Viva, Las Vegas!!!

I think this picture pretty much sums up just how awesome (and necessary) our weekend trip to Vegas was.


Yes, that's me with a margarita the length of my arm. It was tasty.


Juan had fun too, even though it's hard to tell from the photos I took of him.


We went to some kickass parties thrown by my former employer


Had truly excellent food (all paid for by my former employer)

And I did a little work too.


Not very much, though, because we were in VEGAS, and I had far more important things to do than work. Like find the chocolate fountain at the Bellagio.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and a great way to once and for all say goodbye to my friends and former coworkers from DC.

Fish, and Turtles, and BATS, Oh My!

Yesterday we went up to Baltimore with the in-laws to visit the aquarium and tourist around the Inner Harbor. We had a great time, especially with the fish. I love fish. Rather, I love to look at fish. Swimming with them is an entirely different story, and one that usually involves me pantomiming how I once ran away from a pair of harmless parrot fish while snorkeling in Cancun.

But I digress. Yesterday's fish were in tanks.



Also in a tank was my favorite thing at Baltimore's aquarium. The giant sea turtle. It lives in a huge tank on the ground floor of the aquarium with a whole bunch of stingrays.



I love this turtle.

My second favorite part of the aquarium was the new Australia exhibit. The first thing we saw as we walked in were six or seven big bats, just hanging out around the ceiling.



BATS! Hanging from the ceiling! Right above our heads! It was cool. J's 11 year old nephew thought so too. Then these birds flew by and almost hit my sister-in-law.



It's practically like the outback, only indoors and with a higher concentration of animals. In any case, if you're in or near Baltimore and haven't' been to the aquarium in awhile, I highly recommend it.

Nostalgia

Today is my last real day of work. It feels so weird to type that. Like I don't quite believe it myself. Yet, here I am, sitting in my almost empty office, working on a massive memo to my as-yet-unnamed replacement. It's a very, very weird feeling.

Have I mentioned before that today also happens to be the 3 year anniversary of the day I started this job? I don't think so. How coincidental is that? Three years EXACTLY since I walked in this office as a real employee for the first time. Back then I had a cube, an ancient computer, and a tiny little office plant my boss gave me as a welcome gift. Today I have an office, a slightly less ancient computer, and that tiny office plant has gotten HUGE. I've actually had to prune it a few times to keep it from taking over my desk.

So many things have changed in the last three years. J and I were engaged when I started here, and now we've been married for almost three years. We weren't homeowners yet, and I was still planning to go back to school to become a librarian after working here for a year (HA!). I spent most of the first summer I lived in Washington massively homesick for Salt Lake, and used to enviously look at women on the subway who had suitcases with them, wishing I was getting on an airplane too. Now I'm already feeling homesick for Washington, and I save my envious glaces for women who are obviously pregnant. Things certainly do change in three years.

And yet, so many things stay the same. I'll still be coming in Monday morning to orient a new intern, and I'll telecommute part time until they find a replacement. So I'm leaving, but not really.

Regardless, this is the end of an era. It's the end of my first honest-to-goodness adult job, and of some pretty amazing years of my life. It's also the start of a new chapter in my life, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Strange Things Found in My Office, or Why the $%#*& Did I Keep This?

I've now spent the last two days de-personal-item-izing my office. Since I just moved into this office from a cube down the hall 18 months ago, you wouldn't think that I'd have that much crap to deal with. You would be wrong. So far I have found:

-14 plastic straws from Subway (Why? I don't even use plastic straws)
-1 bobble-head doll of one of our former clients
-4 collectible pins from cities I've never visited
-Approximately 47,000 copies of a single issue of our in-house newspaper that contains one tiny story I wrote three years ago.
-NO copies of the issue of our in-house newspaper where I was the author of both front-page stories.
-3 glass vases
-1 knee-length cardigan minus its sash
-1 winter hat I thought I'd lost two years ago
-3 videos of news stories I never watched about a program I run (oops)
-7 bottles of lotion
-1 giant Super Bowl XL mug and t-shirt
-3 calendars from 2004
-$5 worth of pennies
-and a partridge in a pear tree

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle my e-mail inbox. 8,615 items of pure fun!

