Weekend livin'.

Sorry it has been all quiet here on the eastern front...life has just been mighty busy.

This week at work has - somehow - been especially busy as we are gearing up for summer and trying to finish as many things up prior to most people taking time off this summer. I went in late this morning after "sleeping in" with my guy (a.k.a. listening to the dog bark and my guy snore through it all) and I meant to leave mid-afternoon but just...didn't. I actually got tons done, as is the norm on Friday afternoons when most people have saved their flex time and aren't in the office. Working two positions and trying not to let either slip is tiresome but enjoyable - surprisingly.

I made a quick trip to Knoxville yesterday to interview and hire the final member of our Teen team and I couldn't be more thrilled with out how worked out. We have a great team of positive, energetic, passionate, team-players who believe in the mission and goals of keeping older girls in the program as long as possible. We are already big dreaming with some cool plans for international travel, local events, and fun weekends. Think....culinary arts weekends at camp and campus tours and NYC. It is going to rock. I had about an hour long chat with a staff member at another council in FL and they have some cool ideas that I hope we can incorporate too. I love it when we can share things that work and not reinvent the wheel, so to speak. I have not - thankfully - had any jobs that I truly disliked. Even working retail was entertaining and flexible during a time in my life when that was important. But this - this I love.

My guy is off this weekend - except for a half day of work at the pool finishing instructing a lifeguarding class. I am thrilled that we are going to get to hang out together some and I have been living for this weekend for a while. Family plans for some pool time and a cookout so I am pretty excited.

I'll leave you with this pic of my guy and his friend A at the race from last weekend. A good trail half-marathon and these two still look great at the end - how do they do it??

Photo credit: Mark McKnight (event photographer)

May Birchbox!

 

It is always a good day when you open the mailbox and see this:

Oh yes - it's May Birchbox time!!

So this is the first open. I like the bright colors and the first thing I notice off the bat is the tea samples. I am going to love these and love sharing them with my tea guy!

amika Nourishing mask - I don't think that my hair can have enough conditioner - ok, maybe it does get a little greasy if I go overboard - but I am really excited to try this out and see how it does. It says it can even help repair split ends - bring it on Amika!

These are Runa brand the tea samples - there are actually 4 individually wrapped tea bags inside but note to self: these are what they call "caffeine rich" so all that caffeine I have been trying not to drink might just get blown away. If I share these then it won't be as bad, right??

I am pretty interested to try this Marvis brand toothpaste. It is an import from Italy and it smells clean and minty. I have pretty specific desires when it comes to toothpastes but I will try anything once.

 

This is the Coola brand facial moisturizer with SPF 30. It is cucumber scented and I already busted it open and used it on my hands. It has a really light, clean scent and doesn't leave a greasy residue, which can happen sometimes when a lotion has that much SPF in it. I think I might really like this!

Finally, the Sumita brand color contrast eyeliner. I saw their other products and some of them are VERY contrasty (think lime-ish green) so I was worried that I would get an eyeliner that I wouldn't ever use. Thankfully, my beauty profile has me listed as "classic" instead of "trendy" so I got a safe black/kohl color! I also used this on the back of my hand and it went on like a dream. It is a super soft pencil and smudges easily to a nice line; much easier to put on than other pencils I have tried.

 

So, there you go! Another fun month of Birchbox goodness. I can already tell you that I will love a couple of these products so it was a pretty good haul in my opinion! Love!

A little update.

It was a really busy week at work. Two of my days were spent in meetings in Knoxville and while they were actually super productive, it means I didn't mark anything else off my TO DO list. We had a big fundraising event last night so yesterday was spent at a site-based program at a local middle school then running around crazy preparing for that event. It turned out to be nice though not as well attended as we would have liked.

