that J's relatives lived. It was completely foreign to anything I'd ever lived. His relatives' house was huge, immaculate, beautiful, and just one of hundreds of others just like it. I couldn't imagine having anything like that, and I distinctly remember being intimidated as hell. J's cousins and relatives were all much more sophisticated than I, and living all sorts of interesting lives that I couldn't fathom living.
This past Sunday night, we all gathered at that same house in Dallas, with the same relatives. Except this time, it wasn't a bunch of 20-somethings looking for their path in life. This time, the house held 12 kids under the age of 10, and 12 adults (cousins, spouses, aunts, uncles, etc.) who hardly remember what life before kiddos was like - or who those people were, so many years ago. The house was comfortable, buzzing, and busy with folks living full lives. We all have a few (ok, some of us have more than a few) gray hairs, wrinkles, and scars that life has given us. And a bit more confidence than we might have had 15 or so years ago. Or maybe we're just too busy trying to live our lives to worry about some of the stuff we used to worry about.
Either way, the contrast between my first (nearly disastrous) visit to Dallas and this most recent one was very sharp. I know there are some advantages to youth, but I'm very happy to be at this place in my life. I might occasionally miss some of the things the me of yesterday had, but I would never want to go back to that time. The lessons learned in the interim have been too valuable.
And I sorta like being able to hold my own in Dallas traffic, too. Don't let the Arkansas plates fool you, asshole Dallas drivers. I can cut you off with the best of 'em...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tripping
Wow.
Just wow. What a freakin' fantastic trip.
We had 12 twelve people descend on Vegas this weekend. It was awesome.
There were any number of ways this trip could have gone wrong. For one thing, no one on the trip knew everyone else. There was one couple and J and I had never met, one couple we'd only met a couple of times, and the rest we knew pretty well, but we were the exception. Some folks only knew a couple of people on the trip. The potential for awkward silences, conflicting personalities, and group frustration was high. And none of that happened.
Instead, there are several former Vegas newbies who, by the end of the trip, were talking about making this an annual trip and friending each other on Facebook. These are signs of a very successful trip.
The down and dirty:
Thursday: Eight of us arrive in Vegas around 4pm. We eventually make it to the hotel, get checked in, and head to dinner around 7 Vegas time. Dinner decision for 12 was made extremely easily - hamburgers in a nearby casino (we all stayed at Bally's). Post dinner: wandered around some casinos a while, scoped out tables for J, and eventually found some decent video poker. I ended up playing video poker with one person or another until around 2:30 am, when I finally called it a day. Bear in mind, this is 4:30 in LR. Then I had a terrible time falling asleep, and finally crashed around 4 am, only to be woken by crushing nausea around 4:30. Damn jack and cokes. So I got about an hour's worth of sleep that night. Yay.
Friday: Crepes and coffee in the Paris' Creperie around 10, once my stomach settled a little. Our entire crew gathered at the Creperie and split up for the day. One group drove out to the Valley of Fire in the desert, and the rest of us stayed in town to do some shopping/gambling/casino ogling. We wandered around until about 4:00 that afternoon, going in the Bellagio, Aria, Monte Carlo, and some other casinos that I can't remember the names of.
Later that night, we all had tickets for Cirque du Soleil's "Love" based on the Beatles' music. Drinks beforehand with one group of friends, and then an absolutely fantastic sushi dinner after. Some of the best sushi I've had so far. We gambled a little after dinner, but I only made it to about 1:30 that night; that wasn't too bad considering how little sleep I was going on.
Saturday: More crepes (YUM), then the cabana that we had rented for the day by the Bally's pool. At first I thought it wouldn't be that great a thing, but every single person in our group spent a good bit of time down by the pool. In hindsight, I think we'll be much more likely to rent a cabana in the future if we take a group out there. It was a great way to spend Saturday. Some of the folks also got massages, some folks went for walks, some went for tacos, some played video poker, some read books by the pool, and some worshipped the sun for several hours. It was a long, lazy, removed-from-realiity afternoon.
