Not the Umbrella

I have never seen this before and I was totally stupefied!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was making breakfast and looked out the French doors to the patio and my outdoor furniture – as my eyes trailed up to the umbrella I noticed that the umbrella covering was slowly ripping apart from the pole.  How can this be???

Well of course we had had several days of rain in June and 15 inches of rain and the weight of the wetness had pulled the covering from the pole.  Like I said I was stupefied – when does this ever happen??  Well in speaking with my girlfriend, Pat on Friday she let me know that it had happened to her too – okay I feel better.

Yesterday I took the old umbrella out of the stand (not an easy feat) the pole is 7 ft and I am barely 5 and the diameter of the umbrella stand hole is 2 inches; but, out it came and in went the new umbrella.

I hope this one lasts a few years – I do not leave it up in the winter time – down it comes and in its cover.

Too Connected

I was on the telephone yesterday for work for over 8 hours!!!

The sad thing is that I actually went from one meeting to another with barely enough time to go to the bathroom.  While I was on one call my handset started buzzing letting me know that it no longer was charged, still on the call I went charging up the stairs – clicked the second handset and put the other one in the cradle.

I have to say that my ear actually hurt by the time I finished with all my calls.  Also, there were times when I was on my land line and making or receiving calls on my cell phone.  I can tell you that my ear actually hurt by the time it was 7PM.

I am looking forward to this weekend where I have little reason to be on the telephone!!!

Cooking in the Heat Wave

Today was another scorcher of a day with the temperature reaching 100!!!

I don’t cook for myself on any given night; but, I will cook when others are going to be coming over and that is what I did last night.  My boyfriend was coming over and I offered to cook him dinner – it has been awhile since I had done so and I knew he would enjoy it.  His one recommendation was make it something light.

My goal was to find something light, easy and did not take a lot of time.  I came upon it – a salad of corn, tomatoes, green onions and avocado with a lime and olive oil dressing on a bed of arugula and chicken with mushrooms, thyme and wine.  I also picked up Artisan bread that already had olive oil and some salt.

The salad took no time at all – and the chicken was only a 15 minute dish.  The meal was delicious, filling and yet not a lot of calories.

A nice meal doesn’t have to take hours – and it is better to eat a light meal in all this heat!!

Balance

What a wonderful day!!

There is work and despite still having to deal with the audio issues at our Executive Conference rooms at our Long Island offices we are making progress on some other projects.  I am also getting closer to posting three positions – I am hoping that once posted I will fill them in less than a month.  We can use the extra resources to support everything that we are doing.  So if you are interested let me know!!!

As you all know I am a Broadway aficionado and yesterday I was able to see “Pippin” with an office colleague.  I remember seeing it originally with Ben Vereen, I am always in awe of the dancing and music; but, in this show they bring in circus acts and I am more amazed at these individuals.

We ended our day with a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in New York – something light to eat given how hot it is.

Balance – work and play.

Best Sleep - Overslept

As you know I leave my house between 5:45 and 6AM to go to work each morning – NOT TODAY!!!!

Every morning my alarm goes off at 4:40AM and I generally stay in bed until 5:00 or 5:10 – the news is going on in the background and I can hear them give the time.  This morning when the alarm went off I did my usual, reached over and turned it off and said okay another 20 minutes.

Well those 20 minutes became just shy of an hour!!  I woke up at 5:38 and jumped out of bed saying HOLY CRAP.  Despite all that I still made my bed and followed my normal routine – making it out the door by 6:20.

I arrive at my office, having made my Starbuck’s run by 7:30 – I was lucky because it is the summer so there are no school buses on the road and fewer cars because people are taking vacation.  I would not have been as lucky if this was in the fall or winter.

But I have to tell you I had my deepest sleep between 4:40 and 5:38!!!

Heat Wave

Today we began a week long heat wave.

It is a little disconcerting that when I left the house at 6AM the temperature was already 80 and the prediction was that it would be 95 by 2PM.  Literally every time I stepped out I realized that it felt just a bit hotter.

Since the forecast hot, humid and in the high 90's was predicted last week my thoughts were; "how could I dress coolly for the week"?  I got it a dress - nothing shirt to jam into you pants, belt or jacket.  What could be easier than a dress and a pair of sandals.

Saturday night found me ironing 3 nice dresses for the days I have to be in the office.  They are each cool and refreshing - should I get chilly I have a nice pashmina I can wear on my shoulders.

Stay cool everyone.

Personal Computer Working - Check

I am now up and working on my personal computer.

After my workout today I stopped by Best Buy to pick up my new/exchanged Lenovo ideapad.  They had transferred all my files, placed them as icons on my screen and now just needed to install Microsoft office.  I signed on and then went walking around for 20 minutes while they downloaded the office suite.

Back 20 minutes later and one glitch was they needed to call Microsoft to let them know that they were installing the suite on exchanged laptop; 15 minutes later all done including a quick tutorial on how to work my new computer.

Back home and I have safely downloaded my fitbit and installed the drivers for my printer.  Successful day -  working personal laptop - I am a happy individual.  See it doesn't take much.