Day 2 Charleston (Sept 26)

So today was plantation day. We had planned on visiting 3 plantations that were within miles of each other. We started at Drayton Hall.

This was owned by a wealthy family, surprising. And it looks beautiful...on the outside. On the inside, there have never updated it to include running water or electricity. Imagine, no breeze on a hot summer day in Charleston...sheesh...that'd suck. Suddenly fans that women carried made sense.

But here the kicker, not a stitch of furniture on the inside. Just empty rooms. The furniture was being restored and would eventually be put back...or replicas of it. A tour of an inside of a mansion without furniture is B-O-R-I-N-G. Really not very interesting at all. While the moldings and what not were pretty, it certainly wasn't work the $$ we paid for it.

So off to the next one, Magnolia Hall. That one turned out to be about the same price, and had a tram ride...but it was mostly gardens and to see the house you had to pay extra. We opted out.

The last one on our list, Middleton Place, was written up as the oldest and finest in the area. It sure as hell should have been for the price they were asking to get into it. Let's just say we opted out of that one too.

The most exciting part about any of them was driving into one of the long driveways and seeing a HOARD of Turkey Buzzards attacking road kill.  Turns out turkey buzzards are ugly birds.

Enough of the wildlife and boring, expensive houses, we headed in to Sommerville for lunch. We had been told from one of our waitresses that Sticky Fingers was a great place for BBQ. Its a chain, but we figured why not try it.

OH....MY....GOODNESS was it delicious. Some of the best BBQ I've had. And we did, in fact, have sticky fingers. The interesting thing here was the corn on the cob...every had deep fried corn on the cob? Yah me neither...and oh my was it good.

On our was back to Charleston, the skies opened up and it rained, hard, for a good 3 hours. We couldn't get out of the car to see anything because the rain was pounding. So we drove around, dropped the window quickly, and shot a photo as quickly as possible so we didn't get wet. I do like my torrential downpours, but this was really a lot of water.

After swearing we'd never eat again after lunch, we decided to go grab dinner. Our first stop was Jestine's and it was closed. Here's the thing, we've ran into I don't know how many issues with restaurants we want to eat at being closed.  It's like we're cursed.

So instead we drove to the market and decided to eat at the Crab House. And considering we had our crab hats, it just made sense. Only...I forgot my hat back at the room. So the MomUnit and SIL wore there's and boy did they get the looks. Funny enough, we didn't order crab. Not a single one of us.\\

Tomorrow we'll get up early and go to Fort Somter. Really hoping it doesn't rain like it did today. If I buy a poncho I can almost guarantee it won't rain.

Here are some other shots from today:

African American Burial ground on Drayton Hall land. "Leave em rest"

Entrance to the African American burial ground

Wrought iron is everywhere here.

We found a graveyard!!

Grand Staircase in Drayton Hall

The Privy at Drayton Hall. It has a fireplace!

Drayton Hall version of running water.

The driveway...

Charleston Day 1 ( Sept 25)

Well we made it. The trip here was long, as is anything when you head to the east coast.

Charleston....I'm in love. What a charming little town. But man it's humid. My hair is out of control. Voluminous is a word for it...

So let's see...What have we done?

We started our morning by having what we thought was a complimentary breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express here in the Historic district. 30 minutes later our bill of $52 came...we were, needless to say, floored and miffed. Every Holiday Inn Express I've ever stayed at has had the free continental breakfast. This one has it set up like one, but it isn't.  So today (which is Day 2) we'll be going to a bakery for breakfast.

After that shock, we headed off to our Carriage ride through the historic district.  Luke was our draft horse. 19 years old and ready to retire. The carriage driver told us a "story" that Luke  was about to retire and he was trying to buy him for his retirement. Before a carriage horse, Luke was owned by the Omish. They only keep them for 5 years and then sell them off. This org that rescues them has a huge farm they frolic in on their days off. The city, apparently, has very strict laws about how long a horse can work because of the heat and what not.

Anyhow, we sat, squished in a single row and off we went. We heard ghost stories, heard stories about individual houses and who they were owned by, we saw Rainbow Row, a couple of churches, the city market, the waterfront and a few other things. It was a lot of fun and one of the things I like to do in new towns I visit.

After that, we were hot and thirsty. We found a store called MoonPie and we had to go in. Inside I found a cooler that had Cheerwine in it. Since it was on my list to try, I went ahead and tried it. Um...YUM. Where has that been all my life? And why can't I get it in WA? It's a black cherry flavored cola and tastes very different than cherry coke. The MomUnit and SIL tried a Nehi (one was orange and one was peach) - also delicious.

