Little Happenings

I know my absence has left many of you wondering recently. Shortly after starting my new job, Alan and I found out we were expecting our first child...

Twelve weeks later, I'm feeling immensely better, getting my energy back and starting to feel "normal" again. Granted, I think I was "lucky" with my first trimester, and other than extreme fatigue and some weird food issues, I didn't experience too many discomforts.

Now that I am transitioning into my second trimester, we are pleased to share our news with the world.

Stay tuned for more as it develops and thank you for your patience as I dealt with so many changes (albeit, wonderful ones) happening all at once! I'm excited to share this journey with y'all!

Transition: A series about life after the military

We are a little over 9 months from saying "good-bye" to Army life and "hello" to a whole new set of experiences as a civilian. Looking forward to that transition, I'm both excited and hopeful as well as sad to leave behind something I've loved so much. And although Al has a much simpler view, we're both anxious to see what the future holds.

I'm not the first person to experience this. I'm not the third or fifth. I'm not even in the first 100.  But, I'm going through it nonetheless, and maybe some of the things I'm experiencing as we transition can help others through the same process. 

So, for the next few months, every two weeks or so, I'm going to share our experience. The planning, the changes, the happiness and the tears. I'll provide resources, advice, and stories of our journey. Mostly, it will be a forum for me to vent my frustration and share in the victories of our new life.

Stick around and stay tuned...

Job Update

I promised earlier this week that I would tell you all about my new job.

Obviously, out of respect and privacy of my employer, I'm going to keep the in-depth discussion to a minimum, but I will give you an update.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job.

 I've already been to court, drafted legal documents, and helped clients through their questions. I've learned so much in two short weeks and I'm constantly feeling stimulated and challenged.  

I really like the people I work with. The attorneys are fun and more than willing to teach me the job. The owner and his wife (our office manager) have been nothing short of pure  encouragement and brutal honesty. I am still trying to build a relationship with the paralegals, but so far things are good there too.

The hours are long. I'm usually in by 7:30-8a.m. and out the door around 6p.m. I still coach the late class two night per week, so I'm pulling 55-hour weeks. This week was harder as far as getting enough sleep without totally neglecting my husband, the dog, and stuff around the house. I think another week or so and I'll find that balance.

Ultimately, I'm tired, happy, and incredibly fulfilled.

I know the "honeymoon phase" will die out eventually, but hopefully, when it does, I'm left with a great job, people I enjoy working with, and a solid career base to start from!

Breckenridge, CO

While my mom and aunt were here, we took a trip up to Breckenridge, Colorado for one night. It happened to be an all-school reunion for the DODDS high school my mom and aunt attended, so Al and I were simply along for the ride. Of course, it's off-season for Breckenridge, so it was mostly just pretty mountain views, good drinks, and great company. I'd love to see it during ski season - I'm sure it's magnificent. 

I plan to give you an update on my new job (loving every second of it) and a few posts on the house (many projects completed over the past few weeks) but in the mean time, here's a photo dump from the Breckenridge trip. 

Quick Check-in

Hello lovelies.

I certainly didn't intend to disappear as long as I did, but shortly after my job announcement, my mother and aunt came to town for the holiday week. As such, most of my time was spent entertaining and touring the city. We had a BBQ on the 4th and a short trip to Breckenridge on Thursday. 

I start my new job tomorrow and plan to spend today prepping for that. I have to brush up on some Colorado law and wind-up my brain for the new week. In addition to that, Al has surgery (minor, nothing too scary, though prayers would still be welcome) on Wednesday and we need to get this house ready for his recovery. 

Ultimately, things are a little chaotic right now. I hope to figure out my routine this week and get back into regular blogging soon, but bear with me in the meantime. 

Have a great Sunday!

About that time I interview in sweats...and got the job!

I have been sitting on some wonderful news for a couple of days now because I couldn't share it publicly until I had a firm offer and had resigned from my previous job. Now that all the formalities are taken care of, I can share with you: 

I got a new job! 

I was hired as an attorney at a law firm here in Colorado. It is such an amazing opportunity and right in line with where I see my career going, so I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled I am. 

Before I give too many details, I want to back up and tell you the story. 

For a couple months, I had sent out resumes to jobs that appeared to fit with my goals. There weren't too many, but I wanted to throw my hat in just in case an amazing opportunity arose. So, when an advertisement for a Paralegal appeared in Craigslist, I sent off my resume. I figured that even though I didn't want to be a paralegal for too long, I could show them what a kick-ass attorney I could be for their firm.
Still, it was a long shot that they'd call. 

They did. The next day. And I threw on my best suit, printed out my references list, and interviewed with their newest attorney would desperately needed a paralegal. We quickly determined that even though I was over-qualified for that position, there might be another fit for me. As I left, I overheard him ask the receptionist to "put this resume on Nate's desk for immediate review." 

The next afternoon, they called again. This time, the owner of the firm wanted to meet with me: "Can you come over here right now? You don't need to be dressed up or prepare, just come over so we can meet you." I was already sitting in the parking lot of the gym where I coach, wearing sweats and flip flops, so I told her I couldn't.  After comparing calendars for a few minutes, she replied "look, he wants to meet with you right away, so I don't even want to look past tomorrow for times."

I told her I was about to coach a gymnastics class, but I could come to the office afterwards. I informed her that not only was I dressed casually, I was wearing sweats. She assured me that was perfectly fine, so after my class I headed over the the law firm and met with the head attorney. 

We talked for almost 2 hours, both about professional things and just getting to know each other. I quickly forgot how I was dressed and instead found myself very comfortable. His wife, the office manager, joined us for the meeting and I left feeling welcomed and confident I would receive a job offer. But I had the weekend to wait.

