sailing over wave and tide

So BIG news.....

I got a promotion! I applied a few weeks ago for a position in the HR department, and about 2 weeks ago they offered me the position. They officially announced it last Thursday, so now I can finally announce it! I will be starting very soon - next week. So this is my last week as a supervisor. I'm very excited about the new position, but also a little sad about leaving my team members, as I've been pretty passionate about my work as a sup. My official title will be HR Assistant, and I'll be helping out with a lot of the disciplinary action, payroll, benefits eligibility, etc. I will be keeping a second shift schedule (the position was newly created specifically to cover those hours). 

Revealing other top secret news, the project Zach and I have been working on was recently released on his blog. Check it out here for all the details (including pictures). 

Zach's Awesome Blog

[You should really check out his blog on a regular basis, because he posts some pretty cool stuff (his illustrations and other design projects) that is wayyyy more interesting than mine.]

This past weekend was super busy. After about 2 hours of sleep on Thursday night, I got up super early and headed up to Baraboo to take my car to get fixed. I then spent the entire day hanging out with my dad. We just ran errands and hung around the house like we used to do on his days off when I was little, so it was really nice. After my mom was done with work, we went out to dinner and hung out some more before I headed back to Madison. Saturday (after about 4 hours of sleep) Zach and I went to Chicago for C2E2 which is a comic book convention. Despite being insanely tired, we had a really good time. As far as I know, Zach had a pretty good haul with some good deals. I also got a t-shirt for myself. We ended up having to take a 3 hour nap when we got home at 6:30, but it was definitely worth getting up super early. 

This upcoming weekend will be exciting, too, because it's Zach's birthday! Alright, off to do some reading!

what you thought was a hurricane was just the rustling of the wind

First, I still can't believe its April. March was one of those months where it seemed like it lasted forever, but was also over in a flash. At work March was particularly busy for me. I had a huge team (26 people), and a lot of extra stuff to take care of. I can't think of anything special outside of work in March, but everything seemed to be kind of rushed and busy. 

Now it is April. I have the smallest team I've ever had at work (17 people), and I'm going absolutely crazy because I don't have nearly enough work to keep me busy. It does mean I have some extra time to finish some bigger projects I was working on, but overall, I'm bored which just makes the work day go insanely slow. 

It also seems like I've got more free time outside of work, but instead of being the relaxing kind of free time, it's the kind that makes me feel really lazy and unproductive. So I'm actively trying to change a few things to remedy that. For example, I've been paying for a gym membership for the last 6 months, but in that time I've probably only gone 5 times. Last night I finally went back. I just want to get back in the habit of going, so I'm shooting for a minimum of 2 days a week so I'm halfway there now!

I'm also trying to readjust my sleep schedule a little bit, to try and be more productive before I go to work in the afternoon. My goal for last night was to be in bed by 4:00 am....I was a little off and finally got in bed at 5:00, but I also actually made myself get out of bed a little early. (Not as early as I'd planned...the bed was just wayyyyy too cozy and the blankets were just perfect and...getting out of bed is the hardest part of my day). 

This past weekend started a month and a half or so of weekends where we are absolutely booked. To kick it off, we had a really lazy Friday and didn't really do much of anything. I didn't even take a shower until 11pm that night, but the relaxation was definitely worth it. (Plus Zach had off for the day, so we actually got to spend the whole weekend together!) On Saturday we got up early and went and visited my family. Our first stop was Krispy Kreme, but after that we went to my grandparents house and saw them and my Aunt Lisa. My grandpa was in excellent spirits after his back surgery, so I'm very glad to see that. Plus we haven't seen them in awhile, so it was good to catch up. (And my grandparents are ADORABLE, and I love seeing them.) After that we headed over to my other grandparents' where we had a little grill out with my uncles and their families, and my parents and their puppy. That was a full house with all those little kids - that doesn't phase Zach at all, coming from a huge extended family and growing up with lots of cousins running around all the time. But I'm definitely not used to it since Alyssa and I were the only grandkids for a very long time. Again, it was really great to see everyone. Afterwards we headed back to Madison and went over to two of our friends houses to hang out for awhile.

Stay tuned, because in the next week I should have some very exciting [currently top secret] news for all of you!

reunited and it feels so good

I accidentally skipped a week, but I didn't have much to update on anyways. The week before last was a normal work week with not much else going on. Over the weekend Zach and I spent Saturday with his mom and brother, Sam. We went out to dinner at a pretty awesome Italian place that Zach's family has been going to for forever. (Thinking about it is making me really crave fried ravioli and eggplant strips...mmmmmm) Afterwards, Sam played a few songs at a jazz concert so we went and watched him play a little bit. Once we got home we had a friend over and just hung out for the rest of the evening. [Zach and I have also been working on a project - involving Zach's creativity and design skills and my sewing skills, but we're still in early prototype stages, so I'll fill you in more on that at a later date!]

This past week was actually pretty busy. I think I had to get up early every day during the week [early for me], so by the time it got to Saturday I was ready to sleep in - which I definitely did. Thursday was a very exciting day because.... we finally found an apartment! Well, it was actually one of the first apartments we toured in early February,  and we went back the week before last for a second tour, our application was approved early last week, and we signed the lease on Thursday. Its a three bedroom apartment in a nice, wooded, residential neighborhood. Plus the rent is pretty reasonable and the apartment is very spacious with tons of storage [for all my crap that I just can't get rid of]. The lease starts July 15th so we will have a 2 week overlap which will be really nice for moving. So it's a HUGE relief to have that out of the way!

Friday I finally got to meet my friend Lisa's 3 month old, Nora!!! She is ADORABLE. She's the happiest baby I've ever met, and she reminds me a lot of myself when I was a baby - superchunk with bright blue eyes. Lisa is my friend Steph's twin sister, so Steph and Jake were along, too. That was a great way to start out my weekend (albeit being very early). I feel like the theme for this week was reuniting!  - I saw Lisa for the first time in like 4 months. Later in the afternoon, I had a nice long phone date with Britny, and Saturday I went out for dinner with Marley. Sam also started spring break this week, so he came over on Saturday and stayed through Sunday night, which was fun (and Zach and Sam are super entertaining together). Overall this weekend was pretty awesome. =]

After this week, I feel like things are going to get very busy - which is probably good, but I'm starting to feel a little bit lazy, so it also sounds a little overwhelming. I feel like I already have all the weekends for the next month or so booked, so I'm hoping to find relaxing time somewhere in the middle.

And lastly, I want to wish my grandpa a quick, healthy recovery after back surgery this past week. I am sending lots of love and happy thoughts his way!