The past week has been a complete blur. I've been ridiculously swamped with work, and as hard as I try to keep the two separate, the stress from my work life is spilling over into the rest of my life. Plus I had a shortened week last week, because I had a floating holiday for Christmas so I had off Thursday-Saturday.
My days off - as usual - didn't feel like days off per se. There were lots of errands to be done, places to go, and people to see, but I somehow managed to get everything done.
Thursday Alyssa and I went back to Baraboo for a mini-Christmas with our parents. The next day we headed to Hartland for Christmas dinner and a more expanded family Christmas celebration with my dad's side of the family. Saturday we spent the day with my mom's side of the family, and I rushed back to Madison that night to pick up some extra hours at work. It was really great to be able to spend some time with all the different branches of my family, even though it wasn't for a long period of time.
This week at work has already been just as crazy as last week. With the end of the month coming up, there's lots of work to be done and having both Christmas and New Years in the mix really brings about chaos. I'm hoping to make it through the week with a semblance of sanity.
Adieu, adieu. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
the summer that punk rock broke my heart
The lucky part of this week was that I was able to get together with a lot of different people, which was nice after having to cancel all of my activities last weekend. On Friday I was finallllllly able to see Marley which was like finding the last missing piece of an extremely intricate puzzle. We started out with a wintertime photoshoot. [If I haven't mentioned it before, Marley and I like to go on adventures to take a bunch of photos. Our last one we went to a corn maze and then carved pumpkins and baked pumpkin pie.] So this time we went to the Terrace at the Memorial Union which overlooks Lake Mendota. With the wind blowing off the lake, ice forms in really amazing, intricate patterns.
Awesome Ice Formations
Pretty!
I just like how white my teeth look :)
All pictures courtesy of the lovely, amazing Marley W.
Afterwards we were a bit chilly so we went to a coffee shop and had some bakery treats and drinks and talked for a lonnnnng time. [Marley has been pretty much bombarded with school lately, so we haven't been able to talk at all.] Then I went to the Art department at the UW with Marley so she could she me her drawings from her Life Drawing studio this semester. I was also able to see her woodworking projects earlier in the day and was absolutely blown away by how amazing everything turned out.
Friday evening I went to Steph's soccer game. A few of our other co-workers also play on her team, so it was nice to see them outside of work. Afterwards I went to a bar on the east side of the Capitol, to my friend/coworker's birthday party.
Saturday I puppysat for Rooster [because he is spoiled]. We went for a nice long walk and snuggled. Then I baked a pumpkin pie and did some grocery shopping for Alyssa to get to her through finals week. Afterwards some friends and I went to a punk rock Christmas show at one of the venues downtown. I haven't had many chances to get out to live shows much this year, so it was nice to get out for a night of music.
Speaking of music, I have recently "discovered" Frank Sinatra, and I am absolutely in love with him. The downside of having such young parents is that I wasn't ever really introduced to that era/style of music. So I have been listening to the Frank Sinatra station on Pandora which includes all kinds of artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Louie Armstrong, Tony Bennett etc. As most of you know, I love music and really appreciate all kinds. Its very exciting for me to come across something new that I love so much. Unfortunately, I don't own anything from that genre so I will have to save up so that I can pad my music collection.
Well, it is getting to be close to bedtime. I'm going to snuggle into bed and read for a little while. Hope everyone has safe travels and a wonderful Christmas!
Monday, December 13, 2010
drive well, sleep carefully
Welllllll, this is quite a bit later than the usual weekly post. But its still Monday, so it counts as being on time! I got home a bit later than usual last night, and my routine was all off so I didn't get around to writing last night, and I've been running around like crazy since the minute I got up this morning.
But this will be short and sweet, because the past week has not been too exciting [despite many plans that ended up getting cancelled...]