Saturday afternoon, four of us played a poker tourney over at Bill's casino. The tourney started with 3 tables of 10 folks each - the gender split in these things always amuses me. I think there were a total of 4 women in the tournament, but I was the only female at the table I started on. Why oh why don't more women play this game? Anyway. All four of us playing made it down to the two table cut, and two of our crew bowed out somewhere after that. J and I made the final table (although I was on short stack and the first one out from that), but J finished 3rd and in the money! Woo hoo! Totally awesome for him. The payout was a pretty good return on his buy in, so this is a good thing. Once the poker tourney was over, everyone hit a nearby Thai place for dinner, and finished the trip off with some gambling.
But I have to say, one of my favorite memories of the trip was later that night. Two of the group had 6:30am flights on Sunday morning, so their plan was to just stay up all night, rather than sleep 2 hours and get woken up at an absurdly early hour to get to the airport. So 5 of us, including the couple with the insanely early flight, played video poker and drank until about 1am, when we all decided to go to the Sugar Factory, a 24 hour dessert place. Oh. My. God. The chocolate there was heavenly. Chocolate fondu, eclairs, "frozen hot chocolate" - I only wish I could have eaten more. We were all loopy from lack of sleep and alcohol, and the conversation was all kinds of goofy. I haven't laughed that much in forever.
In all honesty, it felt like a charmed trip. With 12 people involved, many of whom who were meeting for the first time, I was a bit concerned that we'd have personality conflicts and other issues. Never happened. It's one of the few times I've really not been ready to leave Vegas - I didn't even lose that much gambling! Funny what happens when there's so much other stuff going on. J didn't have that problem, though - his Sunday morning gambling session kicked his butt, so he was ready to come home. Ah well. It was a nearly perfect trip.
Just wow. What a freakin' fantastic trip.
We had 12 twelve people descend on Vegas this weekend. It was awesome.
There were any number of ways this trip could have gone wrong. For one thing, no one on the trip knew everyone else. There was one couple and J and I had never met, one couple we'd only met a couple of times, and the rest we knew pretty well, but we were the exception. Some folks only knew a couple of people on the trip. The potential for awkward silences, conflicting personalities, and group frustration was high. And none of that happened.
Instead, there are several former Vegas newbies who, by the end of the trip, were talking about making this an annual trip and friending each other on Facebook. These are signs of a very successful trip.
The down and dirty:
Thursday: Eight of us arrive in Vegas around 4pm. We eventually make it to the hotel, get checked in, and head to dinner around 7 Vegas time. Dinner decision for 12 was made extremely easily - hamburgers in a nearby casino (we all stayed at Bally's). Post dinner: wandered around some casinos a while, scoped out tables for J, and eventually found some decent video poker. I ended up playing video poker with one person or another until around 2:30 am, when I finally called it a day. Bear in mind, this is 4:30 in LR. Then I had a terrible time falling asleep, and finally crashed around 4 am, only to be woken by crushing nausea around 4:30. Damn jack and cokes. So I got about an hour's worth of sleep that night. Yay.
Friday: Crepes and coffee in the Paris' Creperie around 10, once my stomach settled a little. Our entire crew gathered at the Creperie and split up for the day. One group drove out to the Valley of Fire in the desert, and the rest of us stayed in town to do some shopping/gambling/casino ogling. We wandered around until about 4:00 that afternoon, going in the Bellagio, Aria, Monte Carlo, and some other casinos that I can't remember the names of.
Later that night, we all had tickets for Cirque du Soleil's "Love" based on the Beatles' music. Drinks beforehand with one group of friends, and then an absolutely fantastic sushi dinner after. Some of the best sushi I've had so far. We gambled a little after dinner, but I only made it to about 1:30 that night; that wasn't too bad considering how little sleep I was going on.
Saturday: More crepes (YUM), then the cabana that we had rented for the day by the Bally's pool. At first I thought it wouldn't be that great a thing, but every single person in our group spent a good bit of time down by the pool. In hindsight, I think we'll be much more likely to rent a cabana in the future if we take a group out there. It was a great way to spend Saturday. Some of the folks also got massages, some folks went for walks, some went for tacos, some played video poker, some read books by the pool, and some worshipped the sun for several hours. It was a long, lazy, removed-from-realiity afternoon.
