A Royal Affair

I realize many people think the royal wedding hoopla was overkill, but I confess, I love it. Maybe just because I love London and totally wish I was there! But here in Denver I found it the perfect opportunity to get together with girls from school whom I hadn't seen in a few months. Therefore I bring you, The Royal Wedding (post-) Viewing Event! We had no means of actually taping the wedding so we were left to whatever was on TV on Friday night... thank goodness for TLC and Lifetime... plenty of royal wedding footage to go around.

There was tea. 

There was wine.  

There were cucumber sandwiches. (Thanks, Tarika!)

And there were hats. Not royal-wedding appropriate hats, but we had to make do with what we had. And after some wine and bubbly, no one really cares, anyway :)

Missing London! 

Seriously?!

There was snow on my car this morning. Yup, that's right. Snow. Umm, last time I checked wasn't it almost May? Seriously!! 80 degrees in March and now this? Come on, Denver, I'm ready for weather warm enough so I don't have to bundle up for Snug Run. AND I'm ready to wear flip flops. (Phil, you are probably already wearing them regardless of weather, aren't you?)

In other news... job is still going well! Had my first day "alone" today while my two Europe colleagues were out at a conference. Which meant that all calls were sent to me. Eek! I said a lot of things like, "That is a great question! I want to make sure and get you the absolute best answer, so do you mind if I do some research and get back to you tomorrow?" You should see my list of people to get back to tomorrow!

Who would have thought that the Zoo would prepare me for study abroad? Welp, it did! I'm quickly discovering that "mother of the bride" is nearly on par with "helicopter parent". (Um, I don't remember my Mom and Dad filling out my study abroad forms for me!) Could be interesting...

OH! And I had to make a Facebook page for work because apparently that is how students communicate these days. Who knew?? Good thing Lent is over :)

Happy Easter from Sheridan and/or Englewood!

That's right, when we moved this time we moved out of Denver proper and are officially in a southern suburb. (Well, I'm not sure if it is really a suburb as it is still in the city. Like Papillion.) But we are apparently right on the line between two areas so depending on who you ask (US postal service, banks), we are either in Englewood or Sheridan. Confusing. BUT what there is no confusion about is that we are definitely near train tracks, which I realized last night. I should have realized it earlier as they are right across the highway, but ah well. At least they blow their whistle much further down the line.

We has the BEST moving crew yesterday! We started hauling things downstairs at about 9:30 a.m. and had everything in our new place before 1:30 p.m. We made seriously good time. The couch and TV made yet another move and yet another enemy (Travis), but both are safe and cozy here in our 2nd floor oasis of boxes. I'm planning on spending my Eater unpacking, organizing, and maybe making cake balls (if I get everything unpacked in time). I can't wait to try what Mom and Dianna call "the joy of colored coconut"! I would love to have things in order before Monday when my brain will again turn to mush. Right now just my arm muscles are mush. I really need to work out.

I wanted to take a picture of myself driving the awesome U-Haul yesterday, but I forgot. So you'll have to imagine.

Here's me and my U-Haul-driving face

 Here's a U-Haul. Put two and two together and *BAM* this is what the streets of Denver/Sheridan/Englewood were blessed with yesterday.

Much Easter love from the Rockies!!

3 days in and I haven't run out of new clothes to wear yet. Nice :)

Three days down and still goin' strong. I followed my dad's advice of "don't get fired on the first day." What ever would I do without his insight?

The first three days have been an OVERLOAD of information, but in a good way. The office is full of enthusiastic, outgoing people (mostly women) who are all very passionate about their work. I think I might be one of the quiet ones. Weird. And I'm officially on the website, http://www.eurolearn.org/Staff/StaffID118/, so there's no turning back now.  (Can you tell I got to write my own bio?)

First week of work + getting ready to move on Saturday = tired panda

Thanks for all of the good wishes sent my way - MUCH appreciated!

Welp, here we go!

I waited over three months for this... the first day of work. Dun dun dunnnn... Everyone asks, "are you nervous?" "No, I'm just excited!" I reply. Which was the truth. Until now. Dang. I had even myself fooled for a while! So yes, I AM nervous, but excited, too. Really. (Yes, really.)

