Oh, Happy Day!

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day.

I have been dreading for weeks telling my boss about my plans to travel to the other side of the world for three months. Several times last week, I was on the edge of telling her, even though the original plan was to wait until the last day of the month to tell her so that I would be giving her exactly a month's notice. It really could not have gone any better than it did. Due to some unforeseen errands I was asked to run, I had to tell her earlier in the day than I had planned. After some initial talking down, she insisted that I must take this trip, that it was an opportunity of a lifetime, and that she was absolutely definite on the fact that she wanted me back at work when I returned. So not only did the news go over better than I could have hoped, but I am pretty much guaranteed a job immediately once I return.
Wooo Hooo # 1.

So still flying high on this successful semi-notice-of-resignation, I went to dinner with Matt to plan the last leg of the trip. These plans occurred over pints of beers and dinner at Carolina Brewery. We had planned on meeting Dan later that night to go out. We decided that once Matt gets permission to take the weeks around Thanksgiving off, we will book all the flights and events we need to book for Alice Springs and Cairns. This includes the Stargazing Buffet near Uluru, the hot air balloon flight, and the snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.
Woooo Hoooo # 2.

We went to R&R, me thinking we would just be meeting Dan for drinks. Needless to say, I was shocked to see about 10 people I recognized sitting with him, staring at me. Dan had put together a surprise party for me. It was totally unexpected. I got to see couple of people I never see, as well as hang out with some of my best friends. It really meant a lot, and it was the perfect way to cap off this fabulous day.
3's a charm.

So now I am trying to nail down my last minute details. Yes, there are still several large purchases to make (notebook, maybe a camera), but it's a huge load off my mind to have cleared the air at work about this trip. I was pretty much giddy on the way home after having made the announcement. It's just a huge, amazing bonus that the news was received as well as it was because I just wanted to get it over with.

Yay!