advance!

Last week was spent exerting all of my efforts on 3 main tasks: help my boss get through the first week of classes; write a departmental financial report for my boss's boss; and prepare for the Intern Retreat, for which we were departing on Friday afternoon. Every single day was exhausting. I came home from work each evening feeling like my brain was numb and about to implode. It was just plain stressful.

Friday morning finally came and the intern who was officially "running" the retreat, Laura, my awesome student worker Brandon, and I set off for groceries. After 2 grocery stores, we had all the food we needed, and were under budget (yay!). We picked up another intern and my husband, and headed to Sister, OR. The weather was clear and crisp, so the pass was particularly beautiful as we drove through it. We only got a little bit lost, but the rest of the group left a couple hours later than we did, so we were far enough ahead of them to text corrected directions when we finally found our way.

The cabin was large and well-stocked with everything we needed, and was very close to the main part of Sisters, which is a small resort town. We had large meals together, the families had their own bedrooms, and the rest of us crashed wherever we could. We had breakfast, devotions, a morning teaching session, lunch, free time, dinner, and an evening session each day. Luckily, I didn't have to run everything, so most of the schedule was as optional for me as it was for the kids! Unfortunately, there was nowhere to "get away" from the group in the cabin, since it was all one large space.

I ended up not getting much sleep, even after procuring some earplugs from the grocery store on the 2nd day. Even with the freedom to not always participate, it wasn't very restful at all! The only good restful time Paul and I had was going to the local coffeehouse with the interns who wanted to study. Ahhh...sinking into a big leather couch with a soy chai latte and a good book...it doesn't get much better.

Yesterday morning, the last day, I woke up with an awful sinus headache and the return of my sore throat (which I've been battling for a couple of weeks). I really don't want to get a sinus infection, so I stayed home today. Gah, my head!