Meri Benson's Blog, page 7

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So interesting fact that I’ve learned over the last few days – I touch my face a lot. Like, I’m constantly rubbing my eyes or scratching the top of my nose and I’ve started to notice it more and more with the instructions being to not touch your eyes, nose or mouth. But how do you get those little gunkies out of the corner of your eye if you can’t touch your face? How I ask you, How!

Also, the photo above was the Sam’s Club by my house – yes I went out on Sunday. Mom and I took some inventory of the house and braved the stores for a brief, and I do mean brief, time to grab a few needed items for the house. That was the line to get into the store just as they opened. It trailed behind us down the length of the building and in front of the store next to it. Though in the 30 minutes after we slipped in, got everything we needed of the things that were left, and then slipped out to the car with our limited spoils of shopping there wasn’t a line to get in anymore.

And the good news is I am stocked up on all the non-perishable items we need should they be missing from the store, the stores are closed, or I have to self quarantine now.

Aside from food things, I slipped into the Walmart next door and wandered briefly through their lego section. I have mighty needs for legos. I love legos, I love building legos, and I stumbled across this interesting thing. It’s like a cross between Polly Pocket and Legos.

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And I was like, well that’s a definite have to own. So I picked up two. This little science lab and the pet photo studio. Both of the littles are put together, yes. They’re adorable and I love them.

I also saw this beauty on the shelf.

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I couldn’t justify getting it right now. But I want it. I want it so badly I’m not even joking. But I’m going to see if I can push my family to buy it and sets like it for me for my birthday. This beauty is the Baking Competition set. I did however buy the cupcake shop set which was half the cost. I haven’t opened it to build it yet.

Also, work has been trying to stay on top of the virus situation. Or well, really they’re trying to stay ahead of it. Because I not only work for a University, which comes with its own set of complications for remote working, I work literally next door to the hospital in the College of Pharmacy, with clinicians and pharmacists that have to continue to work at the hospital and clinics during this time. I’m just administrative staff, but it’s the administrative staff that keeps departments running while they’re off doing all the science-y things.

The students were all given this week off at my University – extended Spring Break – so they won’t return to classes until March 30th. This break allows all the faculty to work with IT staff in order to transfer their classes to 100% virtual learning so when the students come back to classes it will be virtual, likely through the remainder of the semester.

A lot of the non-essential to be physically here staff have been prepping all the work we do as well, so we can work remotely in the coming week or so. I’ve been told my department may shift that way before the week is out.

Anything and everything we can do in order to keep everyone healthy but still maintain the University functions. Luckily in this day and age, a lot of what we do now can be done via phone or skype/webex for meetings and systems that are all interconnected via online, so we don’t actually have to be in the office to accomplish a lot of what we need to do.

Whatever you do for a job, wherever you are, make sure to wash your hands and be safe during this time. A lot of people are panicking about how things are going and how bad it’s getting, but if we take precautions and are careful, we’ll be okay.

[image error]

So interesting fact that I’ve learned over the last few days – I touch my face a lot. Like, I’m constantly rubbing my eyes or scratching the top of my nose and I’ve started to notice it more and more with the instructions being to not touch your eyes, nose or mouth. But how do you get those little gunkies out of the corner of your eye if you can’t touch your face? How I ask you, How!

Also, the photo above was the Sam’s Club by my house – yes I went out on Sunday. Mom and I took some inventory of the house and braved the stores for a brief, and I do mean brief, time to grab a few needed items for the house. That was the line to get into the store just as they opened. It trailed behind us down the length of the building and in front of the store next to it. Though in the 30 minutes after we slipped in, got everything we needed of the things that were left, and then slipped out to the car with our limited spoils of shopping there wasn’t a line to get in anymore.

And the good news is I am stocked up on all the non-perishable items we need should they be missing from the store, the stores are closed, or I have to self quarantine now.

Aside from food things, I slipped into the Walmart next door and wandered briefly through their lego section. I have mighty needs for legos. I love legos, I love building legos, and I stumbled across this interesting thing. It’s like a cross between Polly Pocket and Legos.

[image error]

And I was like, well that’s a definite have to own. So I picked up two. This little science lab and the pet photo studio. Both of the littles are put together, yes. They’re adorable and I love them.

