It's Almost Spring Break

Only 4 more days until we leave for Florida for Spring Break!  I have a few main objectives during this trip to Cedar Key:

1.       Relax

2.       Take Naps

3.       Read – I have 5 or 6 books on my list to read while I’m there

4.       Beach Yoga

5.       Watching the sunset with a glass of wine

6.       Visit the Harry Potter Theme Park

Saturday

I am soooooooooooooooo frustrated with our mortgage company! I do everything the right way and they want to make me jump through a million hoops just to have them to their job the way they are supposed to.  Sorry for the rant!

In other news dance class this morning was amazing!  At first I was worried because there are usually anywhere from 5 to 15 girls and today it was just Rachel and I.  It ended up being an amazing experience because she was able to give tips and help based on the things I need to work on.  It wore me out but it felt great!  I am so excited to go see the ballet tonight with my mom, a cocktail and watching an amazing performance is exactly what the doctor ordered after a stressful week.  Here is the video of the piece we danced this morning.

Our Frienship is Old Enough to Drive

I was chatting with one of my closest friends and she mentioned that our friendship is old enough to drive.  We have been friends since we were in the fourth grade.  It is such an amazing blessing in my life that even though we drifted apart some in college that we have always been able to reconnect.  I mentioned that this fact made us old but Kim rightly pointed out that we are just wise.  Truth be told we are, we have both managed to navigate all the obstacles and end up doing very well at work and in our personal lives.  We have always managed to keep a pulse on what is really important to us and made the sacrifices needed to make those things a priority.  Kim has always inspired me.  She is incredibly smart and artistic and she manages to combine the two seamlessly.  She has always been proud of herself and of her intelligence and manages to do so without taking herself too seriously.  I have so many memories with her ranging from childhood to adulthood and I know these memories are only just the beginning.  We have been able to bear witness to almost every phase so far in one another’s lives.  It is so comforting to have a friend like that in your life.  Any time we share a story with one another we already know 16 years worth of life experiences that impact the way we think, feel, and approach situations.  Our friendship is so easy and uncomplicated and I love it.  I wish I got to see her more often but the times we do spend together are always wonderful! 

We'll make it to the Top 3, one way or another

I must have heard of hundreds of examples of mergers and acquisitions during my management coursework in college.  We talked about the positive and negative side effects both from a business and personnel perspective.  These were always the go to examples when discussing topics like conflict, expansions, consolidations, managing expectations, corporate communication, regulation, etc.  These situations are so complex and have incredibly far reaching impacts. 

Yesterday marked the beginning of my personal experience with an acquisition.  A public announcement was made yesterday that AT&T was going to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion dollars.  It is planned to be a combination of cash and stock and is expected to close within the next 12 months.  Let me pause for a moment and say that I felt like a rug was pulled out from under me.  I expected a big shake up in the wireless industry over the next few years and T-Mobile was likely to end up merging or being acquired but I was not expecting anything this soon.  At first I was shocked and then a million different articles started popping up which indulged my already wandering and frantic mind.  I was running hundreds of situations through my mind only to continue to arrive at the conclusion that I have no idea what this will mean for me personally.  There are endless possible situations and there just aren’t enough details available yet to anticipate how this will affect T-Mobile’s current employees.  The word condense has been used so I expect there to be some painful changes but there is no way to know where the lines will be drawn.  This is of course all pending regulatory approval but big business has a tendency to get their way so I won’t be surprised if the deal goes through even if it takes a long fight.  The people with the deepest pockets have a tendency to prevail and AT&T has proven that they have some money to throw around.

In church yesterday we spoke about overcoming obstacles and having complete faith in God’s plan for your life.  The example was Jacob and the wall of Jericho.  I admit I was feeling pretty good about my situation during the sermon.  God has a way of reminding us that anything can change.  I am working on putting the lesson to use and accept that for now all I can do is continue to do a great job and hope that there is a place for me on the other side of this deal.  If not then I have to trust that God will help me find another opportunity.  It is very hard for my Type A personality to accept this but I prayed a lot about it last night and I am much more at peace today than yesterday.  It will be an interesting year.  I have a feeling that I will learn a lot and be put to the test not only at work but also in my faith but I am confident that God will create a path forward for me. 

