vacation – randomly erin

in the rear view mirror

I assure you, that photo was taken while we were safely parked at a rest stop. I am all about concentrating on driving and not messing around with phones while behind the wheel. I can’t remember if this was in Iowa or Minnesota, doesn’t really matter. The drive, both ways, was uneventful which is precisely how I like my road trips.

We had dinner the first night at the hotel restaurant and it was beyond amazing. My dessert, pictured above, was White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. So modern and odd looking but holy buckets was it tasty. And everyone was super nice, the whole time. Loved it.

The one thing I really wanted to do was get photos done like this. There’s a place in the Mall of America called Professor Z’s Old Time Photos and we had such a great time. This in and of itself was worth the drive up.

Friday night we had dinner at Cantina Laredo and it was every bit as good as our dinner at the hotel. The margaritas were so smooth and fresh and it was a lovely treat for me to not have to worry about driving since our hotel was directly connected to the Mall. So good.

We did a ton of shopping and had an amazing time. Unfortunately my Fitbit stopped cooperating so I’m not sure how many steps we walked but we saw damn near everything in that place. Lancelot was able to get himself a huge LEGO set and I got all kinds of sparkly jewelry. And, I didn’t know this, but they have a yarn shop! I picked up two skeins of yarn that I need to find projects for.

I’m glad to be home, and Dog Blossom seems very glad that we’re back. I feel a little sorry for her because I’ll be working on campus several days this next week, but I’m sure she’ll be fine.

a post in pictures

Lilies on campus, some kind of fancy Google Pixel filter

Shawls blocking on Mom’s bed

Garth under his kitten tree

L and Garth resting on my bed

“Silly human, I’m fine.”

My boys watching TV together

Eric is a slug

Silly L at the movie

At the art museum

vacation eve AND evicted (no, not really)

This is my last day of work until July 22nd, ALL PRAISE BE TO THE ALMIGHTY CEILING CAT!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, love it even sometimes. But I’m ready for a break. Overly ready. And Lancelot is ready for a break from his job, so the time is right.

This isn’t going to be a big trip like when we went to Ireland, in fact we aren’t really going anywhere. And quite often those are the best kind of vacations. We’ll get to bum around and play tourist in our city, sleep late, and spend time with each other. I’m looking forward to it.

But first, I have a list of projects. Well, projects and random things I want to do. Like, the other day when I was out shopping with Mom I got new knobs for my bathroom cabinets. And I have a friend who’s been making beaded bracelets so I’m going to thin out my bead stash and send a package to her. And I’ve got a few shawls that need to be blocked and since Mom is now on her trip I can use her bed to do that.

The plan is to spend tomorrow during the day, while L is catching up on a little sleep, to start tearing into my list. I might actually start tonight depending on how I feel.

So, you’re probably wondering about the “eviction” part of today’s title. If you aren’t, you likely didn’t read the title and then I say “shame on you, you lazy little so-and-so.”

I mentioned that Mom is on a trip. Her bestie, who lives on the west coast, flew in and is going with her. I gave up my bedroom for her to stay in while she’s here. I’ve been informed that I have the most comfortable bed and the most relaxing bedroom ever and I’m going to need to find a new place because she’s taking over.

I may have to frame that and have it hung in my room. It would totally fit with the decor.

monday, part two

I have to hope that the worst of it is behind me, because to think that the rest of the day will be just like this – or even fucking worse – is truly unbearable.

There’s a lot going on right now, at home and at work, so I’m a little frazzled trying to keep it all straight. I’m sure it will end up fine but at the moment it feels like my brains have been replaced with scrambled eggs.

This morning I had the (not at all) brilliant idea that I didn’t need to carry my purse, just my billfold. Fine, except that meant I left the house with no sunglasses and no office keys. Fortunately all of the doors in our office suite are keyed the same so I got one of the other girls to let me in.

But still.

Three more days of work, yay! But that means I need to wrap up as much as possible, plus I’m trying to finish an online class I’m taking for professional development.

Guess I should get my ass in gear instead of talking to y’all.

so there I was, up to my false eyelashes in chicken feathers and ginger ale bottles

It’s been hot here lately. HOT. Sadly that means my energy levels are super low. I’m having one hell of a time getting motivated to start walking again, even inside on the treadmill with both fans going. And I know I need to get some activity in.

But…

Somehow, and I’m really not sure how, I’ve lost 2 1/2lbs since last Friday. And this baffles me because Lancelot and I didn’t exactly eat super healthy food over the weekend. We mostly ate crap to be honest.

Anyway, I’m excited, super excited, and I’m hoping this helps jump start my walking and activity. So YAY!

In other news, I finally got my new glasses.

They almost perfectly match my hair, they have tons of bling, and the clip on sunglasses are amazing.

With the exception of the weather this week is shaping up well. It’s a short week for me, only three days, and then I have a delightful five day weekend. And then the following week is only four days and then I’m off work until July 22nd. We aren’t going anywhere exotic this time, just taking time off work to relax and enjoy each other’s company. I can’t wait.

i’m baaaack!

No real time for a real post today, I have a paper due by 5pm. Seriously, who the fuck does homework while on holiday? Certainly not me.

Anyway, let me distract you with some photos from the Ireland trip…

Me and Mz K at our conference presentation

Amazing dinner and Irish dancing at Celtic Nights

We had a fantastic time. So fantastic that we’re planning to go back next year for my birthday.

so there i was, up to my false eyelashes in spent tissues and Hershey’s Kiss wrappers, when suddenly…

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t that bad, but there have been some unfortunate events since last I posted. I’ll try to get through the bullshit quick so we can get on to the good stuff.