With the bit of the blizzard that we experienced this weekend, I didn't get out to do very much. On Friday I went out to dinner and Christmas shopping for a bit with my friend Steph. I was really excited to see her son Jake, because I knit him a pair of mittens. They were super adorable because they were baby sized, and it was awesome to see how excited Steph was too! After I headed over to Alyssa's to say hi to her and Rooster (who she was puppy sitting). I was there just long enough to say a quick hello to my parents before heading home for a night of knitting. [What 24 year old doesn't stay up until 4:30 am on a Friday night knitting herself some mittens?!?!]
Saturday I was supposed to visit with my friend Brianna who was in town from Minneapolis. I was also supposed to go to a birthday party later that night, but I ended up having to cancel all plans due to the weather. =[ I did have to go out to get some groceries, but even the 1.6 mile (roundtrip) trip for groceries wasn't great. I spent the rest of Saturday night working on a drawing I'm trying to get done. [Unfortunately, I can't give the details on that just yet, as it will be a gift for someone who might be reading this! But pictures will be up once its done.]
Yesterday was crazy at work. I was the only supervisor in my area for the entire night and we had a lot of people call in due to the weather and to top it all off had some technical errors midway through my shift that made it a very hectic day. Afterwards I went over to a friend's house for a few hours, and today I spent the day with Alyssa since she will be busy from now until all her classes are done.
Phew....with just minutes to spare, my week in four paragraphs.
But this will be short and sweet, because the past week has not been too exciting [despite many plans that ended up getting cancelled...]
With the bit of the blizzard that we experienced this weekend, I didn't get out to do very much. On Friday I went out to dinner and Christmas shopping for a bit with my friend Steph. I was really excited to see her son Jake, because I knit him a pair of mittens. They were super adorable because they were baby sized, and it was awesome to see how excited Steph was too! After I headed over to Alyssa's to say hi to her and Rooster (who she was puppy sitting). I was there just long enough to say a quick hello to my parents before heading home for a night of knitting. [What 24 year old doesn't stay up until 4:30 am on a Friday night knitting herself some mittens?!?!]
Saturday I was supposed to visit with my friend Brianna who was in town from Minneapolis. I was also supposed to go to a birthday party later that night, but I ended up having to cancel all plans due to the weather. =[ I did have to go out to get some groceries, but even the 1.6 mile (roundtrip) trip for groceries wasn't great. I spent the rest of Saturday night working on a drawing I'm trying to get done. [Unfortunately, I can't give the details on that just yet, as it will be a gift for someone who might be reading this! But pictures will be up once its done.]
Yesterday was crazy at work. I was the only supervisor in my area for the entire night and we had a lot of people call in due to the weather and to top it all off had some technical errors midway through my shift that made it a very hectic day. Afterwards I went over to a friend's house for a few hours, and today I spent the day with Alyssa since she will be busy from now until all her classes are done.
Phew....with just minutes to spare, my week in four paragraphs.
Monday, December 6, 2010
a song in my head that burns so good on my tongue
It happened. It finally snowed. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in. The snow sparkles and stings my cheeks, and I can't help but smile. Winter is finally here, and I couldn't be happier.
The past week has been rather hectic. It seems that as Christmas and New Years approach, everyone wants to get together because they know that the holidays are so busy. I had so many people I wanted to see this weekend, and I really packed my weekend full.
Alyssa and Marley have both been ridiculously busy with school - its the time of the semester where everything is starting to come together. They've got their normal amount of homework and studying PLUS starting to prepare for finals, so it's been really hard to make time to see them. I also had four friends come from out of town - Britny and Nick from LaCrosse, and Ben and Amy from Oshkosh.
Britny, Nick, Ben, and Amy all had tickets to a concert for Friday night so while they were there I hung out with my friend Steph. Her husband was nice enough to take over babysitting duties of their son, so we could have a night out on the town. We went over to Alyssa's house for awhile to start with. It was a blast. Alyssa and Steph got along so well, and the three of us just talked, laughed, yelled, made fun of each other, told stories. It was one of those experiences where you know you're going to remember it for the rest of your life - not because anything particularly spectacular happened, but because you were happy in the truest, purest form.
