FREEDOM!!

Last November I decided it was time for me to move on to a new job and a new city. With good timing, the Lord and some good friends on my side it all worked out. In February I quit my old job. In March I started my new one and shortly thereafter I moved and sold my old house.

This past Sunday, I finally breathed what is hopefully the last major sigh of relief related to this move. You see, ever since I left my old job I have been continuing to work for them on a part time contractor basis. I was happy to do this to help ease the transition, and the extra spending money has been nice too.

I have written several reports and training manuals and late Sunday night I emailed the last one off. While this work has not consumed every free moment of every night and weekend, having this sense of dread at coming home from work just to work some more has been nagging and paralyzing - keeping me from enjoying the free time I did have.

But now, FINALLY I have my freedom. My contract runs out today and no one has mentioned renewing it. AHHHHHHH!!!! I am so excited!!

I did love my old job but I left my old job for my own specific reasons and seven months of distance has not made me forget that. So the relief I have felt has been wonderful!!

I would say "what will I do with all my free time?" but I assure you that will not be a problem. I hope to be around here a little more. I plan to finish unpacking those last boxes I never unpacked in March. And the monogramming season for Christmas is just about to pick up. I can't wait to update my website and share some of that with you - my roughly 12 readers.

But first - a few days of camping, resting and relaxing that happen to coincide with my new found freedom. So if you don't see me around for the next few days, don't assume I have fallen back into my old ways - just assume my only Internet is via my iPhone.

A New Low

This week I reached a new low. My parents were headed off on a trip and they were flying out of the town where I live. So lucky me got the pleasure of taking them to the airport. Did I mention what time their flight was... 6:50 AM... which meant they needed to be at the airport at 5:20 AM. UGH!!! We all got up between 4 and 4:15.

So by about 5:30 AM I was done with my daughterly duties and had nothing to do. My work is about 5 minutes from the airport and my house is about 30 minutes. It was not worth going back to the house and I couldn't think of any place to go eat Breakfast... so I went to work.

Now I love my job but I did not have enough to do that I wanted to go into work that early. So at this point I reached a new low. I pulled into the parking deck, parked between two cars of apparently crazy people who were already at work, climbed into the backseat of my SUV and went to sleep.

I have slept in a car before when someone else was driving or when we were camping. I have put on makeup in the car, changed clothes in the car on a fairly regular basis (both while driving or in a parking lot) but today I actually went to sleep in my car while on company property. I slept for about 45 minutes until I got hot and decided to go on in the office. My windows are tinted, the parking deck is dark, I was parked between cars that were already there and I feel certain that no one saw me. I didn't tell a soul at work... but with you, I share. :-)

Corporate Team Building

I'm a little behind with this post but I half wrote it last week and I wanted to finish it up and share some pictures. The week of May 5th was not your typical week. On Tuesday night a bunch of folks helped Gary and Katie finally move into their new house. Gary works in my group, attends church where I did in the last town that I lived in and just made the same move that I made a month or so ago. He commuted over an hour each way for about two years. I did it for about two weeks and I was tired of it. They had a time getting closed on their houses but they finally did and were able to finally move into the house they were buying on Tuesday night.
Then early on Wednesday our group at work made up of about 20 people, left for our corporate team building retreat. Having never worked for a large corporation this was a new concept for me. I was put on the planning committee for the trip a few weeks ago and so I had a pretty good idea of what all was going to happen on the trip.

For Wednesday through Friday, our group would be staying at Chateau Elan, about 45 minutes past Atlanta. I had never stayed there but I had passed it may times as my dad and I made our almost annual trip to Road Atlanta. The two are only about seven miles apart and many who come into town for the Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta stay at Chateau Elan.

Anyways, we left early Wednesday headed towards the Atlanta area. We were scheduled to stop on the way for a tour of a facility our company owns. Well thanks to extremely heavy construction and traffic delays, we were about 1.5 hours late. We finally made it for an abbreviated tour. Then we were back on the road. We got hopelessly lost a few times in some back roads in Georgia but we finally made it to Chateau Elan (CE) about two hours behind schedule.

