Compartmentalization

Practicing patience and learning to uncompartmentalize parts of my life.

Dailythanks:
-My husband who took great care of me while I was sick
-Visiting family in Jacksonville
-Skyping with Lauren & Kristen
-Spring cleaning & moving to a condo on the beach
-Joy about going to work
-My mom & Don making it safely back to the U.S.
-Beautiful weather
-Delicious recipes that turn out great (like last night's Shrimp pasta, mmm)
-Time for reading (reading Eat, Pray, Love & it's wonderful)
-Dave Ramsey's guidance for finances
-Wonderful friend/mentor/co-worker that texts bible verses to me every day

Thursday showers

Dailythanks:

-for quiet prayer time driving home from work

-for bike rides with hubby

-for setting goals and accomplishment

-for friends that make me laugh

-for forgiveness

-for hubby's positive attitude no matter what

-for our Dave Ramsey budgeting experience

-for my brothers & sis whom I miss so much

The season of Lent is here! Today is my Friday which is always fun but this morning, I woke up & J made me oatmeal which started the day on a great note :) I am looking forward to lunch plans with fun coworkers who always make me laugh.

Daily Thanks

From day one, J and I have been looking for a small group to join to share in fellowship, friendship and bible study here in Florida. Lately, it's worn heavy on my heart that we haven't really found a group to join; the groups we've visited are wonderful people but either much older or much younger and we really don't connect. We've both made great friends at work but there is some disconnect with friendships that challenge us and motivate our relationship with God.

It's humorous most days and I can laugh and think, wow, what challenges and lessons is God trying to teach us because there is nothing here for us! I am incredibly thankful for my job, hubby's job, health, beautiful beach, mini-frequent vacations, sunshine, friends at work, opportunity and flexibility. Hubby and I discuss this and I enjoy our discussions because we talk about the good and the perfect and bring ourselves back to contentment.

Dailythanks:

-Peaceful morning skyping w/ Lacy

-Shannon coming over this morning & chatting before work

-Incredible work seminar

-Quiet time

-Texting w/ Linds after work

-Confidence from idea share w/ the board

-Being asked for advice by a co-worker

-PB&J for dinner with hubby :)

Hubby & I at Disney

Marching into March

An update is LONG overdue and i'm kicking myself for not blogging sooner! February was an incredibly busy month with an unexpected trip to Bham, Valentine's Day and our planned trip to Atlanta for the National Cheer Competition-WOW-thousands of cheerleaders and moms who are just as competitive!

The trip home was a blessing in disguise and we are counting our many blessings that Jonathan's mom's surgery was successful and she has recovered beautifully. Spending the week with Jess was special and allowed us time to just spend together rather than the typical, in and out trips. My dad got to take J and I to lunch which was a treat and we also got to see Kathy before we left. (Sad it was such a short visit but next time, we will plan to have dinner) Got to see Ethan, Mom and Don and enjoyed dinner with them. We had a fabulous dinner with Allison and Adam which made me so happy. Lots of happiness, dinner & family...that's what it's all about.

View of Birmingham from UAB Hospital

Dinner with Mom & Don

Seeing my best friend from Berry College-Alisha-I miss her so much

Jess ready for competition Day 1

Their outstanding routine (apologies for the blurry picture); each group brought tears to my eyes

My handsome husband at World of Coke :)

Everything in World of Coke is so innovative bright

Cocoa Beach on a warm Saturday morning

Pretty flowers J got me for Valentine's Day at work

Things are going to be busier and busier moving forward...we will be moving into a condo in Cocoa Beach come April 1st...homecoming for Lacy & Eric from China and Kersty from France. Everyone will finally be home :) My next posts will appropriately be titled, "wedding festivities galore." Just wait.

Life lately...

So life lately has been busy, as always! Two weeks ago Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was here to help a local family in Cocoa. I most certainly wanted to be a part of this experience, so I went over to the site to see what all is involved in making it happen. It is a huge project with so many people organizing different aspects of the project. There was a VIP tent for the major sponsors and officials, etc. I mingled and met some great folks. This show is supposed to air sometime in February, so I will be excited to see it!

Friday was my big event for the Chamber, our Installation Banquet. Around 3:30pm, there was a huge explosion due to a tanker-truck collision on interstate 528. The trucks burst into flames and fell over the bridge, down to the highway below. Unfortunately, this led to two deaths and much damage to the highways. Everyone was calling me saying that they were running late due to the standstill on the major interstate. I also realized that our one emcee is a major news anchor for breaking news at Channel 13 and there was the chance that he would not be able to make it to the event...needless to say, things were not going as planned. Thank God, our emcee made it, guests arrived and everything worked out beautifully. It was wonderful to hear so many compliments and see friendly faces thanking me for my hard work. Long story short, my boss announced to the audience that she was so grateful for my hard and dedicated work, that I was to "take Monday off." You don't have to ask me twice! I didn't take any pictures with my camera but we had photographers there.

Part of my Birthday/Christmas gift was going to Magic Kingdom so we planned to get up early Saturday after the Chamber Event to head over to Disney. It was a beautiful day but a lot colder than we expected. We had a blast! Here are a few pictures from my phone: we took a lot more with the camera.

This is a cute little boy dressed as Peter Pan...reminds me of Zach. This is the Peter Pan Ride...it was great!

