I must be crazy because it's 11:27 pm and I'm not asleep. In fact, I'm the only person in my house who isn't. But my mind isn't rested yet. Loopy, but not quite out.

I just spent an hour and a half frantically uploading photographs from June 2012 through February 2013 onto Shutterfly and then ordering them because at midnight, the 40% off discount expires.  Clearly, I am so hilariously behind on my photo albums as to almost just give up. 

I find, however, that I just can't. Give up, that is. Chalk it up to being a firstborn. Or having a mother who has meticulously photo-documented every year of her family's life since 1977. It puts the pressure right on.  And I am tired of having to add a new month to my "Print Photos for Albums" list.  

Right before that mind-numbing task, I helped my family begin decorating for Christmas. This is the second night in a row that we've intended to decorate our Christmas tree, but have had unplanned obstacles prevent us. Last night, it was a family gathering to see my favorite Aunt Janice who was in town. Time well spent, definitely. And tonight, my presence was unexpectedly needed at a City Council meeting. About chickens. Yep. You heard me right. This actually marks the 2nd City Council meeting in which I've had a speaking role! I'm actually getting quite comfy at speaking in front of the aldermen and Mayor. 

I and several other like-minded citizens have been working to change our city's chicken keeping ordinance. Currently, you have to keep the chickens 75' from your neighbor and most people don't have that space.  I do, and I'm a legal chicken owner, but I've been working on behalf of all the others who don't. I've made friends with an alderwoman and have, quite frankly, learned a lot about politics in this process. As I was cycling at the gym earlier today, I got a text from my alderwoman friend, asking me to call her.  Turns out, there was a council meeting tonight and a proposed ordinance amendment would be voted on, but it wasn't necessarily a good turn of events. As a result of that call, my whole day shifted focus, and I ended up at the City Council meeting making sure that things didn't go very much against us. I was fortunate to have my brother, Chad, show up to also speak in front of the Council. And while I fully expected that our proposed resolution to move the distance from 75 to 50 would be soundly squelched, there was actually a tie. 4-4. The wards were each split. The Mayor could have voted to break the tie, but he chose not to. That I found quite interesting. I think he was a little surprised to find himself in that position. The end result being that things were left as they are. Which I can live with, for the moment.

What I was worried would happen is that additional restrictions would be put in place, but I found that the council was more split (in our favor) than I expected. 

Anyhow, it made for a frantic day, in many ways.

Life is very unexpected that way.

One moment you're riding a bike at the gym, the next you're drafting a speech for a City Council blurb. And now, as this day wraps up, I'm thankful for all that it accomplished, no matter how different from what I anticipated when I woke up this morning.

Tomorrow will be a whole new day.

A special day, in fact - Kyle's 38th Birthday!

More on that later.

For now, may you enjoy your days, no matter what twists and turns they take.