Monday rolled around and I received a text late in the evening offering me the job and by Wednesday I was sitting in the office (more appropriately dressed this time) working out the details of my employment. 

It's crazy to think that I applied for a paralegal job, on a whim that they might need an attorney, attended my second interview in sweats from the gym, and was still offered the job. It goes against everything you're taught in law school - about attire and professionalism - but I can't begin to tell you how right it all was. 

And ultimately, if you really want to get to know someone and learn if they are a right fit for your company, all the suit and formality does is get in the way. This week, I was offered a dream job and a new crop of friends all in one fell swoop. And I did it in sweat pants!

So, about that exercise...

Remember this post? The one where I talked about my non-plan workout plan and how it was working, but I needed more structure to see bigger changes? 

Yeah, that one...

I haven't worked out since. Granted, I've taken on an extra 2 classes at the gym where I coach and I've made doggie walks a bigger part of my daily routine, but I have not stepped foot in the gym since I wrote that post. 

Nothing really changed, I just stopped going altogether.

Let's see if I can change that this week!

The Upside of Fear

I had the pleasure of attending a business luncheon this week where the keynote speaker was a man named Weldon Long. He shared his journey from being a 9th-grad dropout and felon to becoming a wealthy, successful entrepreneur (Inc. 5000 company in less than 5 years.) 

He writes about how fear and the thoughts you have in your head can completely alter your ability to succeed and overcome obstacles. So, in order to be successful, you must rewire your brain and start putting in thoughts of success and accomplishment, rather than negativity and fear. 

Specifically, he discusses the concept that thoughts are the beginning of everything and they need to be adjusted in order to change your actions. 

Thoughts ---> Emotions ---> Actions ---> Results

If you think fearful, negative, and defeating thoughts, your emotions and actions will following, results in a negative or less-than-stellar outcome. Likewise, if you change your thoughts to ones of success and confidence, you will feel successful and your actions will reflect that. 

While serving the last 7 of his 13-year sentence, he wrote out a list of positive thoughts and goals ("I am a man of honor and integrity" and "I have a beautiful home in the mountains.") and simply recited them to himself every single day. By the time he got out of prison, he had rewired his brain to equip himself with the tools necessary to become a successful person. 

He started a business and turned it into a multi-million dollar venture in less than 5 years. He got custody of his son, and became an amazing father. He bought a house in the mountains and another in Maui. He wrote a book, followed by another one. And he became the man of integrity he wanted to be. He accomplished all of these things at 45 years old, after spending much of his life imprisoned or homeless, with no belongings and no education. He is remarkable. 

And he doesn't stand there and tell you some canned answer or sell you a line of crap about "if he can do it, so can you." He backs it up with psychology and science. He backs it up with his story and similar journeys of many others. And he knows that not everyone has the same goals. Some would like to run a marathon; some would like to be a great husband and father; others want to be successful entrepreneurs. 

Whatever your goals may be, you can use his technique to rewire your thoughts and better accomplish them!

After leaving the luncheon, I went home and wrote out my list of affirmations. I wrote out my goals and the thoughts I want to put into my head to change my personal course. I taped them to my mirror and read them aloud again this morning. I might share them with you another time, but for now, I encourage you to listen to one of the short videos on Weldon Long's website and see if you are as inspired by his story as I was. 

{Disclaimer: These thoughts are 100% my own. I was in no way compensated or otherwise induced to write this review. I am sharing a story that inspired me and doing so without compulsion or inducement.}

Our weekend project: A sneak peek

Perhaps the most daunting project of our house renovation has been the stairs. We had pulled the carpet and gone back and forth on what we wanted to do, finally settling on this inspiration: 

White risers, dark step. white spindles, dark railings. For now, we're focusing on the stairs themselves. We'll worry about a runner later, if it's in the budget. 

We determined, after much research, that ordering stairs in the color that matched our new hardwood exactly was ridiculously expensive (think, thousands) and since most of our house was DIY anyway, we figured we could do this too. 

The process, however, is tedious. There are multiple coats of paint, primer, sealant, etc... and each has a drying time of three years days. And since we actually live here while renovating, we need to do each flight of stairs separately so we're not quarantined to the main level away from all of our stuff. 

At this point, the stairs have been stripped and sanded and look like this: 

This weekend, we are hoping to make serious progress on them and should have completed photos in a couple weeks. Stay tuned!

Garage Sale Outcome

After a mildly successful Friday and Saturday, we decided to stay open into Sunday and see if we could get rid of a few more things. Many of our big ticket items were still there and we knew if the right people came by, they'd pick them up. Our friends got rid of some of their bigger items and did very well. Still, it made sense to stay open a third day and see what we could do.

I'm glad we did. Sunday's patronage yielded better results than the first two days combined. We hit some of the after-church crowd and another batch of women who were probably out and about in order to let dad enjoy his day at home. 

We made a couple hundred dollars. Not as good as I would have liked, but not bad at all. And we definitely purged a lot of crap even if we didn't make much money. We decided to hang on to the leftovers and have another sale in late-August or early September. That will give us time to rally the neighbors and see if they want to participate and refresh some of the supply so there are new things to offer the second time around. 

The only thing I will do differently in August is get/make better garage sale signs. I picked some up at the dollar store and while they were bold in color, they were difficult to read and came with cheap, plastic stakes. After the first day, one was completely destroyed and the others were flimsy and falling over. Next time, I will build substantial holders and make BIG, neon signs indicating where the sale is. 

For my first garage sale (without the fam) I'm pretty happy. There's a bit of a learning curve and figuring out your neighborhood before you can really master a garage sale. I'm pleased with the results and look forward to trying again in the fall!