Totally Groovy

This is yet another reason why I love my job. Some of the girls and I made tie-dye tshirts during lunch time on Thursday and then wore them on Friday :) Yep... pretty much the best job ever!

"Ooooh we're halfway there!!...

Ooooh livin' on a prayer!"

Ok... now that I've gotten that out of my system :) ... The last two weeks since my last post remained gloriously busy! My parents came in town to help celebrate another year of my life on this earth and we really had a great time! We were able to head down to Disney World for the weekend and enjoy some beautiful spring weather in all the parks. Mom & Dad even braved some of the "scarier" rides with me... I was so proud ;) And we may have snapped some pictures with a character or two, because you're never too old for that! I'm really so glad they were able to come into town - they made my birthday week so much fun!

I was really truly spoiled all week. First of all, my co-workers are ridiculously awesomely sweet and, despite my best efforts to prevent them from doing so, they totally decked out my cubicle and showered me with love. Even some of my Florida Gator loving co-workers got their hands dirty with hanging purple & gold balloons for me. It was shockingly sweet ;) Then, later that evening when I got home from work, an awesome & delicious Edible Arrangement from a very sweet husband of mine was waiting for me! Also, this past weekend, as a part of an extended celebration, my favorite fellow Navy wives surprised me with an outing to "Yes You Canvas" here in Jax where we painted, sipped some wine, ate some snacks, & learned that despite what the instructor may tell you, the fine detail brush causes fewer headaches than the angled brush ;)

I'm truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and I'm looking forward to all the things I have going on in the weeks to come!

Plaaaaaaay tiiiiiiiiiime!

Following Thanksgiving week, I went on a very quick business trip with some co-workers to one of our manufacturers. It was so awesome to be able to see the manufacturing process take place - especially getting to watch the rotationally molded plastics machines work their magic! I may be a huge dork, but learning about how things are made truly fascinates me :) And I can't even begin to describe how cool it was for me to be able to see all of the components in-person... I'm so used to just seeing these things in AutoCAD on my computer screen that sometimes it's easy to forget that my drawings & renderings do eventually turn into real playgrounds.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Sayre and I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to participate in "Trunk-or-Treat" at church like we did last year because he was in Rhode Island for SWO school up until the night of the event. I did, however, still have a lot of fun this year :) I managed to get some of my fellow co-workers to dress up for the occasion with me, which of course made the Friday before Halloween that much more entertaining - especially since I, of course, took the opportunity to continue the friendly feud of LSU vs Florida. I dressed up as "Tiger Bait" and wore a Florida tshirt that I tore on the back to look like a tiger paw had gotten to it & iron on the words "Tiger Bait" to the back. It took a little while for my co-workers to get it (I guess it makes more sense to LSU fans who yell "Tiger Bait" at the opposing teams). I was still proud of myself though ;) Overall, it was a really fun day in the office. When Sayre got home later, we had fun carving our little pumpkin and then I roasted up the seeds :) mmmm yummy! I love fall!

Inspections, and Disney, and Planning... oh my!

It's hard to believe that July is almost over. I find myself, once again, wondering where in the world the time has gone! Sayre's been very busy lately with life on the ship... long hours and weekend workdays have kept him going non-stop, but he's been a really good sport about it. We're just keeping our fingers crossed that once they pass this beast-of-an-inspection that they have coming up, things will start to calm down a bit.

My job has kept my very occupied lately as well, but I find myself loving it more and more every day (which, for me, is hard to believe). Just this past week I was surprised and very touched to be given the first "Beyond Your Ordinary Employee" award from my bosses. Honestly, when they began saying very sweet things about the recipient of the award I never imagined they were talking about me, but then they passed the certificate my way and handed an accompanying pair of tickets to Disney World to me :) They sure do know the way to my heart! I'm so blessed to have found such an inspiring, fun, and unique place to work with such fun-loving & incredible people. Now the pressure's on to keep cranking out some fun playground designs and begin preparing for my CPSI exam at the end of August (Certification for Playground Safety Inspectors).

For now, our main focus is just making it through Sayre's ship's inspection. Unfortunately that seems to be the one thing that has been dictating our lives lately, but that's just the "Navy way." It'll all be over soon, thankfully :) and then maybe, at last, we'll be able to make our trip up to Alaska... I'm not getting my hopes up anytime soon though. If there's one thing I've learned in the past year as a military wife, it's that nothing is ever certain and flexibility is key to maintaining your sanity :) Keep your expectations low, rejoice when things work out the way you hoped, and just let it go & move on when things fall through.

Whistle While You Work

Since starting my new job, I feel like I've been neglecting the blogging world so much! Gone are the days when I used to sit around reading blogs all day, searching for new crafts and recipes to pass the time. Now, I find myself busily working away on playground designs and renderings as the day seemingly flies by! It's great! My co-workers are incredibly friendly, the office environment is fast-paced but laid back (yes, somehow, it's possible), and I love what I'm doing :)

The only thing I'm struggling with is adjusting to working hours again. For the 6 months it took me to find a job, I got used to being able to experiment with recipes, craft til my heart was content, and run around town completing various errands. It's not bad... I just got spoiled, that's all ;) Thankfully, though, getting up and heading off to work is actually a joy for me, and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Oh, and I suppose the only other drawback is that I work with a bunch of Gator fans... but, don't worry... I'm slowly integrating LSU into my workspace... and I'm very anxiously awaiting football season in the fall!