Guess who's back?

Remember me? I'm the person who used to blog. Previously known as Ashley.Currently known as the person who does nothing but work. But I'm changing that. Because 2014 wasn't a ton of fun. It had all the elements of fun, but none of the actual fun. Essentially I was a fun facilitator. I made fun possible for other people. Which was great for them but not so great for me.

That's what my goal is for 2015. Have fun. Be intentional. Make my own decisions and not let decisions make me. Know that I am not that important. There are other that can do things faster, better or just as well as I do. It is not life or death that I mark everything off my to do list every day. It is okay to say no. Limits are my friend. Setting them is my gift to myself. It will make me happy. It will give me sanity. Sanity and happiness will make me more productive. But in the end, no company, client or account will ever love me like my friends and family.

As I take a deep breath and languish in the last few hours before returning to work (yes, I was there on Friday, but when you're at work and you're not getting 20 emails an hour, you're not really feeling like it's work), I will remember to be happy. Have fun. Be intentional (does this sound like a mantra? It might end up being a mantra. Or it might end up being something that I chant to myself in the corner as I'm rocking myself in the fetal position after I get 100 emails within the first 3 hours of work).

Be happy. Have fun. Be intentional.

Vacation is Over

I'm so fast...I'm a blur!

Well, duh. My vacation has been over for literally weeks. But between it and work travel, it felt like I was on a vacation. . .but only from eating well and working out. I hadn't stepped on a treadmill for almost three weeks until this Monday. I haven't gone that long without regular exercise of some sort in years. Which also explains the weight gain. Well, not completely. But stuffing my face with anything that sounded good at any time of day even if I was full probably does. Oh and sweet potato pancakes. I only had them for one meal, but I believe they added at least 3 pounds on me.

Anyway, I went back to work in many ways this week. My first full week in the office in almost a month. Yes, really. Not to say I haven't worked a full week, because I have, but been travelling, had holidays and the aforementioned and blogged

Waiting for me

about vacation. So BAM! The perfect storm for pudginess.
On another related note, I've been receiving more mail this week than in my entire life. Why am I so popular? I'm administering a grant program for a client  and we've had more than 80 come in--two-thirds in the last three days. The thrill of receiving a package with your name on it is completely lost on me right now. Although I still love the program because I'm a non-profit nerd and love checking out what everyone is doing. It's in my blood.

Pancakes, Passions and Old Hometowns

Greg and I. He's hard to get
into a selfie, because he's over
a foot taller than I am!

On my last day out of town last week, I spent an entire day in my last hometown before my new hometown, Nashville. The day before I had had breakfast in Evansville with my stepdad and his fiance, and this day I had breakfast with my friend Greg at the Pancake Pantry. First of all, it was heaven sent because there was no line. Second of all, sweet potato pancakes. That's all I need to say.

Of course, it was also awesome to see my good friend. I met such awesome people in Nashville. That was the one reason that made it so hard to leave. Greg is special because he's my writing friend. He's more than that, but it's rare to have people that you trust with your creative writing and he's one of them. I can say things that sound ridiculous and lofty like "I'm just not sure if the characters are strong enough." or "My work doesn't feel so authentic"

Home of long lines and
sweet potato pancakes

without sounding like a pretentious a-hole because he knows what I mean. And isn't it nice to have a cheerleader who isn't your family? I'm his cheerleader too. The dude deserves all the praise he's about to get when he publishes. At least I can be one of the few that say the read him BEFORE the book came out.

After breakfast, I did some putzing around town. I got a pedicure at Signature Nails, a place that my friend Michelle turned me on to when I lived there. It's awesome and I still haven't found a nail spot in LA like it, but part of that reason is that most LA nail salons are $30 for manicure-pedicures. No, that's not each. That's combined. Mani-pedis are literally one of the few things in LA that are cheaper than nearly anywhere else. But you definitely lose something.

Then I headed to my old haunt, the AHA office. I had a late lunch with Kelly, Evon and Joyce. Caught up on all the people we used to work with and the way things have changed. It was awesome. Then I got to meet up with another friend, Alyssa and have some dessert as my last visit before I got on the plane.

• Total days of Vacation: 6
• Total miles driven in rental car: 1,054
• Total number of people seen: 37

TOTALLY worth it.

A Week Ago. . . .

Naughty Auda and Me

In continuing with my shortened recount of where I was on my trip last week, I'll continue with last Monday. I got up at 6:36 EST. I only mention this because that equates to 3:36 PST. Which is kind of how my entire week went in some way or another. I ended up sleeping about 3 hours each night. Kind of explains why I started sneezing and being stuffed up last week and have spent all weekend sleeping and draining.

