Sick Day

Even though things have been busy at work these past few weeks, most of my projects were out in other hands either with authors or freelancers. So, with relatively little to do during the day, I decided to "call in sick" on Wednesday. Fortunately my boss is great and she knows how hard we all work, so she doesn't mind if we occasinally call in sick and play hokey every now and then. Sometimes we can even schedule our "sick day" a few days in advance. All night Tuesday night, I was considering taking a sick day. I'm never really sick and have never had to take a real sick day, but I realized that I had about 12 days of sick time left for the rest of the year. So on Wednesday, I actually called in sick. I might as well use them, because they don't carry over into the next year.

On my day off I decided to go for a hike. I was awake relatively early, and I got to Chautauqua Park in Boulder at about 10:30 and I was ready to hike around the Flatirons. I had my camera with me and I was excited to take a lot of pictures. It's been a long time since I've had a photography excursion day, so I was really looking forward to it. Hiking around the Flatirons while taking a lot of pictures is one of my hobbies that completely absorbs me. It distracts me and takes me to a different place. I don't think about work or the drama at work. I don't think about the pressures of money (or the lack of money!). All I think about is the beauty surrounding me.

My hike turned into a very long one. I wandered around my usual trails and explored some trails that I haven't been on before. It was an absolutely beautiful day. It was sunny and clear and the temperature was in the 70s. For the most part the weather was calm, but it started to get windy near the end of my hike. By the time I was ready to go home, I realized that I had been hiking for about three hours and I turned back only because I was starving and needed food.

All in all it was a wonderful day. In spite of the fact that it was an occasionally strenuous hike, it was actually a very relaxing and peaceful way to spend the day off. When I was home, I devoured a huge lunch and a huge dinner and I slept like a rock. When I was back at work on Thursday and Friday, I felt completely different. I felt energized and my mind felt clear. Maybe I sweat out all the toxic energy and emotions on my hike. Either way, I felt great for the rest of the week. I wish taking a three-hour hike were something I could do every day!

Day Off, Day Five

Today is the last day of my "vacation"/long weekend, and I decided to make the most of it. Naturally, I slept in and didn't roll out of bed until about 9:30. I did what I've been doing every morning for the past few days—took a long hot shower, made my breakfast, read the news, fiddled around on the computer, etc. At around 12:00 I was thinking about going out for a quick walk, but the clouds were gray and rolling in and I heard more thunder in the distance. I thought of maybe going out shopping for some groceries, but I didn't even want to do that. As lazy as I've been all weekend, even something as simple as going shopping seemed like too much of an effort, and I just wanted to continue being lazy. So I sat out on the balcony again and continued to read my book which I finally finished tonight.

We've been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately, and I'm sure that for many this would be considered horrible weather for a long holiday weekend. But for me it was perfect. For one, I just love thunderstorms. I love to watch them, to listen to them, and to feel them. And, two, the storms have allowed me to stay in and relax. Not that I couldn't have gone out in the storms, but there is just something cozy about enjoying a storm from home. For me, this weekend has been wonderful. It has been wonderfully lazy, peaceful, and quiet. I think that this is exactly what I've been needing for several months now.

Day Off, Day Four

It has been another quiet day. I slept in again and didn't do much in the morning other than have my breakfast and read the paper. A little before 1:00 I was thinking about going out for a walk again, but I heard some thunder in the distance. I decided that it would be better to stay in rather than get caught outside in the middle of a thunderstorm. I could have gone out to do some shopping, but I wasn't in the mood for that either, so I decided to just sit out on the balcony and read a book.

The thunder was a low rumble and it was coming with long pauses in between. The clouds were gray to the west and south, but things still seemed blue toward the east. I didn't see any lightning and it didn't seem like it was even going to rain, so I was doubtful that a storm would even materialize. But eventually more clouds rolled in and it got grayer and darker. At that point I could finally see the lightning flashing behind the clouds and the thunder started to come in at a quicker pace. Then, finally, it started to rain. Actually it was more of a drizzle and after about 20 minutes everything seemed calm again. But after some time had passed, the thunder started to rumble again, a little louder this time. Then it began to rain, and this time it lasted for a while.

