just a little something to break the monotony

Yes, I did just quote a line from Will Smith's "Summertime" on the first day of winter.  Happy Winter Solstice everyone!  For anyone able to see the lunar eclipse, I hope it was worth the lack of sleep - at this moment, I can't think of anything worth missing sleep over, even a total lunar eclipse of a full moon on the Winter Solstice...which hasn't happened in four centuries.

Dinner was nothing special.  I made the Easy Tuscan Linguini and it didn't look or taste any different than it did the first time. (<--click for recipe)

It tasted great - don't get me wrong - but aside from the delightfully dark dinosaur kale I sliced up, there was nothing outstanding about this.  Sometimes you don't need outstanding.  Sometimes you just want to eat dinner.  One fun thing I did differently this time was this: while the garlic was sauteing and infusing the olive oil with flavor, I sprinkled on some of the Tuscan Seasoning from our California trip and let that simmer with the garlic and eventually, the kale and beans.

Here are my favorite parts of today:

1. an agent, explaining her dissatisfaction with her supervisor's handling of a request to take a few hours off on Christmas Eve to go to church (yes, we really do have our staff in the office on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day.  LOVE Corporate America).  I asked her if there was an earlier service she could attend that wouldn't interfere with her schedule; she looked at me with the most honest eyes I've seen in that place and said, "I go to a Christian church - that's the only service."  So....who wants to tell my parents and in-laws that they go to heathen churches, since there are multiple services?  Not it.

2. I only had two trainings going on simultaneously today.

3. One of those trainings was delayed because the Director who made such a fuss about getting it done yesterday hijacked the training room I had reserved to host a supervisor meeting.  I have had the same conversation with her multiple times: I don't ask much, I just want the resources I need in order to do my job.

4. I'm drinking Champagne again.  I'd better make the braised bok choy soon or I'll have to buy more!  That would be straight-up tragic.

5. When I finally took my lunch break (5 hours into my shift), I found a little love note text message from my Mister waiting for me on my phone.  It may have been the first time I smiled without needing to be polite all day.

6. Don't let anyone else hear this, but I think things might finally be starting to wind down...shhh!