Welcome back!

Hello, little blog of mine! It’s been a while since I’ve posted in this space. Life got away from me and my blog fell away from my priorities. I was working two full-time positions for seven months while my department was down a person, breastfeeding/pumping full time, running a household (with Dave’s help, of course), raising an infant, volunteering at church, volunteering to be an advisor for a collegiate chapter of my sorority, and was asked to head a fundraising committee for a new non-profit organization in town. Did I mention that the majority of our families both live in another state and therefore weren’t easily accessible to come help or watch Carter for a little while so I could catch up on everything.

Stressed doesn’t even begin to describe how I was feeling.

I raised the white flag and sadly backed away from as many commitments as I could. First the nonprofit, then my sorority and finally church (mostly). I was still drowning in tasks at work with no help, even when I asked for it. I was doing as much as I could but spending the evenings engaged with my family (and an infant who thinks my laptop is a toy and would scream at me if I left the play area) and fulfilling my household duties left the wee hours of the morning for additional work time.

I burnt out quickly.

Even with the addition of a new staff member in June I had a lot to catch up on. And then with some additional staffing changes at work I inherited more responsibilities and the requirement to attend evening and weekend events – keeping me from my family even more. All with no financial compensation or additional time off. It was killing me that was spending so much time away from home while my baby is growing so fast.

But there’s a happy ending to this story!

Long story short, Dave’s postdoctoral position was coming to an end and he was offered a permanent position at the company which came with the awesome job title of “Laser Physicist” (how cool is that!) and a very nice raise.

This allowed us to finally take the steps to achieve one of our long-time goals…


I get to stay at home with Carter!

I officially quit my job this week and my last day will be either September 19 or 25 (they asked me to stay for a while to help wrap up projects but I also want a solid finish date so things don’t drag out). Either way, I’ll soon get to focus on playing, reading books, and going on field trips with my little guy, plus better supporting Dave in his new position and taking care of our home… and blogging more! I am beyond excited to have this opportunity and so grateful that I have a husband who supports me staying home.

Praise God for answered prayers!

I’m looking forward to this new stage of life and hope you’ll enjoy following along, too. Cheers!

Foreigner

My job is constantly busy, crazy and stressful but there are also some awesome perks. Wine is one of those perks. There is always an open bottle somewhere near by and whenever I am at a work event there is plenty of the stuff to pass around. Another perk is that I work on a property surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards, so you can’t complain about the scenery. Hmmm… pictures of the property would make another great blog post soon…

Anyway, one of the most fun perks is that the winery where I work puts on a summer concert series with some pretty big acts. This year, I have been put in charge of running the meet & greet sessions with the artists before/after the concert. It’s not that big of a deal, I gather contact info for all of the people with meet & greet passes so I can email them their photos after the concert and just direct people as they are in line waiting for their photo to be taken. See, not super exciting.

BUT at the first concert, after all of the meet & greet people went through the line and had their photo taken I was asked if I wanted MY picture with the band. Um, heck yes! So here is my photo with the band Foreigner (and our super cute intern).

Please excuse the fact that I look like a hot mess after running around in 103 degree heat all day and did not expect to have my picture taken.

Foreigner put on a great show and had the whole venue on their feet for practically the entire performance. At one point the lead singer came off the stage, jumped up on someone’s table (people are seated at tables because they get dinner before the concert), grabbed a bottle of open wine off of the table and took a big drink. I was fun to watch!

There are a few more concerts this summer so I hope to have more pictures to share as the concert season goes on. And for next concert I’ll be sure to be better prepared for the camera :-)

Bullet point updates

So… it has been a while since I’ve updated my little blog so I thought I’d give you the rundown of the last month in short, bullet point form. Sound good? Ok, let’s go!

