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.

Our Weekend: Mozzarella, Mango Lassi, & Mother Russia

Happy Sunday all!

Since our weekend is technically Friday and Saturday due to Rob's work schedule, I figured I'd share it with you now, on Sunday.  Really anything interesting that happens to us only happens when Rob's here; when I'm alone basically it can be summed up with "bed, sleep, nap, candy, food, dog-walk, TV." Doesn't make for gripping blog content, so you're welcome for sparing you.

On Friday I still had to work but Rob handled the dog-walking for me which was nice.  We ate a late lunch of parmesan-crusted mozzarella and pesto grilled cheese sammiches which were amazing.  We'll definitely be making these again soon.

On Saturday we hung around the house and watched the Bruins, who lost in double overtime.  I also started a new book* called Nicholas and Alexandra, because I am a straight-up geek for Russian culture and history and for nonfiction books.  The book is pretty good so far, very interestingly written particularly for nonfiction.

 

Rob also got his first paycheck, making us officially a two-income household. I'm so excited about this new development since I'll have help paying our bills and rent, and we'll be able to do fun things more often, like spontaneous tattoos and date nights.  On Saturday night to celebrate his slightly increased checking account he took me out for Indian food and I drank the absolute shit out of some mango lassi.

When we checked the mail I noticed that my latest purchase from Amazon arrived! After a couple of drinks (yeah, yeah) I decided that it was really sad that we didn't have the original Star Wars trilogy (in this home we don't recognize the prequels).  I found a good deal so I went for it.

That night we did our normal Saturday ritual, which involves the show "Celebrity Ghost Stories," and later SNL.  Has anyone else seen Celebrity Ghost Stories, on the Biography channel?  Basically celebrities tell real-life paranormal experiences from their own lives and it is so intense.  This one story was from a writer from "The Man Show" was wicked crazy, and the guy was seriously super emotional about it.  I don't know how I feel about paranormal experiences in general--having never had one--but these stories are so convincing it's scary.

Other than that things have been pretty quiet around here.  As of this coming Wednesday Rob can get called out on fires, so I assume I'll be spending a lot more time online and drinking martinis alone.  Because I'm classy, not pathetic, I assure you.

Well now, that was a bit of a pointless post now, wasn't it? Regardless, I hope you all had a great weekend full of love, happiness, happy loveliness, Indian food, tulips, and, I don't know, candy or some shit.

*I finished "Kasher in the Rye," by the way, and it was an excellent book.  At once humorous and heart-breaking, I was found myself both laughing and crying throughout the entire thing.  Definitely a wonderful story of redemption and growth.  I just hope it's true, unlike "A Million Little Pieces."