I also saw this beauty on the shelf.

[image error]

I couldn’t justify getting it right now. But I want it. I want it so badly I’m not even joking. But I’m going to see if I can push my family to buy it and sets like it for me for my birthday. This beauty is the Baking Competition set. I did however buy the cupcake shop set which was half the cost. I haven’t opened it to build it yet.

Also, work has been trying to stay on top of the virus situation. Or well, really they’re trying to stay ahead of it. Because I not only work for a University, which comes with its own set of complications for remote working, I work literally next door to the hospital in the College of Pharmacy, with clinicians and pharmacists that have to continue to work at the hospital and clinics during this time. I’m just administrative staff, but it’s the administrative staff that keeps departments running while they’re off doing all the science-y things.

The students were all given this week off at my University – extended Spring Break – so they won’t return to classes until March 30th. This break allows all the faculty to work with IT staff in order to transfer their classes to 100% virtual learning so when the students come back to classes it will be virtual, likely through the remainder of the semester.

A lot of the non-essential to be physically here staff have been prepping all the work we do as well, so we can work remotely in the coming week or so. I’ve been told my department may shift that way before the week is out.

Anything and everything we can do in order to keep everyone healthy but still maintain the University functions. Luckily in this day and age, a lot of what we do now can be done via phone or skype/webex for meetings and systems that are all interconnected via online, so we don’t actually have to be in the office to accomplish a lot of what we need to do.

Whatever you do for a job, wherever you are, make sure to wash your hands and be safe during this time. A lot of people are panicking about how things are going and how bad it’s getting, but if we take precautions and are careful, we’ll be okay.

[image error]

So interesting fact that I’ve learned over the last few days – I touch my face a lot. Like, I’m constantly rubbing my eyes or scratching the top of my nose and I’ve started to notice it more and more with the instructions being to not touch your eyes, nose or mouth. But how do you get those little gunkies out of the corner of your eye if you can’t touch your face? How I ask you, How!

Also, the photo above was the Sam’s Club by my house – yes I went out on Sunday. Mom and I took some inventory of the house and braved the stores for a brief, and I do mean brief, time to grab a few needed items for the house. That was the line to get into the store just as they opened. It trailed behind us down the length of the building and in front of the store next to it. Though in the 30 minutes after we slipped in, got everything we needed of the things that were left, and then slipped out to the car with our limited spoils of shopping there wasn’t a line to get in anymore.

And the good news is I am stocked up on all the non-perishable items we need should they be missing from the store, the stores are closed, or I have to self quarantine now.

Aside from food things, I slipped into the Walmart next door and wandered briefly through their lego section. I have mighty needs for legos. I love legos, I love building legos, and I stumbled across this interesting thing. It’s like a cross between Polly Pocket and Legos.

[image error]

And I was like, well that’s a definite have to own. So I picked up two. This little science lab and the pet photo studio. Both of the littles are put together, yes. They’re adorable and I love them.

I also saw this beauty on the shelf.

[image error]

I couldn’t justify getting it right now. But I want it. I want it so badly I’m not even joking. But I’m going to see if I can push my family to buy it and sets like it for me for my birthday. This beauty is the Baking Competition set. I did however buy the cupcake shop set which was half the cost. I haven’t opened it to build it yet.

Also, work has been trying to stay on top of the virus situation. Or well, really they’re trying to stay ahead of it. Because I not only work for a University, which comes with its own set of complications for remote working, I work literally next door to the hospital in the College of Pharmacy, with clinicians and pharmacists that have to continue to work at the hospital and clinics during this time. I’m just administrative staff, but it’s the administrative staff that keeps departments running while they’re off doing all the science-y things.

The students were all given this week off at my University – extended Spring Break – so they won’t return to classes until March 30th. This break allows all the faculty to work with IT staff in order to transfer their classes to 100% virtual learning so when the students come back to classes it will be virtual, likely through the remainder of the semester.

A lot of the non-essential to be physically here staff have been prepping all the work we do as well, so we can work remotely in the coming week or so. I’ve been told my department may shift that way before the week is out.

