Great birthday!

I really had a nice and relaxing birthday yesterday! I went to dinner with my mom to Kobe, and stuffed myself on shrimp, scallops, and steak - NOMMY! Fell into a food coma on the couch, and I'm back at work today - having an awesome quiet day because my boss is on vacation! Yay!

I was right! I am getting a bike from Johnny for my birthday! I'm so excited! I can't wait to go try it out! :) Its going to be so much fun! I'm now busy looking up biking trails to test out in NJ for Sunday. Hopefully the weather man is not lying and the weather is going to be as awesome as they are indicating!

Tonight I have a busy night. My goddaughter is making her confirmation - it was moved to this night because Bishop Borders died last week - and since I'm also the teacher, I have to be there. Which means we are going to be late to the bullroast and shrimp feast that we're going to. But it is better late than never. I actually invited a whole bunch of people to go, but only my friend Michelle and her husband Tony wanted to go, and responded. So they'll be there tonight as well! yay!

I also think we are going out to sushi today for lunch! NOM! :)

I can't wait to see Johnny! I'm so happy! I had a weird dream that he was wearing a 70s style tux and a long curly wig and he proposed to me for my birthday - WEIRD! hehe

I also have work to do today for my practicum project - I'm so excited for it! I actually have to email my client and get on the ball with that! :) Yay! :)

It's My BIRTHDAY!!!!

I just noticed that I need to change my profile information on my blog, I'm no longer in my late 20s... I'm in my early 30s! Today is my 31st Birthday! WOOT!
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I'm having a much better reaction to this one than my 30th - that one hit me hard! But I'm keeping it really low key today. To be honest, I hate throwing birthday parties for myself, because it just seems very vain... but to each their own! Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my mom, and then I'm spending the weekend with Johnny. I still don't know what he got me for my bday, but I think I have a good guess - we'll see if it comes true! (I'm guessing Bike.)

My coworkers were sweet, with the most awesome strawberry shortcake from the local yummy bakery... I'm also going out to lunch with 2 of my coworkers. My birthday present to myself was getting my car worked on and detailed. That thing hasn't been cleaned in over a year, so it was worth it! yay! :)

Well... here's to another year of life! Thank God! And definitely to living in the moment!

Back at my Desk

I never thought I'd be so happy to see my desk in my cube. I guess its because I know that I'm working a normal schedule and not the crazy one I've been working. Its just the second week of the roll-out and I'm already tired. I think it has to do with being there for over 12 hours each day. I think I will be fine if I'm the one actually doing the training, and not just observing. To sit in the back of a classroom and just watch is as boring as anything. The facilitators try to include me, as I wrote the material, and they defer to me on some points that they may not know the answers to... but still. Going forward I will actually be the one teaching, so I should have more energy around that. Its hard to be "on" for 12 hours, teaching from 8am-5:30pm, but with set-up and clean-up, it easily gets to 12 hours, for 2 days in a row. I at least get a resume boost for this.

Anyway, on another note... Tomorrow is my Birthday! :) Where in the world has this year gone? It felt like yesterday I was having anxiety attacks about life and turning 30... yet now I feel like I've been through a rebirth and I finally have my priorities straight. I know who I am, or at least I know more about myself, and I'm getting better with managing my boundaries. I'm not having a huge blow-out party like I did last year. I just really don't have any energy for it - as there hasn't been time for me to really plan anything. Actually, I'm not having a party at all. Mom is taking me to dinner on Thursday night, John is coming down on Friday and we are going to a Bull roast/Shrimp Feast, and then we are heading back up to NJ on Saturday morning for a birthday party for his niece and nephew. I get my present from John on Saturday, which I still don't know what it is. I'm supposed to be getting a hint in the mail any day now, but I haven't gotten it yet! I'm feeling low-key this year... don't get me wrong, I love my birthday and I love to party, but I just really don't want to plan my own party. hehehe I'll show up if someone wants to have one for me.

I'm also challenging some of my facebook friends, and John and I made a pact, to lose 10lbs by the end of June. I think if we take it in chunks, it will work. I've gained 17lbs since December. That sucks. I was actually down to a smaller size, and now that size is a little tight on me. I want to be there again! Plus I have more to lose. But I think stress at work has incensed me to make choices that weren't very healthy. Being mentally tired after being brow-beaten all day just urges me to want to eat and not exercise. But its a new day, and a new outlook on life!