• I started my new job! I’m doing marketing for a winery and I am loving it! There is so much to learn and so much to do and I feel like I’ve been working a million hours since I started at the beginning of the month, which is why this blog has been so neglected. I’m still working on finding my new work/life balance, but it certainly helps to bring a little wine “work” home. Dave is certainly enjoying that part :-)
• I got bangs. I haven’t had real bangs since about third grade and I’m not sure how I feel about this. Dave didn’t like them at first but he says he’s liking them more now. Maybe I’ll keep them, maybe I won’t but it has been a fun change.
• Dave’s grandparents, aunt, and uncle took a trip to San Francisco and we were able to spend a day with them. We still can’t believe how close we live to that city - it’s like vacation is a few miles away at all times! Anyway, we visited some museums, ate clam soup out of bread bowls, and had a nice dinner in Japantown. But for some silly reason we didn’t take a picture of the whole group. Oops. So you’ll just have to settle for one of Dave and me.

• Dave finally received his diploma in the mail!
• I have met some wonderful girlfriends since moving to California. I am enjoying getting to know these ladies on a deeper level and am so thankful for such great friends in our new home town.
• I took a little girls trip to Vegas with some of my middle school buddies, Laura and Lisa (and Laura’s friend Jessie who I am just getting to know better). We had a spa day, saw some shows, tasted some yummy food, and had plenty of time for girl talk.

• My blog got a much needed makeover and finally lost the holiday look. What do you think?

That’s it for now. I’m going to try a lot harder to post regularly again so stay tuned. Have a great day!

I'm exhausted

Long story short, I'm exhausted. I started my new job this past Thursday, had a busy weekend with family and friends, had a women's retreat meeting last night, and tried to catch up on house work tonight.

After four months of adjusting to life as a homemaker, or as I like to call it, a trophy wife (ha!), I've been thrown back into the working world and am still getting back into the swing of balancing work and home responsibilities. I know I can do it because I have done it for the last five years but I didn't realize how much I had gotten used to being at home or how hard it would be to go back to work.

So until I find my new groove please bear with me with the sporatic updates and my out of season blog design. I'm sure I'll be back on track soon!

Longest week ever

Um… what day is it? Where am I? That is how I have felt all week long. After loading all of our belongings on a moving truck on September 2, we had a plan to stay with family and friends through last week until Friday (the 8th) when I was going to drive out to California to begin living in our house, waiting for the moving truck to arrive with all of our belongings so I could begin getting our new life organized. Dave was going to hang out with my family this week until his defense when he would then join me in California.

Over Labor Day weekend we visited and stayed with Dave’s parents. While there we continued our Labor Day weekend tradition by going to the Colorado Balloon Classic to take pictures to enter into the photo contest. I haven’t had the opportunity to go through all of my photos yet, but there are a few good ones :-) I promise to post the better pictures once I have time to go through them. We were also able to visit with friends Trisha and Chris, and their daughter Makenzie. It was so nice to be able to visit with them!

On Monday we headed to my parents’ house to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Can you believe she turned 29, again?!? Neither can I… We spent the night there and then headed back to our now-former home town so I could finish up my last week of work and Dave could continue to work on his dissertation at his lab.

But here is where our plans changed.

On Tuesday we got a phone call from the moving company around noon telling us that our stuff would be arriving in California at 8:00 a.m. THE NEXT DAY. That is hardly the 24-72 hours notice we were told we would get before the delivery. The kicker was that if we were not physically present to accept the delivery, we would be charged $2,500 for storage. So, Tuesday afternoon I booked an evening flight to the Bay Area and a reserved rental car and headed to the airport all by myself while Dave stayed in town to continue to work on his dissertation. Then, my original flight was delayed for three hours which would put me arriving at the airport later than the rental car counter was open so I had to switch flights at the last minute and then change my rental car reservation since I was flying into a different airport. I finally arrived and uneventfully supervised the unloading of the moving truck on Wednesday morning. I spent the afternoon trying to do a little unpacking before I had to head to the airport at 2:00 a.m. to catch my 6:00 a.m. flight back to Colorado. It was a whirlwind 48 hours. Luckily, I was able to take a few pictures of our new house while I was there! Please excuse the boxes - they should be gone; someday.

