Four Years

On Saturday, November 29th, I celebrated my fourth anniversary working with Guam CEDDERS. To say I've been busy is an understatement. When January 1 rolled around, my status with the United Mileage Program was Silver Elite. By the end of July, I was at PLATINUM. That's over 75,000 miles of flying! I made 8 trips to the CNMI, 1 to Washington, D.C., 1 to Jacksonville, FL, and 1 to San Francisco, CA. 

In the coming year, I'll be doing a little more with project management and supervision. It's going to be a wild ride for sure!

Dreams

It's another Monday morning at the office. I'm usually not a doom and gloom "It's Monday" kind of person. But, I slept fitfully last night. I fell asleep at 10pm, just like every other night. The only difference from years past is that I've been falling asleep without the aid of my little white Melatonin pill. 

I woke up to use the restroom... I swear my bladder is the size of a shot glass sometimes. It was 12:54am. I tried falling back asleep, but that wasn't happening. I turned on my iPad and started reading the rest of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs. It's the book of the month for my book club. I read for about an hour and fell asleep.

I had a dream about a guy. I see this guy at church on Saturday nights. I don't even know his name. But, in my dream we were having a conversation and it seemed like we knew each other. We were talking and laughing and having fun. It seriously felt so real. So so real. 

I woke up again, but this time fell back asleep. That dream was the first thing that popped into my head when my alarm went off at 6:30am this morning. 

Seriously?!?!?

I do have a way of finding out this guy's name. My word of the year, brave, has been mocking me on the sidelines. I feel no bravery. I suck at pulling up my big girl panties and just doing it. 

So, I'll continue to see him on Saturday nights and he'll continue to haunt my dreams. 

No, There's Nothing Wrong with Me

As I sat at our dining table this morning passing time before I had to leave for work, I perused Facebook on my iPhone. I scrolled and scrolled looking for things of interest and found this...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melanie-notkin/single-and-childless-nothing-wrong-with-me_b_5940642.html?utm_hp_ref=women&ir=Women?utm_hp_ref=women&ir=Women

I couldn't help but think to myself that this is me. Only I'm 40 and single with no children. And there's nothing wrong with me. 

Maybe there's a "Brian" out there waiting for me to cross his path. Who knows? One can only hope...

To Be a Better Blogger

If I got paid based on the number of times I blogged, I'd never see a dime. Then again, if I did get paid to blog, I'd probably do it more often. Funny how one can be motivated by the promise of a dollar.

I've thought about blogging a lot in the last few weeks. But, then I'd get sucked in by episodes of "Revenge" season 3 or reading books in a series like Kate Perry's Laurel Heights novels or Susan Mallery's Fools Gold novels or playing endless games of Candy Mania or Cupcake Mania. When you have 3 iDevices with those games downloaded well, there goes a couple of hours. Then there was the perusal of Netflix last night and the commencement of "Grey's Anatomy" season 1. Not that I didn't watch from the beginning or anything... but I did miss a season or 2 somewhere in the middle.

In the last 6 weeks or so, I've done a lot of thinking. But, now that thinking has to translate into doing. This weekend, I caught up on SIX weeks of Project Life (C) spreads. I'm not into sharing because then it starts the comparing...and I'm allergic to comparing what I do with what others do. It's been fun reminiscing and proves to be a great reminder that I do indeed live a full and varied life. I did realize that, while this Project Life (C) is mostly about me, I am sorely missing from a majority of the pictures. Oh the reasons... I won't get into, but you can probably guess that they have something to do with body issues.

So, on to doing...

I've started and stopped exercising countless times since 2014 began. I've blamed my crazy travel schedule, but I have no excuses for the last 3 weeks as I've only stepped foot in the airport to see my niece off to another year of college. It was weird parking the car and walking in without checking in and getting a boarding pass...but I digress.