The weather here has finally started to warm up, which is good, but our house has a few ice dams on the roof which is not good. Saturday Lancelot and I went to the house to try to help Mom get some of the snow and ice off the roof, no mean feat given that our lot is not flat and the house is multi-story.

We were making decent progress until we got around to the back deck. I shortened the pole on the roof rake and was giving it all I had, which is probably why I slipped on the snow still on the deck. My ankle went under sideways, not how an ankle is supposed to bend. I think I screamed.

The good news is that I just bruised the knobby bone on the side, no major damage. It does look like hell. But Mom took Lancelot to the pharmacy and he got me a brace to wear and that helped quite a bit. Today I’ve been able to walk fine without the brace, though it is in my backpack just in case.

We were still able to go see Captain Marvel with Mom on Sunday morning. Excellent movie; can’t recommend it enough. I love how the Marvel Comics Universe includes so many strong female and minority characters.

In the not great news, my poor silver hair looks green. It’s no bueno. I’m going back tonight and she’s going to put a bright fuchsia over the top of it. I’m excited.

I’ve started packing for Dublin – only five days until we leave!!! I had to upgrade to my big suitcase, which is fine, but my colleague is still convinced she can take everything she needs in carry-on luggage. I think she’s nuts.

Anyway, things are mostly great. Lancelot is amazing and did a wonderful job taking care of me this weekend. Love that man.

Saturday morning we’re going to see my nieces march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. I’m hoping the weather is good.

february be damned

Our temperatures here are well below average. WELL BELOW. And we’ve had much, much, much more snow than we typically would. All of that combines to mean that I am so ridiculously fucking sick of winter that I can taste it. Only I can’t taste anything right now because I STILL have a cold.

*end whiney ass rant*

I did manage to get my entire packet of homework finished and emailed out last night, a whole day early. YAY! Today we were reminded that we needed to complete a midterm thingy by March 7th so I went ahead and just plowed through that, too. And this morning while I was waiting for Lancelot to get out of work I sat in the car and read one of my books and made notes of bits I want to do for the manuscript.

I am at least back to being productive, which is good because I’m mostly still exhausted most of the time. I’m 100% blaming the lack of real sunlight right now.

I’m working on ways to get things done without totally screwing up my schedule. Reading in the car in the morning is good in the same was knitting while I watch the morning news with Mom is good. I like to be productive while I’m screwing around. Hard to explain. I’ve also talked to L about setting aside time on the weekends while I’m there for both of us to read, which he agreed was a good idea.

This morning I’ve been doing some other adult things like paying my bills and buying new music for our trip. I can’t believe it’s coming up so quickly. I still don’t totally feel ready for this. I have one last shipment of stuff that’s coming this weekend and then I think that’s the last of the “raw goods” we need. I know I need to start thinking seriously about the specifics of packing but I have at least started a generic packing list, which always helps me.

when it all becomes real

Today I am doing my best to at least look better than I feel. Today I look like a grown up. I am wearing a long black and white skirt, black boots, black blouse, great jewelry, and eye makeup. I look the part, yes? I was informed this morning that I look fabulous. That’s the idea. Leave them wanting more, eh?

I am not feeling so fabulous, though I wish I was. There’s a ton still to do and my energy levels are not as they should be. I am indebted to my friend K for delivering a very yummy breakfast burrito to my office this morning. She’s really rather awesome.

The roads around here are still really rather shitty. Today’s drive was better than yesterday but only marginally. I am very grateful that I have my CR-V with it’s higher clearance, near new tires, and excellent AWD. Thank you cheezuz for helping me find such an awesome little vehicle.

Anyway, in my defense, I was productive yesterday afternoon and so far this morning. The problem is that it’s been little stuff so it doesn’t really feel like much. Oh well.

Part of what’s getting me is that we leave for Dublin in less than a month and I feel woefully unprepared for this. I started my packing list yesterday which will hopefully help. I’ve also started a tiny bit of knitting for the trip. Actually, I started and finished a tiny bit of knitting. I made Lancelot and I both little pouches for our earphones. Super cute and super easy, plus they used leftover bits of yarn from shawl projects. Gotta love that.

That’s the one I made for him. I can’t remember the pattern but I ended up modifying it anyway. It only took about an hour once I figured out what modifications I wanted to make. Yay!

an update – mostly in pictures

It’s Monday morning and I’m back at work. My laundry is caught up, the cleaning bits at the house got done, and some knitting was accomplished yesterday. And I slept. Sleep is good.

The vacation last week was also good. We had some rough patches, but I expected that. This was the longest stretch of time we’ve spent together. We were bound to realize that the other is not, in fact, perfect. No surprise there. All in all I would say we worked through it all fairly well. I think Lancelot would agree. I hope he would.

I realized this morning that I don’t really have a ton of pictures to share, mostly because I was too busy enjoying what we were doing to take time to get out my phone. I’m going to call that a serious win.

Not quite lost on a beautiful back road in Weston, MO

These purple roses were right outside our room at the B&B. When I commented on them he told me that he requested them special, just for me. I almost cried.

I’m not going to lie and say that my anxiety isn’t still trying to get the best of me or that I always acted like an adult. I will say that I learned a lot about myself this last week, things I would imagine he doesn’t realize even, and that growth is always good.

I have yet to hear anything about my grad school application other than two of the three people I asked to write letters of recommendation have either done it or are in the process of doing it. That’s making me a bit nervous that I haven’t heard yet.

The knitting is coming along. I had thought I would have finished the hat by now but I was too busy having fun last week. I’m going to guess that he’ll forgive me.

One last picture…

It’s not often that I like the way I look or like pictures taken of myself. I take selfies regularly but usually hate them. But I love this shirt and I actually think my hair is behaving today. And this is probably the most true-to-life picture I’ve taken of myself in a long fucking time.