...Isaac
Sandy
Redskins
Acuras
Polo Sport
Merlot
July
Cheesecake
...Elementary School
Mrs. Curtis
Ms. Potts
Backflips off the jungle bars
Thomas Priddy and his worms
The mysterious yellow bar in the back of the playground that backed up to the crazies in the hospital
Rachel Coomer with the long braid, who died in a car crash on her way home from vacation
Katherine Kellogg, who used to sit on the hill like a vision
Wanting so badly to know how to double dutch
Mrs. Seavers and the reading trailers
...Leslie
Coffee
Nellie
Bealls Outlet
The words "Weeki Wachi" and "Pickled Parrot"
Florida
Green eyeshadow
American Greetings
...College
Lake Hollingsworth
Peavy
The "Ranch" on Buttercup
Mack Rutledge
Dr. Baldwin
My old Honda
Delta Pi
Downtown Disney
GC Services
I-4
Victory
Carlton Arms
Siesta Key
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Come Again?
I thought about all the things I wanted to do and then shortly after decided to put them on the backburner. Moving forward, I have no time to spearhead this big project, which would essentially dovetail on the back of the last one I tried to implement.
I thought about reaching out, but ended up circling back because I didn't have enough bandwidth. The problem was, nobody kept me in the loop. And, not only was I unable to get down to the granular details, but I couldn't bring anything at all to fruition. I decided to supercheck all my facts about everything before taking this completely off my radar, but before I knew it I was drowning in an overload of infoshare. What happened to the back-end operation? I was drowning in my own list of action items! It was time to bring all hands on deck. But I wondered, did anyone have any availability?
After initiating a very long meeting to discuss our options, we came up with a list of best practices -- a sure-fire way to delight the client. For it was only a matter of time before we would bounce back.
I asked a colleague to build on what he thought was a good way to strategize our plan, but he couldn't get enough buy-in from upper management.
"Try to get people on-boarded," I said. "That's the key to a win-win."
"I'm just sensing a real disconnect here," he said. "I can't seem to get any real leverage."
After drilling down for 45 minutes we really honed in on key areas that needed work. We developed a list of core competencies and took some time to whiteboard our ideas. After all, our drop-dead date was literally by COB.
"I can't seem to codify any of these bullet points into a real outline," he muttered.
"Well, why don't we noodle on it for a while and focus on some areas that will really bring our functionality up to speed," I quickly replied back.
"That sounds good," he said. "I have a hard stop at noon anyway."
While he was gone, I couldn't help but do my due dilegence to outsource my ideas to a turnkey organization. So, I held a kickoff meeting to get everyone aligned so we could put this thing to bed. I was glad that I was going to get real face-time with key stakeholders.
I held the meeting with a group of folks who knew what my vision was. And, after I ramped them up, I advised them to draw straws so I could assess their skillsets. If I was going to have any success in Q1, this would have to be a real soup-to-nuts kind of deal. But after the assessment was over, no one would take ownership. So, we eventually had to parking lot our ideas because I was going to be out-of-pocket for the next 4 weeks. So much for taking this meeting offline!
But before the session was over, I decided to put the issue to bed and find out what everyone's number 1 takeaway was.
And then, out of nowhere, my colleague stepped back in the room and muttered, "Are you kidding me? I was supposed to be tasked with that!"
I thought about reaching out, but ended up circling back because I didn't have enough bandwidth. The problem was, nobody kept me in the loop. And, not only was I unable to get down to the granular details, but I couldn't bring anything at all to fruition. I decided to supercheck all my facts about everything before taking this completely off my radar, but before I knew it I was drowning in an overload of infoshare. What happened to the back-end operation? I was drowning in my own list of action items! It was time to bring all hands on deck. But I wondered, did anyone have any availability?
After initiating a very long meeting to discuss our options, we came up with a list of best practices -- a sure-fire way to delight the client. For it was only a matter of time before we would bounce back.
I asked a colleague to build on what he thought was a good way to strategize our plan, but he couldn't get enough buy-in from upper management.
"Try to get people on-boarded," I said. "That's the key to a win-win."
"I'm just sensing a real disconnect here," he said. "I can't seem to get any real leverage."
After drilling down for 45 minutes we really honed in on key areas that needed work. We developed a list of core competencies and took some time to whiteboard our ideas. After all, our drop-dead date was literally by COB.
"I can't seem to codify any of these bullet points into a real outline," he muttered.
"Well, why don't we noodle on it for a while and focus on some areas that will really bring our functionality up to speed," I quickly replied back.
"That sounds good," he said. "I have a hard stop at noon anyway."
