Wise Man

While I never owned an Iphone like most of America, this quote from Steve Jobs is really resonating with me. I love the job I currently have the honor to do, and am excited that I am loving the topics of my grad school classes {hopefully meaning I'll love my next job too}.

via

My job is muddy

I know that I talked here and here about how much I love my job but today I'm really going to make you jealous. I'm organizing/running a 400-person mud volleyball tournament....in a thunderstorm. 

I bought some killer shoes at GoodWill just for today's event. That's right, my job enables me to shop at GoodWill. 

Dipped

I spent the day eating pizza and helping high school students make a stop-action video. Sweet Life.

This image makes my heart flutter. I love the look of these dipped baskets that I've been seeing everywhere. I'm adding this project to my to-do list for when I have tons of free time and want to make a huge mess.

As always, thanks for the inspiration Martha!

Motto for Friday

Thank goodness it is finally Friday! Since I spend 50% of my "awake hours" at work, I feel lucky to work with such great women. Work Hard. Be nice to people. That's what I've got on my mind today.

Image via Fabulous K

Cinco De Mayo

Today my work cohorts and I celebrated Cinco De Mayo at the Olive garden. Then we came back to our office and ate strawberry shortcake. Ole! I don’t really think that is what the Mexican’s had in mind for the anniversary of their independence.

I’m confident husband will make us some margaritas tonight. That man loves margaritas. And white chocolate mochas. And diet coke. But mostly margaritas. Phony holidays like Cinco de Mayo make me miss being an undergraduate student- when everything litterly was a party.

I am anxious for tomorrow to come. This weekend is full of so many eventful and JOYFUL things. I am interviewing for grad school {what?!}, my little sister is graduating from college with about a million different awards for being a superstar, two of my childhood closest friends are getting married and I get to be at home with my Mom for mother’s day.

I’m sure I’ll have lots of good stories when I return. JJ and I will have 11 hours in the car together so pray for him!

spoken from the mouths of babes

I couldn't resist posting this submission from our anti-drug illustration contest we did at work.

Amen, brother. I love my job.

the caboose of tax season

Tax day came and went and I say "good riddance!" Hallelujah!

Don't get me wrong; I think paying the government is fab but I am very ready to have husband working less than 75 hours a week. Things like conversations, meals at a table, an entire movie have been foreign concepts to us the past few months.

With the caboose of tax season brings the promise of newlywed-ness again. I plan on spending so much quality time together this summer that by the time tax season rolls around next year we'll cheer. I'm kidding.  About the cheering that is. We aren't really cheering people.

Weekend paperdolls

Is it really the weekend already? Where did this week go? 

I'm out and about filming a PSA on marijuana with a bunch of high schoolers today. Well, first I have a meeting, then a focus group, then helping some kiddos film a PSA. Did I mention that it's Saturday? 

I stumbled across these fun postcards in the latest Matchbook magazine and want to mail them to everyone I know. Who wouldn't smile if they opened their mailbox and found this fashionista paper doll? Too bad I'm broke or I would have just placed an order for 40 paper doll postcards!

party like it's -9 degrees outside

Image via Kate Spade 

Not that anyone is awarding gold stars or anything {since two days out of the five day work week were snow days} but I thought you might like to know that I just wrapped up my first full week at the new job. So far we've eaten cookies every day so I would say it's been a huge success.

We are going to have a serious houseful this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. I'm told there are three air mattresses headed our way, in addition to the two queen sized beds and a pull out sofa we already have. We're goin' a party like it's negative nine degrees outside......

The 4-1-1

I am flattered by the number of sweet emails and text messages I received today in response to my posts about the interview and the job offer. Here's the 4-1-1 on the new j-o-b.

I am working in the prevention and wellness office of a mental health services center that covers three of Kansas City's counties. I will be overseeing/planning/orchestrating all of the substance abuse prevention campaigns for area middle school and high school youth. I'll be doing lots of public relations and marketing to legislatures, parents, teachers and students about trends (huffing spray paint, alcohol energy drinks, etc.) and substance abuse glamorized in the media. Add some grant writing and event planning and you've got my new job.

I am really excited because:
-I get to do what I love: talking to people about things I am passionate about
-I really love the director and other staff
-I can make a difference in kids lives before they jump off the deep end
-I will be using skills I already have so I get to skip that awkward training period
-I get to have a normal, productive schedule again!

My first day was wonderful. They made me feel very welcome and we ate lots of chocolate. I already know that I get tomorrow off because we are supposed to get 8" of snow tonight. I wish my husband was in the same state as me so we could enjoy the snow day together.

Wanna see my business card?

Guess what I'm doing this morning? I'm going to work!

I accepted a job offer yesterday and I'm back among the world of productive people today. I'll tell you all about it later but for now I'm doin the happy dance...

{me}

In case you're interested....

A sweet reporter from the Missourian Newspaper wrote a piece on the staff at Missouri Girls Town and I thought I'd share it. There is a large section from yours truly talking about the holidays.

Time to pack, big boobs!

Today was my last day of work. Now I actually have to get serious about packing up our apartment. My sweet friends have been saving boxes for me and now it's time to fill 'em up! 

Everyone at work gave me the biggest bra known to man and a pair of super sweet granny panties that they had signed for me to take on our honeymoon. 

Am I lucky or am I lucky?? They stuck Santa in there because I was having trouble filling out the bra. 

Thankful

Today I am thankful for my kids.

Not my real kids (because I don't have any) but the little girls I work with every day at my job. I have the honor of working for a non-profit that provides a home, therapy, vocational skills and many other benefits to severely abused and neglected girls from every county in the State.

I just stepped outside to get some air and this is what I saw.....

Unprompted, this is what the kids have on their mind. I think there are many things I can learn from them!

Love is patient, Love isn't glamorous

I've been so busy that updating my blog took a backseat to annual reports and company enewsletters. I've been learning so much about what it means to be a real, grown-up person- namely that it is much less glamorous than I thought it was going to be.

I had always envisioned myself to be living in an adorable tiny apartment in New York City working for some fashion company at this point in my life. Throw in a dreamy man and some great boots and you've got my dream life. While I do have the tiny apartment, an adorable boyfriend and some decent boots, I am learning to find the glitz and glamour elsewhere. I got a crock pot for my birthday (which I specifically asked for because I'm really cool) and I've been trying to cook fancy things that will be ready when I get home from work. I've also purchased a set of high thread count sheets so that by the time I got to bed at night I feel like I'm sleeping on something other than a hand-me-down mattress. They were worth the half of my paycheck that I spent on them. That's another great thing about being on my own- I can spend my money on whatever stupid things I want and I can only blame myself!

The best part of my job are the girls who live at our residential treatment center. Each one has a painful story and the internal scars to prove it. I've decided that while I am not in love with the day-to-day tasks of my job, I am in love with dedicating myself to making myself completely available to these girls. They are all looking for love in ALL the wrong places and, while I can't completely relate to that because I was scared of boys until I was like 20, I am a good listener and I keep a lot of chocolate in my office.

What is so heart breaking for me is that each one of these girls is going to age-out of "the system" when they turn 18 and will be out on their own. They will have no family and no money saved up to rely on. They never had mothers to teach them things like table manners or how to braid their hair or how to get stains out of clothes. I don't know how many times as a child I told my mother that I hated her, but now I couldn't be more grateful for the way I was raised.

I love this "message" version of the classic "love is patient, love is kind." I feel like this is something our girls at work would really be able to relate to:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (The Message)
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.


Better late than never, right blog world?!