Three on Thrusday (on Friday)

1. As expected October so far has been a VERY busy work month. Between the beginning stages of 2011 Operating Plan, preliminary 2010 audit work, Q3 close, and the usual bombardment of daily work, I've also voluntarily taken the AP check run process off one of my coworkers plates to try to document and improve the process. Needless to say my hours at work have been insane and included a few full weekend workdays. So you can imagine how delighted I was when our lead auditor Jenn, decided to join me for Margarita happy hour (on the company's dime no less!) on Friday night. She's a great amount of fun (in an empathetic nerdy accounting way); I hope we're able to remain friends after she leaves auditing to pursue her career in industry. I don't have a lot of friends who enjoy talking accounting over drinks... :)

2. Newest addition to the yard: "MJ' - another Winterking Hawthorn to keep "Elvis" company. We received a certificate from the Town of Erie for a tree discount (50% of tree cost up to $125), so we casually waited until the annual fall tree sale at The Tree Farm in Longmont. MJ retails at $370 and we walked out the door at $101 taxes included! Laura was kind enough to lend her truck to us to bring the big boy home, but we didnt realize how heavy he really was!! Sam grabbed the neighbor to help lift the tree out of the truckbed, but getting it down the side yard in a severely broken down wheelbarrow was frightening. MJ will be winterized but not planted until next spring as part of the second water feature design project - woohoo!

3. In light of the crazy work schedule, I insisted on a few comp days at the end of the month to regain sanity and rebuild 'the fuse'. It's been tough trying to make those comp days fit into the schedule, but I believe I succeeded today (despite the fact that I now need to work over the weekend to be prepared for a meeting on Monday) maybe next year will be different. For today's relaxation/rejuvination agenda, I will be meeting my good friend Laura downtown for a spa day... complete with anti-aging facials, swedish massages, hydrating body wraps, and floatation. What is 'floatation' you may ask? I did the same. I found this spa online listed as one of Denver's top 5 spas, and when researching their website learned about floatation (big selling point as they are the only floatation location in Denver). The general idea is this... you lay in a dark pod filled with 10 inches of dense salt water and calm music and let the world move at a fast pace without you. Both of the women at the spa told me that it is equivalent to 7 hours of sleep for you body - which is a great thing since I don't seem to be getting that in my bed at night. I'm anxious to see if the fuss holds any water (pun intended). I expect to come out 10 years younger and ready to take on the world!

< The pleasures and perks of the modern float tank are based on a revolutionary scientific approach to deep relaxation called Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique or R.E.S.T. for short, first developed back in 1954 by researchers at the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) in Washington.