The first activity was a grape squeezing contest.
CE is centered around a winery and so our first activity carried out that theme. I was helping to set up this activity so once we got checked into the hotel it was off to the Publix to buy a ton of grapes. Since I was partially in charge of the activity and opted to take pictures, I did not have to participate. What we did is everyone paired off and each pair had to race to see who could fill their plastic wine glass the fastest. We had two rounds and the wine of each round had to compete in a squeeze off. Our winners were Gary (yes the same Gary who moved the night before) and David. Their "prize" was a Lucille Ball wig and half a set of I Love Lucy DVD's. There is apparently an episode of "I Love Lucy" where they go to Italy and squash grapes with their feet. The group watched this episode while we were setting up the activity. Don't the winners look thrilled? By the way we did not make them drink the nasty stuff.I have to admit, I had given Gary insider information and told him he did NOT want to win this activity but I guess his competitive side and his desire for the activity to be over got the better of him and David. I had also given this inside information to most of the people in the second round so it was a pretty apathetic group of participants in that round.

They threw grapes, ate grapes and basically made it obvious they did not want to win. Oh well... I can't say I blame them.

After we finished up with the grape squashing, we went to dinner and then we hung out for several hours in a lounge area at the hotel. Since it was a Wednesday night we were basically the only ones there and so a lot of pool was played and I got a chance to talk to a lot of folks from our office. It was nice to be able to relax with everyone and talk to them on an informal level. To prove I was on this trip, here is a picture that someone else took of our boss Holly and I attempting to play pool. We were not good but the guys we were playing scratched and we won.
Holly and I have a lot in common and I enjoyed getting to talk to her a lot over the trip. She's fun to hang out with and I enjoyed getting to know her better on this trip.

The next day we had breakfast followed by a number of team building activities. We played a game similar to musical chairs where we had to ask questions of each other. Then we played a game similar to Clue and our group ended up winning thanks to a bonus question and my knowledge of who started Chateau Elan and how they made their money. The only reason I knew is because it is the same people that started Road Atlanta. Here is our group presenting the Clue results.

Then it was outside to the "Ropes" course. I'm not sure why they call it that because there is no rope involved but basically you have to get your whole team across five stumps with only three boards to go between the five stumps. You have to work together and move the boards back and forth to get everyone there. We did a really good job at working together and getting it done. Here is a bunch of people from our group making their way across the course. That's my manger Sean on the left. There are four people in my "sub-group," Sean, Gary, myself and Andrew. Andrew is the guy in the dark blue shirt and jeans (sorry you are looking at the side of his head).

Sean had on some funny looking shoes and everyone was making fun of them. Holly kept whispering to me "take a picture of his shoes... make sure to get a good shot of his shoes." I was trying to do this subtly and not laugh at the instructions. He claims they are going to be all the rage this summer... Holly wanted to make sure we had something to make fun of him with later on. :-)

Here is me making my way across the boards. I did not fall or make a klutz out of myself.

Once we finished up with the activities it was off to lunch and then our wine making activity. I don't drink wine and know absolutely nothing about it. I didn't really expect to get much out of this activity but it was fun I suppose. I was in a group with Sean, Gary and Craig.

Here is a shot of another group. The girl in the white is Angela, the guy in the dark blue is Andrew again, the guy in the stripes is Clint and the back of the head with the ponytail belongs to Alex.
Two of the five stations in this activity had to do with smelling. I have zero sense of smell so I was completely useless in those. One of the stations had to do with mixing up your wine. I was completely useless in this activity as well (as was Gary... who also does not drink) so it turns out our group did pretty terrible. Our wine was compared to Kool Aid and our label was described as boring. Oh well...

Here is (from L to R) Gary, Craig and Sean at the wine mixing station. I thought Sean was going to sling wine all over the room... but it all worked out.

Once we finished with the wine making it was time for free time. A bunch of the guys and one of the girls played golf. Holly and some others went to the spa. Since I'm not a golfer and I don't really do the spa thing, I decided to wander around and take some pictures of the beautiful resort and then take a nap before dinner.

Here is the outside of the winery. There was some driving event there that day and so there were lots of fancy cars around... hence the red Ferrari in the background.
Here is a cool stained glass window inside the winery.

