In all, a good day

Yesterday was a long-ass day. I was on an Amtrak train at 7:00 AM, heading down for a client presentation. I was nervous -- red spot is now a mere irritation, but it's still there right in the middle of my lip. I hate the thought of my intimate little audience fixating on "the bouncing ball" while I spoke. My partner in the presentation was The Chocolate-Covered Spider and while she and I are getting along better, I still worry that she focuses on my mistakes instead of my successes.

The train left and arrived on time, giving me some time before the meeting to shop. There's a massive mall not too far from the client's office, and the Goodwill Sale is going on. I turned three sweaters into a new watch, a new umbrella and some Clinique undereye cream!

Then I had lunch with the Spider. It wasn't bad. She was a good influence on me and I had salad. I was cognizant of the fact that I was squeezed into the biggest dress slacks I own.

The presentation took just under an hour and it went well. Our client was way more interested in moving the needle and trying something new than I expected.

So now it was 2:30, and my train home wasn't till nearly 6:00. I was more willing to wait for Amtrak than to hang around and catch a ride back with the Spider. 2.5-3 hours in the car with her as she deals with rush hour traffic seemed an unnecessary test of our detente. Instead I sneaked away to the tiny coffee shop in the basement of our clients' offices and wrote a letter to my cousin Rosemary. Then I went to a lovely little local salon and had a massage ($60 -- including tip -- for 45 minutes, not bad), grabbed a sandwich at Subway and headed back to Chicagoland on Amtrak.

Glad I did it all.