Anything and everything we can do in order to keep everyone healthy but still maintain the University functions. Luckily in this day and age, a lot of what we do now can be done via phone or skype/webex for meetings and systems that are all interconnected via online, so we don’t actually have to be in the office to accomplish a lot of what we need to do.

Whatever you do for a job, wherever you are, make sure to wash your hands and be safe during this time. A lot of people are panicking about how things are going and how bad it’s getting, but if we take precautions and are careful, we’ll be okay.

[image error]

So interesting fact that I’ve learned over the last few days – I touch my face a lot. Like, I’m constantly rubbing my eyes or scratching the top of my nose and I’ve started to notice it more and more with the instructions being to not touch your eyes, nose or mouth. But how do you get those little gunkies out of the corner of your eye if you can’t touch your face? How I ask you, How!

Also, the photo above was the Sam’s Club by my house – yes I went out on Sunday. Mom and I took some inventory of the house and braved the stores for a brief, and I do mean brief, time to grab a few needed items for the house. That was the line to get into the store just as they opened. It trailed behind us down the length of the building and in front of the store next to it. Though in the 30 minutes after we slipped in, got everything we needed of the things that were left, and then slipped out to the car with our limited spoils of shopping there wasn’t a line to get in anymore.

And the good news is I am stocked up on all the non-perishable items we need should they be missing from the store, the stores are closed, or I have to self quarantine now.

Aside from food things, I slipped into the Walmart next door and wandered briefly through their lego section. I have mighty needs for legos. I love legos, I love building legos, and I stumbled across this interesting thing. It’s like a cross between Polly Pocket and Legos.

[image error]

And I was like, well that’s a definite have to own. So I picked up two. This little science lab and the pet photo studio. Both of the littles are put together, yes. They’re adorable and I love them.

I also saw this beauty on the shelf.

[image error]

I couldn’t justify getting it right now. But I want it. I want it so badly I’m not even joking. But I’m going to see if I can push my family to buy it and sets like it for me for my birthday. This beauty is the Baking Competition set. I did however buy the cupcake shop set which was half the cost. I haven’t opened it to build it yet.

Also, work has been trying to stay on top of the virus situation. Or well, really they’re trying to stay ahead of it. Because I not only work for a University, which comes with its own set of complications for remote working, I work literally next door to the hospital in the College of Pharmacy, with clinicians and pharmacists that have to continue to work at the hospital and clinics during this time. I’m just administrative staff, but it’s the administrative staff that keeps departments running while they’re off doing all the science-y things.

The students were all given this week off at my University – extended Spring Break – so they won’t return to classes until March 30th. This break allows all the faculty to work with IT staff in order to transfer their classes to 100% virtual learning so when the students come back to classes it will be virtual, likely through the remainder of the semester.

A lot of the non-essential to be physically here staff have been prepping all the work we do as well, so we can work remotely in the coming week or so. I’ve been told my department may shift that way before the week is out.

Anything and everything we can do in order to keep everyone healthy but still maintain the University functions. Luckily in this day and age, a lot of what we do now can be done via phone or skype/webex for meetings and systems that are all interconnected via online, so we don’t actually have to be in the office to accomplish a lot of what we need to do.

Whatever you do for a job, wherever you are, make sure to wash your hands and be safe during this time. A lot of people are panicking about how things are going and how bad it’s getting, but if we take precautions and are careful, we’ll be okay.

Update – My Monday has become my Friday

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So the sick Kitty is doing better. Have a shot of him while we drove him to his two-week check-up. He was not a happy kitty to be outside, but then he never is. He hates the outdoors, he hates being in a car, but he quiets down when I let him stick his head out of the bag and look around while we drive.

Overall, the prognosis is, he’s doing better! He hates his meds. He knows what time meds are given due to work schedule, and tries really hard to hide so we can’t give them to him – I feel bad that it’s gotten to this point but they’re needed to get him to feeling better. I’m hoping next week, after his four-week check-up, that we’ll be at a point where he won’t need the drops or the steriods and so the only meds will be the antibiotic shot to give him.

We learned how to properly clean his ears, with the best practice for him so it’s lower stress on him while we do it. The goal they said every three to four weeks is good to keep the build-up from getting to infection point.

