Day off

I finally did it.  I took a day off of work.  My boss actually told me that I should take the opportunity this past Friday to flex some extra time that I had worked and I did it.  I didn't feel guilty about, I left the work that needed to be completed and I took the day off of work.  I slept in late, hemmed and hawed over what I wanted to do with my day off and I ended up eating a super yummy crepe (fresh strawberries, cream cheese and homemade whipped cream) and took myself whale watching.  If you're relatively new to Gypsy's Quest, you may or may not know that I absolutely love whale watching and don't get to go near as often as I'd like.  Friday's weather was gorgeous and I opted to go.  Boy, am I ever glad that I did!

On the way out, we saw hundreds of dolphins (three different types) and we ended up coming across 20+ humpback whales playing in the ocean.  I'm not sure how I accomplished it but I even captured a short video of a whale flipping its tale.  I didn't capture any good photos but I didn't want to be glued to my camera lens - especially since I often get just pictures of water by the time it's all said and done (I've managed a couple of good photos in all the times I've gone whale watching but not a lot).  There was one photo/video I would've loved to get and it was of a whale right by the boat but at least I got to see it (most people missed it because they were too busy trying to take photos).  I befriended a young man who had never been whale watching before but decided it was time for him to be on a boat since he had just joined the Navy and is due to head to boot camp in a couple of months (ironic, I know).  I was proud of myself for talking with him and giving him insight to whale watching since that's not something I usually do (except for when I'm whale watching... maybe I need to join a boat crew...).

Being out on the water definitely has a way of rejuvenating me.  I took a picture of myself while we were out to sea and everyone says that I look so at peace/relaxed in the photo.  I realize that I need to do things for myself on a more regular basis to keep from feeling burned to a crisp.  I was starting to feel as if things were falling apart around me because I had pushed myself beyond the limit.  I need to do a better job at admitting I need a break and then actually doing something about it rather than getting to the point of being utterly overwhelmed.  I know that I've said that before but I'm to the point that I know I actually need to do something about it when I feel like I'm getting to that point.

There are some upcoming things that I know might push me to the point of burn out so recognizing as I'm approaching that level is going to be important.  I know that being able to realize when I'm getting close to burn out level is the first step and my next step will be attempting to avoid reaching that point whenever it's possible.  I guess that will be one of the next milestones along my quest.  I've let some of the day to day "me time" go by the wayside unfortunately and I need to find a way to get that back.  At one point I was attempting to take a walk after work a few times a week and that has gone on the back burner.  Maybe once my dog is finished with his medications I can move my walks to lunchtime out of the office walks.  Time will tell...

My dog is still on medications for another week and I think he's getting to the point of being done with medication and wearing the "cone of shame."  I have been sneaky enough to hide one of his medications in his scrambled eggs (he scarfs them down so I'm sure he doesn't even taste the medicine) but one of the meds he's still on are ear drops which there is no other way to give him except hold him down and squirt them in his ears.  I feel bad each and every time I have to do it to him and thankfully it's only required once a day.  I'm just hoping that when I take him back to the vet this week and they take the staples out that he doesn't have any other complications from his first surgery and we can be done with this whole experience...  I will fill you in next week.

On that note, I should probably bring this to a close for tonight.  I have to back to work tomorrow and see what all I missed from not being in the building on Friday.  I also get to leave early on Tuesday in order for a dentist appointment (yay....) so hopefully all goes well with that too...  I hope we can all take the opportunities to let our freak flags fly this week and that you can let your muchness show.  =)

Embracing the muchness

It has been a long, busy past week and weekend and I don't know that I'm necessarily ready to head back into work tomorrow...  Yesterday there was an event at work and I had to work approximately 6 hours for "free."  I can always attempt to flex the time out of this upcoming week but there is quite a bit going on this week so I don't know that it's going to happen...  If nothing else, I do have to take a lunch everyday again this upcoming week because of the doggy...

I took my dog back to the vet to have the stitches removed yesterday and his wound didn't heal as fully as they would've liked so they ended up putting in a few medical staples.  They also have him back on another round of antibiotics in case he's still fighting off some sort of weird infection (even though he was already on three different antibiotics...).  He has to take this antibiotic twice a day - once at lunch time and once before bed so that means I have to come home in order to give it to him.  I do feel bad because he still has to wear the "cone of shame" for another two weeks and then I'll take him back to the vet to have the staples removed.  At that point, hopefully everything will have healed the way that they would like or they said we will have to look into different treatment options.  Yippee.

I've had a song running through my head all week and I think someone is trying to tell me something from the lyrics...  One of the lines from the chorus says, "I want to live not just survive..."  This is a concept I have talked about before but I haven't fully embraced it yet for some reason.  There are some aspects of my life that I feel I do pretty well at living but in other aspects, not so much - I fell as if in too many areas of my life I am only surviving and it weighs on me.  I don't like feeling as if I restrict myself and I know that I'm the only one who can change that - I guess I don't know how to change it in certain areas...

It may be a little risky to really be me in certain areas of my life (one of those areas being work since I do work in a "professional" workplace) but some risk could be worth it, right?  For whatever reason, I have once again stopped making the effort in making sure I am wearing something that is "muchness worthy" each and every single day and I need to remedy that.  Each day as I'm getting ready for work, I need to make a conscious effort to add some muchness to my outfit.  Making an effort in this one area will hopefully make me aware to bring muchness to other aspects of my life as well.  I think by starting to do this again it will help me feel as if I'm not merely surviving.

Well, my dear readers, I know this isn't a very long post but I've given myself some things to think about and I should probably think about heading to bed before too much longer.  Before I head to bed, I will also take the opportunity to plan my outfit for tomorrow and make sure that I have some sort of muchness added to what I'm wearing to work.  I hope that each and every one of you embrace your muchness and let your freak flags fly!  =)