I feel like I can't even really remember anything past last Friday. What was the date? Where was I? Did I do anything with my days/nights? The days have been blending together and I don't like it. Other than work Monday through Friday, I don't have much stability in my life. So that's the goal of next week: create a routine. And freakin' stick with it.
This will include the gym. And will absolutely include a better diet. And I seriously need to stick with it. I've been so tired and grumpy and have just felt so sluggish. I miss the two- to three-hour work outs. The discovery of my jeans becoming too big even after they've gone through the dryer. The ability to think clearly. My body has been betraying me in recent weeks and it's time I start fighting back. I haven't cancelled out all the progress I made last year (give or take 5 pounds, depending on the day), but I certainly haven't lost any weight on top of that. And I'm sitting here, on my couch, feeling like crap (specifically about today), and paying for a gym membership I'm not using.
To kick off my "official" return to fitness, Matt and I have registered to walk in (I'd never be able to run) a 5k in support of breast cancer research. This walk will be so much more than health-related, actually. Awesome that we're donating money, and it's great that I'm going to try to use it to kick-start my own personal battle (against my growing waist), but it's also the first time Matt's going to meet someone from the office! My friend, Julie, messaged me Tuesday night after the office draft (she and I are two of four girls that were selected to participate) and asked me if we'd be interested in walking with her and a few of her friends. I immediately knew I wanted to, but I asked Matt when he got home and he was all for it. So at 9 a.m. Sunday morning, we'll be signing in and at 9:30, I believe we start walking. In addition to meeting Julie, Matt will also get an up-close-and-personal view of Central Park. We've briefly walked through a bit of it before, but we'll get to see more this way. We should be done with plenty of time to spare, so we can come back here and relax before he has to go to work. Should be a good day.
Next weekend I may try to work some overtime. Not necessarily for the money, but because of developments made today. So far, I have 16 books for the Spring 2013 season. This means that I'll be managing the production of a handful of reprints (cover design, catalog copy, back cover copy, scanning, light editing) and all that plus heavy edits of new books including a BDSM book (written by a local elf—check this out), a novel about a basketball coach, an encyclopedia about sports parenting, and a healthy cookbook. I will touch every single page of these books, and I couldn't be happier. Though I could do without the elf bondage, which will surely make me super uncomfortable. However, she's well known. And this could be good for sales. And has the potential to be thoroughly entertaining.
I may even be acquiring a few new books, depending on how my editorial meeting tomorrow works out. I'm meeting with the director to go over the writing book I pitched a little while ago, plus a memoir and a novel I found in the submissions inbox last week. I've written reports, done my research, and hopefully at least one of these (would love if all three!) will be approved. That'd be my third big meeting of a very short week.
On Wednesday, I met with the woman who wanted to gut and totally rewrite a memoir we published in 2010. My associate publisher managed to convince her that the book was just fine and we agreed to change the cover and include a few new chapters, which will be way easier than basically rewriting the entire book. The author is... very loud. Has a very strong personality. She intimidates me. But it's worth the challenge.
Today—before I left the office to work from home with a brutal stomachache that has since calmed itself—I met with the author of the basketball novel. All the contracts are signed and everything's good to go. Problem is, we're going to try to get it out at the very start of the Spring season. So we want the book in the warehouse by February, which means to press in January and to production in December. Which doesn't give us a whole lot of time to work on it (considering it does need some work [show, don't tell]). But, again, it's indicative of most books in the industry today, as in... it's rushed. So I may pick up a few hours on the weekends to try to punch out some editing (and get paid for it) in an empty office sans distractions.
It's really crazy to think of everything I'm doing right now. And I've only been on staff, officially, two months and some days. Meeting with authors, pitching proposals, editing entire manuscripts (unsupervised). The pay's not great, but... I'm kind of at the point where I can just shrug and accept it for now. I'm doing everything I ever wanted to do and I'm only 24 years old.
Now, if I can only get Matt to where I am... While his job was great to start, he's starting to realize that it's not everything he wanted it to be. The management isn't what he wants; he works six days a week because the chef fires people left and right. There is no second chance; you're just gone. And Matt's sick of being attached to something that's open (and serving some type of burger) 365 days a year. In a more upscale restaurant, not only will burgers not be an option, but he'll also get some pretty important days off. Thanksgiving, Christmas... Probably not New Years. Maybe even a certain day of the week. Alinea in Chicago (his dream restaurant) is closed on Monday and Tuesdays (I think) and from mid-December to mid-January because the chef believes holidays should be spent with family. How awesome would that be? There are places like Alinea in New York. And I think the past few weeks have convinced Matt to start looking. He wants to update his resume this weekend. I'm all for it and am willing to help in any way I can.
While Matt is somewhat unhappy with DBK, my parents and I really enjoyed dining there this past Sunday. After touring some popular areas of Manhattan (Battery Park, the World Trade Center, Union Square, and Central Park) and then dining at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill on Saturday night with everyone (Kerri and Nick included), my parents and I took a more relaxed approach to Sunday. We went to brunch, saw the GW Bridge, watched a movie, and then went to Times Square. I showed them my office, Madison Square Garden, and the Empire State Building, and then we went to dinner at Matt's restaurant. Just before dessert, I asked the waiter to send a message back to Matt. Just a simple hello. The waiter had other ideas, though. He brought me back into the kitchen to personally deliver my message and Matt just about flipped out. He asked me to leave, told me he was busy and embarrassed, but the other chefs all shook my hand (and apparently yelled at him for being such an ass to me!). The next thing I know, our table is flooded with desserts. The head pastry chef (who has been on Top Chef Desserts—see him here) even personally delivered a blueberry chocolate cheesecake type dish that wasn't even on the menu yet. He said it'd be debuting later that week and wanted to know what we thought of it. (It was delicious.) After that, another chef brought out this cute little play on dippy eggs made of white chocolate, rice puffs, and a sugared passion fruit jelly. It was even presented on a tiny cast iron stove. When we were leaving the waiter thanked us and said, "Next time mention you know the chef sooner. You'll get like, four free courses!" Will have to remember that. ;)
It was nice to see my family this weekend, even if most of the weekend didn't go as planned. It's difficult to shove six people in a space that two normally share, especially when it's 90° outside. But I think it went as well as it could and I enjoyed spending the day with my parents, talking and just catching up. It was a nice way to end the summer. Not sure who will be visiting next, but the more people come out, the more we'll get used to having and treating company. We may try to go home before the end of September, since both of us want to go to the Bloomsburg Fair. But I'm not sure if that'll work out since Matt rarely gets weekends off. But we'll see.
I can't really think of anything else. Pics of dessert and the weekend are on my FB. I think it's almost time for dinner. Have to see what my stomach can handle. Hopefully it can take one of my mom's homemade stuffed peppers!
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