Thursday, March 1, 2012

Happy Exhaustion

I am fortunate to be in a job that I actually like.  A job that not only pays my bills but one that I look forward to going into every day.  One that I actually WANT to go in early to and / or stay late at because I enjoy what I do every day.

But today was one of those one-off exhausting days.  In addition to our annual audit, we have a major event coming up next week that has everyone beyond their normal busy.  In addition to my normal workload that keeps me on my toes from moment to moment it seems like I've had quite a bit coming my way from a variety of directions.  And while I love the variety and that people come to me to get things done, it ended up being ten minutes shy of an eleven hour day at the office today.  And that doesn't include my drive to and from the office.

Needless to say I've hit the point of happy exhaustion.  The point of being barely awake and ready to be done for the day which says a lot considering I'm a night owl and it's only 9:45 pm.  Despite such a long day, I still love what I do and am looking forward to going back in the morning.  It's such a great feeling to be in such a good position!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Baby Showers....


... (and wedding showers for that matter) are the bane of my existence.

While I understand that the original intent of baby showers was for women to share wisdom and lessons on the art of becoming a mother, they seem to have turned into a dressed up gift grab.  Let's be honest, a large bulk of the time at these event is spent "oohing and ahhhing" as the mother-to-be opens the gifts that attendees are basically required to bring because let's be honest, you can't show up to a shower empty-handed.

And many times, non-mothers are invited who are expected to bring a gift yet have no practical parenting experience or wisdom to share.  Don't get me wrong, there are some cute outfits out there but realistically, I can only ooh and ahh over so many onesies.

Tomorrow morning will see me at a baby shower in honor of my cousin.  While I'm certainly happy for her as she prepares to welcome her first child, I'm dreading having to spend a Sunday morning / early afternoon faking enthusiasm at this baby shower.

I was planning to politely decline so I could spend my precious weekend time doing something I actually want to do but before I could get my RSVP to my cousin's sister-in-law whose hosting this event, my aunt (my cousin's mother) cornered me at a family birthday dinner to confirm that I'm coming.  And how do I politely tell my aunt that I couldn't care less what toys and onesies her daughter gets?  So of course I'm now stuck having to waste my little free time bored out of my mind.

Here's hoping they have mimosas at this shower so I can at least take the edge off!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Work Crush

The museum I work at was open yesterday for Martin Luther King, Jr Day however the staff offices were closed in honor of the holiday.  When the offices are closed, we have one or two staff members work as the "Manager On Duty" and yesterday I had volunteered to be that person.  It was a great day to get caught up on a lot of those little things that normally get pushed to the back burner as well as to connect with museum volunteers and the security department without the usual interruptions that pop up during a normal day.

At the end of the day I was chatting with one of the security officers who looped me in that another member of the security team is interested in me.  As in, seriously interested in me.  As in, has commented about said interest to his fellow members of the security team.  Yet out of respect for this co-worker of ours, the security officer I was talking to didn't mention which security officer exactly this is.

The museum I work at, like many museums, has security cameras all over the building that the security team monitors throughout the day.  Said security officer with an interest in me has noticed where I'm at throughout the day.  Apparently once, a time that I don't even remember, I had a blonde moment and tripped a bit over my own two feet.  I was totally fine yet this security officer was ready to jump up to come help me.

I am flattered.  I am intrigued.  I want to know who he is.  Yet I'm also nervous.  Who is he?  Is he someone I'm interested in?  I'll admit to having an interest in one guy in particular but I'm not confident enough that he's the one with an interest in me.

What if he's not someone I'm interested in?  What if we go out a few times and it doesn't work out?  What if everyone in the office knows about it and it becomes a big topic of discussion among the rest of the staff?

There's so much potential but also so many what-ifs!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Whose Birthday Is It?

To me any birthday is worth celebrating as I'm proud of every one of my years but those birthdays ending in a five or a zero make for a "big birthday" worth celebrating even more so in my mind.  I don't know why I especially like those years ending in zeros and fives but I do.

It's a milestone birthday ending in a five for me this week....thirty-five to be exact.  And I've decided to do my birthday in style this year by going out to a nicer dinner with about fifteen friends at a local winery / restaurant.

I prefer to celebrate my birthday with a smaller group of people as to me it's more important to spend quality time talking with each person in a small group than only a little bit of time with each person within a large group of people.  It's all about quality over quantity to me.  I get more enjoyment personally interacting with a small group who have come out to celebrate with me than if I'm among a large group where I feel like I barely got to say more than hello and good-bye to everyone who made the effort to attend a birthday dinner in my honor.

And that is where there seems to be a disconnect.  One of my friends called me out tonight because I didn't invite everyone I've ever met (and what she really meant was everyone SHE'S ever met) to attend MY birthday dinner.  She mentioned several people by name who she felt I should have invited.  I then had to explain that, while I think the world of everyone in our group, I had to have a cut-off somewhere.  I had to explain that there comes a point where if you invite person A you then have to invite person B which leads to person C and, since I barely know person C, I can't say that I really feel the need to have that person at my birthday dinner!

I don't mean for there to be any hard feelings among those who didn't get invited, but if we're celebrating my birthday and I'm the one doing all the planning, shouldn't I have a bit of a say in who gets invited?  And really, I haven't said anything to those who weren't invited from my end, so how exactly do they even know that they're not invited?  I mean really, come on, whose birthday is it?!?!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

A New Year's To Remember

Is it really 2012?  Is today really at New Years Day?

I enjoyed dinner with friends last night and we did stay out until just past midnight when we toasted in the new year.  But today was spent at Children's Memorial Hospital with my four year old niece.  She's been battling pneumonia for almost two weeks and has been in the hospital since last Monday.  This past Thursday we transferred her from the hospital near her home to Children's to get advanced care.

The staff at Children's have been great.  The nurse today (who she's seen before during this visit) has been especially amazing...totally proves how the right person in the right role can make a world of difference.  That being said it wasn't quite how I thought I'd spend my new year's day.  And I'm sure it wasn't how my brother and sister-in-law planned to spend their Christmas and New Years.

Here's hoping that 2012 can only get better from here on out (and the sooner the better for Caroline's sake)!