Then I returned to work on Thursday to train my replacement. It was hardly believable to be training the person who was going to be taking over the job that I love so much. I did my best to explain everything I do and how I do it but I wasn’t able to get through everything by the end of the day, so I agreed to come in on Monday to finish up. By Thursday night I was exhausted and was definitely ready to crash at our friends Brianna & Rob’s house.

On Friday we headed back to my parents’ house to stay for the weekend. We were hoping that Dave’s advisor would have scheduled a date for his defense, but on Friday we still had no date and no real plan of what we were doing or where we were going for the upcoming week. Seriously, this process is so frustrating and we were just taking everything moment by moment (or crisis by crisis so it seemed) since we had totally lost control of everything. I walked into my parents’ house Friday morning and was greeted by my mother who informed me of two smaller family crises that I then had to (emotionally) deal with. Everything is okay, but seriously, those issues were just the flame on the candle on top of the cherry on top of the sprinkles on top of the icing on the cake. I was spent, drained and unable to function anymore. I just shut down and settled in to just hanging out all weekend.

Sunday night we headed back to our now-former home town and checked into a hotel that my aunt gifted us with by booking and paying for our stay. (Thank you, Aunt Pat!) After everything the past week threw at us, this is just what we needed to relax and unwind while I finished work and Dave finished the third revision of his dissertation. We enjoyed staying with friends and family, but we were ready for a more private retreat after being “homeless” for over a week now and to give us a better space to deal with all of our stress - you know, like trying to figure out when we would officially be moving to California since Dave still had no defense date.

Yesterday I finished training my replacement at work and had a nice lunch with co-workers. I will miss those folks so much! They even left me a special surprise in my car to help me feel at home in California. Its a long story, just know that it was really funny!

Some good news is that yesterday Dave was able to set a defense date for his PhD dissertation! Of course, this is pending that all of his committee members get back to him to confirm that they are available. Fingers crossed!

So it looks like Dave will be defending on September 23rd, giving him a week and a half to prepare his presentation. After some discussion and family brainstorming last night it looks like Dave and I will be driving out to California together on Thursday, then he will fly back next week before his defense and stay with my parents, then he will drive our other car out to California after his defense and start work on October 3rd. As long as we don’t have any other crazy surprises this will be our plan. Hooray for finally having a plan!

This whole process has been so draining & frustrating and I can.not.wait for it to be over soon. Here’s to praying that things will play out as they are supposed to!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday! Be sure to link up with Jamie and tell us what YOU are loving today!

I'm loving the beautiful weather we have been having! It sure beats the gloomy days of the past few weeks.

I'm loving the gals (and guy) I have been working with for a whole year now and I love that they got me the most beautiful flowers to celebrate my one year anniversary working here! And no, I didn't remember to take a picture of the flowers. Sorry.

I'm loving that this is a three day work week for me! After being away from home all last weekend I need that extra day to catch up on laundry and cleaning and naps.

I'm loving that Dave and I were able to take my youngest sister, Erin, and her boyfriend, Zach, to a club for the very first time on Sunday night. They seemed to have a good time!

And, as always, I'm loving my sweet husband!

$h!t just got real

Most people dread Mondays. This week, I think I win the "my Monday sucked more than yours" contest - if there is such a thing.

The small nonprofit I work for has lost four of its largest funding grants in the past few months due to budget cuts and changes in priority funding from foundations and granting organizations. That equates to a huge budget shortfall for my organization. I hear and see all the time how the bad economy has impacted businesses and individuals. Heck, I meet people every day who have been impacted by the economy and I have always been silently (maybe too much so) grateful that I wasn't in a position where I was impacted in any way other than meeting these people who needed help from my organization.

But today all of that changed. Pardon my French, but $h!t just got real.

All of the staff at my organization have to take a 20% pay cut and reduction in hours starting next Monday to help make up for the budget shortfall. We will be closed every Friday from now through June. That means that I lose one pay day a week, which is 20% of my income, for at least the next two months. That's 20% of my income that I can't afford to lose right now.