I visited my godmother in the skilled nursing facility two weeks ago. As she cried that she didn't wish her illnesses on anyone, I pictured myself in her shoes and didn't like the what I saw. I also have an appointment to see my doctor tomorrow and I already know what she's going to say so I'm cataloging all the things I know I need to do, but this time I'm going to try my darnedest to get them done. 

I've downloaded and uploaded a bunch of things I'm going to try. I've stamped water glasses into my planner that lays open on my desk to remind me to drink water...and herbal tea (I'm one of those that counts herbal tea as water...don't shoot me). I use the restroom clear at the other end of the office to get more steps in my day and that is seriously difficult since there is a restroom right across the hall from my office door.

Wish me luck!

Catching up...

Has it really been NINE months since I last posted? After Thanksgiving came the craziness called December and the dawn of my 40th year of life.

Yes...I turned forty in December. sigh 

For three days before my birthday, I cried. CRIED myself to sleep. I'd watched my friends turn 40 all year as I inwardly rejoiced that my time was yet to come. But the eve of the eve of the eve of 40 was daunting. Scary. Symbolized the end of another decade. And the gray hairs would continue its journey all around my head. 

I never thought I would ever be 40. As a child, I always thought 25 was old. I dreamed of 25. Of being married. Of having children. Of traveling. Of living a good life. Well, 25 came and went. So did 30 and 35. Then 40 loomed in the not too distant future. 

I like to say I live my life with no regrets. I don't wish I could go back and re-live a chapter in my life. Everything that I've done, that has happened, existed for a reason. 

But, sometimes I sit and wistfully think why I'm still single, why the younger generation of family members have children of their own and my arms hang empty? Is it the curse of being an overly independent person? Of being caretaker and caregiver during those wild and carefree years? Of being shy? 

Ironically, I chose "BRAVE" as my word of the year. In some regards, I have lived out this word. In setting limits at work. In saying "No, I can't stay past 5 today." In facilitating presentations. But, to say to someone, "So tell me about that guy who..." Yeah...no... hasn't happened. 

People tell me it will happen when I least expect it. So I try not to think about it. That part is easy when you're crazy busy. 

From January to July, I managed to change mileage statuses twice. I've been a silver elite member of United Airlines' Mileage Plus Program FOREVER. I've seen the local airport at least once, sometimes twice, a month for the last 7 months. So silver turned to gold turned to platinum. Say what? Platinum status means I've flown over 75,000 miles so far this year. So when I say I've been busy?  

I'VE BEEN BUSY.

No joke. 

It hasn't all been work and no play. I did manage to take some time off in June for 10 days to attend a family wedding in Phoenix (100 degrees...I really LOVE this family member) and vacation afterwards in Honolulu. I still see my trio of friends monthly. I joined a book club that meets monthly (try keeping up with that reading!).

So while I can't remember what I wore on Monday, but can remember where my boss put something based on the color folder she had it in, I still live my life. Albeit, it's the single life. Maybe that's what makes it easy to send me on a work trip?!?!? 

Then I get to come home to this...

Crickets

Nothing but crickets and cobwebs around these parts. I never did finish my posts about my vacation and catching up with friends AND rest. I left for my conference with terrible pain in my left shoulder and rotator cuff (which I sprained last December). Once I started my vacation and caught up on rest and relaxation, the pain went away and so did my plan for a full body massage.

Once I came back home, life got busy again. Two weeks away from work meant two weeks to catch up on. Plus, I got involved in a project on another grant. Is it really possible to have 110% of my time accounted for?? Seriously? 

And now, it's almost the end of November.Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Friday marks my 3rd year with Guam CEDDERS. I did a blog post about my first two years here. This past year:

• I traveled 36, 551 miles.
• I went to Hawaii for two weekends for the MCH LEND program (If you click that link, I'm in the 2nd row on the far right).
• I went to conferences in Jacksonville, FL and Atlanta, GA.
• I presented on two different topics at a conference in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
• I was part of 3 grant writing teams. At one point during one grant writing session, we worked till midnight. Two of those grants were funded; one grant was approved, but no funds were available.
• I killed one external hard drive and a laser printer, not to mention several cases of paper in the process.
• People still call to ask my opinion about stuff and I'm still amazed that they do. 

