Seriously. They're everywhere!
I know so many people that have had babies in the last 6 months or so....but in the last 3 weeks, I know.........4 babies? Is that it? Seems like there are more....
February 24 - my Division Administrator and her husband welcomed Graham Alexander.
February 28 - one of my OMs' girlfriend's had their twins (6 weeks early) - Brooklyn & Hayden.
Today though, takes the cake. One of my closest friends through college, Ashley, had a baby girl today. She was the first of all of us to get married (which was strange in itself), and now she's the first (in this circle of friends) to have a baby. She lost a baby right after mine and Chris' wedding, so this baby is such a blessing that I know I prayed hard for, so I can't imagine what the last 9 months have been like for Luke and Ashley. I guess she was born at 3:49 pm...7 lbs 15 oz and 22" long. I can't wait to meet my "niece".....it's hard being this far away when something this amazing happens! Welcome Noelle!! I'm so excited to meet you :)
When Ashley got married, it was so surreal....like, 'Are you old enough to be doing this?' But we were all a part of their wedding, and now they're having a baby....and it's just amazing. Utterly, awesomely, amazing. Allison texted me at 4:10 to let us all know that she was here and I was just in disbelief! It just is so surreal! Then, I got in my car to go home, and appropriately enough, the first song I heard was "I Saw God Today." (Cheesy that I teared up? Maybe a little).
Maybe one day, I'll be old enough, mature enough, in that place-in-my-life enough, to bring a child into this world with Chris. But until that day.....I will be content to love on and spoil all the little ones around me :)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
February in Review
Well, friends, it has been exactly one month since I was here last. For the shortest month in the calendar year, it sure was jam-packed.
Work....work has been IN-SANE. Last year's snow season (end of Nov - mid Feb) dropped about 21" of snow. Total. This month? This February ALONE? I believe the count is now at about 26. We had to have 3 more inches to beat the record that has stood since 1910. CRAZY.
Anyway, all that snow means that in this month, ALONE, we've billed (as of the report I ran right before I left today) about 1.82 MILLION dollars (Last snow season's total was about 1.6 - TOTAL). Needless to say, there have been a lot of tired guys running around the office, and I've been putting in long, long LONG weeks - but I'm really proud to say that I work with a really great team, and we're looking forward to SPRING!
Our 2nd married Valentine's came and went - Joe & Brandi came to town for the 3rd V-Day in a row....we had tickets to see Billy Gardell at the Columbus FunnyBone, and we had Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Billy Gardell was HILARIOUS.
It has been a fairly strained and tense couple of weeks in the King household. We've really had to lean on our 7-year history together to get us through the last couple of weeks. Without going into too much detail, I just ask that whoever reads this shoots up an extra prayer that we make it through everything unscathed and stronger than ever. We're both stubborn and hard headed, but at the end of the day, we made vows, and....well....that's all I can really say.
The Winter Olympics are coming to an end as I speak, as the USA and Canada are fighting it out for the gold in Men's Hockey. What an exciting game! I have to admit, I haven't watched much of the Olympics at all this year. All I really watch anyway is ice skating, and it seems it never would come on until late at night. I've watched curling with interest (if those people are athletes, I have wings and can fly) and of course watched with horror the luger from Georgia that was killed in practice. It's hard to believe that the last Olympics were the Summer ones of '08; Chris and I got married right at the end of them.
Well, Canada just won it in sudden death. I fell so bad for the American goalie (Brian Miller)....he had so many goals shot and shot and shot at him, and he let the last one go. Oh well.....................
:(
Chris and I are pretending it's summer and cooking steaks out on the grill, and I'm making pasta salad. Spring is only 20 days away!!!
Work....work has been IN-SANE. Last year's snow season (end of Nov - mid Feb) dropped about 21" of snow. Total. This month? This February ALONE? I believe the count is now at about 26. We had to have 3 more inches to beat the record that has stood since 1910. CRAZY.
Anyway, all that snow means that in this month, ALONE, we've billed (as of the report I ran right before I left today) about 1.82 MILLION dollars (Last snow season's total was about 1.6 - TOTAL). Needless to say, there have been a lot of tired guys running around the office, and I've been putting in long, long LONG weeks - but I'm really proud to say that I work with a really great team, and we're looking forward to SPRING!
Our 2nd married Valentine's came and went - Joe & Brandi came to town for the 3rd V-Day in a row....we had tickets to see Billy Gardell at the Columbus FunnyBone, and we had Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Billy Gardell was HILARIOUS.