My initial thought is that I need a second job. I NEVER thought I'd have to do that, EVER. It is scary and frustrating and part of me wants to just stomp my feet and complain about how unfair this is. But I can't. I have got to find a way to make up for the income that will be missing from my paycheck starting next week. I've been completely unfocused at work and browsed through Craigslist throughout the day to see what is out there. Only a few things posted offer hours on only Friday/Saturday/Sunday and the ones with that availability pay somewhere between $7.50 and $9 an hour. Yikes! I can see that it is going to be hard to balance my "career job" with one to supplement my income.

So, why am I sharing all of this with you? Well, the first reason is kind of selfish; I want to be able to look back on this and remember how I felt, what I did and how I got through it. Because I WILL get through it, eventually. I want to be even more grateful for what I have after this time has passed. Second, I want anyone out there in a similar situation to know that I not only understand what you're going through, but I also feel your pain... and frustration, and fear, and stress, and anxiety and sadness. You no longer have just my sympathy, you have my empathy. Third, this is real life. Not everything in this life is all beer and skittles and I would be a big liar to pretend that everything going on with me is happy and fun all of the time by only posting the fun things.

After nearly twelve hours of having panic attacks adjusting to the news I think I'm beginning to have a better perspective, but the idea of needing a second job and supplementing my income isn't any easier. I know I'll get through this but it doesn't make it suck any less now. I know things happen for a reason, and perhaps God felt that something needed sifting in my life. Message received, sift away. I know I'll come out a stronger, better person on the other side of this. Here's to the sifting and to the future, more grateful me!

TGIN (Thank goodness its November!)

First, let me just say how thankful I am that the election is over and all of the political TV ads, mailings, phone calls and e-mails are done. Whew! Now, back to our regularly scheduled post...

October was an incredibly long month for me and I am so thankful it is finally over. In my job at a nonprofit we are involved in Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities and fundraisers and, having planned and executed most of these activities, I am exhausted.

This past month I have delivered flocks of 20 pink flamingos every night all over the region as people made donations for us to “flock” their friends. It was my crazy idea for a fundraiser, and darn it, it worked. But not without a lot of hard work, crazy people and long hours. But it was so much fun! All of the feedback we received was so positive. Who knew that people would be so excited to wake up to flamingos in their front yards! And now that we have done it once we have a whole bunch of ideas on how to make it even better for next year. It feels so go to have your boss find value in a new idea you have and to give you the support you need to execute it. It also feels good to really analyze the event and determine the strengths and weaknesses of it so you can improve it for the future. I love this about my job!

 
I’ve also been involved in planning smaller awareness events this month which were also successful - but the biggest event I was involved with this month was a huge Halloween gala to benefit my organization complete with silent auction, fundraising games, a wine wall, live band, costume contests and a lot of fun. Actually I’ve been working on this event with a committee since I started this job back in May. It has taken months of organization, planning, procurement and execution to pull it off and these last few weeks of 45+ hour work weeks getting everything finalized and put into place has worn me out. As soon as the event was over late Saturday night, I crashed. All of the emotions of stress, excitement, long hours, etc. were finally past and I could relax. I slept until 10:00 on Sunday and I haven’t done that in years! It felt so good.

I spent the day Sunday getting ready for Halloween and I decorated our door for trick-or-treaters and put out two of the pumpkins that were painted for the Halloween event the night before. I can’t take credit for the cool painted witch in moon - that takes much more talent than I have - the best I could do was that owl on the left.

 

To my dismay we didn’t even have one trick-or-treater and that puts my total at 0 trick-or-treaters in the five Halloweens I have had my own place. Its almost like validation that you’re a real adult when you have trick-or-treaters.

Anyway, as much as I LOVE my job and the organization I work for I am looking forward to the next couple of months with no work events on the weekends and no really big events to stress out over. I am looking forward to the coming holidays and starting some new family traditions with Dave. I’m looking forward to the birth of friends’ and family members’ babies in the coming months. I’m looking forward to watching Dave get closer to graduating. And I’m looking forward to relaxing evenings and weekends with fires in the fireplace, hot chocolate and good company. And when I’m finally rested up I’ll be ready to gear up for next October which will undoubtedly be just as crazy and busy as this one. Bring it on!

