Early Sunday Morning Coffee Time

6 a.m. Sunday morning.

Yes, I'm up. No, I've not been up all night. On the contrary, for the first time in a long time, I stayed in last night, curled up with a book, and was tucked in bed with the light off and a fur kid nestled under my chin by an unprecedented 9:30 p.m...on a Saturday night.

It felt good...like a treat.

Consequently, I'm awake, alert, and contemplating what this day might hold for me aside from grocery shopping. I know I'll be staying in much of today. Lex has a game over at a friend's this evening which means additional much needed naked Jane time for me. I got a little 'o that yesterday as well which is likely why I wasn't much interested in getting out of my pajamas last night. I was just too relaxed to do much of anything.

Audit is over. The auditors appeared in my office just before 11 a.m. Friday morning to say, "goodbye and see you next year". It feels...odd. First, they were finished in an unheard of 3 1/2 days. Second, they had very few questions and none I couldn't answer right off without researching. Most of all, it's not even September 1st and, not only am I finished with audit (aside from the final review and Board approval of the audited statements), but I've also closed July, kept up with August, and have begun working on tax returns I wouldn't normally even consider working on until early October.

The post-apoca-audit party has never been held before October 1. I'm thinking of having it next weekend - the 1st weekend in September. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself except say YAY! And WOW!

Yesterday, on the way down to a leisurely lunch with the Sammich Saturday gang at Crave in Castle Rock (note: that place is crazy amazingly yummy!!! So worth the drive), Acr0nym and I seriously discussed ideas for a road trip in a couple of weeks.

Initially, I'd requested the time off to head down toward Pie Town, New Mexico for the annual Pie Festival because, well, PIE, People, PIE. What emerged from our conversation yesterday though was that neither of us really cared about Pie Town so much as a reality and were more interested in where the open road might take us. I believe we settled on throwing a dart at his map of the United States and letting gravity, velocity, and randomness reign.

And, for the first time perhaps ever in my life, I'm more than willing to just pack a bag, get in the Intrepid on the day of departure, and find out where we're going when we get there. Mostly, I think this is because I know no matter where we go, we'll have a great time and also because I have about as much trust in Acr0nym as a person can have - especially when it comes to this kind of thing.

Speaking of trips...

So my 40th birthday is coming up in January. I know, I know. That's still a few months away. But I've been thinking about it a lot. Normally, I'm perfectly content to let the birthday celebratings center around local area stuff - a gathering of friends at a restaurant or the Grotto or whatever. But this birthday seems to actually feel as though it's a milestone birthday. Even more so than, say, 21. I don't exactly know why. So, I want it to be extraordinary. I want to do something outstanding, something I'll remember as incredible, something I'll look back on for the rest of my life and go, "That! That was a spectacular time of my life."

Problem is? I don't know what that's going to be. I know I'm going to go somewhere. I know I've been lobbying Acr0nym pretty hard to go with me as his 40th birthday is just a couple of months before mine. However, he doesn't know where he'll be come winter and so it is possible he won't be available to go anywhere.

If not, where am I going to go and who'd go with me?

And that, most definitely, is a first world problem.