I've been doing a lot more this year than I have in the past. I sometimes get to travel with my boss and we share a room. Some of my co-workers are amazed that I am willing to share a room with the boss. I say, "Why not?" She's great to be around and she takes care of me. She makes sure I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner; that I feel okay, that I call home. She's been talking about retiring soon and so she's had me doing some stuff (like the presentations in Pohnpei) I wouldn't normally do. She calls it succession planning. I call it heart attack inducing. (Maybe that's why I've recently been diagnosed with inappropriate sinus tachycardia? I kid... the jury is still out on the reason.)  I'm not willing to take her seriously just yet. When she mentions that she can retire, she also says that she won't just yet because I'm not ready. She has big shoes to fill. But, I must be doing something right because I am still employed there 3 years later. In fact, I signed my new contract last week. That's a new record! I usually sign it a week or two after my anniversary date. I'm 100% federally funded so if there are no funds, I am jobless. Hence, the yearly contract. 

It's been an adventure. I still sometimes work before 8am and after 5pm, on weekends and holidays, on vacation and even when I'm home sick. But, it's all been worth it. 

 

Getting back into the swing of things Part 1

I've been a busy bee. But, if you ask me what I've been doing, I would probably leave out a lot of information. September passed me by and I can't for the life of me recall what I did without consulting my planner. And, so here we are in October.

I left on October 1st to Atlanta for a conference. I didn't register for this conference beforehand and was told I couldn't register for the pre-conference session I wanted to attend onsite. Oh my, did I say a lot of Hail Marys. I was lucky enough (maybe the right word would be blessed) to register for both the pre-conference and the conference. Whew! Those Hail Marys worked! I spent the next three days learning. 

Then I went on vacation. My vacation officially started on October 5th. But, let me backtrack a little to how this vacation came to be. When I found out that my god-daughter Allie was accepted at Seattle University, I could already picture visiting her. When it was definite she would attend, I told my boss where she was going. Lucky for me, my boss knows my family. She wouldn't mind if I stopped in Seattle to check on Allie. Yes! 

I've known since the summer that I would be vacationing in Seattle. Vittoria knew as well and I made her promise not to tell her sister. I pretended that I still needed permission from my boss the weekend before I was to depart for Atlanta. I called Allie while I was in Atlanta...on Thursday to be exact. I told her I was stopping by for a visit. Great surprise for her! 

After traveling all day and taking over an hour to get my rental car, I drove to Seattle University. She lives in the same residence hall I lived in while I was there. I waited a bit for her to show up from her adventure to the waterfront with a new friend. Oh, it felt so good to wrap my arms around her! 

Sunday found us at St. Joseph's Church at 9:00am to attend Mass presided by my good friend, John Whitney, S.J. Afterwards, we went to IHOP for pumpkin and red velvet pancakes. We ventured to Westlake Center to hop on the monorail to Seattle Center. We made our way up to the Space Needle and she got her first birds' eye view of the city. 

We got this free digital photo taken for free on our way to the top.

After spending the day together, she went back to campus and I had dinner with my friend Will. Will and I have known each other since we were 16. We had dinner at 5 Spot in Queen Anne and drinks at an undisclosed location. Top secret. 

Monday found me perusing Joann, Michaels, Best Buy and Old Navy while Allie was in class. Then we drove to Northgate Mall for lunch at Red Robin...YUM! Bought her a trench coat style jacket for $16! Bargain!! I grabbed dinner from QFC down the street, put some clothes in the laundry down the hall and settled in to watch the season 3 premiere of Hart of Dixie. Serious business.

The weather outside is something to be desired. Gotta find out what's going on and whether or not we have to batten down the hatches for a storm.

Stay tuned for Part 2.