The frenetic schedule...week 14

This past week was craziness at work. I sort of had to laugh at myself as the first week of school came and went, and at that time, I was feeling at relative ease with my workload and the general pace of work life. Enter this week--yikes. It kicked my ass in a huge way. First off, last weekend, which was filled with many fun, social get togethers, was still exhausing. Friday night Court invited me over for dinner, making some yummy chicken, potatoes and salad (my contribution was a very challenging store-bought French silk pie) and we played outside with Kirsten and Evan. It was really nice to catch up. She had some lovely gifts for the baby-to-be from an adorable store I have yet to visit. It was the perfect Friday evening. Saturday morning, Liz was in town to visit some friends and we chatted over breakfast and bought some lovely baby sweaters at the Chester Bowl Fall Festival--ah, fall! I do love you. That afternoon I went to Wade to watch the Alumni game and later that night, attend the banquet. It's always such an emotional evening, hearing the latest group of graduates talk about their love of this program and how much it means to them. I love to listen to Corey talk up there and it makes me very proud.

This picture of us makes me laugh. Corey can never keep his one eye from squinting in pictures, so it usually requires about three tries. By this time he was fed up and looks like a goofball.

That night my desire to continue to wear my fun shoes was quickly dying out; within a few hours not only were my feet swollen but my entire lower half felt puffy and distended. A preview of swelling to come? Sunday I met my mom, sister, nieces and cousin Mary for a righteous Eggs Benedict breakfast--such fun and mayhem. A three-hour nap followed.

It's never a good sign when you get to work on Monday and you're exhausted...it seemed like two workdays, and Tuesday and Wednesday were about 12-hour days to boot. It was so nice to come home late Wednesday night and my chicken wild rice soup was heated up and waiting for me.


Thursday night was re-energizing--I met the ladies for Mexican and to bottle our wine! (I stole this picture from Kim, because she's the only one who remembers to document said events.) The assembly line process was actually really fun and despite spraying myself with the bottle washer contraption, all in all no one was injured and each of us walked away with bottles to save while they steep for a few months (or in my case, until March).