This is why I need to do these closer to the weekend. I've already forgotten what I did Friday night / Saturday morning. I know I did something but I can't remember what it was. :( I'll update if/when I remember.

Saturday Morning (the 26th)
Went to Newark to have brunch with xtingu  and theseitz  at Sinclaire's. Deeelish.

Saturday Night (the 26th)
Headed up to Philly to pick up the lovely Ms.rhiann31  and came back down to see the Spring Standards show in the Arden Gild Hall. The show was fantastic and I really enjoyed the band's stage presence. I loved the way they split a drum kit between them and switched instruments back and forth. It all spoke of the fact that they've been playing together for a long time, they work hard at perfecting things, and they've moved beyond 'doing the math in their heads' and on to just feeling every note like it was the last they would ever play. I think intoxicating might be the appropriate word. Many thanks to xtingu  for putting up the tickets since she would be unable to use them. They were well enjoyed!

A quick note here just to point out (yet again) how in love I am with 'the people of Arden'. There's just such a sense of family there. It's really delightful.

After the show, we headed to the Marsh Road Diner to meet up with shellefly  and get our munch on. I lovelovelove that they are open 24 hours now. It's a quiet and tasty alternative to the Golden Monkey. Something I really wanted.

After the diner, I took rhiann31  back to Philly, came home, and crrrrashed. It was ~4:30am and I had plans at 10am.

Sunday (The 27th)
Up at ~9am (ouch) to meet up with burningkirby , LeeSansLJ, and spandox_reader  to go to a Pancakes for Paws brunch. The breakfast was meh, but it was for a good cause and the company was (as always) rockin.

After brunch, I headed over to xtingu's in order to do some more map work for NMP's upcoming publication The Dead Queen's of Morvena. This is my first go at map-making (I feel a little weird calling it cartography since it's of places that don't really exist) and I had no idea how much is involved. I'm certain that it would be much faster if I was creating my own maps of my own locations (places I had created) but trying to take what someone else wrote and develop a map seems a bit like what archaeologists must face when uncovering ancient civilizations based on cave paintings. Fortunately, some of my NMP brethren are really going above and beyond to help me with research and filling in the gaps. This makes it possible for me to stop by xtingu's place, use my computer to just draw/create and then jet. The last thing I want right now is to seem even slightly 'under foot'. She's been very gracious and I do NOT want to abuse that or even be perceived as abusing it.

After the map work, I headed back to 1100 to tidy up and do laundry etc in prep for lotusanddragon 's return. Then bed.

Monday (The 28th)
Boring work day. In so much as any Monday is a boring day.

lotusanddragon  got home tonight, and I handed his place back to him like it was a baton in a relay race. We spent the evening getting caught up on his myriad adventures over the last month as well as more than a few of my own.

Tuesday (The 29th)
Yeah. Crazy day at the office. Kinda fun to be doing something different / unusual though.

ETA: Saturday Morning.

 Why is it that every time someone asks me to do illustration work for them they feel the need to insist "It should be something easy for you." or "I'm sure you can whip that out in no time."

If it's so easy, then why aren't you doing it yourself and saving the money?

Because it's not. That's why you're hiring me.

I'm envisioning people greeting their surgeon with "Oh - it shouldn't be any big deal for you - you've done all that schooling, worked hard, and got some experience under your belt. You should be able to rip out my appendix in seconds! So let's say you give me a discount huh?"

/end grumbleBitchMoan