weekend getaway

I have been having a helluva time at work the last few weeks, safe to say my stress level has been skyrocketing. All this means decreased hand-eye coordination (ie. dropping things, lots of thing), poor eating (work 10-12 hours with one quick meal break and then stop for junk food before going home at 8:00 pm) and less time doing things I enjoy. I am seriously looking for another job and not finding anything. I have had some interviews but although I think my experience is somewhat significant, it doesn't exactly qualify me for anything non-restaurant-related. I really, really want to get away from food and low-wage workers and really demanding corporate rules for a while.

Last week I joked that I was going crazy a lot. I'm probably not really, but the stress was really getting to me. Luckily my friends were unknowingly to the rescue, unearthing an old plan to have a weekend away this past. Brilliant idea ladies. First I thought I had to work Saturday, so we were going to hang out in Milwaukee, but stay in a hotel instead of at mine or Jen's house. Then, Mary found this fabulous deal at the swanky Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and I got permission to take Saturday off. We had a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite complete with balcony and lake view (far too cold to enjoy but worth mentioning), whirlpool tub, kitchen and access to a nice pool and hot tub.

Basically, we did nothing all weekend but hang out, eat, read, talk and enjoy the occasional cocktail, but it was perfect. I tried to make all the jittery, stressed-out parts of myself calm down with reading, relaxing and being away. More than ever I have the feeling that I am far too selfish and uncaring of a person to have friends like I have. With all my cynicism, I struggled this weekend to have much good to say about life, even though I would be quite happy save my job, and that's a huge part of my life. Anyway Erin, Mary and Jen listened like always they do.

I spent some time this weekend analyzing why I might be having all these issues. Am I incompetent to do my job without being in a constant state of high-stress, or are there some expectations that the average person cannot live up to at work? I'll have to save that for another post. I have another stress headache after a not terrible but not good day at work. Here's to another week.