My new decade has arrived. WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!  I’ve had a FABULOUS day. Seriously. Thank you for all the text messages, phone calls, SONGS on voicemail (what pretty pretty voices you have), myspace messages, emails, CARDS AND FLOWERS from CC!!!!  AND it’s not over! Tomorrow is my full spa day. Can’t wait.

Love you all!

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My soul smiles when I think of certain people in my life. Friends come in all shapes & sizes and come in all aspects of your life. I have been blessed with an abundance of joys in my life that have shaped me into whom I am today. Some have come from my high school years and many from my cherished college years. I have one in particular that came at a time when I was in the middle of an identity crisis, loss of a father, beginning of experiencing my love for Chris, and at a place where I didn’t feel I could trust anyone. I thankfully came out of those low moments a much better & healthier Believer, and my friend played a challenging part in that. She is beginning a new chapter of her life in California, and I couldn’t be more at peace with this next step of faith & love that her & her husband will experience together. We said our goodbye last night after 4 1/2 years of deep, connected, challenged friendship. I will read these words often:

There’s a place I go where it’s safe to be myself….

There’s a place I go where laughter and tears, hopes and fears flow freely…

There’s a place I go where truth is spoken and dreams are shared…

It’s a place of acceptance and understanding, honesty, and love…

It’s a place called friendship and whenever I’m with you, I’m there.

“Miss you already”, too.

Categories: Thoughts
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It’s 8:18 pm and I just put my lovely little girl to bed. I was able to have FIVE whole days with her this week. That doesn’t happen often. I loved every minute of it….well, all except part of the car ride to Dallas.

Chris had a fun filled weekend in downtown Dallas planned for us this weekend. We were celebrating several things, the ending of a job for me and the beginning of a new one…as well as the big ‘day’ that is coming up this Friday. This weekend was exactly what we both needed and wanted, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

We headed to Dallas on Thursday morning, taking our time, stopping at the very small outlet mall in Hillsboro (seriously, we were in the ONLY ones in Gap outlet…when does that ever happen?), and sitting in 30 minutes of Dallas traffic. We got to our hotel right at check in, after realizing that this hotel in downtown Dallas doesn’t have parking. Nice. AND…the brochure/marketing pieces were MUCH nicer online than in person! Ha. But we decided to make the most of it b/c we weren’t there to hang out in our hotel room, but to play! And we survived through the old (yet slightly remodeled) historic hotel that basically had a power-washer for a shower. Ouch.

Through our trek in downtown Dallas, we discovered that the once vibrant West End area seems extremely desolate with nothing to do and no people around. We headed over to the Dallas Acquarium, while it started to almost pour down rain, and they were closed, and THEN, we walked over to Reunion Tower which also was closed for renovations! And it’s raining and 60 degrees. I told Chris I might have won the wet t-shirt contest. What’s happened to this place!? We purposefully stayed in this area so that we wouldn’t need to deal with traffic and ride the light rail (Dallas’ train transportation). So, Thursday night we enjoyed catching up on MTV, which I desperately miss with no cable.

Friday was Dallas Zoo day! In all my years of living in Dallas, I never experienced the zoo. And it was perfect. So nice, clean, great exhibits, and we did all that we could there, including taking photo booth pictures with Lions, riding the little train that tours part of the zoo from above, and eating ice cream and very expensive chicken fingers. We had so much fun. Tatum was a trooper. After the zoo, we took the light rail to Mockingbird, near the Uptown area of Dallas with a few cool stores, and then took the light rail to Historic downtown Plano—where we had a great supper (Cheese Fries!) and found a cute little boutique where I got a pair of red pants for $20 (when does that happen in a boutique in Dallas..?) Tatum made friends with one of the hostesses who loved her “highlighted” hair. And every time the girl would walk by, Tatum would grin and wave, and if the girl didn’t notice her, she would whine. She has a special way of getting attention these days.

Saturday morning we woke up and had planned on having lunch with some good friends of ours in Frisco. Why they couldn’t meet us somewhere in the middle, I didn’t understand, until later. Chris is very sneaky and I am OH SO PROUD! My sneaky husband logged on to my gmail and yahoo account AND got numbers out of my cell phone to personally contact some of my girlfriends in Dallas to arrange a surprise lunch for me!! I was speechless. I know how much work that takes and getting people together in Dallas on a Saturday with less than two weeks advance….wow! A few were able to make it, and I was SO happy to spend my afternoon catching up with them. I am blessed with wonderful friends, and I felt so very special. Chris is so good to me.

We drove home in time to pick up our Brodie and make it to a going away party for our good friends Zach & Vida. It was such an amazing time away. Thanks Chris for being more than I could have ever asked for.

*Oh! And Tatum walked!! Yea!

Categories: Thoughts
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Today was my last day at Ashby Staffing.  Still hasn’t quite set in and I’ve had people ask me, so how does it feel!?  Well, doesn’t feel different. Yet.  Just had a normal drive home to pick up my daughter, feed her dinner, play, bathe, and put to sleep all by 7:40 pm!  But now I have some Summer time, something I so cherish and don’t get much of.  Today was very special. In fact, this month has been (and will continue) to be amazing.  I’ve been moved and taken back by such great blessings and precious people that I feel loved today.  Loved for the simple fact that God brings choice individuals into our lives for a reason.

My last day at work today began with me arriving at my normal 7:18 am to get the office ready with my coffee (good bye gas station ladies, I’ll miss you….thank you for all my free coffee you’ve given me!) and distribute cards to my sweet Ashby girls.  I did actually work today; interviewed a few people, did some recruiting, tried to stay busy as best as I could without getting bored (which is not normal in this line of work).

The day ended beautifully.  My dearest CC (also known as a sister to me) gave me a great bottle of wine (her favorite) and a cool new sugar scrub that I can’t wait to try.  The letter she wrote me is almost unbelievable.  Her sincere words have moved me so much that I can hardly write more about this topic.  She has been a God-send and will forever be in my life.

At the conclusion of our 4:00 pm staff meeting (which we have everyday), TG presented to me a very fun small scrapbook of the girls at Ashby together.  I was shocked!  It’s not normal for a “good bye” to take place in our office.  Only two I have ever worked with almost two years have fulfilled their 2 weeks notice.  As I turned each page, I was reminded of how thankful I am to have had this opportunity.  Has it been stressful & demanding?  You bet.  Have I learned qualities, skills, and ways to relate to others in a new way?  Most definitely.  It was like the girls were giving me a yearbook because at the end of the scrapbook, they all wrote out a little something for me.  One friend, “D”, who cracks me up said “For me, you are the strong one, the one to go to…like, OK-if the building caught on fire, you are the first one I would go to say ‘what do we do??’, you know what I mean?”  I laughed and teared up all at the same time.

Ashby has brought true friends into my world that I will forever be in contact with.  Even those that were not here today, who had left before I had: LC, PTL,SB.  All so very unique and special in their own way.

Today was a day of love and thankfulness.  Tomorrow will be a day of celebration!  Chris is taking me on a little Dallas getaway weekend for an early Birthday to me (Have I told you I’m turning 30?).  I cannot WAIT to play and relax!!!

Categories: Thoughts
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