Good Things

This blog has officially become to whiney. There ARE good things happening in my life, as astonishing as it may seem if you come here very often. Here are just a few things I'm happy about.

1) My awesome mind/body fertility class--This class has really changed my outlook on both infertility and how I deal with everyday stress. I tend to automatically think worst case scenario whenever a roadblock pops up or something doesn't go the way I expected. Even just a few weeks of structured meditations and really thinking about my reactions have made a difference in how I handle stress.

2) My angel kitties--We had to board the cats while we were in our new city two weeks ago because we couldn't trust Arcadia not to pee on any of the furniture when we were both away for so long. Amazingly, not only did they do okay being boarded, but we've had no peeing incidents and no threatened peeing incidents since we brought them home, even when 12 strange people came to the house Saturday night.

3) Work--Even though I'm very glad to be finishing things up here at the office next Friday, there's a good chance that I'll be able to continue doing some contract work for the office after the move. This would be awesome for several reasons, mostly because of the money. Being employed from the get-go would be a very, very good thing.

4) Family--The in-laws start arriving next Saturday, and my parents will get here on the 19th. We're going to spend a lot of time touristing around and getting to visit, which I'm really looking forward to.

5) Snarkies--I cannot, CANNOT overemphasize how happy I am to have these women in my life. If nothing else, they're a constant source of support and humor in my day, and that means the world when nothing else is going the way I've planned.

Creature Comforts

In 24 days I won't work here anymore.

I actually liked this job a lot when I started. The work was interesting, I was challenged, and it was a great opportunity for someone who was fresh out of college. The problem was that I wasn't really interested in doing political/nonprofit work, and eventually it stopped being fun. I first started threatening to quit about a year ago, and when friends and family suggested that I make good on my threats and find a new job, I backpedaled.

"We're leaving in just a year!" I said.

"I don't want to leave the company in a lurch!" I said.

What I really meant was that I was afraid to change jobs. Even though I wasn't really happy, I was comfortable and in my world being comfortable is very important.

So I stayed and kept complaining. I know everyone got really sick of me saying how much I hated my job, and looking back on it, I really should have left a year ago. Even though there have been good times in the last 12 months, I think I would have left here with a better attitude if I'd handed in my resignation back in early 2005.

Since my boss has started looking for a replacement for me though, I've realized just how proud I am of the work I've done here. Reviewing the job description my boss is currently sending out in the hopes of finding my replacement, I'm a little intimidated. I do all that? Really? Damn!

And honestly, even though I'm counting down the days until I get to say goodbye to this place for good, I'm starting to get sentimental about it. Who will help my coworker with computer problems after I'm gone? Will the fax machine around the corner ever get fixed? Who's going to finally figure out how to program the time on our microwave? And, more to the point, who will my friends go to lunch with when I'm gone? What jokes will they share that I won't be a part of? What crazy things will I miss when I'm not in D.C. anymore?

Because really, I won't miss this job. I'll miss the people, the camraderie, and the random every-day stuff that makes me smile. I'll miss feeling this comfortable in a place and with a group of people. I'm sure I'll feel this way again about a different place and a different group of people, but it'll take some time. Until then, I'm going to keep counting down the days until I leave, but also try to keep in mind that I'm counting down to saying goodbye to a lot of things that at the end of the day make me very happy.

You know what's nice?

Spending the day "working" (responding to e-mails and voicemail) in my PJs while watching TV from a super-comfortable hotel bed. Friday rocked. Well, except for the part when I didn't rent a car (stupid) and the only food within walking distance was Wendy's. And then when the hotel decided not to have room service on Friday nights and I had to order enough food to feed the entire state of Connecticut just so the one Chinese restaurant in the area would deliver.

But other than that, it was a nice day.

