Yeah, I'm still here

I absolutely had no intention of abandoning my blog for so long. I knew there'd be some off weeks last month with everything on my plate. But then I looked up and it had been nearly six weeks since my last blog post.

Here's what I've been up to:

Taking care of a sick, elderly cat.

Cleo, my 16-year-old calico companion, gave us quite a scare in May. It seemed like she just suddenly started acting really strange. In reality, I just missed some signs that she wasn't feeling right. Long story short, her creatinine levels were dangerously high (4.2 ... when the normal range ends at 2.4), which means her kidneys are failing. Her liver enzymes were also high at that time and she had a few other elevated numbers. I thought for sure we'd be saying goodbye to her within days. But here we are almost two months later, giving her daily fluid treatments through an IV, and she's as sassy as ever. This treatment isn't cheap nor is it convenient, but she is my baby, and I will keep going with it until I feel like she's just miserable. Hopefully that's not for a while yet.

Getting married.

 Sean and I got hitched on June 9. There were some hiccups but overall, it was a great day. I'll write a more lengthy post when I have more photos (and maybe some video) to share because I really want to show off all the details that were very important to me.

Surviving another arts festival.

I celebrated my fifth year as an on-site office manager for the Des Moines Arts Festival. I'm the only one who's stayed in that role during that time. It's a strange job, for sure. And a bit mind-numbing and lonely at times. But I love it and I look forward to the festival every year.

Enjoying some indoor football.

The Iowa Barnstormers have had a magnificent season. They will be hosting and competing in the league championship this weekend. And I'll be there.

Seeing "Hamilton."

It feels like forever ago when Des Moines Performing Arts announced that this phenomenal show would be breezing through our city. And by breezing, I mean putting on 23 shows in 19 days. I feel very fortunate to live in a city with such a great theatre culture, and I was so excited to see "Hamilton." It exceeded my expectations, which I hadn't thought possible. I've been listening to the music for a long time, but I have a whole new appreciation and understanding for the various numbers.

So ... that's a quick catch-up with me. I'll try not to disappear for six weeks again, but I can't make any hard promises.