What's a girl to do

So I've been without my husband for over three weeks now and I'd have to say it's been quite the adventure. Besides all the moving drama, there's been...

...an anniversary.... Mine, actually. And I'll be honest, it was a bit sad. I thought I'd be able to handle being away from DJ on our anniversary but it was harder than I expected. But my sweet husband surprised me by sending me (by way of a secret messenger) the flowers above. Aren't they 'goigeous'?

...an ER visit. That would be for Maia. She ate a nylon, scared me half to death, caused an emotional breakdown (because it was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak) and learned her lesson. Wait, no she didn't, that's just what I wish I could say. She actually continues to eat inedible items and in fact, was trying to eat the directions out of my hand on the way to the ER.

...football camp...

...and new shoes.

DJ is now going to be standing on that field shown above surrounded by all those thousands of seats filled with fans. Huge huh? I will be attending my first game there on September 5, a week from this Saturday. I will definitely have a post about that. That will be great.

Heart-pounding.

Exhilarating.

Energy driven.

Hm, hope I can handle all that action.

And DJ is now wearing orange. Lots of it. I've always wanted to expand his color versatility to include orange.

Just didn't know I would have the help of Tennessee.

So lots going on. But the biggest news of all is...drumroll please!

I have a job!!

See happy dance below.

Actually to re-phrase that, I am not losing a job. KPMG is transferring me to the Knoxville office. That is a ginormous prayer answered. I no longer have to job search, resume revise, interview attend or any other craziness associated with job hunting. For me that is a perfect example of the greatness of God and His perfect timing. I will be doing the same type of work that I am currently doing but for a different client.

I will be continuing my Albuquerque break-up saga soon but those stories are taking me a little longer than originally expected so stay tuned!

Someplace to be missed

Have you ever heard that quote from some movie (or maybe it was a book) where... A man looks deeply into a woman's eyes and says

"You (she waits anxiously)... are someone (oh yes, he's going to say it!)... to be loved."

What??

What does that mean??

I'm someone to be loved?

Don't you love me?

All these things are rushing through the girl's mind. I guess the man thought that saying THAT would make the woman feel good, you know all warm and tingly and such. I mean she's so great, SOME one will love her.

But the fact of the matter is the woman wants that man to love her and instead he just provides her with what really amounts to an insult. Ugh.

Well even if you haven't heard of that one, that's ok.

I had a point.

Yes I did.

Uhh...

Oh yes, my point is that Albuquerque is like that. The city looked me in the eyes 7 years ago, told me I was someone to be loved, I was insulted and then I cried. I didn't feel like the city really LOVED me back then and so I was insulted.

I mean really insulted,

by the crime rate,

the far far distance from my family (which I guess wasn't the Q's fault but I still blamed it),

the lack of personal connection with the people you see on the street,

the lack of seasonal diversity,

the different looking people (I mean , come on I was used to all-white, no color, from those parts up yonder wheres I come from).

Yes I was feeling unloved by that mean ol' Albuquerque.

But now we've built a relationship. Even though Albuquerque told me up yours (in not so many words), I decided that wasn't going to stop me from making it love me. And now here we are and we are breaking up.

After all these years of trying to make it work, I am moving on. But now I have to go through the painful process of reliving all the fun moments in my head, the heart-warming memories, the compliments that Albuquerque has paid me over the years. I will be sharing these over the course of the next few posts. Through pictures, through stories.

They will be precious memories that I will create closure with.

Tennessee Trek - Part Deux

I've been a little lackadaisical (I love that word) with my duties as a blogger but never fear, I've been thinking about it. Here's a few highlights from the past 5 days...

•  DJ arrived in Knoxville, started his job, moved into the dorms (temporarily) and started running. (He said he wants to get buff for me, tee hee)

•  I officially resigned from job at KPMG and will be unemployed as of August 27. Yikes!

