10.30.08

1. A relaxing day and an evening ahead watching "Made of Honor"... yippee!

2. Purple toenails and yellow daisies

3. Having a boss who won't call or email me today because she really is happy for me to take the day off (though I did email her...no response yet!).

Strengths

For Sarah H:

Developer
Empathy
Learner
Individualization
Positivity

Love it. So much fun! :)

10.29.08

1. A house that is STILL, miracle of miracles, clean.

2. An afternoon consisting of a pedicure and a haircut with a friend tomorrow...woo-hoo!!! No work for the rest of the week! At the same time--a job that I really don't mind working a little even on my days off because I want to be kept in the loop and updated. :)

3. I got called Swarah yesterday by one of my residents with no reminders! LOVE LOVE LOVE that. That makes my day every time. It's few and far between these days so when it happens, it is a J O Y.

See...I have TWO nieces and nephews! ;)

Here's my photographic attempts with Colton and Linse, my older niece and nephew. I obviously have a number of pics of the two little ones, so it was fun to get some of these guys too.

I like the idea of natural kids pictures; however, when I have someone like Linse to work with, it doesn't SEEM natural because she is such a little poser. I think she's ready to be a cover model by looking at the way she hams it up for the camera.

I wanted them to hold hands. Yea right. That wasn't happenin.

This one cracks me up. :)

They live on top of a ridge, so it was incredibly windy. A few good ones came out of it at least! It was pretty fun though. It's amazing to me to look at Colton and Linse and think about how old they are. I was in 7th grade when Colton was born. He's in 5th grade now. That is also weird because Ryan and I met in 6th grade...that seems so long ago and Colton is so young to imagine that I met my future HUSBAND at his age. Weird, weird, weird.

Kids. They grow up so fast. ;)

10.28.08

1. I went grocery shopping after work, came home to a clean kitchen, and actually cooked (this is almost miracle proportion).

2. Tomorrow is technically Friday for me! {Still feels very, very strange, but I'm VERY excited to take 2 days off just for the heck of it. I feel guilty, yes, but excited!!!}

3. I'm planning a career fair type open house for work. I got to work on the brochure today with our Recruiting Director and I just loved it. I love when I get to do planning and coordinating type tasks. Very fun!

10.27.08

1. A nagging to do item is crossed off my list.

2. I'm having a staff meeting in my apartment tonight. Great motivation to C L E A N it and that feels great.

3. A text from a friend made my day.

Weekend

To clarify--the post about the wine, the bar, and the sleeping. The "sleeping" part came from the night before the wine and the bar. The wine and the bar were actually not at all related to the fabulous sleep...other than the fact that I'm grateful for all 3 of those things.

Anna and lil' Ryan's bday parties were this weekend. Ryan didn't join me. He stayed here and did who knows what {though I think it had something to do with a part and his truck...maybe}.

My mom and I did some shopping yesterday which is usually disastrous, but it went well. I'm excited about the couple of items I purchased and we both made it out of the mall alive. I'd call that a success! :)

I did a little photo shoot with Colton and Linse today and will put pics up a different day this week. It was kind of fun, though it was incredibly windy up at their house.

I'm super excited to only be working 3 days this week. The best part of it is...I'm not taking Thursday and Friday off for any real reason other than just to do it. I have PTO for a reason, apparently, so it might as well get put to use {a LOT of PTO actually, which really shouldn't be seen as a problem, but it bugs me just sitting there accumulating!}. So...the plan= sleeping in on Thursday, running a few errands I never make time for otherwise, meeting a friend at Woodbury Lakes for pedicures (bday gift certificate from Ryan!) and haircuts {and dinner too, possibly. she and I do that on a weekly basis after all}. Friday I'm going to hang out around home and do some cleaning and organizing, then head to Brenda's for the night to go Trick or Treating with Anna and Ryan. I'll spend the night, come back Saturday, then still have the whole weekend ahead of me. That is BEAUTIFUL!

Here goes the 3 day work week! woo-hoo!

10.26.08

1. My brother. The older I get, the more of an understanding we develop. I'm his favorite sister, obviously. :)

2. Friends that let me crash at their house last night.

3. A good weekend with my mom (despite the fact that she told me I need therapy...it was probably the best weekend I can remember in a long time with her. ha. I'm not even being sarcastic!)

10.25.08

1. Movie theaters that serve wine--what an amazing idea that was (not to mention very LARGE glasses of wine!!!)!

2. Hanging out with 3 people at a bar in LaCrosse last night...one HS classmate, one 2 years younger than me, one a year older than me. We've never hung out together before, yet it was perfectly normal. I love my small town and my small high school!

3. Sleeping so soundly that I forgot where I was. No tapping on the wall in the middle of the night, no baby monitor from upstairs, no footsteps, no dog, no husband getting home at 3 in the morning. Just sleep. Fabulous, uninterupted sleep.

