PHEW

PHEW – it has been a while since my last post!!! A little under 4 months actually. Blog posting falls to the waste side when you are in a wedding, traveling (where else to but to Poland of course), working a lot, planning trips (Mexico!!! ITALY!!!), and then, packing to move. Lots has happened, but hopefully, now I can keep blogging on the exciting things happening in my life this year. And heaven knows, there’s plenty!!!

One of the biggest happenings is, of course, the move. The boyfriend (let’s call him Ned from now on, shall we? And yes, there is a logical way I got to that :-) ) and I decided that I should move into his house about 2.5 months ago. Yep – huge decision given the multiple factors of our lives (work, families, etc). However, after discussion (read: analyzing) and planning, I moved in officially just under 2 weeks ago (unofficially, I was really living there for 6 weeks since Charlie moved in April). 

The move was and is a huge transition. For one, I moved from a ~750 sq. ft., one bedroom, one bath apartment to a ~3000 sq. ft house with many more rooms and bathrooms. Yikes! Then, the planning (read: worrying and analyzing) where the heck will all my stuff go? And of course, with all my Pinterest-ing (read: DIY projects that I’m dying to do), I have ideas galore. Let me tell you though, how scary it is to realize how much stuff you have packed into a little apartment in *6* years. “WHOA – you lived in one apartment for 6 years!?” Yep! It never ever pays off to continually move, and I loved that place! If I had been given a chance, I would have bought it. 

Ok – back to my stuff. Yes – it’s truly amazing how much stuff I have. And, for the most part it fits, but there’s definitely organizing, cleaning and fixing that has to be done. It’s fun, but at times overwhelming. At least Ned is pretty much as laid back as a guy can be (read: I can do almost anything I want). Of course, there was some IKEA shopping and assembling too. I’ll post some pictures soon – I love how our bedroom looks now! We’ll have to attack each room slowly – one step at a time. If I can average one box a day, Ned reminds me frequently (read: I lack patience sometimes when staring at a room of boxes), then we can have the house organized by Italy. 

I think one of my favorite parts of the move is the kitchen. I finally have a gas stove, areas I can prep, and just a place to explore recipes. I have others I can cook for too, which always make it more entertaining. I’m hunting recipes and trying new things. 

Anyways, now with the move over, I’ll have to post more often – especially on recipes! 

And, for some cuteness, just to share how comfortable Charlie is in her new home these days… 

Charlie Helping Mommy Organize

Happy Tuesday

Happy Tuesday 

&

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm a little late on my posting for the week, but here's what I'm looking forward to:

1. Valentine's Day/Date Night/Concert - I'm wrapping this one up all in one. It may be a generic holiday for some, but I still like Valentine's Day.  It's an excuse to find something fun and interesting to do rather than just go to dinner and a movie. Plus, you get presents! :-) Bf and I are going to dinner and to see Bob Schneider at ACL Live. It's the first time I've ever gotten to go to ACL Live, first time the Bf has seen Bob (not sure he really knows the music - hmm, maybe I should give him a preview?), and first time we're going to a concert together. :-)
2. Reading - I got to read a lot this weekend - finished The Lightening Thief (the first of a series of cute books) and now reading the ever popular book 1 of the Hunger Games. I'm looking forward to reading some more this week... Although, I'm noticing that my reading is heavily influenced by teenagers. Wonder where that's coming from?
3. Knitting Blog Idea - I started to knit a couple of years ago. It's really enjoyable and fun (fast projects provide quick wins!)... although I'm not fast because I don't practice enough. (I have like 3 projects in progress. Seriously - girl's craft night reallllly needs to start happening. Ha - except I'm still coordinating that one!) The main reason I started knitting was because I love scarves, but I got tired of paying for ones that I could tell I make myself. Anyways, I don't do it very often but I'm always scouring for ideas and patterns. I've been checking out some knitting blogs over time, and I have come to realize that the knitting style I was taught is very unique - combined or combination knitting. (Thanks Mama!) The most popular styles are English or Continental, while combined is a dying form. Given that there is very little information on the web (it looks like one lady with her own website? Granted - she has a loooot of information. Maybe a few other random blogs?) I've been thinking that maybe I could write some of my own DIY entries (or a vBlog?!)...? It's something to ponder and figure out what's the best way to approach it... but I'm inspired! 

What are you looking forward to this week? 

Hope it's all fabulous!

Day-to-day successes? What's that?

Do you ever have days (weeks? months?) when you have worked all day – and you don’t know what the heck you’ve accomplished? Seriously? You’ve attended a lot of meetings (at least 4, plus 2 impromptu), sent off 20+ emails (I even counted!), talked to 10 different people (I count IM, phone, or in person)… but what have you actually completed? 

Suddenly, you look down at the clock.

3:30 PM 

Holy crap! It’s practically time to leave (in 4 hours)! Where has the day gone?! You need to get cranking on all the action items you got during the meetings, so that tomorrow, you can report back in the next 4 meetings (that of course, were set up today)? Oh, what about all those things you SHOULD have done (in excess of the action items), but failed to even peek at? (Wait, did I even eat anything today?)

Yeah, really. I’m serious. Welcome to my daily world called work. 

It’s been one of those weeks – and sometimes, I just don’t know how to deal with it. 

I’m kind of OCD (isn’t this entire blog entry proof of that?). I am completely driven by accomplishing tasks – a check mark by a task is a great goal for the day!  (How about 10?)

Yea, well… I am starting to really fear those days are history. The farther I progress into my management ‘experience,’ the more I realize that I need to find a different way of measuring my day-to-day ‘success.’

Every day this week, I’ve set myself up with my own list of tasks to complete. I’m going to write this much; I’m going to get back to all these people (action items!); I’m going to read this for guidance; I’m going to set up this meeting for collaboration. And then, every day, I fail miserably to get it all done. Someone asks for help – someone comes by – a new meeting appears on my calendar – a new issue rears its ugly head – SOMETHING HAPPENS. By the end of the day, I’m exhausted. Don’t get me wrong – I have to get some of my work done – it’s not like I sit here and blog all day (although judging how much I always get assigned to, that may be what some people think). In the end, I end up prioritizing my day based on what’s critical (due yesterday) versus semi-critical (due in 2 days). It’s a constant shuffle. The constant – setting expectations so that I don’t miss deadlines… because I can’t physically keep up.

So, what’s a good way to measure my daily successes?

Is it the number of emails I send? (I can’t tell you how many emails I draft and forget to send)
Is it the number of hours worked straight without moving a muscle? (no potty breaks! you have no time! Work, work, work!)
Is it how early or late I started sending emails (or maybe I should have never stopped?)
Is it the number of rows in a spreadsheet I’ve reviewed, commented, or added? (Is 250+ enough?)

What do I use as a guideline? 

ACK!