Saturday afternoon, four of us played a poker tourney over at Bill's casino. The tourney started with 3 tables of 10 folks each - the gender split in these things always amuses me. I think there were a total of 4 women in the tournament, but I was the only female at the table I started on. Why oh why don't more women play this game? Anyway. All four of us playing made it down to the two table cut, and two of our crew bowed out somewhere after that. J and I made the final table (although I was on short stack and the first one out from that), but J finished 3rd and in the money! Woo hoo! Totally awesome for him. The payout was a pretty good return on his buy in, so this is a good thing. Once the poker tourney was over, everyone hit a nearby Thai place for dinner, and finished the trip off with some gambling.
But I have to say, one of my favorite memories of the trip was later that night. Two of the group had 6:30am flights on Sunday morning, so their plan was to just stay up all night, rather than sleep 2 hours and get woken up at an absurdly early hour to get to the airport. So 5 of us, including the couple with the insanely early flight, played video poker and drank until about 1am, when we all decided to go to the Sugar Factory, a 24 hour dessert place. Oh. My. God. The chocolate there was heavenly. Chocolate fondu, eclairs, "frozen hot chocolate" - I only wish I could have eaten more. We were all loopy from lack of sleep and alcohol, and the conversation was all kinds of goofy. I haven't laughed that much in forever.
In all honesty, it felt like a charmed trip. With 12 people involved, many of whom who were meeting for the first time, I was a bit concerned that we'd have personality conflicts and other issues. Never happened. It's one of the few times I've really not been ready to leave Vegas - I didn't even lose that much gambling! Funny what happens when there's so much other stuff going on. J didn't have that problem, though - his Sunday morning gambling session kicked his butt, so he was ready to come home. Ah well. It was a nearly perfect trip.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tired
Good lord I'm tired. I've done some pretty heavy duty workouts the last 5 days straight (either a run or a tennis match), and that doesn't include any "extras" like playing at the pool with the kiddos, housework, yard work, and any other activity that came along.
Last night, I played a singles match against a local junior who is preparing for southerns. If you aren't familiar with junior tennis, southerns is THE tournament that your entire year revolves around if you play in the south. She is headed to Rome, Georgia tomorrow for this tournament, and was trying to get some last minute match play in.
Talking to her about southerns made me feel so incredibly happy to be past that point in my tennis career. Your entire spring and summer in juniors revolve around preparing for this tournament. There is a TON of pressure to do well, and a lot of logistics and work that go into it. For me, Southerns meant a long-ass driving trip, and a lot of sacrificing on my family's part. Please to ignore the fact that I never did very well, either.
My team will go to sectionals (the old folks' equivalent of the juniors' southerns) in July. And can I just say how much I prefer the team atmosphere and the camaraderie that comes with team tennis? Not that camaraderie didn't exist in juniors, but it's a bit different. There is still pressure to play well, to get ready for the heat, to not let the team down. But it's not just about one person - it's about the team. And it's not just about tennistennistennis in my life for 3 months leading up to it - it's still about kiddos and traveling and summer and life. And a little tennis thrown in.
And, more immediately, it's about a trip to Vegas this weekend. With ten other folks, some of whom I know well, some of whom I've never met. I'm fairly certain there will be some excellent shenanigans and stories to come out of this trip. Vegas usually incites those types of things, not that I'd know anything about that. I may try to post tomorrow, but if not...see you on the flip side. Vegas, baby.
Last night, I played a singles match against a local junior who is preparing for southerns. If you aren't familiar with junior tennis, southerns is THE tournament that your entire year revolves around if you play in the south. She is headed to Rome, Georgia tomorrow for this tournament, and was trying to get some last minute match play in.
