So blessed.

We always joke that we take a 12pm lunch very seriously at our office. At 12:01, you can expect someone to stroll by your doorway and tap their watches if you haven't shown up in the kitchen or room we eat in by then. I was at my desk at noon today when I looked up to see my sister and my mom standing in the doorway of my office. Surprise!! After last year's jumping out of a gift wrapped box for my birthday, I didn't even think to expect them until Wednesday so I was very surprised.

We gathered up my best amiga and as we were wondering to the front of the office to head to lunch I even stumbled upon my Chad. All my favorite people in one place! The best gift ever. Seriously. Ever.

Mexican food again - like last year - and an attempt to place a germy sombrero on my head but thankfully no singing. I snuck out for a couple of hours to hang out with my sister and mom - even though my mom just left Chattanooga not 24 hours earlier and sneakily spent the night in Atlanta. It was nice to not have much on the schedule for this afternoon and plenty of flex time to use.

Chad said he has been buying me little presents and hiding them where I won't find them in the house (maybe near the Halloween chocolate??). Today, he gave me one of them because he thought I could use them at a big meeting tomorrow that I am running for a new project team. A new pack of multi-colored Sharpies. I know, not romantic and a little weird. But, if you know me, you'd know that the way to my heart is colored pens and markers. What a sweet guy.

My sweet florist momma also gave me these beauties that I will enjoy on my desk for DAYS:

 

I am so blessed by people who love me and think of me and want to spend time with me. My little heart is overflowing.

The worlds.

This is probably one of the more controversial blog posts that I've written or that I will write. I don't meant controversial in the way that I am discussing a topic that is taboo or that might be questionable. I just mean that I don't want anyone to misinterpret my words. I tend to avoid touchy topics for a long list of reasons: people won't read my heart and will assume something about my words, people will think it is directed at them (when more than likely, it is not), people will be offended (and while offense is never my intent - conversation is). But, I've been mulling this one over for some time now and I think I am ready to put it in writing. Either way, it is a long doozy of a post so if you are easily offended or easily bored, you might should just skip this one.

 

Being willing to write about this stemmed from a simple experience yesterday when I feel like I have a decent example. I slept in a little because I had to work late last night and about the time I got up and dressed, I heard the city workers drilling on the road in front of our house. They had been coming by and measuring things and writing nonsense (to the layman) in a beautiful variety of spray paint colors so I knew work of some kind was going to be done. I left for work and didn't think twice about it until I got home around 4:30, in time to run in a grab some things I forgot for the event I was headed to. I turned on the kitchen faucet and this is what came out:

.

 

This is after it having run for a while...air in the line first causing me to take a giant step back, then milky looking water, then VERY brown water (confession: I smelled it thinking it might be sewage in the line!), and then this just dirty looking water. Long story to explain: I took a picture and "tweeted" it to the city and to my city council man (who - hello - follows me on Twitter. I'm hot stuff....not.). And then I thought - wow. Why did you do that? Can they fix it? Are they going to call the workers back out and make them figure out why my water is brown? No. And bottom line: I'm telling myself Paula, be thankful. You have clean water. Dirty water one night (that eventually cleared itself up with a long run of the faucet) is so exponentially better than a majority of the world - even places you have visited and lived! - that you have no right to complain."

 

Here's where it gets tricky. Here is where I want you to hear my heart and not my faulty words and how this story applies. My next thought after complaining about my water quality was to think about posting it on Instagram with the friendly "#firstworldproblems" hashtag. I have seen many people post pictures of broken smart phones, lost keys, names misspelled on coffee cups, or temper tantrums and give it the "#firstworldproblems" tag and I've affirmed it with a with a smile and a nod.  Yes. Yes!

 

Oh friends, I feel so convicted about this. If these are our problems, let's change our world. Let's go somewhere where clean water is not a guarantee. Let's meet someone who would do anything to have a child, much less one with temper tantrums. Let's go a day (an hour!!) without our smart phones and truly connect with the people you see face-to-face. Let's take that $5 we would have spent on a name-misspelled, wrong ingredient deluxe coffee and give it to our local church, shelter, food bank, or favorite non-profit. And when we find our lost keys, let's open the door to our homes - rented or owned - and invite someone else in...because its our home and we can.

