Behold this splendiferous view from my lunch table today. Not too bad for having to work the day after Christmas, don't you think? All I know is that I must repeat this experience way more often.

Is there any better way to wish everyone a Merry Christmas than with Chevy Chase and family from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Methinks not... so there you go.

CHEERS!

This is what bowling looked like with my new office team during our recent team outing. Keep in mind, bowling shoes did not bode well with my broken toe recovery, thus the freakishly low score you see up there next to Brenda. That accompanied with the strategy we were employing to win gift cards - to score only 6 pins per frame in order to be placed in the prize drawing. And guess what? I actually won a $10 Subway card after all was said and done. Total win for everyone there, bonding included. 

After over a month of dealing with pain in my left foot, I finally made it back to running on the treadmill today despite all kinds of second thoughts about doing so. And weirdly, my foot feels even more healed after several minutes of treadmill pounding - precisely the opposite of what I'd expected. So as closure and final retaliation, I'm seriously considering conducting a Sacrificial Shoe Ceremony in which I will either set fire to or offer up to charity the offending new work shoes that got me into that whole unexpected broken toe mess in the first place.

Sometimes you just need to escape from the seriousness of reality and take pleasure in life's simple things, like by partaking in this sweet clip of my favorite UST musician playing cello with her string quartet. And not only am I pumped about hearing this beautifully performed piece by these highly talented musicians, but I'm also feeling super high-tech watching this whole thing live-streamed via facebook on the big-screen TV in the comfort of my living room.

We really should do this kind of thing more often.

The past couple of weeks have been tenuous and emotionally difficult for me and my family. We experienced the loss of the Swenson patriarch which completely blindsided each and every one of those in and around his circle of family, friends, and anyone else he had contact with over the course of his 78 years of life. I'm struggling to deal with the loss, especially since he has been a pillar of strength for me personally since the birth of my children and loss of my job over the year, with weekly phone calls that helped me make sense of it all and move forward in life. I want to post a tribute with photos and more to honor his contribution to the family and my personal life journey, but for now I need to take some time to reflect and join hands with others saying goodbye to a wise and wonderful human being.

That much coveted meet-up at Oscar's Pizza and Sports Grille with your long lost IT gang after way too much time apart, where adult beverages and salty snacks are consumed amidst chit-chat about latest news, aka gossip. Good God how I've missed those people, even more so than SUSHI.  Must attempt to work that little detail into our next meet-up.

The worst part of being a new employee during the holidays? Lack of PTO ("Paid Tme Off"). The best part of being a new employee during the holidays? Other peeps have an abundance of PTO, hence leaving the workplace considerably empty compared to non-holiday times. So this week I'm doing all kinds of online training and enjoying my personal skyscraper view with NO. COMPLAINTS. WHATSOEVER.

So I made the fatal mistake of wearing unbroken-in high heels during the first week of my new job and paid for it with an elevated iced foot all weekend long, complete with limping around the following Monday - today. No more treadmill until this situation clears up. *sigh*