Agghh! Sorry! I've been meaning to post Montana recaps and recipes and whatnot for like a week, but life just got in the way. Between work, yoga, and the sheer quantity of BBC TV I have been watching, blogging unfortunately fell by the wayside.
I don't think I mentioned this but I recently switched jobs. Same company, same division, different team. I'm really excited about it but a) there is a huge learning curve for me to get up to speed, especially since my new role requires much more tech-y knowledge than I currently have, and b) as it turns out, doing my new job does not necessarily mean that I am suddenly no longer doing my old one. There are definitely loose ends that I need to tie up before handing them off, but I'm basically trying to avoid a situation where I have two jobs and sometimes I just want to be all:
...but that would not be very nice or responsible. Also Ben starts school next week! This is unfortunate because things like running errands or being home for the repair guy during the day will suddenly take a lot more effort...but it also prevents my husband from turning into this:
While meanwhile I'm still like:
Kidding though, I do not sleep at work. In other news, Ben and I went to a scotch tasting last night! I will tell you two things: 1) six scotches is a lot of scotch, and 2) it's always nice to have an In at restaurants. Ben still has some friends from his bartending days, one of whom is now the head bartender at the St Paul Grill where the tasting was held. Every time we go there he hooks us up with some freebies, even though we never ask for it or expect it. He's quite awesome.
Also, I know Moriarty is fucking terrifying, but this makes me LOL every time.
If you're wondering how I did all of this and still managed to feel the most relaxed I've felt in a long time, I am also wondering this. If you're wondering what possessed us to watch the entire LOTR extended edition over three days, that can easily be explained. It happened like so: Me: "I feel like watching Lord of the Rings." Ben: "LET'S DO IT. Normal edition or extended?" Me: (2 second pause) Extended.
I cannot explain where the impulse came from. I haven't seen any of the LOTR films in literally years, and all of a sudden one day I was like hey, I could really use some Tolkein in my life right now. Who knows.
Anyways...the last few months have just been crazy. I know I say that all the time about everything, but Ben will even back me up on this. I haven't blogged about any of it, but it has been a very stressful time work-wise. I can't get into too much detail, and don't worry everything is fine now but... it has just not been a great summer. I will say this, though. If you should ever find yourself in a position of leadership, transparency and communication are really the way to go. Really truly. Without it, shit gets toxic, especially in times of uncertainty and many layoffs. So yeah...that's all I have to say about that.
Still don't have all of the photos from Montana from my dad's camera, so those are coming later, as is a delicious Huckleberry scone recipe. I promise! It will be delicious and amazing.
So, it occurred to me that I haven't posted in almost two weeks, and that the last time I did was not the happiest post ever. Needless to say I'm still here, still definitely wanting to write.
Actually, the main reason I haven't been posting is that I have been on vacation in Montana! Sweet, sweet vacation...I haven't taken a whole week off from work since our honeymoon, almost exactly one year ago, so this was much needed.
It was glorious. I ate awesome food, read a shit ton of fiction (1,972 pages actually), hiked 38 miles over 5 days, saw two black bears and three mountain goats, and remembered why life is awesome. There's nothing like the mountains and fresh air to put the world in perspective.
I OWN YOU, mountains.
Just kidding, you cannot own the earth...haven't you people ever seen Disney's Pocahontas??
I have a number of recipes to share, but some of them just don't result in pretty photos and some of them are very summerish, and summer is almost over. So instead, here's a brief recap of what I've been doing other than tromping through the wilderness and not checking my email.
Being a baby-carrying bridesmaid in Alex and Karl's wedding
Love :)
Celebrating this little nugget's 24th birthday...
...with Tequila!!
Speaking of Julianna, she is moving to Chicago on Friday :( Wah wah wah... I can't believe she's moving away, and this time the move is somewhat permanent since her degree will take at least 5 years, and who knows where she'll end up afterwards. But, while this means she probably won't be calling me up to ask if she can pop by and use my shower anytime soon (yes, this actually does happen with some regularity), it also means lots of Chicago road trips! That can only be a good thing right?
OK...well it's been a long and weird day. I'm off to yoga and then to make myself some dinner... I'll post more photos from Montana as soon as I can combine the ones from our camera with my dad's photos... huzzah.