 

What are "first world problems" really? The things we complain about are, in reality, small miracles of eye opening greatness.

 

Please hear me: you have every right to feel the way you feel. I am probably butchering my bff's mom's saying but she used to say something like "Feelings are real though they may not be accurate". You are allowed to be frustrated when things don't go how you planned. You are allowed to be annoyed when your cell phone breaks or your car won't start or the barista makes your coffee wrong or that kid you birthed and love is screaming in the backseat while you are just trying to get to home. We are emotional human beings with a lot to process every day.  I just want to encourage you to consider how your respond when life's frustrations enter your day. I am the worst example of how to respond with love, patience, and positivity. I am NOT saying to be like me because I've got it right. I AM saying that we can consider the lives of others - those we know personally and those we wish we knew before judging our "problems" against theirs.

 

I told you. It was a doozy. Again, this is NOT directed at anyone. If it was, it would be all 10 fingers pointing back at me. This conviction, rooted partially in a "their perfect lives on Instagram are so much better than mine" and pushing against the "you are so blessed. you love your life exactly how it is." is something I have been struggling with for a while. So, friends, go out and love someone today. Remember that your first world is a blessing.

Feel free to comment. I think this could be a good conversation.

Fall.

The calendar says it is officially fall and the windows open in the house these last 2 or 3 weeks agree. Some days it has been a little warm for comfort but the nights cool off to lovely perfection and an extra blanket on the bed. The electricity bill for the last month came and it is happily lower than usual and I am thinking sweaters and warm drinks. Ah. Fall. You finally came and brought with you - happy.

This season at work is busy. I think I say that every season but fall is really the busiest. Recruitment season is in full swing and even though that isn't my department anymore, it is all hands on deck. So, I get to do my work and then help a little a few days a week with other teams. It all feels good to know I'm helping but I'm a busy bee with my own goodies. I've been writing trainings, organizing some future events, learning how to supervise and be a better leader...all in all a wonderful and challenging time.

A big event at camp next weekend brings families together for a little fall crafty get together and I am excited. I hope the weather holds or maybe just puts itself on repeat because this coming weekend is supposed to be fall perfection. My guy is off work and we have a lot of nothing planned. Maybe we'll get in a little hike and  maybe we'll finally purchase the tile for the bathroom and consider starting on that project. Or maybe we'll just sit around the fire pit and drink adult beverages. Either way, I'm breathing this weekend in deep. The next 2 weeks are jam packed and I want to savor every minute of my favorite season.

September Birchbox!

It's September Birchbox time!

As always, it is so exciting to see this pink surprise in my mailbox.

 

This month's theme was heritage...

Upon first opening, this is what I saw. I have heard other things about this "Yes to..." brand...

This is a pack of 8 travel towelettes which I am really excited about trying. It is their "Yes to Blueberries" and they smell lovely. It'll be something nice to toss in the gym bag for the post workout face wipe down!

This is a pack of 8 but the full size is a pack of 30 and only costs $7.99. I was excited to see something that was much more reasonably priced in my box this month...lots of things that I receive samples for are more high end.

I've never heard of this manicure hand mask but I am really excited about it. They are basically gloves that you put on during a manicure to moisturize then you can tear the fingertips off to paint your nails and leave the glove on to continue moisturizing.

The most interesting part is that they are UV blocking so if you decided to go get one of the gel/shellac manicures, you could wear these and protect your skin from the UV rays that the lamps put off! Cool!

This is another sample from the "Yes to..." company...their grapefruit CC cream. I am excited that it came in two different shades so I could get a little closer to an accurate sample. Sometimes with the makeup samples it is hard to tell if I will love it because it isn't the right color...can't wait to try this stuff!

And finally, these two goodies were in my little blue box.

A nail polish sample from the Ruffian brand - in Birchbox exclusive color of "hedge fund" - a green-ish fall color with a little bit of reflectiveness in it. I think I will bravely try it on the fingers soon!

The eyeshadows are in the Moroccan Sunset shades and are from the Coastal Scents brand. I haven't ever heard of them so it'll be interesting to try it!

 

Oh Birchbox, you pick up my week!



Grace.

Here is your cryptic blog of the week (month? year? You can pick.)

