My First Day on the New Job

This is one of the first "first days" I've had in a new job that didn't end with a massive headache -- and I take that as a very good sign!

And actually, it's after 11 PM and my day hasn't ended yet!

Since our office space won't be ready until the 15th, my boss, my first direct report and I met at a wonderful coffee house in Seattle. For 8 hours we went over various software tools that I'll have to learn in order to do my job, as well as HR stuff, procedural stuff, housekeeping stuff, and just a little "meat" of the job. Once that face-to-face meeting was over, I zipped home, quickly ate a dinner prepared by Tom, and got right back to work, reviewing documents and applications for a variety of positions I need to hire ASAP. And I'm still not finished!

Tomorrow is already booked pretty solid, as is the rest of the week. When my boss said we'd hit the ground running, he wasn't kidding! Still, I have a feeling I'll love this job! The emphasis of my position is on managing, mentoring and team-building, which I'm SO excited about! I feel like I've developed content long enough and now I'm ready for a new challenge -- and this looks to definitely be IT!

Don't worry, I won't abandon my beloved blog... though I might post abbreviated posts for a few days! Stand by!

They Never REALLY Grow Up... Do They?!

I just walked in to our bedroom to find Aleks asleep on our bed and I couldn't help but notice how much he looks like he did as a toddler! It's not something I see at all when he's awake because I have a feeling "coolness" masks "cuteness" at 17, but I was instantly awash in maternal love when I saw this!

I swear, he just looked like this (and does again when he sleeps):

Getting Serious at Starbucks

My new boss sent me a few hundred pages of background reading material yesterday, which I must read, absorb and understand by the time we meet tomorrow at 11 AM, so I'm headed for one of the seven Starbucks in (our relatively small) town, since there's still a free-n-easy vacation spirit at home and I really need to switch gears now!

Now I'm getting scared! All of a sudden I'm wondering if I can do this. Can I manage and mentor a good-sized staff? Can I meet the very aggressive deadline I know is coming? (And will BillG throw one of his infamous temper tantrums just for me if I don't?!) Did I over-promise and over-represent myself in my interviews? I guess all these doubts and trepidations are normal... and I'm glad they didn't really haunt me till yesterday.

Our Year in Pictures

Thanks to Twyla for this idea (and link)!

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I'll Be More Brainy Again Next Week...

... but I've been on vacation and have felt significantly less cerebral for the past few weeks! Next week I'm sure I'll have more poignant observations and more interesting things to say -- especially since I'll start my new job on Tuesday.

Tom, Kat and I spent the afternoon and evening at the wedding of Elisabeth's best friends Tara and Ryan, who have been together for the past 6 years, since high school. (And yes, I still think they're too young to get married!) Unfortunately, when I turned on my camera to take the first picture (of Elisabeth, a bridesmaid, walking down the aisle), the battery light came on and the camera turned off. So I was forced to just enjoy the moment and not visually document a single thing. :-/

It was a beautiful, classy wedding that began with the bishop just casually talking about marriage and how it changes over the years. As he spoke, you could see couples our age (those married over 20 years) scootch slightly closer together or gently put an arm around a spouse's shoulder. "Love will likely change slowly throughout your marriage," he told Tara and Ryan, "from the head-over-heels love you feel now to a more mellow, more mature, but in many ways, a deeper love..." How true.

I didn't like being 50 today. I'll admit a little-known fact about me: I was a BIG flirt in my youth (much like my daughters are now) and it was odd for me to think that I'm really too old to be flirting any more with anyone but my husband (which I still do). But even without the flirting (or much of it, anyway!), I so enjoyed dancing -- to mostly 70's music, oddly enough -- and visiting and yes, even sipping a few glasses of champagne -- which helped to make the dancing really, really fun!

I love weddings because they make me think back to our own Big Day waaaay back in 1983. It really was one of the best days of my life -- so happy and so filled with love and hope and joy! And yes, love DOES change, but in many ways it's gotten better.

Tonight's Choice

This...





...or this?




OK, I agree.

(But now I'm too tired to post!)

Our Refrigerator Magnets

Hmmmm... I wonder what deep revelation or inner meaning our refrigerator reveals?!

Or maybe we're just a weird family. (Yup, that's probably it.)

...And a Silly Holiday Poem (Yup, I Succumbed...)

We haven't forgotten, nor hum-bugged the season
We promise, our silence comes with good reason:
We'd had it with ice and with wind and with snow
So off to Maui this family did go!

The kids are now older and tout independence
They're now less like children and more like descendents.
Seven of us traveled: parents, sisters and bro(s)
Plus sweet Danelle, Peter's long-time S.O.(s).

The year has been busy, so the break much deserved
Many milestones and stresses had kept us unnerved.
We've all been through changes, some good and some tough
But we've learned, through it all, not to sweat the small stuff.

In the spring, Carol's job came to an end
No funding for health -- an unfortunate trend
Then six months at Microsoft, but not left-brained enough
Soon will help BillG bring schools up to snuff.

Tom's job is stable; still digitally drawing
And projects at home keep him hammer-and-sawing.
His obsession's Hawaii, its warm breezes and sand
He's scheming a way to buy us some land.

Elisabeth bid Cal adieu in the Spring
Now sells unpronounceable medical things
She's back in Seattle, in a city abode
Our little girl's now in adult career mode!

Peter's in school, and keeps REI running
His plans for Washington State are forthcoming.
He and Danelle are on year number three
There's no doubt to us that they fit to a "t."

Aleks towers over the rest of the clan
Into politics, debate, and his grand college plan.
Next summer, he'll fly to Europe alone
To explore both himself and environs unknown.

Kat is as little and Aleks is tall
This twin thing doesn't hold for these two at all!
She gives of her time in the surgery suite
And for yearbook, she's often the "man on the street."

If these once-a-year updates leave you itching for more
(Or if enduring them annually is more of a chore)
There's more almost daily, I'm such a word-hog
Yes, I refer to a my very own blog.

Time flies by quickly; who fooled with the Plan?
We swear, only yesterday all this began!
Here's wishing you health and love and good cheer
A joyous today and a Happy New Year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!