I finally settled down and bought tickets for our trip to DC this summer for the conference I am presenting at. I actually got a better deal than I thought we would by changing the days and times we are travelling - flexibility is key - and flying into Baltimore instead of one of the DC airports. There is a bus that will take you straight to the Metro train so it should be pretty painless. Either way, mom and I will be together so we will have a good time finding our way. We are actually staying with a friend of mine from Girl Scout camp days so I am really excited about seeing her (and checking out the trapeze/aerial school where she teaches!!) I only signed up for a couple of classes at the conference so that mom and I would have some time to check stuff out and she wouldn't have to entertain herself too much...

Chad is off work this weekend and I am not working for the first weekend in a while. We have big plans to do laundry, clean up the house, and hang out together and I couldn't be looking forward to it more (seriously!). We are doing Mother's Day dinner tonight with his parents so we won't have to be out in the crowds tomorrow so that should be good too...

Travel.

Since one of the pieces of my new job is supervising a position that coordinates events and travel for teen girls, I am going to get to take advantage of some fun, new experiences. Since I think it would be unfair - potentially even inappropriate - for me to "claim" the paid chaperone position for all of our upcoming travel experiences, I will have to choose the ones that I am most interested in and just pay for my own way. For example, we are taking a trip to the Grand Canyon next spring and I signed on to chaperone! I am super excited! The Grand Canyon is one of the things on my bucket list and it is obviously on my mom's too because she signed on to be another chaperone for the trip. We will spend about 5 days out west - one full day rafting the entire canyon (35 miles! it is the only company that has motorized rafts so they can do the entire length of the canyon which normally takes 5 or so days on a human/paddle powered raft), they will airlift us out of the canyon to the rim for some good views, we will spend one day horseback riding, another one hiking, etc. It is basically an entirely outdoor trip and is going to be a crazy awesome experience. I can't wait to travel with these girls!

As Girl Scouts, we are also members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts - a worldwide sisterhood. This WAGGGS group has world centers in England, India, Mexico, and Switzerland, and a new mobile center in Africa (it changes countries). This past New Year, our council took a trip to the center in Mexico and we are planning a 2015 trip to Switzerland. My goal for teen travel is to get to all of the world centers in the next 5-6 years or so and then repeat the process. I might not sign on for Switzerland but I will definitely be signing on to chaperone India whenever that happens.

Have I mentioned how much I love my job? I think I was made for this. I know it is long hours and I probably commit too much to it (heart, emotion, weekends, nights, time away from my guy, etc.) but I can truly say that I love what I do. And I totally believe in the Girl Scout experience for girls - teaching them leadership skills - life skills - that will guide them no matter where they go.

Brunch.

For background, my sister lives in Atlanta and my parents live in Columbus. That means, my parents are about 3+ hours from me but only an hour and a half from my sister. Periodically, they meet in the middle and get together for lunch or brunch and I am always really jealous. I truly love living in Chattanooga - my life, my job, my home, my husband - but I seriously and deeply miss being close to my parents. As I get older, I realize how much I treasure them so I am a little sad when my sister tells me that she is going to get to spend a couple hours hanging out with them.

So, my sister texted me yesterday and told me that she was going to get to have lunch with them today and it made me superbly jealous. I checked my calendar, thought about it for a while, and decided that what-the-heck, 4 hours round trip wasn't too far for lunch with my parents! I got up this morning at 5:20, threw on the clothes that I laid out last night, and headed towards Atlanta. I am so glad that I don't have to make that commute every day because the traffic was so terrible and made me cranky. I got to my sisters around 8am and we headed farther south together. Mind you, my parents don't know that I decided to come with her - fun surprise!

We got to Newnan and waited a few minutes for their arrival and I was pretty darn excited to see them. It was actually pretty entertaining because it seemed like they couldn't figure out why I was there for a second...you know, that look on your face when your brain is processing....processing...OH...HAPPY FACE! I am glad that my can't-keep-a-secret sister was able to keep my secret and that I got to hang out with them for a while today. I love those 3 folks...