What a Week

I knew this week was going to be crazy going into it, but not as much as it actually happened. As a department policy, the consultants have to observe a leadership class two times before facilitating it. I was doing my first observation on Monday and Tuesday of this week, when Murphy's Law took over. The vendor facilitator from Towers Watson was sick, didn't call his backup, so I had to step in. Luckily for all those involved I actually wrote 2 sections of the training, so this rule didn't magically apply to me, and it went off without a hitch. But I almost fell over when I was told that I was stepping in. I didn't prep for that, so they found me a cubby to do some quick studying before I went in to teach it. Then I had a different class that I didn't prep for to teach this morning, because I was so busy trying to keep ahead of the 2 day one I got thrown into. Luckily I pulled that one off without a hitch too... but CRAZY.

I'm finally back at my cube, and I'm counting down to 4pm when I leave for the day. At that point I have to go buy a Marc train ticket, because I will be spending the day in DC observing some more tomorrow, and doing my training to be an admin when I have to fill in for that. Why is it that I have 4 jobs to play in this whole thing, when most only have 2? I'm tired.

Thank goodness for Yoga tonight and then my weekend with John. I think we are going to do some hiking - I need the mental break to just relax and refocus.

Looking good

So here's something female that I noticed... when I have my period is when I actually look my best. I glow, my hair lays right, clothes fit me correctly, and my appearance seems to pull together well.... that lasts up until about 2 weeks before my period, and then I start to look a little more goofy then normal. hehe :) Hormones are a crazy thing.

Anyway, this week is going to be NUTS! I'm off site for the next four days, either observing a class or teaching a class, or learning how to do the admin duties on site for a fill-in for two classes. This week begins the craziness of the huge roll out of classes. We are training twice, sometimes 4 times a week until June. BUSY! I'm either in the classroom for 1 of 4 reasons... facilitating the entire 2 day leadership class, facilitating a 2 hour chunk on technology, assisting for a 2 hour chunk on the technology, or being the admin. Luckily the 4 things don't happen all on the same day, but I will have 4 different hats to wear. I'm also the back-up on a few days, so if anyone gets sick, I have to be ready at the drop of the hat to step-in and facilitate the 2 days of leadership training. I'm going to need a vacation for sure when this is all over! I'm also charged with taking my laptop home with me every night, so I can be ready to go at a moment's notice. I'm definitely living for the break on the weekends.

Friday Field Trip

So apparently the team decided to finish all of the binders yesterday so I can go on the field trip today and not have a reason to stay behind! Yay! :) I love my team. Its relevant that I go, as I'm going to be observing and doing training there next week, but Carol doesn't like me too far out of her sight, because she needs someone here to make changes to things when she dreams up new ideas for how the binders should be. She did that last night. She didn't like one paper in the side front pocket, and waited until we had almost all of them done before telling us she wanted it in a different pocket.... so we had to switch them out. Really? Does it matter? The participants are going to move everything around anyway when they get their binders. Geez! ANAL MUCH?

Anyway, Johnny is coming down tonight and I can't wait to see him. It feels like its been weeks, although it's just been since last Sunday morning. I had to leave early to go teach Confirmation, but we get a 2 full days and 2 nights together this weekend... we should be getting that time together more often since Confirmation is over after Thursday night and I don't have to leave early anymore. Plus with it being daylight longer, no worries! :) I love my Johnny... he's so sweet and loving! :)

I've already started planning things to do this weekend, and I think I'm going to take him to the Visionary Art Museum, since we both haven't been there. Then off to dinner in Hampden to meet my friend Stacey and her boyfriend. Yay! :) That will be fun, I'm glad Stacey will get to meet him. She's my first non-school friend that gets to meet him. If the weather plays along, we may take short hike on Sunday - I got a whole bunch of trail books for John and I to explore from the library.

Storybook Land

I loved the Enchanted Forrest when I was a child, which was located off of 40 West in Maryland. It was a play ground with some rides (if I recall correctly - I get confused with the one in PA sometimes) where you can climb on things that were characters from rhymes. For instance, the Old Woman in the Shoe was a slide, etc... I was looking for things to do in NJ with John, and I stumbled upon Storybook Land in Egg Harbor, which is very similar. Actually, the last one I've been to was in New Orleans before the hurricane when I was visiting Brian. They had one in their city park, and we walked through it while visiting the holiday light display. It just reminds me of a different time in my life, when everything was so full of magic. I think John's nieces would love it! Plus I get an excuse to go and ride the rides, as I'm the adult with them! hehe

I'm really excited about him coming down this weekend. I'm going to take him around to a few different places to visit, and I'm looking for a non-hot yoga class that fits into our time-table. We had the hot yoga experience on Saturday and it did not go over well... it was just WAY too hot. I think that was more of a Birkam style, which is intense. hehe