Wow! It's been too long!

I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged! Things have been a little crazy around the Stafford house, plus with the new job and all, I haven't had much time to put my thoughts together.

I'll try to catch you up in a quick and concise way... well, as concise as I can be! hehe. There are three main things going on in my life right now.

1) My wonderful cousin is having a baby in October and I'm throwing her a baby shower. I know it may seem a little early to throw a baby shower, but we've decided to have a little fun with it and make it a "gender reveal" party as well. This is a fairly new thing in the baby shower circles (well, new to me at least), where the parents resist telling everyone they know what the sex of the baby is when they find out, and then reveal it at the baby shower in one way or another. For ours, I'll be making a cake that will either be pink or blue on the inside. During the party they will cut into the cake and reveal the sex of the baby. What I was thinking when I offered to bake the cake I'm not really sure!!! hehe. But it'll be fun!

She's a big Dallas Cowboys fan, so we've decided to use the Cowboys star as the inspiration for the party. The colors are going to be Navy and Fuchsia like this..

(source)

and there will be stars everywhere! I'm in the process of making 3D paper stars to hang around the park pavilion, and I'm really happy with the way they are turning out.

I found this image and template online and they are turning out to be easier than I expected. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share after the party next weekend.

2) I've joined Weight Watchers online. I've been unhappy with my weight for a long time, but this picture from my friends wedding was the last boost of motivation I needed!

It's now 5 1/2 weeks later, and I'm 8lbs lighter! I expect to hit my first goal of 10lbs by the weekend! Then it's on to the next 10lb goal until I'm at a more reasonable weight for my build. Hopefully that will be somewhere in the 130's-ish. A part of me wants to be the 110 soaking wet that I was in high school, but that's unreasonable (or so I keep telling myself). Right now I'm just taking it 10lbs at a time and focusing on learning a different way to eat! I want this to be a lifestyle change and not a diet. I feel that the weight watchers points system is helping me do that. Plus I love work sheets and fill in the blank opportunities!

3) I've become addicted to Craigslist thanks to my new favorite blog, Design*Sponge. So my new favorite thing is "upcycling". Design*Sponge's before and after blogs are teaching me to look for the potential in furniture I would have otherwise turned my nose up at. So, yesterday I bought two end tables/night stands and a coffee table for $60. Here is my inspiration:

(source)

and

(source)

I love the neutral color of the furniture itself and the contrasting drawer pulls. Before becoming addicted to this site the first thing I would have done was get rid of those awful pulls. But when painted a contrast color, they really make the piece pop.

So here is my raw material purchased off Craigslist for $60.

I love delicate shape of the legs, and the scalloping around the edge. Jay and I were talking last night about whether to try to restain them or paint them. They are beautiful as they are (with a few scratches and dings), but truthfully, they are way too traditional for my tastes and I don't think I would ever be happy with them as they are.

So, I'll be splitting up the set. The coffee table I'm going to paint an eggshell black to match the rest of our decor in the living room.

The side tables I'm going to put in our bedroom. We already have a tall chest of drawers that we painted a dark chocolate brown about a year ago. So, I'm going to paint these the same color and then paint the drawer pulls a delicate blue to match the accent colors in our room. Haven't settled on the exact color yet. I'm so excited! Now I'm on the hunt for a dresser that I can paint the same color. The awesome thing is, by painting everything, it'll look like it goes together even though each piece is unique and will cost us a fraction of what a bedroom suite would have cost!

So, to borrow a phrase from my favorite paper store (Paper Source), I challenge each of you to "do something creative every day"! What's your newest passion? We'd love to hear!

The Cheesiest Wedding Cake Ever

When planning a wedding, the pitfalls of cheesiness are around every corner! From the double intertwined heart motifs to the poofy, chifon pew bows, designing a unique, stylish wedding can be a challenge. But today I saw one of the most awesome things I've ever seen! I give you the Cheesiest Wedding Cake EVER!




This couple wasn't a fan of wedding cake and decided to go their own way. The cake is made of different cheese rounds accented with fruit and is one of the most unique ideas I've ever seen (which is saying alot given the multitude of wedding blogs I follow!) I ran across this on in a post by the fabulous ladies over at Southern Wedding Magazine. Check out the rest of this gorgeous South African wedding over at there blog.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Thankful Thursday

If ever I felt the need to count my blessings it would be today! So, I hope you enjoy this installment of Thankful Thursdays, and I hope that you can take a moment to appreciate all the wonderful things in your life today.

1) My amazing husband!

