Grace in Small Things

1) SYTYCD is back!!! Tyce, Mary, and Mia... OHH MYYY!!!

2) My Mom's eternal commitment to her family. I am not sure how this will read, but I think my Dad's selflessness and sacrifice to his family seemed to overshadow my Mom's most of the time since

Wild Wild West

Over Christmas, we decided we were going to take a family vacation.  Butch is an avid outdoorsman, so he suggested we venture out west.  We divided the planning responsibilities up among us, and before we knew it, we were on a plane for Las Vegas, NV.

Actually, first my mom, Maggie, and I went to see Wicked in Durham.  I gave them tickets to see it for Christmas.  It was really fantastic!

Billy and I were the last ones to arrive in Vegas, and by the time we met up with Butch, Mom, Chelsea, Maggie, and Seth, not only were we five Bloody Marys deep, but they had already had quite an adventure with the rental cars.  After noting I will not travel without compression socks or while indulging in alcoholic beverages again (my ankles were the size of my knee), we took off for the Hoover Dam. So impressive.

From there we continued the drive to the Grand Canyon and woke up the next morning in time to enjoy the sunrise over the canyon before setting off on our hike.

Hiking the Grand Canyon

Billz looking out into the canyon

After the Grand Canyon we continued our journey up to Zion National Park where we had rented a home for the next four days.  Unfortunately, the rain that Spring had flooded the narrows, so we had to replan our next couple of days. Luckily we were able to still get in the hike to Angel's Landing.  Angel's landing is and most likely will always be one of the greatest things I have ever done.  I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into that morning when Butch told us it was on the agenda.  We started the hike just as we had any other day, gradually making our way up a beautiful path in an incredible canyon.  We hiked for about an hour when Butch said, "Christi, you should stop here."  Still, I thought nothing of it because my mom gets out of breath easily and she has an extreme fear of heights.  We started climbing around rock, and all of the sudden I looked down and realized I was on the side of a 500 ft. cliff!  I have never really been scared in my life, but at that moment fear hit me out of nowhere and there was no way in hell I was looking down again.  A few people turned around at this point.  After about 45 minutes more of climbing, we thankfully hit a plateau.  I honestly thought we had reached the top until Butch pointed up and asked if we were ready to go.  After getting smacked in the face with extreme vertigo, this is what Butch was pointing at:

Yes, we were going to continuing climbing to the very top.... and we did... and it was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

Angel's Landing from afar

Angel's Landing - WE DID IT! - My Billz almost died.

 

Angel's Landing

Angel's Landing

I forgot to mention that our home that we rented was SUPER.  We all had our own bedroom, and there was a firepit and hot tub!  Naturally, no hard hiking day is complete without a night cap in the hot tub.

Hottubbing it

After a strenuous and successful day in Zion, we headed out to Bryce National Park.

My hoodoo pose

Hoodoos in Bryce

Following a day in Bryce, we woke up the next morning to about 4-5 inches of SNOW on the ground!  This is two days after we sweated ourselves to death climbing Angel's landing.  As typical North Carolinians, we pulled out the board games and cards and prepared for a day indoors, when lo and behold the sun came out and melted all of the snow.  So, we hit the road to northern Utah for a day with my cousins (the Oldhams) in Payson.  When you don't see your family for so long (it had been almost ten years since I had seen most of them), you forget how great it is to be with them.  We didn't get to see Jed or Spencer, but vivacious Katie was still just as full of authenticity and energy and FUN as I remembered her.  Although she is married and has a little baby of her own now.  Audrey, who I am pretty sure could easily be my sister instead of cousin, had every bit of beauty and laughter as she had before. Will was no longer the sweet, skinny boy, that I thought I had to look out for, but he had grown into a strong, handsome man that could do things on a motorbike that I thought only the professionals did.  Harrison and Burke were practically babies when I had seen them last, and yet now Harrison proudly showed Billy his guns and was a true cowboy.  Despite growing a foot, Burke had probably changed the least.  He was still just as rambunctious as ever, and I absolutely adore it.  We got to catch up with Meghan briefly in Las Vegas a few days later, and despite two young children, she really had not changed much.  We got to go horseback riding with them (almost as scary as Angel's Landing... there was no walking or trotting going on here), motorbiking, four wheeling, horse and cow feeding, and more.  We ended the day with a big dinner with most of the food coming directly from their farm... even the butter we helped make out of goat's milk!

