and totally redeemed yourself.

Valentine's Week is like a whole week of Black Fridays for massage therapists. It's straight up awful, being so overworked. Today was no exception, and I left work at 7:30 feeling like I could cry. My body just hurts. I've opened up my availability to work even MORE than normal this week, due to the volume we're getting at the spa, and my managers are still asking me to work more and more. When I put my foot down and say that I physically can't, I feel like I am letting them down. Guh.

So that is the setting of my day. A twelve hour kick in the pants.

But then just like that, the last half an hour has made a whole sad day feel fine again :)
I waited and waited for my bus to take me home, and my bus never came. So I opted to take a different one that gets me almost home, except for the last 3/4 mile.

And I walked my walk home, with my headphones on, and felt a surge of love for my ipod as it spun the hits I really needed to hear. It is WEIRD how sometimes your mp3 player just KNOWS what you need to hear. And just the slightest drizzle brought my body temperature back down from a whole day of physical labor.

I saw two super cute dogs in different parked cars who both nuzzled up to the windows, just to be shown a little affection. So cute.

I walked past a huge garage door with an unusual painting on it, and as I stopped to appreciate the artwork, I heard music playing over the music of my ipod. Taking out my headphones, I could hear a semi-decent "garage band" practicing behind the artistic door, and I just stopped and appreciated it all for a bit. They were having a good time.

I continued on, and the Seattle night skyline came into view, along with St. Mark's Cathedral all illuminated on the top of this huge hill in the distance. I have said a hundred times that I want to go hear the monks sing (every Sunday night at 9:30), yet I never have! I renewed my vow to do so, with more determination than ever. (below is st. marks, on the upper left)

and then finally, right before I got to the sidewalk up to our apartment, I walked once again past the photography studio next door to us. Chase Jarvis photography, a place of mystery & awe that Jon and I always wonder at when we walk by. The owner, Chase, is kinda bigtime. They're always having photo shoots there, we stalk his blog and see that he trots all over the world to shoot things and people, last summer he threw a huge block party that shut down our whole street. Dave Matthews made an appearance, and all we could do was stand five feet up on our balcony and wish we had been invited down to ground level. Haha.

As I walked past the studio just a bit ago, I saw the lights were dim, except for Chase himself burning the midnight oil at a huge computer. I decided it was high time I introduce myself, so I walked right up and knocked on the door. (kinda bold, I know. the place was closed and literally gated.) But like Jon & I predicted, Chase is a cool guy! He opened the door, shook my hand, and we shot the breeze for five minutes. I knew from his blog that he just got back from the Sundance festival, so I asked him what Rainn Wilson & Joseph Gordon Levitt are like in person. He said "Joe" is way cooler than Ashton Kutcher. I said Jon and I are huge fans of his work, and I'd love to bring my massage chair over for his employees sometime. It was a fun conversation.

I'm glad circumstances can change so quickly. God knew I needed a break tonight, and he gave me a few in some different forms. Thanks, God.