I am amazed by this man every day. Every day he does something special, sometimes these are small things like cooking dinner on a Tuesday night so that I can catch up with my mom. Sometimes these are bigger things like being willing to go with my great friend and her husband to see the new Twilight Saga movie in June. And sometimes these are huge things like when I dropped my Blackberry at Walmart last night and the rolly ball fell out. He put it back together, right there in the middle of the women's clothing section and it worked! He is truly my hero on so many levels and for so many reasons!

2) My Blackberry

Contemplating having to get a new phone last night was awful! It's not so much that I love my Blackberry, but that I'm looking forward to getting the new HTC EVO when it comes out in just over 3 weeks. I just need this phone to hold on till then. As sad as it sounds, I really have no idea what I would do without my phone!

3) My new job

I think the best way to describe how I feel about my new job, is to say that I have found it extremely easy to fall back into the swing of a 5 day work week. After over a year and a half at 4 days a week, you'd think that 5 days would be an adjustment. One would also imagine that I might be frustrated having to work 5 days for the same amount of money I was making at 4 days a week. But this couldn't be more wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be at the beach... or Big Sur, CA, but this office is certainly not the worst place in the world. I like so many things about my new office. I get to sit outside my PMs' offices instead of in some sort of admin pool. Everyone takes lunch from 12-1 which means everyone gets a break. I have my own space, so I can easily bring my lunch and have a calm, quite place to eat it. I leave at 5pm or very close to it every day! And I get to wear my jeans to work every day if I want to!!! And infact... today I have my Converse on!!

4) My wonderful puppy

There is nothing like coming home to this furry creature who's entire world has just lit up since you came through the door! I am also thankful that we have finally figured out a way to get him to take the liquid medicine the Dr perscribed! Woohoo!! No, really! You have no idea what a struggle this has been! Hopefully, now he will get better for real this time! I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a sick child because it is hard enough seeing my furry baby not feeling well.

5) My wonderful friends and family!

Although my best friend is having to miss out on attending a wedding (because of the Army being the... well... Army), I am thankful that it means that I will be able to see her this weekend for her birthday! And I'm also super thankful for the totally awesome present I found for her! I think it will be something she really likes and really shows her that I know who she is! Now if I can just find it! I remember looking at it when it came in, but don't know what happened to it after that. :-/ But like Jay said, "it has to be around here somewhere seeing that we NEVER throw anything out!" hehe!

6) My new weight watchers account

I signed up for an online Weight Watchers account on Monday and I'm super excited about it. I need to write a much longer post about it, but the short version is... 1. HOLY COW, I eat more food than I ever dreamed! 2. For an organized, Type A, fill-in-the-blank freak like me, the point trackers and check boxes are awesome! and 3. The Weight Watchers people are BRILLIANT! I bought a whole crap load of stuff at the grocery store for the sole reason that it had the Weight Watchers points listed on the front of the box! Like I said, I need to write a much longer blog on this topic and what limiting the food I eat has brought up emotionally, but I'll get to that on another day.

P.S. I totally wrote this yesterday, but got distracted before publishing... so have a Thankful Friday instead!

The first day

Well, the first day at my new job is almost over! It has been a great day! Everyone has been very nice! From what I've seen so far, the project managers and project assistants communicate in a way that I'm used to and thrive in. Some would call it brash or sarcastic, but I find it to be very comfortable. I'm use to working with guys who fall into the if-they-don't-pick-0n-you-they-don't-like-you category, and I love that. These guys definitely live by the motto: work hard, play hard!

It's nice to be back in an atmosphere where "my guys" rely on me heavily and I feel pride in making their lives easier, or at least it will once I get up and running. And I'm realy enjoying the challenge of learning something new. Thankfully, coming from an architecture field I know a lot of the lingo and understand the basics of how a building gets built. But there is plenty of new stuff to learn.

I have an entire corner cubical to myself, and I'm already loving it! I had almost totally forgotten what it was like to have a quiet place to work. In fact I may have a hard time concentrating until I get used to it again. :-)

All in all, it was a great day! It's nice to not dread coming to work for the first time in a very long time. I'll keep you all updated, but right now, this looks like it was a great move! Yay!!

The Last 2 Weeks...

I'm just over half way through my 2 week notice. It's been interesting. Telling my bosses I was leaving was not fun at all. Pretending that I'm going to miss this place in order to not hurt the feelings of my co-workers has been a challenge. And then Friday I was called upon to perform one final miracle before I depart!

One of my bosses called me on Friday (my day off) around lunch asking me if I could come in for an hour or two to pull some stuff for a proposal that needed to be finished on Monday. Somehow I understood him to say that the firm we were partnering with was going to actually assemble the proposal and all I needed to do was get them some raw information.

Well, when I got into the office at 1:30pm I found out that that was not the case. We were putting together the proposal and the other firm was getting us information. Very soon I realized that they were asking me to do in a workday and a half what would normally take me three workdays worth of very focused time.

