Somedays it is Great to be an Aunt

Today was one of those days.

I was having a bit of a rough day. I listen to the Glenn Beck show in the morning sometimes and this morning he had radio/TV sound clips and people calling in talking about what was happening the day the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked 12 years ago. I was driving to work and I started crying, not a good idea since it was already raining. I couldn't help it though. That was a huge day in America, a day I will remember always.

Next up, getting a talking to, via email, at work. Not my fav, not everything in it was exactly my fault but I'm not going to play the blame game over it.

Finally, a month and a few days ago I lost my grandpa. It was unexpected and hard to handle. I've been doing okay most days, today wasn't one of those days. I'm not sure what triggered it all but I felt down in the dumps most of the day.

I didn't make it to the gym like I planned, I got off work later than usual in order to finish somethings that needed to be finished. I know it sounds funny but I didn't have a pony tail holder ANYWHERE and I wore my hair down so that was my last straw/sign that no gym today.

I moped through the grocery store and finally made it home. I started making dinner, on the menu? Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. On days when my nephew and niece come over I try to plan kid friendly menu items, thus the grilled cheese. The weather said it was suppose to be a rainy day and my mom needed to get rid of some older canned tomatoes so tomato soup was added to create on of my fav dinners.

I didn't expect the kids to eat the soup, I was never a soup fan when I was little. My nephew tends  to be the child that asks, "how many more bites?" as soon as his bum hits the chair at the dinner table. I knew he would be content with the grilled cheese when I mentioned soup he twisted his face in slight disgust. I told him he had to try at least a little bit. I spooned out about 1/4 of a ladle into his bowl. Once the soup cooled, he scooped some up and into his mouth it went. He smiled with delight, "MMM this is so good!" I told him that I liked to dip my grilled cheese into my soup. He tried it and loved it. He didn't ask once how many bites he had to eat and he ate most of his meal (also rare without a fight). He said it was the best soup he had ever had and asked Grammy if he could have it for every meal.

My niece is a character. Love her to pieces, she listened really well today, and she didn't scream/screech once (she is almost 2 and is starting the terrible two's). I sort of had a conversation with her. She asked, "trwevo?" (which is my hubby to her) I said, "Trevor is at school." she nods her said and repeats school. A pause, then, "bike?" I say, "his bike? No he didn't take his bike, he took his truck today." She repeats truck.

Probably my favorite thing about being an aunt today was when my niece and nephew were having races and at one point I was the goal. When they almost reached me, I took off running around the kitchen table. They were laughing and running and laughing some more. I love those little kids they made my rough day end up not so bad after all.

Being an aunt is great.

The Big Two Six

Yesterday I turned 26. The night before I couldn't sleep... well I slept but not very well. I am now confirming that my subconscious knew how awesome my birthday was going to be. It's been a while since I've been this excited about my b-day.

Awesome things about my birthday

• My hubby let me have the bathroom first. I don't think he actually planned it that way, he just decided to ride the recumbent bike first rather than his usual routine. BUT it was nice whether he planned it or not.

• It was Friday! Usually a pretty good day of the week.

• My co-workers took me to Tucano's for lunch. It started as only a handful of us then next thing we knew the WHOLE office was going. Phones "shut-down" (since no one would be there to answer them). It was kind of cool.

• At Tucano's ate my weight in delicious meat. Oh and I had to dance with a tambourine while the waiters sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese.

• My manager paid for my lunch. Which was very nice of him.

• When we made it back to the office there had been a power surge so we had no Internet, no servers, and no phones. We basically just had a party where anyone did what they wanted since none of us could do our jobs without access to the server. We danced, took pictures, named our cubicle islands.

• One of my co-workers made Death by Oreo Cupcakes for my birthday. They were DELICIOUS

• For my birthday dinner the family went to Buffalo Wild Wings. It was pretty good! 

• And finally, it RAINED! I love the rain, it was a great birthday gift for sure. 

All around I would have to say that turning 26 was one of the best birthdays EVER!

Oo-Rah!

It has been 11 days since my Grandpa John passed away. Some days I forget, but the flowers decorating my mom's kitchen table and living room remind me that it will be a long time before I see him again.

