it's a jacket! it's a coat! it's a blazer! it's a cardigan! it's a trench coat!

when i bought this coat, i didn't fully realize just how versatile it would be. you see, one of the perks to working in an all-male office (except for me, of course) is that the guys don't pay attention to your wardrobe. i can wear the same outfit two or three times a week (i try to limit it to two times, don't worry) and they'll have no clue! this jacket has been added to so many outfits, you wouldn't believe it. i've already worn it twice this week as part of two separate ensembles. it's great and i'm totally getting my moneys worth out of it. when i was in high school, i didn't really have the luxury of wearing outfits twice in one week. my mom would notice that i liked a shirt or pair of pants a little too much and then would hide them from me. perhaps she was trying to save me from a social disaster, but it just plain frustrated me. my husband on the other hand, would never think of hiding clothes from me just to prevent my wearing them multiple times. in fact, i think he would encourage it because that would mean less shopping on my part. or not. =)

it sounded like a good idea...

sometimes, i have some really great ideas that turn out to be not so great ideas. my plan to mega-multi-task while at work and get in some exercises in our warehouse has turned into a major pain. i love doing lunges and squats and regularly do them around our condo in the midst of doing laundry or cooking dinner. so of course, when i came up with the brilliant idea of doing lunges between my desk and the bathroom in the back of our office warehouse, it sounded like the perfect plan (don't worry, no one could see me!). i could feel the burn at the end of the day and felt a little less guilty if i didn't make it to the gym... until my knee started to hurt. and it hurt a lot. remember that little backpacking trip where sara thought that the bear was attacking her? during that same trip, i managed to slip and slide on the icey trails enough that all the little knee injuries from years of ballet combined to form one big knee injury. that same knee just started acting up again thanks to my brilliant idea to do lunges at work. oh, did i mention that those lunges were performed while wearing black pumps? that's probably the reason my idea went so awry. a few ice packs and some husband-enforced time off from running have left me walking without much pain, so it thankfully wasn’t a serious injury this time.
oh, another brilliant idea of mine has left my hubby a tad frustrated. while planning out our remodeling with the contractor, he asked if he could throw the remodeling trash in our condo dumpster. knowing that this was a serious offense with our property manager, i told our contractor not to worry about it and that the hubby and i would take care of the disposal of those old toilets, tile, carpet and vanity. oops. what was i thinking? that stuff is heavy! and we live on the third floor! and the dump is very far away from our neighborhood! so what do i do now? should i ask the contractor to haul it all away and just have him charge us? do i call one of those places like 1_8OO_g0t_junk? any suggestions would be appreciated =)

come drive with me

wow... this might qualify as a record number of posts for me in one day. what can i say? i'm on a roll. isabel inspired me to document my drive to work in pictures, so today, i took my camera to work with me. rather than get as many interesting pictures as she had in her post, i ended up taking pictures of what i love most about my drive every day: the clouds. i've always been a sucker for cool clouds. it reminds me how great God really is when i see how beautiful and ever-changing these clouds are. i'm definitely not a professional photographer, but i hope these are enjoyable for you.

here's a funny guy that sits in front of a fountain shop:

here i am enjoying the drive:

and here is my ipod, probably playing trans-siberian orchestra. yes, i do listen to christmas music all year long. oh, and that's my $218 purse that i bought for $22.50... yup.

workin' girl

my last post reminded me that i have yet to explain why/how/where i'm working. it's a quick story, really. before i moved away to marry my hero of a hubby, i worked for an awesome homebuilding company and had a killer of a job. unfortunately, they didn't have an office in the city that my hubby brought me to, so i had to find a new job. that job lasted nearly a year and then i decided to spend lots of quality time with my hubby and bozeman. fast forward to sometime in july, when my former boss from the really cool company called me and asked if i would consider helping them out in a teeny-tiny office that they had set up in our town. i had already told the company that the military would be moving us away in a few months, but that didn't deter them and they offered to let me do it on a contract basis, so the hubby and i took 2 or 3 weeks to discuss the pros and cons. we eventually came to the conclusion that i would go back to work until we move. and i'm glad that we did, because i'm loving it... except for the bathroom facilities in the office.
did i mention that this is a teeny-tiny office? well, we are actually in a warehouse and we have contractors coming in and out all day long. way in the back of the warehouse is a single, teensy bathroom. i'm not sure how many years it has been since it was cleaned, but i'm guessing that i wasn't legal the last time it was scrubbed. oh, and the toilet seat is always up when i go back there, because i'm the only woman in this place. seriously. the first week that i was in the office, i tried to dehydrate myself so i wouldn't have to use the bathroom all day long. well, my husband opened my eyes to how stupid of an idea that was, so i've had to get creative. my desk is stocked with antibacterial wipes and antibacterial hand sanitizer and if people could see what goes on behind closed doors in that bathroom when i'm in it, they'd laugh their socks off. i don't touch a thing without toilet paper or paper towels covering my hands. i choose my lunchtime destinations based on their restroom facilities. when i go to the cafe down the street i breathe a sigh of relief, because they have two bathrooms - one for the women and one for the men! it's a breath of fresh air. literally.
all sarcasm aside, i love the job and the people in this company. i do miss visiting my hubby for lunch, but there will be more time for that in the future =)