I flew home yesterday and I'm not exactly looking forward to dealing with all the things that are left over from last week. Then again, I only have 33 days left until I'm done with work and the graduation festivities begin!

Item X

Apparently I need to write cryptic posts more often! I had y'all chomping at the bit!

To recap, when we last left our heroine she was in California, preparing to go to an event, and kept getting paranoid and checking her purse to make sure the mysterious Item X was still in it.

YESTERDAY

1:47 PM: Finish mysterious entry, get ready for event
2:00 PM: Realize hair looks like ass, attempt to fix
2:10 PM: Decide that hair will just have to cope with looking like ass, start transferring hotel key, cash, and Item X from big, casual tote to small, professional handbag.
2:11 PM: Shit. Item X does not fit in small, professional handbag.
2:15 PM: Item X REALLY does not fit into small, professional handbag, and is now slightly crumpled after trying to make it fit.
2:17 PM: Why the hell don't they put pockets on the inside of womens' blazers? Aside from the obvious reason, because I could really use one right now.
2:20 PM: A-HA! There IS a pocket on the inside of the raincoat. Put Item X in raincoat pocket, leave hotel room
2:30 PM: Hotel staff moving very slowly to get shuttle van, and raincoat is really too hot to be wearing outside
2:31 PM: Get paranoid, pat self lightly on chest to make sure Item X is still in pocket
2:32 PM: Realize that it looks like I'm doing something rather inappropriate to myself when I check for Item X. Don't really care, since paranoia must be satisfied.
2:40 PM: Arrive at event location
2:41 PM: Get paranoid, pat self lightly on chest to make sure Item X is still in pocket
2:42 PM: Realize that people I have to work with are looking at me funny, take Item X out of pocket, ditch coat on chair
3:40 PM: Program finally gets started
3:45 PM: Shit. Do I have to speak?
3:50 PM: Yes, apparently I do
3:55 PM: I ROCK at public speaking! Forgot how satisfying it is to have an audience eating out of the palm of my hand.
3:56 PM: Official presentation of Item X to local elected official
3:57 PM: Local elected official shows audience what Item X is--it's a check for $15,000!
4:00 PM: Pose for many, many pictures with other important local people and the check
4:15 PM: Get interviewed by local cable station about the check
4:20 PM: Realize that the check is no longer my responsibility, paranoia ends
4:30 PM: I'm really tired
4:55 PM: Really, really tired
5:20 PM: I've been awake for...good grief, like 17 hours!
5:40 PM: Don't these people ever stop talking?
6:30 PM: Still tired, want to leave, but people keep talking to me.
7:00 PM: Thank goodness, colleague realizes that I'm about ready to pass out, drives me back to my hotel
7:20 PM: Get back to hotel room, kick off shoes
7:22 PM: Check e-mail
7:23 PM: Check Snark
7:24 PM: Check blog
7:25 PM: Holy crap! Clearly a lot of people want to know what Item X was!
7:26 PM: Order room service
8:00 PM: Finish room service, feel like a pig
8:05 PM: Crawl into bed. Have been awake total of 20 hours.
8:06 PM: Fall asleep

The check was a grant I was giving on behalf of our organization. I NEVER want to carry that much money around with me again! I spent two whole days completely paranoid about what would happen if the evelope slipped out of my purse, or if someone stole it.

The good news is that the event went well, I was a hit, and I even got a job offer if I should ever move back to DC. I'd never take it in a million years because I couldn't stand to work with the people who made the offer, but it's always nice to be wanted.

Next up: Spending the entire day in my pajamas while taking questions from MORE people who want $15,000 checks from us.

