Excused Absense

I started out the year planning on doing a "Weekend Wrap-Up" post on the happenings of the weekend every Monday. I was good until April, then it just stopped. It seems that when life gets a little bit crazy and I have too much on my plate the first thing to suffer is my blog. Which now that I think about it, makes perfect sense. When I am stressed, worn out, tired and with generally too much on my plate the few moments that I can find to re-energize myself are not spent expressing myself but totally enriching myself with things I love. After all, I'm an introvert!

In order to excuse my absence from the blogging and especially the Weekend Wrap-Up's I thought I would rewind to mid-April and catch you up on the events (or at least part of them) since then. Mid-April found me in the midst of planning a birthday celebration for my brother Jimmy's 30th birthday. I was creating and mailing invitations, making lists and scanning pictures for a slide show presentation. Every evening after work seemed to be consumed by some sort of task which often spilled over into the weekends (like the Sunday when Don and I spent 9 hours working on the slide show presentation) just to stay on top of it all. I had wanted to have all the major tasks completed by Wednesday, April 23 when my mother arrived for a long weekend visit and I did.

I had a great time with my Mom. We went shopping at the Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip and both got some great spring/summer essentials. We enjoyed an informative and fun tour of Chateau Ste. Michelle winery and an afternoon of beer drinking in the sun with Kat and Don at Red Hook. We talked and got caught up the the happenings of life. We laughed. Mom shared some really funny yet really embarrassing stories about me. Basically your normal family stuff.

Four days later on Thursday, May 1, Don and I set out on our grand adventure. We arrived in Salt Lake City that evening and had dinner with his Mom (Nancy) at Red Rock Brewing. The next two days were filled with party prep craziness but we found a few moments to have breakfast with my friend Jenna and time to deliver my friend Karri's wedding pictures.

The party was a ton of work but worth every bit of it. Jimmy is a fantastic brother and totally worth celebrating for any occasion, but being able to celebrate a milestone birthday with him was just awesome. Fifteen minutes before the guests arrived I plopped down on the couch next to Don, we were both exhausted, and was already beyond exhausted. I think I suffer from *past party amnesia* because I am never remember how much work throwing a party really is and therefore planning one seems like a GREAT idea. Maybe the amnesia is a necessary ailment for the official family "camp director," I don't know.

When the party was all cleaned up I couldn't feel my body from the waist down. I don't much remember the ride back to the hotel except for the fact that I could not find a comfortable position in the car. I don't remember going to sleep, I think I just passed out. Don had been dealing with a lingering and annoying head cold for a few days and we both needed sleep desperately.

The next morning we slept in a bit and then met Nancy for brunch a Squatters Pub in Salt Lake. Following brunch we began the second leg of our journey, a tradeshow in Reno.

I don't know what I was thinking when I decided that I could be Black family "camp director" and then company "tradeshow coordinator" back to back, but clearly I was NOT thinking. The show in Reno went as anticipated, no major glitches. The meetings we had scheduled went well but certainly not as planned since a major twist was thrown in on the way in the door. And all the while that I am coordinating and meeting and being the Queen of Everything downstairs, I'm worried sick about Don who's head cold has turned into a high-fever and intense sinus pressure/pain. He was in the room, in bed asleep the entire time we were in Reno.

When the show finished and we were packed up and ready to go we were quite a pair. Don had just returned to the land of the living that morning but was still only half-human with lingering sinus pressure/pain. And I was beyond exhausted from the back to back activity of the party/tradeshow. We had a leisurely lunch at Brew Brother's restaurant and then left Reno and headed northwest through Susanville, California and then around the south side of Mt. Shasta until we joined up with I-5 in Mt. Shasta, California. The scenery was EXTRAORDINARY beautiful. With each passing mile I found myself getting more and more relaxed among the snow, tall pine trees and majestic mountains.

We made it to Medford, Oregon that night and then home the following day. I never realize how much I love my home until I return from a trip tired and worn out and then I realize how my home is warm and nurturing and totally re-energizes me.

Don's account of the Utah/Reno trip can be read here.

The following weekend was very mellow. I spent a great deal of time a home except for lunch at Cheesecake Factory and a matinee performance of Made of Honor with Kat in Bellevue on Saturday.

I've already started a wrap-up post for last weekend which should be up soon so that brings you up to date on the past few weekends.

Work has been a bit busier that usual of late as I'm facing some new challenges and changes in the coming weeks but I will certainly do my best to try and stay up to date with my entries and not leave you all wondering if I'm alive and thriving.