On the day of his funeral I had this song stuck in my head and felt, although from a children's movie, it expressed how I felt almost perfectly.

The day after his passing I woke up and thought, "this is the first day that I no longer have a grandpa."
No one to call me Lil Anna, regardless of how old I got, the way that only Grandpa John could. I guess with his 6 foot+ height I would always been smaller than him. He was a great man that always worked hard, and knew how to fix pretty much everything. I feel like the poem below, written by my uncle, says a lot about the man my grandpa was. He raised his kids to work hard. I know my mom has passed that on to me.

A tribute to my Dad as written by my uncle Steve

The boots on the porch were heavy and beat.
As a small boy I'd put 'em on - they were huge on my feet.

The miles and jobs those boots went through.
The blood, the sweat and the freezing too.

Those boots drove buses, semi's and worked in steel plants
The tops never got burned 'cause they were under his pants.

Up mountains, through rivers, chasing buck, catching fish.
Family camping in campers that were road worthy-ish.

Without hesitation, those boots went overseas
To fight for the country and be a Marine.

Those boots carried a big, big man
With a heart of gold, sledge hammer body, with huge calloused hands.

The boots on the porch were heavy and beat
And now I look down and those boots are on me.

I am part of a great legacy. I feel like I have a lot to live up to. When I get to the other side I feel that my grandpa will be waiting for a report what I have done with his name and legacy he left to me. I hope to live my life ready to help those that need it with whatever skills I have, just like grandpa. Continue to gain new skills so that I can help my family and those around me. No matter how long and full my days may be, come home and spend meaningful time with my family, like grandpa. Do better at working hard and making sure I teach my children to do the same, like grandpa. And finally,  make those around me feel like they matter to me, no matter who they are, just  like grandpa did to every single person he ever met.

I will miss my Grandpa John and his big grin. At his funeral there were many nice things said and great stories told about him. The Marines were there, Taps was played, I cried for the fallen Marine who readily served his country and all those around him. Oo-rah Grandpa.

 

Nostalgic Food

My nostalgic food is probably going to kill me one day because none of mine are healthy.

Here are my nostalgic foods:

 

 Whoppers! I love the sound they make as they roll around in the box and the fun little crunch in the middle of every chocolate ball. I could probably eat a whole carton (like the one pictured above) all by myself in one day. A confession, I just finished off a movie theater sized box that I opened about an hour and a half ago. Love these things.

 AbraCaBubble. I haven't been able to find these in years. Well I can purchase a 5lb. bag from the Brach's website but I don't really want that much. They are hard candy on the outside and inside is a piece of bubble gum. I would always get one from my grandma's house and try to have the bubble gum cracked out of its candy shell by the time that I arrived at my other grandma's house.

 Puffy Cheetos. I don't know what it is about these that make me love them so much. Whenever I had lunch at my grandma's house I would get a half sandwich and a small pile of puffy Cheetos laid on a paper towel along with a side of Pepsi or Coke (I think that is the only liquid my grandparents had in their house besides water and maybe milk). You be thinking that Pepsi is my next nostalgic food but it's not. Once in a while I like a few sips and those few sips remind me of grandma's but then I'm done with the soda.

Do you have any nostalgic foods?

Cubicle Pressure

About 2 months ago my work moved to a new building. I have a new Ikea "cubicle" (more like an Ikea desk with 24" partitions covered in cloth... not like any cubicle I have ever had). When I got hired I was told that the company would be moving. Therefore, I never decorated my desk. I never thought about it simply because I didn't want to take everything down and then put all back up. Well, 6 months later we finally moved. Now that we have moved I know I need to decorate my desk. However, I have been putting it off and putting it off. Why? Why would someone want to look at a speckled black, empty wall? Well I feel like there is a lot of pressure to have freakin' sweet looking decor for my cubicle. Why the pressure? Because I am a graphic designer, I can't have crappy looking stuff at my desk. That might reflect on the way that people view me as a designer. In addition to the pressure I feel that there is a lack of time. While I am at work there isn't much that I can do about it. I can't flip through pictures on my computer to find ones I want to print out. None of my pictures are on my work laptop. Once I am home...it is out of sight, out of mind. Really the story of my life. I'll get to work the next day and think, "BLAST! I should have thrown some things together. Ah MAN!"