Kiss Me I'm Irish

Well after 11 days straight of work needless to say I was in no mood to go brave the overcrowded Irish bars and restaurants in the area.  So we decided to spend the night in and have our friend Megan over for dinner.  To help make the evening more festive I tried my hand at making green beer.  I used more food coloring than I needed to so it was very green beer but overall I’d say it was a success.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Engineering Happiness

I read a recent blog entry by the creator of Dilbert.  I almost always find his entries thought provoking but this one struck me as both simple and profound.  He describes the items in his life that most heavily impact his level of happiness and encourages his readers to take ownership for their own happiness.  Most of the things that impact are happiness are things that we have either a moderate or high level of control over.  I was so intrigued that I decided to create my own:

Faith – when I am doing well in my walk with God it makes all of the obstacles in life seem more manageable.  It gives me a peacefulness and perspective on life that nothing else in life does.  My favorite is praising through worship music or quiet time out in nature. 

Food – when I eat like crap I generally feel like crap, the temporary comfort of unhealthy food just doesn’t last as long as the effects on my energy level, weight, and mood

Exercise – when I exercise I feel like I can conquer the world except when I’m miserable from being sore but it is absolutely my best form of stress relief.  Kickboxing or Yoga will fix a bad day faster than anything else.

Goals - I am incredibly driven, to my fault at times, and I have to constantly be reaching for something in order to keep from being bored and unhappy.  This is challenging for me because succeeding in one aspect of my life often yields negative results in another so it’s a constant balancing act.

Meaning – This is straight from his blog and I absolutely love it.  “If you have not found your meaning in life yet then you must make yourself a priority.  You can't help others until you first help yourself. Once you reach a more comfortable level, you'll find you need to be useful to others in order to find meaning and feel right in your own skin.”

Positivity – attitude is such an important part of anything you are involved in, it sets the tone for the outcome.  If you are dreading something then there is little possibility for a positive outcome.  If you embrace the things that you are involved in then it is more likely to happen to have a positive result.

A Little Bit of Danger (pushing your own boundaries) - I both love and hate trying to new things but it has been essential in my pursuit for happiness.  We cannot simply settle for what is comfortable and familiar or our lives because it will never get us closer to where we want to be.

Learn – my happiness is dependent on learning new things and I think this aligns well with pushing your own boundaries.  As humans our curiosity should drive us to continue to seek knowledge and skills.  I hope I never feel like I know it all because there is no adventure or path forward if you settle for knowing only the things you know now.

Feel Success - Make it a habit to do things you do well and to embrace and celebrate that. It doesn’t matter what it is that you do well just have something that boosts your confidence.  There are very few people in this world who celebrate you so make sure you are one of them.  There is a fine line but most women have a tendency to under appreciate ourselves rather than over appreciate.  We rock at a whole heck of a lot of things and we should be able to acknowledge and celebrate that fact.

Relationships – whether your life is full of happiness or not the people who you surround yourself with will help you move up and down the mood elevator.  When we have supportive and loving relationships in our life it helps brave the storms and celebrate the victories. 

Another straight quote but it is so relevant that I had to include it:

“That's a starter list for happiness. I don't think it contains any surprises.  But sometimes it's nice to remind yourself that your happiness can be engineered, and that luck is often simply a product of good design.”

Dale vs. the Rings of Doom Part 2

I got my you know what kicked during my first suspension training experience.  At first I thought I would wait a while before I braved it again but I was determined to keep trying.  I went back for round 2 today and while it was still incredibly hard I managed to have a better attitude and push myself farther today.  I am going to be extremely sore tomorrow but if I keep going once a week I’m hoping that by this summer I can officially claim at least a tie with the rings of doom!

Morning Glory

Have you ever been watching a movie and been laughing about the quirks of one of the characters and then realized you are laughing because you do very similar things?  Kyle and I watched Morning Glory last night and I absolutely loved it.  I was also a little uncomfortable with how well Rachel McAdams character resonated with me.  Thankfully Kyle and I discussed that I would only be like that if I was on speed but there were definitely some strong similarities.  The movie covered a wide range of emotions and I laughed and almost cried and enjoyed every minute of it.  Becky, the main character, is a workaholic who is fired from her job and then gets hired to take on the huge challenge of saving a sinking morning show.  She learns how to stand up for herself, fight against the odds, and how to find some level of work/life balance.  

Sometimes you have to spoil yourself

Let me preface this by saying I worked 70 hours this week because of our big software release this weekend.  I have been doing really well in my new role as manager but this week absolutely exhausted my team (myself included).  We persevered and got through it and I’m really proud of that.  The big highlight to my week was that Friday was both pay day and bonus payout day!  I know that sounds shallow to have money be the highlight of my week but when you go so many days in your cubicle without sunshine you have to celebrate the reward you get for doing so.  Most of my bonus money will go towards our mortgage and the few small trips we have planned this year but I wanted to buy myself a present as a reward for all my hard work.