Horseback Riding (with the Oldhams!)

Billy - with cast - motorbiking

Eating an AMAZING meal with the Oldhams

The final leg of this tour took us back to Las Vegas!  We stayed in NY, NY, and went to see Ka (cirque du soleil) in MGM.  Overall, best vacation EVER!

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Funnel

My camera got stolen, and without it I just have no desire to write these posts...

It was the camera my mom got me for Christmas and it was really special to me. I could just go buy another one (and forfeit my new running shoe budget), but I don't want another one. I only want that one. I am such a child...

In other news Billy bought a rug for our patio and I just don't know how to tell him it is not aesthetically pleasing. Our patio chairs are forest green, the rug has turquoise and cream in it, and he bought a navy and violet table to go with it. WOW. He knew I wanted a table and something on the ground out there, so I don't want to insult him... but it is painful to the eyes to sit out there right now. The thing is that the design of both is awesome... just the colors need help.

Work has been a bit overwhelming for the last month and a half. Billy is getting fed up with the hours I am spending at work, and I feel bad about it. I will finish up my first Lean Six Sigma project the day before vacation (May 7), so hopefully things will ease up after that.

Speaking of vacation... it is going to be awesome! We are flying into Vegas, driving to the Grand Canyon and staying two days there. Then driving up to Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park for four days. Finally we are driving back to Vegas for three more days (at New York New York) and the production of KA! You can see pictures below of the house we rented off of Vacation Rental By Owner (great site!) for the four days in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park... yes that is a hot tub!!!!

Then, the day I get back I am leaving for San Francisco for four days. I am going out there for the same conference I went to last May in Washington DC. I am super excited about it because that is when I got my offer to spend a year in Paris. Not to mention the people from work are pretty awesome too... top notch!

Over the past couple weeks we went skiing, had the most awesome time in Mexico City, ran a 1/2 marathon (another New Year's resolution checked off!), spent two weeks in Virginia for work, did the Bar Crawl for St. Patty's day, had a party for Nahir's sister before she returns to Trinidad, and cooked out a lot!!!

Coming up we have the World Beerfest in Raleigh again!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!

Anyway... off to enjoy my weekend...

1 item remaining

What is wrong with my computer to have it always say "1 item remaining" at the bottom panel?

I am sure that you all think that... well actually I am sure that you all haven't thought anything about this blog. Just a little self indulgence... but I do want to continue this blog. One of these most amazing things for me was reading back through my grandmother's (my nana) journals and getting a glimpse into her life. Most days are a few simple sentences outlining exactly what she did, but on a rare occasion she would go a little deeper. Whether I ever go any deeper her or not, I do want to document my sometimes mundane and sometimes unimaginably amazing life. I hope to on the rare occasion feel inspired to go a little deeper as well.

Once we moved to Charlotte, life got much more hectic... between Billy and I both in school, running more / training for races, being a mommy to Goose, and recognizing my potential at work (and thus applying myself that much more)... life just took off at 100 mph.

Photolog

Not sure I can recap the year thus far, but I will do my best.

January:

Billy and I started classes halfway through the month. With work and school we stay really busy, but we still make time for each other and lots of funnnnn!

I have continued to try to keep up with Alumni Director duties by holding meetings and socials.

We went to Natalie and Chris's baby shower.

Maggie and I ran the Frostbite 5k together.

Went to a couple birthday parties for work friends.

Went to Raleigh for Mom's birthday and got to enjoy the snow with them.

