#2914 I skipped September

Well...I knew it had been awhile since I wrote here, but I didn't realize the last post was on Sept 1. Where did the month go? It felt kinda long. It was full of work, concerts, long days and short nights, and constant thoughts of the looming trip to Italy. For tonight, though, let's just stick to three things:

1. The end of the volunteer season. I finished my final volunteer assignment of the season last Sunday, the 29th. I did the docent gig, then I recorded blooms. I don't usually do both on the same day, but things had piled up and it just worked out that way. It was a nice day, a little warm, but the colors were beautiful and I was happy to be doing what I was doing. I finished up my concert schedule with the last show of the season on Tuesday September 24, a show by Rodrigo y Gabriela. I worked the first show of the season (Burning Spear in May) and the last show, plus 11 in between, so 13 shows out of 30 (or was it 31?) Anyway, it was a good summer full of live music, and good times at Red Butte Garden. I gave the Garden 132 hours this summer. I feel good about every one of those hours. I truly love that place.

2. Prepping for Italy. The trip to Italy has been on my calendar for about a year, I think, and now here we are, just 10 days away from leaving. SQUEE!!! I have a list of things I need to take like art supplies, my journal, a book to read, and an umbrella, among other things. I have a list of clothes I want to take, too. This weekend I will be trying on the clothes to make sure they are how I want to represent myself while I'm on vacation. Not only that, but I am planning to keep not only my clothing but all the other stuff to a minimum. I pack around a lot of detritus, so I'm trying to be very mindful of that habit as I prepare for this trip. 

3. Why don't I do that here? A couple of Fridays ago, I wore a concert t-shirt to work. I got it at the Lukas Nelson show. I like the color of the shirt, sort of a mustard yellow, and I liked the graphics: a pair of cacti on either side of a skeleton head wearing a cowboy hat and smoking a cigarette. Except, when I got home and was really looking at the shirt, it didn't appear to be a cigarette, but a joint. I wore a shirt with a skull smoking a joint to the office. No one said anything, but I was annoyed with myself. That is not how I want to represent myself at work. I am fine wearing that Lukas Nelson shirt around the house (it's really soft!), but not out and about. When I'm feeling lazy, a simple white t-shirt, jeans, and a jacket of some sort will always be better than a shirt showing a skull smoking a joint. The thought that I take more care about what I wear on a vacation among people I probably won't see again and what I wear to work among people I see multiple times a week upset me. Clearly, it's been at least two weeks and I'm still obsessing about it! I can do better to look put together. Maybe part of it is that I have so many clothes that I get lazy instead of being thoughtful about what I'm wearing. Hmmm...

Happy October! Happy Q4! Go Padres!