I forgot to mention...

I know I have forgot to mention a lot of things lately. But it's 1:30 p.m. and I am laying in bed watching the Tigers beat A&M. (That's just at this moment. With the Tigers, anything can happen, and that includes losing.) So there is no better time than the present to catch you up...

I forgot to mention...

We had a house warming party! Way back in September, our loan agent hosted a party for us. All I had to do was clean the house and send her the invitation list!

Yummy and cute cake!

Tiger stripes!

So blessed by great friends at the party!

One of the gifts we got was a lemon tree! I really don't know why, but I have always wanted on. They are just cute trees.

I forgot to mention... our BGroup had a bowling night that was too much fun. We had SO many folks show up! This is the girls' silly pic:

Chris and I babysat this little nugget one night. He was so good for us!

And then this little nugget came over and tuckered out during the LSU game. Precious.

The Revel came and went. I went a total of 5 times. Yup, f-i-v-e. One Sunday evening concert, two lunch dates and 2 Pepsi shifts for Junior League. Whew. It was a good Revel and excellent weather. And I am sure I gaine 20 pounds from the food. It's just all so good! 

My dear, sweet friend Rachel is getting married in just a few short weeks! Mom and I made a quick (like less than 24 hours) trip to Houston for her shower. Of course it had an Audrey Hepburn theme. 

Rachel and her mommy. 

So see, I HAVE been busy!

Confessional Friday

Linking up with Blonde Ambition for Confessional Friday. 

1. I confess it has been toooooo long since i have written on the blog. Apologies. Life happens

2. I confess I am beyond excited about the Revel starting this weekend and I haven't expressed this joy enough. There is seriously very few things better than the Revel. I plan on going Sunday. And volunteering Thursday and Friday. And I am sure another visit or two to shop with mom and eat lunch with Dad. 

3. I confess Chris is off work this weekend and he is hunting Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Actually, the confession is that I don't like it one bit. 

4. I confess I got my hair highlighted blonde last week, and I feel so much sassier. (As if that could happen?)

5. I confess that I am absolutely L.O.V.I.N.G. my new job. And I am not ashamed to say it is a zillion times better than the last one. People are happy, we all get along and things are just better. Praise.the.Lord.

6. I confess that I am loving living in the new place and I need to update the blog with pics of the house all nice and decorated. 

7. I confess I purchased a Christmas decoration for the house this week. Sorry, I'm not sorry. It was on sale. 

8. I confess that I am loving the cooler temperatures outside. I have always loved summer, but I like the 70's better than the 90's. (I'm talk about temperature, not the decade.) 

9. I confess I have been so busy lately, that I am starting to forget appointments. My mind is so full of things to do, I can't keep them straight! I HATE this feeling because I am always so organized. I am realizing I am going to have to slow down at some point. Probably not today though.... 

10. I confess that I have a lot of exciting things going on right now! Such as: the Revel;  Junior League stuff- already prepping for Market; I was named a 40 under 40 recipient by the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce; the class I am teaching is already half-way through the semester; 

11. Finally, I confess that we have had several get togethers and parties at the house and I have not shared a single picture. I'll have to fix that....

TGIF! 

A homecoming of sorts...

Well, I've got news. Wednesday was my last day at LSUS. Can you believe it?! I barely can. I always sort of knew LSUS was not going to be my last stop. I always want to advance and grow in my job, and honestly that just wasn't an option there. With budget cuts and limited staff, moving forward in my position just wasn't going to happen.

Last year during the Louisiana legislative session, working in higher education was brutal. Without getting into politics, it was incredibly difficult to work in my office. Incredibly. People are very passionate about funding, and retirement and mergers. And people can make things extremely personal,  when it doesn't need to be. I hated it. For various and different reasons. But I'll just say it was not fun going to work those days.

So anywho, I wasn't actively seeking a new job, but I was just keeping my eyes open. I was praying that God would either open a new door, close the door I was currently standing in, and lead me somewhere new if that is what needed to happen.  I think I was pretty patient with the whole situation. I didn't want to force anything or go out of my way to arrange and create something. I wanted God to work. And boy did he.

