Stationary

I guess it’s time for another update. You’d never believe that I go on google reader every day to read all your blogs and yet here I am, rarely updating!

Sidenote: I love stationary. I love that part of my job is ordering stationary. I love using pens. I write primarily with a blue ink Gel pen but have the same pen in black, red and pink. I use the blue and red the most. I LOVE binder clips. LOVE. and Plastic sleeves to store paper. Also love.

I am learning that in the corporate world. everything is monotonously similar and at the same time constantly changing. Every week it seems someone is being promoted, or a new project is being approved or someone is starting the relocation process. Or all three! And yet every day I come to work, put in 8 hours, and leave. I file, sort, copy, clean, assist, email, etc. Occasionally, to break up the monotony, I pack boxes for people beginning to relocate. Ooooo. Exciting right?

My job is coming to an end in August. I know I mentioned this in my previous post, however I wanted to talk about what it’s been like since then. The company is paying for career transition courses; which have been amazing. We get one on one coaching and group help. I now have a killer resume and know how to rock out an interview or job offer negotiation. Though the end is coming, I still work until the end of August. I like my job. They are good about making sure I get my hour for lunch, have my vacation days and don’t have to stay late…so that’s pretty good. At lunch I either eat at a cubicle (it’s mine though it’s really only for storage since I man the reception desk up front) or go out with friends. 3-4 lunches out of 5 see my with friends…and when I say “go out” I mean we go to Starbucks, with food we brought from home, and sometimes order a drink. Starbucks doesn’t mind as long as it’s not busy and we, in turn, make sure to each by a drink a week. I meet one friend there twice a week as she only works 3 blocks from me. Starbucks is about halfway between us. I have lots of girlfriends from church who are willing to trek downtown to meet me and I really appreciate it!

Mom and Dad come for lunch once a month or so and I enjoy that a lot…though of course Dad and I monopolize the conversation as we attempt to catch up and Mom just wants to talk about choir/music. So I struggle with the tension of enjoying being with them and talking with Dad and feeling bad that I don’t know how to engage with Mom more. That would have to be the toughest part of this Alzheimer’s thing; I feel so guilty that I don’t have a relationship with my mom like many do with their moms. My mom is sick and short on time and yet communicating with her is so challenging. I make the choice to do it and talk with her, but I feel I should want to, you know? My GP wondered if I should see a counselor because maybe these feelings are why I am tired all the time. So I went the counselor for the first time this week. She seemed to think I didn’t need counseling. She said basically that grieving the relationship is normal and since I have such a large support network that I can probably gain from talking with them. I can’t tell if she was helpful or not. I am going to sit on it for now and see what happens.

Paul and I are hoping to lose 20 pounds each by May 1st (our wedding anniversary). That is 5 pounds a month. So far I am on track…as of yesterday I had lost 5 pounds! I am excited to actually be sticking to this goal. I have been going with Jenna to Cardio Boot Camp once a week and starting next month we will go twice a week together. Going with Jenna is incentive to attend and makes the time fun. I am not suffering alone! It also helps that there are about 30 other women in each class…it’s dark out and it’s outdoors. I don’t get too hot, no one seems my fat jiggling around and it doesn’t matter if I make ridiculous noises when I’m struggling, there are no men there to tease me! Last night tho, was particularly tough. It was raining, the teacher was having us do harder things and I was trailing behind the whole time. It sucked. I am not a fan of the way this particular teacher teaches the class but her time slot works for our schedule. Frustrating! After I got home I definitely cried in the shower. But once I was out I remembered that I am doing well! The fact that I go and actually attempt to keep up is better than not going. I have lost weight and I will continue to! It’s also incentive to eat better because I REALLY don’t want to waste all that energy by eating crap. I went to Starbucks with a friend last night and wanted a Chai Latte (6 weight watchers points) but had tea with non fat milk (1 weight watchers point) instead. Victory!!!

I am excited to see God provide a miracle on the job front come September. I am feeling very confident…not only do I now have a strong resume, strong interview skills and a good working background, I also have a God who has proven that he always provides. I’m praying for a miracle job this time though. I want to work September to May and have summers off. This sounds ridiculous I know but I want to attend the School of Ministry in Nashville with Paul Summer 2012 and I don’t want to have to quit to do so. I want to go to Israel and Europe the summer of 2013. I want to fill my summers with all the ministry I don’t get to do during the winter but that my heart longs to do. I want to meet with mom’s and students during the day. I want to go away for weekends with people and dig deep relationally. I want to invest in ways I can’t when I work 40 hours a week. I’m also praying this miracle job pays $19 an hour, has benefits and is an 8 hour work day including 1 hour for lunch. Oh and that it would be on the UBC Campus so I can do ministry with Paul there.

Hmm…lets see. What else is new? We have a roommate moving in from February until the end of May. It’s one of my best friends, and her name is Candace. She is from Mississippi and is marrying a Canadian in May. She isn’t working between now and then (since she can’t legally) so we said she could move in with us! Both Paul and I are looking forward to having her around. We both like her, she bakes and she is always great about doing the dishes! Paul’s sister Katie is moving in to the basement suite next door. We’re also very excited about that. We will now officially be surrounded by people. It’s great.

It took me 20 minutes to get out of bed today. 20 Minutes! Ridiculous! This left me with 15 minutes to get ready. Thankfully on Sunday I prepared South Beach Diet Egg Muffins (surprisingly tasty) to eat for breakfast all week and veggies, meat and rice to eat for lunches all week. So food prep just involves putting food in Tupperware. I don’t know why I struggle so much to get out of bed!

We are headed down to the States this weekend. I booked us our first hotel (other than our honeymoon) and we will be touring downtown Seattle. We will hit up the Science Fiction Museum for Paul, shopping malls for me and visit friends. On our way back we will be stopping in Bellingham to see Brian Reagan (our favorite comedian) live. Yay!

People keep asking me if we are going to have babies soon, now that we’re married. We probably won’t for another 3 years. Even that sounds closer than I like, but it is important to realize I will be 30 soon and health wise I don’t want to start too late. It’s partially why we want to have Candace live with us and a homestay student after that; we want to learn that our home life is not all about us. Help ease us in to having kids. We are both doing a lot of work with kids, which makes me less scared. Paul and I lead kids church together, we do this every 3 weeks. I recently hosted a junior high girls sleepover (in loving memory of ours!) for 10 junior high girls, and I invited 4 college aged women (including Jenna) to join us. It was great to see the cross generational bonding! Paul and I helped counsel at the junior&senior high youth group retreat and we loved it. AND we are the volunteer leaders for Campus Ministry in our area. We can’t seem to shake that people of ALL ages need friends, love and encouragement.

For our wedding Anniversary (May 1st, woop) we will be going to Tofino (woo!) for the weekend. I found a deal at Ocean Village (which I love), 2 nights for $99! We will be there all weekend. I am so excited. My family used to stay at Ocean Village for 3 or 4 years in a row each October. Jenna and I would wake up early and explore the beach. We found a cave and every year we would leave things there and find them the next year. I haven’t been back since I was 12. I bet we won’t find what we last hid. I love Tofino/Ucluelet though and haven’t been back in years. I can’t wait to show Paul all the places I love there. I loved my summer living out there and I hope he loves the coast as much as I do!

Alright, it’s 11:05 on a Thursday morning. I should get up off my butt and move towards the kitchen. I could really use a cup of tea. Especially given that the next hour of my life will be filed with sorting and filing paperwork