Thirty years ago today, I did not exist.
Twenty years ago today, I was coming up on the start of third grade. The biggest event in my nuclear family’s history had not yet occurred.
Ten years ago today, I was coming up on eight months of some of the very best times I have ever had, though they belong to an era long gone now.
Five years ago today, I had just barely gotten back into the country from a summer of fellowship-funded travel (studying microcinema in western Europe); my sister’s wedding was about to take place and who even knows what project I was whipping through for that. (Email archives note that I was trying to nail down her bachelorette party, which I believe took place on the 12th). [insert tremendous pause during which I read several lengthy text files of old college email]
Last year, we were preparing for hurricane season, and were still getting started with a monstrous project at the office that didn’t get finished until May of this year.
Why so pensive?
Today is my last day at my job!
I have a new one starting soon, never fear. But I really hadn’t seen this move coming. And, in one of the truest clichés, I’m nowhere close to where I thought I’d be – but I think I’m somewhere far, far better.
No photos of yesterday’s lunch and dinner eats, but the team adjacent to my team took me out to lunch to say “See y’all later,” and “Congratulations, you bastard.” Turkish again, yum! I had menemen, which is an egg-feta-tomato-pepper scrambley sort of dish (and a good prompt to start singing “It’s raining men(emen)!”). It was a great, fun outing, complete with a cute toast from one of the nicest guys anyone could ever work with. (And, one of my co-workers ordered a kabob that may be a source of jokes for months to come. These guys, I will miss them!)
I was feeling strangely adrift when I got home, so WB went out and picked up healthy nachos from our go-to “fast food” (a local burrito place that has a vast array of vegetarian options and detailed nutritional info on their website so that I know with at least some degree of certainty what went into my meal).
Nachos are one of my favorite quick meals – they’re extra-healthy if you load up on veggies, go light on the cheese, and use baked chips. This restaurant doesn’t offer baked chips, so I usually leave at least 1/3 of my chips behind for another meal (they are tasty, but I am not usually interested in consuming 500 calories of fried cornmeal in a sitting).
I had big plans for last night, but I fell asleep at 7:30…luckily (?) I woke up at 4:30, a full hour before my alarm, so I’ve had some time to catch up on things and do a make-up 20 min mat pilates session.
The book I use is The Pilates Body by Brooke Siler. I first got it from the library, but I liked it much more than any DVD or online class I had seen (and way better than the instructors at the local gym). I ended up with a used copy for about $4 – the cheapest pilates teacher ever 
The book has a lot of great details and is perfect for any level of student (except perhaps the most advanced). The explanations, illustrations, and photographs are great, and the first 2/3 of the book is all about the history and theory of pilates.
Pilates makes my cat itchy.
After that I got to play housewife and iron for WB, who has a big day today (though I’m sure he will kick some butt!!).
I always forget that we still use his tiny bachelor ironing board. Now I’ve decided to hold out for a ring before I get the real, house-sized ironing board
Then it was time for a “See y’all later” green monster:
In this one:
- 3 kale leaves
- frozen peach bits (barely a tablespoon, cleaning out the freezer!)
- 3 frozen strawberries
- Part of a soy latte
- Almond milk
- Water
I chugged it in the car while wonderful boyfriend drove me to my last day of work.
Today I have a teambuilding workshop that takes almost my whole day – quite a last day, but at least I get to spend it with my team. We’ve ordered in lunch…from Jimmy John’s! I got a smaller unwich this time – we can compare photos later and see if this one is more manageable. I’m not anticipating much of a celebration…we’re just not that organized here.