Life news this week:
- Saturday I woke up in our vacation house and it was my birthday! I spent a nice morning hanging out in pajamas with my friends drinking coffee and having a leisurely breakfast. I messed around on the computer working on my blogging and photo sorting while the kids played video games and acted like weirdos, and Jeaux and I took a brief walk but my foot was bothering me. We then got ready to go to a botanical gardens place and checked out all the cool plants. Afterwards I was tired so I took a pretty long nap. When we got up it was time for my birthday dinner--grilled cheese sandwiches and soup and salad!--so I grilled the sandwiches while Fred and Kathy helped me by assembling them and taking everyone's orders. We ended up having a lovely dinner, though everyone kinda ate it in stages. Then later we made the mug cakes I'd chosen for my birthday cake--four varieties of quick cakes you can make in a coffee mug! I had the coffee kind and Adam saved us from having to go to the store by happening to have a bunch of salt packets in his bag. (I really hadn't thought the house would not have salt! They had a salt shaker but it was empty.) Later we played games and chilled and then it was bedtime. I read a little before sleeping. Great birthday.
- Sunday we repeated our morning hangout and even though it wasn't Meghan's actual birthday, we were basically celebrating it that day since we had to go home the next day. I still did my aerobics even though I was on vacation. We messed around chatting and watching part of a movie, and then we went to our late lunch reservation at Kobé, Meghan's choice for her birthday dinner. I got some tofu and vegetables and it was delicious. We also celebrated Dare's birthday even though theirs was much earlier in the month. So all three of us got silly hats and a song and a cupcake. I had to take my leftovers home. Later I took a walk with Jeaux and Dare, and then we watched the rest of the movie, acted silly, and ate the beautiful bakery cake Meghan wanted for her fiftieth birthday. We had ice cream too. And then more silly games, and we stayed up talking before finally we went to bed.
- Monday we had to clear out of the house. I was theoretically working even though most people have this day as a holiday, so I logged in and answered some e-mails while having coffee and breakfast and packing up my stuff. We got out of the house well before we had to and had some time to sit and chat and say our goodbyes. Then everyone went back home--Jeaux drove me. He fixed my DDR pad before he left. I jumped back on at work and we had a pretty slow day but I was there and got a proposal outlined. I also unpacked all my suitcases. I did a Polo for my sister and took a nap. Took some time to read. Kari had asked to take me out for a birthday dinner so I took her up on it and she treated me to Joe's Diner, where I had a waffle. And I opened her present, which was a cute handmade figure of my character Weaver. We didn't get much time to hang out because she had to go home and cook for her wife, haha, so I spent the evening just working on my book and cleaning up some digital stuff that needed it from while I was away. I also jumped back into the photo project and did some voice-over auditions.
- Tuesday was busy at work, but not as busy as I expected because we decided against turning in one of the three letters we'd planned, so I only had to proofread and submit two of them. I took a nap after work, did DDR, ate my restaurant leftovers, and sent a Polo to Steve. Did some more voice-over auditions, edited my book and finally got it under 130,000 words, and read old journals for the photo project.
- Wednesday I had to start the day with my early foot therapy appointment. I got my own giant rubber band to use for exercises at home. Then I went to work. I went on a quest to try to buy some Mexican and Colombian Steven Universe merchandise through a proxy. Then I did a Polo, submitted a query, took a nap, cleaned up the house a bit, put away laundry, organized photos, read some of a book, and read my journal. Went to Vallarta's with Jeaux, where I had my first ever horchata, and after grocery shopping, I got to try the grasshopper cake Jeaux made me for my birthday! (It's chocolate with mint frosting.) We did our usual reading silly stuff to each other. After he left I edited some of my book.
- Thursday I had work. Other than that, I worked on my book and published my birthday vacation photo album. I found out my attempt to buy Latin American merchandise the day before did not work, so I went on another quest (an even more in-depth one) to find a way to get these items and it literally took me like two hours of research, setup, and getting my card rejected because it looked sketchy to finally complete the transaction I wanted. The stuff I bought should be delivered to a warehouse in Mexico that can ship it to me. I'll see how this goes and if it works out okay I'll try it with the Colombian stuff I wanted. So many setbacks though! Wow. I got my webcomic written and practiced some band songs, did some DDR, submitted a short story, and went to Game Night with friends. Managed to get some comic frames drawn while hanging out. Did my foot therapy exercises and read some of my journals for the photo project.
- Friday I was up early for therapy again. Still don't know how much my foot is improving but I'll keep at it. At work, I sent some teaming invites and worked on upcoming project reports. I drew my comic pretty early, read some of the book I'm reading, cleaned up the house a little, and posted the comic. Watched my sister's Polo while cleaning up. Put some of my collectible backpacks on a hanger that goes over my door so I could clean out space on a shelf that I need for blankets. Kari came over and tried my birthday cake. We hung out and chatted a while. After she left I got my steps in and read some more of the book I'm reading. I got some interest from a publisher on one of my short stories so we'll see where it goes.
Health Plan Update:
- Nutrition stuff: I got my three servings of fruits and veggies every day this week. I only met my protein goals three times out of seven days, but considering how much of my week was laden with birthday cake and special restaurant meals, I'm surprised I was able to meet my goals any of the days! Still taking vitamins.
- Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or DDR every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. Based on my phone's app, my low day was Friday at 10,093 steps, and my high day was Tuesday at 12,616 steps. And according to my Fitbit, my low day was 11,453 steps and my high day was 17,451 steps. Still sometimes a good 5,000 steps' difference and it irritates me.
Books Read:
- Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
- Currently Reading: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm on page 255.
Stuff drawn:
My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:
There's a new birthday vacation album up, but here are a few favorites.
 |
| Breakfast and coffee with nerds. |
 |
| Ryan and Katelyn being cute at the botanical gardens. |
 |
| Fred and Kathy being cute on the same bench. |
 |
| Ryan is cheesin' with grilled cheese. |
Mug cakes:
 |
| Dare's fancy drink at the restaurant |
 |
| Fred's fancy drink at the restaurant |
 |
| Birthday cupcakes at Kobé |
Meghan's cake:
 |
| Games with friends |
 |
| My first horchata |
My grasshopper cake by Jeaux:
Social media counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,436 for swankivy (1 new), 677 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 216 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 750 for swankivy (no change), 3,401 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 290 friends for swankivy (lost 1! Who de-friended me??), 628 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 245 followers for So You Write (no change), 103 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 297 (no change). Threads followers: 84 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 436 (1 new).
No comments:
Post a Comment