Five Things Friday Vol. 129

we voted

I finally dropped off our ballots for the California gubernatorial primary today at the drop-off box at the local library. My vote was not an easy decision, but after talking to a few people about it, doing some more research, and also texting with Julie (because I know she’s really involved in the political process and I was curious how she felt about the long list of candidates), I finally made a decision. Now I am curious which two candidates will make it to the general election in November.

HUMMINGBIRD FRIENDs

We have hummingbirds again! When I cleaned up our patio to put up my new hammock two weeks ago, I came across my hummingbird feeder. It had brought me so much joy in our old backyard behind the duplex, and I don’t know why I hadn’t hung it up yet.

Maybe because I thought that our new backyard situation is not quite as appealing to birds because we don’t have a lot of plants except for our neighbors’ bushes (and I haven’t seen many birds around, other than the mourning doves that build their nests under the window awnings). I still decided to get the hummingbird feeder cleaned and filled, and hung it up on the patio. For five days, I didn’t see a single hummingbird and was sadly considering that we might not get any in our yard. But then last weekend, when I was enjoying my hammock, I heard the familiar humming sound and caught a flutter out of the corner of my eye. And sure enough, we finally had our first hummingbird visit. I’ve seen a couple more since then, and I do hope they’ll spread the word to their hummingbird friends. It’s so fun to have them around!

NICOLE’s Book

I finished Nicole‘s book. I started it in March and then took an unintentional break from reading, which happens when I am just too preoccupied with other things. I mentioned before, I know a lot of people read to relax, I need to be relaxed to read sometimes. Long story short: I took all afternoon today and finally finished the book, and I really, really enjoyed it. [Nicole, you’re such a good writer!] I was particularly thrilled that my name (and my dad’s name, which is Peter!) popped up towards the end of the book (they were mentioned as “two regular yoga students” at the main character’s yoga studio). I am sure Nicole chose names randomly for her book, but it was fun to see my own name pop up.

a trial RUN

Next week, I’ll be trying out a 5-day work week. As you might remember, I’ve been working a 4/10 schedule (10-hour days, Monday through Thursday) forever, and I have previously said that I would never, ever give up that schedule again, if I can help it. And I don’t think I (permanently) will because I don’t believe that it’s been causing me a lot of unnecessary stress. However, Jon suggested that I might want to try out if shorter workdays – and a little more time in the mornings and evenings during the summer months – might be a nice change of pace. I will admit that 10-hour days are pretty long if you factor in commute time, and there’s usually not much time for much else during my work week. Luckily, I have a “maxiflex schedule” (one of the last perks we have left), which means I can pretty much decide from week to week if I want to work standard 8-hour days or the longer 10-hour days. So, we’ll see how that goes.

20

Finally, Jon and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this week. I cannot wrap my head around this. 20 years is a long time. It feels like a long time, but it’s also like we „blinked“ and here we are,  20 years later. It’s quite surreal. But of course, it’s something to celebrate! Jon took me out for a fun (and delicious!) Sushi dinner, and I got us tickets for an MLB Red Sox game (we’re both Red Sox Fans). The Red Sox will play the Oakland Athletics here in Sacramento later this summer, and of course, we’ll have to take advantage! Since they’re an American League East Division team, we don’t get the opportunity to see them play very often.