Update on me!

Goodness...I've been a bad blogger lately!!!! I'll try to put together a little update ... at least on my July which has been hectic!

I've been off a bit this month as I had two friends get married. My friend Missie got married outside St Louis on 07/07/07 (yes I know someone who got that crazy wedding date!) Anyway, I'd hoped to stay in Illinois between this wedding and the one I had on the 14th....but the cost was crazy since one was in St. Louis and one was in Chicago and I'd need to get between the two.... So....after talking with Mandy who was also headed to the wedding near St. Louis I flew into Nashville to drive with Mandy and her husband to St. Louis. This was great because I got to see their new house and meet their dogs! Drive to St. Louis wasn't too bad...less than 5 hours I think....of course...we weren't really IN St. Louis...we were in the sticks and pretty much bored out of our minds the entire time we were there.... That said, Missie made a beautiful and obviously very happy bride!

The next week was busy as my boss's boss was in town, I was in my first official meeting of our "work/life balance" team, and I had my mid year review. Apparently I really impresssed my boss's boss as I said something in my one on one about how much I don't like Harrisburg, but that I had volunteered to stay a little longer due to some coverage issues. I didn't say it to impress him...but evidently I did so thats great! Then I had my mid year...which was good...not that I didn't expect it to be (toot toot!). Anyway, my boss said I'm doing everything really well, and said he does think I'm getting better at not getting too wound up about stuff and just supporting my issues. He also gave me kudos on a couple of nightmare projects I've been working on and said that we would not have made the progress we have to date if not for my tenacity...so that was really good! And because it was my mid year...and technically I'm due to move in 6 months (although will probably be closer to 9) its time for us to start positioning me for my next job. Which frankly couldn't come sooner...but I'll get back to that later.

So then I headed from my mid year off to the airport to fly to Chicago for my friend Alicia's wedding. Now Alicia and I have known each other since grade school, and her parents are now best friends with my mom and my second set of parents (the famous Nelson's many of you have heard me talk about). That said, Alicia and I started drifting apart in high school when we started dating...well...when I started dating...and we just haven't been all that close in years. That said, her family really is my family and we spend all of our holidays with them. I also never would have gotten through my mom being so sick when I moved to California if not for her family who spent every day with my mom when I couldn't be there. Anyway, so Alicia and her new husband were getting married on 07/14/07 (now that date didn't get as much attention but I think its kind of cooler than 07/07/07). I did escape bridesmaid duty, but got a lot of other assignments in addition to having to do a reading during the mass. I spent most of the morning before the ceremony running around the church trying to ensure that everyone had their flowers..and DANG were there a LOT of flowers! Anyway, wedding went well, there was a few hours between that and the reception so we went to her parents house with the rest of the family. Reception was fun....our parents have learned well and all us kids were at the table closest to the bar....but that reminds me....what the hell is the deal with closing the bar during dinner? Thats the second wedding I've been to that did that and I don't get it! Anyway, I had an early flight back on Sunday (gotta love the limited options when using frequent flier tickets!) so I took it easy at the bar and just chilled all night at the reception.

While I was home I got to experience my sister studying for her grad school classes...and it occured to me.... I'm not all that fulfilled in my job right now for various reasons. And I always planned to get my MBA...hell I worked on it for a while before moving to California. So I started doing some research and I've decided its time to go back to school. That said its happening WAY faster than I expected since I've decided on doing it online (then I have no worries about my schedule!) through Kaplan University (who has a specialization in Management, Quality and Communication which is perfect for me). Their next term starts Aug 15....so we're speeding along to get me admitted in time. Bummer is, my department didn't have education reimbursement in the budget this year...so looks like I'm paying for the first three classes on my own...but I'm so excited that I really want to get started. Plus the timing is better for me to start now, because then I'm likely to be able to take a term or two off (like the next time I get transferred) and still be done with it before I finish up my NEXT job which is scheduled to be a two year position. So....hopefully before the end of this week I'll officially be admitted and on Aug 15th I'll be started class!

What else, oh yeah...so I've mentioned work kinda sucks right now....its funny...I still don't really like the people in my office. My boss and I talked about it during my mid year because he's not getting the best marks for teamwork and teambuilding. Anyway, I still feel its a very unwelcoming bunch..which is fine because I'm not really crazy about anyone anyway. And I really do like all the people I work with OUTSIDE my office...WAY more than I did in California! That said there is a lot of internal stuff going on at my company thats not making my life very easy right now! And since Michelle quit her job....I don't have my best friend to vent to work stuff about anymore!

Lets see what else.....oh....I just ordered a new Macbook! I adore my iMac and will definitely never buy another pc at home. And I figured with starting school up again....it would be much nicer to have a laptop. And my having my home computer be a laptop..then I'm not worrying about transfering files back and forth from my iMac to my work laptop. And if I'm on the road I can just bring IT with too and have all my school stuff. So, my admin assistant was in the market for a new computer anyway, and leaning mac based on talking to me and another convert in the office....so I'm making her a great deal on my imac which is less than 2 years old and still under applecare, and that will offset about half my cost on a new macbook! So YEAH! Tracking shows my new macbook left China last night...so hopefully I'll have it by the end of this week and have plenty of time to get all my personal files transfered over to the macbook before classes start and I can get my admin my imac before her boys start school this fall.

What else.... ah yes....hosted my first passion party this past week!!! My girls and I (we call ourselves the "fab five") have been talking about doing this for a while...and after MUCH difficulty getting a date we could all 5 be there...we finally hosted it last week. I don't have to tell most of you how much fun those can be...and this party was no exception! Our consultant learned early on that we were not your typical group of ladies and had a great time with us.

And finally (I think!) for my knitting friends out there...have you heard of Ravelry? I don't know the best way to describe it as of yet as I'm still on the wait list dammit! But from what I can tell it seems kind of like a social networking thing for knitters...but you can create pages that show your stash (for you non-knitters...thats would be your YARN you bought just because it was pretty and didn't really have a specific project in mind!), and pics of your completed projects, and I think there is apparently a way to indicate if you see something in someone elses stash that you want you can add it to your wishlist? Anyway...there are still like 3000 people ahead of me on the wait list....but based by my calculations I should be in by late August and then I can share more specifics on how cool it is!

Um...I think thats about it for now.... August is shaping up to be another crazy month...well the last half of it anyway....but I'll try to do a better job posting!!!