39 posts tagged “crazy schedule”
I'm finally reaching that inevitable point where I get frustrated that I have no spare time in my schedule. Even when I remind myself some of it is my doing, I'm still irritated that I have no time to run errands or take care of other things. As much as Cranky has been a fantastic virtual assistant (THANKS, CRANKY!), I need more than that. I need a second one of me.
I was planning on having Sunday to myself but late Friday night a friend called and wanted to know if I would go the opera with him for the Sunday matinee. Cosi fan Tutte - how could I resist? It was great, I loved it, but I was so tired it was all I could do to concentrate and not think about all the things I wasn't doing. Like buying gear for my upcoming Grand Canyon hike. I'm running out of time to buy new hiking boots and break them in before November 12. Yipes.
I did manage to buy a gallon of milk on my way home from the train stop. I love riding the new light rail. So do a lot of other people. It was packed both Saturday and Sunday, with many opera goers on the Sunday train. Super fun!
I'm leaving in a little bit to head up the mountain for a meeting in Flagstaff. There goes the rest of today and this evening. At least I'm not driving. I plan on sitting in the back and catching up on some reading. Thank goodness I don't get car sick.
Since I didn't do a Rocktober post yesterday (I pre-posted for Saturday already), I'll throw in two songs for today. The band is The The, or as I like to say, the The The. A guy I dated a few years ago introduced me to them and that's pretty much all I have to share by way of background info - and I need to get some work done before I leave so I'm not going to look up any more information. My apologies to anyone who is offended by my intentional lack of thoroughness.
Have a great day! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!
Can't dawdle long, have a lot to do and not much time left to do it. Yay, deadlines!
So here are my Rocktober entries for yesterday and today - and one for tomorrow just in case I can't get to my computer.
Since my calendar feels squished (what else is new, eh?), I'll play you some Squeeze.
HAPPY FRIDAY!
It has been a helluva week. Hmm, I think I've said that before a couple times.
I met a friend at the high school track across the street for a 5:30 a.m. workout. We were talking about schedules and she said, "You have as much or more going on at work and outside of it than anyone else, how come you don't ever seemed as stressed out as some of our other friends."
I think I'm just resigned to it. But I told her that I love my job, I enjoy what I do and most of my scheduling craziness is self-inflicted. I also have learned to deal with getting home in time to go straight to bed and to squeeze in as much sleep as possible. I have two weeks of mail stacked up on my kitchen table - but I do check for important things like the card my Grams sent me. Awww. I sat right down and wrote her a letter back.
What else? I don't care if I make the bed or not. That's new. I don't worry as much about getting my hair perfect because I'm never happy with it anyway. I don't feel guilty for carrying around a week's worth of newspapers, just in case I have time on my hands. The blackberry keeps me from worrying about what's sitting in my work email when I'm away from my desk. This is not a bad thing. I'm a Communications Professional and that's part of the job.
That said, I'm really tired. But it's a good kind of tired. And it's Friday. Hooray!
I'm tired. I need to hang out with non-bad influence friends. But that wouldn't be fun.
I'm hurting a bit from yesterday's Oktoberfest festivities. I never did find the polka tent, but I was in Beers of the World a lot. The Tempe Sister Cities program made a lot of money off me and everyone else, so it's all good.
Later on tonight I'm going to help a friend out who is in town to work a trade show. She's a sales rep for a winery in Washington state (it makes Mad Housewife wine) and needs help handing out samples and trinkets at one of the swanky resorts here in town. I hadn't been to this resort and there could be worse ways of spending three-hours of a Sunday night than Meeting & Greeting.
I think we get to help sample, too. Not that it had anything to do with the generous volunteering of my time...
Okay, here's song #4 from the AmyH Ska Punk Rockin' Funk Collection for this Fourth Day of Rocktober. From one of my favorite bands, Southern Culture on the Skids.
My dinner plans were cancelled so now I'm home. Oh, to have a free night!
I really should work out, but I'm promising myself that I'll go to bed early and run in the morning. I hope it's not TOO hot. It's been a little humid for us lately. Last week we had a dip in temps in the morning and the big joke was that we were all chilly at 83 degrees. That 30 degree drop makes a difference!