Things have been calm for the past few hours. There are only a few dark gray clouds in the sky, but it doesn't seem like we'll have another storm this evening. We'll see.

Day Off, Day Three

I slept in again this morning and eventually rolled out of bed at about 9:00. I probably could have slept a little bit longer but the birds in my wall were wide awake. If there were eggs in the nest before, I think they finally hatched. The baby birds have been chirping wildly for the past few days and this morning was no exception. Now I definitely have to let them stay in their nest until they are ready to fly. And I am hoping that the wild chirping is because they are being fed. I'd hate to think that another mean, aggressive bird might be trying to take over the nest. So I suppose that I'll just have to live with them a little longer.

Once I was up, I took my shower, then made my breakfast—coffee, juice, and oatmeal. Then I drank more coffee, flipped through the newspaper, and fiddled around on the computer. The weather people have been predicting scattered and isolated rain all weekend, but at about 12:00 the weather was looking pretty nice. So, with the weather being reasonable, I decided to go out for another walk/halfhearted jog, only this time I jogged for a little longer. I came home, stretched, rested, had some lunch, and watched a little TV. Then I got a little bored with TV. (How is it that you can have almost 500 channels and not have anything good to watch? In addition to the cost of expanded cable services, the complete lack of anything good to watch is another reason why I've been thinking about cutting down on some of the services.) So I turned off the TV and decided to read a book instead. Imagine that! At about 5:00 I was hungry and ready for dinner, but being too lazy to cook anything elaborate, I just had a sandwich and some chips. Then I read a little bit more, and by 7:00 I started to hear thunder again. So I put down my book and sat out on the balcony and waited for the storm to come.

The storm seemed really distant at first and all I heard was thunder. I didn't see the lightning and it wasn't raining. But then, after about 30 minutes, I started to see the clouds lit up by lightning and the thunder was getting closer and louder. Some of it was so loud that it seemed to shake my balcony. It was lovely and wonderful. Then the rain finally started to fall, but it didn't last for long. After about 20 minutes I could already see blue skies to the south.

So, again, it was another restful and relaxing day. What is on the agenda for tomorrow? I'm not sure, really. I do need to go grocery shopping, but I expect to do a lot more relaxing.

Current mood: rested and relaxed
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Melissa Etheridge "Enough of Me"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP

Day Off, Day Two

Today was my second day off and I started it out perfectly. I slept in and didn't roll out of bed until about 9:00. I started the coffee, then took a long hot shower, and then I was ready for my breakfast—coffee, orange juice, and Eggo waffles. I lounged around for most of the morning, drinking more coffee, and goofing off on the computer. At about 12:00 or 1:00 (I lost track of time!) and with the weather looking beautiful, I felt motivated to move a little bit, so I decided to take a nice long walk. The weather was wonderful—it was about 65 degrees and it was partly cloudy. The walk was brisk, and I even made some halfhearted efforts to jog a few times. The last time I ran seriously was a little over 15 years ago and back then I was living in California at around sea level. Running feels much different 15 years later and a mile higher. But, still, it felt pretty good. Even though I didn't run far or fast, I was proud of the fact that it didn't feel like my heart or lungs were about to explode. It would be nice if I could keep up this walking and halfhearted running routine. I bet I would be feeling better, eating better, and sleeping better. We'll see.

After my walk/halfhearted jog, I came home to rest a bit, then I had to go out to run some errands. Then I came home, relaxed a little bit more, watched some TV, then made my dinner. For most of the day the weather was beautiful. It was cloudy and cooler than the past few days, but it still felt wonderful. Then at about 7:30 it started to rain. Because my balcony is closed-in, I can sit on the balcony and enjoy the rain without getting wet. The rain was falling really hard, and then came the lightning and thunder. When I was younger, I used to be terrified of thunderstorms, but now I absolutely love them. We had a lot of lightning tonight and there was a steady rumble and crash of thunder. It was wonderful.

The storm lasted for about an hour, and now things are calm and quiet. You can feel the humidity in the air, and you can smell the wet grass and trees and leaves. So now I am back inside, and, with the exception of taking a moment to write this post, I'm sipping some cognac and relaxing. It's a wonderful and beautiful evening.

