Bonjour le monde!

We return (again). Wow, two and a half [ed: now three] months. What happened? Well, there was Christmas and the ensuing madness. Tony spent the Christmas week at his parent's house in Michigan, which was awful and led to us agreeing never, ever, ever to spend Christmas apart again. Then when he came back to DC, he brought a special present back just for me: a nasty Northern cold that robbed me of my voice and left me bedridden for days. But not in an interesting 19th-century heroine kind of way--more like a crotchety great-uncle who lays around and moans and never actually sleeps though he always claims to be tired, and who always wants to know "Where's my chicken soup? I said I wanted chicken soup BRING-ME-MY-SOUP-DAMMIT!"

Suffice to say, I am not a good invalid.

Then, even while I was recovering from the Plague, I got a new part-time job waiting tables at a local restaurant. The characters are, of course, novel-worthy subjects and I can't complain with the money, but the late nights kick my ass. For the first couple of weeks, I had to take an extra-long lunch break every day so I could nap--or I would visibly nod off in meetings and lose track of crucial details (like proofreading our ads). Now I schedule my naps. The Sunday afternoon doze had become A Priority, and woe to anyone who interferes with it.

You know what else has been kicking my ass? Winter. I was fine through Valentine's Day. But then it was Lent, a time of penance and sacrifice, and it was SO COLD, and I foolishly gave up tea as my Lenten sacrifice, and it's SO COLD, and there are no more holidays till Easter and I'M READY FOR IT TO BE SPRING WAAAAHHHH. Honestly, I've just given up. I wear a full layer of SmartWool under my clothes at all time and I put on my down parka even when I bike. You win, Winter.

We finally received our first heating bill this [ed: last] month and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, with the result that the heat for the house has been turned down to Arctic levels. Here's how the we're dealing with it:

Seriously, I drew the line and started running a space heater in my room when I noticed that Linus was visibly shivering.

And what else has been keeping me busy? Well, being miserable at my day job has kind of sucked all my energy away. I realized two weeks in that it wasn't going to be a good fit for me and determined to stick it out for at least a year, but I'm starting to reach the end of my rope. My boss isn't a bad person, but he's not a particularly good boss. And Marketing? Totally not my bag. But there is hope on the horizon, maybe! And look--much-deserving, ever-struggling Beth has a new job that she's excited about--so miracles really do happen.

Speaking of miracles:

Tony, as quiet and as essential to me as air.

Why I've been gone so long...

I wish I had a dramatic tale of sudden change, disaster or elation to explain my thoroughly inexcusable absence for the past two and a half months. The truth, as lame as it is, is that I've been... busy. Busy doing stuff like this:



... and this:



So, that's it, really. A couple of Emergency Sewing Projects (ESPs) and my sudden transformation into a documentary filmmaker chewed all my free time to bits. It's been a lot of fun working on them, but I'm ready to get back to a more normal schedule now. And resume posting about the Mighty Linus, of course.

Speaking of, guess who celebrated his first birthday two weeks ago! Video of the festivities shortly to follow!

Pupdate #13 (See Linus catch!)

Again, with the no posting! Here's a video to tide you over. This is us in the local park, polishing Linus's "catch" skills. We got kicked off the tennis courts one time too many (useless sport!), so I've taken to putting him on a 20' lead and working with him in the open grassy area. It's a good system most of the time, until Linus sees something he wants and forgets that he's still on a leash, hurling himself to the end of the line and then wha-BAM! turning into a canine tetherball.

Sorry for the the long silence, folks. I've been busy GETTING A JOB!

Yes, I have found a theater company in Washington, DC that is actually willing to hire me to sell their shows, run their blog, and be an all-round marketing and internet lackey. So Linus and the cats can continue with their gourmet pet food habit and I have Saturdays off for the first time in three years. I can't wait!!

But wait! My story gets better. A college theater buddy has just recently bought a house in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast DC with his wife... a house that conveniently features a finished basement with separate entrance. And is three miles away from the theater I'll be working at. Oh, and did I mention that they love dogs? It's perfect! The only downside is that Nate the Great is highly allergic to cats, so Pepper and Brenin will have to live with my parents in Maryland until I can find a permanent place for myself and the menagerie.

More posts soon. We celebrated Take-Your-Puppy-to-Work Day the other week, and the pictures are fabulous.