January 19, 2007 by Amy

Back in the groove

Not much to report today. We still have power. Wooo hooo! This probably doesn’t seem like news to those of you who don’t lose power all the time. But for those of us who do, this is major.

Heading to San Antonio tomorrow for a conference. This is the same conference I attended last January in San Diego that sucked beyond belief. It sucked for several reasons: the conference content was non-existent, the keynote speaker was so horribly bad as to be insulting, and I was away from my little Zozo for four days. This year, I planned the trip so as not to have any extra time there whatsoever. We fly in, attend the opening party, two days of seminars, then fly out the evening of the second day. I minimized the “have to be away from Zozo and M” time as much as possible. However, it looks as though the conference planners listened to the feedback that I, and I’m sure darn near every other attendee last year, gave them, and the content looks fantastic. Strategic planning, effective communication, teamwork, and the like.

M and I cleaned the house last night so tonight we can all just relax and hang out together. Zozer needs a bath, and we have to play with our blocks and balls and our Baby Tad who sings whenever you press his paw. After she goes down, we’ll kick back and watch a few West Wing episodes.

It’s nice to just do nothing every once in awhile.

It’s also nice to be all caught up, and back in our routine. We’ve pretty much been on-the-go since about Halloween. That kicks it off what with the whole “oh crap, we need a Halloween costume for Zoe” realization, then there’s going here and there to show her off, and that’s also when M starts putting up the Christmas display.

Next comes Thanksgiving, which is more running here and there, and still working on the display, and I start putting up the interior decorations. This year we had a wedding to go to in there, too, which meant going out to purchase presents and a card and make sure my clothes are back from the cleaners in time, yada yada yada.

Right around the corner from Thanksgiving is the Grand Lighting party, because that’s typically the first week in December. Only this year we lost power, so we moved out and then moved back in and had the party the second week in December, which also coincides with Bridal Beano’s birthday.

Then, of course, there’s Christmas, which involves an enormous amount of running here and there to first buy presents and then get together to exchange them. Fam in from out of town presents more opportunities to go go go, and before you know it, you’re downing way too many beers on New Years.

Normally it’s time to deflate after that, but not this year. Bridal Beano and Groomtay are getting hitched Feb. 3, so there’s lots to be done with that. Bridal showers and power outages do not mix, but we managed to make it work. Now I’ve got my business trip, then the bachelorette party, then the actual wedding, after which I plan to kick off my very cute new shoes, slip on the Crocs, and have enough champagne to make me forget my hatred of all things Ameren.

I have no plans after February 4. None. Well, there’s a Parents as Teachers meeting in there near the end of the month, but that’s nothing, really. I’m thinking about completely blocking out my entire calendar for the rest of the month, and maybe March, too. Time to hibernate.

But, on this day, everything is good. Bills are paid. House is clean. Heck, even the cat boxes got cleaned yesterday. Beanie’s bachelorette party is pretty much all planned, and promises to be loads of fun. My dress will be done at the alterations place Wednesday, a full week and a half before the wedding. Zozo’s dress fits perfectly, and M’s tux is reserved. We do have to find some cute white patent leather shoes for Zozo for the wedding day, but methinks that won’t be too difficult. Today, we’re ordering pizza in for someone’s birthday here at work. All is right with the world.

Don’t know that I’ll have access to a computer while I’m in San Antonio, so this may be my last post until Tuesday. Perhaps I can convince M to sublet my blog while I’m out of town. Perhaps not.

Which is probably just as good, since this here post is boring as hell. Many apologies. Just nothing of any interest to write about right now.