Overbooked

Last week I tried to do too much and burned out in a major way. I'd been feeling good, and I kept adding social events to my calendar without thinking too hard about it. It came around to bite me, as I should have expected. But I did at least find the time to recover.

After the baby shower, Kevin, Zach, and Sarah had plans to go to the baseball game. I had plans to finish my book and take a bubble bath. But since Autumn and Ben were in town and I didn't hate the previous baseball game I'd gone to, I decided to join the group instead. The game got off to a bit of a slow start, but it didn't end up lasting too long. I'm glad I went. The last several times we've seen Ben and Autumn I feel like we've barely hung out with them. I was busy with my sister-in-law's pre-wedding events or packing or moving or cleaning or just staying in a different part of the city. So it was nice to have a chance to catch up.

That led in to a Sunday spent playing board games with everyone down at Zach and Sarah's. Again, it was nice to throw responsibilities out the window. I'm not going to be able to do that for too much longer. But it did mean that I was starting to fall behind on housework with no plan for catching back up.

Monday night, Washington was playing their opening game of the football season. And since Monday Night Football isn't broadcast on local channels, we went to a bar to watch the game. This is where things really began to fall apart. I have a touch of insomnia and I'm exhausted all the time seemingly no matter what I do. So I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to stay out until 10:30 to watch the football game. It's not like I was going to be using that time to sleep anyway. It turns out I would have been using that time to relax and get ready for bed, and everything get pushed back farther because we were out late. It would have been worth it if we hadn't been destroyed so completely by the Steelers.

On Tuesday, I had the monthly ladies night with my neighbors. I was still feeling alright, and these are new relationships that I want to form and nourish. So even though these people aren't exactly my people, I joined them all for dinner and small talk. They're all nice and they're all moms, and it's good to be around other mothers when I'm so close to being one. It's nice to complain about some of the pregnancy stuff with the other pregnant women. But I also spend these evenings envisioning myself becoming a completely different person, and I'm never sure how I feel about that. On the surface, I don't have anything against becoming a "Suburban Wine Mom". I've been halfway there for years now. But I'm also not entirely ready for conversations about nannies and insane first birthdays.

The next evening I was supposed to go downtown for an alumni event. This was actually the first of all of these events to show up on my schedule, and I hadn't even committed to it until I scheduled 9:00 am doctor's appointment for Thursday. I figured that would give me a chance to sleep in and recover from staying out. But I hadn't quite counted on doing that for so many nights in a row. So when 2:00 rolled around and I was contemplating my second cup of tea to make it through the evening and Kevin expressed a lack of interest in going, I decided I wouldn't go either. Instead I went home and sat on the couch and finally started recovering from my whirlwind social life.

I did manage to sleep in on Thursday. And since I didn't have to go back to work after the doctor's appointment, I managed to bounce back from all this craziness pretty quickly. I even made a dent in the housework I hadn't done on Sunday, though I mostly just watched TV. I need to remember to balance my life and not push myself to exhaustion just because I'll be exhausted anyway. I only have a few precious weeks of relaxation left before the kid shows up, and I shouldn't waste them.

Work Hard, Play Harder

Like the rest of summer, the last couple of weekends have been filled to the brim. Over Labor Day weekend, we had Zach and Sarah over for games. We finally got to play Settlers of America, a mash up between Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, sort of. I bought it for Kevin years ago. But it really only works with four people, and it takes hours to play. It was a good game, if a little long.

On Sunday we went up to Baltimore for a baseball game. Except we went early to eat burgers, drink beer, and watch a soccer game. The baseball game was long. And hot. It's been four years since the last baseball game I went to, and it will probably be another four before Kevin manages to drag me to another one. I just don't understand anything about that sport or why it appeals to people. Though I've been told that the games have gotten significantly longer in recent years. Given that, I wonder if they'll eventually start playing fewer innings, to get the length back down.

