Busy Doesn't Come Close

I know I haven't posted in awhile - a long while - but "busy" doesn't come close to describing life recently -- and work is the biggest culprit. Since my team nationalized I've seen my workload almost double on some weeks. But work isn't all I've been focused on.

This past Saturday I volunteered at Bark in the Park from 7am until Noon. I was an official ACS "dog sitter" which meant every time someone needed to use the portable toilets, I got to hold their dog! Bark is a 5K/3.1 mile walk (with or without your dog!) to raise funds to support The Anti-Cruelty Society’s animal welfare programs that help 50,000 animals and humans each year. 3000 people participated in the walk, raising $150,000 for ACS.

After the volunteering ended, Jon met me at Montrose Harbor where we stumbled upon another big event -- Mayor Daley's 11th Annual Kids and Kites Festival. Professional kite flyers mingled with the lay people and showed off their enormous yellow octopus, purple cat/dog, and other geometric monstrosities. Now I really, really want to buy a kite. Maybe this one.

Then I took a much needed nap, woke up and realized I have a sunburned nose (I look like Rudolph), had dinner at Noodles and Company, enjoyed a few drinks at aliveOne, and proceeded to fall asleep by midnight.

Sunday was also productive, with a trip to donate my old clothes at the Brown Elephant, followed by a walk to the lake where Jon and I ate grapes, drank limeade, and talked about jobs and life. After returning home, we got ready for the first BBQ of the season. BBQ drumsticks, Italian sausage, burgers, veggies on a kabob and then s'mores with dark chocolate -- yum!

And today I start guitar lessons again at the Old Town School of Folk Music. It's been awhile so I'm a little nervous I'll have a lot of catching up to do, but it will be good to get back into the swing of practicing.