So here is my splurge purchase, note that even this splurge purchase for me involved the outlet store and an additional 30% off coupon but that’s just how I roll!  Here she is:

Rings of Doom

I am not saying I expected suspension training to be easy, that would be foolish.  However I did not expect to feel like crawling into the fetal position halfway through class.  I will say that I survived for 50 minutes although several times I was fighting the urge to puke or pass out.  This is a primarily a result of my new diet which didn’t set me up with enough calories to burn during such an intense class but also due to the fact that I am out of shape.  I am thankfully well on the way to fixing that but the class last night was torture.  We used the suspension trainer for a combination of upper body, lower body, and core exercises.  Some of the exercises made me feel like fire was pulsing through my veins.  Then we get a “break” by doing mountain climbers, sprinting, and up downs.  I am proud to say I survived but boy did I sulk like a little child to Kyle when I got home. 

I am sore pretty much everywhere but mainly in my upper arms, upper thighs, and stomach.  I am so glad I tried the class and I will go back just not until I have spent a little more time toning up in more humane ways like yoga and kickboxing.  I will for now call the suspension trainer the rings of doom.  One day we will meet again rings of doom and I will show you who is boss.  I would suggest this class for fitness fanatics or people who enjoy self torture!

Scorch Trials

I am a binge reader so I am either devouring books left and right or going a month or two without so much as picking up a book.  I really loved the first book in the series which was called the Maze Runner (I blogged about it a while ago) but true to my style it took me a month or two to pick up the sequel.  Now that I finally got around to it I was not disappointed at all.  It kept me on the edge of my seat and reading frantically just to find out what was next.  I stayed up until 12:30 AM last night to finish it which is several hours past my bedtime but I just had to know what happened.  At times I got frustrated by the constant peril because you just really want these poor kids to catch a break but I understand why it was so relentless.  James Dashner has a wonderful writing style and does a very good job depicting both the male and female characters.    My one qualm with young adult literature is that most authors can only meaningfully portray the emotions of one gender.  I had crazy dreams last night as a result of the book but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I would recommend the series to anyone who wants a quick read that tries to question what is humane and necessary when the world is in a wide scale disaster.  I am anxiously awaiting the third and final book which is set to come out in October of this year.  I am rooting for Thomas as he enters this third and final book.  I am also remembering why I like to get into a series after all the books have been published, waiting is agony.      

A Case of the Mondays

It was a really nice weekend.  I went to a dinner and concert with a friend on Friday.  As a result I have found a new music obsession, Brendan James is amazing.  Listen to his song Nothing for Granted on YouTube (I posted a link on my Facebook).   Then Saturday I spent most of the day working, relaxing and cleaning.  The cold weather made me feel rather reclusive so I stuck inside for most of the day.  Then we met up with my parents for dinner because my Aunt and Uncle were in town.  It was such a nice addition to my weekend to spend time with family and eat yummy Mexican food.  Our diet limited our choices pretty heavily but we split Fajitas and they were delicious, it felt wrong to go to Monterrey’s and not eat cheese dip but my weigh in this morning thanked me for my good behavior. 

Sunday I met with my small group and it is really hitting home that my girls are about to graduate.  We had some good discussion and I am really proud of them because they are really wonderful young women.  They still have some growing up to do but truth be told don’t we all even those of us like me who have their 26^th birthday looming.  Then Kyle’s parents came over for dinner and thankfully since they are also on a diet we all enjoyed yummy Tilapia and commiserated that Cake Boss was a bad choice of shows to watch!

After all the fun of the weekend it is back to business as usual as another week of work begins.  My new role is going well but today I couldn’t help but feel a case of the Mondays.  It’s going to be a very hectic week as we finish up in preparation for our release this weekend.  I am bracing myself and trying to keep a very positive attitude.  The best I can do is take a deep breath and tackle things as they come, wish me luck!

Stressful Week

This week has been crazy busy.  I am incredibly thankful that everything is going well but I feel like everything has been so fast paced this week that I am treading water just to keep up.  Kyle and I both came home exhausted last night and while we catching up I looked over by our kitchen cabinets and had to laugh.  I am usually a very organized person when it comes to our house but when I have a lot going on that goes right out the door.  The result of my stress and hectic schedule this week is a rather sizable shoe party near our kitchen.  I’m sure the first day I set down my shoes and then each day for about a week after I kept doing the same thing.  So I figured since I haven’t blogged all week I would help illustrate my hectic week the resulting stress related shoe party.  I am thankful today is Friday so I can actually have some time to tidy up our house before the whole work cycle starts again on Monday.