Gold Award

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award that a Girl Scout can earn as a girl (there are awards for adults too!). It is THE most prestigious thing she can do during her school years and sets her up beautifully to succeed in the "real world" once she graduates high school. Not only does earning your Gold Award teach leadership skills, position you for local and national college scholarships, and encourage sustainable community impact, girls who earn this award will also automatically advance one rank if she chooses to join any branch of the US Military. By discovering something she is passionate about, connecting with people who can guide her and mentor her through the project, and taking action to create change in her community, each Gold Award recipient truly does take small steps towards changing the world.

Today I got to go present a girl with her Gold Award pin during her church service at a sweet little country church outside of town. It was such an honor to participate in pinning her and hearing the stories of the project that she did mapping the cemetery so loved ones could always be found. I told a little about the Gold Award in general and then spoke about how much the Gold Award committee has seen this girl grow and become more confident throughout the process. There were few dry eyes in the place - especially those family members and mentors that have helped her through a year long process. This girl is a great example of what Girl Scouting both stands for and teaches - dedication, leadership, loyalty, hard work - I could go on and on. It is an honor to teach these girls, work with these girls and learn beside these girls.

Tomorrow is the day we get to take girls to meet the Tennessee State governor and attend a legislative session to honor Girl Scouts on our 100th Anniversary! I love my job!

::clever title::

I really do love my job and I try to have a good attitude when it requires more of me than I think that I have to give. These next few days are going to be like that.

I worked today - from about 9am to 3pm - for our annual Delegate Meeting in preparation for the Annual Meeting that happens in April. After work, me and a couple of gals from the office went and had our toes painted lovely spring colors...all pretty much wasting time until our husbands finished what they were doing and we could hang out. Chad spent most of the day with our nephew - today was the big Boy Scout pine wood derby - woohoo! About the time I left the nail place to head home, I gave Chad a call. He didn't answer but the phone rang about the time I got into our neighbor hood...he was reporting that he was at work. On a fire.

I've already had a decent rant about how I feel about people that start fires or set fires they can't control so I will spare your sweet little eyes this time around. I just wish that my work schedule and my husband's work schedule would somehow work together so we can actually spend some quality time together. Some day.

Lovely clouds.

I knew that it had been cloudy all day but I was keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the rain would actually come. And it did. I got home from a really long, stressful day...made dinner...sat down to eat with my sweetie and heard the most wonderful sound. Steady rain on the roof. We're expecting enough rain that it looks like my Chad is going to get a day off tomorrow. It is a little sad because I have so much to do tomorrow that I can't really take any time off with him to hang out (and I have to work Saturday AND Sunday of this weekend) but at least he gets the day off!

I get the privilege of taking a group of girls to Nashville on Monday to have an audience with our governor, get lunch at the capital and go to a special legislative session of the Tennessee Congress in honor of Girl Scouts' 100th Anniversary (which is Monday!!). It is going to be a super fun and busy day and the heart in this this Political Science major is going pitter patter. Regardless of how I feel about the current government, it is still exciting to be able to see things first hand! I love my job and the perks!

4am.

My sweet Chad left for a fire about the time we sat down to watch our Tuesday night NCIS (so...8pm?). I stayed up waiting for him for a while - mistake! - and finally crashed about 10:30 or 11 - which is WAY past my normal bed time. I woke up with a start around 2am and realized he wasn't home yet so I called him...he said it was one of the worse fires he's been on because they didn't have enough people there to keep it under control. So, needless to say that he left again around 7am this morning to go back out there. If I am even half as tired from him being out on a fire as HE is from being out on a fire, it is going to be a long day for both of us!

I am not sure that he will make it to small group tonight but I was looking forward to it so much that I am going to go either way. Either way, please excuse anything I say or do today or tonight because I might be a little loony.

Just keepin' it real.

Even on the rare nights when I am not working - going to meetings, attending events, etc. - I still have to drag myself away from my office at 4:50...trying to beat the traffic out and home before everyone else leaves work. I am supposed to leave at 4:30 (I want to thank whatever genius made our work day 8:30 to 4:30 - it rocks for traffic avoidance!!) but I always seem to have way to much to do! I am dragging myself away from the computer and the rainbow of post-it notes that plan out my day telling myself "GO HOME!". I tell myself that I should go home and get stuff done...the 1,000 things that are on my personal "TO DO" list. I truly love my job - love the people I work with, love the mission and organization, and love the impact that it has on the girls in our community. And I use it as my excuse for why my dining room table looks like this.

I am totally embarrassed to show you that but...
Just keepin' it real.

Enjoyment.

I like that I got my 3 days of traveling done and still had a weekend at home with my sweetie! Since I got home Friday night, I still got to chill out, do errands and laundry, and go to the grocery store today without feeling like I lost my entire weekend!

Yesterday was great...we slept in and hung out. I worked on pictures -filtering and editing and sorting (you should see how organized my external hard drives stays! It is the most organized place in my life and I am so proud! :) )  and Chad worked on his bee hives. We are getting a second hive of bees this spring so his dad came over to help him rearrange some stuff and get a place set up for the new hive. We had to run down to LaFayette to pick up a few extra things to finish building the hive but we're all set now...waiting on the arrival of the bees! They are coming in on a tractor trailer with a bunch of other bees so we literally have to meet them on the side of the highway and pick them up...that should be a story to tell! ( I will try to remember to take pictures!).

Today we got up early and went to the first service at church like we usually do. The second service has gotten so crowded - it is just easier to go at 9 am! After church, we headed over to the home of a sweet couple that sits behind us at church. They invited us and a bunch of other people over for lunch and she fixed "Bible foods" - salmon and pita - you know, loaves and fishes!! It was delicious and the company was great. It is awesome how we literally just met at the "turn and say hello to someone sitting near you" moment at church and it has blossomed into a sweet friendship now. We got to meet some other young couples our age so it is always fun to connect with new people too!

After our traditional Sunday trip to the grocery store, we are hanging out at home, folding said 4 loads of laundry and catching up on 2 missed weeks of NCIS...Chad is finishing up painting some waterproofing on the outside of the beehive and then we'll do dinner and hopefully go to bed early!

I only have to work one or two nights this week so I am looking forward to being at home and getting some things done!

Niagara Falls - Canada and New York!

My sister got married! We are on the NY side, next to the American falls and looking across the river at the Canadian side.

I like this because you can see the back of my sister's dress - not to mention the photographer that caught herself in the mirror.

We went to Niagara on the Lake afterwards and had lunch at a little pub and desserts at a fabulous bakery. Isn't she cute?

Frannie, my sister, and I braved cold temperatures and I braved the heights to be able to see the falls lit up at night. It was totally worth it...the view from the top was spectacular!

The newlyweds in the scary ferris wheel!

Greetings from the top of Niagara Falls!

It was a quick but fun trip. Mom and I enjoyed spening some time together - we tend to giggle a lot when we hang out and this trip was no exception. I took tons of pictures - some great, some ehh....

We had REALLY bad weather pass through here yesterday but I seriously lucked out with it. We landed in good weather in Atlanta and ate some dinner before I hauled it back to Chattanooga in between waves of the storm. I lucked out and got all the way to the Tennessee state line before it even started raining on me and got all the way home before any worse weather decended. There were tornados and some terrible damage in areas around town but we were blessed to not have any damage.

So, congrats to my sister and Frannie. Thanks for letting me join you on the beginning of your true adventure together!