Work Work Work Work Work*

*It's important that you sing the title to the tune of Rihanna's Work.

First off, it was Mother's Day when I started typing this, so Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas! To mother is a verb and there are so many ways to be one and I hope you feel honored and loved today. I am so thankful for my mom's example of mothering and so grateful for this crazy crew that made me a mom myself.

We attempted a full family picture and it went about as well as expected. This was the best our of 27. Things got better when we released the cats.

God I love them all so much.

35th time not the charm

Jumping back in time a week, I went to New York for work! This required a LOT of work before, during, and after, but with vaccines and masks and me wearing high heels, hailing cabs, and walking for miles on city streets, it felt a little bit like nature was healing.

I love that city so much.

Hotel room window view

And I loved seeing how the restaurants had improvised to create pandemic-adjusted little pods outside the dining rooms on the street. Every one was different and some were cuter and cozier than the main restaurant itself.

I got in some good pizza (twice!), yoga in my hotel room (daily! I'm back to working out everyday and damn if it doesn't feel absolutely fantastic; so annoying how good exercise is for me), long hours in a conference room high in the sky, and at least 7 miles of city walking after the day was done.

I also got to wear real work clothes (still not a real bra though; work-from-home Soma Enbliss for life; I'm not going back) and feel powerful and lawyerly and 78% more myself than I think I've felt for the last year working in my bedroom.

Outfits!

Day 2 (hilarious that I stand the exact way in both selfies. It's my power pose, I guess):

I got home very late Thursday night after nearly missing my flight home out of Newark thanks to traffic on the way out of the city. They were announcing last call for my flight (the last direct flight of the day to DFW, thus the Newark) while I was walking through the security scanner and then I SPRINTED the 20+ gates to my plane where a lone gate agent was looking around and about to close the door. I yelled, "wait!!!" just like I was in a movie, but unilke a movie I was still holding all the things I'd taken out of my bag for the security line, my shoes were not properly on my feet, my face was red and sweaty, and the dinner + water + m&m's plan I had before getting on the 4-hour 7-11 pm flight home very much an impossible dream.

They let me on the plane where I made it to my seat, sweating and hyperventilating behind my mask much to the concern of my seatmate who asked if I needed him to call the flight attendant, presumably for an oxygen mask. I had regained control of my breath by the time we took off and then it was the last few chapters of the latest Sarah J. Maas book, a stale half bagel I found in my bag, and 5 episodes of Younger.

I got home to a beautifully clean, quiet, sleeping house and felt my heart explode with love for my husband and partner who runs all the things so seamlessly without me. I kissed each sleeping kid, petted the pets, and walked into my room to find a low light on to welcome me home with these flowers from James and a note from Claire (because Claire can never resist a good note giving opportunity).

It was the sweetest. I love that she holds on to the "soft voice" because my voice is not exactly always soft...

For the first time ever I didn't unpack from a trip before going to bed and instead stripped off my sweaty running/travel clothes, threw on one of James's t-shirts and crawled into bed. I was immediately tucked into a cuddle and for the first time since I left Fort Worth, fell immediately asleep.

The flowers were even prettier in the morning and Milo and I shared our appreciation for the color they brought to my work corner. I worked, went to TWO corepower classes (including Yoga Sculpt which is heated cardio yoga with weights and ZOMG I forgot how hard that class is, particularly with a mask, but I feel both boneless and like I can conquer the world when I'm done), and then worked some more.

On Saturday I (you guessed it!) WORKED but then rewarded myself with a date night out with James. A patio, river view, strong breeze, delicious food, and a frozen moscow mule swirled with purple frozen margarita (from the beet-infused tequila) and a new dress (that is actually possibly a swim suit cover up) I bought on clearnce forever ago and just now got to wear. It was a 13/10 evening.

And then today was Mother's Day! I went to an early Yoga Sculpt class (addicted) and came home all red faced and sweaty to a beautiful table set by the kids with pancakes from Landon, eggs by James, fruit salad from Claire, and drinks and utensils by Cora.

As always there was a buffet of homemade cards and the sweetest notes.

I then (guess!) worked and THEN changed into my new neon striped yoga pants to go teach my first in-studio barre class in fifteen months! And my first class to teach at all in over six!

I got super nervous right before, but it went well and sweet blog reader Amanda was there on the live stream barreing away with me in sunny Florida.

I had forgotten how hard it is to work out while talking and counting though- the sweat pooled under my body on my mat was a small ocean and my elbows nearly slipped in plank, but according to Amanda the video failed to pick that up, so I just look like I have a healthy glow and not like I could wring out my workout clothes, which I could, and did as soon as I got home.

I went back to work while James and the kids made dinner and it was quite lovely to show up to a full meal all ready to eat (steak salad, my favorite thing, followed by a double doozie from Great American Cookie Company, my other favorite thing). We walked the dog, who has been attached to my shins since I got back from NY, and then tucked the kids in bed.

And now, my work done for the moment, I decided to sneak in a blog post before I go pack because I go back to New York tomorrow, this time through Friday. Five days of work clothes, shoes, yoga clothes, toiletries, and electronics in one carry-on suitcase... I'm expecting small miracles from my packing cubes... Hopefully I'll sleep better this time, I always struggle in hotels but four nights (with long work days) is a bit much to run on 3-4 hours patched together.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, see you on Saturday when I get back!