Did you guys see that incredible sprint to the finish? That’s absolutely crazy. This year’s winner crossed the finish this year in two hours and six minutes and some odd seconds.
PiC and I have spent the last two days wandering Millenium Park and generally trying to take in as much of the city as possible while not overtaxing his pre-marathon legs, or breaking my non-marathonable legs.
It’s been positively gorgeous here, probably closer to 75 degrees with a light breeze. At least seven brides lucked out as well, sashaying through the park with their bridal parties of 12 or more, taking photos near the Bean, on the steps, amid the crowd of spectators in town for the marathon, for the country music festival or just out and about because the sun had re-emerged.
I thought we managed a nice balance between our two wildly different levels of fitness, considering he had to keep it very mellow and I pushed myself to walk between 3 to 5 miles per day in my quest to enjoy downtown and spend less on cabs.
We should have used more public transport to keep costs down, but we didn’t plan carefully enough to take that into account and were focused on staying in the lovely weather while it lasted. We’re definitely paying through the nose to enjoy that luxury. (In retrospect, all that walking was also foolish, I ache.)
Anyhow, we’ve got a few more hours in the Windy City before our shuttle picks us up. Pictures and a cost round up when we’re back home!
I’m not one for trite phrases, mouthed because they feel good in the air, but pop hollow in the heart. If you haven’t got something real to say, I’m ok with sitting around in silence. As evidenced by my friend’s husband and I sitting here companionably, tap tap tapping away on our computers. This weekend, we spent a lot of time talking about life and work situations and I got to thinking about the few times that people have repeated catchphrases that, in my mind, were incredibly empowering for being all of less than ten words.
“Don’t let nobody steal your joy today.” – my favorite bus driver
No matter how horrible the environment I was about to walk into was, there was always a moment of Zen when I disembarked the bus with those words at my back. Years ago, I was having an incredibly, unbelievably stressful time and each morning, it was nauseatingly hard to convince myself to keep walking into the mess that work had become. Hearing those words reminded me that no matter how put upon, no matter how targeted, victimized, or on the verge of quitting the higher-ups wanted me to feel, I could choose to keep control over my own feelings and my own joy.
There was still good in the world, I was still strong, and I would still find it. Thanks, bus driver.
“Make your next move your best move.” – @thefitlounge
Moving to a new city, being on my own (except with PiC) for the first time in my life, leaving my family and worrying about them from afar, and starting a new challenging job all at once nearly six months ago, well ….. mornings were never my best time of day. Mornings became a trial of “what have I done,” “don’t make me go to work,” and “I don’t wanna.” Until I popped onto Twitter for a few minutes to get my bleary eyes tracking and saw East Coasties and their morning greetings.
Single Ma’s Good MornTings! Ruth’s #wmata updates, getting ready in the morning updates, they helped get my brain to turn on and start ticking, but BK and her morning exhortation was the turning point. That put a smile on my face, a boot in my pants and got me going because I suddenly felt like I could DO this thing. I look for that tweet every morning. Thanks, BK.
This time we’re flying, thank goodness. Not that our relationship didn’t weather the last two drives to Southern California, it’s just that PiC insists on doing the majority or all of the driving and that wipes him out spectacularly.
This is our first time trying a mega-discount airline (Allegiant Air) and I’ve got to say, I’m a little hesitant about this. The “administrative fees” tacked onto the ticket had me seeing red when he first booked the tickets, so with that and the one flight per day frequency, I can’t say the deal was good enough to stoke my enthusiasm. While I’m usually a no-frills traveler, this feels closer to riding the rails without any siding on the car. We’re giving it a shot, a review will follow after the weekend if I’m so motivated by joy or rage.
Arrival at Oakland Airport doesn’t do much for the wary, adventuring spirit either. Between the 1960s decor of Terminal 1, the nearly barren dining landscape and dim lighting reflecting off the extra shiny metal strips that sporadically covered an otherwise exposed ceiling strung with festive … wiring… well, I’m just glad that I’m here with PiC, a working laptop, phone and plenty of electricity to charge up both pieces of tech. Especially since PiC’s left to go wander about. Perhaps he’ll discover something strange and wonderful and bring it back for me to pet.
(Maybe the free wifi will let me load Twitter so I can chitter chatter with my friendsy strangers online instead of the strangers I’m stuck at the gate with during this two hour minimum delay?)