Writing-wise for me has been slow. The last two weeks I’ve felt super low, kind of like I was drowning in the world. This week has been better. I feel more on top of everything, more like I’m at least paddling in the boat instead of trying to hang onto the side for dear life. I still have a good deal of catch-up to do but I’m more confident I’m getting it done.

I’m hoping to get my one novel that’s in editing stages done faster. Like, actually finish it and release it into the world this year, done. Preferably around September or October. I may or may not be poking one of the Sci-Fi cons mom and I attend to see what it actually costs for a table to sell, and maybe sell the pretty finished book along with some resin and costers and things.

Because for all my dabbling in things, the resin isn’t going away. If anything, it’s getting stronger. Like, I just bought some mica powder and more molds to do more things. And I am super excited to try all the things with resin.

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I recently sent these guys off into the world. And I mean, how cute are they?! Two are currently keychains, but they could be necklaces. And the other two are magnets – they have a magnet on the back of them.

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I also ended up getting a mold for zodiac constellations which I found super fun and cool and I’m still working on them in order to get the best results. And more mermaid tails.

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I also ended up picking up this cool heart puzzle mold that fits together that I want to play around with a little more, but I’m already loving how it’s coming out.

So yeah, resin is now my life in general. Along with all the words and things. The great thing about the resin though, is that once I pour it and it’s curing, it hast to sit for 24 hours, which means after it’s poured, it’s all about working on those words. =)

Life – It’s Winding Road

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So, not an excuse, but holy cow how are we already halfway through February?!

In the last month and a half since I wrote a blog post – my apologies by the way – I have participated in two write 10K in a day challenges, done a crap ton of resin (the photo), design & get to the printers the flyers for a festival I’m helping with, fix printers issues with said flyers because they couldn’t do things the correct way on the first go, talk to corporate about things because yes, corporate got involved, and also my cat ended up in an emergency visit to the vet that is still ongoing healing wise.

Let’s start with the 10K in a day challenges. So on Jan. 18th and Feb. 9th Mandi Lynn hosted a write 10,000 words in a day challenge. And, because I’ve been super lax on my words the last year or so, I decided to participate. I was able to pull off a win both times!

January’s day ended with a total of 10,771 – it’s a respectable start to a Horror short that I had originally planned to be about that length and who promptly told me ‘ha! I’m going to be longer!’. I’m estimating that it’s about half done because this one ended up needing to be a slower burn horror.

February’s day ended with a total of 10,556 – which I was able to finish my mermaid story, Treasure of the Deep, which if you didn’t know is my newest release.

So yeah, so far so good for getting writing done this year. I just need to continue writing between the 10K challenges, and also if possible continue to participate in said challenges.

As you can see in the picture above, I’ve also been playing with resin. I’ve found it super therapeutic to be able to play with it and create some fun magnets and keychains. I need to pick up some more though because I have maybe one more run of the molds before I am totally out of it.

The print job I’m not really wanting to go into much detail on, partially because I want to leave it in the past now that it’s over. The short of it is, I lost four days to this issue and had to go to the same store five different times, talk to corporate about it, before it was for the most part resolved, though after a small preliminary count it also looks like we were shorted 25 copies. And I’m just kind of done with it. Flip a table, let me break something done. Corporate kept saying they didn’t want to lose me as a customer, but I just can’t trust the company after this. So I’ll be trying a different company for next year, one that I’ve been working with through my 9-5 job that has great customer service and delivery so I don’t have to constantly run back and forth to a store.

And lastly, and most recently, my cat ended up with an emergency vet visit Tuesday night. Mom and I came home Tuesday night to find him not stable on his left front paw and his head tilted so his left eye was nearly on the ground when he stumble-walked. Naturally, I panicked and we found the closest emergency vet we could take him to. After they ran some preliminary tests on him the prognosis was ear infection which is why the dizzy and stumbly from him. The infection is pressing on his vestibular nerve, which controls balance in both humans and cats. Nothing that can’t be fixed with some meds. So that night, despite choking on the bill, mom and I went home with a sign of relief.

Dex stayed at the vet because the specialist wanted to take a look at him, the emergency vet had called her that night to get a recommendation on meds, so he stayed overnight and I was called Wednesday with the official prognosis. Basically, the infection was caused because he had build-up of wax and bacteria in his ear due to a mass in the canal that’s stopping it from self-cleaning itself the way it normally does. In 3 out of 4 cats, when masses appear in cats of his age (17) it’s usually aggressive (read cancer). Right now our focus is healing the infection and getting him better on that end because that’s faster fixable, just meds to heal him slowly.