This last week of freedom has been great - I should have gotten a job sooner! (Yes, for many more reasons than those about to come. I know.) Without the IHAVETOJOBSEARCH24/7 mentality this week I was able to do all sorts of fun things. I made some Easter crafts, as you all know. Used my spa gift certificate from Travis for a massage and a brow wax. (They were bad, eek.) Took myself out to lunch. (Just at Panera, but still.) Travis took me out to an awesome celebratory seafood dinner where the waiter overheard us talking about how I L-O-V-E chocolate, and Travis doesn't... so the waiter brought me my own triple-chocolate dessert. He got a good tip :) (At least I hope Travis tipped him well!) Went out for celebratory drinks with a friend from school and was given a free beer by the bartender. (Who, by the way is from Toad Suck, Arkansas. How unfortunate.) And today I went with my roommate to see her friend who is training for her massage license - and she needs to practice.  Second massage of the week... too much? Naaah...

It is going to take time to get myself into a work routine again! Yes, I still got up early every day, but I didn't have to decide what to wear! Or iron. Ah well, we all have to become big kids some time. (Again.)

3 easy steps - right??

Or so the magazine made it seem...

Step 1:

Step 2:

 Step 3!

What they DON'T tell you is that once you cover the eggs in paper that you can't find the holes that you made in them, so you have to try and balance the egg on each end while you hammer new holes at 8:00 in the morning and wake up your neighbors. They ALSO don't tell you that it is so stinkin' hard to string the eggs on the wire that you want to use it to poke your own eyes out so you don't have to squint at that teeny tiny hole and longer. Weird that they left out those parts... Hmm.

But anyway, happy Easter decorating to all and much love from the Rockies!

Whodathunkit

From this... Australia, 2004

To this... Australia reunion in NYC, 2007

To this!

April 5, 2011

  

Dear Jill:

It is a pleasure to formally ask you to join GlobaLinks Learning Abroad as a Coordinator for the EuroLearn Semester/Year program area.    You bring marketing, leadership, administrative and counseling experience that will benefit our continued expansion of our study abroad programs.   It goes without saying that we think you will be an integral part of moving our company forward in the next few years!

Yup, seven years after my Australia experience (which let's be honest, pretty much shaped my life and career path moving forward) I'll be back with the same company that helped me study abroad...but now I'm on the other side! I'll be helping students who want to study abroad in Europe, and hopefully helping them make the same great memories that I made with these awesome ladies. I'm not sure there could be a more rewarding job more near and dear to my heart. 

A HUGE thank you to all my friends and family for the thoughts, prayers, and late-night phone calls that got me through this soul-sucking time known as "the job search". Let's all have a huge, collective sigh of relief. **SIGH**

Babies and beads and bumbos, oh my!

And MicroSoccer, too, but that didn't fit with the theme :)

Go Alex, go!

BEADS

This is how it happened....

And this is what happens when you try to run with them

There they are - Katie and Mr. Mason! Doesn't Katie look great?

Well hello, mohawk

Ella looooved baby Mason - she even cried when they left because she missed him. That, and she was upset that Abigail tried to eat her "friendly ladybug" that she was going to take home with her. Life is rough. But that's what happens when you store a ladybug in a snack bowl!



'Ritas

There is a reason that a margarita from Roja taste better than any other margarita... and it is because of these girls. It is great to catch up with friends and have highly intelligent, situationally appropriate conversation on the topics of "Hey, did Briana tell you that I don't have a baby?" or "What's with all of the injured people around here?" or the old standby, "lookatherlegslookatherlegslookatherlegs". Ah yes, always sophisticated and subdued - the epitome of class. Just ask the guy sitting behind us who was overly disgusted from our conversation about "The things they don't tell you in the baby books", including a chapter on "how far CAN breast milk shoot?" Well, that's what he gets for eavesdropping. Serves him right.

(Hey, did you know that there is a 14 Karat right here?)

Lake house fun

These kiddos can always make me smile. And wear me out!

A little ball-playing at the lake

We were working to build "Mt. Colorado"

 Pigtails and a John Deere shirt... no wonder she's happy!