Talking to her about southerns made me feel so incredibly happy to be past that point in my tennis career. Your entire spring and summer in juniors revolve around preparing for this tournament. There is a TON of pressure to do well, and a lot of logistics and work that go into it. For me, Southerns meant a long-ass driving trip, and a lot of sacrificing on my family's part. Please to ignore the fact that I never did very well, either.
My team will go to sectionals (the old folks' equivalent of the juniors' southerns) in July. And can I just say how much I prefer the team atmosphere and the camaraderie that comes with team tennis? Not that camaraderie didn't exist in juniors, but it's a bit different. There is still pressure to play well, to get ready for the heat, to not let the team down. But it's not just about one person - it's about the team. And it's not just about tennistennistennis in my life for 3 months leading up to it - it's still about kiddos and traveling and summer and life. And a little tennis thrown in.
And, more immediately, it's about a trip to Vegas this weekend. With ten other folks, some of whom I know well, some of whom I've never met. I'm fairly certain there will be some excellent shenanigans and stories to come out of this trip. Vegas usually incites those types of things, not that I'd know anything about that. I may try to post tomorrow, but if not...see you on the flip side. Vegas, baby.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Job Stuff
About two and a half years ago, J interviewed for and was offered a job at a plant here in the LR area. With our families still living here in LR, and with two young kiddos, it made sense for us to look for something here. We both felt this was a cleaner, safer, and healthier place for the kiddos to grow up, despite the economic advantages of Houston.
The down side was the job situation. My job in Houston was a godsend - an attorney job that was actually the 40 hours a week it was billed to be, at a firm that I respected, working with people I actually liked. I was not optimistic about finding something like that in AR, so I made a pitch to telecommute when I could, and make trips to Houston when I needed to.
Somewhat surprisingly, they took me up on it, ostensibly on a 6 month trial basis. I never heard another word about the trial period once the details were settled, so I guess everyone was happy with it.
When I proposed the telecommuting idea, I said quite plainly that if it didn't work for either of us - me or the firm - I had no trouble ending the effort. I never wanted to be in a situation where I felt like I was regarded as not giving a full effort. I also needed to make sure that traveling worked for me.
And everything worked fine, for a while. But I spent four weeks in Houston in January of this year, and it just didn't feel right anymore. The travel schedule is pretty unpredictable, and it's hard to stay connected to both people and cases when you work remotely. Sometimes it worked fine, but sometimes I felt very isolated.
Alyssa will start kindergarten in the fall, Benjamin will be in first grade, and it was hard to stay on top of what all was going on at school with them when I ended up heading out of town fairly often. Not to mention trying to plan activities and keep up with everything going on. Dear god, the paperwork... So when the majority of my cases wrapped up in February, I started seriously thinking about making some changes.
A few other things happened that pushed me in the same direction, and last week I knew it was time. It sucked, it was not a fun decision, but it was the right decision, and that's what really matters. In another year, in ten years, it will still be the right decision.
So. What's next? I have no idea. I'm going to take the summer off with the kiddos, and once school starts in the fall I'll probably try to figure something out. I have this crazy notion that something will just fall in my lap before then anyway. That is actually what happened with my current job - it could happen again, right? RIGHT?
The down side was the job situation. My job in Houston was a godsend - an attorney job that was actually the 40 hours a week it was billed to be, at a firm that I respected, working with people I actually liked. I was not optimistic about finding something like that in AR, so I made a pitch to telecommute when I could, and make trips to Houston when I needed to.
Somewhat surprisingly, they took me up on it, ostensibly on a 6 month trial basis. I never heard another word about the trial period once the details were settled, so I guess everyone was happy with it.
When I proposed the telecommuting idea, I said quite plainly that if it didn't work for either of us - me or the firm - I had no trouble ending the effort. I never wanted to be in a situation where I felt like I was regarded as not giving a full effort. I also needed to make sure that traveling worked for me.
And everything worked fine, for a while. But I spent four weeks in Houston in January of this year, and it just didn't feel right anymore. The travel schedule is pretty unpredictable, and it's hard to stay connected to both people and cases when you work remotely. Sometimes it worked fine, but sometimes I felt very isolated.
