Nicholas Sparks

So, as most of you are aware, I am a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan. His novels speak to me in ways the reach my innermost thoughts and it's such a beautiful thing! I'm about to wrap up his latest novel, The Choice, and it's amazing - I would've expected nothing less. I just recently discovered that he has a website as well (www.nicholassparks.com) with all kinds of wonderful information about the author, the novels, works that have been turned into featured films, etc. I'm so excited to explore all of this and learn more about him and what inspires his stories.

If you've never read a novel by Nicholas Sparks before, I recommend starting with The Notebook first. It's my favorite! :)

Happy reading!

Change

Over the last couple of months, we've gone through some pretty significant changes - worth mentioning. For the last 5 years, Chris has been away from home so much that I'm amazed at how solid our marriage has proven to be in retrospect. It's never easy when you don't have that quality time together each day and your communication becomes stagnant and almost void at times as a result. We've been working through this since the day we were married and I'm glad to report that things are finally stabilizing for us. Chris' new job has revealed to us the importance of a normal work schedule and the effects it has on our family. Right now, at this stage in our life together, it feels like we're in a totally new place. I joke around with friends saying that we're finally getting to experience that "honeymoon" phase that we were so reluctantly robbed of for the last 5 years. Each morning is new and exciting and has so many more possibilities than it's ever had before. I love how we relate to each other now. It's like we're remembering all over again what it was that made us fall in love with each other from the very beginning. Not to mention the unbelievable reality that I'm married to my very best friend in this world - the man who knows me, loves me and accepts me for all that I am - flaws and all. How gratifying is that?!

We've thoroughly enjoyed our new morning and evening schedules. Take this past week for example. I'm up at 5:30 with my cup of coffee and my Bible, beginning my day in the very best way. Then gradually Chris wakes up, then the dogs, and the whole house is buzzing! We get ready for work, I pack our lunches, make our "to-go" cups of coffee, grab a pop-tart or muffin for the road, then book it to the car by 7:15 so as not to miss my bus at 7:30. Chris drops me off, kisses me good-bye, then drives in to the office (only 5 minutes away). In the evening, he picks me up at the bus stop at 6:15, we come home, feed the dogs, cook dinner, then have the whole rest of the night to look forward to spending together. Chris even has time to work in the yard after he gets home at night - which has almost never happened before! Not to mention, he's now around to help with cleaning up after dinner, folding the laundry and helping take care of our dogs. I realize that this is the "norm" for most people - who would've thought I would be so excited to be this "normal"?

Needless to say, we're very pleased with where we are in our life together right now. Sometimes God's plan can be so mysterious and we have trouble seeing beyond our current circumstances. But the truth is, He never loses sight of His dreams for our life - even when we do. So it all comes down to faith. Paul describes this state of mind perfectly when he instructs in Romans that " . . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-5)

Administrative Professionals Day!

So, today went WAY better than anticipated! Obviously, since I'm blogging about this, I have good news to report. Keeping in mind that last year there was almost no recognition of this special day, I had very low expectations. However, it turns out the the employees of ColeJenest and Stone must value me a whole lot more than I give them credit for. As I approached my office this morning, sat down in my chair and logged in to my computer, I received an email informing me that the civic team had provided breakfast for the admin team this morning in recognition of the "holiday." WOW - that was super! Muffins, fruit, danishes, juice - it was so lovely! Especially because I hadn't yet had breakfast and I was starving! Throughout the morning there were several well-wishes, many "thank you's," and "this office could not function without you" (which was my personal favorite). All lovely sentiments to hear. When I got back from lunch, there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my desk from the Partners, Brian and Dudley. Now this was truly unexpected. Dudley was spending the day in our Raleigh office (though he did call to wish me a happy admin professionals day) and Brian was wrapped up in meetings all day - so how they snuck this one by me I'll never know. Seeing as I'm their personal assistant and I know I didn't order these flowers for myself, I'm curious as to how they got it done! :) Later in the day, I received a gift card from my direct supervisor, Alison, to a really cool store in Southend called Paper Skyscraper. And then, to top it all off, a co-worker (Marie) honored me with a peanut butter and chocolate brownie from Dean and Deluca. What a wonderful day! 364 days out of the year, administrative professionals are so under-appreciated, but on this one day out of the year, we feel very blessed! I was amazed at the thoughtfulness that came from my co-workers today - it was truly a great day to be an Executive Administrative Assistant!

