You can take the girl out of the south...

But you can't take the South out of the girl. Hi y'all. Let me recap the past few months.

1. We got married. It was beyond perfection. And I say that not in the bullshit glassy-eyed bride way. I say that in a 100% honest to goodness the day freaking rocked way.

2. We went on honeymoon. We drank. We ate. We drank. We got in the pool and drank. We ate. Did I mention that we drank? It was the ultimate in relaxation. However, for those of you who know us well, you know we can't sit still... we also sea kayaked, snorkeled and learned how to sail on a catamaran.

3. We like to travel. We went to the Chi to celebrate Diwali with our family. This weekend we're headed to Portland for no other reason than to just take a look because we're curious about it. After that, we're headed to Dallas to celebrate a wedding of a long-time friend (REALLY long-time friend, when I actually count the years!). To top 2008 off we're taking a trip to California to spend a week with our nephew, bro and sis-in-law.

That pretty much sums up our adventures!

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We like to party.

Fool In the Rain

Sometimes you just need a kick in the arse. Thanks, Arch, for giving me that. :)

I haven't forgotten about blogging - truth is, I write all day at work, and well...that just doesn't bode well for the blog. I've gotten some kick ass assignments though - namely a few months back the China Earthquakes and Myanmar Cyclone. It was so cool working with the International division of my organization.

NC and I went to see The Dark Knight - I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Loved the cast, costumes, special effects, all of it. NC thought it was good, but not the best ever. Actually, I overheard a bunch of people saying that as we left the theater, so maybe I'm the aberration. I thought it was well done. As we left, it was pouring outside. Nothing like a good run in the rain with your future spouse. I distinctly remember looking over while we were both laughing hysterically and thinking, "Wow, I get to marry him!" Of course we could have taken the metro, but that's just not as fun.

A few weeks back, I had a bachelorette party. I have to give a big thanks to my girls DK, SK, MK, MG - it was incredible. Admittedly, I didn't really want one - all of these people are spending an extraordinary amount of money to make it to the wedding. I felt like it was completely unnecessary to spend more (on travel, food, activities, etc...) That got shot down quickly, though. And now, I'm glad I had it. We spent a majority of the weekend eating, and, let's face it, that's my kind of party!

And a month ago, I had my 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been 10 years. Everyone looks exactly the same which is awesome. Personalities are all still in tact. I freaked out a little (internally) that one of my high school buddies has a daughter who is 7 years old now. I can't imagine what I would do with a 7 year old. But, all these people got to meet NC and then everyone gave me 'war' stories from their weddings - entirely too entertaining. I'm one of the few unmarried folks of my class, but I sure am glad that I waited.

My cousin is getting married next weekend! I'm psyched for him, especially b/c he's marrying someone so spectacular. I'm getting ready for the festivities - it will be great to hang with the family again.

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Not sure when the next update will be - perhaps after I am married. (insert girlish giggling here)

Just Fine

This song by Mary J. Blige is my current anthem. I'm so pumped. Today marks the 1 year anniversary of mom's heart surgery (dad's fifteenth anniversary was a couple weeks ago). I thank God daily for them.

Interesting that the song is by Mary J. who has definitely faced her share of adversity. Adversity is something that each of us deals with on a regular basis, I'm sure. The key is to be able to rise above it and continue pressing on. Which is what Mom did and has always done. I've seen her, on so many occasions, dig her heels in and get through tough situations. She's never been one to be steamrolled over. I love that about her. She treated the surgery like another obstacle to overcome.

Though the surgery couldn't have been prevented (it wasn't caused by anything she did wrong, it was just a bad valve), she is doing absolutely everything RIGHT to prevent anything else from happening. She looks and feels great and has an amazing attitude. She's just fine.

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I would write more, but I'm going to continue dancing around the apartment. Oh come on, you know you dance when no one is watching, too.

For What it's Worth

Where do I even begin?

My organization is undergoing a major reconstruction - I can't believe it's called a reconstruction, but just go with me on this one. It's been widely published that 1,000 jobs (of about 2,500) will have to be cut to make up for some fiscal issues we're dealing with. This is the devil of working for a non-profit. You love the work, hate the job instability. Nevertheless, most of the people in our department have been informed of their status.