Alyssa will start kindergarten in the fall, Benjamin will be in first grade, and it was hard to stay on top of what all was going on at school with them when I ended up heading out of town fairly often. Not to mention trying to plan activities and keep up with everything going on. Dear god, the paperwork... So when the majority of my cases wrapped up in February, I started seriously thinking about making some changes.
A few other things happened that pushed me in the same direction, and last week I knew it was time. It sucked, it was not a fun decision, but it was the right decision, and that's what really matters. In another year, in ten years, it will still be the right decision.
So. What's next? I have no idea. I'm going to take the summer off with the kiddos, and once school starts in the fall I'll probably try to figure something out. I have this crazy notion that something will just fall in my lap before then anyway. That is actually what happened with my current job - it could happen again, right? RIGHT?
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wow.
OK, that was a bit more of a break than I anticipated. Apparently being sans laptop doesn't do good things for my blog posts. Who knew? Let's not let that happen again, 'k?
So. Let's see. I spent the weekend at the lake with my parents, kiddos, and J in a 900 square foot condo. That might be a little too much family closeness for my taste, but hey. The Easter bunny came, the kiddos got to do a couple of different egg hunts, and I worked on my Words With Friends skillz. Not too shabby, right?
So the highlights of the last few days? Let's see...
I introduced my kiddos to Jerry Jeff Walker on the drive over to the lake Friday afternoon. They were a bit unimpressed. I was really hoping they might like Mr. Bojangles, the song that my brother and I adored when we were young, but it hasn't happened yet. All is not lost, however. Benjamin repeatedly asked for "Ring of Fire." That's a good sign.
I ate wayyy more than necessary. Funny how some places just bring out certain impulses, right? When I was growing up, we always snacked at the lake much more than at home - Cheetos, popcorn, chocolate, incredible dinners, big breakfasts, you name it. I can't walk through the front door in that place without feeling the need to pound junk food and sodas. Awesome for a lazy weekend. Not so awesome for the whole "jeans fitting" thing. But really? There is some perfection you just don't mess with, and I'll be damned if I felt like rocking that boat this weekend.
Yesterday, my kiddos were up by 5:30am. I would've been more pissed if they had been sleeping in my room, I suppose. Fortunately for J and I, they wanted to sleep in my parents' room. Sorry, guys, y'all got the very short end of that stick.
Today? Well, everyone left the lake around 1:00pm. J and crew went east to Little Rock, and I went south to Houston. Perhaps the last time I'll make this drive for a while...but maybe more later this week on that.
For now? I'm gonna munch some Easter candy (chocolate, of course, thanks G!), drink M's Jack and enjoy a quiet, solitary room. Ahhhhh. Simple pleasures, right?
So. Let's see. I spent the weekend at the lake with my parents, kiddos, and J in a 900 square foot condo. That might be a little too much family closeness for my taste, but hey. The Easter bunny came, the kiddos got to do a couple of different egg hunts, and I worked on my Words With Friends skillz. Not too shabby, right?
So the highlights of the last few days? Let's see...
I introduced my kiddos to Jerry Jeff Walker on the drive over to the lake Friday afternoon. They were a bit unimpressed. I was really hoping they might like Mr. Bojangles, the song that my brother and I adored when we were young, but it hasn't happened yet. All is not lost, however. Benjamin repeatedly asked for "Ring of Fire." That's a good sign.
I ate wayyy more than necessary. Funny how some places just bring out certain impulses, right? When I was growing up, we always snacked at the lake much more than at home - Cheetos, popcorn, chocolate, incredible dinners, big breakfasts, you name it. I can't walk through the front door in that place without feeling the need to pound junk food and sodas. Awesome for a lazy weekend. Not so awesome for the whole "jeans fitting" thing. But really? There is some perfection you just don't mess with, and I'll be damned if I felt like rocking that boat this weekend.
Yesterday, my kiddos were up by 5:30am. I would've been more pissed if they had been sleeping in my room, I suppose. Fortunately for J and I, they wanted to sleep in my parents' room. Sorry, guys, y'all got the very short end of that stick.