We’re visiting some friends this weekend, and we’ve got something lined up almost every weekend from here through the end of the year, whether I know what it is yet or not. I asked PiC if we could simply have one month when we didn’t travel and he just laughed at me. *sigh* Not this year.
At least we’ll have racked up 4 free roundtrip flights on Southwest after Chicago between flying and credit card rewards. That’s gotta count for something.
Unlike Q2, which was characterized by steady spending, punctuated with a steady stream of irregularly sized freelance income, Q3 remains unpunctuated by any additional income. It’s just all outflow and that makes me antsy. Point of fact, this close to the fall and winter spending seasons, it makes me downright itchy.
Then too, everything is moving pretty normally in my finances and there’s nothing much for me to be done there, so that’s just boring.
Work is not so Zen because my six month review is pending and I intend to ask for a raise so I’m examining my list of accomplishments and performance.
The combination is doing nothing good for my state of mind.
The usual pastimes, reading, writing, cooking, plotting new menus, planning travel, chattering with online buds, browsing deals or tinkering with my finances are seriously lacking in color and verve, I’m lacking spice and verve. Even hosting giveaways isn’t entertaining me much.
Has the higher frequency of visits, company, friends in town, and going out inured me to the usual humdrum homebody life that I normally love? Do you s’pose I’m singing the flu blues? Or is it time for a really big shake-up?
And what kind of shake up should that be so as not to waste/spend money?
I’m sitting here wondering if this feeling of paddling like hell to Keep Up is just a phase or if this is Life. And I’m pretty sure it’s just Life. It’s just easy to forget the important things, sometimes, and sometimes they’re all crowding out everything else.
UP: Had a great time reconnecting with family and friends during Comic Con. Missed the opportunity to meet up with fellow SD bloggers because we were so busy. Next year, I’m going to take a bit more time off so it’s a little more relaxed. I think I stayed within budget, roughly.
DOWN: For the past weeks, we’ve been worrying for our dear friends’ baby who has a very serious diagnosis. It was touch and go whether the baby could breathe without assistance and every single “normal” step of taking care of a baby is slow, painful and requires expert medical aid.
UP: Though stressful & at the last minute, I finally got my paperwork out to roll over some last remaining retirement dollars from a previous employer into a new account at Vanguard. It’s a bit of a pain – the amount is just a bit less than $3000, and they were giving me guff about rolling over into a previously employer-sponsored plan so maybe I’ll roll the now-three employer sponsored plans into a single IRA.
DOWN: We launched a major change at work this week and while it went much more smoothly than expected, it still bred a TON of extra work. Thusly, I won’t have time to do my monthly snapshot for today. And I’ll be working all weekend, I think.
UP: I decided that I wanted the free match at work, FWIW and got the paperwork in. Also added a DD peeling off a few hundred dollars into savings, anticipating stabilization of my spending. Or forcing a stabilization of spending.
There’s more but I gotta git! I wish you all a very lovely Saturday and let’s catch up!
Family This is how I know my parents are still eating regularly and out and about town even though I’m not right there to see it:
$239 of my $439 credit card balance is for gas and groceries at their favored markets and gas stations.
Friends Two dear friends (two separate couples) just let me know they’re expecting. Both surprises, and they’re both really early in the first trimester which always makes me a tiny bit nervous when people announce that early. But I’m health-matters-shy so I keep my worries to myself and bid them Congratulations!
I’ve been MIA in friend circles for the most part so it’s nice to know life really does go on.
Work I still haven’t determined the best commute method or schedule that’s most time and financially efficient. I’ll just load a chunk of money onto my Commuter FSA, use that to fund a Clipper card for the bus that I’ve been paying out of pocket and have a fairly flexible way to pay for all kinds of SF transportation. I’ll use it eventually.
This week – I may have found my center. My Zen. My professional bedrock. Not once did I crumble in despair over people quitting (another one’s off to do cool things, good for that one!), the imminence of a major project, the stresses of getting my job done and done well. The pressure is still ON ON ON but I’m now standing tall and moving through it.
FUN Heading out to a wedding reception in a few, then have PiC’s back-home friends in town this weekend. Comic Con is coming up quickly and I have a small budget for to enjoy it with. *squeeee*
’tis all for now, hope you’re having a fantastic weekend and see you soon!