"some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts. "

ok, quick post as i have to get to bed so i can be up early for a nice long day of work and various and sundry other necessities ...

today was the day of The Family Reunion - the opportunity for the various branches of my mother's family tree to come together over good food, drinks and a half year (or, in my immediate family's case, about five years - whoops!) of catching up. the family holds two reunions a year - one summertime fling that rotates locations, depending on who volunteers to host it, the other in february at a lodge near rochester we've been going to for decades so everyone can get together and also go skiing. we used to go to both reunions every year, but with our different schedules and obligations - sports during high school, then college and whatnot - my parents, tom and i haven't been able to make an appearance since the summer after my freshman year of college, where i shocked everyone with my tongue ring and tales of college amusement. funny to see how things have changed over the past half decade if a tongue ring was seen as controversial!

nevertheless, we went to my second cousin penny's house in connecticut today to meet up with everyone again and i must say that i had the best time at a reunion in eons - possibly the best time ever. besides the shock of realizing that i still thought of everyone as they were when i was a child - my cousin mimi, who is perpetually 26 and the essence of twenty-something new york quasi-bohemian chic in my mind, just celebrated her 40th birthday. what???? - it was just as mellow and relaxing as ever. i realized that there's a whole new bunch of "the kids" that have assumed the responsibility of running around and burning off their sugar rushes, so i was able to sit back with a margarita (or two) and catch up with people, laughing over stories about their kids, fill them in on what i've been up to and, in the case of my second (or is it third? who knows at this point) cousin drew, fill him in on where to go and what to do in burlington, as he is going to be kicking off his frosh year at groovy uvy in two weeks. as i put it, "drew, two words that will bring you happy relaxation for the next four years of your life - muddy waters."

ah - such a lovely day. my more immediate family - my aunt, uncle, grandmother, etc. - were thrilled to see how much my appearance has improved over the past weeks, therefore alleviating a great deal of stress and concern, and i was able to psych both myself and others up with the latest bit of vickie news, that being my upcoming writing jobs. hurrah! not to mention that i managed to get some sun and NOT burn, so i'm currently feeling a surge of self-confidence and happiness, sitting here feeling like a sun-kissed and fun young woman of 22, ready to take on the world and whatever it wants to throw my way (as far as the sun-kissed bit goes, i admit that really, it's not much of anything, but if i want to have a mental self-image of myself as someone with the sun-bleached blond hair and golden skin kate bosworth has in "blue crush," why fight it? it's all about self-confidence, baby!).

i'm also finally buckling down and preparing to begin exercising again, this time working my way up gradually and doing it Properly - now that i have more of an understanding of what Properly is and all. i found a great series of workouts in a magazine that i'm going to try - one in particular is a gradual way of preparing oneself for being able to, if one desires, run a 5K. now while i have no intention of running a 5K, it would be nice to feel as if i could if i wanted to! small workouts three times a week, working my way up for four weeks. i can do that - and i intend to kick it off tomorrow. here we go!

and yes, i'm still focusing constantly on the phone call i am to receive on monday, which will therefore help me figure out how things are going to be over the next few weeks. at this moment in time, i figure i'll be heading back to dc on wednesday, in the office on monday. but who knows? perhaps they'll just want to keep whoever's been filling in for me, perhaps they'll want me there for a few days, perhaps a couple weeks, whatever. it just feels so good to know that it's only going to be for a bit, then i'll be back, ready to start writing and really get my career going. ah ... the anticipation of writing - writing for a living, no less!

but until monday's phone call, it's all up in the air. i'll have so much to do once i know the timeframe - figure out apartment stuff (as in letting my roommates know what the situation is, not to mention the packing and preparing to move aspect), figure out when i'll be back, figure out what i want to do before i say farewell to residential dc life for good, or at least for the time being, yadda yadda. it's just tough to know i have so much in front of me that needs to be taken care of, but i have to wait at least another day before i can really get anything moving.

but hey - it'll make monday that much better of a day! find out about the situation on that front, then have some fun times of the myers/sheep variety. haha.

there's nothing better than preparing to go to sleep with every intention of waking up with a big smile on my face in the morning.