It's May 4, 2014 already!

I haven't posted in a while - I know.

I'll try to be better, 'cause I miss you guys out there in the blogosphere (and because blogging can be fun :) What's been going on with you?

While I try to get my game together, bear with me, and remember...

I don't own this image people. It was found here. :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

She's in a better place.

Today was my maternal grandmother's funeral.

Yesterday was the memorial service/viewing.

It's been a pretty awful week (she passed on the 17th), and an especially emotional and draining weekend. My grandma turned 100 last year, and would have been 101 yesterday. I still can't believe she's gone; and even though everyone tells me she's in a better place (and I do believe she is), the pain is still so powerful.

It hurts even more when family drama takes a seat at the head of the table. It's the type that's been brewing for years and years, but came to a head yesterday. The dagger to my heart throughout the process - well one of the daggers - was when I stated that I had written a little something to read in memory of my grandmother, and the pastor of the church - who happens to be my uncle/my grandma's son stated that 'the tribute list was just so full already', and that 'we don't want the program to run long, so...we'll see'. Yeah, it never happened. I was provided a pre-approved scripture to read, and time was made for multiple members of the church community to tell stories, read letters, sing songs with seemingly unending choruses, and read statements from local counsel members who never even met my grandma. All this while the other children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were allowed to...just sit there.

I said some of the words to my grandma at her graveside today. It was during a quiet moment after most everyone had left, and while it was not the same as being able to share it with everyone at the memorial, I'm sure she heard me from up there and hopefully she smiled :)

For Grandma J:

 

 

For those who don't know me, my name is R. I am [my mom and dad's names here] daughter; and I want to say a few words in memory of my grandmother.

 

It's difficult to put into words how much my grandmother meant to me. She was a strong, intelligent, spiritual woman. She was loving and caring and had an amazing voice, a beautiful smile, and these wonderful cheekbones... She passed a lot of wisdom, conviction and strength down to her children, including my wonderful mother (who is a spitting image of her mother), who I am happy to say passed those traits on to me and my sisters.

 

I didn’t get to spend as much time with my grandmother as I would have liked, but even though our time together was too brief I felt like we had a strong bond. She was the only one to call me the special nickname she gave me, and observing her kindness and faith since I was a child has had a great impact on how I've viewed and treated others throughout my life.

My grandmother loved LIFE. She loved her family, and she loved God. No matter what situations life presented her with - no matter how challenging - she was able to overcome it with a wonderful attitude and belief in the love and power of the Lord. Not once did I witness her giving in to...pettiness, one-upsmanship, guilt...or having to downgrade the worthiness of others around her in order to make herself feel better, or appear better in the eyes of others... No, my grandmother showed me that no matter what happens in life, if you remain calm and positive, and keep your FAMILY and your FAITH in your mind and in your heart, you can overcome it. It was lessons like that...especially her emphasis on the importance of always nurturing each other and being there for your family...that I will remember the rest of my life. 

 

I love my family with every ounce of me. My parents, sisters and my husband travel with me in my heart every second of every day; and I count my grandmother as one of the inspirations for showing me how important love for family is, and what strength that love provides during both the happy AND sad times. It is incredible what an open mind and a kind heart can do.

As long as I can remember my grandmother shared with me the importance of faith. She was a very religious woman, who showed me how a belief in God helped shape her life. She did not feel the need to force anyone to follow a specific path; but instead knew that everyone has to follow their own personal journey to the Lord. I owe my grandmother immensely for my passion and faith in God, and I hope that I can live my life with the same honor, grace and respect that she did.

My grandma often spoke about how wonderful it would be when she would get to meet the Lord again; and while we were blessed to have her with us to celebrate the milestone of her 100th birthday here on Earth with us last year, He called one of his best creations home to celebrate with him this year. Happy 101st birthday Grandma. You will always be loved and remembered; and you will forever be deeply missed. 

Thank you.

Well, I'm exhausted and am going to take a nap. I hope everyone was able to have a more relaxing weekend than I did, and that the rest of the week gets better.