February:

Volunteered for Mathcounts.

Went to Winston Salem for Nana's 90th birthday.

Held a Superbowl Party.

Enjoyed a snowy Valentine's Day at Upstream.

Went skiing at Wolf Ridge.

Spent a week in Lynchburg for work.

March:

Went to Mexico City (and saw Coldplay).

Participated in the annual Bar Crawl for St. Patty's Day.

Tomorrow we are going to see John Mayer, Washington DC on Friday, and Lynchburg again next week.

2009 Hurricanes

1) DRINKING BUDDY OF THE YEAR
Griff! (really he is Billy's, but he is still the best drinking buddy)

2) LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD (longest friend)
Spence

3) NEWCOMER AWARD - MOST AMAZING NEW ADDITION IN MY LIFE
GOOSE!!!

3) HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR
seeing Paris for the first time

4) LOW POINT OF THE YEAR
sadly probably Christmas night

5) BEST HOLIDAY
Easter was really nice

6) SONGS FOR 2009
Defying Gravity - Glee Cast
Best I Ever had - Drake
Heads will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Tracks of my Tears - Adam Lambert
Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z
Bad Romance, Speechless - Lady Gaga

7) MOVIES FOR 2009
I will most likely remember Up in the Air... oh but I forgot Inglorious Bastards...definitely Inglorious

Also noted: Up, I Love You, Man, 500 Days of Summer, Star Trek, Avatar
Could be on the list, but I haven't seen yet: Informant, Precious, Invictus, Where the Wild Things Are, The Messenger, The Road, Invictus, An Education, The Hurt Locker

8) VALENTINE of 2009
Obvious, but we did do a scavenger hunt to the ABC store, adult boutique, gas station, and pool which was sweet

9) BEST RELATIONSHIP of 2009
With the majority of the year in Lynchburg, Billz and I's relationship blossomed.

10) BEST FLING of 2009
x-nay on the fling-ay. Unless you count a fling as Billz and me randomly going to Cocoa Beach, Orlando, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Shenandoah, Carolina Hemlocks, Nashville.

11) HALLOWEEN COSTUME of 2009
Me: Tiffany Lemmons; Billz: lumberjack with all the tools

12) RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Nikkos or Yoshis

13) BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Road and Eclipse

14) BEST DECISION MADE THIS YEAR
Return to Char-town / Paris 2011

15) PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR
Continue my MBA, go skiing, go see John Mayer and Wicked, go to Mexico City and see Coldplay, go west to Vegas Bryce Mt. Zion Grand Canyon, run 1/2 marathon, go flat hunting in Paris, make a difference at work in my involvements

16) MOST STUPID IDEA WHEN DRUNK in 2009
Ahh... um, make a poster that says "OT makes babies" and give out pregnancy tea

17) TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
Dexter without a doubt

18) MOST LOYAL FRIEND of 2009
Tiff (and Griff to Billz)

19) BIGGEST CHANGE OF 2009
Getting out of Lynchburg and adding Goose to the fam

20) BIGGEST DOUCHEBAG AWARD
Pretty much anyone whose favorite movie is The Hangover

21) NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
Be the epitome of Loyalty; run a 1/2, be aware of opportunites to exceed expectations at work and act on it, find new and different ways to show Billz my love

22) MOST HUMOROUS EVENT OF 2009
Impossible to pick one. Billz is absolutely hilarious.

23) BIGGEST PURCHASE OF 2009
Actually did a decent job sticking to budget and I had no big purchases planned; thus the biggest purchases were concert tickets (Elton & Billy, Dave Matthews, Tori AMos)

24) DA MISS YA AWARD
Jerry Harley and Leanne Bock

25) THE COACH K AWARD FOR BIGGEST INFLUENCE/ROLE MODEL IN 2009
the Voyager Program (does that count?)