Labor Day itself was spent on the couch watching TV while I tried to finally kick a cold I've had for way too long. The cough is still lingering, something like three weeks after I first got sick. It wouldn't be so bad, except that Kevin managed to get over this damn thing in about three days.

Last weekend was filled with the Renaissance Festival and football. We all trooped out to Maryland to enjoy mead and cider and turkey legs. I bought a game I've been coveting since the last Renaissance Festival called Octiles. It's a variation on Chinese Checkers in which the path across the board is constantly changing. We also saw a short adaptation of Henry the V but Shakespeare's Skrum, which was a lot of fun.

Football was something of a mixed bag. Zach, Connor, and Kevin's mom all came over for the Redskins game, which was disappointing. They never quite seem to get their act together, and if they do it all, ultimately, falls apart. It didn't help that all of the scoring happened in roughly 3 minutes of gameplay, which resulted in a game that was both frustrating and a little boring.

But then I made nachos, which I've been looking forward to for weeks, and we watched the Niners game. The nachos were delicious, and the Niners are a much better and more exciting team than Washington. They scored in the first minute of the game and proceeded to walk all over the Cowboys.

This weekend promises yet more football (I love Fall), and some downtime. Which is good. I really need to clean out my office. It looks clean, but there's so much filing to be done. Not to mention that my bookcases are, once again, overflowing and could stand to be reorganized. I'll spare you the pictures this time.

Year in Review

2013 ended up being a pretty great year for me. I wanted to do one of those year in review memes to commemorate it, but I've only been able to find one and I don't really like the questions on it. So instead I'll just do a quick review of all the awesome things that happened in this past year.

In January I started a new job that I love completely. The commute is shorter, which means I have more time at home. I'm focused on a single project instead of juggling 4-5 at a time. And I actually work in the same building as my coworkers which has made it much easier to foster relationships and stay up to date and visible within the company. Switching was absolutely the right move.

But before I started that job, I took two weeks off from work and spent the days reading, watching TV, cleaning, and playing with Kina. At the end of this, Kevin's entire family came to Virginia to see his cousin perform at the Kennedy Center, and we hosted a large dinner for everyone. I only got a little stressed during this, and hosting large dinners started to become more exciting than stressful.

In March I committed to training for a 5K that my company was hosting in May. I didn't end up finishing that 5K for a few reasons, but I did run it. And running in general became something I'm a little more comfortable with. I still can't go out and run for a mile or two (or three or four), but I can do intervals for 20-25 minutes. Maybe someday I'll stop injuring myself and be able to stick to a training plan long enough to make more progress.

In April our friend Chev came to visit GW and we had mini college reunion. Chev ultimately decided to go graduate school in Boston, but the weekend was still pretty epic. And we haven't given up hope that she'll move to DC.

In May we went to our actual college reunion where Kevin proposed and I said yes. We've been planning the wedding in spurts ever since and are looking forward to making everything officially legal next year.

In July Jen came and stayed with us for a week while she looked for an apartment and a job in DC. She moved here shortly thereafter. A couple of weeks later, Zach and Sarah followed suit, and now we have all sorts of friends in DC. This has probably been very bad for our livers, but it's been excellent for our social calendars.

In the midst of all this we flew out to California for Ben and Autumn's epic wedding weekend. It's almost refreshing to know that our own wedding will never live up to theirs because it takes some of the pressure off. We also used the trip to visit Danielle and Eric, see their new house, and meet their dogs. Well, the one we hadn't met yet.

In September my mom flew out for a weekend and we went wedding dress shopping. It didn't take me too long to hone in on one I liked; Kevin's mom was impressed with my decisiveness. Even though the trip was short, we had fun visiting

October was an incredibly full month. We threw a dinner party to celebrate Sarah's completion of her PhD and Zach's birthday. My brother came to visit and we all went to the Renaissance Festival. Then we threw the annual Halloweiner, during which 13 people ended up sleeping at our house. Next year we need to get more beer and less meat, though.