It has been a fairly strained and tense couple of weeks in the King household. We've really had to lean on our 7-year history together to get us through the last couple of weeks. Without going into too much detail, I just ask that whoever reads this shoots up an extra prayer that we make it through everything unscathed and stronger than ever. We're both stubborn and hard headed, but at the end of the day, we made vows, and....well....that's all I can really say.
The Winter Olympics are coming to an end as I speak, as the USA and Canada are fighting it out for the gold in Men's Hockey. What an exciting game! I have to admit, I haven't watched much of the Olympics at all this year. All I really watch anyway is ice skating, and it seems it never would come on until late at night. I've watched curling with interest (if those people are athletes, I have wings and can fly) and of course watched with horror the luger from Georgia that was killed in practice. It's hard to believe that the last Olympics were the Summer ones of '08; Chris and I got married right at the end of them.
Well, Canada just won it in sudden death. I fell so bad for the American goalie (Brian Miller)....he had so many goals shot and shot and shot at him, and he let the last one go. Oh well.....................
:(
Chris and I are pretending it's summer and cooking steaks out on the grill, and I'm making pasta salad. Spring is only 20 days away!!!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Lifetime Movie: The Pregnancy Pact
This movie absolutely terrifies me. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that it's a movie about a spike in teen pregnancies in a small town in MA - and it was started because of a "pact" between a bunch of girls.
How did my parents survive me growing up in my teenage years with things like this? Not knowing the right thing to say, or teach? How am I going to know what to say, or teach, my own children, especially if I have daughters? These girls were taught abstinence only (which is what I was taught up through 8th grade). You kind of have to see where their parents and schools were coming from - give them options for birth control and you're almost saying, "Okay - go have sex." (NOT that that's what I will teach!) But at the same time....you can give your children guidance and advice all you want, but at the end of the day, you can't be with them 24/7, and they're going to have to make their own decisions.
It's just so scary out there. I feel like I'm barely a "grown-up," how am I ever going to know when the time is right to bring a child in to this world? And when that time comes....how do Chris and I, as parents, find that balance between keeping your children close and under your thumb and letting them find their own way.
Scary, terrifying stuff.
These girls in the movie are 15, 16 years old. That means by the time they're my age, they will have 10 year olds - 5th graders!!!!!! I'm 26 and still don't feel like I'm mature or responsible enough to take that kind of responsibility.
I know that no one is ever really ready to have children - if you waited until you had enough money, or were in the right house, or worked at the right job - no one would ever have kids. But wow - what a huge step to take.
How did my parents survive me growing up in my teenage years with things like this? Not knowing the right thing to say, or teach? How am I going to know what to say, or teach, my own children, especially if I have daughters? These girls were taught abstinence only (which is what I was taught up through 8th grade). You kind of have to see where their parents and schools were coming from - give them options for birth control and you're almost saying, "Okay - go have sex." (NOT that that's what I will teach!) But at the same time....you can give your children guidance and advice all you want, but at the end of the day, you can't be with them 24/7, and they're going to have to make their own decisions.
It's just so scary out there. I feel like I'm barely a "grown-up," how am I ever going to know when the time is right to bring a child in to this world? And when that time comes....how do Chris and I, as parents, find that balance between keeping your children close and under your thumb and letting them find their own way.
Scary, terrifying stuff.
These girls in the movie are 15, 16 years old. That means by the time they're my age, they will have 10 year olds - 5th graders!!!!!! I'm 26 and still don't feel like I'm mature or responsible enough to take that kind of responsibility.
I know that no one is ever really ready to have children - if you waited until you had enough money, or were in the right house, or worked at the right job - no one would ever have kids. But wow - what a huge step to take.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Moles and miles
I suck at coming up with good "titles" for these things....and this one is especially awful. Sorry.... :)
So, the last week or so has been......rough. Some personal challenges Chris & I are trying to work through, and last week was definitely one of those where it was hard to be away from my mom and friends. Sometimes, having only Chris is hard.....and that in turn sometimes makes it hard to not kill him. (I joke!) But, in all seriousness, I really have to be thankful that we've overcome some of the obstacles that we have, when all we have here in Columbus is each other. Parents and friends and siblings are nowhere close enough to be able to "run" to, so we either talk it out or steam in silence 2 rooms away from each other. So.................anyway. Marriage is definitely a journey.............
