I just returned from a lovely trip to Denver to see Val and Tiff. We had almost zero plans and wonderfully crummy (especially for Denver!) weather that justified us staying in for almost the entire trip to just paint and chat.

As I said, lovely. I already felt more like myself after just a few hours with those two. They always bring me back to me.

And it was quite the break from reality. I didn’t take my work phone with me or check in over the four days I was gone (Friday-Monday) and whoa, some stuff happened. Yesterday was kind of nuts. But I’d rather be overwhelmed for one morning than dwell over things on my time off. I texted Steven right away in the morning when I saw some info and he told me he saw it over the weekend but didn’t want to bother me about it. I appreciate that so much. He gets me.

The trip was also good practice for me to be around people and see how ranty I got. Verdict – quite ranty but I was 100% in a safe and welcoming space. So it was all good. But I will be toning it down for other groups. A LOT.

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Alright! A few little details for funsies.

First! I had Friday off and my flight wasn’t until 4 something so I took a 3 hour nap that morning after going to the gym. My logic was: I won’t have a chance to nap like this for a long time, we stay up late when we’re together, there is an hour time difference, and the altitude makes me sleep like caca in Denver. I am glad I took that nap cause I got FOUR hours of sleep Friday night.

I flew out of Milwaukee. I always pick Milwaukee when I can, even if it’s a bit more than O’hare. The convenience is worth it.

I was super off when I got there though. I blame a headache from the weather (and not the nap) – I couldn’t remember where to park and got really turned around and went up a wrong ramp and just WHAT THE HECC that is not like me. But I obviously got it all figured out.

It was the first time ever that TSA stopped me to look at my painted rocks. I told the lady what they were and asked if she wanted one and she seemed to be into them and said she couldn’t take one. So I was like “what if I put one over there?” And she said “yeah!” And I saw her go take it later then show her supervisor. Aww.

There were 75 empty seats on my flight. AMAZING.

We landed early and my bag came out right away. AMAZING.

Val and I went to get dinner then went back to pick Tiff up, then got to work painting (after we ate) when we got back!

On Saturday we painted all morning, went on a walk (where we saw an estate sale and checked it out and confirmed they’re not for us) in the afternoon,

then went out to dinner for Val’s youngest son’s birthday. Ha, it was raining and hailing on the walk to the restaurant and we all got so wet! Even with Tiff and I sharing an umbrella. The ramen was delicious and worth it though. Best ramen I’ve ever had.

You guessed it – more painting that night!

On Sunday our only plan was to go jeans shopping (more on that tomorrow). We did that around noon then painted (and ate) all day. Perfection. Exactly what we all wanted.

Then Monday we painted more, ate, and went to the airpot around 10:30!

Might sound like a lame visit but it made me feel so good. Until I parted ways with Tiff at the airport and felt a bit sad. Sad to be away from them; sad to have to go back to reality. But! I have a lot of fun things planned in April. And I know I will see them both for sure in July!!!!!