We walked through the city market and like all markets a lot of vendors selling their hand crafted items. Once you've seen one row you've seen it all. Ended up buying some photos from a photographer there - plan to frame them. A stuffed crab with a stuffed baby crab...that'll become our mascot. (More on that later).

Ate in Lowcountry bistro: fried pickles, moonshine, chicken andwaffle, biscuits and gravy and she crab soup. Oh and sweet tea. Some delicious start to our food adventure. After this stop we figured we set the bar pretty high. We shall see.

After lunch, we drove over to Rainbow Row. A row of houses painted in bright pretty colors and worth a cool million or two. These homes have managed to survive the fires, hurricanes, and earthquake ravaged city and are said to date back to 1730 to 1750. They were hard to photograph because of all the damn trees.

We parked and walked along the waterfront for a bit to find, what else, but the Pineapple fountain. None of us could really find in any of the guide books why a pineapple fountain, but we took photos of it all the same. Mom was pooped so she sat and SIL and I went to get the car. On the way back she spotted an Italian Ice cart. Slamming on the brakes we got ourselves some Italian shaved ice that was out of this world.

Next on the list was to go see Angel Oak. Depending on which guide book, post card or website you read it's anywhere from 500 to 1500 years old. I figured it was somewhere in the middle. It's enormous though. 65 feet high and 167 feet wide.

After that SIL, wanted to go see Folly Beach - there was a lighthouse we wanted to see. Driving through the small beach town was fun and full of gorgeous beach houses. We finally got down to the end and found there was a walk to the lighthouse...we opted not to.

We did take a moment to dip our toe in the Atlantic ocean. Check another off my list.

Lastly, we were ready for dinner. Our waitress recommended a restaurant at Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant...so off we went. Drove over this amazing bridge called the Ravenel Bridge...named for some historic person...

Dinner was at Red's. Turned out to be quite a find. It was a dog friendly restaurant and we were surrounded by dogs. Everywhere you looked was another dog. We were in heaven. The food was outstanding too, so there was that.

Tomorrow we'll be doing a couple plantations. Not quite decided which ones yet...we shall see.

Some other photos of stuff...

Charleston, SC - St. Philip's Episcopal Church

Earthquake bolts...holding buildings together.

St. Philip's

St. Michael's

Really?

Sweetgrass basket weaving...an art for sure.

Life is a Highway

It sure is...if you're "highway" equals work and the "cars" equal all the sh*t you have to get done at work. Then yes, my life is a highway...a very backed up, no relief in sight kinda highway.

Three months ago I hired a new PM. My excitement around having him as a PM for me was that I'd get some of my life back. I'd stop working 50 hours a week (or more) and I'd be able to be me again.

The problem is ... our sales team are awesome. Our company is doing sensationally well - which a good problem to have - but it also means, we're slammed! Always.

The new PM is up and running. He's got 27 projects. I have 33 and my other PM has 32. I have three new projects in my Inbox waiting for a PM to be assigned. I have no idea who I can assign it to. I'm been told by management to not take on anymore - in an attempt to get my work/life balance back. But the other two PMs are starting to have no work/life balance either.

Thankfully management heard my cries of exhaustion. That's what I love about this place...they aren't blind to the reality of the work load. Well, that and I'm the squeeky wheel that won't stop reminding them we're slammed.  Our company prides itself on quality and when you have PMs that are as slammed as we are, your quality goes down.  That gets to them for sure.

Enter new PM job description. Finally.

This search didn't take us quite as long. We are changing our roles, or I should say planning to, to be more Customer Success Managers - its the buzz world in the SaaS environments. It basically means we, as PMs, own a lot more of the relationship and really focus on supporting that customer for the duration of their license with us. It's checking in on a regular basis. We can't do that now because we're too busy.

At any rate, our search was for a person who had more that experience along with PM skills. And we found someone within a month. He starts on Wednesday! He's going to have to hit the ground running and will likely have 3 projects ready for him to run with.

In other non work related news. The MomUnit was here for a couple of weeks. Her being here made me realize just how much I do work at home in the evenings.  With her here I couldn't work at night...now what? So instead of worrying I just did my best and spent the time I needed to with the MomUnit. She's off to Portland now to visit the sister.

