Two Years

Two years ago today, I married my goofy, handsome, ridiculous soul mate, Brandon. I love him with all of my heart, every day, and I'm looking forward to many more years of loving silliness. You still can make my heart beat faster, and coming home to you at night is always the best part of my day. Happy Anniversary, my love.

New Beginnings

Starting a new job is like starting a new romance. There's the usual questions. Should I have stayed with my old boyfriend? Should I have stayed at my old job? Was it really so bad, with him? Was it really so bad, working there? He made me miserable, but there were such good times... It made me miserable, but there were such good times... 
You get the picture. Same questions, and almost the same story. But then, starting the new job, which is really just a new relationship, is so exciting sometimes. Learning new things, about the person you're with, the people you work with; what is expected of you; what you can bring to the relationship (either one), that's new and different. If you're a good girlfriend, or a good worker, then you always have something to bring to the table that the person you're with, or the company you work for, will not expect and will be grateful to gain.
The key is to remember that with all pain- the pain of losing something you were used to, that you were comfortable with- the pain of learning something new, restyling the way you relate to someone, coming home with sore feet- is worth the change of perspective. That change, in and of itself, is generally meant to be a good thing. Maybe the guy you've found, or the job you quit your last job for, is not going to be forever- but nothing is. Everything you do will help you learn that much more, so that one day you will be an old woman sitting on her front porch saying, "I did that. And I'm so glad I did, because that's what led to...."

Fishtail braid

After multiple attempts, I have finally succeeded in doing a fishtail braid! The key? Wet hair.

Nails

Silver crackle over dark red

Sewing

My mom came to visit and brought me a sewing machine. I'm already having fun with it. Here's a pillow I made from one of my husband's old T-shirts. Biggest compliment ever? He said it was cool and it looked like I bought it in a store!

Crackle Polish

Light brown nail polish with a layer of copper crackle and a layer of silver crackle on top.

Work, work, work

So work has been insanely stressful lately. I won't go into detail, but I will say this: I feel more like a stepmother at work than I do when I'm with my actual stepkids. Which I find very entertaining, considering all of the women I work with are older than I am. As a result of their bickering, they're grounded (sort of) and I got to have a super-fun staff meeting where we had to review (again) policies, procedures, standards of conduct, dress code, and basically how to play nicely. Not sure where they went to kindergarten, but it sure wasn't the same place I went. The Golden Rule, remember? Treat others how you want to be treated? Ring any bells???? .....silence.....

Anyway, the meeting went pretty well (I think), and my boss was there to help me with it. She taught us two new acronyms to help us with communicating like the grown women we claim to be.

Q-TIP
"Quit Taking It Personally"

THINK
"Thoughtful, Honest, Intelligent, Necessary, Kind"

I like the Q-tip one, but I especially liked the Think acronym. She explained it to them and ended with saying "And if what you're about to say isn't ALL FIVE of those things, don't say it."

She also had us do this fun activity and we got free hula hoops out of it. She had us stand up, holding our hoops over our bodies and then let them drop down so we were standing inside of the hula hoops. "Look at your hula hoop. Everything inside of your hula hoop is in your control. How you respond to other people, how you do your job... that's in your hula hoop. How other people respond to you is not in your hula hoop. Anything outside of your hula hoop... none of your business."

Sad that this is how we have to explain things, but it was fun. Had some laughs, and a hula hoop contest after the meeting ended. I lost the hula hoop contest, but may just have won my staff back. *hopeful*