New beginnings

Today was my first day at my new job and I am so excited! Here are just a few highlights of what made it so great:

• I was given an office - an actual office - with four walls, a door and a window that looks into the lobby
• My office has a desk, two lamps, a bookcase and two chairs - there's so much room!
• Direct deposit - no more paper checks!
• A really caring and open boss
• Being invited to lunch with some of my new co-workers
• Having my calendar quickly fill up with meetings (hey, I love meetings and getting to know new people)
• Starting to plan new awareness and fundraising events
• Finding out that Thursdays are Spanish lesson days where anyone interested can join in learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone software

The list goes on and on. I am so excited to get things organized and arranged so that I can do the best job possible. I am so excited to be in this new position and can't wait for all of the wonderful things that lay ahead of me.

And I want to thank my loving and supportive husband who took me shopping for office decorations tonight at 9:30. What a guy!

Bring on tomorrow, I'm so ready!

Goodbye

I gave these to my co-workers on my last day at the first "real job" I ever had.

Thank you to everyone who I have worked with over the last three years, eight months and ten days. You have all made an impact on my life and I will never forget you and the laughs we shared.

Starting a new chapter

I have always had a passion for nonprofit organizations and helping those who couldn't help themselves and it was my goal to work for one in some sort of PR capacity once I graduated form college. Imagine my surprise when my very first job was working as the event/volunteer coordinator for a nonprofit organization.

It was a new position in the organization and I was told that I could set the bar for what the position would be. Being who I am, I wanted to set the bar high and took it as a personal challenge to do the very best work that I could to benefit the organization and the people it served. I worked hard, revamped the volunteer program, began to take on new tasks such as writing the newsletter, starting MySpace, Twitter and Facebook accounts for the organization, writing press releases, editing the website, etc. and eventually every activity I ended up trying out became part of my job. The volunteer program grew, I was doing an array of new job duties and eventually I became so busy that it was decided to split my position into two. I became the event/marketing manager (another brand new position) and a separate volunteer coordinator was hired. I think I achieved my goal in setting the bar pretty high.

I have seen and experienced a lot over the past four years at that organization. I've been there for the good days and the bad days, I was given the ability to follow through on a few of my crazy event ideas, I've seen a total of four supervisors come in and out of the position (some good to work with some more frustrating to work with), I've grown my skills and abilities, I've been pushed to my emotional limits, I've met some fantastic and interesting people, I've learned a lot about business, I've seen co-workers go through hard times, I had some fun and I've also had some of the most trying times of my life.

But it's time for a change.

I've accepted a position as volunteer/special event coordinator at another nonprofit organization - another new position where I once again am challenged to set the bar high. My first day will be May 24th. While it is sad and kind of scary to leave behind the job and organization I've known for nearly four years, the only job I've had since I graduated from college, I am excited and re-energized by the opportunity that lies ahead of me.

I will be supporting another cause close to my heart, the staff members there are overwhelmingly warm and welcoming, I will get to meet new people, I will get to implement some new fundraising ideas, I can grow my marketing, PR and event planning skills, I will get to be working closer to home, I may get to eat lunch with my husband every once in a while, I can go home and see Gromit at lunch and I have an opportunity to help a new group of people in need.

So, with God's help and the support of my family and friends I am embarking on this new journey; a new chapter in my professional career and personal development. Ready or not, here I come!

I'm trying...

²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

So true, yet so very, very difficult. I have been struggling with this a lot lately. I am a perfectionist. I am controlling. I want to be the best at everything I attempt and I want to attempt everything. I have a need to know about everything going on so that I can contribute what I can to make whatever it is as successful as possible. I am passionate, competitive and take hits personally. I am human, I am a sinner and I am flawed.

But I'm trying to be better.

There's a lot more I could say about this and many an example I could tell you about, but I don't think I will. Maybe this is just something to ponder for a while. Maybe this is something to remember when I get frustrated. All I know is that I need to be better at leaving things to God, not taking things personally and remembering that I serve God, not men.

