Dear Monday,

You're never easy.  It's never pleasant to return to the office after the weekend away. But today, you're especially brutal.  And I am just not appreciating it.  It's not so much that work is so tough today, because it isn't.  It's really just the fact of being here after being away for 5 days (worked from home on Weds).  Well, that and you're just moving so slowly!!  I really don't understand how it is that it's only 11 o'clock in the morning... I've been here for 4 hours now but it feels more like 8.  *sigh*  Can you please hurry things up?  No offense, but I'd rather move on to your friend Tuesday and, ultimately, speed up the process of getting back towards weekend.

Thanks,

me

Dear Thanksgiving Weekend 2007,
I must say I was skeptical. I was trying so hard not to expect too much because so often that only leads to disappointment. But you didn't really let me down. In fact, you were pretty awesome. Yeah, I know it's Saturday night and you're not technically over yet, but from my perspective you are. Joe just left to head back to school and I'll probably spend all day tomorrow working. Which is fine because I "worked from home" on Wednesday and got no work done (but wow is my apartment clean!) so I've really already had my 4 day weekend. I have so much to be thankful for this year. The year between Thanksgiving 2006 and Thanksgiving 2007 has truly been one of the best years of my life. I have such incredible friends, both new and old, and a wonderful family, who often feel like friends, and feel blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people. Thank you for being a part of my life and letting me be a part of yours (I assume that if you read my blog you're probably either family or friend). I don't know what the next year will bring. I'd love for things to stay the same (well, not totally the same but closer to the same than not) but there are quite possibly some big changes ahead and I'm so thankful to have had this weekend to reflect upon and enjoy what the last year has meant to me. I've rambled enough now. Thank you for being a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
With love,
me

Dear Mother Nature,
You may have tried, but you did not ruin my day yesterday. In fact, I had an absolutely wonderful, marvelous, amazing, incredible day yesterday DESPITE you! The cold drizzle may have been really unpleasant, but I still stood outside for hours and hours, spending time with good friends who I don't get to see nearly often enough and then seeing an absolutely fantastic Sister Hazel concert. After a quick trip home to warm up and change into dryer clothes, I even went back outside (where at lease you had stopped with the rain) to catch a little bit of the parade and watch the fireworks. No Mother Nature, you did not win. I had pretty much a perfect day yesterday and a little bad weather was not getting in anyone's way!!
:P,
me

Dear Sopraffina,

You make great salads.  No denying that.  I understand why someone voted you "best salad in Chicago" (though I'm not sure I agree).  That said, the salad I got for lunch today is almost inedible due to the RIDICULOUS amount of dressing on it.  I have never before had this problem with getting the dressing on the salad (as opposed to on the side) when I've gone to you before - usually it's just right.  But this is sort of gross.  And I just thought someone needed to know.  It is, after all, my second food injustice of the day (the first was when Starbucks gave me regular milk instead of soy, which I discovered upon my first taste when I got up to my office... Not worth going all the way back down to the lobby but not worth drinking and getting sick over either...)

Not a happy camper,

me

Dear Me,

Note to self: NEVER go 18 months in between dentist appointments again.  OUCH!!  Thankfully, no cavities, but boy does it hurt more when you don't go for a long time.  And they told me that's why it was painful - my teeth looked good but it had just been too long since they'd had a professional cleaning.  Not fun.  I've already made my appointment for May so as not to repeat that mistake again.  Ugh.  Oh well, again, on the bright side, no cavities. 

Me

Dear Migraines,
Why do you exist? More importantly, why do you choose to afflict me?? I do not enjoy you, I do not appreciate you and I really think my life would be greatly enhanced if you just did not exist at all. Your presence at 4:45 this morning was particularly not appreciated. It meant that a) I couldn't go to the gym this morning, and b) I will be groggy at work all morning because that's just what my medicine does, even with the extra two hours of sleep I got. I wish you would just leave me alone!
No love,
me

Dear Starbucks,

I love Red Cup season.  It's so happy - there's something about them that's just so much more joyful than the regular white cups and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside separate and apart from the warm fuzziness that you get from drinking your hot, caffeinated beverage.  Yet I have to say that I don't love this year's red cups as much as I've loved them in the past.  They're just too busy I think is the problem.  Sometimes, simpler is better.  I think it was better when they were really just a plain red version of the white cups.  But now you add all these drawing and other crap all over the cup and it's just too much!!  (though I do enjoy the blue sleeves as well - that's a good improvement).  Let's go back to a simpler time and bring back the warm fuzziness :)

With love,

me 

Dear Time,
Your passage never ceases to astound me. This past year has been nothing short of amazing. Nothing I ever expected, nothing I could have planned for, certainly nothing predictable, but altogether pretty great. Interesting that it coincides with my first year of being a lawyer (since that night was when we had gone out to celebrate being sworn in to the bar...). Interesting primarily because the two are not at ALL related. Anyway, just felt the need to comment on that. It's been a good year and I hope it continues :)
With love,
me

Dear October,

I must say, I am not sorry to see you go.  While there of course were some highlights to the month, for the most part, you were brutal. 

 

I'll start with the highlights:

 

~Got to see Joe twice this month, including a really good trip down to Purdue

~Two really awesome nights out in Chicago (a girls' night in Ukranian Village and a housewarming in Hyde Park - totally different groups of people, totally different nights, both amazing)

 

But that's about it for the highlights.  The rough parts of this month definitely outweighed those!

 

To elaborate...

 

~Over 240 billable hours of work.  Which translates into probably at least 300 actual hours spent at work (because I can't bill every hour I'm here and interviewing and practice development in particular add up to a lot of non-billable time...)

~Severe sleep deficits throughout the month that left me alternating between a haze and a funk a lot of the time

~Had to cancel not one but two trips (OK, so one trip I actually cancelled during September but was supposed to happen in October and the other I cancelled during Ocober but was to happen in November but both touched October so both count here).  And let me tell you - missing Joe and Kendra's wedding (for work no less) SUCKED

~Barely got to see my friends at all :(

 

So while I don't expect November to be easy by any means, I'm hoping for an improvement!  October... you will not be missed!

Looking forward, not back,

me