I'm Alive! Call off the Search & Rescue!

I know I’ve been absent! Seems like I’m not that busy, but then again, I haven’t been able to find time to respond to email messages from y’all, post on the MB, or post to my blog! The summer is already slipping by me without much chance to enjoy it. I look at the calendar and think that I still have 2 ½ months to take advantage of, but I know, just as past summers, it will be gone before I know it and I’ll sit wondering what the heck I did with my time all summer.

I’ve found myself reminiscing of days gone by over the past few weeks. It’s been a month of major personnel changes around here and it’s made me long for the old days. I have forgotten how great it is to work with your friends, who were still your friends outside of work, and you didn’t have to talk (okay, complain) about work because you don’t know what else to say to a person. One of my two close friends at work decided to quit after many months of talking about it, then brushing it off, and realizing she’d deal with the same crap anywhere she goes. I guess she talked about it so often that I got used to hearing it and never really believed she’d act on it. But then again, she’s got a semi-nomadic personality anyway, so I guess I’m not totally shocked. She seems to be a person that doesn’t really settle down anywhere in her life for very long. But it still sucks. She’s been my sidekick for the better part of three years, and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself now that she’s gone. No lunch buddy, no happy hour buddy, no ally in the office.

On the brighter side, my other good friend at work just returned from maternity leave. She’s not in the office, but out on-site, so I don’t get to hang out with her every day, but it will be easier to keep up with her now that she’s back to checking her email regularly (I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now that I’m not much of a phone talker…don’t know where my avoidance issues came from). We had them (and three month old Alexandra!) over for dinner on Saturday night, so it was fun to catch up with them and spend time with them again. I’m sure they’re both glad to get out of the house and be social again, now that they’ve had a chance to get used to being new parents.

With my one friend leaving work, there is a multitude of duties that need to be reassigned, and the powers that be have asked that I take over a portion of them in addition to what I’m doing now. I have been slowing down a lot lately (even though summer is the busiest season for construction), now that my co-workers are becoming more knowledgable and efficient at using our software. Not as many HELP! phone calls during the day as their once was. Several weeks ago in my review, our V.P. and I discussed how my role should be expanded. Since I’ve been doing some training, it makes sense for me to be in charge of rolling out a full-blown training curriculum and program, and managing and maintaining it. They’ve also asked if I’d be interested in getting involved in some of our recruiting processes, mainly with Colorado State since I’m an alum, and doing interviews, career fairs, and networking. They also think I’d flourish in doing some Human Resources types of duties since that dovetails into the recruiting. They gave me a raise for the second half of the year, so I guess that means I’m doing a pretty good job at this training thing, even though I had no idea how/what to do when I accepted the position. So, it sounds like I’ll be getting busier again, and most likely will become indispensable to the company if I take on these roles and responsibilities. In a way, it’s very flattering and encouraging, but at the same time, I’m a little hesitant and disappointed. I had hoped to become a SAHM when we have kids, but it sounds like it’s not in the cards anymore. With as well as they pay me, and the regular pay increases I get, I feel like they’re buying me for long term. Again, good and bad. It will support my spending habits and make living our lifestyle easier, but I don’t want to miss out on spending as much time as possible with my children and making them my career. Who knows…there’s a lot of time between now and then, and God knows what’s best for me and our future children. Just have to remember to trust Him!

Our trip to the Mediterranean is just around the corner! I can’t believe that it’s just over two months before we leave! Just paid off the balance this week, so it’s finally really going to happen. We decided to extend our trip and stay a night in Venice on the back end of the cruise since we’ll likely never get to return. We’re staying in a hotel right on the Grand Canal and I’m just praying that we’ll get a room with a view of the water! I’ve been doing a ton of research on Venice the past week to figure out what we should see, where we should eat, how to dress, and how to act so that we don’t totally stick out like American tourists! It’s amazing how much more conservative it is in Europe than it is here. We’re planning on visiting St. Mark’s Square and Basilica, and all the travel guides are very specific that bare shoulders and knees are not tolerated; you’ll be denied entry and asked to leave. On top of that, Italians are more fashion-conscious than most of the world, and they said you’ll have a giant bullseye on if you’re wearing shorts and tennis shoes while sightseeing. They recommended “smart” clothing, and that Italian women wear skirts almost all of the time. So know I’ve got to go through my closet to find a skirt that a) fits, b) is "smart", and c) covers my knees, then I have to find a top that a) fits, b) matches the skirt, and c) covers my shoulders. Good grief! I thought traveling was supposed to be relaxing and stress-free! LOL! I am so looking forward to this trip, and I’m dying to taste the wine in each region, especially in Venice! Kinda crossing my fingers that I’m not expecting before then!