If anyone out there has found a way to do this without going crazy, let's talk. I'm up for guidance, wisdom, humbleness and learning. Please, God, work through me now - I need it.

Quilting

There's a huge fundraiser (that I am in charge of planning) for the nonprofit I work at on Saturday and one of our board members donated three quilt tops for the silent auction. The quilt tops are very nice, but are just the tops and need to be finished. I thought that auctioning off three essentially unfinished projects might not sell that well so I worked quickly to come up with a solution.

I went to a local quilt shop to purchase the supplies needed to finish the quilts so that they might sell better at the auction. I had met the owner of the quilt shop before and she is such a nice woman. I explained to her my situation and asked what I would need to buy to finish the projects. After some measurements, puzzled looks and more measurements she determined the sizes of the quilts and started in on telling me what was needed to finish them.

Wow! I never knew there was so much involved in quilting! I heard about everything from different types of fabric and patterns to batting, backing fabric and sewing styles. I have since determined that quilting is too intricate and time consuming for me. There are many things I am good at and now I'm pretty certain that quilting will never be one of them. I do, however, have a new appreciation for quilts and the people who are talented enough to make them.

After an hour of learning, picking out backing fabric and admiring the example quilts around the store, I left with everything I needed to finish the quits. Let me just say, those three "quilt making kits" will be great for those creative types to bid on at the silent auction... just not for me!

Dilbert does it again

 

Via www.dilbert.com 

Dilbert

 

Maybe I should try this...

So Egg-citing!

In my job I get to do some very interesting and unique things. Yesterday I was able to meet the man who holds the Guinness Book of World Records title as the fastest omelet maker, Howard Helmer. He can make 427 omelets in 30 minutes and a single omelet, from cracking the egg to placing the omelet on the plate, in 41 seconds.

He was making omelets for our staff, volunteers and even clients to help celebrate Thanksgiving. He is so full of energy and just a hoot to be around. His looks, voice, mannerisms and corny egg jokes reminded me of Mel Brooks. After every omelet made he would exclaim, "Oh what a beautiful omelet!" Too funny! He cracked me up and I very much enjoyed meeting him.

Here is a picture of us pretending to make omelets, which was his idea for the photo.

It was sure an egg-celent day!

Want to get noticed?

It's the day before Halloween and the last working day of the week so my co-worker and I agreed to both come dressed up in costumes for work today. I did the "Guitar Hero" costume again that I used for Tour De Fat and she put great effort into dressing up as her supervisor. The resemblance was uncanny. Check it out!



We also took a great picture of the two of us.


Good times at work! We were laughing all day!

On the way home from work I stopped by the grocery store for a few staple items like mac & cheese and Coke (in my world these are necessities). I had been wearing my costume all day, was comfortable in it and didn't even think twice about being dressed up when I got to the store. I walked in and started getting my items and noticed that everyone was staring at me. People were even turning around to get a look at me. I really couldn't figure out why people were staring but then I remembered that I had my costume on. I guess being the only person in the store dressed up the day BEFORE Halloween gets you noticed. Leave it to me to forget I was wearing a blue wig, dark makeup, lace skirt and bright blue leggings! Oh well, I hope those people enjoyed the show.

Happy Halloween!

Dilbert must live in my cubicle

Above and beyond?

Yesterday I was commended by the "top boss" for going over to a staff member and their family who were sitting by themselves at the employee appreciation BBQ last week and talking with them and inviting (well, playfully insisting) that they come over to the table where I was sitting at and join us. I was told that as the event planner that I was doing my job well by making sure that everyone felt included in the celebration.

That's all fine and well but what struck me was that I was being pat on the back for something that I would have done no matter what the situation was - not because it could be perceived as a part of my job. I know what it's like to feel left out and to be sitting alone hoping someone would come to include you. I know what it's like to not feel comfortable walking up to people I don't know that well and trying to join their conversation. I know I don't like feeling like that so I always try to make it a point to make sure others around me feel included. Honestly, I was surprised that nobody else stood up and walked over to them and asked them to come sit with them.

