5 Things Friday (mostly about work)

I made it through our first full week of work in quite some time! Here are 5 things on my mind.

1. Work has been BANANAS. I'm back to a very full calendar. Here's a screen shot of  my calendar this week. Red meetings are client meetings, so I have fewer of those than last spring when I could have 25+ client meetings in a week. But it's still a lot on top of other meetings plus I am trying to train my new hire at the same time. He's quickly seeing how busy I am and how desperate I have been for help! Some days I had to eat lunch at 10:15-10:30 because it was the only time I could squeeze it in before calls. Nearly all meetings are with camera on so I can't eat lunch during the meeting. I did discretely snack on some grapes during an afternoon call with colleagues as I really needed a snack. But eating grapes is a bit different than eating a salad!

2. Speaking of my new hire, he is AWESOME. He's super energetic, engaged and excited. I feel very very good about my hiring decision and hope and pray that he is as happy here as I have been and doesn't go anywhere! He's based in another city but was here Mon-Thur of this week and will be back the last week of the month. And then I will see him in late October and he'll probably come back in November. He's is happy to travel here if need be. Training someone in person versus over zoom is SO MUCH BETTER. 

3. I'm traveling next week for the first time since the 3rd week of July! I'll be in New Jersey Tuesday through Thursday of next week. The sales person I was going to travel with had something come up at the last minute so I'll be traveling with someone different on Tues/Thur and will do the Wednesday meetings on my own, but it should be fine. I don't have a crazy number of meetings and it looks like the meetings are fairly close together geographically. My company is coming down hard on the in-office requirement. The target has been 3 days/week for the past year but I didn't have to "make up” days if I had to stay home for a doctor's appointment. But if I'm in 2 days in a week, I need to come in for 4 to make up for that shorter week. I'll be curious how my travel gets factored in, though; it sounds like the company can use my corporate credit card usage to figure out when I am traveling and bake that into my average. My boss has told me I'm marked as a traveler so my average is kind of irrelevant and supposedly isn't included when the company calculates the overall average for the firm. I just don't want them to change the in-office requirement to 4 or 5 days. I selfishly really need those 2 days at home to get workouts in! And I am probably even more productive at home than in the office so everybody wins! 

4. Speaking of workouts, they've been pretty atrocious lately. I've been so busy with work and back-to-school so am just barely getting in 2-3 workouts each week. I'm reminding myself that this is a stage of life and eventually I'll get back to more consistent workouts. 

5. Shifting to something fun, we have a great weekend on deck and I am hopeful the kids are adjusting to their new schools and are a bit less volatile?? Phil is golfing with  my retired colleague and his wife tomorrow morning at a charity event and then the boys and I will meet them at the couple's house for lunch so they can see the boys. On Sunday morning I am going to yoga at a brewery with my friend and her husband where I imagine they will enjoy a post-yoga pint (I won’t because beer has gluten and I found it disgusting even before I found out about my gluten intolerance!!) Sunday afternoon, we are going to a birthday party for the daughter of one of Phil's college friends. The weekend weather forecast look awesome - lows in the 50s overnight, highs in the low 70s during the day. This is my kind of fall weather!!

Bonus Taco update/pics!

Taco is adjusting better to the new daycare. He doesn't cry at drop off anymore which is HUGE! He cried all summer at his old daycare once Paul moved to the public school program. I didn't think too much of it as change is hard but it's a good sign that he shifted to not crying in a matter of weeks at the new place! This daycare just opened in May and enrollment is slowly growing so it’s way quieter than our last place and he has fewer teachers to get to know. So overall it’s been a great change. He's still stoic when getting his picture taken, though.

He's very serious about going to the park.

He figured out the scooter on day 2. He might be our athlete. He pushes the scooter with his left foot - maybe he will be left handed?

How was your week?