I heart Vietnamese food.

We went out to lunch today to celebrate a co-worker's birthday, so we went to Andy Nguyen's and it was delicious as always. It was nice to have hot, fresh food on a cold, blustery day. I had the mixed vegetable and tofu over noodle dish. Heaven. I'm not normally a big tofu fan, but this was cooked to perfection and so yummy. I've had their food a few times now, and I can honestly say that I prefer it over Chinese food. I did have to work a little harder on the treadmill tonight, but it was worth it.

A few years ago, I never would have even thought to try Vietnamese food (I used to be very picky), but I can't imagine being without it now. Hopefully we'll go back again soon!

What could be better...

than a rainy Friday night watching Sex and the City?

Nothing makes me feel cozier than that!

Pet peeve.

Why is that, sometimes (or all the time, depending on who you talk to), people forget the fundamentals of driving and act like complete morons? While driving home this afternoon, it was pretty backed up as soon as I got on the freeway. It was stop and go traffic, which is a little unusual for the time of day I leave work (3:30). As I got closer to my exit, people were stopping to look at a single car accident (someone hit the guard rail and had minor damage to his car), which pretty much created all the traffic. As soon as I passed the incident, traffic cleared up and it was smooth sailing all the way home. I don't understand the blatant gawking at something that's really not that interesting and none of their beeswax. What is it about seeing someone else's problem that's so fascinating?

It's the same reason why reality television is so popular, I suppose. People are just too curious for their own good.

Now please excuse me while I go make sure that Project Runway is still set up to record on my DVR.

Party time!

By this time tomorrow night, I'll be one year older. Amazing how fast another year has passed.

My co-workers are taking me out for lunch and are also bringing in cupcakes for the occasion. Although I'll be working tomorrow, I'm glad to at least be in a place where I enjoy it and it's not such a chore to have to work on my birthday.

I'm looking forward to what the next year has to bring, since they only seem to be getting better.

And since I'm officially old, I'll be going to bed at 8:00 tonight (but only because I'm starting work at 6am tomorrow so I can get off a little early).

Did I mention I ate dinner at 4:30 tonight?

I DID IT!

I jogged for almost 2.25 miles tonight without stopping. It's the first time I've done that in...well, I can't remember how long. Two years, at least. I feel pretty great right now and my confidence is back, which means I'm more willing to jump on the treadmill again to see if I can go a little farther.

Yay me!

Feeling much better today.

Much to my surprise, I had a much better day today at work. The weekend was incredibly restful and restoring, and after looking through my work today, it appears that I'm not as buried as I originally thought. And since I don't have too much scheduled this week out of the ordinary, everything should be done by the end of the week with no problem.

What a huge relief that is, especially since I'm going to a seminar next Monday and Tuesday and will be losing 2 days of work.

Speaking of that...I'm looking forward to a little mini vacation. I'm staying at the Westin (which I've never stayed at before but I'm told is pretty great), and plan on doing a little shopping on Sunday afternoon when I get there. And when I get home on Wednesday, I've only got a couple of days and then...my birthday. And then the celebrations begin.

So there's much to look forward to within the next two weeks. And now that I have a clear head again, I'm so excited.

I want to go back on vacation.

This week at work has been brutal. The scary part is that it's going to be like this for me for the next few months. I felt inadequate today, which makes me feel stressed, which makes my back hurt (up towards my ribcage, which I've learned is what happens to me when I get really stressed), which makes me clam up and get really quiet. I didn't talk to a lot of my co-workers today because I was so wrapped up in my own world. When I sat down with my boss to talk about me helping out another department, we made a list of everything I'm working on (current and upcoming projects) and I almost stopped breathing. I'm almost at the point where I'm going to need to start delegating things to someone else, which I'm mostly OK with, but since I'm such a control freak when it comes to my work, I worry that things won't be done the way I want them (or need them to be).

The worst part is, I KNOW I'm not inadequate. It's simply that I'm juggling too many things at work, and a couple of things got pushed to the back burner. Things that I intended to finish, but that other, more pressing things got in the way and needed my attention more. I ended up finishing up what was asked of me today, but not without me feeling guilty and bad and that I'd let my boss down.

The bottom line is that I've got to work on prioritizing my work a little better and split my time between things, rather than work on one thing only until it's finished. The only problem is, I've got this thing about finishing a project so I can stop thinking about it and therefore stop stressing about it. And that's not working out so well for me.

I know all of this is temporary and that things will eventually settle down a little, and that every time I go through a tough period at work, I come out feeling really good about myself; that I made it through (somehow) without having a breakdown and I actually did a good job. And that all of this will be a great learning experience. I just really have to remind myself of those facts on a day-to-day basis, or I'll drown in my own thoughts and believe I'm not good enough. And that's toxic.

I know this isn't the happiest of posts, but I figured everyone can relate to this, and I really needed to vent a little in the hopes that some of my readers will have some similar stories to make me feel a little more normal.

In the meantime, I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday. I might just have a glass of wine tomorrow night after work to celebrate.

And since I rarely drink, you can imagine the kind of week I've had.