Once I got on the road back to Chattanooga I was pretty tired so I pulled the music up too loud/windows rolled down bit to get me to the office (yep - still had to go to work). Thankfully, my flex scheduled allowed me to NOT feel guilty about taking most of the day off but I had a meeting that I couldn't miss this afternoon. I worked a little late then headed to the gym where I had a super sweaty/rear kicking workout. I hope to sleep really well tonight. :)

Came home and made myself dinner - trying to get protein sources without eating much meat - and not really any red meat (lots of reasons) so I am experimenting with quinoa. My first experiment was learning how to pronounce it (keen-wa) then I made it yesterday for lunch. I did a cold salad with it - tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, and a lime vinaigrette which turned out really good! Tonight I did a warm bowl of Asian veggies, extra added edamame, and some Asian inspired salad dressing with the quinoa and it was super good. An easy way to get my fix of Asian food - and that is saying something for this girl that could eat it 7 days a week. Anyone else out there experimenting with no/low meat intake and have any suggestions?

Its what friends are for.

I've been helping my friend K get her house renovated for months now. Mostly painting, hole filling - small jobs really - but honestly just doing what friends do...helping out when needed and since Chad is on 2nd, I have the time at night when I am not working. I keep hoping - for my sake, but definitely not K's - that it takes so long to sell that she will be here for a long time but that isn't fair for her! She really is my closest friend here in Chattanooga and it has taken me a while to build these friendships so I am incredibly sad to face the possibility of her moving in the near future. She will keep her job with the GS so I will get to work with her and see her in Knoxville for meetings every once in a while but it just won't be the same as lunch together every day and having her down the hall, ready for a trouble-shooting chat anytime I need it! Ok, before I get all emotional, I'll move on and pretend it isn't happening.

What I wanted to show you was this cool gift she got me.
It is an Origami Owl necklace - which I hadn't heard of until she got one from her mom. I introduced her to Pandora so I guess this is only fair. It is an awesome little glass "locket" on a long chain that you get to fill with charms that mean something to you. Mine has a charm that looks like a sewing machine (we took a sewing class together back before Christmas), a cat (come on, obvious), an Ixthus fish (great symbol of my sweet faith and my 2nd tattoo), a ring (cause I'm all married and such) and a camera (a hobby that K and I share). It is such a neat, personalizable gift and I am super excited to wear it all the time!

Bunnies.

So, my dearest Chad and his friend T got this hare-brained (hardeeharhar) idea that they were going to get rabbits. You see, T is a fairly strict Paleo dieter and thinks that he needs more lean protein in his diet. (So, yes, stop reading now if the idea of eating rabbits that grew up in your backyard grosses you out.)

 

Chad and T made a deal. T doesn't know much about raising animals, pets, building things, power tools, etc. Chad told him that he would pay for the supplies to make the rabbit hutch if T would purchase and feed the rabbits. They worked on this hutch for a couple of weeks when they would both happen to have time off at the same time of day until it was finally finished last week. After a trip down to a rabbit breeder in GA, 3 little bunnies now live in my backyard under my favorite tree. 2 girls and one boy will be the "breeders" so these won't actually be eaten - which is fine by me. (Let me be clear on one point - this gal has absolutely NO INTENTION of making dinner - or any other meal for that matter - out of these cuties. I don't know what Chad's intentions are but I believe they align with mine. I made him promise, pinky swear, cross his heart and hope to die or stick a needle in his eye that no rabbits would come to their demise in MY backyard. If I ever, ever, ever find a tuft of fur or any remnants of any idea that a bunny died on my property, this whole thing is bust. This way, I can basically pretend that it isn't happening.)

 

And that is the story of how 3 bunnies - and their future offspring - came to live in my backyard. They are basically identical so I keep threatening to get a washable marker out and put dots on their backs or something so we can tell them apart. As it turns out, one of them doesn't like celery - at all - always leaves it behind so I want to name "it" (because, let's be real - bunny parts are hard to figure out) Celery and give it a green dot. Any name suggestions for the other two?

 

Sorry for the super blurry bunny on the right.

Do you know that they don't hold still for photos, no matter how hard you try to bribe them with fresh clover plants?