I got to Oakland City to visit my dad, took a tour of his campus and then headed off to see my grandma Wrye, aka Naughty Auda (which rhymes and is perhaps the most awesome nickname of all time, which makes sense because she's the most awesome lady of all time). We had a nice long visit. The only bummer of this trip was not getting to see my aunts and uncles on my dad's side. Since it was wedding on the Mom's side and I hadn't seen them in a LONG time, they got the visit. But it sucks having to miss people.

After seeing grandma, I met my dad at the Barnes and Noble, which used to be favorite jaunt of mine, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian."

checked out the bargain books. Sadly because of suitcase space and the "it's cheaper on Kindle" rationale, I only really check out local authors and discount books at the chain bookstores. Independent bookstores are a whole different matter. Apparently Evansville doesn't read enough because I got three bargain books for less than $16 and was a happy camper. What didn't make me so happy was the FIVE bookshelves dedicated to "Teen Paranormal Romance" and "NEW Teen Paranormal Romance." I totally blame Stephenie Meyer. Damn, Twilight books have made all teen girls think that true love is only available with a vampire, zombie or werewolf. I might end up writing something in YA just to go against the grain. Although I'm not sure I can do it as well as Sherman Alexie's "

I totally want Hermione's wand.

But they did redeem themselves with this little beauty from Hermione. :)

Dad and I went to a movie ("Now You See Me"--not too shabby) and dinner (for Father's Day) and just had a nice night. ... so I could get up again the next morning for more visiting.

Ready for a Vacation

It's not like I've been stressed by the new job since I've only been on it for 8 business days, but leaving the old job in a decent place and the stress of beginning a new place have left me craving my trip out of town. I can't wait to land in Nashville tomorrow and see all my old friends. As luck would have it, not one but TWO of my friends who live in other cities are going to be in town too, so BONUS visit.

And then to Indiana to see my family, who (and I can't really believe this), I haven't seen in over a year. How is that even possible? Oh, right. I live thousands of miles away now. Unfortunately my hubby is staying in the temperate climate of Southern California while I sweat my ass off in Tennessee and Indiana. But the distance will only make me miss him more until I get back.

24 hours from now, I'll be at dinner with friends. . . .

Nice Things About Vacations

Being lazy like Genghis

I'm off of work this week and trying to take full advantage of my time away to recharge. Errands and running are being kept to a minimum and it's been awesome. Here are some of my favorite things about being off of work:

• Extra Chef time (and time with the kitties)
• Could go and get my brakes fixed without stressing about conference calls or being on time for meetings
• Email is optional
• Can respond quickly to moves on Words with Friends games
• Ice skating at 2 p.m. on a Friday? Sure!
• When I see 5 a.m. on the clock, I just roll over and go back to sleep.
• I can take naps every day at 3 p.m. (if I wanna)
• I can clean the interior of my car and dust my house and clean my cabinets and organize my shoes without thinking I should be lounging in my free time
• I can read all I want
• I can even read trashy magazines all I want
• I haven't driven as many miles in the last 5 days as I do on one day just getting to work
• Thus I have 80 percent of the gas left in the tank I filled on Saturday
• Football is on nearly 24-7
• Writing feels like a daily necessity and not a habit I'm trying to form
• I can go shopping on "off" hours (if there is such a thing in LA)
• I get to see and soak in the sun

What have you done with your time off?

Vacation Day Ten: Last Vestiges of Relaxation

It's the last official day of my staycation. While a tiny part of me is ready to go back to work, another part of me is ready for a life of being independently wealthy. Who isn't though, right? The good thing about tomorrow is that I wasn't overly ambitious and have no external meetings. One full day of getting caught up and back in the swing of things.

For the last two days, I've been working diligently to get as much relaxing in as possible. It's a tough job, let me tell you. I've slept. I've eaten. I've baked. It's been glorious.

The other thing I'm thanking God for is that for the third week in a row, I'm not working a full work week. I'm off on Friday because I'm heading up to Indianapolis to see my girls. I'm so excited to see them that I wish today was Friday. Plus it will be Liam's first long trip. I've got to get the ipod loaded up and ready to go. Ladies, I'm going to request that we have at least one cocktail of everyone's choosing while we're together.

But until then, I will enjoy the remaining hours of relaxation. Maybe I'll dig back into the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've gotten 56% through it (or at least that's what the Kindle says). Now I'm watching a special on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the Orlando Universal Studios theme park. Is it bad that I really want to go and visit Hogwarts in person? They keep saying "kids" will love it, but that means kids at heart, too, right?

Tomorrow it's back to work. Back to writing every morning. Back to running every morning. Back to eating better. Back to being healthy. Wish me luck.

