The Essence

Where in the world is Jessica Herbert?



To be specific, right now I'm sitting alone at Rach & Con's apartment in their office typing on the computer.



In general, I've been too swamped to post. Stress abounds, and this is the first time I can tell it's really affecting what I eat (ah - beware the scale!).



We are STILL without Internet service & we are supremely ticked at Verizon at the moment. Our new apartment is still a bit of a mess, but the good part is that it's almost ALL Ray's stuff (as in 99% his) & he's almost done building his shelves to store his junk, I mean, valuables. :)



Right now I have a paramount feeling of relief. I'm pretty sure I never mentioned the new work I'm doing. A guy at church has started a marketing consulting company and I'm getting in on the ground work. I'm not allowed to disclose details (I won't even post the website) but I JUST finished my first project for him. Because we've been so busy & haven't had Internet access for so long, I had to do the majority of the work today. I arrived at Rachel's around 10 this morning & I haven't been outside since (oh my word, it's 7:30! time went by SO quickly). Mind you the project was due today, but I had desperately wanted to turn it in early.



The other setback, besides no Internet access, is that I think I have mono (as many of you probably already know). Two weeks ago I found out two of my closest friends have it & that made all of my symptoms click - the flu-like symptoms 6 weeks ago, the extreme tiredness ever since, & the recurring sore throat. I was getting worried about being so tired because I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. In all honesty I was beginning to feel like a failure because I could no longer wake up at 5 in the morning, exercise, & then head to the office. And even though I was sleeping more I was still exhausted! So, the supposed diagnosis has been quite a relief.



At first I thought I got sick from my friends. But, the more we thought about it, I was sick quite awhile before they were & I'm thinking they got it from me - oops! I do feel kind of bad about that. I may never know for sure if I have it, we don't have insurance & I'm not going to the Dr. just to have them tell me I do have mono but there's nothing they can do about it.



Aside from moving & being sick, the past week has been filled with birthdays & goodbyes. Saturday night was Conrad's birthday dinner at a small BBQ place, Kojak's. Afterwards, Ray & I went with Ruth & Ernie to Starbucks in SoHo. We sat guys & girls together & Ruth & I marveled that Ray & Ernie can talk to each other, alone, non-stop, for two hours without any electronics around. And she & I also started to cry because of her move to Deleware.



Sunday night was Ruth & Ernie's going away party at church. Another sad occasion that kept us out late with work early in the morning.



Monday night, instead of going home from work, I drove to The Colonnade on Bayshore for Ruth's surprise birthday dinner. Rach & Con were there too & we sat in the same booth as we did on our first triple date together three years ago. The food was good, Ernie paid for everything, & ordered 4 appetizers on top of it all! I never thought fried gator would taste so good, I like it even better than the calamari & shrimp cocktail. After that we went to Dunkin Donuts for a 2 hour dessert & retelling of childhood stories. Another late night before an early morning.



Tuesday Ruth & I drove to my parents in Orlando to "bake Christmas cookies" like we did last year. We only made one batch, it ended up being more of a relaxing fun time together. We even amde it down to Winter Park for a short while. But, our guys decided to drive to Orlando later in the day to play golf at Disney & then abruptly called us to meet them for dinner.



It was lovely, I was just sad that I had to leave without getting to see my dad, with the exception of a hug hello/goodbye. :( We ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney. It was EXCELLENT. All of the food I tried was good. The bread was amazing, the pizza burgers, and fries were all good, & Ernie had the best Sushi I've ever tried.



Wednesday & Thursday was nothing but work and church, but I was so tired that I missed the ladies meeting Christmas get together last night. We've been so swamped at work this week, & that, plus the business, plus the deadline for my friends' business, that it really stressed me out. They also asked me to work extra hours which I had to tell them was just not possible this week, I'll plan on next week.



On my way home from work last night I stopped at Ruth & Ernies' to pick up all of their plants & extra food they weren't taking on the move. We sat down & ate pumpkin bars together & chatted for awhile, but then the inevitable goodbye came.



I'm still so sad about them leaving, it's hard to believe their gone. They wrote the contract on their home last night & left town today. I cried when I said goodbye yesterday, she gave me a really sweet card, & when I left I realized I'd seen them 6 days in a row this past week, no wonder it was so difficult to say goodbye.



I'm so glad Rach is here, it's wonderful to have such a good friend this close. But, it's also true that your friends can't be replaced. So I know I'll miss Ruth dearly, but I also know Rach & I are still going to be super close (friends and in living distance).



Ernie & Ray are already planning on our vacation to visit them in March for the Cherry Blossoms (his parents live in D.C.) and Ernie was telling Ray that he'll fly Ruth down for a week & then they can fly me up for a week to get our visits in with each other. (Hey's it's only $99 round trip, not a bad deal)



So, that's my story & I'm sticking to it. Rach & Con are on a date to Ocean's Twelve right now, which is funny because that's the movie I was wanting Ray & I to go see tonight. I think we're going to go to the drive-in, if we make it at all. We'll have to see how much energy we have!