4.14.2011

Right Now I am..

Listening to: Amos Lee "Windows are Rolled Down" and "Gypsy Woman" by Curtis Mayfield It is starting to feel like summer here which makes me want to listen to oldies and remember summers at Sullivan's and my mother playing oldies on the beach.
Reading: Radical by David Platt and One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and Grace Notes by Phillip Yancey
Parenting: translating all the Korean Loulie speaks throughout the day and keeping her off anything over three feet high.
Working on: my kitchen--I have spent every night painting cabinets and washing floorboards. It is my personal Hell. Oh, and I've been helping Bert with some work too which has been exciting and a little challenging in trying to manage some work again and loving on my Bug.
Thankful for: the way the Lord is working on me--digging in on the ugly and the blind spots in my life yet giving me peace that Easter overcame all of it!
Making: a skirt for me, pants for Loulie and an Easter dress for a friend's child (pics to follow)
Wanting: I don't want to want this and it is way out of my price range BUT I just really can't help but luv this top.
Wishing: that my fairy godmother would show up and clean this house. That chick has been on vacation for way toooo long. Who the hell does she think she is?!
Hoping: that all of you reading this have a great weekend!


I have been super busy but hope to be back on the blogging circuit soon!


And......just in case you have missed the BUG.....


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Ready for swim  lessons

4.07.2011

Resume Part One

The other night I rented Morning Glory --a romantic comedy starring Rachel McAdams as a newbie producer of a morning news show. I thought it was hilarious.  It got me thinking about working and my past jobs and how there seems to be a pattern that resonates with all twenty somethings and first jobs and perhaps that's why I thought this movie was so funny.
Have you seen the movie? How does your post grad experience match up?
I graduated in four years with a very generic degree and no idea what in the hell-o I wanted to do. So after a four day stint doing tours at the CNN center and taking MARTA into downtown every morning, I found myself a promising internship at a Children's Hospital in a more central area of Atlanta--it paid a whopping $200/week.  I spent the next five months preaching to my mother, my boyfriend, my best friend and anyone who would listen that if someone would just give me a chance, I would commit my life to showing them what a great job I could do. 
Just like the character in the movie; after stalking multiple people in parking lots, sending out numerous follow up emails and all but following the receptionist to the mailroom to make sure she delivered my resume; I finally got a few interviews where I completely oversold my meager five months post college work experience and promised that I would work day and night to make sure that my market would see share increases (whatever the hell that meant--I probably read it in Interviewing for Dummies). 
After an overly kind, very desperate woman who probably saw sucker tattooed on my forehead interviewed me, I had a job.
And just like Rachel McAdams in the movie, it took me about 5 seconds to realize I had been thrown into a lion's den. That the person before me had burnt bridges with almost all my clients, that there was no trust left with my organization, that I had a budget of about zero, that my market goals were ridiculous for my territory and that no class in college or in the expensive prep school my parents sold a kidney to pay for ever taught me how to write a business plan.
So I spent my first few months schlepping from office to office, wearing a suit my mother had bought me along with a smile that I hoped would keep me from getting my head bitten off by the angry receptionist. It took one year, lots of late nights, one panic attack on the side of Buford Highway and a lot of persuasion to actually pull off what they had asked me to do. I exceeded the goals for my territory in enough time to interview for my next job. Which turned out to be on the south side of Atlanta. Seriously, one of the first doctors I called on ended up on the news two weeks later for harassment of patients and drug reps. I was 25, had no husband or kids and got to travel every few months for work. I loved it!
And I continued this pattern, loving each job for different reasons and thriving on the challenges they shot my way until exactly a year ago....
when I retired to be a stay at home mother!


What one year "in the field" can do to a good pair of shoes




4.01.2011

First Beach Trip and the One Thing I Can't Live Without

The tater tot has decided that sleeping is a hobby and not a necessity. It is KILLING me! More importantly, its killing Bert. After 10 months of waking up at least 3 times a night to get my colicky, sleep optional baby to sleep; I have learned to let her cry it out. Not Bert--after sleeping restfully through the first year of Loulie's life, his motherly instincts have kicked in and he can't stand to hear her cry.
Or as we have both come to realize, whether we let her cry it out or not; no one can really sleep through "Mama Dada Mama Dada Bidge"! So all the coffee in the world could not help me out this morning. I plan on lots of jumping jacks and toothpicks for my eyelids :) So please excuse any rambling or grammatical errors.


 Loulie seems to keep finding herself surrounded by cute boys....
My cousin, his wife and their two kids were staying out at Wild Dunes this past weekend. We headed out there so Loulie could play with Clayton and Bubby. They are 6 weeks and 17 months older than her--just enough to keep her on her toes. It was our first afternoon on the beach this year only to have the weather turn on us after a few minutes. It was fine by Loulie who we discovered does not like the sand on her feet. A true girly girl! That will be plenty convenient this summer since we live at the beach. I guess Loulie is going to be THAT kid on the beach in laced up sneakers. Even though we had to head inside, you can tell the fun didn't stop for these three characters.  With a condo full of toys their favorite pass time was yelling and singing to people walking by on the beach.


The weather that rolled in on Saturday has stuck around for the entire week making me feel like it is still winter and giving us lots of time to catch up on our indoor activities. We've started reading Radical by David Platt for small group along with several other small groups in our church.  It is challenging to say the least. Platt discusses whether or not we have taken the gospel and adapted it to fit the American dream. That God's blessings don't necessarily mean a nice home with a two car garage, only eternal life offered through a sacrifice by His only Son. That the blessings God offers are available if we are willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus. 
See what I mean by challenging? 
"It is by grace that you are saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that one can boast." Ephesians 8:9 
Platt chalenges our response to this gift and describes the response to the gospel as this...
        "that gift of grace involves the gift of a new heart. New desires. New longings. For the first time, we want God. We see our need for him, and we love him. We seek after him, and we find him, and we discover that he is indeed the great reward of our salvation."
There's really just nothing else to say after that.


Have a happy weekend!