it's not about me

it was obvious way before i quit my job that God's plans for my life included just that: quitting the job i was in AND not finding another one right away. having had very amazing jobs since i was a freshman in college, not having a job lined up and quitting was a big step for me, but i knew that i had a supportive husband and a loving God who knew better than i. and now, i'm thankful that i took that leap of faith, because otherwise, i'd be missing out on so much quality time with my husband and wouldn't be able to be here to make dinner for him or go to the store during the day rather than at night when i could be spending time with him. coming from someone who graduated from a women's college, that sounds so... 1950'ish to me, but it's the truth and i'm happy to proclaim it. i really feel like my hubby needs me here taking care of him right now, because even though he had a week off of work after working for many months straight during deployment, he is back to working 12 hours days again and he comes home exhausted. if i was exhausted as well at the end of the day, i don't think he would have as much of a chance to relax and we wouldn't be enjoying each other as much. i'll have another career again - i'm not worried about that - but it's all going to be on God's time table, not mine. hey, i'm only 26, after all.
yesterday, i printed out that "to-do" list from that movitivated mom website and am so glad that i did. it rocks. i've always been a list person and now i have a list of things to do around the house that i otherwise would not have thought to put on my own list... such as cleaning out my purse, or cleaning all the bathroom mirrors in one day without actually cleaning all the other parts of the bathrooms. amazing. on top of all that, i have a crossed off-list at the end of the day that i can look at and say, "hmm, yes, i did accomplish something today! sweet"
now don't get me wrong, i'm also totally, selfishly enjoying all of the other perks to not working right now... like going to a class at the gym at 9:30 in the morning if i want to, or taking a 15 minute power nap after lunch or ironing and folding laundry in the afternoon while watching a movie at the same time. we may not have the income that we used to, but i'm thinking that this is definitely a good fit for our lives at the current moment and i'm going to try to make the most of it. if you catch me complaining about it, please send a slap in the face my way and remind how good i have it.

see you tonight, honey

he's back at work today and i'm... not. this morning as i watched my husband walk out the door on his way to work, i realized that i don't have a job. it's not that i haven't realized it over the past 4 weeks. in fact, i've been enjoying it, especially when it meant that i could spend a week uninterrupted with my husband. but now that he is back at work and i'm here at home with my grocery list and pile of laundry, i'm feeling a bit unimportant. God must have wanted me to feel better about myself, because not 5 minutes after my hubby walked out the door, a very good friend of mine called just to check on me. we talked a bit, and after hanging up with her because her 4 year old son was running away from her at the mall, i decided to get to work and be useful around this house. that was an hour ago and i still haven't done much. instead, i decided to check my neglected email account and found that i had over one hundred emails that i had to sort through. whew. now i'm done and i'm going to look up this "motivated mommies" website i heard about that is supposed to give me some list of things to do all day long. and no, i'm not regretting quitting my job, because it was something i couldn't tolerate any longer, but yes, i need to find some purpose. and quick.

well, why'd you marry her in the first place?

i have a problem with men who berate their wives in front of other men to make themselves look good. i know there are women who are guilty of the same offense, but i'm picking on the men today.
about a week ago, i had had enough of one co-worker's frequent wife bashing and finally had to say something:
co-worker: he said something derogatory, but it wasn't important enough to remember
me: "women, can't live without 'em." (i purposely left off the other part of the saying where you can't live with them...)
2nd male co-worker who jumped into the conversation: "you mean, we can't live WITH them!"
me: "boy, i sure hope my husband never gets to the point where he feels like he has to say that about me."
1st co-worker: "he's already saying it, you just don't know it."
me: "i'd KNOW if he ever said something like that." (and not that i WOULD, but my husband is 100 times better than these so-called men who make themselves feel big by talking bad about their wives. plus, i was just so disgusted by the conversation that i had to end it right there.)
alright, so it wasn't the best example of their remarks, but that's not the point. the point is, why do people feel that berating their spouse will make them look better in front of people? your spouse should be your best friend! someone that you wish to build UP, not tear down. i mean, you picked your spouse; doesn't it reflect poorly on you if they are a horrible person? why would you want people to think that your spouse is a horrible person?

from land developer to... homemaker?

friday is my last day of work and i couldn't be happier. one year ago, i never, ever would have imagined that i'd be happy about not having a job. i am a type-a person who loves to be busy and successful... usually. right now, though, all i want to do is spend time with my husband who is coming home soon from his deployment.
i didn't quit my job just to spend time with him; although that's not a bad idea. back in july, i married my amazing husband (yes, he IS my super hero) and moved down to the city where he lived. that meant that i had to quit my really awesome job doing land acquisitions for a high-end homebuilder and find something comparable in this city. what i found was a job as a land developer for multi-family properties... apartments. it sounded better than it really was and i never really settled in. i knew i wasn't supposed to be there, but didn't feel at peace about leaving. so, i prayed about it a whole lot and after 10 months of pure frustration and just trying to make it another day, i finally felt like it was okay to leave and gave a month's notice. my husband has been great through the whole process, always encouraging me to follow my dreams and showing me that he truly does believe in me. i have other career plans, but i'm not ready to reveal those until they come to fruition... patience, my dear readers...
monday, on my first official day as a homemaker, i'll be taking my husband's truck to get the tires rotated and will be rearranging our guest bedroom/office. and i'm totally excited about it. i'll finally get to be one of those people i envied who were taking their morning jog while i was driving into the office and one of those people laying by the pool in the middle of the week. no, i will not be lazy, but i do plan to enjoy a few days of rest before getting down to some serious housework ;)