While he was gone, I couldn't help but do my due dilegence to outsource my ideas to a turnkey organization. So, I held a kickoff meeting to get everyone aligned so we could put this thing to bed. I was glad that I was going to get real face-time with key stakeholders.
I held the meeting with a group of folks who knew what my vision was. And, after I ramped them up, I advised them to draw straws so I could assess their skillsets. If I was going to have any success in Q1, this would have to be a real soup-to-nuts kind of deal. But after the assessment was over, no one would take ownership. So, we eventually had to parking lot our ideas because I was going to be out-of-pocket for the next 4 weeks. So much for taking this meeting offline!
But before the session was over, I decided to put the issue to bed and find out what everyone's number 1 takeaway was.
And then, out of nowhere, my colleague stepped back in the room and muttered, "Are you kidding me? I was supposed to be tasked with that!"
Monday, July 26, 2010
A Wee Bit O' Weekend
The weekend has come and gone. Again. And it was too short. As usual. Is it Friday yet? Yeah, yeah it's only Monday. By the way, did someone actually say to me at work the other day, "Do you have a case of the Mondays?" The funny thing is, I had watched the movie "Office Space" a few days before where that phrase was nationally hallmarked as one of the all-time famous and typical office sayings and was thinking to myself that if anyone actually ever said that to me I'd fall over and die from sheer sadness of a failed and miserable paper pushing career. Oh well.
As always, the highlights of my week are always the weekEND. They have been most peaceful and joyous as of late, I do say, lying around reading til' noon o' clock on Saturdays and roaming around stores endlessly with Isaac shopping for this or that for the house. We were in Home Depot so long on Saturday I peed about 4 times. And actually, we weren't there that long, I just have an extremely small bladder. <--- Off-subject sidenote bringing no value to the conversation whatsoever.
Anyway, we got ourselves set up for some hardwood floor measurement assessments. Home Depot is coming to do their drill next week. I've heard some stories from others about some failed Home Depot experiences, but I guess I will have to find out for myself what rings true. We will see what kind of a job they do on the project. We will be getting the click and lock wood - the kind that is allowed in condos and is easier to install than engineered in a place like ours. I don't know when we'll actually be moving forward with getting it installed, but we got the ball rolling.
We also bought some new curtains to hide some of the piercing sunrays that have nearly faded our bigland couches (I like to call them). A few snapshots below.
Friday night was a good night, too. We took our porch chairs over to mom and pop's at about 10 at night and hosed them off in the dark. Who does that? We do. And that's why pop loves us. He can't help but bring his feelings to fruition about all matters relating to our wacky lifestyles.
This week holds: a 5 day work week for me, a 5 day work week for Isaac, a possible guitar lesson Thursday, a Saturday rendezvous with the sisters and mom in the morning to Panera's and the nail place followed by an evening at Wolf Trap with two friends. But as always, a go-with-the-flow attitude could change it all.
Cheers to Tuesday!
They look a little metallic, don't they?
Our clean chairs!!
As always, the highlights of my week are always the weekEND. They have been most peaceful and joyous as of late, I do say, lying around reading til' noon o' clock on Saturdays and roaming around stores endlessly with Isaac shopping for this or that for the house. We were in Home Depot so long on Saturday I peed about 4 times. And actually, we weren't there that long, I just have an extremely small bladder. <--- Off-subject sidenote bringing no value to the conversation whatsoever.
Anyway, we got ourselves set up for some hardwood floor measurement assessments. Home Depot is coming to do their drill next week. I've heard some stories from others about some failed Home Depot experiences, but I guess I will have to find out for myself what rings true. We will see what kind of a job they do on the project. We will be getting the click and lock wood - the kind that is allowed in condos and is easier to install than engineered in a place like ours. I don't know when we'll actually be moving forward with getting it installed, but we got the ball rolling.
We also bought some new curtains to hide some of the piercing sunrays that have nearly faded our bigland couches (I like to call them). A few snapshots below.
Friday night was a good night, too. We took our porch chairs over to mom and pop's at about 10 at night and hosed them off in the dark. Who does that? We do. And that's why pop loves us. He can't help but bring his feelings to fruition about all matters relating to our wacky lifestyles.
This week holds: a 5 day work week for me, a 5 day work week for Isaac, a possible guitar lesson Thursday, a Saturday rendezvous with the sisters and mom in the morning to Panera's and the nail place followed by an evening at Wolf Trap with two friends. But as always, a go-with-the-flow attitude could change it all.
Cheers to Tuesday!
They look a little metallic, don't they?
