Overwhelmed.

Sorry it has been so quiet around here. After my last trip to Knoxville, I have been barely treading water with work - super long days and the responsibility to write a budget for a department that has never existed before (by a girl who has never written a work budget before!) I know it isn't supposed to be that hard but since I am NOT very good with math and I have a deep desire to "get it right" and do a good job, this work has been particularly stressful and overwhelming. I think I am slowly learning how to swim and I should be able to submit my budget this Friday - a full week before it is due. My goal is to NOT have it breathing down my neck this weekend when Chad is off work and we can spent lots of time together.

I DID however, make giant leaps on the master bathroom project this past weekend. I sanded the drywall mud that we put on there last week and then - I tell no lies - scraped all the popcorn texture off the ceiling. I promise it isn't as bad as it sounds. It is very easy - just time consuming and super messy. I had popcorn in places I don't care to mention (Ok, I will - just for funsies - my bra!). I'm excited to literally have a blank slate for our bathroom to create something beautiful and simple! Chad did more mudding today so I can sand again tomorrow night and we can start the process of potentially getting things ready to tile this weekend!! Everything is picked out - just not purchased. Saving up a storm and we are about ready to bite the bullet!

I'll try to be better about updates (fingers are NOT crossed behind my back). :)

Oh traveling...

Well, I thought I was done traveling for the summer but apparently I was wrong. I knew I had to be in Knoxville this coming Wednesday for our monthly staff meeting but it was just going to be a day trip - back before Chad even really knew I was gone (leave before he gets up and back before he comes home from work!). Then, my bosses boss came in on Friday and asked me if I could go to Knoxville Monday and Tuesday of next week to participate in our big strategy meetings. I had not been asked to participate before now, which was really fine with me, because large percentage of our staff WAS going to be in there and I could get tons of stuff done in their absence. I had big plans to work on my departmental budget and plans all day on Monday and Tuesday but as it turns out, the decisions made in this 2-day meeting will affect those plans a lot. So, it doesn't make sense for me to a)work on my budget before that meeting or b)be absent from those meetings if they will be making decisions about the work my team will be doing.

Oh well. I am a little sad that I will be gone for another 3 days when I was convinced that I was gone traveling - and had promised my guy that I was. I really do love my job but I think I need to be super conscious of spending some quality time with my guy in the next few weeks.

p.s. our 5 year anniversary is next month! Where did those 5 years go?? And what am I going to get him for a gift (traditional: wood, modern: silverware)??

Final Camp trip #3

Looking back, I am thankful that I get paid mileage when I drive to camp near Knoxville since yesterday completed my third trip of the summer. I am always a little sad when resident camp is over because I know what a great experience it can be for our girls - it is a memory making machine, which is exactly what we hope for!

This week was a great week. I got to work with some girls that were working on an environmental/food based Journey book (set of badges, basically) and took them on a field trip to the farmer's market in Knoxville. These girls are the oldest girls we have had at camp for the summer - they are Counselor-in-Training aged - so it was good to get to hang out with them. I had a captive audience while we drove into town and back and I got some really good feedback about what events they would like to see us do in the next year. I told them about our tentative plans for travel and events and they seemed really excited about it! That makes me feel like we are on the right track and that is great news!

I rolled in from camp around 5pm yesterday and went straight to the yacht club where Chad's parents are members. (Yacht club uses loosely...more like sailing club...which is more like, a bunch of retired guys getting together and fiddling around with their boats.) We were filling in for Chad's dad on the race committee, meaning we were to help set up the Wednesday night fun races, run flags, timers, etc. but of course, we've never done it before. Thankfully, the woman in charge gave us lots of instructions and was super sweet and knowledgeable - in a "I want to share with you what I love to do so maybe you'll love it too" kind way. Sadly, some storm clouds blew over and took all the wind with them so sail races were not to be had.

I will be living in budget land for the next 2 weeks or so as I write my team's first budget so I am pretty nervous about it. I want to do well so that we will have plenty of funds for an entire year of programming but I also am not so great with numbers so yeah...knowing that I am choosing budget amounts for events that are over a year away and not planned yet is a little stressful. I wish I could just write up my entire plan - since I am a words girl! - and give it to someone and have them put numbers with it. But alas, that is not how it works.