Vacation Day Eight: Rest and Recovery

Some of you out there might've noticed that vacation day seven did not get chronicled. Frankly, that was poor planning on my part. Yesterday was Chef's birthday and we while we had done the eating celebration at Ruth's Chris, we did the drinking celebration at The Patterson House last night. We left earlier than I anticipated and therefore didn't get a blog entry off before the celebrating began.

And the celebrating was nice. We got to taste the spring menu of cocktails (the favorite of the ones I sampled was the Hush and Wonder--fruity but delicious) before they change it up for the summer. Chef had a drink that was also delicious and the best way to describe it was like drinking liquid cinnamon teddy grahams. I only got a taste, but it was one of the best drinks I've ever had.

We had taken a cab there, but decided to walk home--I had missed boot camp for his birthday so it was probably a good idea to get some exercise. However, about halfway home (it's only a little over a mile), we were regretting the decision. I need another pedicure because my feet are now once again crusty. It was hot last night.

It was a great celebration and a great way to cap off a week of being off. The dread for Monday's barrage of things to do is slowly creeping in. But for today, I am being productive in a domestic sense. I did the grocery shopping and have four loads of laundry in various stages.

I also am soaking up the last moments of cat snuggling. Particularly with Attila. He's my snuggle buddy normally, but we've had more time this week. I think he's going to take it hard when I go back to work. Or maybe I'm just pretending he'd take it hard to feel better about the fact that Genghis adores Chef so much.

So back to laundry. . .

Vacation Day Five: Working Out, Hanging Out

Ah, I'm finding my vacation stride. I had trouble sleeping through the night, but the joy of vacation is that I could get up at 5 a.m. and go back to sleep at 7 a.m. for several more hours. Love it.

Then I got up and had a leisurely morning hanging out with Chef before gathering up my shirt to be returned and heading to Old Navy. I ran a few errands and then went to boot camp. It was a greatly low key day.

The only thing that I'm worried about is my face. There's a huge zit sprouting up on my cheek and it's not looking pretty. Between the giant red blotch and the few episodes of "True Life" I've watched on MTV, I'm getting curious about the Zeno Hot Spot. It kind of freaks me out the Whitney from The City is hawking it. While she has good skin, she's not the most skilled pitchman. Or really speaker. She might be pretty smart, but she sounds like an idiot no matter what comes out of her mouth.

Which brings me back to the Zeno Hot Spot. I totally want to try it and see if I can get rid of this bulbous red raised pimple. But I can't seem to pull the trigger. Has anyone else wanted to check this out?

Vacation Day Three: Dreading a Week from Today

Is it sad that I'm already dreading NEXT Sunday when I have to go back to work? Yeah, it is. Today I came to the conclusion that 8 seconds is not only the length that bull riders aim to stay on the bull, but also length of time Krispy Kreme recommends to reheat their original glazed in the microwave.

Chef also introduced me to the exciting taste of Chorizo Chipotle Corn Nuts. These spicy nuggets of crunchy deliciousness are awesome. The only problem is that I can't find them anywhere. They're not even listed on the official corn nuts web site. If you know where I can get my hands on some, let me know! Here's what the package looks like:

Aside from eating, watching the UFC fight and a Tosh.0 marathon, my day has been pretty tame. And I love it!

Vacation Day Two

It's Saturday. That means it doesn't really feel like vacation, because I'm normally off on Saturdays anyway (last Saturday notwithstanding). Slept in. Watched Alice in Wonderland. Wondered what it is about Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp that makes them want to scare the crap out of small children. Which lead me to think about Daniel Tosh's stand up where he points out that Johnny Depp is 47. Hard to believe he's 47.

Caught up on Glee. Why can't the show go back to actually moving forward and not just be a weekly lesson of a song that probably won't be used in their regional competition? Every week they practice for regionals but don't really make any progress. If I were Will Shuester, I'd be disappointed. Also, what happened to the Jesse kid? He just shows up whenever he wants to? Why isn't Quinn getting more pregnant each week? What happened to the magic that was?

Ate leftovers for lunch and am plotting taquitos for dinner. Maybe I'll go to bed at 8 p.m. or maybe I'll stay up until 4 a.m. There's something liberating about that.

Vacation Day One: I'm staycating

It is officially here. The Ball is over. The majority of contracts have been signed (just a few more to go when I get back). My brain can take a break now. At least from work. I am officially on vacation until June 7th. No, I'm not going anywhere. And I'm so excited about it.

I'm taking the staycation, but I'm also vacating some responsibility for the week, so I'm staycating. My big plans include working out, writing, hanging out with Chef and playing with the kitties. It also doesn't hurt that Chef's birthday is in the middle of this time off. The big celebration? How about a metal plate heated to 425 degrees with a medium rare filet mignon that has a scoop of butter, salt, pepper and parsley on it? Sound good? Yeah, it's flippin' delicious. I was lucky enough to get a trip to Ruth's Chris for my birthday and we've been plotting our return visit ever since.

