Hi there. It's me. Yes, I know it's been a while. No, I don't have very good reasons for being away. I'm just busy. And tired. I feel like I'm drowning in busy and tired. I need a vacation from life. How have you been?

Here's a brief overview of why I'm drowning in busy and tired:

Work--this is by far my biggest stressor right now. I am not very happy with it at the moment. I've made a couple of stupid mistakes in the past year (which is NORMAL for a green attorney) and yet I feel like I'm being "talked to" over and over again about them. I get it. I screwed up. I will probably screw up again, although I'm trying not to. I'm learning. I will continue to learn. Please let it go.

Christmas--oy vey. In years past, I am a stellar Christmas shopper. I get it done early, have the presents wrapped and under the tree in record time and relax and enjoy the season for the remainder of the month. This year, I seem to have lost my mind. I have yet to buy one gift. I have yet to even figure out what to get people. I have no money, which leads one to try to get creative so as not to give a gift that sucks, but creativity takes time and energy and brain cells, none of which I have right now. I love Christmas, but this year I think it's trying to kill me.

Wedding planning--this is also a stressor but I consider this a blessing too. I am blessed that I am given the opportunity to plan a wedding, but I am stressed because I'm trying to plan an affordable wedding. I am mostly stressed about finding a venue. I would like to start looking at places but Lobster and I are out of town pretty much every weekend until the middle of January. And some places only give tours during the weekday. To those places, I have one question: are you NUTS? Who (besides the independently wealthy, which I've previously established I am not) can afford to take several days off of work just to go look at a possible venue for their wedding? And then you want me to pay you how much? Uh-huh. You are nuts. NUTS.

Money--um, yeah. I don't have any. 'Nuff said.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a little beat down. Lobster is wonderful for me, though, because I get to come home to him every night and he hugs me and all my stress just melts away. I guess that's what Lobster's are for.

Are you feeling stressed too this holiday season?