I'm very tickled to have a hot pink loveseat.

I have so many places in my house that I can nap now!

I had my first new friend brunch today and it was really nice. We sat together and chatted for a couple of hours. We were able to get past surface conversation pretty quickly, which is always a good sign.

It's always hard for me to read the way people respond to me, but I sensed more self consciousness from her than anything.

I hope we'll meet up again. I've been told I can be intimidating (which I really don't understand) when people first meet me, so these days I generally try to let new friends make second invitations. Brunch was my idea, so the ball is in her court.

Socializing this morning was really nice, but man.... it has taken the energy right out of me. I am whipped.

I'm afraid my social battery has atrophied. I'm going to have to exercise that muscle, because I KNOW I need the human contact in a context other than at work.

Each of the ornaments has embroidery elements and seed beads now, and I'm beginning to work on the third (and probably last) element that each will receive before I finish them with edging and ribbon.

These have gone fairly quickly. I have 27 of them so far, and I think I'll be able to complete at least one more batch before my show.

I've been doing this work in my sunroom, because it's pretty portable and I don't need much space. It's nice to be able to work in natural light.

I'm going to a neighborhood pool party in 30 minutes. It's a good thing. I'm joining a community. I'm the guest of honor today, because the party is introducing me to the neighborhood.

But man, my social battery is going to be on RED when it's over.

But the nice thing is I only have to walk across the street when it's over.

I'm always early everywhere I go. It's pathological, honestly. You don't know how hard it is for me to not walk out of my house 15 minutes early to walk across the street.

I'm going to force myself to be fashionably 1 minute late, lol.

That was fun. And short, which I'm grateful for.

Apparently there's going to be more than one pool party. This one was for the "olds", the folks who have been in the neighborhood since it was established in the mid 70s (before I was even born!). The next one, in a couple weeks, will be for the younger folks.

Let me tell you, I got some tea today. This neighborhood is very tightly knit, which I love. There was a time I think I would have found it intrusive, but as a single gal living alone, I love that I have at least 3 people keeping an eye on my house.

I don't recall if I mentioned it, but when I was out of town for work a couple weeks ago I told neighbor across the street that I was going to be gone, and I got a full report when I got back.

I didn't tell him ahead of time that I was going to have someone around to deal with my stumps (a mistake I will not repeat) and he apparently questioned the stump guy about why he was on my property.

It will pay off to make sure I have good relationships with these folks. I plan to host my own gathering in the late fall when I'm a little more settled in my own space.

I'm also glad I took care of some chores that really needed doing this morning, because I sure don't have the energy now.

Lucid dream #3 this month last night. Crazy.