ladies day!

This weekend I met up with my mom, her friend Rose, and her daughter Tara for brunch at Francis. Tara and I have known each other our whole lives, our mom's met when they were pregnant with us when they were taking their children (Stephanie and Ty) to pre school. It was so wonderful to enjoy conversation with these women this Saturday, it takes no time before I feel that we are back to where we were years ago just chatting away. We enjoyed a really yummy brunch and walked almost all of Alberta St looking at the shops. I had no idea that so many local designers sold their clothing and jewelry on Alberta St. It's really a great place for creative finds.

In other news, Donovan has been working on a project all weekend and has been slaving away making sure everything gets done. What originally was only a 10 hour project is still going... he worked on it all day Friday, Saturday, and now is still in there as of Sunday morning. I'm quite sure he has exceeded those 10 hours, but still needs to do some more work. I realized that I don't like contracting as much as I thought I did... there is a vacillation between no work at all and tons of work with no respect for plans or weather or doing things in metered moderation.

Good news: I can breathe out of both nostrils and have started running again. I'm so glad the worst is over with my sinus infection. I sleep better now too now that my sinuses aren't plugged. Actually, the scariest thing of all is to brush your teeth when your sinuses are plugged, it's like holding your breath! Along with starting my daily runs again I am counting calories. I'm such an old lady! I realized that I am gaining weight again and this may be the only way to maintain or lose weight so I am buckling down and doing it. For now I have a moderate amount of calories each day, so it's not likely that I am going to lose weight soon. The good news is I won't keep gaining it. I'm still learning how to count things and it has brought to my attention what things really are good for you and what things are not. If this lesson brings nothing but awareness about what I put in my body I still will have learned a lot. I'm planning on running one or two half marathons this June/July so I am slowly starting my training for that.

As far as my work goes, I am putting together a website with Donovan and it is coming into its final stages of completion. We have already purchased the domain. I also talked with a Portland LMFT who wants me to start seeing individual clients at his offices and collaborating with him. So we'll see how that goes. It is good to feel like I am feeling more comfortable with my schedule and getting into a stride... knowing more what my week is going to look like and how I am going to manage things.

Little things still crop up regarding my sadness and loss that my dad is gone. Today I saw a picture of our whole family on the day that I was born, my dad smiling over me. That one always gets to me. He is so happy. His favorite show will come on, or something funny will happen that I want to tell him, or I'll have a question to ask him or a favor that I want to request from him. The feeling that comes up when I realize that can't happen because he's gone now is strange and undescribable. Maybe I feel like that hope for connection with him goes into oblivion. It's definately something I'm still learning to work through.

Happy Sunday friends!