I have hit a bit of a slow time at work so I finally looked through some pictures for ideas and organization ideas via Pinterest (cause that's basically the new Google for DIY, craftiness). I've found a cubicle idea that I like and I'm going with it. I just need to find a piece of paper that is the size of my wall and doodle up a cool drawing.

Well when I get around to getting it all put together I will take a pic and show you what my little brain and hands came up with. Don't hold your breath, it may take me a while because I have to brush up on my drawing skills.

Has anyone else experienced cubicle decor pressure?

Part of my World

I am a graphic designer, for those that don't know. Today while on some graphic design adventures on the web, I found this awesome history of printing, basically. If all history lessons were designed like this one I probably would have paid more attention. Maybe even science and math would have been more interesting to me.



Click image to open interactive version (via Printer Inks).



And if you are a big traveller take a look at this

It's Been A While

I survived my race. And it ended up being my best half marathon ever. Thanks for your prayers and karma. I also made a shirt that helped me during those times that I felt like stopping.

Karen Sue was basically my 2nd mom during what feels like most my life. I think it was a little over a year ago that she was told that she has ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease). Basically when you have this your body shuts down little by little. One day they may wake up and suddenly have lost the use of an arm or hand. I feel that the influence she has had in my life and seeing her smile despite all that she is going through truly inspires me to do better with the time and, well, everything that I have. 

A general life update:

Work is currently crazy. I'm not allowed to work a single minute of overtime yet the last few weeks I feel have too much to do that it can't possibly get done in 40 hours. Some how I have managed. Well one week I did a lot of work at home, unpaid, then it turned out everything was wrong and I ended up doing it over again anyways, so lesson learned no more work at home, staying up til 2:30 in the morning only to find out it was pointless. I also feel that there is a communication problem at my work (and I'm really not one to talk since communication is on my weaknesses and I'm trying to do better). It gets really frustrating especially when it's the week before a big event and everyone has a billion and one things to do. If we could all read minds it would be easier but we don't and that's when it gets frustrating. 

Church. One thing you never would think would get hectic or stressful cause it's church. I've been proven otherwise. I am in charge of teaching a group of young women that are ages 16-18 (they are called Laurels). I teach every Sunday but the first one of the month. I've taught YW's (young women's) before but it was a once a month sort of deal. This every week feels crazy to me. I manage to get it done. I think I've gotten better since I started. And its good for me cause I am still learning things. I mean I know the basics, I've been taught them since I was born but now I have to really study, and make sure I truly understand so that I can answer any questions that they have. The girls I teach are really smart, I feel like they are smarter than I ever was at that age. It makes me wish that I had served a mission. The people (like my husband)that have served missions can throw together a good message/lesson within a matter of minutes. However they spent 18-24 months of studying the scriptures and I have never been all that great at really studying. Now I have that opportunity and it freaks me out. In addition to teaching and preparing each week I have also been asked to be on out activities committee for the ladies of my ward. Which so far isn't that stressful, I've only had to design and invitation which is... well that's what I do I'm a designer and I have printing connections so the other ladies think I am the greatest thing next to sliced bread. Okay that could be that one of them has been my neighbor for my whole life and she just loves me regardless of how comparable I am to bread of the sliced variety. 

Everything else. Well all else seems to be well. I've been watching Dr. Who with the husband and I'm addicted (I even added a Dr. Who shirt to my Amazon wish list). I've been trying to read more but between planning lessons, making dinner, exercising, playing water polo, and being addicted to Dr. Who (which is also time I spend with my hubby) I don't have much time. Usually I read when I'm in bed waiting to fall asleep and I only get about a page and half further into the story before my eyes start drooping. I have to set time aside to read and when I do I often feel guilty cause I know there are things of greater importance (like having clean underwear for tomorrow, etc.) that I should be doing. Being an adult and taking care of adult responsibilities really makes me wish that I were a kid again. But then I couldn't drive and be done with school. Being an adult has it's perks, I mean I get to have ice cream for dinner whenever I want.