Current mood: rested and relaxed
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Faith Hill "Breathe"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac

Day Off

After working hard for the past, oh, several months, I finally decided to take some time off. I decided to take today and tomorrow off from work, and with Monday being a holiday, that means that I get a five day weekend. Yay for me!

I don't have any big plans for this long weekend. All I want to do is rest and relax. Today the big thing that I had on my "to-do" list was to get a haircut. My hair has been turning into a long mess and I've been long overdue for a good haircut. For the past few haircuts, I've been going to one of those chain salon stores. The prices were much cheaper and the cuts were good but they were not always clean or great. So today, since I'm spoiling myself on my little vacation, I decided to go to a real salon. It's a place I've been to before, but I stopped going there because it was getting too expensive for me. It's about twice the price of the chain salons, but I get a shampoo, a great cut, and a style. And I also get a wonderful scalp massage, too. Today's cut turned out great. My hair fell several inches past my shoulders but now it is much shorter and falls to the middle of my neck. I guess you can say that it is cut into a bob. The best thing about it is that it will be very low-maintenance and easy to take care of. I also think that it will be perfect for when the temperature really warms up in the summer. I'm very happy with it.

So what's next on the agenda? Nothing really.

Current mood: resting and relaxing
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—New Order "True Faith"
Current drink: Barq's root beer

Beautiful Morning

This has been a very unusual late fall/early winter in Colorado. Usually by this time there would be snow on the ground, but so far we haven't had any significant snowfall. There has been snow up high in the mountains, but nothing has hit the front range and cities yet. Here it is, the morning of November 8, and I'm sitting in my living room with the windows open. Right now it is a very comfortable 57 degrees, and earlier I was standing on my balcony drinking a cup of coffee. It's a beautiful and wonderful morning.

However, I can't get too comfortable and relaxed and lazy. My apartment needs some serious cleaning!

Current mood: relaxed
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Melissa Etheridge "I've Loved You Before"
Current drink: coffee

Relaxing

I wanted to take a break from house stuff and decided to relax for the evening. For the past hour I've been sitting on the balcony and enjoying a glass of wine. Aside from the occasional plane that passes overhead and aside from my music playing inside, all I hear are the sounds of birds chirping or a owl hooting in the distance. Through the green leaves of the trees outside my apartment, I can see the mountains in the distance. With the sun setting, they look like a simple dark blue mass of peaks. There are a lot of clouds in the sky, and they are drifting slowly by, almost inching their way across the sky. It's been beautiful. It's calming and relaxing.

Now it's time to pour a second glass of wine and get back outside.

Current mood: relaxed
Current music: random shuffle of Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard
Current drink: Swanson 2003 Merlot

This and That Weekend Edition

This has been a mixed weekend in that it was both busy and quiet. On Saturday I went on a major shopping spree to buy some more clothes for work. I'm far from fashionable, but I needed some more things to wear other than the standard 10 or 15 or so things that I normally wear. So I bought a bunch of shirts and some new jeans. I should have bought some more dress pants, but I didn't. All I have to say is thank God I don't have to wear full business attire to work! I'm glad I work in a relaxed industry.

Naturally after buying a bunch of new clothes, I had to do a ton of laundry, and that is what I did for some of the day today. I also brought work home with me. In spite of making a pretty decent dent in the piles of work that I had to do at work this past week, I still had to bring a lot of work home with me. I worked on it for about five hours this afternoon. I didn't finish as much as I would have liked, but my eyes and my back were getting tired, so I gave up. Instead, I decided to watch a very fabulous movie, Once, that I rented on Netflix. It was beautiful. It was also relaxing and calming which is what I needed tonight. Now I only wish that I had a glass of wine!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