Today? Well, everyone left the lake around 1:00pm. J and crew went east to Little Rock, and I went south to Houston. Perhaps the last time I'll make this drive for a while...but maybe more later this week on that.
For now? I'm gonna munch some Easter candy (chocolate, of course, thanks G!), drink M's Jack and enjoy a quiet, solitary room. Ahhhhh. Simple pleasures, right?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Back To Reality
Vacation is over. Back to the grind. I'm trying to get organized and figure out what this week holds. Didn't sleep well last night, woke up with a headache, and things aren't quite clicking along just yet. I'm hoping it'll get better as the day goes on.
Hoping to get a more substantive post up later today...but at any rate, we're back. Whew.
Hoping to get a more substantive post up later today...but at any rate, we're back. Whew.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tripping
This, or something close to this, will be happening this summer. Already excited...
Most of my ancestors came from Ireland (gee, didn't see that coming with the red hair, did ya?). I've got a lot of research to do between now and then, but the wheels are in motion. Woo hoo!!!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Yawn
6:35 is insanely early for a flight. Getting up before the time starts with the number 5 seriously sucks.
Friday, January 21, 2011
It's Friday ... Where am I?
Well, it is once again Friday - finally! Fortune smiled on me at work, and I managed to escape Houston and hop a direct flight back to AR this morning, so I'm home. At least for the weekend...
No real big plans for the weekend on our end. I think I'm supposed to play tennis tomorrow, but other than that, I'm hoping to just spend time with the family and do as little as possible. Of course, I did make a to do list while I was sitting in the airport, so I'm sure I'll work on that some, but I'm not feeling particularly motivated. One of the things I need to add is to find my camera battery charger! I keep meaning to add photos to this here blog, but I ran the battery down a few weeks ago and haven't found the damn charger yet. Hazards of the nomadic life I suppose.
Seriously, the traveling stuff is entertaining for a while, but I'm sort of wishing for a bit more stability than what I've had lately. There's something to be said for nonrecycled clothes and predictable routines. I just feel a little less ... grounded than I'd like to feel right now. I feel like I'm expending so much energy and time with travel and logistic issues, other things are slipping. I'm hoping the weekend will help me get a little more grounded back here in AR, and feel a little less nomadic. At the very least, I guess I don't have to worry about recycled clothes here...
No real big plans for the weekend on our end. I think I'm supposed to play tennis tomorrow, but other than that, I'm hoping to just spend time with the family and do as little as possible. Of course, I did make a to do list while I was sitting in the airport, so I'm sure I'll work on that some, but I'm not feeling particularly motivated. One of the things I need to add is to find my camera battery charger! I keep meaning to add photos to this here blog, but I ran the battery down a few weeks ago and haven't found the damn charger yet. Hazards of the nomadic life I suppose.
Seriously, the traveling stuff is entertaining for a while, but I'm sort of wishing for a bit more stability than what I've had lately. There's something to be said for nonrecycled clothes and predictable routines. I just feel a little less ... grounded than I'd like to feel right now. I feel like I'm expending so much energy and time with travel and logistic issues, other things are slipping. I'm hoping the weekend will help me get a little more grounded back here in AR, and feel a little less nomadic. At the very least, I guess I don't have to worry about recycled clothes here...
Monday, January 17, 2011
Rainy Drive
I made it into Houston last night about 11:30, I'm staying in town with my friend L this week. It rained nearly the entire trip (sigh), so the trip felt a lot longer than usual. I was also more restless than usual - for some reason I just couldn't slip into any sort of a driving rhythm. There wasn't any music I wanted to listen to, no podcast was quite right, I guess I was just restless. My brain couldn't seem to focus on any topic for more than about 30 seconds (too much caffeine?), and I was just impatient.
The moral of this trip? It's time to get back to working out. I'd much prefer to be lazy as hell, but I'll be much happier when I start working up a sweat again, and it ought to clear up some mental logjams. Maybe I'll be able to come up with something more interesting to write about than my daily drudgery. Plus there's that little matter of a half marathon in about 6 weeks. Yeeps! That's gonna hurt if I don't get back to running asap. 13 miles is a decent distance when I have been running, let alone when I've been sitting on my ass since January 1st...