Next Tuesday I will be the new Director of External Relations at The Community Foundation of North Louisiana! Sound familiar? It should. That is where my first "big girl" job was when I graduated college. Everything happened so quickly and so crazily. And of course nothing in my life is simple.

So I went to lunch with my sweet friend who still works at the Foundation. We have kept in touch, well, because I just love her!  We meet for lunch once a month or so and just catch up. We didn't really talk about jobs and working at all. Two days later she calls and says, would you like a job back at the Community Foundation? Uh, YES! Ironically, I had just opened a brand new box of LSUS business cards. Ha! So I met with the Foundation. But my boss at LSUS was out of town. And I was going on vacation before he got back, so I had to hold my secret! Ah! But we eventually were all back at work and I broke the news.

I couldn't be more excited to be returning to the Community Foundation. I love their mission, their passion. I love the people that work there. I respect them. We share the same values. I will enjoy my work there because I believe in what they do for the community. I am thrilled!!

I am kind of proud of myself for just letting God work out the details. (See how much easier that was Jennifer?!) 

Like I said nothing can be simple. So on my last day at LSUS... we had a press conference, a hurricane shelter opened on campus AND we made a decision to shut down for two days for Hurricane Tropical Storm Isaac 30 minutes before the end of the day. MERCY. I will not miss the madness. I know I am young, but I feel like that craziness ages you tenfold. I know I am only 25, but I need a slower pace. Sounds crazy, I know.

I couldn't be more thrilled to be going home to the Foundation!

Broken Bow Vacation

This is way overdue, but when we got home from vacation...life intervened into blogging. More on that later.

Ahhhhh, vacation. There is nothing quite like it. Chris and I escaped reality with my family last weekend to Broke Bow, Oklahoma. We had a lovely time of limited cell phone reception and zero humidity. Can't beat that with a stick! Speaking of sticks, after visiting the local grocery store and Walmart, I don't EVER want to here about how "hillbilly" and "backwoods" Louisiana is. I saw things at these fine establishment that will haunt my memory. Example? Milk on sale for $0.69! BECAUSE IT WAS 5 DAYS OLD! Ew. As my Dad said, "What does someone with 5 day old milk do? Feed it to the cat?"

But I digress. We did have a lovely vacation. We went to Abendigo's the first night for Hannah's birthday. It was really good! I had the Chicken Madeira w/asparagus, garlic mash, melted mozzarella & wine sauce. Delicious. 

Mom, Hannah,  Gauge and I went on a hike Saturday morning while boys fished the day away. 

After the hike, we went to the "beach." We use the term, beach loosely. It had water, but no sand. Which I am actually ok with, because I hate sand. The gravel/rocks were a little hard, but we floated in the water most of the time anyway. Even if it wasn't' white sandy beaches, it was still beautiful. And the mountains in the background were awesome!

The "beach"

Our little friend.

My brother's sweet pup, Gauge. 

Sunday morning we went "canoeing." Let me just tell you this was quite an experience. First of all we signed up for 8 miles. I have no idea why we chose that route. Mercy. The first 3 miles went by fast. There was "class 2 rapids." We use the term rapids loosely. But there were a LOT of rocks that were available to run your canoe into. I did this often. I was supposed to be "steering" the boat from the front and Chris was all the muscle in the back. Mercy. I think we ran into every.single.boulder. And every time we did, I would laugh hysterically and Chris would just look at me like I'm crazy. He only had to get out of the boat and pull us off a rock 17 times. Good times. I know that man loves me, because if he didn't he would have been yelling and thrown me out of the boat at mile marker 1. 

The scenery was beautiful. 

This "waterfall" was about 3 feet. It was more scary than it looks. I really did think we were going to flip. I was ready to bail. After scooping and dumping water out of mom and dad's canoe, it was their turn to go down the fall. It didn't go so well on the first take:

stuck.

But after getting out, pushing off and turning around, they made it down the fall. Whew. 

And Chris caught a fish:

We had an amazing time of just relaxing and not having a schedule! On Monday I went on the boat with Dad and Chris and I actually had ZERO cell phone service. It was amazing.

When we got back in town, of course we hit the ground running and had a zillion things to do.