We had dinner at Old Columbia House; the clam chowder was delish.

Pardon the glare, but the castle lights were beautiful; here is the Dragon in the lights parade.

Peter Pan's float...difficult to see but he's on it. Also, the city street & people lined up for the parade.

Thanks to Jonathan's Mom, Susan, we have the recipe for Taziki's famous "Friday Special." I made that for dinner last night and it was pretty tasty. Jonathan said the leftovers were excellent at work today.

One more thing I wanted to share was some cute earrings and a sweater I received for Christmas. My gorgeous sweater is from Mom & Don and I absolutely LOVE it! I got so many compliments. The earrings are from Katie, Kathy's daughter-in-law, who makes jewelry and made these earrings. They are precious! I edited the second photo which I think looks neat...

More to come later...back to enjoying my lazy off day from work!

Working hard for the money

Jonathan's company has a large submittal for a project they've been working on for NASA and finally, today-or tonight rather- is the night. He's been working his little butt off! He does a great job of respecting our time and making sure he balances it with work but there are times, such as these, where he doesn't have a choice and work has to get done. He went into the office this weekend but we managed to spend some quality time together. I also finished my book that i've managed to stretch out over 4 months, went grocery shopping and organized some things at home which was nice.

Oh, I forgot to mention we cheered loud from Cocoa Beach during the BCS Championship for Auburn...what a thrilling end but we were a little shocked at how conservative they've played toward the end. What an exciting time for the Auburn Family! War Eagle! We are missing the complete joy of celebrating in the State...Floridians could care less, really. Jonathan held on to his new football during the entire game...I've been his "throwing buddy" but I'm going to need a sub because the ball is just TOO big for my little hands to catch; not to mention, I jam my fingers every other throw!

In other news, I'm enjoying working on wedding details for Lacy!! It's officially time to get to work now that it's 2011...August will be here before we know it! We are going to have a lot of fun and I'm so glad I get to be a part of this exciting time for Lace & Eric. I found some great blogs that have been sources of inspiration and ideas.

Job update is status quo...we've been told we would hear either way but with the winter weather last week, we are assuming they are behind schedule. A friend of mine called today and was letting me know about some possible leads so we are going to hit those hard this week/weekend. It's a full-time job, ya know?

Friday is the Chamber's big Annual Installation Banquet which I've planned so this week is going to be busy but it should be a fabulous event. Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year and taking lots of pictures. That's one of my goals...

More pictures to come soon but i'm worn out...goodnight!

And it's back to work we go!

After a much needed vacation and Christmas time with family and close friends, we are back to Florida. We flew home on Christmas Eve morning which was so relaxing. The get-together with Dad & Kathy, Mom & Don, Zach & Ethan and John, Susan & Jess was great on Christmas Eve! We were spoiled having everyone in one place...almost everyone...we were missing Lacy & Eric! Waking up on the lake to a white Christmas was an unforgettable memory. Movies, warm fire, pj's and lots of food is how we like to spend Christmas and we did all of the above.

Sunday we headed back to Homewood for Christmas with Mom & Don, as well as a short time with Jonathan's parents. Another delicious Christmas meal with Mom. The snow stuck around for a few days and we enjoyed making use of our winter layers and boots...something I often miss being in Florida. Wednesday was an exciting day; got up early with Dad & Kathy and headed to Huntsville. For my frequent readers, you know why, but we are proud of Jonathan no matter what!

It's funny how much older I feel this year; seeing Zach and Ethan makes me happy and sad...they are growing up so fast but they'll always be my baby brothers. I also reflected on this being me and Jonathan's first Christmas as a married couple...couldn't be more thankful for that. Excited for Lacy and Eric to be experiencing an adventure in China together and getting married this year...truly, we have so much to be thankful for.

Speaking of thankful, Alexandra, Karley and Kruger made the trek to Homewood to spend the night with us at Mom's and I am so glad!

We had a great time as always and we watched Inception. I have a habit of falling asleep in movies so I was in and out but overall, it seemed pretty good...I think? Jonathan loves sharing in family times with my family and that is one of the many

reasons I love him so much.

New Year's Eve Day, we enjoyed lunch with the

Nevins at Bottega. That was my first trip there and I will, without a doubt, be back again. We always have a good time together with lots of conversation! That afternoon, my best friend Allison decided to decorate her boyfriend's house as a Christmas gift for him. J and I had the best time helping her. She kept thanking us but we told her we really enjoyed it...we are eager to decorate our own house one day so it was a fun trial run. She made some great purchases and we moved around furniture, hung a few pictures and it looked great! We left Pelham about 8pm, went home and got ready for a late New Year's dinner. New Year's Eve worked out perfectly. Allison, Daniel, J and I had dinner at Avo's in Mountain Brook Village which was delicious and then enjoyed a few toasts at midnight to ring in the New Year!

We have such beautiful family and friends and it's special, chaotic and fun getting to visit with all of them in a short 9 days. Our last night in Birmingham, we got to visit with Jonathan's best friends Daniel and Aaryn...and while they chatted, I got to play with the most adorable baby in the world! We hit the early flight out of Birmingham and made it safely back to Cocoa Beach.

Cheers to you and your family in 2011! We are looking forward to many exciting happenings in the New Year. (More pictures to come once I upload from the camera)