The moral of this trip? It's time to get back to working out. I'd much prefer to be lazy as hell, but I'll be much happier when I start working up a sweat again, and it ought to clear up some mental logjams. Maybe I'll be able to come up with something more interesting to write about than my daily drudgery. Plus there's that little matter of a half marathon in about 6 weeks. Yeeps! That's gonna hurt if I don't get back to running asap. 13 miles is a decent distance when I have been running, let alone when I've been sitting on my ass since January 1st...
Monday, January 10, 2011
Bullet (and Other Assorted) Madness
So, in bullet form, here is the craziness that was this weekend. If you don't make it through to the end? I don't blame you.
- Friday night, work late, can't get back to AR, stayed in Houston. Made crucial error of having some red wine with my friend M on Friday night.
- Saturday morning, start the drive about 7:30 and realize red wine from the night before is about to cause a migraine. Great.
- Saturday afternoon, get in about 2:30, eat pizza J has warmed up for me, and crash on the couch with A for the next 4 hours watching movies, hoping headache will eventually give up.
- Saturday night, get up, make dinner, have a nerf war (parents v. kids - I think parents won). Still trying unsuccessfully to kill the migraine. Note to self: shrieking and running around in a nerf war may be fun, but is not good for killing headache.
- Late Saturday night, realize that the weather really is going to get bad on Sunday with much snow, and start to stress about getting back to Houston. Headache gets exponentially worse. Write whiny blog post.
- Sometime in the middle of the night: get up and take medicine for the headache from hell.
- Sunday morning, lie in bed as long as possible, wishing head would just go ahead and explode instead of punishing me for something I didn't do. Ok, maybe I did do it, but I didn't overdo it! Stupid red wine...
- Sunday morning, finally get up. Take more medicine and pound two cups of coffee in rapid succession. After being awake for an hour or so, headache finally abates and I can actually start thinking clearly again.
- Shit.
- 11am Sunday Morning, T-minus 2.5 hours until birthday time: The list of things to do is incredibly long, I don't have time to do them, I'm woefully unprepared for B's birthday party that afternoon, I'm not packed, it's going to snow, we don't have milk, we haven't wrapped any packages, and I can't make up my damned mind about whether to fly or drive. At least mother nature took care of one of those things for me...
- Sunday afternoon: party is a success, but everyone beats a hasty exit to avoid the snow that has started. Everyone except us, of course. Leave the party at 4:00pm, get caught in the major snow, don't get home until after 6. Get frightened by the number of idiots on the road who have no business being out there. Seriously - the group of guys pushing the pickup up the hill at Camp Robinson, using bits of chain wrapped around the tires (not tire chains - just lengths of chain that were tied on the tires) and running around barefoot really took the cake. Flight that I had booked for 6pm doesn't even come close to happening.
- Sunday night, stress levels achieve nearly record heights. Feeling like the slacker of the group for not being in the office all weekend like the rest of the team has, but priority went to my boy's birthday party. I made the right decision, but that doesn't mean that it didn't cause stress. Hello rock, meet hard place.
- Realize I'm going to have to take a 6:30am flight out of LR Monday morning, which means leaving the house around 4:30am (roads totally covered in snow, not going to be a fast trip). Bundle kids up around 9pm, take them to my parent's house to spend the night so they don't have to get up crazy early and make the possibly treacherous drive to the airport with J and I. Spend several minutes cussing my lack of preparation as I get them packed - one kid has only one glove (J went through the entire entry way closet - where the hell do gloves go to die, anwyay??), there are no scarves, they only have snow boots 'cause my mom bought them some, and they really have no clothing that is great for playing in the snow. HUGE parenting fail.
- Sunday morning, get up well before it's light out, get dressed, get out to the airport, wait for the flight that was delayed an hour, and finally get down to Houston around 10:30 this morning. THANK GOD that weekend is over.
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