Off to the Windy City

Time is flying by--where did the rest of the week go?

Wednesday was a wonderful night... Grandma's church dinner and a little shopping, but last night was the true bright spot. As per usual, Ugly Betty and Grey's rule our Thursday nights around here, but last night we had a purpose. My friend, J, is running in a marathon on Sunday, so in order to help her carbo load, I made Easy Meatless Manicotti... apparently she has some thing about mixing carbs and meat before a big race. Regardless, it was fabulous, and a great way to celebrate how cool it is that she's off to the races again. (Give the recipe a shot--It's Cooking Light and makes plenty to share, save, or take to lunch. Pair it with bagged salad and Texas toast. Ok, and red wine. That's a must.)

After they girls left, I got to packing for Chicago. Ok, well at least I thought about it. Instead I read a magazine and uploaded pictures to iphoto, then went to bed.

This morning I got packing and started getting even more excited. I'm going to Chicago! I've never been and am super excited to see the city, but really I'm more excited to see my dear sweet college roommate C. She's promised to show me around and I think we're seeing a musical improv show, but I know we'd both be totally thrilled to just crack open a bottle of wine and talk over some deep-dish pizza.

I leave tonight and come back on Sunday, so it's a pretty short trip, but it's so what I need right now.

Work has been a little crazy. More layoffs, not in my department, but still, in the company. Layoffs, especially recurrent cycles of them, are bad news for business. The people let go are crushed and those who remain are uneasy. My boss assured us (as best she could) that this one didn't hit our department, but I've still felt uneasy ever since hearing the news. As my niece would say, "Do not like that."

The wedding is an easy escape and it's so simple and freeing to slip into the welcome melee of planning, but when I step back and look at what's happening around me (layoffs, stock market, job openings), it can be depressing. Do you push all of that aside and just focus on the happy wedding planning, or do you somehow balance the pure happiness I find in thinking about it with the very real care and concern for what's going on right now in the world.

B and I are blessed. He accepted his summer associate position in Atlanta for next summer last night, so we officially know where we're going to be and that we'll have at least one paycheck coming in starting May 18. I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to take my job with me, but only time and the market will tell.

So for this weekend I'm excited to leave everything behind and just focus on the new and (of course) stimulating the economy. A girl's got to give back somehow!

I think anytime I don't see B for a weekend, I feel a little off, so I'm thankful that he has lots of work (sorry, B), that I'm traveling, and that the holidays are literally right around the corner.