We also have a return trip to the Patterson House plotted out for another night of celebration and libations. Could this be any better? I get to spend time with the one I love and the kitties too.

The other good news is that after I get back, I spend 4 days in the office before I leave for a trip to see my girls in Indy. I am so ecstatic.

All this time off and I still have more plans. I'm going to finish reading my book and pick up Girl With a Dragon Tattoo after several people have recommended it. I am also going to try and knock some more out on my novel. Yes, that lingering novel. In fact, I've been working on it diligently for the last several weeks. More than 30 days to be precise. I actually made it through my entire pledge--getting up 30 minutes earlier and knocking out a little each day. It's a habit that I'm going to keep for a while. Let's see how much more I can knock out.

Okay, I'm off to clean and devein some shrimp for scampi dinner tonight. Mmmm. Delicious start to the staycation already!

So Much To Do, So Little Energy

I have so much to finish out on for the Ball, and I'm chipping away, but it seems like my attention span is about 15 minutes at a time. That's all people are getting out of me. 15 minutes of solid thinking and then I need a break.

Thankfully, only two more work days and I get that break. Our office, and whole region for that matter, is off this Friday and Monday for Memorial Day. And then I took off the rest of next week to recoup from a long year. I will be writing, reading, and celebrating Chef's birthday (it's on the 3rd. Mark your calendars.) To celebrate, we're going to Ruth's Chris to get a filet cooked on a 425 degree metal plate topped with melted butter, salt, pepper and parsley. Then to the Patterson House for some after dinner drinks. Can someone say taxi cab all night?

Next week, butter and sizzling meat aside, I also need to get back on the eating well wagon. I'm still running every morning, but my apathetic approach to eating is not working well for my waistline. Wish me luck!

Now to just get through the next two days of work. . .

Phew!

Last night was the Rutherford Heart Ball. I am relieved and excited it's over. Chef probably is too. Also my friends and family are ready for me to return to the land of the living, so to speak. It was a beautiful event that made our volunteers feel great. Things went smoothly (there's always room for improvement, clearly) and our guests had a good time. I don't think there's a whole lot more I can ask for.

I'm also grateful. I give Erin, our social events director, credit for pulling it off as she did so much, including keeping me from losing my sanity over the last four months. Plus tons of AHA staff and come of our awesome volunteers came out in full force last night to help make the night beautiful.

My favorite part of post-even clean up was that one of my co-workers (Alyssa, I'm talking about you) put a mannequin torso in my front passenger seat and buckled her in. She told me she had done it, but that did not stop me from scaring myself silly as I went to my car at 1 a.m. and thought someone had broken. It also did not stop me from scaring myself a few more times as I would catch the mannequin in my peripheral vision and jump a little. In my defense, it was late and I had been working for 16 hours yesterday with about 3 hours of nervous sleep the night before.

And if being scared also entirely by my own shadow (or that of a plastic armless torso) was not enough of a challenge on the ride home, I almost hit a deer carcass about 3 blocks from the event site. Two cars were stopped in the left hand lane with their emergency flashers on and I slowed down, which ended up saving Liam Nissan his front bumper. I was able to see the dead deer laying in the right lane that I was in and manuveur around it.

So what next? Well, today is a taking it easy kind of day. Friday is all about the mani/pedi that my hands and feet are screaming for. And next week is already scheduled for a vacation. I literally cannot wait. Focusing on work this week is going to be a challenge.

What I would Rather Be Doing Today

I'm sitting here for the last 10 minutes of work with about 40 minutes of actual work to finish and instead of getting a crack at it or even caring, I've decided to blog and then leave the 40 minutes for me to do when I get back in January. That's right. January.

Today was a day when I labored through the "important" deadline driven items to make it to the holiday potluck (I made the aforementioned Parmesan Herb Bread). Then I came back in, got on a conference call, did work, met with a volunteer for an hour and tried to get the last three items on my TO DO list done before 5. I got the last two done and realized it was decision time. Be late getting home and finish up or write this blog. I think the decision is clear.

Here are things that I would've rather been doing than working today:

• sleeping in with Chef and the three cats--okay let's be honest, nearly anything involving Chef and the cats
• watching reruns of 90210 and The OC on Soapnet
• Shopping for Christmas presents as I only have one bought right now
• reading reading reading
• eating Parmesan Herb bread (which I'm doing now anyway)
• talking with my friends

Well, it's 5 p.m. now so I'm heading out. Wooo hooo for holidays!!