26) THE MAGGIE AUSTIN GENIUS AWARD MOMENT
when I was speaking with some of my French colleagues and I accidentally started talking with a French accent

27) GREATEST GIFT OF 2009
Necklace from Mom... I <3 my camera and mermaid tooooooooo

28) CW AUSTIN AWARD FOR BIGGEST IMPACT
Sef

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground....

Hannah: Whatchu doin?

Seth: Tying baby doll heads to my wig for Halloween.

Hannah: Jesus.

Our Iceberg is Melting

Quick run-down of the end of 2009:

Week Ending 11/22:

Honestly I cannot remember what we did this week / weekend. Oh wait, I think that we went to Mez in the Epicentre on Friday and Midtown Kareoke on Saturday.


Week Ending 11/29:

I ended up working Monday through Wednesday of this week. People always question my decision to work on days leading up to a holiday, but it gives me an opportunity to play catch up without distractions. I can complete my online training, personal performance assessment, work on tasks for NA-YGN or Toastmasters, and continue to try to learn processes and procedures and systems since I am always new to my organization due to the Voyager program. Anyway, so I worked full force up through Wednesday. Although it ended up being more project related than administrative. I definitely had the opportunity to shine on this project/task although I didn't quite step up to the plate. There were several times I should have put my foot down and called on people to step up their game, but instead I babied them along. Ultimately the success of the task would reflect positively or negatively on me, so I have to remember that being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Anyway, Thursday we went to Billy's family Thanksgiving, and Billy was so anxious to play golf afterwards that we left after only an hour or two. I felt really bad about that since they think we rarely come around anyway. Plus, I thoroughly enjoy watching and listening to the characters in his family. Seriously there is nothing quite like the Arringtons. I brought fruit salad to Billy's chagrin ("Boo, dey don't eat nothin that ain't cooked in Crisco"), and no one ate it, but we did have a lot of laughs about it. I spent the remainder of the day get the house Christmas ready.




After Billy was done with golf we headed to Raleigh to spend time with my family.... YAYAYAYA!

We got there late so we had a couple beers and went to bed. Then we got up at 2:45am for Black Friday! I have never shopped on Black Friday, but it is my new tradition. I had an absolute blast, and it is fun just trying to put together a plan of attack before entering each store. We hit Old Navy at 3:00am to get gifts for Billy's brothers, cousin, friends, and mom. Then we went to Belks at 4:00am in search of an Eco-Drive Citizen watch for me. We were two of the first 100 in the door so we each got pre-loaded gift cards with an undetermined amount. Mine ended up being $5 and his was $10. We found an Eco-Drive for 50% off, and B is letting me wear it early!!! I still wrapped the box and put it under the tree though.

In line at Belks:
We found gifts for Butch (wine glasses / State snuggie), a couple small ones for Seth (speakers for Ipod, gift cards, Fatman sweatshirt [http://www.fatmandesignz.com/]), and I got a little something for Billy (Sonicare toothbrush, The Office DVDs, Playstation games, etc). His big gifts this year include a new golf driver and tickets to see John Mayer in March. I got my sister and mom a really good gift, but I think my sister may still read this blog occasionally and I would not want her to see it, so I will update that later.

Saturday we had a big post Thanksgiving party with Linda, Buddy, Paulette, and Tommy to watch State WIN!! and eat goooooood food!

When in Raleigh we usually walk the trails around the North Carolina Museum of Art (http://ncartmuseum.org/interim/park.php), and it is so awesome as always. You must check it out if you are ever in town.

We also gave Mags belated birthday gifts and Seth gave Mags some bump-its!!!



Week Ending 12/6:

This week I was in Lynchburg for training, which completely confirmed my aspirations to be a Project Manager. Great training... right down my alley.

We attended the end of year Theta Tau party... and had much too much fun. Thank you Joe DeVoe for being a true Brother that night.

Mags moved in with us, and it is a real joy. I just can't express in words how much I enjoy her being there. We wore matching green and red strapless dresses to the party, and Seth and Mom decided to compete.