Our clean chairs!!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
What We've Been Up To
I love July. I really do. Not that you need my re-affirmation, but I just am so in love with it. It marks the middle of the year when it is hazy, dead, and slow, which means a time for relaxation and winding down into a deep, hot slumber. Despite all these things, though, we've been pretty busy this month and during summer in general. I love to share pics of friends, family, and things that have been going on in our neck of the woods and I'm trying to do more sharing on here rather than Facebook because I don't want the world to see personal rendezous of mine or my family's. It's just something I've been feeling lately.
My roomate from college Kimberly, and her husband Jeremy, came to visit last week. Here are a few shots.
Playing Tennis.
Me, Jeremy, and Kimberly at Dunkin' Donuts after church.
The four of us at Kimberly's cousin's house.
Me and Kimberly in her cousins' GORGEOUS living room.
Meshell Davis, a friend of Carrie's whom she introduced Anna and I to years ago got married last Thursday, July 15th, at La Grange Winery (in Haymarket). It was marked what seemed like one of the hottest days of the year to date, smack-dab in the middle of summer. What better way to celebrate the glorious occasion but with friends and a Sangria in hand?
"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stuart."
She made them stop and pose...I knew she would!
Isaac and Phil - goofball city.
Me n' JP
Isaiah and Caleb (Meshell and Thomas's sons respectively). Aren't they adorable?
Carrie and P.
All of us.
Had to throw a pic in there of Fifi...Anna and Big's new kitty. The 6 of us kids all went to their house later that night to eat pizza and watch Shutter Island.
I titled this next group of pics "Fun with Gramie" ... because that's exactly waht it was. Brunch followed by a swim at the pool with my sisters, niece, and cousin Macy turned out to be a fabulous mix. Although we didn't get much sun because it's an indoor pool, relaxing with the noodles were just what the doctor ordered(followed by several splashes in the face by the tween scheemers) for this Sunday afternoon. We don't get to see Gramie nearly as often as we all would like...
Brunch.
Pool.
I love this pic.
Gals.
Grams and such.
Indeed, if all our days could be as glorious as these we wouldn't have much to look forward to. Keep summer rolling!
My roomate from college Kimberly, and her husband Jeremy, came to visit last week. Here are a few shots.
Playing Tennis.
Me, Jeremy, and Kimberly at Dunkin' Donuts after church.
The four of us at Kimberly's cousin's house.
Me and Kimberly in her cousins' GORGEOUS living room.
Meshell Davis, a friend of Carrie's whom she introduced Anna and I to years ago got married last Thursday, July 15th, at La Grange Winery (in Haymarket). It was marked what seemed like one of the hottest days of the year to date, smack-dab in the middle of summer. What better way to celebrate the glorious occasion but with friends and a Sangria in hand?
"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stuart."
She made them stop and pose...I knew she would!
Isaac and Phil - goofball city.
Me n' JP
Isaiah and Caleb (Meshell and Thomas's sons respectively). Aren't they adorable?
Carrie and P.
All of us.
Had to throw a pic in there of Fifi...Anna and Big's new kitty. The 6 of us kids all went to their house later that night to eat pizza and watch Shutter Island.
I titled this next group of pics "Fun with Gramie" ... because that's exactly waht it was. Brunch followed by a swim at the pool with my sisters, niece, and cousin Macy turned out to be a fabulous mix. Although we didn't get much sun because it's an indoor pool, relaxing with the noodles were just what the doctor ordered(followed by several splashes in the face by the tween scheemers) for this Sunday afternoon. We don't get to see Gramie nearly as often as we all would like...
Brunch.
Pool.
I love this pic.
Gals.
Grams and such.
Indeed, if all our days could be as glorious as these we wouldn't have much to look forward to. Keep summer rolling!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
4th of July
Here are a few shots from the 4th of July slash Isaac's birthday party shindig for those people who read this blog and are not on facebook. Or who are, but haven't seen the pics yet from MY camera that Anna posted. Great night...
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Remembering a Life
Today I learned that a friend from high school passed away. She was actually a sister of a friend I graduated with, but I did play JV softball with her in about 10th grade. I didn't know her well at all, but I am sure I exchanged several words with her on occassion. I always remember thinking what a great figure she had and how tan she was and how she had it all going for her. She was so brilliant at softball. She was the pitcher. She had great teeth, a lovely smile, and such a sweet personality.
She was 25 when she died yesterday in a boating accident in the Rappahanock river. Reports are saying that the boat hit a channel marker at 35mph and was instantly damaged. She must have been thrown out of the boat (though I don't really know) and hit water as they found her 10 hours later at the bottom of the river. The other 9 people (one, who was her fiance) were injured and are currently at VCU and Walter Reed Medical Centers.