The next step will be discussing where to go from here for the mass. Ideally, the simple but expensive route is removing it. But that involves putting him under to take a biopsy so they can 100% tell what it is and based on that how to deal with it. Then, putting him under again for the actual surgery. In a healthy cat, this would still be fairly stressful. But we’ve found he also has a heart complication because he has a heart murmur. This means we have to be careful about putting him under at all because it could be too much stress on his heart and if it’s too much of a risk then the surgery just isn’t worth it either. If the surgery isn’t worth it, it means that we’ll just triage his symptoms as we can for the duration of the rest of his life and make sure he’s the happiest, most spoiled lap snuggle cat he can be.

It’s been some hard news to take in, and because we’re only a few days into the meds he’s still walking like he just stumbled out of the nip’bar at 3am after a hot night with the girls, and while thinking of it that route makes me giggle a little it still makes me sad that he’s not as stable on his feet as he should be. He’s got a lot more energy since we got the meds for him and are keeping up with them, and even though he’s stumbling, he’s not letting it slow him down much so it helps to know that he’s feeling a lot better. I did notice that he’s not touching the dry food as much but will gobble the moist, so I’m going to have to pick up more moist for him. Normally the moist was a every so often treat, but if that’s what he’s happier eating, I want to make sure it’s now a daily meal for him. Right now it’s day by day as I try not to think about the more serious parts of his prognosis because right now it isn’t the focus for getting him better and honestly there’s nothing we can do about that part of it now.

That’s been my life the last month and a half. Hope yours has gone well! alk to you soon!

New Release – Treasure of the Deep

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Treasure of the Deep

Kari is a headstrong Princess who loves to explore the ocean floor around her. Treasure is always something she loves scouring for in the shipwrecks, but will it be her heart that ends up the treasure when she saves a diver from a shark attack?

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read with the Kindle Unlimited program.

Happy New Year!

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It’s not only a New Year, but a New Decade.

I’m personally hoping that 2020 is a fantastic year. It’s only the second, but I’m being hopeful. There were a lot of things that kind of fell to the wayside in 2019 and I want to make sure that they don’t continue to be sidelined this year.

Namely, my writing and reading. Everything kind of stalled after that fall I took in May where my wrist ended up in a cast, well that and gaining more responsibility with my work about the same time. But I’m finding a balance with my work, which means that reading and writing balance is coming very soon.

If you’re wondering about the picture, my aunt gifted mom and I tickets to the Morton Arboretum’s Illumination show and that’s one of the shots I was able to take during it. It’s an evening walk along some paths and they light up all the trees in really cool and interesting ways.

Anyway, back to the important topic at hand, as is the habit with new years, I also have some resolutions, or goals if you will.

Publish a minimum of 2 short stories this year. I have one that I was hoping to get done and out before the new year came to an end, and unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. But, I’m hoping to not only get that one out but a second one. The second one isn’t written but I have several that are stetch outlined out to pull from and write.
Finalize and publish at least one full-length novel. I have several that are in various states of completion and my goal is to finish one and get it out into the world.
Read 50 books in 2020. I didn’t hit this goal in 2019, I only read/listened to 32 books. But just like my writing things kind of derailed in May and I didn’t really touch a book either. But my goal is to see that not happen this year.
Relaunch and run my jewelry shop. This kind of ended up on hiatus in 2018 due to too much on my plate with mom and I so we stepped back to focus on things that were a little more important. But both of us feel better and ready to get the shop back up and out there.
I’m also making stickers for my planners, because I find that I don’t use a lot of the stickers that happen to be in the packs other people sell. And since I’m making them for myself, I thought why not offer them, for sale, to others. So my goal this year is to launch a sticker shop as well.

Those are my goals, or resolutions if you want to call them that. Do you have any of your own? Leave them in the comments below.

Almost the end

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We’re more than halfway through December and because I was on a Conference trip for the beginning of the month, I’m not entirely sure where the month went.

