The State of Me

It seemed time for a life update. There have been so many changes so far this year, and yet I'm still not achieving all that I hoped I would. (Disclaimer, I may be a bit of an overachiever.)

I can't believe that Top Shelf Digital & Social Media Marketing has become a reality. I've been dreaming of this for nearly two years, and yet it took the perfect storm of circumstances for everything to fall into place.

Sam's getting ready to decide where he'd like to match for his orthopedic hand fellowship, and his final interview (at UC Davis) takes place next week. We'll know where we're heading next at the end of May 2015 and we'll make the transition in July 2016.

There is a lot of travel on the horizon. Much more than in years past. Sam and I are headed to Italy in May to celebrate the wedding of two very dear friends of ours. A few weeks later, I'm visiting France and Spain for the first time with my parents and sister.

We have some BIG weddings to look forward in upcoming months as well. Ryan and Jen will tie the knot in May followed by Kip and Elya (in Italy), then Ryan and Amanda are getting hitched in June, Nathan and Jasmin in August, and finally Lorin and Kathryn in September.

We are salt-n-peppering some family time in between these exciting events - my family will be here at the end of this month and Sam's parents are treating us to a weekend staycation in Laguna Beach next month.

Mental Health Days

Everyone needs a mental health day sometimes.  Today is mine.

I haven't had a day to myself since April 14.  Since then I've either been traveling and participating in wedding festivities, working, or entertaining out of town guests.  Please don't misunderstand me, those are all very exciting things that make me very happy, but they do wear me down too.

Sam went back to work today after his week of vacation so that left Hunter and I at the house.  How very relaxing!  The only bummer was that Hunter seemed to think it was time to get up when Sam left for work at 5:30 this morning.  C'est la vie.  It got me up, out of bed and started my productive day.

What have I done with my day?  I started off my cleaning out my briefcase and purse of all the miscellaneous stuff I'd been collecting during the last couple of weeks.  I was able to file my bills and paychecks away in our guest bedroom, clean out our stationary drawer and make room for the new thank you cards and greeting cards I ordered from Papyrus earlier this week, and stripped the guest bed and bathroom linens to be cleaned before my parents arrive next weekend.

Funny anecdote, twice I tried to start the washing machine with the guest bed sheets and twice I accidentally turned on the drier instead.  Boy, did I need a mental health day or what?!

I also have been catching up on my blogging (both reading and writing) and downloaded some new material on my nook.  Which I swear I am going to go and read once I'm finished with this post because I am racking up a ton of unread stuff on that little device and I'm itching to read it all.

I also met with a colleague of mine and spent a couple of hours with her hearing about her job hunt, catching up on what's going on in her love life and just enjoying not having a time-schedule that I had to follow.  When we were done I ran into Target to buy more dishwashing detergent (the kitchen is getting cleaned as soon as I get though the piles of dishes in our sink), razors (summer weather is here and I definitely can't wear shorts with the fuzzy legs I am sporting), and birthday and mother's day cards (which will all be slightly belated).  All in all, it was a good trip.  I just need to run to Petsmart and get Hunter some new chewy sticks to entertain him when we're having company over or take him somewhere for dinner.

It's odd because I would think all these errands would be stressing me out more, but having accomplished so many of my To Do items has really relaxed me and made me feel in control of my life again.  I even took some time to write cards to a few friends and family members because I believe snail mail brightens everyone's days.  It actually seems that many people like to accomplish things on their days off: How and When to Take a Mental Health Day gives you ideas of how to schedule time off as well as what you should do to help yourself recover from the stress in your life.

Wedding Season 2013

Wedding Season 2013 kicks off this weekend with the Kishmirian-Airoso nuptials.  I am flying up to Oakland tomorrow morning and will get to see Nonna and Papa on the way home from the airport to pick up the MDX to take up to Sacramento for the weekend.

Thursday night will be the rehearsal dinner and I'm so excited to see all my college girlfriends and the ladies from the bachelorette party again.  I think after dinner we're going to head into downtown Sac to do a little celebrating.  Lena, Heidi and I are sharing a hotel room that night so it will be quite the college sleepover!