10.24.08

1. Texting and Facebook. Perfect ways to keep in touch!

2. Being far enough away from home town, and being away from there long enough to really love and appreciate it.

3. Getting to take a bath in my parents extra big bathtub

10.23.08

1. I got to have a yummy dinner with an awesome friend who always makes me laugh.

2. My house is cleaner than usual.

3. Tomorrow is Friday!

{Heading home for the weekend. Anna and Ryan are having their 5th and 3rd birthday parties at Chuck E Cheeses. Where did the last 5 years go? Jeesh!}

10.22.08

1. I laughed a lot today

2. I got to sleep in

3. I got to text back and forth with my roomie and hope to see her this weekend.

Gratitude

We had a training at work today and the CEO's wife, co-owner of the company, gave us her annual talk on the importance of maintaining balance in our lives. She always starts with a written survey with questions like:

1. What did you eat yesterday? Did you have breakfast this morning? (I ate a piece of cake and a Smart One yesterday; No, no breakfast this morning)

{uh-oh}




2. How much water did you consume yesterday? Caffeine? (NO water; about 20 oz of caffeine)



{not good}


3. How much sleep did you get last night? Do you ever take naps during the day? (This is the one area I'm GOOD in. I was so exhausted last night that I had to bide my time until I could finally feel ok about going to bed at 8:30...it's embarassing, but boy do I love my sleep!)

{it mostly went downhill again after this point!}





The survey went on to talk about procrastination, exercise, dates with friends/spouses, etc. There were lots of guilty looks and hanging heads in that room--believe me. It's always a good reminder from her and it's nice to know that the leading lady in the company is ok with us getting a pedicure in the middle of the day or taking an extended weekend.





The other thing she talked about was having an attitude of gratitude or a critical spirit. She gave all of us journals to encourage us to keep a gratitude journal of 3 things we're grateful for that day.





Since one of my last posts was positively mopey, I thought that the gratitude idea sounded good (not to mention I was envisioning how i could turn that into a SCRAP-project!). Instead of a paper journal though, that would give me something worthwhile to blog about (at least something worthwhile to me!).





Here goes! I am grateful for...





1. Getting to work with people who make me laugh on a daily basis.
2. Being able to appreciate the little moments with a very special person in my life who is going downhill slowly but surely. His little whispers and bursts of laughter today absolutely made my day.
3. A job where I get to make a difference in the lives of the people I work with.

We'll see how long I can keep up with the idea of posting these daily!

Week in the Life of Me

2 weeks ago already! The album is very much in-progress. I'm using a chipboard album with rings and my beloved 2" square punch. I think I'm in love.

Life

Work is stressful. I still love it, but my morale is low (along with many of my co-workers).

I have clutter everywhere and hate it.

I haven't talked on the phone to my mom in weeks.

I only see Ryan on the weekends.

I'm sad that my friend isn't talking to me.

I work 10-12 hour days and this week I'm working all 7 days.

OK...that's the negatives.

There are a few positives...

I have regained a new appreciation for where I started with my job. I love spending time upstairs with the guys and the staff. They are fantastic.

I've grown closer to all my co-workers lately and am starting to develop more "friendships" there...even outside of work. I love that.

We were supposed to book our Mexico vacation today, but will wait til Monday. Then, we get to spend a week in May with some of our very best friends in the whole, wide world.

Speaking of them, I am a much better friend to them then I had been for a long time, but no grudges were held.

I did the "week in the life of" project on Ali Edwards' blog and almost have the finished project. Love that.

Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win

When things go wrong, as they will,
When the road you're traveling seems all up hill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to cry,
When life is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is a challenge with its twists and turns,
As each and everyone some day learns,
And many a failure would hve turned out,
Had they not given up, had they stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

You can never tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
'Cause quitters never win, and winners never quit,
When the time arrives that you might give in,
That's when you know you're about to win.

Me @ 25

Tomorrow is my birthday.
Today, my last day of being the good ole' # 2 5, I reflect on me @ 25 ;) ....



I believe friends should be based on quality, not quantity
I am me, not my mom
I don’t like talking on the phone
I like my space
I love my job
I like photography
I love all things crafty
I love my dog
I am happily married
I am extremely laid back about most areas of my life
I usually cry on my way to or from Stoddard
I love sleep
I buy myself flowers
I have a ton of student loans to pay back, but no credit cards
I drive a 2004 Mitsubishi Galant
I’ve worked at ACR for 6 years
I’ve dated Ryan for 8 years
I like remembering trivial facts about new people I meet (like their coffee drink)
I love relaxing weekends to craft and watch chick flicks alone
I adore my nieces and nephews
I am chronically disorganized in most ways, yet really organized in others
Our apartment is rarely clean
I want to be a mom sometime (sooner rather than later)
I hate going to the bank and post office
I love facebook and blogging
I could eat Mexican food every night of the week
I love to wear sweatpants
I’m entirely a people person during the day, so really appreciate being alone sometimes
I like my personal space
I don't like clingy people
I really like squares and linear things
I value my long-term friendships like no other, though I just pulled through a phase when I wasn’t a very good friend to them
I’m too empathetic and it really gets to me sometimes
I’m horrible at returning phone calls
I still believe that high school was the best time of my life
I love still being referred to as “Rob” or “Raabel” by my old friends
I am always “Sarah-Abbott” at work (one word. not 2.)
I take multiple baths each week
I love garage sales
I have horrible eating habits
I can read a book in a day if I have time
I work too much
I pay for a gym membership but never go
There are some things that I am horrible about procrastinating
I'm a really positive person
I like making people happy