Total Eclipse of the Moon

Just had to get out tonight to have the opportunity to see the eclipse of the moon which I had been hearing about, mostly on the radio on WYPR (88.1FM), my local NPR station here in Baltimore.

Included are a couple of my (very, very amateur) photos, which SO do not do the lunar eclipse justice, but you get an idea.

And it's a cold night here in Baltimore too - we got our 1-2 inches of snow had been predicted, so the ground was nice and white, though luckily, it didn't stick to the roads. Though that could be different in the morning, depending on the overnight temps, so we'll see what tomorrow's daylight brings.....

Trying to keep busy this weekend....!!

I was seriously considering going on a hike today with the Baltimore Hiking Group of which I'm a member through Meetup.com. But by the time I got my laundry started, coffee/breakfast made and eaten, I just didn't have time to get up to the Gunpowder Falls State Park in time for the 10:30am meetup time, so I decided to take a day trip to Gettysburg, PA instead.

I have only been up there once before, and that was over 10 years ago, back in the Fall of 1997, so I figured I was way overdue a visit again! I had certain memories of my previous visit, which I did with 2 girlfriends at the time, but have since lost all contact with (they were from my Washington, DC days, which seems like such a lifetime ago!), so it was time to make new memories for myself. There were a couple of places that I remembered, which was nice, but even better was the fact that I didn't remember enough places from my last visit, and that I was able to create what seemed like a totally new first-time visit, though old memories of my life back then came seeping back, but that's how life is......

Anyway, I came back to Baltimore hungry, and took home some Chinese, and am now here online watching 60 Minutes on CBS, so it's sooooo not a SuperBowl night for me. I had been invited to a party, but am mentally not up for it, so I'm relaxing at home instead......

Here are some photos from my trip to Gettysburg today...... Must finish up here soon, as I'm pretty beat - the drive up and down to PA, as well as some short walks and hikes while in Gettysburg have taken more out of me than I thought, but hope that'll help me sleep better tonight!

A Little "Me" Time!

Had my first weekend day to myself in a long time, and spent some time doing stuff only I wanted to do!!

Started off by having to bring my car in to have the front left tire checked out. When I got out of work on Thursday evening, I discovered (not straight away, unfortunately!), a fairly flat tire, but was lucky enough to have enough air in it to get to a fairly close gas station on the way home, and fill it up. Noticed by yesterday that it seemed to have had a slow leak, so took it to my "new" local car shop (recommended to me by Knitting friends from Stitch 'n Bitch group - thank you Sarah and Lynn!), where a nail was discovered..... Got it fixed in no time at only $15, to which I was quite relieved, as I was worried about the possibility of having to replace the tire. Due to still paying for my flight home for Christmas, and also the work done to the car right before I left on vacation, I really didn't want another added unexpected expense to add to the list!

Got to have a pleasant walk afterwards at a local park that the boy and I had talked about and make a slight attempt to walk around before (Wyman Park by JHU), but never really did, so today was my day to take that walk!! Seems to be the thing that I do when in times of "trouble".....

Got to my local Panera Bread (a few miles north of where I live) by mid-morning for late breakfast, and from there, I decided to head further north for some hiking (again, it seems to be the thing I do in difficult times!), and so I enjoyed that, and felt so much better for it. I've lucked out in the weather, as temps were rather mild today, with absolutely no rain, unlike yesterday, when it poured out of the heavens like it was going out of fashion!

Then I went window-shopping at a local mall, and managed to bump into a friend, which was always a nice surprise (2nd time that's happened so far this year, and I love it!!). Didn't get to hang out with her for too long (she introduced me to her daughters who were shopping in the store we all were at), as I had bought a movie ticket a half-hour previously, and the movie was starting 10/15 minutes from when I bumped into them, so ended up having a more rushed conversation with them than I would have liked........ But I did get to see "27 Dresses" which I thoroughly enjoyed, as I really needed to see a "girly" movie, and this was the one for me. Two movies at the movie theater in 2 weeks - not at all typical of me, but as it's winter, and the best time of the year to be watching/going to the movies, I figured, why the heck not?!!

Anyhow, got in a little bit of grocery shopping too, so felt good about that, but am now at a point of slowing down, as I'm getting rather sleepy - I did wake up very early this morning (around 6:20am!), but then again, I was falling asleep way too early last night (around 8:30pm - how sad on a Friday night!!). It was largely due to not having slept too well all week, so it finally caught up with me by week's end. I was glad to have finally gotten the sleep I needed, and did feel quite refreshed today, so hence that helped me feel pretty good, at least for the most part anyway!! Weird what some stress will do to you, but such is way of life sometimes.

Gotta take the bad with the good, and how one deals with the stresses/strains one's dealt with is a test of one's character. I have to admit to not being good at with dealing with life's knocks, so it's something I have to work on (along with plenty of other "issues" I feel I have!), as I "could always do better"!!! And with that, I'll say goodnight, as I really am starting to fade...... zzzzz-time is here, so gotta go!!

Rough Week

It's been a pretty rough week, both on the personal front and at work, and so I'm not in the best of sorts at the moment...... I'm hoping things will pan out for me sometime sooner rather that later, but it's hard going through these tough times, especially with what seems like so many negative things going through my head (and heart) right now.

But, as someone at work told me yesterday (and in the best way possible), just to "soldier on", so will do what I can, though at times, I just want to curl up and sleep, and hope it's all gone by the time I wake up. I guess I can keep dreaming.....!!

Oh well, such is life sometimes, and I'll just have to ride this wave out, and see where I land when all is said and done!