The MomUnit brought with her, her new little dog Stitch. I wasn't sure what I was going to think about her new Taco Bell dog.  Turns out he's quite the character and it's almost impossible to not love him. Why do we always have crazy dogs - pets?

A little bit of this...

You know in movies when they show the passage of time they will show a calendar with the days ripping off? Yah...that. That's what this year has felt like. It's late May for heaven's sake!

I swear I just woke up and was January 1st. And as I sit here typing I sure wish I had more to show for the first 5 months of this year, but alas...it is was it is.

So to get you caught up...here's a list.

1. I'm so very happy for my friend The Patron Saint of the Smart Mouths today for she is getting married. She's kissed a lot of frogs to find this gentleman. And while I've never met him and really only know the Patron Saint via blog land (and one meeting in NY several years ago) I can't help but smile for the happiness she's found.

2. Work. Work. and more work. Things were looking up. For an entire week I didn't feel the need to work extra hours. Then I evoked some power by saying a client's name out loud and it must have released ALL the clients. See, I have 32 projects currently. That's a lot, I won't lie. But the reason we can handle that many projects is because a good 20 is all that is usually active. I have 28 active right now and all of them are needy. Throw in a catastrophic mistake or two and you get yourself behind and find yourself working 12 to 14 hours a day. Don't get me wrong, I still love my job, but man...I'm getting tired. Here's just a peak of one day:

This is my dashboard in Wrike...the cool new tool we use to manage ourselves.

3. The Niece and I walked the Color Run last week with some other friends. They all walk WAY faster than I do. Way faster. The next day I was so dang sore...a good sore, but man all I could think of was I shouldn't be that sore from walking. It was a much smaller Color Run than last year. In fact, sponsored by an entirely different group. Still we had a blast and the weather held out for us. Snooki the Orange Duck went with us. She only came out once...for this photo...she's shy.

The Niece and I before the walk.

After. See...we aren't as dirty as last year.

4. Last Sunday was Sunday dinner. I went Mexican this month. I really need to start pulling out more recipes and getting a bit more creative. Work makes me not have the time and I feel like my friends are suffering from the lack of new and different food at Sunday dinner (I really don't feel that bad...). At any rate, I made The MomUnit's enchiladas and tacos. I was craving the enchiladas for several weeks now. Unfortunately my local store doesn't carry the enchilada sauce that makes these out of this world. So I was just meh about them. I'm going to start searching for that enchilada sauce that I like and stock up.

5. Sometime last week as I was closing my computer after 14 hours of work I realized I need a break. I know, Dah, right? But more than that, I need to take myself somewhere and unplug for an entire day. Some place I can just sit and think. Just me and perhaps a journal. I feel like my life is very unfocused right now (well, focused on work) and I miss me. Not sure what or where or when yet, but I'm noodling it around in the noggin.

Until next time...and God only knows when that will be. I'll leave you with this.

A Week in the Life...

By the time Friday came around, I was so very glad to have last week past me. It quickly became one of those weeks where everything  I touched turned to crap. I speaking mostly of work things that is.

It's bound to happen really. When you manage as many projects as I have, you are going to make mistakes. And I can accept mistakes. I can. I cannot, however, except as many mistakes as I happened to unearth last week. In fact, there was a point in time on Friday where I thought about quitting and getting a job at McDoanlds or something.

But the thing about mistakes, they make you stop and pause a moment. I had to consider the process and all the reasons behind these mistakes. Was it all me? Was our process flawed in some way? Did I need to revisit how I manager certain aspects of my job and the resources involved? Once I started digging into it more, I was not the only one responsible for these mistakes. There were other players involved.

Not that I'm one to point fingers, because I'm not. If I want to avoid this feeling moving forward, there are a few adjustments that need to be made and some rather uncomfortable and difficult conversations to have.

And above all, last week is done. No need to linger on the bad.

So instead, I went to the Seattle Sounders game yesterday with the Niece and another friend of mine.

It all started with breakfast at McCoys Firehouse. We couldn't just have breakfast. No we had to start our pregame drinking early. My friend R is a big fan of whisky. He has some favorite that he orders every time we go and every time I drink it I know it's going to warm me to my toes and my lips will be numb in no time.

The Niece had never been to a Soiunders game before so we opted to do the March to the Match. Which is just a bunch of fans (hundreds of fans) meeting in a park near the stadium and with the "crazy" fans walk down the road to the stadium chanting and singing.