From Dec. 6 through Dec. 13th I was in Las Vegas. The photo above is one of the sunrises from Vegas while I was on my trip. Vegas is a beautiful city, but it’s also hella expensive. You’re hard-pressed to find any lunch or dinner options that are under $20.

And if you’re wondering, did you gamble? Did you see a show? The answer is no. I don’t gamble. My dad was a big gambler and it got ugly sometimes so it kind of put me off gambling as a whole. And color me cheap, but I can’t justify a $200 ticket to a show, no matter how amazing it is. I just can’t. Especially not around the Holidays when I’m trying to spend on others instead of myself.

I did go to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay though.

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It was fun to see all the life there. And they have a couple ‘diver view’ tunnels with sharks swimming around above you that were pretty cool. Plus, the stingrays were adorable, they have several in a little touch pool that so long as you’re gentle you can pet them. And the jellyfish *points up at blacklight picture* were so pretty to watch. Having them under the blacklight made them look incredibly magical.

I didn’t get a lot of writing done because with working 9 hour days at the Conference, all I did was grab dinner on the way back to my hotel room and then crash by 8pm after I was finished eating.

Though, on the plane, I was able to listen to some audiobooks during the flight. Though I will say that I fell asleep in a couple places and had to go back and relisten to them while awake.

The view from the plane was pretty incredible as well.

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Overall it was an incredible trip. And for some of the downtime, I did have fun. And for the work portion of it, I was told I made everything run incredibly smooth and they were very thankful for it.

If you’re interested in seeing more photos from my trip, I did post several on my Instagram. You can find me @meriscorner over there

As the year slowly crawls to an end, it’s made me realize that I’ve been seriously slacking the last half of the year on my reading goal. I marked that I wanted to read 50 books this year, and currently, I’m sitting at 31 books.

This means that I have 19 books to read in the last two weeks of the year! Can I do it? We’ll see. You’ll have to stay tuned!

Oh, Hello December

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Did you know that it’s December?

We’re not in November anymore. I repeat, I’ve lost the end of November. I don’t know where it went, or what happened to it, or how it passed by me without even a wave and a few words sprinkled in it.

None the less, we are in December. Technically we’re two days in now. We have 30 days until we say goodbye to 2019 and hello to a new year that will hopefully slow down and treat us kinder than 2019 did. Though, there’s never any promises for that from the years, is there.

I leave for a work trip in four days (on Friday) and am spending a week two timezones behind my normal one in the desert. Las Vegas specifically. I’ve had one of my co-workers all, you’re going to get to do all the things and see all the shows while you’re there, and all I’m thinking is ‘when!?’ because I’m manning the Residency Interview booth for my company and interviews start at 7:30am, which means I need to be there around 7am to make sure the booth is all set up for the day. And interviews run until 5pm, which means I’m sitting at this booth smiling and making idle and awkward chit chat for like 9 – 10 hours a day most of the days I’m in Vegas. What time do I have to explore and have fun? Because I’m not seeing it.

I am considering bucking up the courage to try my hand at some blackjack. I do okay virtually, who knows if I’d do well live. And if I lose $20 at least I can say I tried.

I am looking to capture some photos while I’m there and update Instagram as I can, so if you aren’t following me on Instagram, be sure to follow me there @meriscorner

I’m also looking to try and get some writing done, but I’m not sure I’m going to bring my laptop. I think I’m going to try and do some back to basics, pen and notebook writing while I’m in Vegas. Less distraction because I’m not sliding to instagram or twitter or facebook, but also, it’s not going to look like I’m ignoring interviewees when they come up to the table if I’m just writing in a notebook. I’ve also been having an issue staring at a blank word document just making me stressed that I haven’t written so I’m hoping this will help me in getting words down again. It’s been forever since I’ve really written and I’d like to get back into the habit, the groove, the writerly swing of things.

This week specifically I’ve been prepping my friend’s presents so they’re ready to mail. And getting everything ready to head to the conference. Not just with packing clothes and planning wardrobe for a professional conference, but making sure like, everything on my desk at work is okay because someone will be sitting at it the entire week I’m gone. O.O I hate the idea of someone using my space while I’m gone, but because I work at a front desk it has to be.

Any fun plans for your first week of December? Let me know in the comments below!