I guess what I'm saying is that as human beings we should treat each other as we would want to be treated and doing so shouldn't warrant a public acknowledgment of going above and beyond. I don't do what I do for recognition, I'm just glad I was able to make that employee and their family feel included.

Updates, updates, updates

Sorry, I'm a slacker. I should have updated this a while ago. Here are some random thoughts and updates on what's been going on in our neck of the woods...

Gromit

• He LOVES to go outside. It is very difficult to get him back inside after going out for a walk or to potty.
• He LOVES to chase squirrels. As soon as he sees one his ears perk up, his tail points straight up and he runs right towards it. When it inevitably runs up a tree he will sit under the tree and stare at it hoping it will come down. I think he would sit there all day watching if we let him.
• We've been going to the dog park lately. On one such occasion there was an older woman there with her Pomeranian. Gromit loves to go and meet new people and be pet so he ran right up to her like he has with everyone else he has ever met. After having his head rubbed he walked right up beside her and lifted his leg on her shoe. I couldn't believe it! We apologized over and over and she just laughed it off and went home. I felt so awful! When we go to the dog park now we watch him very closely and warn people to watch their legs. I'm seriously paranoid that he'll do it again. What would possess this dog to pee on someone's leg? Why her and not others? We're still working on answering those questions, but until then, if you meet Gromit watch out for your leg!
• He sits down in front of his bowl to eat.
• He still has yet to bark. Crazy!
• Thanks to Ashley, Gromit now has a cute little car seat for riding in the car with us! He's so short that it is hard for him to see out the windows so this seat allows him to be up high on the seat and to keep him more contained in case we have to stop quickly or make a sharp turn. He seems to enjoy it and we love watching him in it. Thanks Ashley!
• I think we have fallen more in love with this dog than we ever thought we could. He is our little baby and we would do anything for him. We're so happy he is a part of our family now!
• And now, some more pictures!

My Work

• I was promoted! I was previously the event/volunteer coordinator and it was (finally) decided that my job responsibilities were far too great for any one person to handle so they split my position in half. After weeks of reviewing resumes and interviewing we found the perfect person to become the new volunteer coordinator! This is the first time in this organization that the volunteer coordinator position has stood alone from any other position and I think it was the best thing to do. I am now the event/marketing manager (a position that was created just for me) and I am loving it!
• There is a volunteer that has been coming in for a couple of years now. She is developmentally disabled (older adult) and always comes with her helper, who also helps her to run her errands, go the library and with anything else she needs a couple of days a week. This volunteer heard that I got a dog recently and last Friday brought me a bag of dog biscuits for Gromit. I can't even describe to you how touched I am by her gesture. It's not just about dog biscuits... she obviously went out of her way to have her helper take her to the store just to get dog biscuits for me. When she only gets to have her helper around a couple days a week, she made it a priority to remember me and go get the treats. She was so proud presenting them to me and I was so overjoyed at her thoughtfulness and kindness. A thank you note and a picture of Gromit doesn't seem good enough to thank her. I'm so touched and words just can't describe how much that meant to me.
  

Dave's Work

• The National Science Foundation is doing their five year site visit at Dave's lab - that means he has been working, working and working some more. Until the site visit is over I anticipate for him to be working, even on Memorial Day.
• Many people at the lab have gotten dogs recently - I guess we followed suit!
  

Family and Friends

• Kelly finished her first year of college! She had a rocky end of the year dealing with some inappropriate actions from her roommate, but I think that since I had gone through some similar things I was able to help her through it, thus making our relationship stronger. Hooray!
• Curtis was accepted into Seminary school and received a full ride scholarship! Who knew that my little brother would become a pastor? I never saw it coming...
• We got to spend Mother's Day with both my family and Dave's family. It was really great to get to see everyone on the same day!
• We are so excited to go camping this summer! We have some great trips planned with various friends and family and we know we're going to make some great memories!
  

That's all for now. I'll do my best to keep up with our summer activities and post a lot of pictures from our upcoming adventures. Have a great holiday weekend!