Here is the vineyard. I guess at this time of year there are teeny tiny grapes... at least in Georgia. Beats me... I know squat about wine and grapes.
Here is the inside of the hotel/inn. It was a really nice place and I enjoyed our trip there.


Thursday night we all met for dinner but everyone was tired and turned in early after their busy afternoon and the late night the night before.

We all met back Friday morning for breakfast and then a guest speaker and then we were on our way home. We got caught in some construction traffic on the way back but were home by 2 or so and then off for the rest of the afternoon. It was a great trip and I enjoyed getting to know some of the folks on our team better in a beautiful setting.

Job Update - Two weeks down...

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here and I'm sorry I haven't updated you all on my job situation. Things are getting better every day. I have read more in the past two weeks than I have probably read in the past year. When I look bored or ask if there is anything I can look at, I get something new to read. Yippee. I realize that is the only way to get background information but I find it rather boring. I'm not much for sitting still and when you are reading that is about all you are doing.

But last week I did have a few tasks and I was taken to a few meetings... so things are looking up. Most people would find the tasks rather mundane and boring... but I was just happy to have ANYTHING real and tangible to work on. I have no clue what tasks I will have this week and hopefully that doesn't mean there is nothing for me to do. I knew from the start that I was coming in at a slow time but I don't think I have ever been this un-busy at a job in about ten years.

Oh well. The people are still great... the subject matter is interesting and I know that eventually they will give me more to do. They did hire me for a reason right? :-) In all seriousness, my boss told me that there is going to be some shuffling of duties around the first of April and after that I will have more responsibilities. So until then I just have to keep trying to impress him and make sure he realizes I can do it and would really like something to do. :-)

On the other side of things... this is going to be a busy week. I closed on my new house in my new town last Friday and I will be moving in this Friday. I am getting more excited (and stressed) about it... but I will share more about that as it gets closer to the end of the week.

First Day

Do you remember your first day of college? I do. I know it hasn't been that long ago (only 10.5 years ago) but I remember it vividly. I remember what I wore. I remember the car I drove to class. I remember where I parked my car and walking to my 8 AM Chemistry class. I remember breaking into a sweat and starting to panic when I could not find the building for my Chemistry class. I remember stopping someone on the quad and asking them which building it was (I am sure they thought I was a moron). I remember losing my footing on the stairs and sliding down about five stairs in my sandals. I remember being so glad that I did not fall on my rear end when I did that.

I made it through my Chemistry class and as soon as class was over I went back to my grandmother's house (where I was living and where my parents were still were helping me get settled). I went to my room crying because I wanted to go back home. I had changed my mind... I didn't want to go college... I wanted to go back home. I couldn't do it. Fortunately my parents did not let me do that and I adjusted... and I loved college so much.

Well today I felt a little bit like that. I was not late and I did not get lost (well not really... I did overshoot and go down the wrong hall on my way to the bathroom). I made it through the day without crying and I did tell my boss that I would be back when he jokingly asked if I was coming back tomorrow. But there is some part of me that wanted to run back to my old job and see if they would take me back. Nothing went wrong particularly, in fact the day really went okay. I just don't like change.

For the better part of ten years I had become the expert in my office on everything. Well not everything... but I did know most everything that was going on in the office. And today I walked into a world where I know nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. There is not a single thing about my old job that translates to my new job... except my ability to use a telephone and a computer. Seriously. I guess I should feel flattered that they think I can learn the new information... but for today, I am a bit overwhelmed.

And I'm not going to run back to my old job. The people in my new job are very, very nice and they don't expect me to know things yet. They are going to help me learn them but for now I am just going to have to accept being the dumb blond who is lost in a fog.

Fortunately I do have a friend from church and from graduate school who has worked with this group for about two years. He came in my office/cubicle this afternoon and said "has anyone even explained what we do?" I just smiled and just shook my head no. He took me to his office and for about 45 minutes I felt like I was not a moron. He explained things so that I understood them and while I am sure I did not retain all of the terms he threw at me, I was very thankful for him taking the time to explain some things to me.

So I made it through the first day. I am going back for day two and hopefully I will make it to day three. :-) I will keep you posted.