Last Wednesday, I finally went to a dermatology appointment that I had put off twice. Calling me a chicken? You'd be right. I had 5 moles removed - 3 because I've hated them all my life, and 2 because the doctor was (slightly) suspicious of them. The 3 that I wanted gone he just "shaved" off (ew), but the 2 he wanted to do more research on, he "punched" out. It almost makes me gag to even think about it, so google it or something. But suffice it to say that both needed stitches, and I almost fainted while lying down. I got through it, by myself, even though I wanted my mom, and I go back to have stitches out tomorrow (the one at my hairline) and Monday (on my arm). Sick. Glad to have it over with. And is it bad that my boss needed a picture of me for a bio for a client....and I took a look at it.....and my first thought was, "DANG I need a tan!"???? Bad, bad, bad!
Today, I hit a new personal best - 3.03 miles in 29:40 minutes. First time I've ran 3 miles in under 30 minutes in a LONG time, and I'm really proud of myself. I didn't really run last week with all the bandages I was dealing with and the general pain in the ass they all were, so I think I'm going to fall a little short of my 30 miles ran by 1/30. I'm about 11 miles away, and I still have 4 days.............hmmmm. We'll see. But at any rate, I was pretty pleased with myself today :)
Well, tomorrow marks day 3 of month-end week, and it snowed today - so that's going to make the next 3 days crazy. I need a shower and bed, stat! (Thanks to a rerun of Grey's Anatomy I'm currently watching) :) :) :)
So, the last week or so has been......rough. Some personal challenges Chris & I are trying to work through, and last week was definitely one of those where it was hard to be away from my mom and friends. Sometimes, having only Chris is hard.....and that in turn sometimes makes it hard to not kill him. (I joke!) But, in all seriousness, I really have to be thankful that we've overcome some of the obstacles that we have, when all we have here in Columbus is each other. Parents and friends and siblings are nowhere close enough to be able to "run" to, so we either talk it out or steam in silence 2 rooms away from each other. So.................anyway. Marriage is definitely a journey.............
Last Wednesday, I finally went to a dermatology appointment that I had put off twice. Calling me a chicken? You'd be right. I had 5 moles removed - 3 because I've hated them all my life, and 2 because the doctor was (slightly) suspicious of them. The 3 that I wanted gone he just "shaved" off (ew), but the 2 he wanted to do more research on, he "punched" out. It almost makes me gag to even think about it, so google it or something. But suffice it to say that both needed stitches, and I almost fainted while lying down. I got through it, by myself, even though I wanted my mom, and I go back to have stitches out tomorrow (the one at my hairline) and Monday (on my arm). Sick. Glad to have it over with. And is it bad that my boss needed a picture of me for a bio for a client....and I took a look at it.....and my first thought was, "DANG I need a tan!"???? Bad, bad, bad!
Today, I hit a new personal best - 3.03 miles in 29:40 minutes. First time I've ran 3 miles in under 30 minutes in a LONG time, and I'm really proud of myself. I didn't really run last week with all the bandages I was dealing with and the general pain in the ass they all were, so I think I'm going to fall a little short of my 30 miles ran by 1/30. I'm about 11 miles away, and I still have 4 days.............hmmmm. We'll see. But at any rate, I was pretty pleased with myself today :)
Well, tomorrow marks day 3 of month-end week, and it snowed today - so that's going to make the next 3 days crazy. I need a shower and bed, stat! (Thanks to a rerun of Grey's Anatomy I'm currently watching) :) :) :)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The long offseason begins.....
Well, that sucked.
I was quietly confident the Cowboys could win today. Play like they've played against the Eagles in the last 2 weeks, and there's no chance we could lose.
Well, the o-line not showing up, the offensive playcalling was about as uncreative as I've seen all season, 6 sacks, 2 lost fumbles, 1 INT, and 2 missed field goals didn't really constitute as playing like we did in the last 2 weeks.
Oh well, I guess...at least the playoff-win-drought monkey is off our backs. This loss will hurt for awhile, though....
Good things:
Thursday > finally completed my "WIG" (wildly important goal) for the first time since the week of 12/7 at work. The administrators in Columbus have been working to lower our DSO (days sales outstanding) since April, and there are 2 specific tasks we have to do each week to get this done. With short weeks, the holidays, and snow, I just wasn't getting those tasks done, and it felt good to be GREEN this week! I also got a good run in that day.
Friday > was a rough day. Overly tired from not sleeping well Thursday night, which turned into me being annoyed at every little thing. I paid over $250K worth of branch invoices on Friday and that's always a huge task - so I guess that was a good thing.