In November I tore a ligament in my knee, because no year can actually be perfect. I went through physical therapy and it ended up healing fairly quickly. The saddest part was that I had to stop going to the gym for a while, but I was able to postpone my personal training sessions until after I healed. It shouldn't be too hard to get back on track in January.

My dad, brother, and cousin all came to stay with us for Thanksgiving. We spent the days playing games, cooking, eating, drinking, and hanging out. Then Kevin and I flew out to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family there.

We closed out the year, as has become tradition, at a party hosted by Zach and Sarah. I'm looking forward to even more awesome things happening next year.

Local Friends

By the time we got back from vacation, three of our friends had moved to DC. Jen actually moved in July, and Zach and Sarah moved while we were still in California after the wedding. It's exciting to have them all here, and my social calendar has absolutely exploded because of it. I used to make plans once every two or three weekends; now I have something going on nearly every weekend for the foreseeable future. It's fun, but it's also exhausting.

I'm finding that I need to readjust and do a better job of carving out time to just sit on the couch and recharge. I got good at this in college, when I made sure that I took an hour every day to sit in my room and watch TV by myself. Of course that never ended up being enough alone time. After every semester I would collapse on my mom's couch for a week, unable to even think about making plans with my high school friends until I was too bored to stay in the house anymore. And it takes me a while to get really bored.

I overdid it a bit the first week everyone was here. We spent an evening down in the city helping Zach and Sarah unload their UHaul. Then Kevin's family came over for dinner Saturday night and everyone went out to brunch on Sunday. Somehow the rest of the following week was completely nonstop until I accidentally snapped at Kevin out of exhaustion. Then I spent six hours reading The Hero of Ages on Friday and felt much better.

Since then I've been better about pacing myself. I have to turn down the occasional invitation, even if I really want to go, so that I don't overextend myself again. I'm also trying to slightly adjust my weekday evenings so that they're more relaxing, resulting in more energy on the weekends. So far this has been pretty successful. I miss out on some of the fun, but it's worth it to fully enjoy the time I do spend with my friends.

Where Does The Time Go?

Every year it happens. I flip the calendar to December and then I turn around and it's Christmas. It's the busiest month of the year and it leaves me with no time to blog.

So what did I do in December? I traveled a lot. I put up the Christmas tree and bought and wrapped presents. I attended a bunch of holiday parties. I didn't go to the gym at all.

I drove down to LeJeune to see my brother before he shipped out to Afghanistan. I'm really glad I was able to see him before he left, and I can't wait until he gets home. I also sent him some cookies which I'm hoping he receives before they all crumble or go stale.

I went up to Pittsburgh to visit friends and go bridesmaid dress shopping. We played Cards Against Humanity which is related to Apples to Apples but as a black sheep. Two of my friends decided to get it for each other for Christmas but I don't think they ended up doing that. Which is a shame as that would have been funny.

I went to Boston for my company's holiday party and to visit Boyfriend's family and some friends from college. The weekend was busy but lots of fun.

Then we went back to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family and celebrate my mom's birthday before finishing out the year in Pittsburgh.

Now we're home and things are settling down. We don't have any plans this weekend which hasn't happened since October. I'm hoping to have time to go the gym again and keep up with this blog. Here's to a relaxing January.

Last Update For a Bit

Life is incredibly busy. Work is finally under control, but now the move is taking up all my time. As always, I put off packing longer than I should have. So now I get to spend all week packing and taking stuff over to the new house. Saturday is the main moving day, with the truck and Boyfriend's buddies to help lift stuff. We have to get the carpets cleaned at the new place before we move and the old place after we move (joy). The washer/dryer is being delivered, and there are probably about ten more Target/Bed, Bath, and Beyond runs in the near future. So until we're all settled in the new place, I doubt I'll be updating this blog very much. I will be back sometime next week. Possibly the week after. Probably with more pictures of the house.