July Birchbox!

My sweet sister reminded me that I had not blogged about my July Birchbox yet and by golly...she was right!! All the pictures were taken on my cell phone because I was too lazy/excited to wait the day it came to go get my camera out of the car. :)

The theme this month was "Power Play" and was somehow connected to the TV show "Suits". It is probably good that I delayed/forgot to write this blog post because I have actually been able to use some of these products now and I can give an accurate opinion on them!

 



This is the ModelCo. Party Proof Lipstick in the Peony color. It is actually a matte lipstick which is a little different than what I am used to but I just put a touch of gloss over it and I have been really happy with it. The color actually does last most of the morning for me so "party proof" might actually be accurate. It is pretty bright on me so I use sparingly. It says that the full size is priced at $19 but I can't imagine that this isn't the full size - it seems like the same size as my other lipsticks (product goes all the way to the bottom of the tube, etc.) so this in itself pays for 2 months of boxes!

(See! Way more opinion!!)

This is Dr. Jart's Ceramidin Cream. Supposed to be a great moisturizer but I like my moisturizer/have break-out prone skin that I don't want to put strange things on so I used this on my hands. I really liked it there - great light scent - but I am never excited about the sample size of any of the Dr. Jart stuff...sorta skimpy? It would be hard to try it enough days in a row to decide if it was worth purchasing at a $48 full size!

This is the Caudalie brand Divine Legs, the only item that I have not tried yet. I sort of got a little tiny sunburn on my legs last week so I was waiting for that to go away and for me to stop going to camp so much so it was worth having lovely shaded legs. Excited to try it...

This is the second bottle of this Color Club Birchbox exclusive color. Truth - I traded the off-white that I got last month for a super fun bright orange/color that a co-worker got (perks!) so I was excited that I didn't get that color this month! This shade is called London Calling and is one in a set of 4 if you purchase in the Birchbox shop. They call them "neon pastels" - an oxymoron in my opinion - but it is ok because I am really liking the shades (on toes!).

I think this beauty extra of patterned giant bobby pins is my favorite thing I got this month. Great for my thick hair and adds a little funky color to a hair do! I feel like I have to wear them with things that match - cause I am weird like that - but I have really enjoyed them! A LOT...never had cute bobby pins before so they are pretty neat.

So, here's the month's box! I love that they have started doing a little chevron on the inside of the boxes. Cute and so "in" right now.

Thanks sweet sister!

Camp Trip #2

Two camp trips down with one more to go.

I arrived back home around 9pm last night but I was excited to roll in to town in time to take my guy an ice cream (his favorite) to work for a little dessert surprise. I hadn't seen him in 48 hours - that felt like 2 weeks cause it kinda was - so I was glad for the detour.

Camp was great this time. Hot, sticky, but thankfully not raining - which just happens to NOT be the norm for the past few weeks. I am thankful that we didn't get any rain while I was there because hot, sticky, plus rain = significantly less fun (as I type this, the thunder is rolling in and the dog has found her usual hiding place under my chair).

The staff is doing a great job and I am proud of how they have handled any issues that have come up. One more trip there next week and camp will be over for the summer (sad!). Did I mention that we scheduled 3 weeks of camp because we could barely fill that up last year and this year we had to add an extra week to accommodate all the girls that wanted to go! Woohoo!

I worked all day today (after a sweet early morning babysitting stint with one of my favorite little guys. A perfect reason to be late for work) and then came home and took a nap. I'm telling you in the interest of full disclosure. My plans for the rest of the evening are: clean out luggage, start a load of laundry, walk the dog, and go back to bed. :) After being home a total of around 70 hours the past 2 weeks or so, I am relishing the thought that I get to spend the next 6 days here!  I already have a manicure appointment with K on Saturday and a pool day with my in-laws while Chad is at work!

50 hours.

I thought on the way home yesterday (back through 4 states to get to my guy) that I wish I was earning SkyMiles for all the miles I have driven on the road the past few weeks! I would be earning myself a fun vacation in a tropical destination instead of just burning my gas money!

