time off for good behaviour

so tonight i didn't work late.

i didn't come home to work either.

i sat in the backyard with the bulldog and my friend reesa and relaxed. the bulldog enjoyed a lovely salmon skin "bone" that the interactive creative director brought me -- his 2 dogs go nuts for them. reesa and i enjoyed a gin and tonic. we had a nice chat, went for a walk with the bulldog and caught up with each other.

a nice way to spend a tuesday...

sunday sunday sunday

so for the first time in a very long time, i feel like i've relaxed. had a weekend. actually recharged a bit. and got the work i needed to get done, done.

either that or i've become completely desensitized to stress. i'd prefer to think that i've relaxed. didn't run this weekend. probably ate the wrong things. definitely enjoyed too much wine. spent a bit of time outside.

it was exactly what i needed.

work stress vs diet and exercise

after a hard week -- i ran all week even though i was exhausted -- i finally feel more or less relaxed. part of it may have to do with my sprint out of the office on friday. now we have a wireless network at home, which i have to say is a really nice way to maintain the peace. no more passing wires around.

i've been doing crazy volumes of work, even more than usual, yet trying to eat better and exercise. i think it's helping with my stress. if nothing else it makes me think of something else. and gives me a reason to face the world at an ungodly hour. my skin's getting clearer. body parts are getting firmer. clothes are fitting better.

in any case, this weekend has been good -- had some drinks with friends on friday, went to see my friend the dentist on saturday morning (no cavities!), did a little shopping, then watched a bunch of movies while we did the laundry. multitasking at its laziness! gardened a bit too.

today, so far, i've run and taken care of the bills. i'm supposed to take a friend to costco so she can see what it's all about. gotta do a bit of work, but luckily it's not that complicated. so it's a relaxing sunday. doesn't seem like summer. seems like a late fall afternoon. it's the weather -- rainy and dark today.

getting stuff done

so i didn't have to go to the office after all. i've been working at home and i have to say, i really love working at here, as nice as my work office is and as great as the view is.

maybe it's because my desk is bigger, the chair is more comfortable, or the environment is less corporate. maybe it's the canine assistant, sleeping on the rug. well, right now she isn't sleeping. she's become a whirling dervish after being asleep pretty much all afternoon.

the bulldog was a good alarm clock again today. not that i wanted one, given that i went to bed at midnight, after staying at the dinner party much longer than i intended. but at 6:30 she wanted to be awake. although once i was awake and making her breakfast, she took her sweet time coming downstairs. so had a little coffee, read the neighbour's paper and then watered all the neighbour's plants i'm looking after.

took the dog for a walk then ran on the treadmill -- 2.5 miles today. pretty good! i am very happy with my progress. i guess my muscles have more of a memory than i thought. i am surprised that i'm not sore at all. where i am sore are my arms and back. it's either carrying produce to the car from the market or carrying the bulldog up three flights of stairs to go to bed -- the things i do for the pampered princess.

i got groceries before 10:30! on a sunday! thought i was going to work and rushed to get back. luckily my boss said, nah, we don't need you after all. do your other work at home.

sweet! so in between doing work work, i've done a bunch of things i've been putting off -- like my passport application and making rrsp contributions. fun, fun!

ok. the canine wants to play ball now and it's hard to type and throw. but i'll manage.

at dinner last night one of the guests was a former investment banker turned pastry chef. well, she's about to become a finance person again because she said that for the hours and effort, the restaurant industry just isn't worth it even though she loves to cook.

although hearing it was pretty depressing, i'm glad i did. back of my mind i've always wondered if i should have chosen that path. it sounds like my recreational baking and cooking is a good outlet, but maybe not the best way to make a living. (the husband and i have signed up for a couples cooking class in a couple of weeks)

she also confirmed the reasons why tv cooking shows make me not want to eat in restaurants – the horror stories she told about the sanitary conditions turned my stomach. dirty uniforms, fish thawing on bare concrete floors, recycling food. ewww!

all in all, it was a great weekend. just what i needed. i crammed a lot in and i feel like i've gotten a lot done for work and home so i'll feel better next week about just getting one thing done at a time.

redhead, no freckles

so i'm officially a redhead now. well, a faux red head. (shhh. it will be our little secret.)

too many blond highlights, too many white highlights (ha!). so the colourist suggested an all-over colour. as an all-over colour virgin, i really didn't know what to expect. so i was floored when i saw the results after basically having a striped head for the past 2 1/2 years or so.

actually it's not as shocking as i thought it would be. waiting in the chair, i imagined something entirely different – and much, much redder. supposedly as the colour fades, some of the old blond highlights will come through. so much maintenance! maybe the next step is just to let all the white hairs fill in...

the weirdest part, the part that i was definitely not prepared for was having red water come off my head when i was done showering. i freaked out a little bit and apparently wrecked a towel. i called the salon after i dried off; the receptionist explained that it's normal and will probably happen for a couple of showers more. strange. i thought all the colour was coming off.

the red will take a little getting used to, but i thought i should shake it up a little bit. ironically, my haircut's shorter and a little different, but similar. i just wasn't up to too much more change.

this week's been full of changes. i'm back on the healthy eating and running. i was so tired of feeling like crap all of the time. i was surprised that i hadn't gained more weight actually. but i was feeling rather untoned and fluffy. lazy too, and that's just not like me.

stress has a funny way of doing that to you. work is just insane at the moment and whether i mean it to or not, the stressed-out folks around me effect me. i've been working too many hours and spending far too much time with work on my mind, even when i'm not working (hey timesheet police, does that count as billable time? if it does, some days i should be logging 24 hours!)

and i also tend to try to pretend that i'm not that stressed and give an academy award winning performance. until it gets out of hand, that is. then as one colleague says, i am a terrible poker player.

but last night and today i've been very good to myself. last night i knitted -- something i haven't done in months -- while i did laundry. then i read, although, i'll admit, i couldn't handle a book. nice light magazine reading. i napped on the couch and the beep-beep-beep of the laundry machines woke me up to fold and put things in the dryer.

this morning, the bulldog was still on her usual schedule. so up at 6:30. actually that was terrific. i checked to see if the neighbour i'm housesitting for got his usual paper -- score! so i made coffee and sat in the backyard and read the whole paper. then i did a little gardening.

i was out doing errands before 9! perfect. the farmers market was packed, but i was pretty quick about it. got sunflowers! and left my wallet at the stand. luckily the guys who run it were holding it waiting for me to come back. note to self: bring purse to farmers market.

then off to the hair salon. since then i've been doing small chores, pampering myself with a facial and pedicure and playing ball with the bulldog.

tonight i'm going to some friends' house for dinner. i originally wasn't going to and planned to have a relaxing evening @ home, but as the wife said, you gotta eat, then you can leave.

so dine and dash i will. or not. i have to go into the office tomorrow (yes, sunday) so it can't be a very long night.