Long story... longer. ;-) I was at work until after 6pm on Friday, and here yesterday, Monday, until after 8pm. Oh well. I'm going out doing miracles and they are going out asking me to. I swear one of these day I'm going to get saint hood. I think you only have to do 3 miracles for that and I've done way more than three!

So... hopefully I won't be expected to be quite so magical at my new job. And I'm certainly looking forward to having a more even schedule! Like I told one of my bosses when we talked... "I didn't go to school to do this! I haven't dreamt of doing this all my life! Therefore, I'm not willing to sacrifice time with my husband, my family and friends, and myself to do it!"

Just three more days left!

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!

That's right, after 2 years at a job I disspise, more than a year and a half at 32 hours a week, more emotional breakdowns than I can count, numerous missed engagements with friends and family, countless hours of driving to hand deliver proposals out of town, never measuring up to unattainable standards of perfection, and a co-worker I'd like to shove off the balcony on a good day, I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!

I've been truthfully looking for a new one since about 3 months after I got this one in February of 2008. Unfortunately, about that time is when the economy pretty much went down the crapper, and as much as I hated it, I was thankful to have a job at all. I've had a couple of leads over the last two years, but nothing went very far.

To say the least... it's been a LONG two years! Over the past 2 years, I've tried to adjust to post-military life, struggled with moving back to a town that brought back few happy memories, tryed to connect to old friends in the area as well as make new ones, survived the death of my grandmother and the implosion of my extended family, navigated the house-buying process and attempted to be a good homeowner, all while dealing with a job that drains literally every ounce of my mental and emotional energy. And more importantly while trying to establish a solid foundation for the rest of Jay and my life together. Overwhelming... no. Exhausting... no. I truly cannot find a word to describe the last two years of my life.

But during this time, I've come to realize that sometimes getting out of bed every morning and putting one foot in front of the other all day long is something to celebrate! But I'm tired of simply surviving! I want to thrive! And hopefully, this new job will help me attain that goal!

Don't get me wrong... I know it's not going to be perfect. Nothing ever is. (Not even Studio 111, although all the non-perfect parts seem to have fallen out of my memory!) I know that this will be an adjustment, and there will always be at least one person who I don't click with as well as the others. I know I'll still get bored with the detail-orriented work sometimes, and no matter what job you have... you would always rather be at the beach. But I'm confident that it will be enormously better than what I have survived through the past 2 years.

Thanks everyone for all your crossed fingers and toes, your positive thoughts, and your prayers. If I can ask one more thing... please keep me in my thoughts over the next two weeks as I work out my notice. If I thought it was stressful around here now, it's only going to get worse. I'm keeping my eye on the goal though, and trying to keep in mind that nothing is worth my sanity. If I need to, I'll work a shorter notice.

Thanks again everyone! Here's to enjoying life!

Second interview...

That's right. I have a second interview tomorrow! My first interview went great! Not only does this sound like a way to get out of a job I hate, but it sounds like a place I will really enjoy working. The office manager was great! I felt like we really connected. The HVAC department director/project manager was awesome as well and hillarious. He laughed and joked with the office manager the whole time. They seem to have that great work hard, play hard mentality to the office which is the main thing I miss about working at Studio 111 in Cali. I've been looking for that for the past 3 years and have been unable to find. The offices I've worked in since have all been sort of... stuffy. I'm all for professional in front of clients and professional when it comes to getting the work done, but if I'm going to be at a place for 40 hours a week (more time than I spend awake at my house in a week), then I want it to be a fun, happy, playful environment. And this office seems to have just that!

Additionally, they seem to really respect their admins and lean of them greatly. I hate offices that have a "here type this letter, little girl" attitude towards their admin staff. My current boss once suggested that we list only the "professional" staff on the website, meaning architects and intern architects. What does that make the support staff... unprofessionals?!?!? The office manager and I both have 4 year degress and just because we arn't architects doesn't make us not professionals. Grrr. By contrast this company sees their project assistants and support staff as vital members of the construction team.

The commute would be about the same as I have right now, but I wouldn't have to deal with downtown parking (which will save me $50 a month right off the bat). I'll take a per hour pay cut, but since I'll be working 40 hours a week again, at the end of the month we will have the same amount of income or greater, so J and I are happy about that.

I really think this is going to be a good opportunity, and I'll continue to keep you all updated. If I am offered the position, I'll definitely need your positive thoughts as I inform my current office that I'm leaving. If I think my job is stressful now, it will only get worse as I work my two week notice. Not looking forward to that, but I know that over the long run, it will be well worth it!

Thanks everyone for your crossed fingers and positive thoughts over this period! Hopefully, I'm almost there!