Monday

So I am surviving life without children.  For the first day I definitely felt...naked.  There were no little monkeys clinging to me.  I also felt a bit lonely.  As Ree pointed out the other night, we have seven people in our family (dogs included).  And we have an eighth member on the way.  It was weird being (almost) alone in my hotel room the other night.  I did tell the little bambina goodnight, just in case she was listening.  She has been super hyper during most of my training sessions.  I don't know if she is that fascinated by auditing or begging me to find her something more interesting to eavesdrop on. 

The weirdest part of this experience for me was figuring out where to sleep.  I have my own hotel room, and it has two double beds.  For the past four years, I've never traveled alone.  So when I've traveled, one bed has been the changing table and luggage storage rack.  I sleep in the other bed on the side closest to the pack-and-play(s).  It was weird to actually CHOOSE a place to sleep.  The pressure!  I settled for a spot directly in front of the massive flat-screen TV, just in case I got the urge to watch a little late-night TLC.  (My only vice channel they have in the hotel cable lineup.)

In case you are curious as to what I am doing, I am at the annual conference for the Association of College and University Auditors.  No wonder the bambina is bored!  In case you were wondering what a room full of said nerds looks like, here is a picture of us listening to a motivational speaker.  Do we look like we are energized and ready to take on the world or what?  Bonus points if you can find me.  (Hint:  It's not that hard.)

So, um, yeah.  The three of us from my office were some of the last to arrive for this session, so we were stuck sitting in the front.  We were late because we were talking. (For those of you who know me well, I know you are shocked!)  My boss and I got caught by the group photographer gossiping a bit later during the speech.

This group is actually pretty fun.  And like any good group of accountants, they keep the alcohol flowing at social events to ensure all members are, um, fun.  One of these years I am going to remember to not be pregnant or nursing.  One of these years!  Last night we took a dinner cruise along the harbor here in Baltimore.  Here's our lovely vessel.

 

Just kidding.  But I had to throw in a cell phone pic somewhere (the other pics are all from the group photographer and are far too high quality in my opinion).  And wouldn't it be cool to eat dinner on a sailboat like that?  After we took our cruise for our honeymoon, I found out there are actually cruises for small groups on sailboats like that.  I think that would be amazing.  I will also add that to my "Someday, really!" list.

So anyways, this is the ship we were actually on.  

It was a dinner cruise, and we ate dinner and, well, we cruised.  It was fun.  And the alcohol flowed.  I stuck to being the crazy dancing (sober) pregnant girl.  Sorry that there are no photos of that.  But we have a dinner dance tomorrow night.  Plenty of time for someone to capture the madness.