And so I'm trying subscription boxes

I feel so out of it. I didn't know about this subscription box craze that's going on. There are so many different kinds...with so many different prices. I mean $60/month for a box of whatever? No thanks. $10/month, however, I can do :) So, my friend P and I decided to each try ipsy.



Sign up for yourself here :)

Do any of you have any experience with this company? Apparently it used to be a company called MyGlam that wasn't so great, but since the name change, things have gotten better. I read some good reviews and watched some interesting YouTube reviews, so I'm excited to see what I receive in my first bag. They have a pretty cool referral/free gift program, so if anyone is interested in ipsy but hasn't yet taken the $10/month plunge and signed up, I'd appreciate it if you use my link ---> here :).

In other news, I am on vacation from work - out for two blissful weeks. I am already freaking out a bit because I know exactly how much I left undone (there is simply just too much work coming through my department for such a limited staff); but I am so excited to not have to go into that depressing environment for 2 whole weeks. I seriously need this - I'm just burnt out. I feel like I used to feel as a kid, on the last day of school before summer vacation. If only this vacation was two months long :)

TGIF everyone! Have an amazing weekend. I'm off to unset all my alarms.

Turns out makeshift balloon pits in offices are ridiculous amount of fun.

Co-worker C' s birthday was this weekend so, when she was out of the office on Friday, almost everyone pitched in to leave a surprise for her to find tomorrow morning :)

It all started out as a joke with us saying 'let's decorate with a few birthday balloons'...

and ended 15 packs of balloons later! 

She is going to freak out! I don't even know how she's going to get to her desk :)

The bad thing is that she starts work about an hour and a half before me so I can already see her moving them into my office. I took the precautionary measure of telling P that if C tries to do that and she doesn't stop her, the balloons will all be in her office (with her inside) minutes after I find them. She laughed, but I was serious.

I honestly hope C doesn't get too mad, and is able to take it as the fun birthday gesture it's intended to be. We'll see tomorrow. I think I'll hear her screaming long before I even get there :)

Either way, Happy Birthday C!

I'm off to a lovely Sunday wedding for an even more lovely couple. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone :)

Beam me up, Scotty.

Fresh off of seeing Star Trek Into Darkness (excellent movie, btw), I went to an appointment in this fancy-smancy building. I turned the corner and was instantly on The Enterprise :) A part of me wanted to do something Star Trekkie...but, alas, the time was not right.

That, and the strangers around me didn't look like the joking around type. Oh well. Rest assured that the kid in me played out a running with phasers scene in my head :)

Spend a few fun minutes watching Jeremy Jahns discuss the movie here. The hubby got me started watching him, and I admit, he's pretty spot on.

Saw this quote at work the other day...

Galileo might have changed his tune had he ever met Big Head 2.

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone.

Playing with cats and stuff

So, I'm cat sitting for the weekend.

 

 

She loves my mouse socks :)

 

Have an amazing Memorial Day weekend everyone!

It's Tuesday, which is that much closer to Friday

So, I've been gone for a minute :) I feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day to do all the not so fun things - like work - much less to do and enjoy the fun things.

I just found out that co-worker C trades books with the previous head of our department. They're book swap pen-pals, and have been for the past couple of years. It's such a little thing, but it's too adorable. Shuttling books back and forth between NY and FL...I imagine the packages also contain little notes like 'wait 'til you reach page blah-blah-blah' and 'get ready to cry/laugh/throw the book across the room/etc.'. It's just too funny; especially since the two really couldn't stand each other when they actually had to work together as assistant and boss (and everyone could see and feel it).

The way the scene plays out in my mind, from when they first started working together to their becoming book swap besties, feels like a script to a buddy movie...with a lot of cursing. Like when the film would eventually make it to network TV, people would think it was a silent film due to all the bleeped out words. That amount of cursing. This place just brings extremely moody and vulgar sailor out of you.

Anyway, I recently cleaned my office. I had novels all over the place and decided to share them.

Let's see if anyone takes them. I know hard copy books are a thing of the past to most of the people in my office. I love my Nook and Kindle too, but every so often I enjoy turning actual pages while engrossed in a riveting novel. If the weather is nice enough, I may do just that at a holiday outing this weekend :)

Any holiday plans in the works for all of you? This year is flying by.

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday everyone!