September 1

So I just found out two days ago that smoky is only spelled Smokey if you are referring to the fire-prevention bear. I was wondering why my phone kept making it a proper noun, haha! I don’t know why I think it’s so funny that they added an “e” to his name to humanize it – why not just name him Smoky the Bear? (No weed involved in the making of that observation.)

Smokey has come up a lot with some crazy wild fires rolling through the area. The smoke has been thick in the sky with little reprieve for the last two weeks. We’ve been in Tahoe since Friday though, which has been a super welcome change of scenery. I am loving the work from home life, but working, working out, cooking, and sleeping at the same place day in and day out can start to feel repetitive. (I know how lucky I am to even be making that statement, thank you lord for the blessing of having a job and being able to work from home!!) With that said, the ability to come up to the lake is so refreshing, even with working remotely during the week days. Right now my schedule looks something like this:

• 7 – 9 am, make coffee, answer e-mails, first meeting of the day
• 9 – 9:30, walk puck
• 9:30 – 11:30, meetings and work
• 11:30 – 1:00, yoga in the woods out back and lunch
• 1:00 – 4:00, more meetings and work
• 4ish, get ready to go for a hike or swim somewhere and enjoy!

Yesterday we did the hike to Eagle Lake, which is a great hike!! About 3 miles with awesome views and really fun terrain. It’s extra special that we get to be up here during the week. Since it’s such a heavily trafficked trail it’s too crowded to fully enjoy on a weekend, but on a Monday evening it was awesome. On Sunday we checked out Fallen Leaf Lake, which is a regular spot of ours to take a dip with the dog, and prior to that, all the fam was up here Fri, Sat, and Sun morning.

For the end of last week and beginning of this one, I’ve been able to wrap things up around 4:30 and be ready to take off (depending on work level and meetings.) This is the first time this has been the case since I came back from being furloughed. The last two months have really been overwhelming and this is the first week where I’ve felt like I have a normal schedule again. I’m still plenty busy, but not so overwhelmingly busy that it’s feeling out of control. The stress was starting to get to me after 8+ weeks with no end in site, so it’s been a welcome change of pace. I finally feel like I’ve had the time to get caught up on projects rather than constantly playing catch up. That, combined with some fresh mountain air, has really had a positive effect on my mood which has been suffering lately (to say the least.)

The mountains give me such a sense of peace. I have a weekend booked in Yosemite in mid-September which I am SO looking forward to. I’ve never been! T has a conflict now and can’t join, but I think I’m going to go by myself and see if I can learn to embrace solo-travel. Will report back on what I decide!