Yesterday > drove to Indy to meet Mom, Megan, & Nana to pick out bridesmaids' dresses. Ignoring the customer-service-less lady at the front desk, it was a really fun time. Megan ended up picking the same dresses that the girls wore in the wedding that Chris was in in September, and thankfully, they're pretty :) I'll be wearing black, and the other girls will be in a watermelon color, which should be really cool and gorgeous for pictures. It was a fun day!
Today > it was raining outside and I definitely didn't feel like it, but I got a run in before the game started today. I didn't go as long as I have been doing, but it felt good to get it under my belt :) I have about 16 miles to run between now and next Saturday (1/30) to meet my first self-made goal. I think I can do it!
Hopefully this week will be a good one and go quickly. I have to go have 5 spots removed (3 suspicious-looking moles the doctor didn't like, and 2 that have annoyed me for forever) on Wednesday, so I'm a little tense about that, but I'm sure it'll be fine. It's also the last fiscal week of January. Wow!
Well, off to do some more laundry and squeeze some more r&r out of this weekend. 5:30am on Monday morning will come way too quick!
I was quietly confident the Cowboys could win today. Play like they've played against the Eagles in the last 2 weeks, and there's no chance we could lose.
Well, the o-line not showing up, the offensive playcalling was about as uncreative as I've seen all season, 6 sacks, 2 lost fumbles, 1 INT, and 2 missed field goals didn't really constitute as playing like we did in the last 2 weeks.
Oh well, I guess...at least the playoff-win-drought monkey is off our backs. This loss will hurt for awhile, though....
Good things:
Thursday > finally completed my "WIG" (wildly important goal) for the first time since the week of 12/7 at work. The administrators in Columbus have been working to lower our DSO (days sales outstanding) since April, and there are 2 specific tasks we have to do each week to get this done. With short weeks, the holidays, and snow, I just wasn't getting those tasks done, and it felt good to be GREEN this week! I also got a good run in that day.
Friday > was a rough day. Overly tired from not sleeping well Thursday night, which turned into me being annoyed at every little thing. I paid over $250K worth of branch invoices on Friday and that's always a huge task - so I guess that was a good thing.
Yesterday > drove to Indy to meet Mom, Megan, & Nana to pick out bridesmaids' dresses. Ignoring the customer-service-less lady at the front desk, it was a really fun time. Megan ended up picking the same dresses that the girls wore in the wedding that Chris was in in September, and thankfully, they're pretty :) I'll be wearing black, and the other girls will be in a watermelon color, which should be really cool and gorgeous for pictures. It was a fun day!
Today > it was raining outside and I definitely didn't feel like it, but I got a run in before the game started today. I didn't go as long as I have been doing, but it felt good to get it under my belt :) I have about 16 miles to run between now and next Saturday (1/30) to meet my first self-made goal. I think I can do it!
Hopefully this week will be a good one and go quickly. I have to go have 5 spots removed (3 suspicious-looking moles the doctor didn't like, and 2 that have annoyed me for forever) on Wednesday, so I'm a little tense about that, but I'm sure it'll be fine. It's also the last fiscal week of January. Wow!
Well, off to do some more laundry and squeeze some more r&r out of this weekend. 5:30am on Monday morning will come way too quick!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Good BYE, 2009!
Well, today officially wrapped up 2009. Our year-end/ December close was today, and I'm so relieved. Closes in general are stressful, but there is so much that has to be done and accounted for at year-end - on TOP of snow - that I'm glad, glad, glad it's over! Another branch's close took 5.5 hours yesterday, and ours lasted just under 3 hours. For all the hours everyone has worked lately, I'm so proud of the guys I work with, because they really do make my job easier (sometimes!)
So that was the good thing for today.
Monday - probably the only good thing was that it ended (ha). It was a crazy day at work (6+ hours of snow payroll), and cold, and just a MONDAY!
Yesterday - I hit a new "personal best" while running - 2.62 miles in 25 minutes. Not that great, but it was in the cold and sometimes snowy/ icy roads & sidewalks - but it felt good! It's actually getting easier to run outside as far as breathing goes. At first it felt like I was breathing in needles, but now it's getting better.
I'm off to bed....a little earlier tonight than normal. With the close today and the amount of hours I've been putting into work, I'm just worn out. Today was also one of those days.....hard, overwhelming, and having a generally negative attitude towards everyone and everything. Hopefully a good night's sleep will turn my demeanor around!
