R&R

On Sunday, Husband and I took a work truck up to Astoria. While we were there, we got to do a little sightseeing. We visited the Column, a tribute to Astoria history, and hiked the 164 steps to the top. We fulfilled our touristy needs and stocked up on souvenirs. From there, it was off to the Goonies house and much motion sickness driving around badly laid out streets. Then it was lunch at The Wet Dog Cafe and a much needed glass of Strawberry Blonde. And more souvenir shopping. We picked up his co-worker who rode back with us to Lincoln City to take another truck back to Astoria, making stops along 101 for Kodak (Sony??) moments.

I write all of that to expound upon the glories of having a day off. A day off with Husband. A day off for the two of us to do fun stuff. And it was fun. We took pictures (none of which I have remembered to include) and indulged ourselves and talked about whatever we felt like. It was absolutely the most restful time I've had away from work in months.

It's nice to finally be at that point where I'm ok being away from work, to not have it consuming my every thought. I love my new position and every lesson learned, whether it was something I did right or wrong, has been worth it.

The hardest lesson, I think, was not letting other people dictate how I was going to feel and it's something I have to remind myself of still. By nature I'm non-confrontational; however, in order to let my employees know what is expected of them, I have to step out of my comfort zone. It's still my job to set perameters and then enforce them. As scary as that is, it's what I'm being paid for.

So, hopefully now that life has become more routine, so will my blog posts. I really appreciate you, my readers, who faithfully put up with poor grammar and sub par recipes. You're way cooler than you realize.

Edumacation

The saying goes, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." I can go with that, except I'm going to strain it because I hate pulp, add a few ice cubes, use Splenda and then add ice tea flavored vodka. Wait what was I making again?

Recently, I was promoted to a new position at The Hotel. I'm thrilled really. Completely overwhelmed and SOOOOOO glad the Biggest Loser Challenge is over (one less thing to worry about), but thrilled. It means adapting to a new schedule (Binky if you call me a vampire one more time, I swear I will stop loving Little Love 1 and Little Love 2!) and new challenges. It has also meant a renewed love of learning.

Anyone who's ever had more than a five minute long actual conversation with me knows that I am a treasure trove of trivia. I am this way because I love to read and I have taken on "Knowledge is power" as my personal mantra since my days of Bible Buzzing in Sunday school (anyone else remember doing that?). I love the rush when I have the answer to a question. It's right up there with the rush of being right (I get light headed a lot).

My point is I really do enjoy learning. I enjoy it more when it's on my terms, hence my not so always stellar grades in school, but nevertheless, I won't turn down wisdom, no matter where it comes from. Now imparting my own wisdom, that's where things get tricky.

So here I sit in a hotel room. I'm on day two of a three day of meeting with other people who are already functioning in the capacity that I will be. Since this has been purely for my edificiation and the people that I've met with have been so attentive to me, it hasn't been a time where I could coast. I've had to ask the questions I want answers to and try to think of the questions that I might not even know that I need to know the answers to (which is tricky, it's kind of like meeting my future self and causing a huge rift in the galaxy). When resources have been pretty much laid at your feet, smiling and giving support, you'd be pretty messed up not to take advantage of them. Hi, I'm the Undomestic Goddess and I'm a user (but in a good way).

I will say, I haven't enjoyed being away from Husband. Before I left, we'd spent a record three nights in the same bed. Not only were we not quite sure what to do (some things really are like riding a bicycle) but the girls are super confused as to why both of their humans are taking up their space. Melodie keeps wedging herself between us as if to reassure herself, that yes, we are both really there. Mandie makes sure with a quick cold wet nose to some inconvenient part of the body. In the future, all furry children will sleep on the floor, two or four-legged.



How do you feel about learning? Always ready to tackle a new challenge?