The End of an Era

Well "era" is probably too strong of a word... but Friday was my last day at my job. I have been there for four and a half years and almost ten years if you count the time I worked as a student. It has been a great experience for me but I have decided to move on. There are some parts of me that thought yesterday would never happen and I know that many of my family and friends were not sure I would ever leave... but I did leave... and Monday starts a new phase in my life.

But let's back up to Friday first. Friday was time for my going away party! I really do not like being the center of attention, so I was a little nervous about the party. I got even more nervous when people started asking me what I was going to say in my speech (you mean I have to give a speech?!?!). And my nerves reached a new level when they closed me in my office and said, "wait here until we come and get you."

When they did come and get me I was brought into a room filled with people who I knew and who I had worked with over the past ten years. Most were faces from my immediate office area, others had traveled several hours to be there. I was blown away!! I was expecting a small party with a few people, maybe a cake and maybe a small gift. They totally exceeded my expectations.
This was the most unexpected face that I saw.

I'm not sure if anyone remembers this post from last December but this is my retired trooper friend, Captain K, who I was so surprised to see at the conference last year. I did not squeal this time... but only because I had a room full of people staring at me. He traveled several hours just to be there yesterday, just for me. That made me feel very special. It was so thoughtful of the people who organized the party to think to invite him and it was so sweet of him to make the effort to be there.

My best friend Leslie was of course there...

I know I will see her plenty even after I move, so yesterday is certainly not going to be the last time I see her.

Over the past year or so, I have gotten to be very good friends with our Administrative Assistant Elizabeth.

I am going to miss her a lot and I think she is going to miss me as well. We are right about the same age and so we have had no trouble finding things to talk about and laugh about at work. I am sure we will stay in touch after I move as well.

I don't have pictures of everyone but I do have one more to share. This is one of my professors from undergrad, Dr. Dan. I have known him since I was a little kid and he was friends with my grandparents. Whether he knows it or not, he has been a big influence on my life over the years.


The folks that organized the party totally outdid themselves. Here was the cake that they got... it was huge and quite tasty.


Given that I work with a relatively small group, there were lots and lots of people that came to the party and I was happy to see each and every one of them.

I got two beautiful gifts from the group. I got a beautiful Lenox crystal vase and I will think of them every time I see it. I think I already know the perfect spot for it in my new house. I also got this great framed print.

It is a notable landmark on campus and it will look great hung with my college diplomas. Leslie also got me a sweet Willow Tree figurine of two friends. It is very special to me and is already sitting on my fireplace.

I did make it through my speech, although it was completely off the top of my head. I should have prepared a little more for that but it turned out okay. The party was a lot of fun and for the record, I did not cry. I almost cried during Dr. Dan's speech and during Captain K's speech but I held it together. There are certain things that will always make me cry but apparently this is not one of them. No one is dying, no one is sick, no ones dog died... I am just moving on. It will of course be different but I feel like I will see all of these people again one day. And with the world of communication where it is, staying in touch is so much easier than it was even a few years ago.

So on Monday morning, I won't be going to the same office where I have been going every day for the past four and a half years. I won't be seeing the same faces I am accustomed to seeing. Here are a few of the faces I am accustomed to seeing every morning. These are some of the programmers that I have worked with.

I am sure I will see them all again, but for now I will have to make new friends, find new people to laugh with, new people to bounce ideas off of, new people to complain to, and new "work" friends to have adventures with. I will be the new girl who knows nothing, knows no one and won't even know where the bathroom is. It's a little scary... and a little sad... but I think it is for the best. At least I sure hope so.

This and That

I forgot to participate in Weekend Reflections last weekend but last week was a good week. I was sad to find out that Amberly and her family will be moving away from my hometown but happy for them at the same time. But the other big news of last week was that it was my last week on the road. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure I still have some travel for work but my eight weeks in a row (or whatever it was) of being out of town for the majority of the week is over. I like traveling, but I am happy to be home and believe it or not I am even happy to be back in the office.

