Lately....

okay so apparently its time for my every-3-month blog entry :) this summer has been awesome but also hectic! let's see....

Weddings,

This summer I had the pleasure of seeing two friends get married - first my college friend Sarah Brumbaugh (Snell!) in Houston, along with some other NCSU/Textiles alums, and then my Hampton Beach summer project friend Pam Tuttle (ver Kuilen!) in Madison. Pam's wedding was quite the adventure - I got to spend a bit of time in Chicago and see Kristen, Michelle and Meg from HBSP also! It was great to catch up :) I'd post pics, but Kristen still has them all! I'm starting to feel a bit behind with so many people getting engaged and married recently - seems like facebook is overflowing with new last names and diamond rings these days.....

Beach Time,

I was able to take off the week of July 4th to go to the beach with the fam, which was awesome. I haven't been able to go on family vacation for quite a few summers now (and probably won't be able to get a week of for it for the next few either...) and it was particularly great to get to see everyone after so many months of being trapped here in BMT!

Then, the weekend after I got back, a bunch of us from bmt took a weekend trip to Surfside Beach here in TX - my first experience at a texas beach! I must say, I was not nearly as disappointed as I expected to be - it was definitely not as nice as NC, but I did still have a great time (can't go wrong at the beach!) - and we definitely had more real estate that you would on an NC beach. Which, clearly, meant we had a few good games of extreme croquet (I was missing Kasey!) and ladder ball.

Workkkkk,

Work has definitely calmed down a LOT, which is a relief, but also is making it hard to stay motivated! I was able to attend some great training classes in June/July - both technical classes and other topics, such as career development and presentation skills. I really enjoyed getting out of the office and spending some quality time developing my skills!

I also recently became a mentor for a new hire who started about 4 weeks ago. That has been fun and challenging, and I know it will definitely pay off because she is taking away half of my job (isn't that everyones dream come true!). I am really glad that the organization is recognizing how overloaded I am in my job position and staffing up! I'll also be mentoring a co-op from NC State this fall - she starts in 2 weeks! It's definitely a drain on my time, but hopefully will also give me some good experience that will be useful later on in my career :)

and Life :)

Let's see... other than that, after all the beaching and training was over, I've just been trying to get settled here in Beaumont. I have been here for a year already (!) but in so many ways, I still feel unsettled. I blame a lot of it on Ike Recovery, I suppose, but I've just recently starting looking for a church, trying to meet more people outside of work, establishing hobbies, etc.! The past few weeks I've been to church with my friend Bill and his wife Julie, and I really like their church - the people are soooo welcoming and they seems to be very committed to the truth of God & the Bible, which is the most important thing! I'm also trying to make quite a few lifestyle changes - exercising more and eating better... working less and trying to have more balance! I'm planning to ride in the MS150 in April - biking from Houston to Austin (crazy, but I need a goal!) - so hopefully that will keep me motivated :)

This fall I have a TON of vacation/comp days that I need to use before the end of the year (not such a bad problem to have!) - so I'm looking forward to quite a few trips home, as well as visiting Lindsey in PA, going to Portugal with here in October, hopefully visiting Kasey in Boston, and maybe a few more trips elsewhere! I'll keep you posted as I break the bank with plane tickets!!!

Four Months in Review

So let's see.... ready for a summary of 2009 so far?

Work

Well the post-Ike hell continued in 2009.... I continued to work 6-7 days a week and many many hours a day up until Easter. Starting Easter, I worked 13 hr night shifts for 3 weeks, and just last weekend, had my first weekend off! I suppose I'll still have to work some long days and a few weekend days, but basically, Ike recovery is winding down. I have a new supervisor, I went through my first yearly review, and I can hardly believe its only been 9 months since I started. Feels like about 10 years....