Friday we'll be spending the day decorating Joe's parents' house and making our bouquets.  I think Jackie has appointments set up for us to have our nails done that evening as well.  She wants to do a bit of a girl's night out (GNO) at the hotel on her last night as Ms. Kishmirian so I think we'll all head back to relax after the mani-pedi experience.  Who knows, we might all need to get to bed earlier than expected after all our setting up!

Thanks to 2nd Year of Residency, Sam flies in late Friday night (he arrives in Sacramento at 11:40 PM) and my guess is I may need to skip some of the festivities that evening so I can take a nap before picking him up.  Hopefully he'll nap on the plane so he is a little bit rested before the big day arrives.

Saturday morning will be interesting.  I think we're going to head over to Joe's parents house around 9:30 or 10 so we can finish setting the tables and putting out the center pieces.  I'm a little nervous about getting all of that done the day of the wedding but that's why Jackie's the bride and not me!  She's so cool, calm and collected about the whole thing!

Anyway, the wedding will be Saturday evening after our hair and makeup team concludes the beautification process.  I was able to see Jackie's dress when I was in town for the bachelorette party and it's absolutely stunning.  She is going to be freaking gorgeous- although that would have been true regardless of the dress she had chosen!

In any case, here is the beginning of the 2013 Wedding Season!

TGIF!!!

I could not agree more with this meme.  OMG this has been a crappy week.  Full disclosure, it's *that* time of the month so I have been a bit of a hormonal mess.  Let's just say that I spent Tuesday afternoon bursting into tears several times in my office.  Yes, it was that bad.  Plus, Sam got sick and obviously we're all cranky when we don't feel good.  Last night, we had two comforters on our bed- one on my side and one on his.  Dear Lord, please let him be recover by the time I see him Monday!

Yes, I will be out of town this weekend at Miss Jackie's Bridal Shower.  I have tonight to pack, spend some quality time with Hunter Puppy, write in Jackie's card, fill out the recipe card (we're all donating new recipes to her and Joe's collection) and prep Hunter's dog-sitter with notes for her visits on Sunday.

Sam and I will split up our nights with him so that we don't have to have the dog-sitter stay overnight or leave Hunter at the vet.  I am on duty tonight and Sunday night, Sam will be home mid-afternoon on Saturday and rest at home that night before reporting for call again on Sunday morning. 

This weekend kicks off the 2013 Wedding Season Madness for me.  And believe me, this homebody is already feeling elevated blood pressure just looking at her calendar.  I underestimated how stressful it would be to concurrently plan a reunion and a bachelorette party long-distance.  Not that I would give either of them up, I am having fun and am really excited about all the festivities, but it's all the little details that creep up on me 

We're going to be up in Tahoe during shoulder season, so the restaurants are not as responsive as I would like them to be, i.e. (I waited 2 weeks to actually get firm plans set up with the limo company and the restaurant).  If you know me, you know that I like to try to be prompt and organized with lots of advance planning. 

Worse than flaky vendors, I have about three people I just want to punch in the face.  I realize that everyone is doing their best to be helpful; however, I wish that people would keep in mind that we're talking about big groups here and what is easiest may not be EXACTLY what you, the individual wants, but for the sake of the group (and my sanity) could you just go with the flow?  I am not going to friend 300 people on Facebook to make sure they get added to our reunion group- those folks who don't want to publicly associate their profiles with our high school can either a) get an emailed registration PDF from the folks they keep in touch with, or b) they can email me directly and I'm happy to hook them up.  And while I'm on the subject, if you join the group, please take the time to explore the information!  I can't tell you how irritating it is for me to explain the same 3 things over and over and over.  The location is listed, the registration fee is listed, and it clearly says MULTIPLE places that you cannot pay at the door.  Don't whine to me about that.  Just freakin' plan accordingly.

Can you tell my patience for morons is wearing thin ?  :-)  I should probably make this gem (at right) my anti-mantra for the next couple of months.  Actually, no joke, I should probably print it out (or order a few plaques somewhere online) and hang this up in my office at work and my office at home.  Sheesh.  I know I like things to be my way, but sometimes I honestly think my way is the best damn way to do it.

But seriously folks, I understand we all have our little preferences.  And I do want to accommodate them, if I didn't care I'd be WAY less stressed out!  Just keep in mind when you make some special request 2 weeks before the event that it may cause me to have a complete emotional breakdown, crying in my office at work.