The sun was out and it was getting warm. We had fantastic seats. And above all, the Sounders won. Which, by the way, we weren't expecting. So there's that.

Agent Orange came out to watch with us.

And what is it with the National Anthem? I can sit on my couch and sing it without any emotion. But you put me in a crowd of 40,000 people all singing our National Anthem...it gets me all misty eyed.

There you are Jenn

You all know that I've been lost in the world of work in the last 6 months. I was working so many hours I barely had time to do think let alone do anything I wanted to.

And working 50-60 hours a week made me tired. I just didn't want to leave my house...ever.

This last couple of weeks I've rediscovered myself. One evening I was sitting on the couch, didn't have any work to do and really didn't know what to do with myself. It was bizarre.

So I picked up a book and read. It was so refreshing and so nice to do one of my favorite things.

The last two weekends I've not "worked" in that I haven't had to, and only did a few things to make Monday more enjoyable.

So here I am. I'm back.

Now, I just need to get caught up with what my life is all about.

Spring is here in the NW. We've had some beautiful, hot days and we've had some wet, wet days. Typical in the NW. The Niece and I are plotting a couple road trips this year and now we have to just wait for warm weather.

We're also planning a trip to Savannah GA and Atlanta. The girls are walking the 3Day in Atlanta this year. I figured if I'm going to Georgia, then I'm going to Savannah. It's been on my list for a bit thanks to St. Louis SIL. Then discussing with the MomUnit, we've not decided to maybe also go to Charleston, SC. It's only 2 hours away...so heck ya. Let's do it.

The rest of the life is still just too boring to mention.But beware...I'm feeling more like myself these days...so watch out!

Where the hell have I been?

I wish I had a good excuse for why I've not been blogging, but I have none. The only thing that comes to mine is that I'm not doing anything overly interesting and therefore nothing to write about.

And there in lies the issue...

I'm not doing anything.

I had breakfast with Blueberry this morning. She mentioned she feels like we never see each other anymore or do anything together. We steal a breakfast or dinner here or there to get "caught up" but we don't "DO" anything. What happened to us?

I can tell you what happened to me. I stopped being available. I stopped being the planner. I just stopped.

I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't plan it. It just happened. Work became the focus of my life, and I let it. By the time the weekend came around, I just want to sit on my couch and do nothing...or continue to work. It was all consuming.

I need to make changes. I think now that I have a new PM there to help lighten the load, I might be able to get back to living.

Summer is coming and I'd rather not have the summer go by and not have done anything. So here's the plan...I'm going to start putting stuff on the calendar with people. That way, if it's on the calendar, I won't bail. Well, I could bail, but I won't. I want to get back into life.

I'm going to spend a good part of today planning. There are walks I want to go on, place I want to see and people I want to spend time with.

I got a new duck..well several new ducks actually. I am hoping 1) I won't lose them and 2) I'll get out more with the ducks.

Meet:
OD (for odd duck), Snookie, Cheeto, Carrot, Clementine and Agent Orange.

Everything is coming up roses...for a change.

As I sit and write out this blog several things have happened to make it possible.

1. We hired a new PM
I'm so excited. This gal that will be starting is so similar to me and my work ethic and background that it will either bug the shit out of me or make me very happy. When interviewing her, Queen ID and I just adored her. It was more like a chat than an interview. And to me that's a good sign. She starts March 7th and I cannot wait.

2. PM tool purchased
Yep that's right. On Thursday of last week the PM tool, Wrike, that I've been testing, testing, and testing finally got purchased. The roller coaster ride that I was on with this purchase is not one I want to repeat. It did, however, teach me a lot about a certain personality type and how I cannot seem to get along with them or even understand them..the type that cannot make a decision. I admire the person who was in the position of making this decision and do think he's quite smart, but good heavens to make a decision is painful for him. At last, he had an epiphany during a meeting and made the decision.  Now the real work begins. I'm so excited.

3. My Inbox is at zero.
And it's at zero because of the PM tool. I spent a good part of yesterday checking each of my projects and making a plan for each one of them. EVERYTHING is caught up. Now, tomorrow this will all be for naught since all the emails I sent out those people will be responding...

So yes, things are looking up for a change. I'm really excited for this next couple of weeks at work. I'm in the process of writing up Onboarding docs for the new PM and the deployment process for Wrike.

The rest of life is just casually going by. I want to get work in order so that I can get my life back in order. It's gonna happen. I swear it will.