Things I've Been Doing

Well I've just passed through another blogging dry spell.  I have an excuse this time, which is that I spent the week in Chicago for work, and what a ridiculous, stressful week it was.  By the time I flew back (yesterday) I literally could not form a coherent thought because my brain was so fried.  Also, my brain sucks and refuses to allow me to sleep in past 7:30am even when I get home from the airport at 2am, so this post might definitely will have some incoherence left over from last night. My apologies.

I could go into what we spent all our days doing there but I really couldn't do so without context.  I've considered for awhile writing a post about what I do for work, but I'm not sure if that would even be all that interesting to read. I get asked about it a lot actually and it requires like a minute-long spiel to explain it.

Came up with an idea to hide tattoos: BOOTS AND CARDIGANS. WIN.

Anyway, work was really stressful. We worked 8 or 9 hour days all week (including a Sunday) and had working lunches every day, and since there weren't a lot of gluten-free options in the immediate vicinity I had to eat salads, potato chips and candy while everyone else ate Chicago-style pizza and sandwiches from Jimmy John's. I don't mind all that, but eating a salad in the face of yummy pizza can be pretty demoralizing after awhile. Plus the very nature of a project go-live is such that everyone's running around like headless chickens and everything feels really chaotic.  It was great to not worry about life at home for awhile, but still, it was pretty exhausting.

The upside to being in Chicago was that I got to meet up with a few friends I haven't seen since college, which was really, really awesome and a great way to end my day.  I ate at the same Mexican restaurant every night, which was yummy but dangerous because at one point they tried to serve me flour tortillas, and I seriously almost ate them.  If my friend Jessica, whose mother has celiac disease, hadn't pointed out to me that they were clearly flour tortillas I totally would've nommed on them and then vomited all over my hotel room.  Can't take that shit for granted I suppose.  I also got sexually harassed on the street so I think I got the full city-living experience.

Rob's been gone since Friday, July 20. The Thursday prior to that we got a call at around 4:30pm from his squad leader saying that they had to go in by 7:30 as they were heading off to Colorado.  I guess I underestimated how burned out I was, since I was surprised at the extent to which I totally fucking broke down.  I cried and I couldn't even look at Rob, couldn't even conceive of the fact that we had a weekend evening ripped from us and were facing yet another 14 days apart with minimal communication, and that led me down the rabbit hole of just being so fucking frustrated that my husband picks "lifestyle" jobs instead of just normal boring shit like everyone else.  Have you ever read the story "The Rocket Man" by Ray Bradbury? It feels like that sometimes. Luckily the call got cancelled, so we had the night together, but goodbye in the morning was tough.  As was the next 5 days we went with one or two text exchanges and one phone call.

But I'm here, and we're on day 7 or 8 or who-fucking-cares-because-it-always-changes of the roll so at least we're on the downward slope.  And let's just say I've earned my Saturday, which will be spent in my brand-new hammock with a margarita and a massive collection of Ray Bradbury short stories.

AND NOW MORE PHOTOS:

Lobby of the hotel we stayed in.


View from the room we spent all week working in.




The aforementioned new hammock. I really can't even describe how excited about this I am.

What I (Honestly) Wore Wednesday

If you haven't been following this lovely brainchild of mine (and also Maryam), essentially we are posting each Wednesday what we honestly wore on that particular day.  No concerns for vanity or pretty outfits, just plain old honest clothing and appearance.

Of course this was much more relevant for me when I was working from home.

Now I'm at a client site (at least for this week) and my outfits are [insert huge sigh] work appropriate.  But usually I can still pull the lazy card with my work outfits, it's just slightly harder to see.  This is me at work:

Why this outfit still counts as lazy:

1. You all know of my self-professed hatred of ironing.  This shirt I'm wearing never has to be ironed.  It's amazing.

2. When I wear this shirt I think of the time that I may have encountered bedbugs in a hotel I stayed at.  Mercifully the bedbugs didn't follow me home but this shirt had to be dry-cleaned (paid for by the hotel, of course) and hasn't really worn the same since.

3. The shirt is a wee bit too short so if I bend over or crouch (this happens a lot at my job as we are constantly searching for outlets to plug in our laptops) my lower back tattoos will show, sometimes creating awkward situations with clients (but mostly just curiosity).  

4. The sweater I'm wearing? I bought it at Old Navy a year or so ago and use it with every single outfit I wear to work to hide my arm tattoos.  This sweater has a sizable hole in one of the armpits yet I continue to wear it and just can't be bothered to spend $19.99 on yet another work cardigan.

5. The pants I'm wearing, which you cannot see, also never need to be ironed.  Thank you, Express! I simply lay these puppies flat on a chair or over some surface and they don't require any work at all.

6. I still have two shirts in my hotel closet that have seen an iron once and have been worn a total of once each because they are quite simply too much work. I wear this shirt in this picture an average of 2-3 times per week.

7. I'm staffing an open lab this week at the client site and it has been pretty quiet.  That's why you get an iPad picture.

What are you honestly wearing this Wednesday?

And make sure to check out Maryam's feature. :)

AHHH and did I mention that I'll be leaving for home the day after tomorrow? I won't actually be home until Saturday morning but still! I am sooo close!  Exclamation points!!!! Extra letters!!!!! Italics!!!!!