Please pray for their families. I don't know them and I don't even know Mandy, who was a 5th grade teacher at Longan Elementary School in Henrico County, but I know they are heartbroken and devastated and need your blessings.
I am reminded of God's goodness from a simple Joyce Meyer quote I read today:
"For years I did not exercise my rights and priveleges as a child of God. Although I was a Christian and believed I would go to heaven when I died, I did not know that anything could be done about my past, present, or future. I had a poor self-image, and it affected my day-to-day living, as well as my outlook for the future.
Accept God's love for you and make that love the basis for your love and acceptance of yourself. Receive His affirmation, knowing that you are changing and becoming all that He desires you to be. Then start enjoying yourself-where you are-on your way to full spirtual maturity."
What a great word from Joyce Meyer to model our lives. It is sad that it sometimes takes someone dying to remember the many things we forget and lose along our walk...
She was 25 when she died yesterday in a boating accident in the Rappahanock river. Reports are saying that the boat hit a channel marker at 35mph and was instantly damaged. She must have been thrown out of the boat (though I don't really know) and hit water as they found her 10 hours later at the bottom of the river. The other 9 people (one, who was her fiance) were injured and are currently at VCU and Walter Reed Medical Centers.
Please pray for their families. I don't know them and I don't even know Mandy, who was a 5th grade teacher at Longan Elementary School in Henrico County, but I know they are heartbroken and devastated and need your blessings.
I am reminded of God's goodness from a simple Joyce Meyer quote I read today:
"For years I did not exercise my rights and priveleges as a child of God. Although I was a Christian and believed I would go to heaven when I died, I did not know that anything could be done about my past, present, or future. I had a poor self-image, and it affected my day-to-day living, as well as my outlook for the future.
Accept God's love for you and make that love the basis for your love and acceptance of yourself. Receive His affirmation, knowing that you are changing and becoming all that He desires you to be. Then start enjoying yourself-where you are-on your way to full spirtual maturity."
What a great word from Joyce Meyer to model our lives. It is sad that it sometimes takes someone dying to remember the many things we forget and lose along our walk...
Sunday, July 4, 2010
July 4th Eve
Well, it's the Eve of the 4th, my favorite holiday, and here I sit after a long day. My zit's nearly gone - thank God. This week was really great with all the "goings on." I thank everyone for coming out to Isaac's graduation and for people who traveled near AND far. It was as good as I could have hoped.
Today we spent the day with Cindy (Isaac's mom) - went to Old Town Alexandria and ate at Cosi. Not sure why we traveled all the way THERE to go to Cosi, but we had some other agenda items in store for that area so that is where we ended up. I love Cosi. Have you ever been there? It's cute and quaint and they have EVERYTHING - including a barista AND a bar. You can stand in a specific line for what you want -- salad, sandwhich, soup, pizza - it's great. I believe they have a fireplace too and tables with high-back chairs, which make you look and feel comfortable. It has a dimlit edge to it, too.
A visit to a favorite winery we did go and here's a shot. It's right in front of the grape rows (is that what you're supposed to call them?), which is kind of cool. The owner took it.
Here's a few more shots of Carrie and me doing sparklers late tonight. She made us dinner (grilled marinade chicken and pineapple with corn on the cob followed by a 3-ton trifle). It was DEE-LISH.
Carrie's Mater
Carrie's flowers
Everything about today screamed summer. After doing sparklers (how nerdy is this) we sat for a minute looking up at the stars and just talked into the cool chill of the night discovering that both our favorite holidays include the 4th.
Let freedom ring!
Today we spent the day with Cindy (Isaac's mom) - went to Old Town Alexandria and ate at Cosi. Not sure why we traveled all the way THERE to go to Cosi, but we had some other agenda items in store for that area so that is where we ended up. I love Cosi. Have you ever been there? It's cute and quaint and they have EVERYTHING - including a barista AND a bar. You can stand in a specific line for what you want -- salad, sandwhich, soup, pizza - it's great. I believe they have a fireplace too and tables with high-back chairs, which make you look and feel comfortable. It has a dimlit edge to it, too.
A visit to a favorite winery we did go and here's a shot. It's right in front of the grape rows (is that what you're supposed to call them?), which is kind of cool. The owner took it.
Here's a few more shots of Carrie and me doing sparklers late tonight. She made us dinner (grilled marinade chicken and pineapple with corn on the cob followed by a 3-ton trifle). It was DEE-LISH.
Carrie's Mater
Carrie's flowers
Everything about today screamed summer. After doing sparklers (how nerdy is this) we sat for a minute looking up at the stars and just talked into the cool chill of the night discovering that both our favorite holidays include the 4th.
Let freedom ring!
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