Fun Times, Great Friends . . . Memories Made

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We've been so busy lately that I haven't even had a chance to share our good news. After two long months of waiting and being patient, Chris has finally found a job! He is now a full-time employee of Granite Contracting. I couldn't tell you exactly what he does there - some sort of combination of the assistant project manager's position stirred in with some surveying and GPS work. All that matters to me, is that he enjoys it! No more endless work hours and sky-high frustration - he seems to have found one that finally compliments his interests and highlights his strengths (while maintaining a "normal" work week). You can check out more at www.granitecontracting.com. "How did he find this great job?" you might ask. Well, there is a couple in our Sunday School class that we have become very good friends with (Ryan and Valerie Haynes). Valerie is an Engineer at ColeJenest and Stone and got me my job there almost 2 years ago. Her husband, Ryan, is the Controller for Granite Contracting (he also is the owner's nephew). So there's the obvious answer right there. In addition, while Chris was still working at SSC Construction, he assisted in building an addition onto Steve Cosper's house and office. Steve is the Owner of Granite Contracting. So, in a way, they had already worked together in the past - enough for Chris to make an impression on Steve so that, inevitably, he would be offered a position within Granite. Or you could just say that the Lord provided the right job at the right time. So we are very thankful for this recent development and look forward with great anticipation to the things still yet to come as a result.

As a side note, tomorrow is Administrative Professionals Day! Seeing as I am considered an "Administrative Professional," I am very excited! I discreetly added this special occasion to all my bosses calendars and sent them a friendly email reminder on Friday. I guess we'll have until tomorrow to know if it paid off! Let's just say, I'll either have wonderful, happy things to blog about tomorrow, or nothing at all. Here's hoping it's the first option of the two . . .

The bus is still going well for me. I noticed today that gas on our exit is up to $3.54/gallon - so the bus is going excellently for me! How can I not be pleased with saving all that money! One of these days I'll remember to turn in my parking pass so that I can save an additional $75/mo. - Think of all the new spring/summer clothes I can buy with that in my pocket! Well, probably not as much as I'd like - but maybe a new dress or blouse perhaps?

My sister called the other day and tells me that she is already 33 weeks preggers . . . and I have to ask "where did all that time go???" In all three pregnancies, I have yet to actually see her "pregnant" (in the true sense of the word), so while I know that she is, in fact, pregnant, I have yet to actually witness it myself! It's like one day she tells me she's having a baby, then the next day (which only seems like a few short months later), I have a new nephew/niece. It's crazy! I really hate being so far apart. When is the Air Force gonna station them back in NC??? I mean, really . . . hasn't 7 years been long enough!

Chris and I leave in about a week and a half to spend the weekend in Ocean Isle with our friends. We are SO looking forward to this little retreat from real life! I'm just hoping that the weather is beautiful - the last 2 times we had weekend trips to the beach, the weather was terrible and rainy and it was a complete waste of time and money. I'm sure I'll bring back many new pictures to post!

Well, I guess that's all I have to blog about today. Hopefully I'll have happy news to report tomorrow . . . :)

Are you "Wicked"?

Last night, my little sister and I went to see the Broadway show "Wicked". Harmony, Eric, Chris and I got Hannah these tickets for Christmas and due to some unforeseen happenstances, she decided to take me to the show (it helped that the show was in Charlotte) :) Those of you who really know me know that I'm terrified of the "Wizard of Oz" - I can't even watch a snipit of it on TV - so I was a little uncertain as to what to expect going to see this show. I even told Chris early that morning, "Don't tell anyone, but I'm kinda scared about going to see this show!" - Of course, he knew that already :) For those of you who don't know anything about this show, it's basically the untold story of the two witches in the movie (Glinda and Elphaba - the Wicked Witch of the West).



