week two: mid-week laughs

E, Myself, and I is back this week with her blog series, "mid-week laughs" and I decided to participate again! If you're a blogger, feel free to partake!  This week's topic is:

_________ makes me laugh about MY PET!

I'll go ahead and fill in the blank with...

His big dog personality makes me laugh about MY PET!

 Just to give you an idea of his size.

My puppy Tank currently weighs in at about 5 lbs. with the potential to reach 17-20 as a full grown adult.  However, judging by the way he carries himself and the large dogs he tends to associate with you'd think he was working up to 100.  His favorite neighborhood dog is the German Shepherd Great Dane mix and his most recent friendship is with our friends' French Mastiff, Gus.

I know its been said that smaller dogs tend to be this way, but I'm convinced Tank takes this to a whole other level.  Combine his belief that he is way bigger than he is with his alpha dog personality and you get t r o u b l e!  Take a look for yourself.

 

Office Shenanigans: The Kudos Board

I want to start out by emphasizing that when reading these posts it helps if you watch The Office.  If you don't, no worries, but certain references will make more sense if you do.  Actually, if you don't watch The Office I'm worried, it's pretty much one of my favorite shows and you're missing out.

Now let's get started... I've caught a lot of grief for yesterday's post being just a preview and not having a story.

Awhile back my office decided to start our own mini-version of the dundies with a kudos boards.  I don't remember when this board originated and it's even less clear the time of its demise, but it was short lived to say the least.  Basically, we had a white board up in the office with everyone's name and space to "anonymously" write kudos about one another.  Then we would share these in department meetings and they would also get emailed to the kudos committee.  The kudos committee was made up of some ladies from another department, who once a month would walk around the office shaking pom poms & other random noisemakers as they passed out goody bags to that month's kudos recipients.  This is not a joke.

While their committee was awesome, the best part of this whole office episode is the types of kudos submitted amongst our team.  They started out genuine and professional, but as people lost interest in giving praise and slackers started feeling left out of the spotlight, the weirdest efforts started being acknowledged.  For example, someone was given a kudos for cleaning and organizing a spare cube.  While this was a nice thing to do- one, it did it not seem kudo-worthy and two, it begged the question of people's workload.  I suppose we've all had days where we take a break from one thing to do something more mindless, but who wants that highlighted?  What make this particular kudo extra awesome is that is was given in the same month we drew randomly from the submissions for a half day off.  Yep, you guessed it, that person's accomplishment was drawn and they got to a paid half day off... for cleaning a cube... out of boredom.

Needless to say, the kudos committee didn't come into our department too much after that.  Honestly, they must have decided that our team's "accomplishments" didn't merit a full bag of candy and a huge applause from their committee.  I'd have to agree, but don't tell anyone.

Oh, and before I forget... Happy Birthday Dani!!!  Sort of random, I know, but it's my sister's birthday and it should be definitely be mentioned on my blog!

Office Shenanigans

I've probably mentioned before (at least to Scott) that sometimes when I watch The Office it makes me think of where I work. For the record, we do NOT have our own version of Micheal, but we do take department Christmas photos, debate over the temperature, and chit chat at the water cooler.

This upcoming Friday marks my three year anniversary at my job and to celebrate that occasion I'm going to share some of my favorite stories from my office.

If you don't work in a cubicle I invite you to read these stories later this week and take a peek into our world. If you do work in one, I still want to invite you to sit back, read, and laugh at the things our offices have in common.

This is my cube at work. Awesome, I know.

week one: mid-week laughs

E, Myself, and I has started a new blog series and as a friend of hers and fellow blogger I decided to participate! As you can see, "mid-week laughs" will be happening each Wednesday and this week's topic is:

_________ makes me laugh about WEDDINGS!

I'll go ahead and fill in the blank with...

The re-purpose shuffle makes me laugh about WEDDINGS!

You know how you see certain items at the ceremony magically appear for display at the reception? That's what I mean when I say re-purpose. I'm not making fun of this effort because I appointed someone to conduct the shuffle at my wedding (thank you Sallie Ray), but it never ceases to amaze me .

I mean really think about it. How often do you show up to a reception and see the altar flowers on the entry table and the guest book already neatly displayed? Let's give the shuffler of said items some credit because in the time it took you to mosey from the ceremony to the reception the shuffler discretely grabbed all items on the bride's move list, somehow beat you to the party, set everything in place, and has a drink in one hand and a hors' dourve in the other! Amazing.

As a matter of fact, the wedding I went to this past weekend was no exception to this magic act. Upon arrival I was first greeted by wreaths on the country club doors, striking a strong resemblance to the ones hung on the church's doors 20 minutes beforehand. Next, I saw the the mantle adorned with an arrangement that I know I saw on the altar. On top of that, I assume the guest book was moved too (but that I can't confirm). The crazy thing is that I was hanging outside of the church and never noticed the wreaths being grabbed or a flower arrangement of any type being shuffled out... that's how good these people are! Its insane and I love it. It is just a tiny bit of insight into all the behind the scenes planning and work that goes into

Of course I noticed the new home for all these items because I requested the exact same things make it from the church to my reception site as well!