California Girl

LAST NIGHT

9:00 PM: I get out of class, start the 20 mile drive home with J
9:05 PM: Feel paranoid, check purse
9:06 PM: Item X is still in purse, breathe a sigh of relief
9:30 PM: We both realize we haven't eaten since noon, and we're starving
9:31 PM: We decide that all food at home sucks, and we need to get takeout
9:45 PM: All our favorite takeout places closed at 9:00. I pout.
10:00 PM: We roll up to Wendy's drive through
10:30 PM: After gorging myself on a burger, fries, and a Frosty, I realize that A: I haven't packed yet, and B: I have to get up at 3:00 in the morning to make my flight.
11:00 PM: Finish packing, try to keep Arcadia from seeing my suitcases so she doesn't flip out and pee on the couch again.
11:05 PM: Feel paranoid, check purse
11:06 PM: Item X is still in purse, breathe a sigh of relief.
11:30 PM: Finally get into bed, fall asleep

THIS MORNING

3:00 AM: Alarm goes off
3:01 AM: Hit snooze on alarm
3:09 AM: Alarm goes off
3:10 AM: Hit snooze on alarm again
3:19 AM: Alarm goes off, J starts groaning that it's too early to wake up, and I crawl out of bed
3:30 AM: J finishes getting ready, I'm still drying my hair.
3:31 AM: J curls up on the futon for a little nap before we leave
3:50 AM: I have to wake J up because he really did fall asleep. This doesn't bode well for the 2-hour round trip drive he's making to the airport.
3:51 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
3:52 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
3:55 AM: J keeps Arcadia in the other room so she can't see me wheel my suitcase to the door. I do NOT want to come home to a pee couch.
4:00 AM: We hit the road.
4:30 AM: Gee, that Wendy's from last night really isn't sitting well. Swear off Wendy's for at least another year.
5:00 AM: Arrive at airport, kiss goodbye, and I remind J not to fall asleep at the wheel. He agrees, but his eyes are kind of glazed over.
5:05 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
5:06 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
5:30 AM: Get through security, see that only place with food in the entire terminal is a Dunkin' Donuts with a 50-person deep line.
5:31 AM: Get in Dunkin' Donuts line with the rest of the tired, tired people who are on my flight
5:59 AM: Finally get my donuts and make it to the gate just in time to hear my row being called
6:05 AM: Shit, I'm in a middle seat.
6:15 AM: Double shit, the guy next to me wants to be chatty. I CANNOT MAKE SMALL TALK ON LESS THAN FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP, BUDDY.
6:20 AM: Takeoff
6:25 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
6:36 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
6:45 AM: I stick my iPod earbuds in my ears in a desperate attempt to let the guy next to me know that I'm not in the mood for conversation with a stranger.
6:50 AM: Hmmm... Seems to be working
7:00 AM: Even though JetBlue is awesome and has DirectTV on all its flights, there's still nothing to watch
7:05 AM: Start reading new book
7:10 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
7:11 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
9:15 AM: Finish new book. Two hours of entertainment for $17. Not worth it, IMHO.
6:20 AM: Realize that I should set my watch back three hours to account for the time zone change, and actually groan when I realize we're only halfway through the flight.
6:25 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
6:26 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
8:45 AM: Guy next to me decides to be chatty again (even though I'm clearly listening to music) and then tries to sell me a used car. Turns out he works for a dealership and can get me a "killer deal" on a used Mitsubishi. Thanks, but no thanks.
9:00 AM: Land in Oakland. Thank God!
10:00 AM: Arrive at hotel
10:05 AM: Feel paranoid, check purse
10:06 AM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief
11:30 AM: Starving, go in search of food and discover that there aren't any places within walking distance of my hotel except (wait for it) Wendy's. Curse luck.
11:45 AM: Hotel has shuttle! Go to Sports Bar and feel like an idiot for sitting alone with a book while other people are having parties and business lunches.
12:15 PM: Get back to hotel, start this entry
1:45 PM: Still working on this damn entry, and getting sleepy
1:46 PM: Feel paranoid, check purse
1:47 PM: Item X is still in purse, breathe sigh of relief.

That's been my day so far. This entry is To Be Continued tomorrow, when you can read all about my exciting night with local elected officials, what the hell "Item X" is, and why I've been so paranoid about it for the last 48 hours.

Cherry Blossom Day

Peak cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin this weekend.



Juan attended the festival under protest.



