A Lesson In Juggling

Clearly my two week blogging hiatus is evidence to my struggle.  I was about to ramble on about my lack of juggling skills being the main X factor of my hiatus, but that's not really true.  I think I've had so many things to juggle the last two weeks that blogging took a back seat.  It makes me sad to say that because one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more consistently, even if it's about nothing special.  Well, I guess it's about that time . . . to start falling off the Resolution Wagon.  However, rather than beat myself up about it, or give up on the resolution, I'm going to tell you how well I juggled the things that kept me from blogging and then move on like it never happened. :)

My last post, Monday the 19th (13 days ago) marked the beginning of my anticipation:

1.  My dear friend from Las Vegas was flying in on Thursday for a weekend visit.  Yay!
2.  I needed to clean my dirty house before she arrived.  And do laundry before Scott departed for a work trip the next day. Ugh!
3.  I had reading and other assignments to complete for school.  They wouldn't be done over the weekend with my friend in town.  Pat on my back for working ahead!
4.  I needed to decide on plans for the weekend.  NYC or DC?  Had to show my friend a good time!
5.  Needed to catch up on some DVR before saved shows were erased.  I know, big problem, right?

Tuesday, a day I don't have class, Scott left for his trip and I used my quiet time to read ahead in Psychology and Chemistry and complete a few assignments in Anatomy and Math.  Wednesday, between classes, I continued reading ahead for Anatomy.  All the while I was fitting in my almost-daily yoga classes . . . a resolution I have been very good at keeping.  And so grateful for it!  Suddenly, Thursday was here.  I was excited for my friend to arrive.  I spent the morning cleaning the house while catching up on my shows stored in DVR.  You don't have to tell me I'm a great multitasker.  Heh!  That afternoon I drove to Baltimore to pick her up from the airport.  An hour and a half later we arrived at my house practically out of breath from catching up with each other.  Don't you just love that?  Picking up where you left off last time you were together (which for us was 10 months ago)?  We dumped her bag inside, fed the pets, and took off to a local Italian restaurant for a great dinner.  I went to bed smiling about having my friend back in my company.  Though neither of us misses the North Dakota weather this time of year, we are both grateful for having lived there as it's the reason we became friends at all.  There's a really great story about how we met, but that's for another post, another time.

After my class on Friday morning we were free to do as we pleased.  We decided on DC.  NYC was too far for the short time we had.  We didn't want to spend our time in the car, hoping and praying we wouldn't hit traffic.  Two days just wasn't enough time for a proper trip to NYC.  And DC was much closer to the Baltimore airport she was leaving from on Sunday.  We booked a great little hotel about 10 blocks north of the National Mall.  We walked everywhere, working off all the delicious food we were eating.  We explored monuments, museums, restaurants, and bars.  Did you know all of the Smithsonian museums are free?  Makes DC about the cheapest city I've ever been to.  It was also one of the cleanest cities I've been to.  Fortunately Penn Quarter, the area we stayed in, felt very safe.  And Chinatown, offering food and fun, was just blocks away.  What more could we ask for?  Sunday arrived sooner than expected and I was sad to send my friend home.  We had a blast together.  I'll give you more DC details in my next post.

So that brings us to this past week.  Besides editing DC photos my friend sent me (because I stupidly forgot my camera), I was attending class and keeping up with this week's reading and assignments.  My nights were filled with yoga, a military spouse get together, and studying for my three exams next week. I did manage to find an hour or so to squeeze in a pedicure which allowed me to catch up on some recreational reading, which has suffered right along with blogging.  Though I'm not the master juggler, I think I did okay.  Fortunately, yoga has kept me calm and centered through it all.  And that's where I'm off to now.  Then back home to study for my exams.  Next post:  DC details.