Night!
So that was the good thing for today.
Monday - probably the only good thing was that it ended (ha). It was a crazy day at work (6+ hours of snow payroll), and cold, and just a MONDAY!
Yesterday - I hit a new "personal best" while running - 2.62 miles in 25 minutes. Not that great, but it was in the cold and sometimes snowy/ icy roads & sidewalks - but it felt good! It's actually getting easier to run outside as far as breathing goes. At first it felt like I was breathing in needles, but now it's getting better.
I'm off to bed....a little earlier tonight than normal. With the close today and the amount of hours I've been putting into work, I'm just worn out. Today was also one of those days.....hard, overwhelming, and having a generally negative attitude towards everyone and everything. Hopefully a good night's sleep will turn my demeanor around!
Night!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Happy girl
What a WEEKEND!
Obviously, the good thing that happened yesterday was the fact that my COWBOYS got their first playoff win in 13 years last night, and it was so exciting! Chris & I just ordered some wings and settled in to watch the game at home. It was scary at the beginning and I was afraid it was just going to be another wasted season, but we came out and won! There was definitely a lot of excitement in the King household last night, and it was also a lot of fun to text Anthony back and forth; it was the first playoff game of his lifetime! :)
Another good thing from yesterday was getting to sleep in (ahhhhh) and just recharge my batteries from last week's long hours and stress. I did have to go in for about 4.5 hours yesterday, but hopefully that makes for a normal (ha) 40-hour workweek this week. When I got home at 4:30, there was still too much time left until the game and I was antsy, so I bundled up, grabbed my iPod, and went for a quick run. It's really exciting to me how fast my endurance is building - both in leg strength and in breathing control. I felt really proud of myself that I went out and got a 2-mile run in when it was 12* outside :) On nikeplus.com, I've challenged myself to run 30 miles by 1/30, and I have about 22 to go....which isn't bad considering how much I worked last week!
Tomorrow brings another Monday and probably more snow, but hopefully this week will be smoother than last week. After working 4 days in 2 weeks, a 5-day workweek was hard enough without snow everyday AND fiscal year-end. We've all had a week to get back into it and this week should go a little smoother. I hope.
There isn't much point to this entry except for my concentration of looking for the good and happy things in life. They weren't hard to find this weekend!
PS - one last good thing from the weekend - we are going on vacation with Chris' family the first week of August this year to celebrate his mom's 50th birthday and his stepdad's 40th birthday - and they booked the house yesterday! It's a gorgeous, 5-bedroom house, right on the beach in Kill Devil Hills, NC (Outer Banks). A real vacation - can't come soon enough!
Obviously, the good thing that happened yesterday was the fact that my COWBOYS got their first playoff win in 13 years last night, and it was so exciting! Chris & I just ordered some wings and settled in to watch the game at home. It was scary at the beginning and I was afraid it was just going to be another wasted season, but we came out and won! There was definitely a lot of excitement in the King household last night, and it was also a lot of fun to text Anthony back and forth; it was the first playoff game of his lifetime! :)
Another good thing from yesterday was getting to sleep in (ahhhhh) and just recharge my batteries from last week's long hours and stress. I did have to go in for about 4.5 hours yesterday, but hopefully that makes for a normal (ha) 40-hour workweek this week. When I got home at 4:30, there was still too much time left until the game and I was antsy, so I bundled up, grabbed my iPod, and went for a quick run. It's really exciting to me how fast my endurance is building - both in leg strength and in breathing control. I felt really proud of myself that I went out and got a 2-mile run in when it was 12* outside :) On nikeplus.com, I've challenged myself to run 30 miles by 1/30, and I have about 22 to go....which isn't bad considering how much I worked last week!
Tomorrow brings another Monday and probably more snow, but hopefully this week will be smoother than last week. After working 4 days in 2 weeks, a 5-day workweek was hard enough without snow everyday AND fiscal year-end. We've all had a week to get back into it and this week should go a little smoother. I hope.
There isn't much point to this entry except for my concentration of looking for the good and happy things in life. They weren't hard to find this weekend!
PS - one last good thing from the weekend - we are going on vacation with Chris' family the first week of August this year to celebrate his mom's 50th birthday and his stepdad's 40th birthday - and they booked the house yesterday! It's a gorgeous, 5-bedroom house, right on the beach in Kill Devil Hills, NC (Outer Banks). A real vacation - can't come soon enough!
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