Reassurance

Have you ever had one of those experiences when you felt like something was happening specifically to you or because of you? One of our PT's is leaving at work so we have been interviewing for her position. Last week I had the opportunity to interview this truly amazing person. She has over 20 years of experience as a PT and most recently spent 3 years doing volunteer/mission PT in the Middle East. Not only were her stories amazing, but her whole demeanor and attitude were refreshingly familiar.

When I was interviewing her, and asking her the standard questions in one of our interview packets, I felt like she was answering every question directly to me. Every answer she gave addressed something I have been struggling with or thoughts I have had in the back of my head (both career-related and in my personal life).

Unfortunately, I don't think she is going to accept the position, which is a shame because I would love to have her in my life, both personally and professionally. I've never met someone before who gave me such a sense of peace and reassurance that I am making the right decisions for my future.

I only hope someday I can have the same affect on someone that she had on me. That's what it's all about.

It's Birthday Week!!!

I officially declare it BIRTHDAY WEEK! It started yesterday (I decided after the fact) when I met a friend at the mall to do a little shopping. You can read about that here. I had wanted to go shopping on my actual birthday but I think I did enough yesterday that I don't need to spend more money on my birthday :) Last night my friend Paige came over for a couple drinks and some good conversation. Today I'm spending the day getting caught up on stuff around the house, but if I can achieve some level of organization before this week starts it will significantly decrease my stress level (since it seems to be inversely related to my "To Do" list.....and I love to make lists!)

I'm not sure what else this week will hold but I'm very much looking forward to my day off on Friday....and my first ever massage (for free)!!!

Boston Recap

I was in Boston for PT Annual Conference last Wednesday through Saturday. It was such a great trip, I don't even know where to begin! The programming was pretty good, although most of it was more of a review than brand new information, but regardless it was still good to hear. I ran into an old co-worker from CHOP and an old PT school classmate as well. We may have had a little too much fun outside of the actual courses as I'm exhausted and trying really hard to will away my sore throat and stuffy nose!

I traveled and roomed with a co-worker (Hi Penny!) so that made things a lot more fun. We arrived Wednesday night, after a little scare on the airplane. We were literally about to land and all of the sudden the plane took off at a 70 degree angle toward the sky, then we heard the landing gear come back up, and they didn't come on the loudspeaker and tell us anything for a full 2-3 minutes (it seemed like 10). They said they were "re-routed" and I think that "re-routed" is code for "PULL UP RIGHT NOW THERE IS ANOTHER PLANE ON THE RUNWAY!!!" After we successfully landed we rode the shuttle to the hotel with some interesting characters (one of whom got into a heated argument with the shuttle driver at the first stop....I thought there was going to be blood but thankfully everything worked out).

We finally arrived at the hotel only to find out our room wasn't ready (4.5 hours after official check-in). The lady didn't seem too concerned that we had been traveling all day so I asked her if we could at least get a drink ticket or something to make up for them not having the room ready (go me!) She said she could give us 1 free breakfast. We were planning on just throwing our bags in the room and going out to dinner anyways so we checked them in the lobby and met another co-worker for some grub. We returned to the hotel at 9:30 and they still had not called my phone to let me know the room was ready, so I decided to be "stern but polite" and make sure they knew I wasn't satisfied. I barely had to say anything and the guy apologized, said it was ridiculous we had to wait so long, and comped us free breakfast every morning we were there!

So we finally get up to our room, open our door, and see a big pile of sheets/towels/linen sitting on the chair. I called our new friend "Owen" at the front desk and politely asked him to send someone up to clean it up and get us new linens. Housekeeping came and took care of it. As we were getting ready for bed, we heard a knock at the door.......roomservice! Owen and the "Front Desk Staff" sent us a nice hand-written apology for all of our "troubles" and a bottle of wine with cheese, crackers, and fruit!

Our luck continued well into the next day. We had planned on going to the Red Sox game Thursday night, so when we saw some girls at a booth at the exhibit hall wearing Red Sox jerseys, we went up to ask them if they had any tips for going to the game or getting tickets. Turns out they were wearing the jerseys because they were having a raffle to win tickets to Thursday night's game......and guess what??? We won!!!! We got two $52 tickets for free!!

Our seats were behind home plate. It worked out perfect, because we happened to have an extra seat next to us, so our friend from work was able to buy a cheap ticket outside and enjoy the game with us!

After the game we headed over to Boston Beer Works to watch the NBA championship game. As it became evident that the Celtics were going to lose, we decided to head out and avoid the angry mobs. And I'm glad we did, we were the only people on the streets.....except for the couple hundred police decked out in their riot gear (think Arts Fest at Penn State).

Friday night I was able to meet up with a couple friends from college....my friend Sarah lives in Boston and joined us for dinner and a drink and my friend Matt lives in Rhode Island and drove up for a drink. It was so great to catch up with them!

