Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Components to a bad day:

• Finding out information too late to save time for yourself and others. Twice.
• Having to force people to answer your questions directly rather than deflect. Twice.
• Getting stuck on an annoying, soul-sapping conference call without much hope for extraction.
• Not having any tasty pudding-yogurt left for lunch.
• Needing to go grocery shopping desperately.
• Being exhausted and fearing the grocery store and therefore procrastinating it. (good and bad really)

Bonus round that almost makes up for the day:
I put in the deposit for our new yurt. It’ll be ready in a couple weeks! Sadly, we’re only getting it in time for Pennsic because someone else had to drop out of the yurt queue… but at least we can give their yurt a happy home!

tags: bad day, communication, meetings, tired, work, yurt

I am not the enthusiastic traveler I used to be. A 3 hour time shift didn’t go all that smoothly in either direction. (Though I would have been fine going out for a business trip with evenings ending by 10 pm as opposed to Vegas nights o’ fun!) Someday I’ll feel hydrated again.

New England is finishing out a lovely springtime. Last night the weather was gorgeous. Just before dusk the air was gently insistent with an impending thunderstorm. It was fabulous and then there was an amazing thunderstorm. Awesomeness.

I had Chinese food last night - I love my happy tofu. Fortune cookie duo of entertainment:

You are more likely to give than give in.
Let hatred turn into friendship because of your existence.

The fortune cookie factory apparently believes me to be some sort of powerhouse of nice. I can deal with that I guess.

tags: ct, fortune cookies, las vegas, mystic, nv, thunderstorms, travel, weather

It occured to me that I never posted the pictures of the dead jellyfish from Hilton Head Island I’d promised back in April. While I decide if that’s too morbid or not, here’s a seagull about to be hit by wave (well not really) from the same trip. He had quite the jaunty bounce to his step… probably because he was trying to avoid stepping on the dead and dying jellyfish.

The week continues to be an adventure at work. Someone wants me in a meeting at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Luckily, he didn’t specify I had to be happy about it. I really need to start work around 7, I suspect, given we’re leaving for the airport at 2.

Did I mention we’re going away for the weekend? Did I mention we’re going to Las Vegas? No, we are not getting married this weekend. Yes, we are visiting the lions and whoever else is in residence at the big cat habitat in the MGM Grand. Yes, we are seeing a Cirque show - Zumanity. There will also be pirates, blue men and ponchos, and funny men who are made funnier by one’s silence. It should be a fun weekend.

If I survive the weekend… I’ll be flying up to Connecticut for a quick work trip Monday eve through Wednesday eve. Quick, but useful.

tags: hilton head island, las vegas, meetings, ocean, photographs, photography, seagull, south carolina, travel, work

We had some fun thunder and lightning earlier and the heat has finally broken a bit. It’s down to 75° F out there right now. If it weren’t nearly midnight I might be more excited by the low temps.

I ordered from Threadless again. I blame my dear friend and coworker Andy who mentioned them casually the other day. I popped over to learn that my favorite t-shirt now comes in their super-soft custom brand and it was all down hill from there. I even got The Fop a shirt, because I’m just that kind of darling girl. And the package you see pictured here with Mr. Paw? That’s from Threadless. There’s nothing like being awesome.

Work is being its usual adventure. I got bogged down with spreadsheets that I’m pretty sure I still don’t fully understand as well as miscellaneous other “do this now please - it’s urgent” items. Always fun even if these things derail my usual plans.

I already feel like summer is flying by and it’s only June 10th - in many ways, summer has barely begun! I really need to readjust my mindset to Pennsic being the middle of summer instead of the end of summer.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print tonight!

tags: heat, t-shirts, threadless, weather, work

I went to an SCA event this weekend - Ducal Challenge over in Baron Sands. I know, this was rather shocking since I hardly ever go to events. It was a lovely, gray, cool and breezy day. We arrived late, but there was still fencing to be had for the Fop and fighting for me to watch and snap a few photos of. The problem with riding to an event with the King’s Rapier Champion is that you have to stay for Court. I did finish stringing a green garnet/carnelian/amber necklace during Court - now I just need to add the clasp.

