Fun at the dinner table

My husband Brad and both work...a LOT. The concept of the 40-hour work week died long ago in our house. But we're both happy in our jobs, and we're ambitious, career-driven people, so it's just fine with both of us at this point in our kidless lives.

We try to avoid talking about work at the dinner (or late-night snack?) table, since we hardly see each other during the week and don't want to spoil our couple time with job talk. But the downside to that is neither of us really has any idea what the other person does. Sure, I know he's a video editor, but he never discusses the projects he's working on. Well, unless something goes wrong.

A couple nights ago, Brad came home at 9 p.m. after a long day of editing. He was tired and hungry, and his work wasn't quite over -- he needed to test his DVDs to make sure they played right. As he heated up dinner, I threw them in the DVD player. For the next 30 minutes I watched this series of videos that he created and by the time it was over I was almost in tears.

I never get to see Brad's work, so I honestly had no idea he was so talented! Even those short little video clips obviously required brilliant editing skills, which he's obviously developed over the past two and a half years of being an editor. My heart swelled with pride knowing that these videos made by my husband would be shown to hundreds of people in a few days. I kept asking, "did you do that part?" until he got sick of answering "yes!" I don't think he had any idea that I'd be interested in his work, so the whole situation was highly amusing.

It was a good lesson for both of us. I joked that I was going to make Brad look at a slide presentation I put together so he could be equally proud of me. But seriously -- the next time I do something I'm proud of, I'm totally going to share it with him.

You don't need to talk about work every night at the dinner table. But sometimes, it's nice to give your significant other a window into your world.

Counting sheep

Two nights ago, I went to bed at my regular time (about 10) and woke up at exactly 1:14 a.m. I never went back to sleep.

I had something big going on at work the next day that I was anxious about, and once that got going through my head, it was all over. I tossed and turned for maybe 20 minutes, tried to think happy thoughts, tried to focus on the cat purring next to me (lying next to a purring, sleeping cat is similar to taking a Xanax), but it didn't work. I gave up and went downstairs, and the cat came with me.

At first I tried to be productive. I logged on to my VPN, checked my email (although I refuse to send work emails at 2:00 a.m. -- I don't want to be "that person,"), checked the discussion board for my IMC class, and wrote three paragraphs of my paper. An hour later I decided this was ridiculous and I needed to lay down. Of course, at that point, I was beyond relaxing, as my brain was full speed ahead. I think it was 3:09 when I gave up and made my morning coffee.

It's been a long time since I've had an insomniac night, but the next day was rough. I was working from home due to some repairs on our house, so I spent the entire day in PJs in my new office, which is conveniently located in our spare bedroom next to a very comfy bed. I would have paid a million dollars to lay down, but obviously, this isn't a country where you can take a nap in the middle of the work day.

To make a long story short, the thing I was stressing about went fine, I survived three afternoon teleconferences, and at 4:59 p.m. (which I believe actually made for a 15-hour work day?) I shut off the computer and laid down, intending to sleep for 30 minutes or so. Brad came home at about 7:30 and woke me up. I was so out of sorts at that point that it took me a good to minutes to figure out where I was and what had happened.

It was one of the most bizzare days I've ever had! We ended up going out for a late dinner to celebrate the successful end of a long, stressful week, and I started off my meal at Vinology (of course!) with a huge cup of coffee.

We interrupt this blog...

Lately I have been thinking. I know...uh-oh.

My life isn't perfect. I'm not a millionaire, for instance. And my knee still hurts, usually more than I care to admit. My garage door has been broken for 18 months. And someone in our immediate family (whose privacy I've been protecting on this blog) is terminally ill.

But you know what? As lives go, I'm pretty effing lucky.

I'm married to an amazing guy who is absolutely my soulmate (and who puts up with my insanity no matter how out of hand it gets). I could not have made it through the past year without him. It sounds cheesy, but we fall more in love with each other every day.

I love my job - it's exciting, challenging and rewarding. At least three days a week, as I'm walking out of the office, I think to myself, "how the hell did I get so lucky?"

I'm starting school in three weeks and I'm beyond excited to be gettin' educated again. And I'm also excited that I have THREE WHOLE WEEKS before I have to hit the books. Phew, no need to stop the crazy partying just yet.

But most importantly? My bedroom looks amazing. We got our new windows last week and now all that's left is redoing the carpet on the stairs. I totally renovated a room in my house. Wow, am I a freaking grownup or what?

Anyway...I just thought I'd take a moment to reflect on all the good things going on around me in this rare moment of mushiness. Tomorrow, back to your regularly scheduled self-deprecation.

The devil went down to Georgia

Greetings from Michigan! I just spent the week in the gorgeously sunny, unseasonably warm city of Atlanta (well, two hours from the Atlanta airport), where I attended an excellent two-day conference. Who knew there were good conferences south of the Mason-Dixon line? (Just kidding -- I lived in the South, so I'm allowed.) They're NOT kidding about that drought business, though. Our hotel was on a goregeous lake that was surrounded by about 20 feet of rocky bank. It was really sad. At least we got to shower, which was a very good thing, considering I spent two days in a small room with the same people.

Despite the R&R I had between sessions, it was a very stressful week for me. However, weathering that stress has resulted in some exciting news, which I'll be able to share in a few days. Just in case my mother-in-law is reading this from her dial-up internet in the U.P. (which I can guarantee she isn't), no -- I'm not pregnant! Although you wouldn't believe how many people equate avoiding booze for three days with being knocked up.

I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend, which will be filled with sleep, sleep and more sleep. The cats are very excited.