•  I am getting more excited about moving to Tennessee and sadder to leave New Mexico. Who knew I could be pulled into two vastly different directions?

I have also been house hunting, resume revising, possession packing, car fixing, budget buffing, application filling, pet planning, and the list goes on. But I keep reminding myself that I don't have to get every little thing done RIGHT NOW. It's a tough mind change but I'm learning a lot and I like it.

My Deep Thought for the Day: When God opens a door, He'll walk ya through it too.

Poison Proofing Maia

It's getting to the point where I realize that I talk about my dog to everyone. She really has become the center of our lives. The bad part is she knows it. We're trying to work on that, I promise. But it's just so hard when she looks like this...

So lately we've been practicing her poison proofing. We picked a word that we associate with everything we want to feed her. The word we chose is "ice cube". It goes like this, I give her a piece of hot dog and say "ice cube" at the same time. We repeat this over and over until she's pretty sure it's her lucky day, for three days. Then we start messing with her, or at least that's probably what's she thinking. I still give her a hot dog and say "ice cube" but I also start saying other words like "doorway" or "place mat" or "couch" and when she tries to eat the hot dog, I give her a jerk on the leash. Yesterday was the first time I started that part of the process. She got to the point where the hot dog that I stuck in her face made her mad. She knew that if she tried to take a taste she'd get in trouble. The problem is she reeeally wants the hot dog so she'd have to endure a big jerk on the leash to get a little taste. I think it's working. She should be completely insane by the time her poison proofing is complete.

Tennesee Trek - Part One

DJ left for Knoxville today although he will only make it halfway today. He plans to stay with his buddy Chris who was the head trainer with the Crush when DJ worked there a couple of years ago. Chris lives in Arkansas -- Fayetteville to be exact, which is exactly halfway to Knoxville. It was the perfect opportunity for DJ to see his friend again. Right now DJ is probably sucking on a Mountain Dew, listening to his new book on tape and watching the I-40 scenery as it blazes by in all its Texan glory. 

I wish I could experience the drive with him since this will be the first time either of us has traveled this far on ol' Route 66 but I will soon follow. just a short 30 days from now. We spent the week trying to get everything in order so DJ could leave today and start work Sunday. We cleaned out the storage sheds, made lists of moving plans, baked granola bars, drank with friends, danced one last lesson together, provided notices of resignation and vacancies, and the list goes on. Needless to say our last few days together in Albuquerque were a whirlwind, but they were glorious. We laughed a ton and now I will cry a ton. Just kidding. Only a small tear was shed before I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and started making more lists. The month is going to go by fast and I have many things to do before I head out to meet him.

Chace is coming to Albuquerque to help me move. We will make the fourteen hundred mile trek to Tennessee together, brother and sister and dog. Wouldn't that make a great movie? I'm sure we will have stories to tell and I hope they don't involve the car slipping off the tow dolly as WE blaze our way through Texas or involve anything to do with the dog, which is usually the cause of most our stories. Or blowing a tire or breaking half our belongings because they were packed improperly or...ok, so I'm a little apprehensive about the road trip itself. I'll try to think positive thoughts. And not try to compare this adventure to a movie because all THOSE things would make a great movie. MY adventure will NOT make a great movie. It will not. No. I better go continue to prepare for my non-exciting road trip. I have three pages of "to-do" items that are first priority.

 Oh, and I will work on these page long posts. Sheesh, who knew I had so much to say!

First of many. I hope.

So after many weeks (or has it been months?) of lurking in, commenting on and observing every inch of other people's blogs, I have decided to start my own. I'm not sure I will have anything interesting to say but at the very least I will post stuff that matters. Probably mostly stuff that matters to me. But maybe it will be stuff that matters to you too. There will be pictures. Probably more than you care to see. There will be stories. Some you may not fully understand. There will be... well, I don't know all that will be contained within this blog but I hope you will stop by once in awhile and visit me. Let me know what stuff matters to you and I will try to include some of that too.