Play

Haven't had a ton of time for this yesterday, but I did get to take a week off at the end of March for vacationnnn! I flew to Nice, France and met Kasey there and we drove around southeast France for 5 days - super fun!! Maybe I'll post some pictures later :) Then we flew back to London and I stayed with Kasey at Cambridge for a few days - it was so fun to see where she lives and meet her friends (plus Cambridge is so cute!). It was a much needed vacation.

Right before Easter, mom and Taylor came for 5 days - and it was sooo nice to have family here! We had a lot of fun hanging out at the apartment, shopping, buying WiiFit, and dyeing Easter eggs! I haven't had many visitors since I've been working all the time, so it was great to have them here!

Life & Love

I ended my relationship with Rob at the end of March - for a lot of reasons - but I do hope that we will still be friends. That is, if I ever have a social life again!! Needless to say, with all the working, I've become a bit of a hermit. Not that I mind - its nice to spend time at home, and I don't mind being alone seeing as I get quite enough human interaction in my many hours at work!! I definitely enjoy a good bit of reality tv and buying new stuff for the apartment :) I'm sure there will come a time soon where I get out a bit more. 

I'm still realizing that I do LIVE here in Texas. It's been such a whirlwind since I moved here that I don't feel like I've really built any sort of life for myself here. A good future career, I hope, but not much else at this point. I'm still holding tight to the close friendships I had when I moved here, and to my family - and although there's nothing wrong with that, it would be nice to feel a little more settled here in Beaumont. I guess it just needs time...

This summer, I'm looking forward to Sarah's wedding in Houston and Pam's wedding in Madison, and going to the beach with the family in June/July... I can't believe its already summer!!!

Anyway, maybe I'll be more of a blog updater now that I have time? We'll see...

Terrible blogger....

Yep, I am officially a terrible blogger. Oh well.

added euro pics!

I've been working on adding pics to my posts this summer from Europe - so be sure to go back and read if you are interested! I've done all of the pics except for the week in Italy - coming soon!

A few other updates coming your way soon, I promise!

Christmas Time is Here!

So it snowed in Beaumont! Last Thursday I woke up to 4 inches of snow outside, with no time to play in it! Apparently this only happens once every 20 years or so haha, so I did manage to grab this quick pic with my phone (all the other ones turned out way blurry!):

With the snow, it finally felt like Christmas time! It's really snuck up on me this year, especially with the warm Texas weather, and the long work hours - which of course means I am quite behind on Christmas shopping! I did manage to finally put together an array of mint-chocolate treats for our gift exchange game tomorrow at work, and I've got the family covered (almost...) but I've got nothing yet for Rob - eek! I'm sure I can come up with something this week though.

I'm flying home on Saturday night, and I am super excited! Although work has been stressful, I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. Can't wait to see the fam and spend 6 days in NC!!!

Good Reads

So I really enjoy learning about other cultures and places, so for the past year or so, I've been searching out books that will teach me something about somewhere new. Luckily, these sorts of books seem to be popular with the rest of the world recently too - so it isn't too hard to find a good piece of fiction that will teach you something new!

I just finished reading "Three Cups of Tea" - a book along those same lines, but instead of a novel, a nonfiction account of the work of Greg Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute in building schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was a great book with a different perspective on two countries that we are generally influenced to fear/despise in America - I would highly recommend reading it! (Other awesome books: The Poisonwood Bible, The Power of One, A Thousand Splendid Suns... annnnd lots more)

Thanksgiving in Sugarland!

For Thanksgiving I was unable to go home to NC, but I had a great time at the hospitality of the Morgan family in Sugarland (outside of Houston). Erik Morgan is a co-op at ExxonMobil and a good friend of Rob's, so we, along with our friends James and Braden, spent Thanksgiving with the Morgans. A few pics:

James and Braden working hard on the Christmas decowhile Rob and I attempt to make lemonade
with tons of lemon we found beside the house

Lunch for James's birthday
Decorating the tree
Finished product!

We had such a nice time with the Morgan's and I'm grateful that they took me in over Thanksgiving! Luckily its not so long before I'll get to spend the holidays with my family in NC!!