I'm very content sitting here on Sunday night knowing that my alarm will not go off at 6am tomorrow. Yes I am officially on Christmas break! For those moments when I think about leaving the public education school setting, I need to remind myself of this moment (and months June, July, and August) to keep me going in my current work setting. I'm more than delighted with the idea of having no plans for the next 4 days other than to join Regis and Kelly each morning with my coffee and lounge in my pj's unitl noon if I so desire. My week ended on a very good note as I found out that I have been released from jury duty! As soon as I read the e-mail a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders and I truly smiled for the first time since leaving the courtroom 8 days before. I sent an e-mail to the judge spelling out my concerns for the potential of such a huge leave of absence from work and my supervisor also sent an e-mail explaining the potential impact it could have on the district-especially honing in on the financial aspect. I am very thankful for having such an understanding judge on this case and for him to take the time to hear my concerns. What a relief and definitely an early Christmas present! :-)
Tonight I went with a friend to the "Nutcracker Burlesque" holiday show. It took place at my favorite venue in Seattle. We sat and ate delicious Asian food as our eyes took in nothing I have ever seen before. You definitely had to go in with an open mind for this show. I was surprised at the variety of the audience (lots of open minds of all ages). I was anticipating dancing and maybe some acrobatics. The performance included both of those things with very little clothing. The story was that of a Christmas party where the audience were the guests and the show itself was the performers at the party. They had the Sugar Plum fairy and King Rat with some familiar music but it was hard to see where the Nutcracker really fit in. It was unique if nothing else. The real surprise came when we went to the parking garage where our car was parked and found the garage to be closed. Who knew parking garages had closing times? We certainly didn't. We had about 3 minutes of panic before a car pulled up to the garage and the door opened for them. We quickly ran inside as the doors closed behind us. We had little time to be concerned about whether or not we were going to be spending the night in the garage as we found our car and high tailed as quick as possible to the ticket booth. Luck was on our side as we paid the fee and the doors opened for us. What was the lesson tonight? Read the sign before pulling into a parking garage and they will charge you extra if you get locked in!