Anyway, I'm picking up all sorts of stuff I've scattered around the place. I discovered the present BrownA and I found for Crankypants when were at the Chicago Squeendy City MeetUp back in June. Don't worry, Cranky, I'll send it and other stuff to re-clutterfy your house soon!
I should probably work on all those bills and whatnot piling up on the kitchen table, along with those multiple stacks of newspapers. But if I watch another episode of the X-Files, I'll be that much closer to sending the DVD back for more of Season 2.
Posting more Costa Rica pics was also on an earlier to do list. So here you go.
Here are pictures from the resort in Arenal, including a gratuitous bikini shot of yours truly enjoying the hot springs. Around noon, the heavens unleashed and we were forced to take cover at the swim-up bar. I drank a few guaro sours and pisco sours to pass the time before my massage. THAT was amazing. I was getting a rubdown in my very own open air cabana in the jungle. At one point I had to wrap myself in a towel and rinse off in my own secluded spring (I had a Volcano Mud Wrap). There I was, in the rain, naked in a river in the middle of the rain forest. Hee hee hee! I thought it was heaven.
The volcano was hidden from view from our room during the day except for the morning of our departure. It also greeted us in the moonlight upon our arrival. We felt really welcome. :-)
Here we are during our day of touring the Arenal region. Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall and Arenal. The volcano was active, spitting out hot rocks as big as cars. It was so freaking awesome. We were far enough away to be safe, but could see the rocks break apart, showing their glowing red insides. Super cool.
Hanging Bridges:
La Fortuna & Arenal. The little puffs of white on the right hand side is dirt/dust getting kicked up by the tumbling rocks.
You know, I used to be much better and telling stories and making little photo-blogs about my trips. What a slackass I've become.
Here are some assorted fauna to make up for it.
Looks like I've successfully killed half an hour just posting photos. Maybe that's why I don't do it more often. Ha.
Enjoy!
Next installment: AmyH at the Beach. I promise, no more bikini shots. You're safe from here on out.
This weekend was pretty quiet. My friend Anne cleaned out her closet and I took home about 40 pounds of clothes. I kept most of it, the rest goes to Goodwill. That meant a day of nothing but laundry for the Amester yesterday. Oh, and a swim. I needed to work out some soreness from another round of hot yoga on Saturday. I'm glad to be getting back to it after a year hiatus.
I'm still feeling blorpy. I was hoping to lose 5-10 pounds before Costa Rica (July), but I guess I should be doing more than just hoping. Like working out and watching what I eat (and drink). Eh, whatevs. I'm happy and I'll be in Costa Rica.
But first - CHICAGO! SQUEE! I still need to get a souviner. My flight on Friday leaves before the airport shops open so now I'll have to scour Old Town Scottsdale and hit up some of the tourist trap stores to get some appropriate schwag.
It's a short week, so I'm going to try and actually accomplish something. I'm going to try and not be around TOO much. Ha. Like I have that kind of willpower.
Here's last week's list:
1. Set up new Blackberry phone, to be delivered by mail TODAY! Yay! - Still can't get work email, but I upload pictures of Elvis. So that's a success!
2. Finish VP Finance Report - *whistles, shuffles feet*
3. Call Grams in her new place. She's doing a lot better! Her mind is back and she's doing a little walking. - MomH said her phone isn't working right. I'll call her when it's set up.
4. Vacuum - Did a bit of cleaning this weekend. Feels good to have a clean house and clear sight lines to spot scorpions.
5. Read one magazine from pile (I'm busy every single night this week but tonight) - I don't believe this happened. I'm busy every night this week, too.
6. Bikram yoga 2x (I bought a pass for the next two weeks) - so sweaty, feels sooo good.
7. Run once - Whoops. It's those late nights doing me in.
8. Get ready for CHICAGO!!! (and buy tacky AZ souvenir) - I have a ride to the airport and a catsitter, that's all I have going for me right now!
This week:
1. Pack for CHICAGO!!!
2. Buy souvenir for CHICAGO!!!
3. Finish VP Finance Report
4. Stop driving self crazy by doing things I know I shouldn't do because I know it will drive me crazy thinking about how I shouldn't have done those things when I know I'll drive myself crazy. See the endless loop of hell I put myself in sometimes? I need to stop the madness!
5. Find presents for double birthday party on Wednesday
6. Renew passport. I'm good for Costa Rica, but it expires before the end of the year. Who knows when I'll suddenly need to leave the country, after all?