Luckily we had a decent amount of time in between courses during the day so we were able to go for a run along the Charles River and walk downtown to the Boston Common & Public Garden. Being in Boston made me sooooo "citysick" (think homesick but craving a city instead of home). I am really, really, really keeping my fingers crossed that our next move is to a certain Windy City but if not, I know it will all work out.

A few more wedding pics.....

One of the bridesmaids gifts were these bad ass green heels (which we all wore in the wedding) custom "graffiti-ed" by a local Erie graffiti artist. Everybody's designs were different - specific to that person. Here is a pic of Sarah's shoes. I can't wait to see the one the photographer took of everyone's shoes!

One of Sarah's bridesmaids, Renee, made her cake. She also went to art school with Sarah. It looked and tasted amazing!

I loved, loved, loved my hair! Sarah's hairstylist, Gretchen, did a great job! Especially since my only requirements were "up" and "back!"

Instead of a guestbook, Sarah & Pat collected sea rocks from the beach and had everyone sign them/write a message on them with sharpies. They turned out so great!

Also, this, apparently, is NOT a frying pan.

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Mazzone!!

My cousin Sarah got married this weekend! We made the trip up to Erie to see her and Pat tie the knot (hence the lack of blogging). It was a great trip, we were able to spend a lot of time with family, and as with any wedding trip, I am now completely exhausted! (And I leave in 60 hours to go to Boston for a work trip!!)

We got into Erie super late Thursday night and crashed at the hotel. Friday morning we went to Dominick's Diner to enjoy some diner grub....it's been a while since either Tom or I were at a diner. I spent Friday afternoon at the hair salon with Sarah (who else would have the guts to put bright red and copper highlights in their hair the day before their wedding??? love it) while Tom helped set things up at Aunt Judy's for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal went off without a hitch and we enjoyed an amazing dinner with good company afterwards.

Saturday morning it was off to the salon to get our hair did, and then we were able to grab a quick bite to eat before getting ready for the wedding. Sarah & Pat got married on the Erie bay right outside of the Maritime Musuem. It was beautiful!!

Immediately after they said their "I Do's" the bridal party piled in some cars and headed over to Rum Runners for some, well, rum runners, and to take a few quirky pictures right on the bay.

The wedding was a blast and it was so good to catch up with family! As always it went by too quickly! (I love the pic below of Willow & Jacob fighting with the styrofoam weapons....and Kim and Joe each have a hand on their arms to keep them from slaying the neighboring tables!)

June Goals

Yikes! It's June already! When did that happen? So, I tried to accomplish May's goal. I think I did a decent job at picking up clutter and getting rid of extra crap. I loaded up 3 + bags for Goodwill, I sold a PT school book on Amazon.com, I'm about to get rid of 2 more textbooks. I cleaned out our extra closet (well, just put stuff away), and kept things relatively clean as we had a friend visit from out of town and had some people over.

I have about 18,000,000 things on my "To Do" list at work that are due this month and next, so I think I'm going to let my personal goals slide again and just try not to get too stressed out at work getting everything done!

I have some exciting events coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned for updates! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to blog but rest assure there will be some good stories!

I heart weekends!

We had a very productive, yet relaxing weekend. It was really hot all weekend, but oddly it was cool enough in the mornings and evenings to enjoy some quality time on the balcony. The puppies enjoyed the balcony too, they were able to bask in the sun and watch as other puppies walked around the neighborhood. Saturday was a ridiculously productive day. You can read about it here. Sunday I enjoyed some relaxing time by the pool to try to even out my "tan" for Sarah's wedding. I ended up getting a wee bit burnt :/ Hopefully it will fade from hot pink to slightly pink by Saturday! At least my tanlines from our Destin trip should be gone!! Nothing like a little GTL to end a weekend!! (Ha!)

And so it begins.....

Puppy sleepover! We're keeping Jack for a few days while Paige goes on a mountain-biking/camping trip with a few friends! It should be an interesting weekend for the puppies! They've been going non-stop since Jack got here!!

Speak English, it makes sense to me.

Believe it or not, that is the main advertising campaign of one of the candidates for Alabama Governor. We've actually gotten some enjoyment out of the ridiculous ads for republican candidates in Alabama. Here are a few of our favorite quotes:

• "Driver license tests should only be given in English. We speak English in Alabama, learn it. It makes sense to me, does it make sense to you?"
• "Those liberals are trying to trick us."
• "I've been a farmer, a businessman, a cop, a marine. So listen up, Alabama Ag commissioner is one of the most powerful positions in Alabama, responsible for over 5 million dollars. I bet you didn't know that. Ya know why? Thugs and criminals!"
• "He's not a conservative, he's a liberal!"

Unbelievable.

First, watch this to see the ridiculousness that we have to watch during commercials, then, watch this spoof for a good laugh.