New member of the family

I called my parents on saturday and my mom said, "you have a new brother". I said "You better be talking about a dog!" And she was! My family got a new puppy... now there are three. We had a phone conference yesterday to discuss possible names for the new dog. I got the official word today, his name is Shamus (It's irish). I am excited to get home and see him! I have attached some pictures (hopefully, if I can make it work), he's pretty darn cute!

Starbucks...Cheaper then therapy

I love Tuesdays… well every other Tuesday, because I get to go home at 4:30!! Most days I don’t leave work until 6:00 or 6:30 and it’s so delightful to leave work when it’s light outside! On my home, every other Tuesday, I stop at Starbucks… by far the most delightful experience of my day. By the end of my day, I have seen 22 kids and I am exhausted! I drag myself from my car, across the parking lot, into Starbuck’s… tired and defeated from a hard day’s work. But, something magical happens when I leave. I now have the power of a grande caramel apple cider and suddenly I’m not tired anymore and I’m smiling and singing along to the radio and just generally happy. The more I think about it, I don’t think Starbucks is thriving because their coffee and other assorted beverages are so spectacular, but because there’s something about having a custom made, warm, beverage that restores energy and happiness to one’s life! My roommate Jessi and I have this reoccurring thought every time we go to Starbucks, that perhaps we should make a career change. I can picture it now… I would get wear a cute green apron, I wouldn’t have to bring my work home, and I would be the best part of my customers’ day! I spend a significant amount of my week with adolescents and I can guarantee you that I am NOT the best part of their day. I should note now, that this entry was interrupted because I had to have a phone conference with one of my adolescent client’s parents… seriously, Starbucks is looking really good right now!

"More Chocolate, less nuts"

I work in an all female office. At first, this seems like it would be a bad thing, and generally I am not a proponent of having that much estrogen in one location, but it’s actually a delightful work environment. Since it’s all ladies, the office would not be complete without a super, secret, chocolate stash. You can generally tell what someone’s day was like based on the number of chocolate wrappers on their desk. A one to two chocolate day is a pretty average day, but when you get up into the five to six chocolate range, you know that it was a rough day. Not too long ago, I had some down time in the middle of the afternoon and realized that our “stash” was running dangerously low. So, I decided a chocolate run was in order. I asked our office manager if she had a preference on what kind of chocolate I got. Nancy paused for a moment and said, “I want more chocolate, less nuts” to which I replied, “Isn’t that the truth!” I have since adopted Nancy’s wise words as a personal mantra for my life. One of the interesting things about being in the “real world” is that you realize it’s full of crazies!! Seriously though, it’s a challenging thing to navigate the waters of the dysfunctional. My mom and my boss have given me the two best pieces of advice when it comes to making my way through rough waters; 1) “you can’t make dysfunctional people happy”- mom; 2) “Don’t get sucked into other people’s dysfunction”-Barb. I hold these words close to my heart and on my refrigerator as I find myself in the midst of one strange situation after another. So, my friends, hold the normal people in your life close…and trade the crazy ones in for chocolate!!

And in the beginning...

Greetings! I have decided to take a stab at having a blog. Qutie honestly, many of my friends have them and I guess you could say that I succumbed to the peer pressure! I can't guarantee that what I have to say will be profound, interesting, or will always make sense, but I just thought I'd give it a try!