After the event we headed to Casa di Thomas & Marion for some food, socializing and a viewing of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings with RiffTrax commentary. The silliness of MST3K + the extended storyline of Tolkien = highly amusing movie. (It was still amusing despite my need to sleep.) All in all a good day.

Sunday was absorbed by making brunch, calling mothers, running errands and such. I made bacon and I think the smell has only just now, 2 days later, disappeared. There’s nothing like walking down the stairs or coming back into the house and thinking, “Mmmmm, bacon!” I got a pair of rosebushes at BJ’s that I need to get in the ground today too. The basil plants I started from seed look ready to be planted al fresco but the peppers need another week before they go outside I think. Hurray for another week of impending puttering in the dirt!

Yesterday was a busy day of work and grocery shopping. There’s nothing like needing to be very productive on a Monday that is already filled with meetings!

tags: ducal challenge, gardening, lord of the rings, rifftrax, sca, weekend

I shall survive this week!

Monday night, after a long day of meetingness, I headed down to Mike’s house for dinner with his fabulous wife Lise and the superheroes. Lise is an secret super hero because she makes kick-butt guacamole. The little superheroes are really quite endearing. And clearly too smart for their parents’ own good. It was fun hanging out with children and adults - I could have easily stayed chatting far to late and ended up sleep deprived for tomorrow morning. While chatting, we saw two raccoons in their backyard. On my way back to the highway I saw 2 opossums and 4 white tailed deer, all does, all big. Well, big in the sense that they were taller and heavier than the little runt deer we usually see in the Philly area. Certainly more than match for the little Prius I’m renting this year.

The Prius is a cool little car but it feels a bit like a toy. I’ve put a lot of miles on it so far - enough that I had to put gas in it tonight. *gasp* I could definitely see buying one if I drove more… and I think I’ll be researching it a bit anyway.

Last night I went out with Ann and Andy to a fabulous Italian place in Providence called Siena. The wait was considerably longer than quoted but the comps and food definitely made up for it. The food was divine. The company was fabulous. The evening rocked.

Tonight we had dinner somewhat as a team. More Italian food which was tasty enough for delivery/catering food. After, I gave Andy a ride home, he, Ann and I sat in their gazebo for a bit talking. It’s so nice to sit and chat about randomness. I’ve done a lot of that this week and I have apparently missed doing it more. I’m not going to think about that all that much. Over-analysis leads to melancholy!

The all-afternoon team meetings have been bigger than I expected with a lot more people from external teams than I envisioned but mostly useful all the same. ;) We have 3 new people on the team I hadn’t met before this week so it’s been good to meet them.

I am all checked in for my flight tomorrow. It’s been a fun week filled with fun people so far - my fingers are crossed for the rest of the week to finish out just as well.

tags: adventures, dining, fun, meetings, people, travel, work

Yes, another quilt. I love this one. The rich colors and textures as well as the intricate fabrics on the girls’ clothing. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good, crisp shot of this quilt so the detail is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Today I was fairly productive. I prepped 2 bits of garden to receive herbs and pepper plants! I displaced some of the sod that had taken over the garden bits and mixed some topsoil into the rather clay-like soil. I’m hoping the additional soil will help. I did plant a couple of the pellets of chives I started but I’m going to wait at least another week before planting the basil and peppers.

The flowers I’m sprouting are coming along more slowly so they won’t end up outside until June at this rate. Which will give me time to work on the front flower bed! Right?

While I managed to tame the backyard shrubbery this week, I’ll be getting some help with the taming of the Muppet Bush out front as well as the rest of the shrubs. I will need to trim back one of the azaleas after it’s done blooming. Its pinkness is encroaching further onto the lawn than I would prefer. It’s not as far as out the Muppet bush, mind you, but still a little farther out than it should be. And the short little shrubs may just get pulled out. I’m undecided. I don’t really like them, honestly, but if I take them out I have to figure out what to replace them with. The front bed has that same clay-rich soil too. Anyway, that’s a puzzle I can figure out next weekend.

Tomorrow I get to pack and head to the airport again, much to the chagrin of a certain gray cat.

I’m not a big fan of traveling for work on a Sunday, but it’s easier than traveling first thing Monday morning for a meeting that starts a 10 a.m. Not to mention the fact that I don’t have to worry about flights running late or any other issues with travel making me miss the meeting. And it definitely beats getting up stupidly early on a Monday morning to get to the airport with all the other business travelers. I need to work on some presentations before the Monday meeting anyway, so my weekend is already tainted with work anyway. Blah!

