[Spring Always Brings New Things]

You know how I met Mr. Sullivan’s family last weekend? Well, the reason it’s taken me almost a full week to update you isn’t because it didn’t go well; work has been a little nuts this week with some unexpected surprises. But back to The Sullivans.

For starters, I’m practically a midget compared to all of them. Peter’s mom is the shortest at 5’10”, so, yeah. I think I have a big enough personality to make up in the height department, though. Obviously I was a little nervous, I mean, it’s not everyday that you meet your boyfriend’s family, and there are a lot of them: 4 brothers and a sister, plus his parents. I’ve got all the names down and general descriptions of what they do, so I think I’m in a pretty good spot.

Anyway, dinner was lovely and I had so much fun getting to know his family. Their dynamic is kind of amazing, and it’s not something that you run into often. I was definitely reminded of the way that I am with my family, and somehow that made me feel more comfortable and actually less like I wasn’t in on an inside joke. When it was time to go I didn’t really want to leave. I’m excited to get to know them all better, and let them see who I am.

Work, however, was not as easy this week. Without getting into too many details, I’ve been splitting my time between two totally different projects. Project A has been a consistent thing since October, but it’s not really what I had in mind for my future work aspirations. Project B is an up and coming thing that revved up only a month or two ago, but it’s something I would love to do more with. Sorta vague, I know. Sorry. But the good news is that my wish came true, albeit rather abruptly, and I’ll no longer be working on Project A, as of today, at all!

Also, I took an Intro to Yoga workshop last Saturday which inspired me to give yoga the good ‘ol college try. So, I’m taking my very first, actual, hot yoga class tomorrow morning. It helps that someone from work is doing it too; forces me to be a touch more accountable. (I’m currently pounding a Nalgene bottle of water so I don’t die.)

And on that note, I’m off to bed. Here’s a little something I found and felt like sharing: It’s a song, listen to it.

 

– S

 

ALSO, my trip to Dubai is in 3 weeks O_O ohmygod am I excited.

[Winds that Whirl]

I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks since I last posted; it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago! Anyway, some sort of cool and fun things have happened, and some not so cool and fun things. In true Stephanie fashion I will make a list:

1. Work has kicked into high gear and although I’m still doing a lot of the same stuff, I did get pulled into some super cool planning and designing for the future of Microsoft’s many websites.

2. The boyfriend and I went to Tacoma for a day trip to share some firsts together. First we visited the glass museum, and then spent a couple of hours at the LeMay car museum. A museum for Mr. Sullivan and one for me.

3. I got home Wednesday to find that my refrigerator had been open all day. I had already had a stressful and mediocre day. It was the icing on a shit cake so I threw out 80% of what was in there. I had no cheese, that made me sad, and I may have cried.

4. I rode the bus downtown. All by myself. My end destination was Pike Place. I bought some goodies for a package I’m sending to my family, mac and cheese at Beecher’s, and some beautifully colored tulips.

5. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and from the hints that my boyfriend has given me, which have been very limited, it sounds like it’s going to be a weekend to remember.

6. My mom is coming to visit in just 25 days. I’m so excited. SO EXCITED.

– S

[359] In the Zone

I’m finally getting to some work that needed to be done, like, weeks ago. I’ve been a little distracted.

Speaking of distractions, I met up with a friend who I used to work with in Syracuse. She’s in town visiting friends, and her boyfriend’s family. We got some drinks, drank them, and caught up. I really like getting to see people out of the context you know them from. It’s pretty nice.

 

– Stephanie

[356] Sick Day

There are a shit-ton of people at work who have been sick, and passing their sickness around. Unfortunately, I caught some strain of that sickness and decided to stay home. There wasn’t anything pressing at work, so that made my decision a whole lot easier. I stayed in bed until almost noon, and then walked down the street to get some pho with the boy, who happened to have a meeting later not that far away from my place. I put enough sriracha in my pho to clear out the entire contents of my head, except my brain. When I got back to my apartment, I hopped back into bed and slept on and off until 5pm.

The only reason I got out of bed was to shower, go have dinner made for me, to watch A River Runs Through It, and to get some cuddling in. Nothing like some quality time with someone that make you happy to cure a head cold.

 

– Stephanie

[353] Foodaholic

It was back to the grind today at the office…sort of. We’re still going through a massive reorganization, and orders haven’t quite trickled down into my level yet. I have stuff to work on so I’m not super duper bored but I wish I was busier.

In order to cure my sort of boredom, I went grocery shopping. I got the makings for coconut curry red lentil soup and chocolate chip walnut banana bread muffins. I baked and cooked into the wee hours of 9pm and then passed out before I could see who Juan Pablo, the new Bachelor, sent home. Thanks goodness for online episodes!

– Stephanie

[350] Old in a Good Way

After an exhausting day at work, just kidding, it felt good to just go home and relax a little bit. I managed to catch the sunset light in my apartment which always brings a smile to my soul. My boyfriend came over after his band practice, he has a show tomorrow at Rendezvous in Belltown, and we went and grabbed some pho, which I hadn’t experienced in Seattle yet. It was an easy, mellow night, and even though I got into bed before 11, I couldn’t have been happier.

 

– Stephanie

[318] What is This Commuting You Speak Of?

I survived my very first commute to work from the west side of the lake. The morning was so smooth that I even had time to stop at the post office before heading to work. The evening commute was a little bit more tedious, but considering there was a Seahawks game at home, it wasn’t so bad. The glass of wine right when I got in the door helped some, and so did winning my fantasy game. Suck it, Homeless.

– Stephanie

[311] On a Scale from 1-10…

Work was easier than expected today. I found out that a deadline was pushed back by a couple of weeks so I don’t have to pull my hair out trying to finish the work before Thanksgiving. Amazing.

Also, this is a picture from yesterday. You better enjoy it, or else…

 

– Stephanie

[307] Team Bonding

My team at work decided to do some bonding today. We had planned this outing over a month ago, but because of some planning going on for the next year, it was put on hold…until today. We spent some quality time together eating food, look at art at the SAM, and drinking drinks at a bar. It was great.

 

– Stephanie

[304] Whoremone Monday

I honestly had one of the worst days that I can remember…ever. It started out normally, and I made it to work without incident even though it was raining and we all know that most of Washington state drivers can’t drive in the rain. I made banana chocolate chip walnut muffins yesterday, so I brought some into work to share, and to eat for breakfast. I even managed to knock out work to finish up three projects before a meeting at 11, but after that meeting everything went downhill. I won’t go into specifics, but I basically got emotionally and work ass raped for the rest of the day. It wasn’t at all fun and I couldn’t wait to leave except that I had to stay late to finish something that was due at the end of the day, which means I hit traffic on the way home and instead of it taking me 30 minutes, it took an hour to get 13 miles. Fuck that shit.

I made an emergency stop at the grocery story, and what I came out with was of such a weird variety I’m still not sure how I feel about it: herbed Beecher’s cheese curds, grapes, apples, yogurt, chocolate milk, Ben and Jerry’s peanut butter cup ice cream, salmon, waffle fries, and a bottle of wine. And even though I was crying a little uncontrollably as I drove home from the store, after eating some of the cheese curds, a huge heap of waffle fries with ketchup, and a peanut butter cup chocolate milk…shake, everything seems ok now. Winning my fantasy game helped, I’m sure, and not having to work tomorrow is a huge factor, but it still amazes me how much of an influence food has over my mood. I’m lucky I’m not a heifer.

 

– Stephanie