Change of scenery needed.

I think a weekend away is in order. And an adults only weekend away at that. We generally take a long weekend trip around spring break as a family, when the cabin fever has hit such a fever pitch that we just need to see different scenery. We've gone to Cincinnati a few time and Indiapnapolis since they're both a 2 hour drive and we hit the local kids hot spots, children's museums and parks, that kind of weekend away. I'm thinking of seeing if my brother would be willing to take Emily for a weekend so Jim and I can run away somewhere. I'm envisioning a nice hotel room, pool & spa, maybe go hiking, find an art museum to wander around and let someone else do all the dishes and cooking for 2 or 3 days. A nice getaway and chance to reconnect.

... time to send my brother an email.

Jim update, he will be done with his community service hours on Tuesday of next week. He volunteered this week at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and the Salvation Army Headquarters. He seemed to have really good experiences with both, and of course they'd love him to come back. No one turns away a hardworking volunteer! Next up, get those NCLEXs scheduled!

Last Day

I have had this countdown on my iPhone going for a year now. Started at 365 days, I remember vividly how odd it was to watch the time pass. 100 days left felt momentous. 50 days left felt like it was right around the corner. And today is Joe's (or as he is really known, Jim, I outed him here, but who cares, I think I'm over the fake names!) last exam. He has his Acute 407 Nursing Exam today, then right after he has to take the NCLEX predictor exam. The NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) are the state boards you have to pass to be licensed as an RN. The predictor exam is just to give you an idea of either how confident to be in your ability to pass this exam or to scare the pants off you and force you to go study 24/7 until your scheduled exam date.

We spent some time on Saturday getting together all the info needed for his application for the NCLEX. He had to have his photo taken and his application notarized and then submitted to the state, including $75 for the privilege of being tested. Hopefully the state will get all the info they need from his college indicating he completed the 4-year BSN program soon and he'll have his exam date scheduled for some time in March.

So let the applications begin! And the studying for the NCLEX. And the celebrating! Jim has tomorrow off, no school, no studying, no work.

On Wednesday he's spending the entire day at the Ohio State House for the Annual Nurses at the State House Day. Clever event title, no? Basically it's an opportunity to hear politicians talk about health care and their position and offer nurses the opportunity to present their concerns directly to political leaders. Jim is not a very politically motivated guy but the opportunity to have some face time and network with those who are was pretty appealing. His college offered to pay for his spot at the event (they invited 8 students to attend) so it seemed like a no brainer.

And now I try to get some work done while I wait to hear how he did on his exams... tick tock tick tock.

If you don't like it, just wait a month, it'll change.

That appears be the way of the world in my office. Constant reorganizations, shifting of team members. It's becoming... a bit much. I mean seriously, we used to just joke if you didn't like your job or your team just wait a month and it will change. Now it is every 2 weeks a new org chart is submitted for a new dept. I'm having a hard time keeping track of who I need to congratulate on a new role and who I need to remember to touch base with before they leave the organization. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. ENOUGH. I have reached max capacity for change. Seriously.

On the home front, Joe has 6 days left of school. SIX. Yikes.

Plus we are in the middle of planning some big events for April, May and June of this year.
Hold on to your hats, here's the agenda:

April 28, Saturday: Little One's First Communion
April 29, Sunday: My niece's first communion in a city an hour away, followed by a combined party for the 2 of them
May 4, Friday: pinning ceremony for Joe's nursing school graduating class
May 5, Saturday: Joe's Official Graduation Ceremony
May 6, Sunday: my niece's college graduation in a town an hour away
May 12-16: Joe in Nicaragua on a medical mission trip
June 21-25: Me traveling for a Design Conference in Boston
June 31: my parent's 50th anniversary celebration (4 days of fun and frivolity, but hosted by me and my 5 siblings so lots of work & planning to do)

I'm exhausted just thinking about all the fun. Not to mention that all of these events involve having various family members staying at my house, which means I need to play hostess on top of it all. O. M. G. At least these are all good things, but YIKES.

