simple pleasures will keep me from losing my mind, right?

Yesterday I slept in until noon, took a two-hour nap, went to bed at 11 and woke up at 8 am this morning. Why so much sleep? I have no idea. Probably to recover from overscheduling myself with work and to gear up for the late nights ahead.


Cc has been in town the last two weeks for business. For my birthday, she took me out for a FABULOUS facial/massage at Bliss Spa, we chatted till the wee hours of the morning just like old times and today I'm going to have lunch with her at the Walnut Room at what used to be Marshall Field's, where we'd go every holiday season to try and get a jump on our Christmas shopping. I'm sad she's leaving, but happy we were able to spend quality time even though both of us are so busy.

Last week, I snuck out of work to go to Daley Plaza and catch Son de Madera perform an afternoon show. I met up with My Favorite Mami and her two-year-old, Adriana. And H stepped out of the office to say hello, too. I had been so stressed out with work stuff that the extended lunch was just what I needed. Seeing those guys just made my day, and I think I was much more productive for the rest of the afternoon. I'm thinking Adriana's wanting to hold my hand for a whole city block had a lot to do with my good mood.

Last weekend, my parents and their friends were in the city for a wedding. I really like my mom's friends, and it's always nice to see them. They came to our place (unfortunately we had to hang on the patio because there were two showings) and my dad let me use his car while they were at the reception. (When you don't have a car, going to a big-box store is a treat. Sad, I know.) H keeps several boxes of his stuff from California at my parents' house, and the more it looks like we might be staying, the more he was itching to install his speaker system. So we drove to suburbia to pick it up. And visit Target, where we stayed three hours looking at EVERYTHING and spent more than we probably should have. But that's what happens anytime I go there, no matter how long it's been.

The speaker system is cool, but now there are three mind-boggling remotes to operate the television, mythbox and receiver. Only recently had I figured out how to use the two we had! But it's probably better that I can't get the sound to work on the tv—I got to work more than an hour earlier than usual because I wasn't distracted by the morning news.

So while things become even more uncertain in the coming weeks, I'm going to lean on family, friends and food to stay afloat. But it'd be really nice if I can figure out how to use the remote controls.