four months already?

This morning the weather outside felt like fall.  And all I could think was "Already?  Where was summer?"  Of course I then realized that my summer was consumed by my new job.  No fault but mine, I squandered all that glorious after work sunlight by working late.

Work is still crazy.  Too much work for just me.  The good news is I'm now able to know what I can push back on, as in defer to others, and what just falls at the bottom of the priority list.  Which are HUGE wins.

One interesting side effect is that people have gotten used to me being friendly and nice, they haven't seen me bring down the hammer.  Which since I'm not that much of a hard-ass just means I'm stern.  On Friday I sent out an email without emoticons and jokes and got an invitation to lunch and two offers for a coffee break.  Not in a mean way, a way to help relieve my frustration.

Okay maybe I was a little frustrated.  But that's probably because I've been slacking on my meditation.  Guess I can't blow that off anymore!

Fall really signals one big thing for me - my 40th rapidly approaches!!  I'm torn between doing something epic that no one but me could afford, or doing something less monumental but much more inclusive financially.  I'm leaning toward the latter at this point.  Ski weekend maybe?  Where do people go, Vail?

I've never been skiing.  Ever.  I think it would be a lot of fun, and I've found group trips that revolve around activities are way more fun for everyone.  That way we have common group stories and individual stories at the same time.  Exciting adventures and thrilling anecdotes.

So I think I may put off my next 'big' trip to my one year anniversary when I have three weeks of vacation instead of just two.  That and when I have hired another person and the workload is a little more manageable for me to leave behind with my peeps.

To tide me over I'm taking my first vacation since my 39th, road trip!!!  I'm helping my sister and her two dogs move from MI to FL, the panhandle.  We're splitting the trip into three leisurely days, only driving five hours in each day.  We're going to spend some time in Lexington and Nashville, neither of which I've ever gotten a chance to visit before.  So I guess that also makes me the first to visit the fam in their new space.  Score one for the Rockstar!