Week Ending 12/13:

This week I was working long hours, so not too much went on outside of AREVA. I am now the Vice President of Publicity and Membership for Toastmasters, which I am really excited about... so I worked with our communications department to get moving on some posters, video displays, emails, sandwich boards, intranet page, etc.

I attended the Women in Nuclear end of year dinner at Macaroni Grill. We were collecting for Toys for Tots, and I got a bunch of cool stockings from Old Navy to provide. My breath smelled like garlic for two days though.

Friday we went to Chima Brazilian Steakhouse for the End of Year Celebration for NA-YGN. I got a nice AREVA fleece for my contributions to the US Facilities Tour. Hey, I thought my reward was just getting to go!!!! Afterwards we went to Midtown and to a party Tiff took us to. I almost went home after Midtown, and now I REALLY REALLY wish that I had. Night didn't turn out quite as expected. Needless to say, I will not ever go to a westside Charlotte party again.

The following night we had a Theta Tau alumni potluck and White Elephant party at Joe's. It was really really nice, and I am just so thankful for those people... Tiff, Joe, Andrea, Dave, Nahir, Audrey, Magda, Parsnow, Sydney, and it was great to have Ari out at an event! I really missed Kari, Diana, Earlz, B-ring, Patty, and Tim though. They seem to be laying low a bit from OT and I miss them. We also have alumni out of city/state that I wish could have made it... Nick, F-bah, Big G, Kristi, Blue, Jerry, Marc, Fenny, etc.




Week Ending 12/20:

Mags and I are up to three miles and had anticipated running in a 5K on Saturday in order to qualify for the DC run; although the weather cancelled the run. That really really stinks because we have to have a qualifying run completed (and time goal met) before registering for DC run. If we were to do that before December 31, 2009 we would have a cheaper registration fee and our bibs would be personalized :( :(.

Oh well. We went to see Avatar and went out for Billy's cousin, Steven's, birthday on Saturday. We ended up at Buckhead where I ran into John Philigan, Randy Russell, and Johnny!!! CRAZY! Billy and I won the Family Feud with the Miller Lite girls so we got t-shirts and free beer. I also got to finally hang out with Billy's friend Charles, and he is something special... hahahaha.

THIS WEEK:

Monday we did Christmas with Billy's family which consisted of mostly Old Navy clothes for Josh and David. Although we did give Josh a Bobcats jersey for the game on Tuesday and a new bike.

I finished my big task on Tuesday.... two days ahead of schedule!!!!!!!!

Tuesday we also took Josh and David to the Bobcats game. Mags got us all tickets (like 9 rows back!!!) and I really enjoyed myself. I didn't even realize that Chris Wilcox from Whiteville played on the Pistons team so we got to watch him. Not sure why, but he didn't play in first half, but second half he was ballin!!!! Kwame Brown came out and didn't play again, so that may have played a role in Chris's PT. Mags snuck hotdogs in her purse from the stand outside and her purse kept going off in the metal detector. The security guard kept asking "Mam, what do you have in your purse?" It was so funny. We thought we were caught for sure! Then Mags said, "ohh it's my basketball clothes" and he let her in. Basketball clothes set off the scanner???? HAHAHAHAH!

Tonight B and I are doing our Christmas (yesterday was our one year anniversary!!!) and then tomorrow at lunch we are headed to Raleigh. Soooooooo excited. I also have the entire week off next week, so B and I are making plans now....

Thinking about hitting DC for NYE.


So far for 2010...

Continue MBA
Lean Six Sigma Training
Skiing in February
Mexico City + Coldplay concert
John Mayer Concert
Wicked Production
DC for Suntrust Run
Las Vegas, Mt. Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon in May!!!
HOME SEARCHING TRIP TO PARIS IN NOVEMBER!!!
MOVE TO PARIS!
NYE IN PARIS!

My B left this note for me when I went to work: