Faster than the Speed of Life

I keep waiting for life to slow down. And waiting.... and waiting. At this rate, I'm pretty sure I'll still be waiting 20 years from now. These days, the weeks are as busy as the weekends, the days as busy as the nights, and my google calendar is starting to look like it used to in college. Runs have to be scheduled and prioritized, meals quick and simple, and sleep? I'm sorry, I don't think I know what that is. Let me find a dictionary and get back to you. 
For now, though, I'm actually trying to take on as much as I can and welcome all the craziness, because I know that once Dan leaves, staying busy will help the time go a little bit faster. The only problem is that often I run out of time for many of the things that I love: when my schedule starts to fill up, among the first things to get dropped are baking, reading, catching up with friends, and blogging... and cleaning, but who am I to complain about that? Today, though, I am determined to make some time for at least a few of these things (I have a date with a cup of coffee and my kindle tonight), especially after all the craziness of the past weekend/week:
Friday morning before work I headed off to the gym (at the same time I always do) and watched the lovely royal wedding from the treadmill. I was so engrossed in the crazy hats and Kate's gorgeous dress that I got through 5 miles without even noticing. I'm thinking the royals should get married more often. (Also, as a note of clarification from Friday: I do know that Kate is a common nickname for Katherine, but every Catherine I know goes by Cate. Thoughts?) Friday was a super-productive day at work and afterwards I headed out for a little quality shopping. When I got home, I crashed from the week and slept. Hard.
Saturday I went running on my newly discovered running trail. I intended to get in at least 7 miles, but my body definitely wasn't feeling it and the hills just about killed me, so I took it slowly and ended up heading for home after only about 5. Last week was pretty great week of running, so I was a little bummed to end on a low note. I did, however, explore the neighborhood a little more and discovered three new trails through some light woods that were well marked and seemed pretty safe. I will definitely be heading back to them before too long!
When I got home, I made a quick grocery run and then Saturday evening, we had Dan's father, his brother and his girlfriend, and our friend C over for dinner. Dan grilled burgers, chicken, and corn and I made baked beans, pasta salad, and these yummy carrot cake cupcakes. C brought some fantastic wine and we all had a great time.
Sunday was a little bit lazy -- Dan and I ran errands around town during the day and had planned to go out to dinner that night, but went home to change and decided we were both too tired. We ended up staying in, ordering food, and watching one of my favorite movies:

Dear Zachary: A letter to a Son about his Father

I've wanted Dan to watch this with me since I saw it almost a year ago. It is heartbreaking, astounding, horrific, and inspiring all at the same time -- definitely not a happy movie, but one that I think everyone should see. Watch it with someone you can cry sob in front of (even the 3rd time around): you've been warned.
Monday and Tuesday were both ridiculous days at work, filled with big meetings, deadlines, and major to-do lists. Two of the huge projects I've been unceremoniously dropped into (mid-way through the planning) are going into their testing phase next week, so stress levels are running high... and patience levels low. I will be truly surprised (but thrilled) if everyone in my department makes it through the next month without exploding... especially myself. I get overwhelmed just thinking about it, but at least I'll be too busy to think about the fact that Dan won't be welcoming me home from work anytime soon. Luckily, Monday and Tuesday evenings more than made up for the rest of the day: Monday Dan and I went out for a great date night, and yesterday I went for a fantastic run and then met up with C for dinner, wine, and some girl time.
As you can tell, none of this leaves a whole lot of time for relaxing, so the next few days are all about catching up on the little things. I went for a long run this afternoon and spent almost an hour on the phone with my bestie. I'm also hoping to finish the book I'm reading, cook some mexican for Cinco de Mayo tomorrow, and catch up a little on sleep.
Hope that you all are also finding time for the little things that are so essential to sanity. Luckily, the weekend will be here again before we know it!

   Love,

    Meg