Have a great one!
I'm whooped. I've had something going on every night this week, including tonight. Diamondbacks v Astros!
I'm so excited about going to bed tonight and not having a time I need to get up tomorrow morning. You have no idea HOW excited I am about sleeping.
I still haven't made it to the AT&T store to figure out how to get work email and my contacts into my Blackberry. I was going to go last night but then a friend asked me to join him for an FBS (Food, Booze & Schmooze) at the Wrigley Mansion. That sounded way more fun than hanging out with tech geeks.
So I still can't get work email, instant message, import my contacts, etc. But I did take a picture of Elvis and added applications for Facebook and Twitter. I haven't figured out how to upload anything to Vox yet. That might be my quest for next week.
I have a couple of parties to go to tomorrow and then NOTHING on Sunday. Oh, joy! I'll probably go to Target and try on swimsuits for Costa Rica. I wonder if I can lose four inches off the Buddha by Sunday. Probably not, may as well have a beer at the baseball game tonight since it's not going to make a difference at this point.
Wings are winning the Stanley Cup tonight. Good thing I have a smart phone - now I can check the scores when I can't watch the game.
Hmm. This post is fairly rambly and not well thought out. Did I mention I'm really tired?
OMG - Elvis was THE most adorable kitty ever this morning. I wuv him so much.
Our high temps have been in the 90s this week. Glorious! I hope it stays that way for the rest of the summer!
Gotta run. I think I should get some coffee, too.
I'm whooped. And I didn't do anything more exciting than float around in Miss K's pool for a few hours yesterday. The day before I did Bikram Yoga and I'm still sore. Saturday night was the Bloomin' Beerfest at the Irish Cultural Center. Miss K and I decided we were taking it over next year. The silent auction was pretty much a garage sale with a lot of crap and some of the beer vendors didn't show. Thank heavens for Four Peaks, who saved the day. I was a big fan before, an even bigger fan now.
My life is burning me out, which happens once in a while. I'm looking forward to wrapping up the rest of my volunteer obligations and being a lazy bum. As lazy a bum as I'm capable of, that is. I'm sure I'll get involved in something else soon enough and the time off from other things will help me figure out what I want to get involved in next.
Leadership Institute graduation and the party was a blast on Friday. I played the sax to much acclaim during my team's presentation on public funding for the arts. Yes, I worked in my real life work into our group project. Bonus!
Okay, enough of that. I'll put my list up and then grab my second cup of coffee. Then I can be all jittery for the rest of the day.
Last week:
1. Work out 3x
2. Finish two magazines from the pile
3. Buy tacky AZ souvenir - forgot
4. Finish VP Finance Report and just be done with it - this may end up being the new "write to German relatives" entry
5. Find a few tunes to play on sax for the graduation skit. - Harlem Nocturne, Don't Get Around Much Anymore
6. Iron clothes - forgot
7. Buy some new cute summer clothes. My closet consists of suits/work clothes and working out clothes. Not much in between. - sort of. The Ann Taylor across the street was having a sale, but I ended up buying all black. Not very summery.
This week:
1. Set up new Blackberry phone, to be delivered by mail TODAY! Yay!
2. Finish VP Finance Report
3. Call Grams in her new place. She's doing a lot better! Her mind is back and she's doing a little walking.
4. Vacuum
5. Read one magazine from pile (I'm busy every single night this week but tonight)
6. Bikram yoga 2x (I bought a pass for the next two weeks)
7. Run once
8. Get ready for CHICAGO!!! (and buy tacky AZ souvenir)
Maybe this week I'll look at the list before next Monday. :-P
Hoo-ey. I'm tired from the weekend, yet again. I'm already thinking about giving up tickets for a swanky party next Saturday night because I'm exhausted just thinking about it. It's a 'suitcase' party, which means that someone is drawn at random to fly away that night to somewhere, in this case either Napa or Sonoma.
Sure, it sounds like a blast, but I'm pooped. I also have my race that morning. Maybe I can tell them I'll go the party but don't draw my name. How lame am I becoming? I also don't want to have to deal with getting a last-minute/standby cat sitter. This is what happens when you have every night booked and just want to hide once in a while.
That said, my weekend was great. Didn't get as much done as I wanted to, though. But for the news you are all waiting for: Date Update!
