Washing my hair is really a daily must...I always regret it when I talk myself out of it
Ditto making my bed, prayer, exercise, and writing something
Say yes when you can
Spinach smoothies in the morning make me feel extra sparkly
It's a good idea to doublecheck that the lid is on the blender
Enthusiasm trumps coolness. I cannot look at this picture of Maddy (~1998) without giggling out loud at her blatant, over-the-top, dress-up enthusiasm. Not to be outdone, girl knew how to sport a bandana and a row of elastics like nobody's business:
Our middle school has a day each year (fondly known as stalk-a-student day) where parents come along and follow their children through their classes. Even though it's scheduled on a shorter day with shortened classes, I am always SO EXHAUSTED at the end of the day, drained by all the newness, the trodding from place to place, the sitting still and listening over and over.
Every year it made me a little more charitable towards my drooping, tired teenagers who would come through the door at the end of the day. Suddenly I better understood the need for snacking (not that I ever needed to stretch to understand that, mind you), the pull of the sofa (ditto), the need to put their feet up for a few minutes before launching into the afternoon.
I had the same, exhausted feeling all last week. I think I experienced some kind of jet lag job lag with adjusting to the new schedule, filling my brain chock full of new information, talking to grownups, being "on" for a whole slew of hours in a row, and getting up earlier & hitting the ground running.
Sunrise, Boston
Now that the job lag has mostly subsided I can wrap my brain around some of my impressions of highlights, challenges, and essentials for this new venture.
Highlights:
Having a name badge that I swipe to get in and out of a restricted door between the museum and the elevators to my office. It just feels so clandestine and official at the same time.
Wearing work clothes. Still feels like dress up but maybe the novelty will wear off eventually.
The luxury of focusing without distraction for a few hours.
The flexibility of my workplace. I work 7-3 and it could not be more perfect (well...8 to 2 would be awesome, too). Also? Most of my department works from home at least one day a week; after a few months there I'll be eligible to do that, too.
The location on the wharf with a lovely view of Boston and the harbor. Have you been to Boston? My office is above the Children's Museum, the building next to the the giant Hood milk bottle on the dock, and near the site of the Boston Tea Party. The views make me happy every time.
Having work mates. Although I've only admitted it to a few people, I have been just plain lonely for the last while and this is a nice remedy. (By the way, one colleague is planning on going on 180 dates in 2012. She's got some good stories.
Two words: Office supplies.
The job itself feels like such a great fit and, at the same time, it stretches me. It's gratifying and invigorating.
Challenges:
The obvious: Getting everything done at home that I used to do. It took me about 4 days to finish all the laundry last week, where I used to be a Monday-is-laundry-day, start to finish, kind of gal.
Leaving the house at 6:15 a.m. Yawn. One day at a time on this one.
Negotiating my flex hours. I was nervous to ask but I'm so glad I did. Note to self: you don't know if you don't ask.
I miss margins. I kind of like long transitions between things and prefer big margins to my day. Those are gone. It's a tradeoff.
Will I ever make it to the post office again? (Sorry, Lauren, your package is coming SOON.)
Being the new girl is exhilarating and also humbling. It's a challenge to start from scratch on everything: where the light switch is, how to do everything, what the office culture does and doesn't do, and all the details about the organization and my particular job. It hurts me brain sometimes.
Couldn't do it without:
G. taking over the morning send-off responsibility. I miss those morning minutes with Maddy and Sam but I'm thrilled for him that he gets to have that time with them. I'm so grateful for him and his boundless, enthusiastic support. Plus he has a cold this week. Extra bonus points for G.
Calling, texting, leaving notes, adding new routines and rituals to our day (my every-morning note to Sam, for example).
Amazon and the occasional grocery home delivery. Some things had to go and I have pretty much abdicated my errand running in favor of online purchasing. Again, it's a trade off.