I've never really been good at compromise. Call it what you will but I tend towards stubborn and an affinity towards getting my way (we all do, right?). There are a lot of things in my life right now that are stretching me, growing me, challenging me. A lot of places where I could think harder, work harder, focus more, be more present...and even more places where I could learn from other people who are doing better at getting it "right", learn to compromise - not giving up or giving in but meeting in the middle, not having my way but seeing it from someone else's shoes. And I think that middle place is called Grace.

It's a funny thing that Grace. Grace. It asks us to forgive others. It asks us to not judge. It asks us to just love and learn and be there and be fully present and just be. Grace.

"There's only grace,
There's only love,
There's only mercy and believe me, its enough" - Matthew West

Another semi-productive weekend.

Another long weekend presented itself and I enjoyed every moment of it. First, my momma made her visit for the month this weekend so I got to enjoy her company to its fullest. We didn't do much - ran a few little errands and just generally hung out around the house. Honestly, while it doesn't sound all that exciting, I can't really think of anything I would rather do on a weekend off than just hang out around the house with the people I love the most. To top it off, Chad had the weekend off to so we just got to be HOME for a couple of days together. Lovely weekend it was.

Today was LABOR day and I sure did labor - but I saved it for the second half of the day - as to not get too carried away. Chad and I are catching up on old TV shows (specifically Alias - Jennifer Garner's finest work in my opinion...I love that show!) and just jumping into season 3. We caught up on a couple episodes before Chad had to go to work and I got cracking on my to do list from my last long weekend. I went to Lowe's and bought the wall paint for the bathroom since it was on sale this weekend and then came home and painted! I got the ceiling painted with two coats of white and the walls painted with one coat. I bought grey for the walls and I am pretty excited about getting it all on there in the next couple of days. I did more laundry (how does it never end??), cleaned dishes, vacuumed floors, and changed sheets. All in all, a pretty darn productive day. Long week of work ahead but thankfully, it is only 4 days long. New staff member starting tomorrow that I am very excited about - super positive, upbeat, and coming from another Girl Scout council so we don't have to train her as much. It's gonna be a good week!

A productive day.

One of the things that I wanted to do for Chad for our anniversary was to deep clean the house. I know, it sounds really 1950's housewife and not at all the independent woman that I believe I am. But, in my defense, since I work so much, sometimes my share of our house duties falls by the way side. We share most things evenly - or just take turns doing them - but admittedly, it had been a while since I had done THIS much cleaning. (Don't think we live in messy house - unless you count Gwendolen hair - we do clean!). Bottom line, I knew that a deep clean would probably bless him more than anything I could purchase him so it is one of the reason I took 2 days off this week.

So, here was my TO DO list for yesterday - updated with what I actually got done:
- sand mud on walls in bathroom
- wipe down walls and dump drop cloth
- paint ceiling and walls in bathroom
- paint bathroom cabinet
- vacuum all floors
- do all laundry and put it away (this ended up being 5 loads...my dryer was exhausted)
- clean up hiking stuff in guest room from Leconte trip
- clean up kitchen and put away dishes
- clean up craft stuff in spare room
- clean out/wash/wax car (this one is totally for me!)
- clean up dining room table
- clean up the other guest room that has been holding bathroom renovation stuff
- hang Chad's 3D map that he got for Christmas (this is almost embarrassing)
- deep clean hall bathroom
- clean off front porch (the number of spider webs is unreal!)

Obviously, I didn't get everything done in the bathroom that I wanted to get done but my arms were tired from nearly 2 hours of sanding! I need a little help/advice from Chad on the next step (ceiling) anyway so I was sort of in a holding pattern until today anyway.

My house is so clean that I feel like we should leave so we don't mess it up! p.s. he also noticed, which only slightly surprised me. I was still awake when he came home last night and he was like, whoa, thanks for cleaning! and THAT rocked my world.

Today's plans include catching up on our favorite TV shows, hopefully lunch with his parents to celebrate his mom's birthday (which, by the way, is the same day as our anniversary. Another story for another day), a trip to Lowe's (because what romantic day doesn't include a trip to Lowe's?) then a matinee movie and dinner down by the river. Le sigh. I love days like this.

 (Edited to add: I DID actually buy him things but they aren't here yet. I'll show them off when they arrive.)