Novemburrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Sunrise on Mt Hood, Oregon, Tuesday, Nov 1 It seems to me that once that Halloween arrives it’s full speed ahead into the holiday season. No sooner than it’s Halloween the next thing you know it’s New Year’s Day. Tuesday had all the makings of a typical, nasty, rainy, early November day. The morning sky was rainy and the air temperature was chilly; it was somewhere around 40 degrees. But despite its bleak beginning, it ended on a high note. I woke up at 510am feeling 100% completely rested and ready to go. It’s funny what 7.25 hrs of sleep will do for me. I told you so!!! It’s been a while since I got that much sleep on a “school night”. I exercised, walked Ykraps, drank some coffee, and meditated all before 600am. I felt as though I had accomplished something special! Being up extra early allowed extra time for me to slow things down even further than I normally would. After packing my lunch, making breakfast, and readying for work, I had several minutes to snap some sunrise pics and play guitar. That was awesome! Work was pretty fast paced as my day was packed full of calendared events. By the time I escaped the grips of my office for my afternoon run the rain was coming down steadily. I wouldn’t be deterred, however. Once I had a ½ mile under my belt I was on fuego! As my run concluded, the rain had almost completely subsided. What’s more, as the afternoon progressed, the sky continued to clear to the point where when I left the office for the day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. In fact, on my drive home I witnessed an incredible sunset. By 525pm there was no sun left in the western sky. That’s early!!!! Mindy and I had planned to get together at her home this evening. We had tentatively planned for 630pm-ish. She was going to make us dinner. As we talked on my drive home from work, it became clear that Mindy was not having a very good day. She’s had a million things on her mind and her beautiful children were testing her school teacher-like patience. We decided instead that I’d pick up some food on my way to her home. She recommended El Vaquero. Secretly, that is what I was craving anyhow. That’s happened a number of times for us. We are just so in sync (not the boy band!!!). I banged out my routine nightly chores, which included walking Ykraps, prepping tomorrow’s coffee, and cleaning up my lunch containers. I spent the next 15 or 20 minutes catching up on some email and my blog (still haven’t added pics for the past few days though). I was out the door and on my way to the Vaq by 610pm. El Vaquero has quite a racket going with their restaurant chain. They have come so far over the years. What was once a run down hole in the wall has become a local favorite with multiple units. There is always a crowd and the restaurants are neatly appointed, and I appreciate that. They muffed my order tonight though. More accurately, they gave my order to another fellow that came in to pick-up a to-go order that was apparently called in by his wife. Oh well, that just meant it would take a little longer while they prepped my order again. I feel sorry for the guy who got home with the wrong food, but as a friend pointed out at work today, how many variations can there be with beans, rice, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and cheese? They probably didn’t even notice the difference. I arrived at Mindy’s some time around 705pm. We immediately sat down to enjoy some food. Both of us were hungry. After eating our fill of Mexican food we played with her kids for a while, then I helped her tuck them in. Understand, tucking in Mindy’s kids is not a 5 minute ordeal. It’s more like a ½ an hour, and that’s on a good night. Tonight I think we spent close to an hour playing around, reading stories, and tucking in. It was fun but truly exhausting. By the time they had settled down and we had some quiet time alone, we were ready for some rest ourselves. We fell asleep around 945pm. I got up to head home around 1130pm.