Beautiful Brides

June of course is the ever popular month for weddings. This June brought me two to attend. The first was a lovely Friday wedding with a Catholic ceremony. I do often feel like I will break into hives upon entering a Catholic church and this was no exception. Luckily once the ceremony was done, the reception was lovely.

The second wedding was an utterly delightful one. I am not often weepy at weddings but I have to say this one did. Watching the brides walking down the aisle (yes it was two brides, no groom) just choked me up. Of course I did not have tissues but it was ok. They looked so beautiful and happy. It was delightful to see. And the ceremony and vows were all about equality, friendship, love, support, respect and all the things that sometimes get lost in the Catholic marriage ceremony. Of course you add to it the fact that they could only get married in 6 states and the fact that our Federal Government will clobber them on the tax front and it was nice to see that since they love each other, they got married. This wedding also had the sweetest speech ever given in the history of brothers to their sisters. Or the history of a wedding frankly.

The reception was so very much fun. The mix of guests, the food and the entertainment was all wonderful. What entertainment you may ask? A drag queen of course :-)

She was fabulous in her brightly colored attire that brought to mind a tropical bird of some sort. She made sure to include a Cyndi Lauper song for the brides and entertained the hell out of the rest of us. There were the requisite fiercely blushing hetero guys who did not quite know what to make of her attention but it was so much fun. And talk about an ice breaker. Once the show was done, the dance floor was packed with guests, brides and one sure to be exhausted flower girl :-)

You Don't Like Me? Well I Don't Like You.

Of course I have been flat out busy at work getting ready for this week and the kickoff training for the rather important database relaunch at work. Have my efforts and nights of work been appreciate? Not even close.

Late Tuesday night and an acceptance for a meeting in July sent by my boss's boss (Mr. X we shall call him) set off a chain of emails that at best bordered on irrational and worst straight harassment. I was extremely surprised and did my best to remain rational and calm in my responses while his just kept ratcheting up in how irrational and off base they were. I certainly did not appreciate being in the airport waiting to head out for the training and getting these emails on my BB. I finally involved my boss and resolved to deal with it when I returned.

Friday approaches and with it the meeting with my boss to discuss the nasty situation. Per usual, my boss was 5 minutes late and when he walked in the room he promptly looked at the clock and announced he has another meeting to go to and our meeting should not take long. Great thanks for squeezing me into your busy day.

He started the meeting by telling me what a good job I had done with the training. Then he launched into Mr. X's irrational behavior. My boss said it had to be uncomfortable for me to be under the microscope like I have been and how unpleasant the situation was. I agreed. Then what he said next just stunned me. He told me that Mr. X did not like me and had a "negative perception" of me and I needed to work on changing that. Um, ok. Wait, what? Doesn't like me? Are we in high school?

So there was no example or instance where this could have started and I, in fact, have no idea why this man does not like me. I don't like him so we're on the same page. That does not give him the right to make my life at work a living hell however. I am still livid and certainly not looking forward to heading to work on Monday. It is a great spur to get my resume up to date however. You just never know, and though I was never a Boy Scout, I find it best to be prepared.

Far Too Exciting

This weekend has been very busy (when aren't mine busy is probably a better point to make). A wedding on Friday, the weekend of graduations and parties and all kinds of other fun events that kept me out of the house.

Which was good because my current vacuum has been slowly dying. It sucks, and not in the good way for someone living with pets. Lately vacuuming has consisted of me running the vacuum over a clump of fur on the carpet. Again. And one more time. Finally I would reach down and just pick it up. Not very effective.

So after extensive research and a trip looming (I always clean my house before I travel. It's always nice to come home to a clean house) I finally joined the cult of Dyson. I went with the Dyson D25 Animal. I did balk a bit at the price tag, but given I need a new vacuum every 2 years it seemed worth it.

When I finally had a few minutes at home, I unpacked and assembled it. It was very easy and well designed. I do appreciate well designed packaging and products. I was excited to try it out but ran into an odd problem. It was so pretty and had new vacuum smell that I did not want to get it dirty! I was finally able to overcome that and let me tell you, what a difference. It's so maneuverable and the fur it sucked up was amazing. And the best benefit for the cats, other than the fun, big box it came in, was that it's not as loud and my previous vacuum. So no panicked felines running away. Now I have a clean house and relaxed cats. What more could I ask for in a weekend really.

Petals Falling Like Snow

It has been a week of chaos (yes I am aware it's only Wednesday evening). I am so busy at work I cannot even see an end in sight or a possible way to get everything done without cloning myself. Add to that some family issues and friend drama and, well, it's not made me a happy girl.

I get restless when I spend so much time in front of the computer, cell phone and blackberry and though I had to work again tonight, I needed to get out and away from it all. It was while taking a walk that I rounded the corner and my neighbor's wonderfully scented, white blossomed covered tree caught a breeze. I was suddenly caught in a downpour of white, tear shaped petals that reminded me of snow. It was so pretty that I just stood for a moment and absorbed the scene. Much like yoga, it was enough to get me centered and calm for a moment.

The moment did not last as I got back home. I have two trainings to do tomorrow and the first one is going to be really difficult. The group is wrestling with the complexity of what they will use the database for and I am plotting how best to convey that in clear, concise terms to them. I've got some ideas so we'll see. I was lucky to be able to bounce them off a friend, who in exchange for being my sounding board, was able to elicit a few laughs as he vented about his rather interesting day.