HAPPY BIRTHDAY REL!!! ... Bye Bye Summer

Today is the first day of fall which is J's dad's birthday and a time to say goodbye to summer. But first.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY REL hope you are enjoying France. Yep that is right, J's parents are in France for two weeks which just happens to be the same time as his dad's birthday. What a good idea for celebrating.

Since it is the first day of Fall, I figured it is the perfect day to post some of my favorite pics from this summer. It went by too fast but it was a fun filled one. I hope the Fall doesn't go by as fast, I am not a fan of winter in my neck of the woods.

Enjoy the photos

It Could Be Worse

Have you ever over heard a conversation and it made you think about your life? Well today at work, I over heard ( as well as everyone in the surrounding cubes) a conversation between two married women about their husbands and "It could be worse" popped into my head. "It could be worse" is J's philosophy for everything in life, including me, which at the time he said it I thought that was offensive but now I get it.

As most of you are aware, I am now co-habaiting with my boyfriend, J and that was am big deal for me since I have not been successful in the past trying to share my space. There are some things that J does that slightly annoys me and vice versa but after hearing that conversation between my co-workers, I thought my life "could be worse." I actually have no idea how the women put up with what they were talking about. One of them said that she is going to make a chore schedule for her husband so he can't say "I didn't know that had to be done". I am confident J would either laugh hysterical or or find me crazy if I posted a "chore schedule". I mean let's be honest, chores suck but we are grown adults and as a grown adult, you should be aware if the dishes need to be done or the dog needs to be fed. This might sound insane but I really believe that if two grown adults live together and both work full-time, than the house keeping and dinner responsibilities should be split. Or at least something like that. The stories I hear (granted they are mostly from women) make it sound like the men expect the wives to be wife, house keeper and mother. Now that is hilarious to me... maybe that answer the question that so many people have for me "why aren't you married yet" .... just kidding.

I am very lucky to have J!! He and I work well together and I know that if I needed him to do something around the house or he needed me to do something, we would let each other know and would do it without complaining or keeping score. I get why people live with each other and I am glad that it's J that I get to share my space with.

Locks of Love

It finally came time for me to donate my hair to Locks of Love. I have been growing it out for about two years and today was the day that I decided to cut it off. To give you a little background, Locks of Love is an organization that provides wigs to children with cancer that are financially disadvantaged. For hair to be used as a wig, the donation must be at least 10 inches long, in a pony tail or braid. It took me longer than I expected to grow my hair that long.

Here is my hair after growing it for 2 years-

And here is my hair after donating 12 inches to this amazing organization-

I usually wear my hair between chin length and shoulder length but have gone shorter than this before. I love my new hair style and even if I didn't I wouldn't care, my lots of hair will help out a child in need.

Moving Exhaustion

What I thought was only going to be a moving weekend turned out to be a moving week. Dylan, J, and Eric moved most of the big stuff on Saturday. It was a long day since we didn't get the truck until 6 pm and I moved car loads all morning. Everyone was really tired by the time the last piece of furniture entered the new place. Thanks to Marissa and Madison, I had someone to talk to and empty boxes with while the guys unloaded the truck. Sunday came around and we had Marissa, Jen and Tom (a couple that lives in our complex) over for a little bit in the afternoon. More unpacking of boxes later that night and off to bed for work bright and early on Monday morning.

You might be wondering why J and I didn't take any time off of work but really we both work in Finance/Accounting and the end of the month is not exactly a good time to take days off. We went to work, got home, and went to my old apt, filled J's truck with a few items and the wine rack I was giving my brother. My brother is about a 1/2 hour from my old place so the ride was quick but we stayed to visit for a little bit and check out his new place. He and two roommates are renting a really nice old house and J had not seen it yet. We get home and eat dinner around 10, which at the time I didn't know this would be the earliest meal we ate all week.

Tuesday through Thursday schedule went the same way, we get up early for work, work all day, unpack a few boxes, go to one of our old apts and get rid of the stuff we don't want and bring back the stuff we do want. We ate dinner after moving which meant we ate between 11pm and 12 am every night. I was so tired on Wednesday night that I didn't even finish my Mighty Taco before I was dozing off on the couch. The labor of the week was tough, it wasn't just moving boxes, for some reason not all the big stuff went on the moving truck so we had book cases, bikes, etc to move while only using J's truck. Finally on Thursday it occurred to us that we should use my mom's truck also to load things so we are not making 5 trips from the old place to the new place. Oh and our old apts are at least 20 miles (one way) away from the new place and our old apts are not near one another. You also might be wondering why we didn't do a better job in preparing for the move. I have to say, I am really not sure how that happened. I really thought we were all packed and ready to go but I misjudged terribly. J and I both agree that the next time we move, it will be completely different.

Needless to say the week took its toll on me and effected me at work. On Thursday I was so exhausted that i actually fell asleep at my desk. Thank goodness Kristin (who's cube is across from mine) woke me up and not my boss. Now I have been tired at work before and have gotten sleepied eyed but this was different. I had my head resting on my hand looking at spreadsheets and the next thing I know Kristin is tapping me on my shoulder asking me if I was sleeping. Obviously I was and it happened again later that afternoon. You may think, how can you fall asleep at work, but when I am exhausted, and it's super quiet, I can fall asleep easily. I am really surprised it happened twice in one day at work. Like I said thank goodness for Kristin. I mean we were laughing about it but I am sure it would have not been that funny if the Director of Finance came up to me for a report and I was sleeping on the job :)

J and I made it through a really tough week with a lack of sleep without killing one another. We were relieved when it came to an end on Thursday and we could go away for the holiday weekend and relax. We still have more unpacking to do but at least we have a few rooms organized and livable.