Nicaragua!

Is back on the agenda for Joe! For 5 days in May he'll be heading out on a mission trip with fellow Nurses, senior nursing students, MDs and medical students. The Professor organizing the trip purchased the plane tickets over the weekend and get a great deal, so it's officially on. I blogged about this trip in more detail here. I'm nervous to have him gone but so excited for him to experience this trip. By May he'll have graduated and most likely taken and passed the NCLEXs so he'll be traveling as a certified BSN, RN. I KNOW he'll get so much out of giving back!

Taking Back My Living Room...

AND my kitchen, AND my office.

I swear, the one small(ish) person in our home has somehow completely taken over the space. There is a fort in the living room that has taken over at last 25% of the space, the ottomans from the family room have been moved into the remaining space and set with placemats, coasters and pretend menus to transform the remaining space into a restaurant by this same little person. There's also a double stroller for dolls that somehow got ditched here after taking some babies for a stroll. You can't even WALK in this room to get to the thermostat and turn up the heat or feed the fish. It's ridiculous and it's driving me crazy. So that is my overriding mission for this weekend, I will TAKE BACK MY SPACE.

And if I accomplish my coup on the living room I'll attempt to regain control of the kitchen table from the piles of artwork, craft supplies, library books and school papers. Phase 3 will involve moving barbies out of the office and getting the myriad of half done and mostly forgotten art projects stealthily moved to the bottom of the recycling bin for Monday's trash pick-up.

Oh and don't let me forget that Little One needs to get booted out of the guest room and back into her own bedroom. Sometime during the week she decided she missed her old nursery (which we turned into the guest room) and I decided to let her sleep there for one night rather than continue arguing. Somehow one night turned into the whole week. Sheesh. Wish me luck!

Now what?

Busy day. Busy week. Busy mind. Full heart. And still the pull to add another little munchin to my family remains.

I am as professionally fulfilled as I could ever imagine possible right now. I'm in a place that as a new graduate 15 years ago (ugh that makes me feel old) with a degree in Visual Communication Design & Marketing newly under my belt I couldn't even have imagined.

Joe is 26 days and counting away from his last day of class. It feels so strange to think that chapter of our lives will be wrapping up. Joe studing, Joe going to class, Joe too tired or busy to do family activities, Joe working... again. Those constant refrains will end in 26 days. Whatever will we do with ourselves?

I feel like I have spent the last 4 years peering down a dark tunnel, knowing that if we just put our heads down and powered through good things would meet us on the other end. Then the light at the end of the tunnel started to glow. And now it is absolutely BLINDING, and I kind of wish for the safety of that tunnel again. It was safe, and small, and I knew what to expect. Now a whole new world is opening up to us, full of possibilities, experiences to be had, traveling to do... I don't know where to start!

Day 1

Today starts a new chapter for me professionally. Last week I accepted a promotion to Art Director.

I've mentioned before that I knew changes and a dept reorganization were coming soon but it really caught me off guard last week. I was prepped for my usual bi-weekly meeting with the VP of my dept., but when I walked into her office our HR rep was there and a whole lot of paperwork was on the desk. Now, if I hadn't been told multiple times over the past few months that good things were coming I think I would have had flashbacks to being laid off over 2 years ago. But this situation was obviously more positive. A nice flashy new title with a significant salary increase, 10 additional days of vacation, and let's not forget the pressure to live up to increased expectations. I still manage the same group of employees but there will be 3 new hires in the future that will help make my job more doable and allow me to concentrate my time and efforts on putting out good creative work.

We also ended up purchasing a new vehicle 2 weeks ago. We replaced Joe's ailing pick-up with a 2007 Hybrid Toyota Highlander which I am LOV-ING. My promotion eases some of the concern I had financially about taking on a car payment for the first time in 5 years.

So the year of big changes begin. Knock 2 items of the list, new car, new job... Hopefully other positive changes are not too far behind!