I came back to Sweden in full summer swing. It’s midsummer week and everything is full-blown green and blooming here. Even the roses started exploding while I was gone.
I had a simply fantastic week in Seattle. The weather was drop-dead PERFECT (though I confess I missed most of it as I was indoors all day during the week for the conference). I came out of my flight to find mom already arrived and waiting for me last Saturday and we got to the hotel just in time to find a place to eat and then unpack and relax. I had been sick the week before I left, with a nasty stomach bug on Wednesday night that left me with nausea and digestive issues the second half of the week, right before I was traveling (NOT fun). I was still feeling icky even after arriving in Seattle and it took a couple of days before I finally thought to go get some medicine which helped squash it, finally.
On Sunday, Mom and I headed out early and went to the Chihuly Glass exhibition and gardens. It was LOVELY, and something I’ve wanted to see since the 80s when Chihuly’s art was super-trendy. We went afterwards to the Museum of Pop Culture, which I enjoyed (though I didn’t see all of it) but mom hated (haha!). We had lunch in their café. The marathon was the same morning, and the weather was temperate and sunny, so the whole area was crawling with people. We walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park near the water and looked out over the sound before heading back the hotel, where my friend Chuck and his wife picked us up for dinner. Mom and I met Chuck way back in 2008 (I’d been reading his writing since 2003) in Boston, and I was delighted to have an opportunity to see him in person again and as an added bonus, I got to meet his wife this time, too! It’s weird meeting blog friends in real life…you know so much, and yet so little. 🙂 Unfortunately, my stomach was still misbehaving and I wasn’t able to do the very good food justice.
My conference started early Monday morning…I was attending the Adobe CreativeProWeek which is made up of several smaller conferences for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, content development and, what I was most excited about (geek alert) presentation design. The speakers were, for the most part, fantastic, and I learned SO much. Lots of tips and information about how to work more effectively. I know that I am at an advanced level in these programs that I use daily, but they made me feel like a rank beginner…there is so much you can do with these programs! My colleague from Boston came for the presentation design days which was great as well, since she and I rarely get to see each other, despite working “together” and having a telephone call every week to touch base.
Mom and I went out to dinner every evening and on Wednesday, Becky came up from Oregon to spend a couple of days with us. She and mom went out sightseeing during the days and then I met up with them after the conference finished for the day. The whole week flew by, but it was so perfectly delightful that I can’t even complain about how fast it went. And my travel day home went super smoothly, so now I just have to manage jetlag and get back on an even keel.
Tonight, Debbie and Camilla are coming for dinner and in the morning, Anders, Martin and I are leaving Karin in charge of the homestead while we go to Stockholm to play with Russell and spend midsummer with some old friends. Happy midsummer, everyone!