It's emotionally hard to break up a work family. In many cases, we end up spending more time with those at work than at home especially during disaster season. We have some veterans in our department that are being let go to meet the budget restraints. We have some newbies that had lots of potential that are also being let go, again due to the budget. I think what keeps me up at night are the people who are single parents, the people who are supporting a family, paying a mortgage, paying college tuition, trying to make ends meet - I worry for them. It's a tough job market. For those who have been out of the game for so long, it's now time to dust off that resume and get back on the playing field. A tough break for the one woman I know who has worked for 35 years in the organization.

To that end, I've learned there's no such thing as loyalty anymore. In business or really in life for that matter. Once upon a time, you could establish your entire career at one place. Look at my parents - after residency, they each stayed with the same hospitals until retirement (my mom is still working at hers). That's 30 + years devoted to one place and they wouldn't even think to get rid of her. And there are plenty of people who have aligned themselves with the top, in some ways positioning themselves to stay - and that doesn't matter either. They say a RIF isn't personal, but that doesn't mean the feeling of getting laid off isn't personal.

A move like this impacts the people staying as well as those who leave. It hardly seems fair to think about those who are staying since the security is built in, but they face the uncertainty of the next steps. When 1/2 the department is gone, who takes up all of that work? Obviously those who are chosen to stay. What will their lives look like now? That's the million dollar question.

I'm going to miss our Communications crew. It will be hard to come into work everyday and not hear their voices, laughter and I will most certainly miss the stellar advice I get from their expertise on communications. This reconstruction is a hard pill to swallow, but I wouldn't want anyone leaving not knowing what a great impact they have had on my communications career - for what it's worth.

House Hunting

So, NC and I went and looked at houses with a realtor the other day. What an amazing experience. It flooded my brain with questions - is this the yard our kids will play in? Is this the kitchen where we will host Thanksgiving dinners? What color would I re-paint this living room? What's even more exciting is that we're both ready for house living. Of course, we expect to be looking for up to, if not more than, a year, but at least we got the ball rolling. Neither of us has ever owned a place before, so this will be new and exciting.

We pretty much exclusively watch HGTV right now and are educating ourselves on what increases and decreases the value of a home. And then there's the decorating. I'm really lucky that NC and I have similar taste in furniture. We both got rid of college furniture long ago and I even got rid of lots of post-college furniture that I bought new while I was in North Carolina (that got moved to VA by default). Now everything has gone through another set of upgrades. I'm quite pleased with the outcome.

Let's see - what else has happened...we spent this weekend on the slopes snowboarding - I'm happy to report that I haven't forgotten what I learned last season so that made it more than enjoyable. We also saw "Into the Wild" and I have to say that the move was alright, but the book was amazing. So much of the book that I thought would definitely be in the movie was left out. Oh yes, and we took a bhangra/bollywood dance class which was loads of fun. Not too shabby for just an average weekend.

Wowsers!

This past weekend I drove in NYC! It was thrilling. All the flashing lights, cabs and people everywhere made it quite exhilirating. This is probably not a big deal to anyone but me, but I've always wanted to drive there for giggles. Well, I got them. I even yelled at traffic like a New Yorker too! It really doesn't take much, does it?

Segway

Ok, lots of stuff, in a list, in reverse chronological order

1. Found out that NC passed his board exams!!!
2. Spent Thanksgiving in Columbia with NC and his parents too!
3. Went to Orlando

Now, elaboration, in chronological order

Orlando is nothing like I remember it - a lot has changed over the decade. It's pretty awesome though and we had a nice relaxing vacation on a resort. We got to hang out by the pool, we played tennis every day and we got to drink some very tropical drinks. Overall, it was exactly what we both needed to just get away from the cold for a while and enjoy ourselves. We also did Epcot center where we both got the chance to ride Segways! That was a really cool experience.

For Thanksgiving we were all in Columbia. It's funny because last Thanksgiving my dad said, "In the coming years, I'd like to keep adding people to this dinner table." He got his wish (though I think he might have been alluding to grandkids too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here). So the six of us got some wedding stuff done, but more than that, just got to enjoy each others company. On a side note, I love how well our parents get along - when they are together they are always laughing and just having a blast.

We got word this week that NC passed his board exams! He took the written boards last year and passed but this time around was the oral boards where he had to sit in front of an examiner and talk through cases and what he would do in different situations. ugh. We practiced for that test for months, with me as the examiner and he as the candidate. So when NC called he said, "We passed!!" I liked being a part of that process; however, I'm not too distraught that there's 10 years before he has to take that exam again.