While I’m bad at shutting down my work computer in the evening, I have been pretty successful at taking weekends off… unless someone is running late on getting me presentations we need prepped for Monday’s 10 a.m. meeting, for example. I feel like there’s some balance that way. The work laptop is usually off and put aside from the end of the day Friday until the beginning of the morning on Monday. Without such a rule, working from home in this job would have a real probability of eating my life.

And on that note… time for bed.

tags: chicago, gardening, international quilt show, quilts, work

Another favorite quilt from the quilt show last month - this one is titled “Persephone” and was quilted by Peg Collins of Alamosa, Colorado. (Sometimes I did successfully get the info card in the photo!) I love that the edge of her gown is the edge of the quilt. The division between winter and summer is perhaps predictable but beautiful all the same. Persephone seemed an appropriate quilt to post for May Day.

More garden work is planned for today after work, which also seems appropriate. I want to get those beds prepped for planting before I go away next week. (I fly out Sunday, actually.)

No cat casualties yet today but Tennyson is definitely pushing it.

Coffee was applied early and will be applied often today. I didn’t sleep well and needed my brain to be awake for my 9 a.m. meeting. And my 9:30 meeting. Whee! All went well and productively so the coffee must have worked. But how long will it last?

tags: chicago, coffee, gardening, international quilt show, may day, persephone, quilts, sleep

Wednesday… half way through the week! HURRAY!

This quilt caught my eye because it was quilted with metallic thread and the whole piece really worked. I love little vines like that and the flowers are beautifully done. The dragonflies or butterflies are lovely - not so cute as to detract from the fantasy feel of the quilt as a whole. Plus the detail-work on the dragonflies is just amazing. I’m apparently a sucker for tiny stitches, especially if I didn’t have to sew them myself!

This evening I spent about an hour taming one little corner of the garden. (And it wore me out!) 2 little shrubs and 1 big, flowering, tree-like thing are now more under control. I had meant to turn the beds as I want to add a little topsoil and plant my peppers and herbs out that way… however that didn’t quite work out. I got distracted by the big, flowering, tree-like thing - it always wants a lot of pruning and has tons of dead branch bits. Now it has significantly fewer dead bits and is less intrusive on the yard.

I also pulled the latest crop of ivy off the side of the house. I always feel slightly sinister pulling ivy off the house - I have pure hatred for the horrible vine that can do much damage to the stone walls. Okay, maybe I feel more than “slightly” sinister. It feels so odd to hate something so green and lively. But the ivy wants to consume my house so it must be stopped.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll find some time to turn the beds and run out to pick up a couple bags of topsoil to cut the clay a bit. I wonder if this weekend is too soon to put the seedlings in the ground… I’ll have to ask my Dad about that. They’re still pretty short, except the chives - the chives are ready to take over the world I think.

I’m having a remarkably productive week at work so far too. Yes, I’m startled by this myself. I think the vacation was well timed. We have a lot of big status meetings to prep project managers for in the next month. It’ll be crazy. I wonder how long this fabulous focus and mental energy will last. Luckily, today Tennyson has stayed off my conference calls as well as my computers. He’s snoozing comfortably in his bed on the corner of my desk right now. Very cute, very non-hazardous in his current state!

And I just now noticed that the rainbow-maker is not on the window… I’ll have to see if it fell.

tags: chicago, gardening, international quilt show, quilts, yard work

So far this morning, Mr. Tennyson has been in the way quite a bit. He “helped” me by being in the way at the beginning of a conference call. Trying to move him while juggling my phone resulted in spilling my coffee (TRAGIC) all over my to-do list (not so tragic though it ruined the pad of paper) and a card slyppi sent me (TRAGIC). Then, during the call, he decided to help again by leaning on the keyboard while I was running through a presentation. The status in the presentation is now “G6y6″ instead of “G”. *sigh*

Oh and he’s been incredibly vocal this week. He tries to participate in every conference call. It’s going to be a long week… and a longer week next week when I’m gone again. Poor kitty!

tags: coffee, damage report, meetings, tennyson