My attempt at "artistic" photography while being hustled along by the thousands of tourists behind us on the sidewalk.


All in all, a perfect day.

Finally!

Spring has sprung! It feels like it's taken ages to come this year, but we've finally hit 70+ degree days, and the cherry blossoms are at peak. WOO HOO!

J and I are planning (well, I'm planning and J will be coming along for the ride and the margaritas) to go down to the Tidal Basin tomorrow to see the blossoms for the last time, and then we'll head up to the Cactus Cantina, one of my favorite DC restaurants, for dinner and drinks. I can't wait!

In other news, I think my subconscious is telling me that I need a break. I had a dream last night about going to the Burger King near my office (where I've never eaten) and getting into a fight with the cashier when she tried to charge me $42 for my hamburger. In the end, I also screamed at her manager for not taking me seriously when I complained.

I'm dreaming about verbally bitchslapping someone. Either I need a vacation or it's just been too long since I've made a really satisfying consumer complaint.

Successes and Setbacks

Success--the Miami meeting was a hit! In spite of all my worries, things couldn't have gone better. The only negative part of the trip was that the hotel we stayed at sucked royally. I had noisy neighbors and the front desk blew me off when I asked for a different room, my boss's room wasn't cleaned and they tried to bill him for another guest's 5-night stay, and the other guy we were traveling with never got his wake-up call and almost missed our big meeting. We happened to run into the hotel manager this morning, so we were able to tell him about the problems (he was appropriately mortified). He asked for our contact information, so maybe we'll get our rooms comped.

Setbacks--Arcadia is still throwing up, so I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow morning for some more tests. J thinks she might be getting nauseous from pain (the bladder crystals can really hurt) but she can keep down most of the dry and wet food she's eaten, so we know she's not starving or dehydrated. Poor little girl. I can't really be mad at her for pretty much ruining our sofa because she's clearly sick. Tonight she's subdued, but still participating in normal Arcadia behaviors like stalking and chasing Codi and playing with her toys.

My life is just a non-stop party, isn't it?

5 Measley Inches

We got 5 inches, and people are still acting like it's the end of the world.

My parents called a few hours ago, worried about us because all the 24-hour news networks were talking about how bad the storm was and how tens of thousands of people in the DC area are without power. I assured them that we're perfectly fine, that the power went off for a little while last night when we were asleep, but that it's sunny and warm now and the snow is already melting.

Five inches in Utah is nothing. It's Thursday. It happens so often that Mark Eubanks (local weather guy) hardly even bothers to put on his white "snow jacket" when 5 inches is coming. Here, though it makes national news.

Granted, the snow was much worse further north in Maryland, and New York, Pennsylvania, and New England were all hit pretty hard. I'm really glad that I didn't schedule my Boston/Maine trip for this weekend (like I originally planned to) since I'd probably be stranded there right now.

Oh well, it's supposed to hit the 50s by mid-week, and all the snow here will probably be gone by next weekend. Just in time for (guess) our next Open House.

The Snow of the Century!

Weather forecasters here are whipping themselves up into a frenzy over the stom that's supposed to hit most of the East Coast today. On Wednesday they were predicting a sunny, chilly weekend, which we thought would be perfect for the open house we're supposed to be having tomorrow. By Thursday that prediction had turned into a possible 6-10 inches of snow between Saturday and Sunday. Then, last night I heard one forecaster mention the possiblity of getting over a foot of snow, and our realtor called to let us know that she was cancelling the open house since no one was going to want to come out in a storm. Excuse me while I go roll my eyes.

Now, maybe I'm a little skeptical that we're actually getting a big storm because I learned how to drive in a state where 6-10 inches of snow is nothing unusual, and maybe it's because I haven't bought into the D.C. philosophy that even a light dusting of snow means that the world might be coming to an end, so you'd better go to the grocery store and buy all the milk and toilet paper you can get your hands on. It could also be because weather forecasters here are notorious for exaggerating how bad a snowstorm is going to be. Last winter their predictions for snow led to several snow days for local school districts where it was sunny and perfectly dry. Suffice it to say, I'm not holding my breath for the storm of the century, and if we get more than 5 inches I'll eat my new hat.