It was a lovely trip to Biloxi and back and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with my dad, mom, and BFF J. It has been quite some time since I got to spend that much interrupted time with J and I am glad that it worked out for her to go. We spent most of Tuesday getting there after leaving around lunchtime but Wednesday was enjoyed tooling around Ocean Springs and sitting by the pool (where I missed my shins with the sunscreen and had pink legs for 48 hours). Thursday we drove around and saw the sights a bit more and then headed out on a historic replica sailboat to watch the fireworks. If you follow me on Instagram or if we are friends on FB, you will have seen that what started as a beautiful sunset cruise and fireworks show turned into a drenched in rain haul it back to the marina ride. No one was injured and we surely made some memories so it was really loads of fun (and hysterical once we got over the initial shock of it raining on us rather unexpectedly).

Drove from Biloxi to Columbus then to Chattanooga yesterday so after being in the car around 9 hours I was thrilled to pull in my driveway. Chad is off today and tomorrow and I am soaking up every minute with him (and unwillingly sharing a few of them) before I leave again EARLY Monday morning.

Tour of the South.

Since I left Richmond, VA. on Sunday, I have travelled through VA, TN, GA, and AL. We are currently on the road to Mississippi and I feel like a thoroughly well-travelled gal right about now. I am in the middle of a less-than-convincing conversation with my dad about trying to convince him to let me drive. I'll let you know how successful it winds up being...

4 states down, one to go.
Then a few days of not riding in the car and sitting by the pool are in order!

An injury.

Back story: growing up, my family did a lot of camping...migrating from a little pop-up style to a 5th wheel with more space as my sister and I got older. I have great memories of that camper - dragging it all over the southeast and even northeast as we visited campgrounds and driveways of family members. My sister and I progressively took more responsibility for helping set up, clean, and work on the camper as our skills progressed. Near the end of us owning it, we were in charge of the pre-trip and post-trip pressure washing. Dad gave us lots of instructions and of course, monitored our progress; lots of warnings about don't spray your sister or your own feet cause it can actually do some serious damage. So, all these years, I have carefully avoided pressure washer injuries.

Front story: I can no longer say I have no pressure washer injuries. Chad and I came back from our walk yesterday morning to find the neighbors struggling with trying to make their pressure washer work. Being the handy guy that he is, they called Chad over and he immediately got it going on full blast. The user was obviously inexperienced because as soon as it came on, he lost control and sprayed both Chad and I across our mid-sections. Being wet is fine - we were sweaty from our walk anyway. However, all my years of warnings from my dad were accurate because this is what happens with a pressure washer on bare skin...
It literally broke skin...and is basically a water burn. Didn't think that was possible did you? Might not look bad in the pictures but Lordy...it hurts! So, that's my story of my latest unusual injury...

An injury.

Back story: growing up, my family did a lot of camping...migrating from a little pop-up style to a 5th wheel with more space as my sister and I got older. I have great memories of that camper - dragging it all over the southeast and even northeast as we visited campgrounds and driveways of family members. My sister and I progressively took more responsibility for helping set up, clean, and work on the camper as our skills progressed. Near the end of us owning it, we were in charge of the pre-trip and post-trip pressure washing. Dad gave us lots of instructions and of course, monitored our progress; lots of warnings about don't spray your sister or your own feet cause it can actually do some serious damage. So, all these years, I have carefully avoided pressure washer injuries.

Front story: I can no longer say I have no pressure washer injuries. Chad and I came back from our walk yesterday morning to find the neighbors struggling with trying to make their pressure washer work. Being the handy guy that he is, they called Chad over and he immediately got it going on full blast. The user was obviously inexperienced because as soon as it came on, he lost control and sprayed both Chad and I across our mid-sections. Being wet is fine - we were sweaty from our walk anyway. However, all my years of warnings from my dad were accurate because this is what happens with a pressure washer on bare skin...
It literally broke skin...and is basically a water burn. Didn't think that was possible did you? Might not look bad in the pictures but Lordy...it hurts! So, that's my story of my latest unusual injury...