First of all, wow am I ever embarrassed by how I have neglected my blog!
The last few weeks have been pretty full and hectic but also full of lots of smiles. Can't complain at all.
Last weekend we drove over to Amherst for the day to spend time with Joe's grad school housemates Jon and Steve and their families. We had the nicest time - these are people we don't seen nearly often enough. It was pretty educational, too - Jon's younger daughter was born deaf (she's 2) and so we picked up a lot of ASL words. ASL is pretty cool - for instance, the sign for "chocolate" when made more vigorously means "sex."
This week I worked 4 10+ hour days (including one very late night in the office) and took Friday off as per our new 4-day work weak policy. I'm not sure, but I think I liked it. ;)
This weekend we drove down to NJ to see my friend Gretchen and her family. It is so nice when you find a friend who you love who also has a great family you enjoy and your family enjoys them, too. One of the first things I did was get Gretchen interested in Plurk, and by the end of the day she was good and hooked. :) The guys went and had drinks and got cigars while G and I chilled, catching up on what's new with each other and doing some tandem online window shopping ("hey, look at these shoes - do you like them more in purple?"). We ended up having a late dinner and stayed up late laughing and talking. I still went to bed earlier than I have all week, though. ;)
This morning we slept in a little, watched some Olympics basketball on the ginormous TV, then G and I went shopping where I proceeded to buy nothing. I have a feeling I'm going to need some new pants and such this fall as I weigh 10 pounds less than I did at the beginning of the year. (Basically through snacking less, I think, and maybe my metabolism finally recovered from quitting soda.) I got the new Lucky magazine this week and I can't wait to dig into it. G and I also made plans for what I've come to think of as Lollashoelooza - we're going to have a little trip into NYC one weekend in late fall to buy some very lovely, very sexy shoes. Spending time with G and her family reminds me of how great it is to have friends with whom you can just chill - no elaborate plans, just plain ol' fun and great company.
Now we're on the road home - about 30 miles from home. Laundry awaits and I have a whole mess of work emails that I guess I need to go to the office to send. Even though I was logged into the server through VPN when I sent them, they are still sitting in my outbox. Frustrating.
I leave for Trinidad on Wednesday and don't feel anywhere near ready to go. Should be a fun trip...not a lot of work travel booked for the rest of the year, but since client work is picking up steam again, I'm sure that will change.
Oh, I've also been writing a good bit lately, mostly poetry. Not half bad. (And if you know me and my impossible self-standards, you know I really mean not half good, either. ;))