Protecting my time at home. All I want to do when I get home is hang out with my people. I'm both an adventurer and a homebody (trivia: did you know this blog was first named "Ambitious Homebody"? It's true.) and I need my home time. Work will be plenty adventure for me for now.
Ah, at the risk of repeating: That flexible schedule. I'm so grateful to preserve my afternoons at home and to feel like there's still a good part of the day left when I get home.
Supportive, lovely friends (both near and far) who talked me down and built me up on more than one occasion.
Speaking of lovely and supportive, thanks for your kind, generous comments and emails and texts. They meant more to me than you know.
I think I established my date/number geekinees a few years ago. Suffice it to say my number geekiness and love of symmetry is having a field day today (and it looks like I'm not the only one). Thank goodness I have some good sports here who are willing to humor me. I think they're just counting their lucky stars that I don't get out my blue paint and paintbrush.
In honor of this most auspicious (and random) of days, I give you a list of 11 (auspicious, random, terrific) things I've starred in my reader lately because I loved them. Maybe you will, too:
"No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today" ~ Fra Giovanni
1. I'm going camping in New Hampshire tonight with the family. G and Sam planned all of the dutch oven meals, shopped for the supplies, and packed us all up. Apparently all I have to do is pack my sweatshirt, pajamas, pillow, and toothbrush. Heaven.
2. This morning I sat in the September sun on a bench with a good friend. We talked for two hours and felt the breeze and twinges of autumn. It was so restorative and helped me remember to look upward and outward more. Heaven.
3. I'm giddy with anticipation for a girls' adventure starting Monday. Christie and I are heading out on a long-planned, much-postponed and eagerly anticipated journey to London and Paris for eight lucky days.* (Believe me, I know how lucky I am. Europe? In October? With Christie? For a whole week? Heaven.) My happy dance looks like this:
Note: I don't know about the song's hypothesis about the relationship between wifely ugliness and any subsequent husbandly happiness that springs from it. I just like the dancing, not the message. But, oh, what dancing!
4. What I do know, however, is that I married a terrific man who really is willing to find ways to build bits of heaven for us here on earth. He continues to amaze me with his kindness and support. He not only tolerates my pursuits and wanderings he nudges me to do them, knowing me as he does. Here's to G. Heaven to me.
. . .
*please let me know what your Londan and Paris faves are. I admit I've been to London a few times but I've still got a lot to see and learn about that city. And I've only been to Paris once, when I was 18. What to see/eat/walk/experience?
I came across a little pile of 14 cards under a stack of books on the ottoman. Apparently Sam compiled these at some point this summer before he left, just because. It was a delicious little dose of his sense of humor and randomness:
(we really do call his barber Tim the Shrubber. Just a little Monty Python reference, you know.)
The other lists are equally charming and quirky. Oh, we miss that boy...
. . .
In that same spirit (and since I do love a good list as much as the next gal) I'll add a few random things of my own:
Summer loves:
Crates full of CSA veg (mint! corn! cucumbers! potatoes! zucchini! loads of greens!)
Loads of salads (see above)
Streaming shows and movies on Amazon prime for FREE (Hasta la vista, Netflix?)
Dog walks (Louie got skunked so now we walk rather than send him out in back to meet Mrs. Skunk and her five babies again)
SpotifyJoinjoinjoin. It's like Pandora but you can listen to whatever you want + create playlists
Smores bars. I made these for my sunday school class. Oh, Minerva. They are goooood.
Air conditioning.
Long evenings.
Still dreaming to do this summer:
see the new Harry Potter movie (waiting for Sam to see it with me)
Refresh my French (it's in there somewhere...)
Revive calligraphying
Decide on room reassignments and decorating
Drive-in movie
A little getaway with G
Have an outdoors dinner party
Good reads I'm still thinking about:
My blogland friend's (although she doesn't know me at all...I just read her blog and imagine we're friends, you know?) young daughter survived a shark attack. Amazing tale.
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Thursday, June 14, 2012
