Thankful Thursday

Whoo boy. I need some thankfulness to think about today. It's been a doozy of a week, and I'm tired and sweating out my stress levels. So let's get on with it, eh?

1. I'm thankful for checklists. They keep me sane and organized, and provide a tiny bit of peace of mind when I feel like I'm in a cart careening out of control.
2. I'm thankful for a night to myself this week. It was a few nights ago, and I did have to do some work, but it was nice to have a night alone to eat whatever I wanted and catch up on Downton Abbey while I worked.
3. I'm thankful for the upcoming weekend! Friend time, checking off more work items in prep for the next 2 weeks of travel, and hopefully even a bit of relaxing in there too.
4. I'm thankful for Nolan. He's just...the best. I run out of original things to say sometimes, but hopefully nobody minds if I re-use my praises for the smartest, funniest, most compassionate and sexy husband out there. I'm so grateful to be able to come home to him after a busy day.
5. I'm thankful for these upcoming business trips. Even though it means more work to catch up on, it's going to be good to reconnect with our entire team in person this coming week, and then super exciting to attend the HCI Workforce Analytics conference the following week! A solid few days of workforce planning and analytics never hurt anyone :)

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Last week was a whirlwind of activity. My work-week was ridiculously busy, and then on top of that, our spare time was consumed with house-hunting. But we did fit in some fun, relaxing things...like mountain-biking on Saturday, hot tubbing under the stars, plenty of post-dinner games of Dominion, and even learning to bottle-feed one of the calves:

In fact, Nolan leaves for India fairly soon, and we haven't even figured out our real trip itinerary due to lack of time to plan it! Maybe this weekend.

I would post a whole lot more about the house-hunting, Milo's adventures with his new(ish) buddy Hagrid, family fun and all that, but this is my first evening without having plans to go anywhere, and I'm trying to soak it up. That and our internet is down until tomorrow, so I'm mooching our neighbour's and have no idea when the bandwidth will fail me. So. 

1. I'm thankful for a weekend coming up. I don't have any firm plans, and for once that is a good thing.

2. I'm thankful for a good book to read on the BART. Don't get me wrong - Moby Dick was a good classic...but I struggled through it. Seriously. I can only read so many pages and pages of whale anatomy that has nothing to do with the meager amounts of storyline. Sorry, Ishmael.

3. I'm thankful for our realtor and the houses we've been able to look at so far. It's so much fun to start this next phase, and learn more about what we're really wanting and needing in a home. Plus, our realtor is really great and easy to work with.

4. I'm thankful for the chances we have to travel coming up. We put a high priority on seeing the world together and spending time adventuring, and we're very blessed to get to do a decent amount of that.

5. I'm thankful for my little cube in the city. I like working from home, but it's always fun to drive into the city in the mornings and enjoy working in such an interesting, fast-paced environment.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

This has been probably the least depressing January ever. You know how everyone gets the winter blues, post-Christmas, pre-spring...those days that just sort of drag out with no huge thing or good weather to look forward to? That hasn't happened this year. Maybe it's because I live in California and am just SO happy to not be dying of cold like the rest of the country, or maybe it's because we're looking forward to our trip to India and Nepal in March (Feb. for Nolan), or maybe because we're in the middle of the "home-selecting and soon buying" process...but life is good, and I don't feel even the slightest hint of SAD. I don't even care that it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I come home - I've managed to find some sort of sweet spot in life that makes everything great, despite it being January.

It also helps that I decided against a resolution to give up desserts every night.

Next week, Nolan is on one of his assigned vacation blocks, so we're going to head up to the ranch for some R&R (for him - I'll still be working!) and squeezing in the fun process of viewing potential homes with our realtor on the off-work hours. This means I'll be working remotely during the week, and that long of a time-period will be another chance for me to figure out what works and doesn't work for my remote working style, in preparation for me going to that full-time once we move. It's a little scary, a little exciting, and very weird to think about not being surrounded by cube walls and the sound of colleagues typing all the time. On the one hand, I am ridiculously productive when I work at home, and that can't ever be a bad thing, right? On the other hand, I'm going to really miss the constant connecting with my team and colleagues, and I am trying to plan creative ways to maintain the connection when I'm not sitting right there. Fortunately, we're not moving too terribly far away, so I can still come into the office every once in awhile, but it will still be very different.

With all the big plans and change coming up, I certainly have a lot on my plate, but a lot to be truly grateful for. Like:

1. I'm thankful for my awesome job, that I get to really enjoy now, and take with me once we move!
2. I'm thankful for many big steps towards buying our first home...it's coming up fast!
3. I'm thankful for the friends who stick out the many changes and prove that they're not just friends of convenience! Love them!
4. I'm thankful for good food. You laugh, but what better way to enjoy the Bay Area when we have limited time left here, than by taking advantage of the amazing food and restaurants here?
5. I'm thankful for our upcoming trip to India and Nepal! I'm preparing to be amazed!!!

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I guess it's only appropriate to start off the New Year with a recap of the last weeks of the old, eh? Nolan used his spankin' new GoPro to capture some footage of our holidays in a short clip. Only thing missing is the silly string fight!

Our first annual poetry slam was a win, with everyone but 2 people (*ahem!*) participating. John took home the gold, which in this case was a golf-putting set you can use while on the toilet. Don't ask. Here's my sad attempt at getting everyone in 2 pictures during the poetry slam (no WAY was it happening in just 1 pic). 

One side of the room...

...and the other side of the room.

It was an amazing week of fun, family, good food and general merry-making. We did everything from mountain-biking to eating boatloads (literally, haha) of sushi, to blitzing our families with silly-string, to reciting poetry to running a few miles by the river and CrossFitting (Murph for the win!), to playing games and sipping wine and watching the men almost kill each other first with Indian leg wrestling, then with actual guns and clay pigeons. It was good times.

As usual, the only person who hated his Christmas present was Milo...because I got him a size too small. The only picture I got of him in it was this one where he was rolling around, trying to undo the velcro on his back. Sigh.

One thing I was glad to say goodbye to over the holidays? This version of Nolan's beard. The actual beard wasn't SO bad, but this...this had to go. Immediately.

 Instead of listing out all the incredible things I'm thankful for after an incredible 2013, I'm going to just say thank you to all of you for being a part of my life and helping to make it so incredible. I have high, high hopes for 2014, and exciting plans and dreams. Here's to carrying those out with you all at my side!