I have started a new schedule for myself this week as well. Our work schedule is a bit flexible and in the past I have arrived to the office at about 8:30 and worked until 5:30 or 6. But for several reasons, I have decided to go in earlier. The main reason being... Brun is still half asleep when I go to work in the morning but he is ready to play by the time I get home. So the earlier I get home the better.

I am not a morning person but so far I really like it. I am trying to go in between 7:30 and 8 and leave by 5. Almost no one else gets there that early so it is nice to be able to get some work done before people come in and start wanting stuff. And even nicer is getting to leave at 5 and have more of the evening to myself. I have had to go to bed a little earlier but hopefully I can stick with the schedule.

That's about it for me this week. I am spending some more time at my brother's house painting and cleaning this week. It is really starting to look good. My brother moved out last weekend so it is pretty empty but the progress you can see is certainly a good thing. Tonight I cleaned my brother's bathroom. I called him after I finished and told him when he comes to visit he can't use that bathroom any more... he has to go to the service station up the road. :-) It's so clean I might even use it now.

St. Louis Trip

My trip last week to St. Louis turned out to be a great trip. I typically dread trips for work because they don’t allow any time for fun. However, this one was different. I’m not sure why… possibly because of my flight times… possibly because my constant whining about never getting to do anything fun has caused the folks that I work with to loosen up. :-) Regardless of what it is, it resulted in an enjoyable trip.

On Sunday I left for the airport at about 5 AM in order to catch the only flight to St. Louis that day. That put me in St. Louis by 9:30 AM with nothing to do. I was at the hotel but it was too early to check in. I had no car so I was somewhat limited to the things that were within walking distance of my hotel. Fortunately my hotel was in a great spot and so I took the opportunity to walk down to the arch.

The night before (Saturday night) some folks got stuck in the arch for a couple of hours but I decided to take my chances. I went on in and bought my ticket to go up in the arch, the ticket to watch the movie about the building of the arch and my ticket to take a one hour riverboat cruise. First was my movie… as a Civil Engineer I found it totally fascinating. After that it was my turn to go up in the arch. I didn’t find it scary at all and the view was amazing. Here is a view looking out the small windows at the top of the arch. The tall round shaped hotel in the foreground is the hotel I stayed in all week. The Cardinals stadium is just behind it.


After I got down from the top of the arch it was almost time for my riverboat cruise. It was a nice and relaxing ride that allowed me to get some pictures of the arch like the one below in my Photo Hunters: Creative… Revealed post.

When I got off of the riverboat I still had a little bit of time before I had to meet up with the people from my work. I decided to walk over to the courthouse where they held the Dred Scott trial. For those of you who have forgotten your history lesson, he was the “famous” slave who sued his owners for his freedom. The courthouse was gorgeous. Here is a picture of the rotunda area.

On my way back to my hotel I got this great shot of the courthouse with fountain in the foreground and the arch in the background.


Later that afternoon I finally got checked into my room. The rooms were very modern looking… a little small but plenty big for one person. Given that the hotel is cylinder shaped, the rooms were rather pie shaped… which was a bit odd. The view out the window wasn’t anything great… just a view of the interstate and a view of the right half of the arch if you craned your head way to the left. Here is a picture of my hotel room… it’s somewhat difficult to tell that the room was pie shaped.


Sunday night and Monday were boring work stuff but Tuesday night myself and two of my colleagues were able to go to a Cardinals game. They played the Cubs and they lost but I really enjoyed the game. The stadium is absolutely beautiful and there is nothing better than enjoying a nice summer evening at the ballpark.


For Wednesday night I had quite a treat. When I arrived at the airport Sunday morning I saw an ad for something called “The Muny.” I had no idea what it was or where it was but I saw that they were doing the musical, “The Pajama Game” that week. As a big Harry Connick Jr. fan I really wanted to see it. No Harry wasn’t in it in St. Louis… but he starred in the revival on Broadway last year. So after doing a little research earlier in the week, I found out that The Muny was reachable via their subway type system and so I decided to go.

I didn’t get to take a picture of the stage but it was amazing. It was this huge outdoor theatre that held about 10,000… and it was phenomenal!!! The actors and actresses were fantastic and the whole thing was such a treat. One of the supporting actors was Joe Farrell who was the host of Trading Spaces: Family a few years back. He had a great voice as did the rest of actors and actresses… most of them had been in things on Broadway very recently but were spending their summer in St. Louis. The four block walk back from the subway station to my hotel in downtown St. Louis at 11:30 at night was a bit scary but I survived and it was worth the risk.