I am, however, really looking forward to the day when an open house of ours actually happens, since we're 2 for 2 at this point.

In other housing-related news, the guy who was thinking about making an offer last weekend is still thinking about it. Apparently he's going to watch how other homes in his current neighborhood are selling before moving himself. This actually doesn't bother me at all, since he's still out there, still interested in our place, and we're really in no hurry to move.

Open House

Almost two and a half years ago, my husband and I decided to buy a home. Prices in the DC market were skyrocketing, homes were going under contract less than 24 hours after they were put on the market, and we knew that if we wanted to buy, we needed to act fast before we were priced out of all the DC suburbs that weren't an unreasonable distance from our jobs. It was a somewhat impulsive decision, but one we've never regretted.

When we finally found our condo, we both knew it was the one for us. The day we closed and our realtor handed us the keys was one of the happiest days of my life. Also one of the most stressful, since signing a mortgage feels vaguely like you'e signing away everything you'll ever own, but mostly it was just really happy.

We've done a lot of the usual home improvement projects--painting, adding a mantel to our fireplace, replacing flooring--to make it exactly the home we wanted. There are still things I'd like to do, like adding new countertops, but we won't be able to because we're moving. In a little less than four months we're going to be packing up to move to Texas, and as such we're having to sell our condo. Two people have come by since it was put on the market last weekend, and the first open house is today.

I should be happy about this. Over the summer I started having anxiety attacks when the housing market here dramatically slowed down. I worried about what we'd do if our place didn't sell before we had to move. How would we pay two mortgages? When we met with our realtor for the first time two weeks ago, we told her that we'd be fine if our place sold quickly--we'd just move into a month-to-month apartment for awhile. Then, last weekend, three units in our neighborhood went under contract. Three units in one weekend in a development where nothing had moved since last summer.

Like I said, I SHOULD be happy about this. Selling our unit quickly will mean that we'll be able to seriously look at (and possibly make offers on) actual houses in our new Texas town when we make our real estate trip there in April. All I can think about, though, is that I'm not ready to leave this place. I'm not thrilled about this move period, but at the top of my list of things I'll miss about the DC area, in addition to all the great friends I've made here, is that I love our home.

My husband and I talked last night about what we'd do if we got an offer today. It's a long shot, but not totally out of the realm of possibility after what happened last weekend. "I'd freak the eff out," I told him. He agreed that he'd be shocked, but mostly just happy.

That's one of the big differences between us--I'm really bad with change. Hate it, and would rather stay in a less-than-great situation rather than change. He, on the other hand, doesn't really mind it much. I wouldn't say that he loves it, or that he likes changing per se, but it just doesn't bother him.

In any case, our first open house is this afternoon. We have to amuse ourselves somewhere else for three hours while strangers take a look around our home and try to decide if they'd like to make it theirs. Wish us luck!

Pooped--Day 2

Another big day of meetings today, followed by dinner with a good friend who I only get to see twice a year. The good news was that we were both able to escape from our bosses for the evening to have a really nice dinner together. The bad news is that she's gotten an amazing promotion, so she and I won't be working together anymore. I'm happy that she's finally getting recognition for the fantastic work she's been doing for so long, but very sad that this is the last one of these things we'll get to attend together.

So goodbye L, I'll miss you!

Pooped

I hate our bi-annual conferences. They're multi-day affairs where we talk about issues like tax reform and commercial development, and quite frankly they're dull as dirt. They also require me to put on my saleswoman hat and schmooze with people. I hate networking and schmoozing, because I think the key to being a good schmoozer is to believe that you really do mean every sychophantic word that you say as you're saying it. I don't, which makes me look awkward and uncomfortable instead of smooth and confident when I try to do it.

In any case, one day is down, two more to go, and thankfully I won't have to do this again until June.