...try, try again. I'm never one to give up anything without a fight or a second try. Not long ago I wrote a post about one of my culinary adventures to cook a baked rigatoni with ground turkey, zucchini, and fire roasted tomatoes. My first attempt wasn't successful for several reasons. I had too much pasta, I forgot to drain the can of fire roasted tomatoes, I didn't have foil to cover the dish, etc. My first attempt was just okay, but I wanted it to be better. I wanted it to be great. So I decided to give it a second try tonight. This time I used penne instead of rigatoni, and I think that I actually used the right amount. I remembered to drain the fire roasted tomatoes, so fortunately things weren't too watery this time. And I actually had foil to cover the dish when it baked. I let it bake for about twenty minutes, then I uncovered it and topped it with mozzarella cheese and let it bake for another ten minutes. When I finally pulled it out of the oven, it was perfect! It tasted so yummy, especially with a nice glass of Merlot. There is still plenty of food, and I think I'll have leftovers for at least three more days.

So you can say that I really enjoyed my evening. I had yummy food and watched the Super Bowl. The game was awesome. And the commercials were great too. All in all, it's been a good night.

Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: Sebastiani 2004 Merlot

Ready for a New Week

As I wrote in my last post, this last week was, well, "off." Something just wasn't right. But a kind and comforting call from a good friend seemed to make me feel better. It calmed me down, and it helped me relax. I took some work home with me this weekend, but I really didn't do that much. I only worked for a few hours this evening. For the most part this weekend, I didn't do much of anything. I went shopping and ran a few errands, but other than that I just relaxed. This was a beautiful weekend, too. It was hard to believe that it is January and that it is supposed to be winter. It was sunny and warm all weekend. It was about 65 degrees when I went out this afternoon. It feels strange to go shopping in January without being bundled up and wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves. It felt so nice I didn't even bring a light jacket with me.

It was a calm and relaxing weekend, and I think that I am ready for the coming week. I say that now, but you never know what to expect in the next few days--a terrible snow storm, piles of work, who knows what else. Oh well. What can you do? I'll just try to think positive. And when that doesn't help, I'll try to remember how good I felt when I got that one phone call...

Now I must go. It's past my bedtime for a work night...

More of This and That

Hair and stuff: As I wrote a few days ago, this was going to be a relaxing and quiet weekend. On Saturday, I went to the salon to get my hair done. They say you're supposed to have your hair cut every two or three months, but I hardly ever do that. I'm really bad when it comes to keeping regular hair appointments, and it is mostly because I'm too busy to find time to make the appointment! It's been over six months since I last had my hair done, and I was in serious need of...well, something...anything... I had about three or four inches cut off and my stylist put in a lot of layers and texture. I also got some more color, because I had to wash that gray right out of my hair. I wanted to do something "different" so I asked for purple color. Now, I'm sure there was a collective shout of "what?!" but the purple looks really good. It's not a bright, neon purple. It is more of a deep metallic purple. If "deep metallic purple" isn't enough of a visual, I suppose you can say that it is also the color of wine. Since I naturally have black hair, the two colors blend nicely. So, I'm liking my new color and cut, which is a good thing because it cost me a fortune.

Food and stuff: When I was writing up my shopping list this morning, I was struck with the sudden urge to cook some different and more elaborate dinners for myself this week. I usually like to make things that are quick and easy, but this week I wanted to do more. So for the menu this week I'm going to make Baked Penne with Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Ground Turkey, and Zucchini. And later in the week, I'm going to make Eggplant Parmigiana. Yes, I'm only going to officially cook only two dishes, but with all of the leftovers, I can probably eat for a week or more on these two dishes alone. Yes, I like pasta and Italian food. And, yes, I'll be sure to eat salads, too.

Work and stuff: I have the day off tomorrow! Yipee!

Weather and stuff: It's pretty darn cold!!

Shopping and stuff: I wonder if the liquor stores are open tomorrow. I'm out of Cognac! And wine...

This and That

This was another busy and tiring week at work. I haven't been sleeping well, so that wasn't helping. But fortunately we have the day off on Monday, so that means I have one extra day to relax.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to pamper myself at the hair salon. I'm in desperate need of a cut and some fun color.

Other than that I have nothing exciting planned for this weekend except for doing a little shopping, cleaning, and laundry. I haven't done laundry in weeks, and I'm running out of socks. Fortunately I still have underwear...

