Weekly Summary

I've been blessed lately with such a large helping of work as well as having so much family time that I haven't had much focus for anything else.

It was a weird vacation so far, but a good one overall. The first act was a week where my husband was home but the girls had school. That was lovely. We got to have brunches and go on dates and work together in the short hours of the school day.

Then they all got on break, and that was a bit challenging. I think having such weird weather shifts and no routine schedule made it harder for me to keep up with my work. We bounced from ice to rain to heat back to stormy, freezing rain. Everybody got sick -- all of us on different days -- so we didn't have a typical sunny week of going places. But overall it was good. We hung out, and we finished some major home cleaning projects. And I worked a lot. And finally, at the end of the week, we combined a work task with fun and went to Hollywood. After I met with my client, we explored Griffith Park and had a blast at the observatory and having a perfect LA bistro romantic dinner.

And the next day we went out again and tried a cutting edge restaurant nearby, one that even has a Bocce court, which the girls were thrilled to play.

Then Sunday we ventured out through frigid storms to pick out a new guinea pig. We adopted him from a rescue organization so that ours won't be traumatized by being alone. Now they're in a complicated courtship process that will hopefully go well.

And this is the third act of vacation. My husband back to work, and me with the girls. Through it all, I keep working when I can. This week I have a full load, almost 30 hours to squeeze in here and there. Plus I'm determined to do some things with my daughters. Yesterday they went with me to yoga, and then we hit the mall, lunch, and saw The Lorax. (Their pick, not mine, but it was okay. They were happy.) Today, we're going for lunch, antique shopping, the museum and the library - just like we used to when they were small and spent the whole month of March on vacation. Tomorrow and Thursday I have to work, but I may take both them and their friends with me Thursday to meet my client and do sponsor solicitation. Blend work and fun. Why not? I can with my job.

Also, my main boss called last week. Not only does she love the partnership we have evolved over this past year, but she is taking on more clients based on my performance. From now on, I will be the main writer, and she will handle all the other administrative stuff. She's awesome at finding clients so it means my hours per week will bump up again. So I'm feeling much more positive and spring-like than I was two weeks ago, when time changed and darkness descended.

And then next week, the postlog. Everyone back to their schools and me to my own schedule. Yoga every day. Working where I want. I think that will be a different kind of vacation for me, the vacation of predictability and self-determination.