Scanned in all my LO’s for my JBJ album last night. I ended up doing a 9x9 so I’m still having to stitch all my pages together with the scanner since it’s only 8 ½” wide. After stitching some together, I got a few that look really bowed or curled and I don’t know what that’s about, so I’m going to have to spend some more time on it, and maybe even use a different program to stitch, like Photoshop Elements. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I love that I got a lot of journaling into the album that chronicles my life-long obsession. Won’t my great-great-great-grandchildren laugh at me?!

June Jubilee

You nurses out there should especially enjoy this post. Our company holds a mini-health fair each year through our health insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City. They send out some nice ladies from Kansas City, let them weigh us, prick our fingers, and help us fill out a health risk appraisal. Last year, we received a $25 Visa gift card + $10 per month off of our insurance premiums. Not a bad deal. Last year was the first year, so I didn't have much to compare my results to. I was average, with my blood pressure, total cholesterol, and HDL levels hovering in the normal range. Like I said, I had nothing to compare myself to, so I had no idea I could do better.

On Friday, those sweet little nurses came back, weighed me, pricked my finger, and actually gave me some inspiring and motivational news! All my results are compared to results from July 2006. My weight is down 5 lbs (it's actually down 5 lbs from the beginning of May too!) and my cholesterol is down 23 points! All the while, I virtually maintained my HDL level, which the nurse said is difficult to do. I'd say I've really only slightly modified some of my lifestyle habits, so the results are overwhelming to me. I keep seeing myself in one of those commercials with a sign strapped to the front of me with my cholesterol score in bright green. Oh, and we got a $30 Dick's Sporting Goods gift certificate + $10 per month off our insurance premiums.

To top it off, I had a guy I work with, but don't see often (he's in our Colorado Springs office) seek me out after a meeting on Friday to tell me that I'm looking "fit". Bless his heart, what guy do any of you know that would actually have the nerve to say something about your weight and use such a nice term? It really made my day on Friday, and I think I'm going to send him a thank you note to tell him how much his comment meant to me.

It's hard being this girl; the girl who struggles with her weight. I've always been the skinny girl, and I guess I don't feel any different inside, so it's hard to swallow that I need to change my lifestyle to get back to being the skinny girl. I don't know if I'll ever get there, but I feel like I'm more on my way now than I have been in the past few years. Yeah, I'd love to be a size 8 again, but really, who am I kidding. It would require too much work and sacrifice to get there, and honestly I'm happy with my life as it is. I recognize the couple of things I need to pay attention to, and slowly it's becoming habit, rather than trying to remember to do them.

I've grown to love and appreciate cooking and fine cuisine over the six years we've been married, and it seems such a waste to go through every day, almost every meal, eating something bland just to fit into a pair of jeans that don't hug my thighs. On the other hand, I see so many girls out there that look great, and it makes me long to be that girl again. I'll have to find a happy medium.

So I Think I Can Quit?

With the conclusion of American Idol last week, I had sworn off T.V. for the summer. We watch way too much television, and I’m trying hard to wean myself from shows that I can do without. Exceptions to the rule: The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and American Idol. I figured a summer without television would give me the free time I need to do other things like going to the gym, getting some scrapbooking done, reading the stack of magazines piled up, and enjoying being outdoors during the warm weather. Sounds good, right?

Well, here I am a week later. Haven’t been to the gym yet. No layouts done on my desk. Magazines still collecting dust. And it’s been raining every afternoon this past week. To top it all off, So You Think You Can Dance has been showing their auditions. I told Jeremy last week that I would absolutely *NOT* get caught up in it this year. But I watched last night, and now of course I’m partial to a few people and want to see if they make it to the competition.

Argh, I feel I’m pulling myself in two different directions. I really, really, *REALLY* don’t want to get caught up in any T.V. this summer. Right now, I feel like I can do it. Cut myself off now before it’s too late. But I know that temptation will pull at me tonight.