Guy #1: Never did call him back. Since he's out, I'm going to make the other references less confusing.
Guy #2 (aka High Functioning Engineer - HFE). Went out on our second date on Saturday. Super nice, super cute. Had fun. There's not enough there yet for me to say for sure Yes or No, so we'll probably go out again.
Guy #3 (Fat Elvis). First date last night. Super smart, super fun, super conversation. We have a date set for this coming Thursday and ideas for future theoretical dates.
At some point in the evening, while out shooting pool, I mentioned to him that the Denny's near my house has a liquor license and I've always wanted to go in and have a beer. Not anything else, no Moon Over My Hammies, just beer. From there the conversation escalated to us going, him in a tuxedo, me in the GDoF and getting hammered then calling all of our friends to meet us there. Awesome.
I have a good feeling about that one. Except he's a few years younger than I am and I'm not sure if he realizes it or cares about such things. I always worry about younger guys because as Cranky said once, they usually want a fresher uterus. We'll see. Not sure if/how the age conversation will come up.
The other potential problem is that his last name is the same as my ex-husband's. MomH said at least I could use those monogram towels again. Ha. If the future works out with Fat Elvis, then changing my name back to H would have been a big pain in the rear for nothing. Not that I ever want to change my name AGAIN, I'm just sayin'.
Okay, that's all for now. I'm busy busy busy with work. Here's what I did/n't do last week:
- Swim at least 30 minutes (So hard to do when you have a wicked hangover)
- Write postcards to German relatives (insert more of your own jokes here)
- Send condolence cards to two friends who have lost their fathers recently (need to address and mail, but I'll count as done)
- Buy beach/hike shoes for Costa Rica
- Drop off loads of stuff to Goodwill
- Take care of paperwork piling up on the desk (nope)
- Vacuum (just the living room because Elvis was sleeping in the bedroom.)
This week:
- Run 2x
- Write postcards to German relatives (insert even more of your own jokes here)
- Sleep
- Buy plane ticket to Costa Rica
- Paperwork
- VP Finance annual report
- Iron clothes
- Avoid drowning on Tempe Town Lake during triathlon (the rest of my team has it easy, being on dry land and all)
I think that's as much as may or may not get done.
I'll leave you with a good intro to triathlon open water swims. I'll be starting from the middle of the lake, treading water for about five minutes, but this will still give you an idea.
Happy Birthday, DadH! I bought you a card, but I forgot to mail it. I'll call and sing "Happy Birthday" instead, which is more punishment than gift. It's okay because we H's are pretty easy to please and our expectations are low for such things.
Through the miracle of Twitter, and by following cutie pie George Stephanopopouoplus, I found this interesting slide show of photos from North Korea.
I was in bed last night by 10:00 p.m. and slept right through until 6:00 a.m., an hour before my alarm was set. I thought, "Nice. I'll get up and get some things done around the place." Then Elvis wanted to snuggle. Next thing - the alarm goes off at 7:00 a.m., to the soothing sounds of NPR correspondents. Elvis wants to snuggle again. All of a sudden, I wake up again at 8:00 a.m., radio still on. I'm still tired. I didn't even go out last night, or have cocktails - or anything! Those two loads of laundry and washing dishes must have really done me in.
I started this week with nothing planned for the weekend. That has since changed. Shocker. But it's all good. Second date with Guy #2 (from an earlier post) and a first date with Guy #3. I never did call Guy #1 back, I suspect he's gotten the message by now, although I did mean to be upstanding and get back to him to say I wasn't interested. How shameful of me.
That said, I'm going to try and do a Rear in Gear List just for this weekend - since that's the only time I'll get stuff done anyway. Here goes:
- Swim at least 30 minutes (I have a race on May 9 - need to stay alive long enough to hand off to my cyclist)
- Write postcards to German relatives (insert your own jokes here)
- Send condolence cards to two friends who have lost their fathers recently
- Buy beach/hike shoes for Costa Rica (REI is having a big sale this weekend! Price will drop and I have a member dividend to spend!)
- Drop off loads of stuff to Goodwill (I have three bags of clothes from a recent closet cleaning spree)
- Take care of paperwork piling up on the desk
- Vacuum
That's about as much as I think I can handle.
Have a good one, peeps!
