Harses, Harses, Harses, Harses

November is here! In terms of my sister and I, this means it's officially the Christmas season. I can watch Elf as many times as I deem necessary and the Christmas carols can be heard from my computer and car radio.

I have had time to watch one Christmas movie so far: Love Actually. If you haven't ever watched it, make it a priority on your NetFlix. British humor combined with love and Christmas = fun for everyone (though sometimes inappropriate for kids). It's one of my favorites and I was thrilled to watch it while it was 70-degrees outside.

This was my first 5-day work week. Thursday night I went to yoga class. When I came home, I was feeling motivated for Friday and all the things I needed to get done. Friday morning's alarm goes off at 6:30am and I immediately think, Oh. My. God. I want to lay here allllllll day and do nothing. The morning was a little frustrating, but there was a lot going on at the office, so that made for a fun day. At the end of the day, I went to Disney to train a volunteer for one of the JA programs. As we were wrapping up, he says to me "If you don't have any appointments the rest of today, why don't you take a stroll around the park?" I was nearly stunned. I typically don't care much to go to Disney regularly, unless it's Epcot where you can visit different countries and eat and drink all day. I was at the Magic Kingdom, which happens to be the busiest of all the parks all the time, on Friday. His office is right above one of the restaurants in the park, so my park access was pretty convenient. And after a long day, I took him up on his offer to stroll around the M.K.. It was actually fun! Families were everywhere, many looking tired, but still excited to be around the castle and the fireworks during one of the shows. I called home to Indiana and chatted with the fam for awhile. It was the perfect end to the day; just what I needed. Then I came home, had dinner, and we watched Sleepless in Seattle, another holiday-esque favorite (hence the title of this post).

Saturday was a fun day. I went to yoga class in the morning and ran errands. Then the grandparents and I went to the Tampa Auto Show. This is the best way to car-shop, and it was a fun day. I found a couple things I really liked and plan to test-drive, so it was a productive visit. Then we went to The Pub for dinner and beer. It was wonderful to see everyone and I ended up going back later to hang out and drink some more. It's kind of like Cheers for me: sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. We had fun talking about politics and the strange Polk County regulars. I had put myself on lock-down after not getting paid for the month of October, so I was starting to get restless. Last night was a needed night out and I feel like I can still afford to eat next week.

And after 3 weeks of working full-time, I now understand how there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do. I also understand how my friends who work in non-profit feel busier than all get out. I work hard all day every day and sometimes have time to take a real break for lunch. But I love it. I absolutely love the work I do every day for the kids. So it makes the hard work worth it, even on those long defeated-feeling days.