The weather has gotten really cold at the end of this week. That probably isn't unusual considering this is Colorado in January, but it was fairly warm last weekend. It's been cold outside, but it sometimes feels colder in our offices/cubicles at work. Maybe my cube is colder because I sit next to a huge window. I had to go out during one of my lunch breaks to buy a fleece jacket just for the office so that I could keep myself warm. We did have some snow but fortunately it wasn't that bad and didn't really stick that much. At least the drive into work wasn't that bad.

That's pretty much all that has been going on this past week.
+++++
Update (10:30 p.m.): I just looked outside for the first time since getting home from work. There is a nice dusting of snow on the roads, sidewalks, and grass out there!

Quiet Weekend

This has been a quiet weekend. It's the first weekend I've had where I didn't bring work home with me. Actually, I probably could have brought work home with me, but I chose not to. So what have I been doing this weekend? Absolutely nothing. Although, I have been sleeping a lot if that counts as something. Mostly I've just been taking it easy and I've been trying to relax. I did buy one of those instructional DVDs for beginning T'ai Chi, because I'm trying to fine tune my body and mind. It's a pretty cool DVD, but I think that it will take a lot of practice before I get the movements down. T'ai Chi really is like a dance, and I'm not the most coordinated or graceful woman in the world. Plus, when you watch it on TV, you're normal tendency is to mirror what the instructor is doing, but when you're moving your left leg to mirror him and when he starts talking about moving the right leg it gets really confusing. At least it is confusing to me, since I obviously have understanding the difference between right and left. But maybe I'll get the hang of it. I do have to day that it is very relaxing when you're not struggling to understand the difference between right and left. I also want to try something called Budokon which combines yoga and martial arts. I think the martial arts would be easier for me (I'm much more coordinated when it comes to kicking and punching!) and it would be a way to get into yoga.

I must be on another health kick, because yesterday I was trying to cook up something new with a new recipe I found. Tofu Chili. The chili I've always made in the past usually involved browning ground beef, adding tomatoes, and throwing in one of those ready-made spice packages. But, I thought it might be interesting to try to make chili from scratch, and I got the crazy idea to try tofu chili. This recipe involved chopping up carrots, green bell peppers, onions, garlic, adding individual spices (i.e. not in a handy package), and cooking it up all together with tomatoes, black beans, and tofu. Well, it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I love tofu, but it just wasn't working in the chili. Maybe I need to experiment with the spice combination, or maybe I should have tried it with meat first. Sigh... I'd make a lousy vegetarian.

In other news, the weather has taken a turn. It was cloudy all day yesterday, and then it started to rain late in the afternoon. It has been raining on and off ever since. Once again, it is a sign that winter is around the corner, but it is feeling quite cozy today.

Current mood: relaxed
Current music: Melissa Etheridge. The Awakening. (An awesome CD)

Relaxing and Cooling Off

I've either been working too hard these days or not sleeping well enough. Whatever is going on, I've been able to get a lot of sleep this weekend. I went to bed early on Friday night, and woke up late in the morning on Saturday, giving myself about twelve hours of sleep. I went to bed at about 11:00 on Saturday night, and I had grand plans of waking up at 7:00 a.m. to run some errands and do some shopping. I sort of woke up at 7:00 but rolled over and fell asleep again. I finally rolled out of bed around 10:30. I guess if you add it all up, I got about 24 hours of sleep this weekend. I guess my body needed it. But, as much as I love sleeping in, I always hate the fact that I essentially have only half the day to get anything accomplished. Oh well.

It's been warm all week, and this weekend has been really hot. But just an hour ago or so, we had a nice shower of rain. It was brief but it was enough to cool things off a bit. We had lots of thunder, too. And, in typical Colorado fashion, it rained while there were still several patches of blue sky and while the sun was still shining. I can never figure out how that happens. But I don't question it, I just enjoy it.

I don't have anything profound to offer right now, but maybe there will be more to come later...

Beautiful Evening

I had a fairly productive day today. This evening I decided to relax. A few dozen candles, a glass of Cognac, and a Loreena McKennitt concert on PBS. Can it get much better?

Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Fine Champagne Cognac