Seeing the play did make me sad that I didn’t get a chance to see Harry Connick Jr. in it on Broadway but I was so glad to get to see it in St. Louis. It now goes in my list of top four favorite Broadway musicals.

So that was my trip… I definitely enjoyed the city of St. Louis more than I thought I would. Thanks for indulging me by reading about it.

On the Road Again

I travel A LOT (usually at least one day per week). In my life there are two major types of travel... the type you do for work and the type you do for pleasure. I try to mix the two as much as possible but that is not always very easy to do. Fortunately for me I do have to travel to my hometown for business pretty often so in that case it is much easier to mix the two.

Being the type of person that doesn't like change and that likes a normal, boring routine, the travel can really wear on you. I honestly do like to travel (or at least I used to) but somehow the more travel I do for work the less I want to do for pleasure. If I have been traveling a lot for work I just want to go home and enjoy my house and my stuff. :-)

As a part of all of this travel I have to stay in a number of hotels. I HATE hotels. I don't know why exactly but there is pretty much nothing about them that I like. I don't like the choice of TV channels I might or might not have, I don't like the fact that I don't have my TiVo and I really don't like the fact that I don't have my own bed. I am very much a "Princess in the Pea" who wants her comfortable mattress, relatively high thread count sheets with the right mixture of fabric softener... and most importantly my pillow. If I don't have these I am a grump and I am doomed to even less sleep than usual.

I have learned to combat this in a number of ways. If it is a car trip I take my own pillow with me... if it is a plane trip I take my own pillow case to use on the pillow I am forced to use. For Christmas, my best friend Leslie gave me one of these dream sacks. It is wonderful and I highly recommend it to anyone who has to travel a lot. These things all help but it is not as good as home.

I am of course on the road again this week and will be out of the office three out of five days. This means one night at my parents house and just one night in a hotel. I am actually fairly excited about the hotel I am staying in tonight. I will let you know how it goes after I have determined whether or not the mattress allows me to get a good night's rest.

Good night!

One of those days

Do you ever have one of those days... where you feel like it's just poop on you day? I'm sure you have... everyone does. Mine seem to happen on Monday (which I can only assume is fairly typical). I don't know why they happen on Monday's... maybe it's because I am more tired than usual on Monday's or maybe it's because of the concentration of work overload and meetings that come on Monday's. Regardless of the reason today was one of those days for me... or at least it started that way.

It actually started out just fine but I got an e-mail on the way to work (yes I read e-mail on my PDA while driving) that took my day down hill in a hurry and had me in a terrible mood by the time I got to the office. I won't go into all of the details but it boils down to someone forgot that they promised me their faculty football ticket order form and instead gave the order form to someone else that I work with. So I told my brother, my best friend Leslie and a couple of other people at work and everyone agreed that it was an honest mistake but still very annoying. I then accomplished nothing at work all morning, was in a FOUL mood and took out my irritation on everyone I came in contact with.

From this point in the story you would think that my day was shot... but it did get better from there. You know what makes those crummy days better... people who love you and care about you and try to make things better any way that they can. I have a lot of those people who seem to get more opportunities than they deserve when it comes to dealing with me. :-) My patient and caring mother listened to me whine and fuss over the phone and sympathized and tried to help by offering solutions. My wonderful brother, my thoughtful best friend and her husband actually fixed my problem at lunch. They offered me their ticket order form and went and placed the order for the tickets.

So I know today isn't Thankful Thursday but it is my Thankful Monday... for family and friends who don't forget about you when you are having a crummy day and try to make you feel better any way that they can.

Photo Hunters: Clean

Dirty:

CLEAN!!:

My desk at work usually looks like the first picture. When I saw that this week's theme was "clean" I used that as a good excuse to clean off my desk. Not only did it give me a picture for the theme... I should be able to enjoy the results for at least a few days before it fills back up with stuff.

For more photo hunters, click here!