Wreaths on the church doors at my wedding.

Wreath at my reception. Enough said.

Do I have to?

Our one year anniversary is coming up in exactly two months and we haven't the slightest idea about where we're going to celebrate. Tough life, I know.

The reason we want to plan a trip is because we took a short and sweet honeymoon in Manteo right after our wedding with the hope that on our anniversary we could do something more. Manteo was great but we want to travel together somewhere further. In the nine years of our relationship, we've never flown on a plane together or taken a vacation beyond the outer banks- we think our one year anniversary marks the perfect time to change that!

Some ideas we tossed around were backpacking through Scotland and Ireland or traveling through New Zealand; neither of which are now feasible considering when we want to travel and our decided budget. To be honest, I'm sort of tired of researching options. The easiest thing to do would be to go on a cruise (which I'm not too keen on for this particular occasion) or visit an all-inclusive resort in Mexico or the Caribbean (which isn't Jake's first choice). The trouble is that Jake really isn't good at or willing to make suggestions and I'm all planned out. I plan for a living and when it comes to my personal life lately I just don't want to do it. That is so not like me but its how I've been feeling.

Do you have any suggestions for fairly easy-to-plan trips? We're ok with staying in the United States. As a matter of fact, yesterday we mentioned going through Napa Valley. I'm just at a loss and this is suppose to be something I enjoy and look forward to.

all you need is love

This weekend Jake and I set out for Roanoke, VA to attend both a wedding and a funeral. Our good friends Justin & Katie were tying the knot and Jake's family was coming together to mourn his MaMaw Williams' recent passing. Both occasions were taking place within 15 minutes of each other, making it very easy to be everywhere we needed to be- no doubt a blessing from the Lord.

I don't want this reflection to be dark, because the weekend wasn't. Both Jake and I had such a sense of joy when we sat with his family because his MaMaw had a beautiful life. She had 91 years filled with love and laughter and left behind an absolutely wonderful legacy (something to the effect of 7 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, and 1 great great grandchild). She was a God fearing woman and I have no doubt she is heaven, which is something to be celebrated.

For being an emotional person, I tend to handle funerals very well. There is a peace in knowing that people have moved on to a better place and that in some cases suffering has ended. My heart goes out to the family always, but I know where their rest and comfort must come from.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."- Matthew 5:4

The biggest thing that was made so clear over the weekend is the importance of l o v e. The thing that was touched on time and time again regarding Jake's grandmother was that she loved her family, friends, and the Lord so well. This theme of love carried into the wedding too. While at one event we were celebrating the end of a life full of love, at the other we were celebrating just the beginning.

Justin and Katie are two people who love those around them so well and now they have a new challenge to love each other in this sacred commitment of marriage. Katie's sister's toast went on to talk about how this love between Katie and Justin was a love they could trust for so many reasons and I think everyone at their wedding agreed wholeheartedly. I know I did.

All in all I was touched to see two very separate occasions share an important truth, and that is that we are designed to love. I know Jake felt encouraged by the experience as well and I'd like to think we are a little bit closer because of it. Here is to to the hope of our own 66 years.

Vet Nightmare

I don't want to become that dog owner who obsessively talks/writes about her pet, but I think when noteworthy things happen in regards to Tank that they should be shared. So without further ado I want to talk about his first vet appointment on Friday.

Long story short, it was a total nightmare (in case you didn't gather from the title of this post). He went in for some shots and a check up and came out with a trauma he would spend 30+ hours working past.

I knew it was going to be a rough appointment when he screamed just at having his ears cleaned. Don't get me wrong, if someone shoved a Q-tip that far down both of my ears I'd react too, but that was just the beginning. Next came the shots in different locations and finally a dose of liquid through his little baby snout. It was too much to watch and apparently too much too endure at just 4.6 lbs.

When we left he seemed ok, just frazzled. However, by the time we got home he was ready for a nap in his crate- something very unusual for him. After giving him some alone time, I tried engaging him with his favorite toy fish, Mr. Griggles. No such luck. He didn't want to chase him, chew on him, or even lay near him. All he wanted to do was sleep in his crate away from me and Jake. Whenever we touched him or tried to pick him up he would scream and whimper. Naturally after witnessing all these symptoms of distress, I cried. He was traumatized and I was the one who put him through it.

When I noticed that Jake was alarmed as well, I called the vet. They asked if he exerted any of the symptoms they requested I watch for and I said no. They assured me at his size and with what he had done that it was natural for him to be sore. I vowed to give it just over 24 hours before I brought him back in. Sure enough, Sunday morning he stopped whimpering when touched and was all about Mr. Griggles...what a relief!

He is acting completely normal and has gotten lots of extra love this weekend. Now all I'm worried about is his next appointment in three weeks! Thank goodness I scheduled it for Jake's day off... its his turn to bear it!