David the world traveler, once again

Typically for his job David leaves early Monday morning to visit the client, and returns late Thursday night or early Friday morning. This means that a lot of our house, family, friend, and hobbies are jam packed into just a 2.5 day time period. However, David worked in the Marblehead office from September until April, so we got to experience "7 days a week" life together. I know that both the doggies and I enjoyed having him around more! We were both happy to discover that we didn't have any new squabbles about being around each other more and sharing more of the house tasks :)

David was able to get more small things done around the house and schedule doctor's appointments more easily, and the two of us enjoyed more dinners and TV shows together, were able to schedule dinners with friends easier, and were a touch more involved in family events. However, we both distinctly noticed that we got less done work wise in the evenings because we were enjoying the time together rather than working through our own "individual" to-do lists. In the beginning of his time in the office we didn't worry too much about this as the extra time together was a rare thing, but as the weeks and then months went on we started to make adjustments so that we could both keep a relatively high level of productivity.

Alas, the traveling hiatus has come to an end. On Monday David left on an airplane for the first time since September to work at a client in Alberta. He was actually very excited to be traveling again, even if a little sad to be leaving Ash, Pepper, and I back home! David really enjoys the challenge and the pace of the work while on site. In some ways this was good timing for him to start traveling again as with him gone during the week I'll have even more hours to pour into my thesis - hooray!

While in Costco last weekend we spied this luggage set that seemed like a great deal - we purchased it for just $99, which is $100 less than it is listed for on Amazon. We have been looking for a nice lightweight luggage set for awhile now as the only luggage we have is my 8ish year old set, which has started to show its age. The Costco deal seemed perfect, and awesome timing as David can now use it on his trips. It's a polycarbonate set made by Ricardo, and we purchased it in slate even though green is pictured here.

I couldn't help but laugh (though I felt bad doing so) because David really just didn't have a great first day back to traveling. He got up early to meet with a contractor about potentially adding a dormer to our 3rd floor (stay tuned for more details on that!), and then left for work driving his Toyota MR2 for the first time. I got a phone call not long after that the MR2 was acting up and he'd be returning home to trade it for the truck. After the swap I got another phone call that he had just realized that in his haste he left both his luggage and his laptop bag in the MR2. Luckily he was able to use a different computer at work (he was flying out Monday night) and I met him on his way to the airport to hand off his things. He managed to get to Alberta safe and sound, though he did have one missed connection that resulted in him getting in a bit later than expected. 

The week went fine - the doggies didn't seem too confused that he was gone, though Pepper almost looked like he was watching for David to get home a few times. I've adjusted back to my meal routine, where I cook just one or two things for the week and eat it basically every day. With Christine still in the hospital I actually have been going to see her in the evenings for a few hours and eating dinner there some. I've also quickly adjusted to having bedtime by my stopping point for work, rather than David getting home. David said that his first week on site seemed to go quite well, and he is really looking forward to the weeks to come!