After that Steph and I met up with the others for a bit, before we all headed home for the evening. I felt terrible for my four houseguests, because at 3:30 in the morning the fire alarm [falsely] went off in my building. Nonstop, for 45 minutes. Of course, we were all thankful that there was no emergency, but it definitely didn't make for a good night's sleep.
On Saturday morning the five of us went out for breakfast. I was able to take them to my new favorite place, Hubbards, and show it off. We got a nice big booth to sit in and were able to catch up over awesome [as always] food. And we all got dessert to go! [Hubbards desserts=awesome] After that the two couples headed their separate ways, and I baked myself some honey-wheat bread. [I'm hoping that all the kneading will give me killer arm and shoulder muscles.]
Saturday evening I was finally able to get together with Marley. We took a nice long walk through the winter wonderland that is State Street and the Capitol. There were Christmas lights out and the Capitol always looks so beautiful all lit up against the night sky, especially when it was snowing ever so slightly. We ended at my favorite coffee shop and afterwards I headed home for a night of knitting. [I'm in dire need of new mittens now that it has snowed.]
Of course, with snow on the ground, I can't wait to get out and go snowboarding. I'm probably going to wait to go until after Christmas time when we will have more real snow on the ground. So even though I'm getting a little antsy to get out, I'm SUPER excited to finally have snow!
Well, those mittens won't knit themselves, so off I go.....
The past week has been rather hectic. It seems that as Christmas and New Years approach, everyone wants to get together because they know that the holidays are so busy. I had so many people I wanted to see this weekend, and I really packed my weekend full.
Alyssa and Marley have both been ridiculously busy with school - its the time of the semester where everything is starting to come together. They've got their normal amount of homework and studying PLUS starting to prepare for finals, so it's been really hard to make time to see them. I also had four friends come from out of town - Britny and Nick from LaCrosse, and Ben and Amy from Oshkosh.
Britny, Nick, Ben, and Amy all had tickets to a concert for Friday night so while they were there I hung out with my friend Steph. Her husband was nice enough to take over babysitting duties of their son, so we could have a night out on the town. We went over to Alyssa's house for awhile to start with. It was a blast. Alyssa and Steph got along so well, and the three of us just talked, laughed, yelled, made fun of each other, told stories. It was one of those experiences where you know you're going to remember it for the rest of your life - not because anything particularly spectacular happened, but because you were happy in the truest, purest form.
After that Steph and I met up with the others for a bit, before we all headed home for the evening. I felt terrible for my four houseguests, because at 3:30 in the morning the fire alarm [falsely] went off in my building. Nonstop, for 45 minutes. Of course, we were all thankful that there was no emergency, but it definitely didn't make for a good night's sleep.
On Saturday morning the five of us went out for breakfast. I was able to take them to my new favorite place, Hubbards, and show it off. We got a nice big booth to sit in and were able to catch up over awesome [as always] food. And we all got dessert to go! [Hubbards desserts=awesome] After that the two couples headed their separate ways, and I baked myself some honey-wheat bread. [I'm hoping that all the kneading will give me killer arm and shoulder muscles.]
Saturday evening I was finally able to get together with Marley. We took a nice long walk through the winter wonderland that is State Street and the Capitol. There were Christmas lights out and the Capitol always looks so beautiful all lit up against the night sky, especially when it was snowing ever so slightly. We ended at my favorite coffee shop and afterwards I headed home for a night of knitting. [I'm in dire need of new mittens now that it has snowed.]
Of course, with snow on the ground, I can't wait to get out and go snowboarding. I'm probably going to wait to go until after Christmas time when we will have more real snow on the ground. So even though I'm getting a little antsy to get out, I'm SUPER excited to finally have snow!
Well, those mittens won't knit themselves, so off I go.....
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