Needless to say, Elphaba is not as bad as we all are intended to believe - she's actually quite good and you feel very sad for her throughout the whole show because of all the unfortunate circumstances that she finds herself in constantly. I won't write more about the show (you can look up the synopsis for more information) - but I definitely encourage you to go see it if you ever get the chance.

Before the show, Hannah and I went to this great restaurant called Boardwalk Billy's. It's on a man-made lake and we had the best table in the whole restaurant. The weather was beautiful, the lake was lovely, and the food was amazing! We ordered the spicy crab queso dip for an appetizer - holy cow! Whoever thought of adding queso to crab dip is a culinary genius!









It goes without saying that we had an incredible night - so glad we got this opportunity! This is Hannah's favorite Broadway show and she loved every minute of being there watching the performance (she eve cried all the way through the first 3 songs - she get's that from her older sister!). Hooray for quality sister time - it's rare - but it's always fun!

Co-workers

I am always so amazed at the sense of self-entitlement that surrounds me each day through my coworkers. Yesterday was especially impressive. I just cannot understand how someone feels they have the right to question authority or complain about procedures that, perhaps, they do not agree with fully. For example, part of my responsibilities at work is to oversee the management of our flat files/archiving for all CJS-Charlotte projects. This is a pretty big undertaking. We recently have changed our policy regarding this particular issue and every time I send out reminders or try to enforce these new standards, I get questioned on it - mostly by the "higher-up's" in the office. And I guess this frustrates me most because these are the people who are supposed to be leaders within our organization. And if they can't follow protocol without complaining or feeling that it's an injustice to them, then how can we expect the rest of the office (underneath them) to follow? It's almost like these people feel like they're too good or too important to follow company policy and that they are immune to it whenever it's inconvenient for them. How does a person get to be that way? To me, it's black and white. These are the standards - you either follow them or there are consequences for your choices. And the problem is, this reflects poorly on me. It is my job to make sure every employee in the office knows and adheres to our company policies, and if I'm constantly second-guessed or questioned, then it makes me look like I can't handle my job. This really drives me crazy! Why can't people just suck it up and do what's right - regardless of their position within the firm? The manual doesn't state "all employees must abide by the company standards - except for project managers, team managers, principals or corporate." There is no exception to this rule. I don't question your choices or the way you handle your responsibilities - so do not question mine. We're each put in our particular position for a reason, so let's help each other be proficient at our jobs and not act like 5-year olds!

I just LOVE corporate America!!!

Snuggle Bunnies

Chris sent me this picture in the middle of the workday a couple of weeks ago under the subject title "We Miss You" . . . isn't that just pitiful (in the very best way)? :)

Charlotte Rescue Mission - Service Project

Chris and I spent the latter half of the afternoon preparing and serving dinner to the men at the Charlotte Rescue Mission. Our good friends, Pat & Amelia, arranged for our Sunday School Class to do a service project there. This is our second time going as a class and we really enjoy it! The men at the CRM are so grateful to have outsiders come in and prepare a meal for them and socialize with them for a short while. It certainly reminds us of how fortunate we are to have the many blessings in our life that God has given to us. We really enjoy serving at the CRM and we look forward to many more service projects in the future. Below are a couple of snapshots from today.

Visit with an old friend

One of my BFF's from high school came to visit with me today and she brought her two adorable twin boys, Jackson and Jaden. Rachel lives near Seattle, Washington now and I don't get to see her too often. So it was really nice to have the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with her and meet her new babies! It's so incredible to see how our lives have changed since high school to where we are now. Below are some pictures from our visit.

Thanks for coming to see me, Rach! I love you!

I DID IT!

So, I finally bit the bullet and took the bus to work! My first trip was on Wednesday. It was great, I really liked it! I was very nervous at first, there's a lot to be concerned about when riding a city bus. But, inevitably, all my apprehensions were put to rest after that first ride in on wednesday morning. Sure, there's some scheduling issues that will need to be worked out, but ultimately, it's still nice being chauffered between home and work everyday!