Surviving

Exactly. As it is currently very, very early morning, and I am currently very, very tired, the only blog title I can conjure is "Surviving", which is exactly what I am doing. My boss, Tyler, has been on vacation since Wednesday. The days prior to his departure were filled with hysteria on both of our parts; from him, with his excitement for his Florida vacation and getting to see his friends, and from me, with my dread and worry about running the department smoothly in his absence. Oh yeah, and the fact that I suddenly had to train a new woman in our department who speaks very little English and has about enough experience in baking and pastry arts as my three-year-old nephew does was also draining my enthusiasm for my job.

Delightfully, Tyler's absence has been little felt in our kitchen (Not that we don't miss him terribly. We do. I do.), and I have somehow managed to keep things running with very few little bumps along the way (literally... Sarah somehow managed to drop a container of ice cream on her face and has a bruise above her left eye... I kindly informed her that she couldn't go blind until Tyler returns on Thursday...). And the new recruit in our department is surprisingly adequate, and speaks better English than I imagined. Severely accented, but understandable. Sarah and I are REALLY earning our two days off this week, though I believe I will be working during one of my days off for the Cakebread Cellars event with chef Phelps Dieck of Brazo/Green Monkey. I have been looking forward to this event since Halloween!

Dreams lately have been scattered and forgettable, save the one dream I remember from my most recent trip to Burlington, in which I dreamed I was happy and content and safe. I dreamed not to expect more than I should, to be happy with what is offered to me, and learn to savor what I'm given. I also dreamed about my roommate Jen's engagement party or wedding reception, not sure which it was. People were dressed up and celebrating, and I was frantically running around trying to find something or someone, feeling very urgent and stressed out and rushed. It was probably just how I've been feeling lately coming out in the form of the wedding plans I've had to listen to every day for the past two months (thanks, Jen!).

Now I am off to dream about the return of my boss, my "two" days off from work, Valentine's Day weekend (menu to be posted at a later date), and a visit from two very special Vermonters before one heads off on another branch of her wonderful journey of life. :-)