Holiday Party 2013 and Saturday Recovery

Last night was our work holiday party, and I’ve spent today recovering. It was a lot of fun. I let loose and decompressed after a stressful week, so I needed today to rest and recuperate.

When the work day ended, I took Jon to the game store. I’ve dragged him with me to parties in the past, but I let him out of it this year. I knew I’d want to dance and socialize, and I didn’t want him to be bored and awkward, so I flew solo for the evening. My first stop was to get ready at my friend and co-worker’s house. My outfit wasn’t overly dressy, but it was different from what I’d worn during the day, and I actually put on some light makeup.

We had a couple glasses of wine before heading to the Hilton Garden Inn for pre-party cocktails. We mingled and visited with people while we waited for them to open the doors to the party room. Everyone was given two free drink tickets, so I had another glass of wine. When they finally opened the doors, we grabbed a table with all the report coordinators a friend from the business office. They started the lines for dinner shortly after that, and our table was in the second group called.

Delicious!
Delicious!

Speeches and a company update from our president followed dinner, and those were followed by more drinking and some dancing. I don’t drink often, but I definitely enjoyed some wine and beer last night. It was made easy by the bottles of wine they put on our tables. I’m also not a smoker, but I used to be, and when I drink I still have a tendency to join my fellow smokers for a cigarette. Luckily, I don’t seem to develop an addiction, and it will likely be several months before I smoke again, but when taken in the context for a party, I love me a cigarette. I didn’t think it was that cold outside, and the view from the hotel was very festive.

Going to walk through these lights next weekend.
Going to walk through these lights next weekend.

True to my plan, I spent much of the night dancing, taking rest and water breaks as needed, but definitely holding my own on the “shake a tailfeather” front. It was so much fun! I love dancing, I just never get a chance to do it. This year, the music was good, and though there wasn’t a huge group of people on the dance floor, the group that was there was a good one.

Jon got a ride to the party as it was closing up. The festivities ended close to midnight, and after making sure my friends got home okay, we made the drive to Wamego. The weather had forecasted some nasty weather, but it never hit us, so our drive home was easy going. I fell asleep shortly after we got home and slept in this morning.

When I finally did get up, I showered and had some Gatorade and a Luna  bar for breakfast. As I’d expected, I was sore, so I spent most of the day chilling in my chair and working on knitting projects and solving mystery cache puzzles. However, the sunny skies outside eventually got the best of me, and Jon and I went out for an early evening walk before the sun went down. Because I was still hurting, I considered this a little bit of active recovery to get my muscles and joints moving. We walked several blocks, including a trek downtown where we stopped and had an early dinner at Barleycorns.

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Grilled turkey panini and baja chicken soup

On the way back home, we stopped to get drinks and snacks for the evening, then came home to rest some more. It was a pretty leisurely stroll, and I think the only reason I was hurting when I got home was because I’d been hurting anyway. That dancing, man…my hips and lower back are probably going to need another day to right themselves again.

I talked to my mom tonight and got some information for a little writing project I’m going to do for her. I’ve been playing some cheesy Christmas movies, but I’ve been hanging out on the internet for the most part. I’m going to lay down early tonight and get some reading time in before calling it a day. I hope the weather is good tomorrow. I want to find some caches and hit the gym before gaming, and the plan is to go grocery shopping tomorrow night as well.

Now, it’s time to pop some more ibuprofen. Cheers!

A.

Not Like the Old Days

Happy Friday Eve!

The first highlight of the day was that I finally went to the chiropractor. I could hardly walk this morning, so I pretty much had to if I wanted to get from points A to B. He was able to see me early, which meant a super early lunch break. Somehow, the day still went by fast.

The adjustment was painful, but he loosened up both my hip and my sore shoulder. It’ll take the inflammation a day or so to heal, but I’m already walking better. I did have a hard time getting up the stairs, but walking on flat ground is almost completely painless. I’m optimistic that things will improve over the next couple days.

This means a couple days of rest, which kind of drives me nuts. Luckily, I don’t have to be completely immobile. I can and should walk to make sure everything sets back correctly. I could probably do the gym too, since my regular machine is non-weight bearing, but it uses my arms. I feel my shoulder should get a rest too.

What I want to do is more zombie missions with the jogging, but I need to avoid that too, at least until I’m pain free, and then I’ll have to watch it to make sure that doesn’t jar everything out of whack again.
Just have to remember to take baby steps.

Second highlight was a night in with friends, delicious food, and wine. I forget how much I enjoy wine because I rarely have it.

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Tonight’s treat was a cupcake moscato that I loved. I’m definitely a fan of the sweet wines, though I’m lacking in my wine knowledge. I tend to stumble upon good wines on accident. One of my goals before we move is to visit our local winery for some tastings.

Age and lack of practice have turned me into a lightweight when it comes to drinking. After two glasses, I was already tired. I wasn’t drunk or buzzed, but I could have taken a nap. While we drank, we talked about holiday parties and about having a good time, aka getting drunk and letting loose. In theory, it would be a blast. In reality, I doubt if I’m destined for anymore drunken nights.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be wine and dancing. There just won’t be any replays of some of my wilder college nights.

Tomorrow night is gaming, then Saturday is open for whatever strikes our fancy. We’ll probably go geocaching. I’d like to get some more fall pictures and possibly hit 200 before our St. Louis trip. It could definitely happen.

Onward to Friday, friends!

A.