Oh what a fabulous weekend! Seattle was gorgeous outside, and although the entire city is very anti-air conditioning, it was the kind of weekend that makes people decide to move here. Rain? What rain?
Friday night I was supposed to meet the girls downtown at Fado, but the weather was screaming for drinks on a deck somewhere, so we met in Kirkland. Mmmmm, margaritas!!!
Saturday was as delicious as the day before. Since I was working on a project in another building most of last week, I had to leave the dog at home. NOT something she’s used to at all (I know, *sob*, *sob*, poor Chloe. Tell me that after she craps all over YOUR house in protest). The initial plan was to make it up to her by heading up to Marymoor park (this insane 16 acre off-leash dog park about 5 minutes from the house), but mamma needed a break too, and one without the potential of getting knocked over by muddy paws, licked upside the face or being bonked on the head by a tennis ball (not necessarily in that order).
So I packed up Chloe, a blanket, some water and my new boyfriend Kindle and headed for the park a few blocks up the road.
“IM GETTIN HAIRCUT, I PROMIZE”
We set up camp under a huge evergreen tree and Chloe spent a few hours playing with every human and canine that came by while I attempted to spend quality time with Kindle. God I love that thing. As an only child I grew up with a book in my face. No joke I have an entire dresser full of books instead of clothes. So when Amazon came out with this new book reader, I knew I had to have one.
“My new boyfriend”
And now that I have one, I totally want to marry it. Is that wrong?
“I HAS COMPETISHUN”
** First one to find the reference to the post title wins a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com.
Almost every winter my list of things to do both at home and at work slowly piles up and gets to be so long that I can’t seem to do anything at all. It’s not that any one of these tasks is so hard to accomplish, it’s just that the thought of all of them together is so overwhelming that I just want to bury my head in my pillow and hide.
Logically I know what’s going on when this happens, and it totally pisses me off that I can’t do much about it but ride it out. Seasonal depression, sometimes known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) has reared it’s ugly head. And in Seattle, S.A.D. is the soup du jour of winter.
This year has been particularly bad for me, since it’s been about two years since I’ve actually spent an entire winter at home and not either alternating weeks between Seattle and sunny SoCal or flying back and forth to the East Coast. Couple that with the fact that Spring seems to be playing hide-and-seek in the Northwest and DING! DING! DING! We have a winner.
Check out the symptoms, which typically begin in the fall, intensify in winter, and subside in spring:
Decreased energy and activity. CHECK
Tiredness, sleep more CHE..ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Sadness, anxiety OH YEAH
Appetite changes (usually increased appetite) OF COURSE
Carbohydrate craving DUH
Weight gain DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT
Loss of interest in sex (although I wouldn’t know, as my sex life has been as dry as the town I grew up in, probably due to bullets 1-5 up there, dammit) MOST LIKELY
Withdrawal from friends and family UNFORTUNATELY
Difficulty concentrating and accomplishing tasks WITHOUT A DOUBT
So how do I fix it? Sunlight and activity. All I can hope for is that beautiful Spring days like today start becoming more frequent. In a small victory in my quest to make friends both inside and outside of work (more on that later), I was invited for an afternoon dog walk with a co-worker (YEA!). Since it was still sunny when I left, I took Chloe by this dog park down the street from my house I’ve been meaning to check out. Too many big dogs for her to deal with, but there’s a people park attached, so we took a stroll to see what was what. This, this, this and this. That’s what.
Now I realize that I’ve been home for almost a freaking month, but I can’t even begin to describe what an insane month it’s been. So here you go…photos from my trip last month. Next up? Belated Mythbusters results. I didn’t forget!!
Apparently this is what happens when I get all excited about apple blossoms. View from work at about 12:00pm today. Thank god the snow wasn’t sticking. I’d still be there.
My grandmother taught me how to knit when I was in middle school. The first thing she taught me was to knit a “warsh”cloth (her pronunciation, kind of like “Warsh-ington”). Turns out, they’re the best damn kitchen warshcloths I’ve ever used.
Almost every winter my list of things to do both at home and at work slowly piles up and gets to be so long that I can’t seem to do anything at all. It’s not that any one of these tasks is so hard to accomplish, it’s just that the thought of all of them together is so overwhelming that I just want to bury my head in my pillow and hide.
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