Thursday, April 26, 2012

New York, These Streets Will Make You Feel Brand New, Big Lights Will Inspire You

New York City here I come!!  Seems like I've been looking forward to this trip for f.o.r.e.v.e.r. and now it's finally here.  My best friend lives in NYC and therefore I don't get to see her very often.  We try to take turns visiting each other but it's always more exciting when I get to go to NYC!  I got to see her for a mere 22 hours last summer while she was passing through NC on her way to the Outer Banks.  And before that it was February of 2011 - my last trip to NYC.  So time with her is long overdue.  And on this particular trip I also get to see my other bestie Rachel.  She lives in Texas getting her school on so we're both flying up to NYC this weekend as a 'holy heck we all turned 30!' weekend!  I'm jumping out of my pants excited to see these girls and have a no-stress weekend of shopping and eating - which is pretty much all we plan on doing - and more eating than shopping I think!  Looking at my last NYC post, I realized I didn't take many pictures.  I promise to take a lot more this time!   

In honor of where I'll be spending the weekend let's take it back a little old school with an NYC tribute from Jay-A and Alicia Keys!! :O)



Happy Weekend!!!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Time for Change

Many of you know my job situation and how it has been somewhat lack luster, some know in more detail than others.  I started working at the police department in February 2006 as a Crime Scene Technician.  Loved it.  I mean it’s what I went to school for.  And when I say loved it, I mean the job.  The people and the ridiculous crap that happened within the lab were not so desirable (and this crap has followed me up to this very day).  When I found out I was pregnant I had to be put on light duty from my crime scene gig.  I couldn’t be around prisoners, chemicals or out in the field.  I was transferred to the Training & Personnel office to help with the uniforms and equipment part of the PD.  I did that throughout the time of my pregnancy.  While on maternity leave I was pretty much freaking out about what I was going to do for a job.  Ideally I would go back to the lab.  However, the schedule in the lab paired with Shawn’s schedule and not having any family in NC for help, meant going back to the lab was pretty much impossible (I won’t even begin to go into detail about all the nooks and crannies of the lab schedule – 5 on, 3 off, 4 on, 4 off, holidays, weekends, 1st, 2nd & 3rd, shift, on call, getting called in early, staying late, etc, etc. – all of which was fine with just me and a husband, not so much with a baby thrown in the mix!)  I was fully prepared to have to look for a new job, not at the PD.  Fortunately, they offered to allow me to come back to work doing the equipment & uniforms full time with the possibility of having to go back to the lab if there wasn’t enough work to warrant my position.  Sold.  And enough work there was!  I kept lists of all I was doing throughout each day and eventually the job I was doing became a permanent full time position – Police Equipment Specialist.  That was me.  I’ve been doing that full time since February of 2010.  Needless to say it has had its up and downs.  There has been a lot of internal stuff that I had to go through that was hard and pretty much drained me.  It seemed I couldn’t just come to work, do my job and go home without being drug into something just plain icky.  I felt a little stuck, had looked for other jobs with no success, and considered myself fundamentally un-hirable for having such a specialized degree (criminal justice).  I then decided to just deal with the job I was given and be happy for having a job at all instead of dwelling on the negative. 

As soon as I started doing that and being happy with each day instead of dreading it, a new job came along!  I wasn’t even looking because I had pretty much given up on that endeavor.  Turns out the purchasing department for the city had recently done some changing around, leaving an opening for the position of buyer.  They actually spoke to my boss about me and he told me they were interested in having me work with them.  I was totally taken off guard – I had never really thought about moving within the city.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to apply and have an interview.  There would be other city employees who would apply so I’d still have to do some impressing!  I had an interview and then 2 days later they called and offered me the job!!  It was such a good feeling to have an option after having thought for so long that I was stuck. 

So now comes the battle of being comfortable and taking a plunge into something totally new, different and challenging.  After many discussions with myself and going back and forth, I ultimately decided to take the new job as Buyer in the purchasing department.  I start May 14.  I am pretty excited and pretty freaked out all at the same time.   I know the PD, I don’t know city hall.  My daily routine will change and my daily interaction with people will change.  I’ve had some rough times and many struggles at the PD so I feel it is time to move on and away from the past demons.  There are things and people I will miss, but I am greatly looking forward to starting new, learning a lot and being an overall happier person!     

Here’s to new beginnings!        

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Anytime Cakes

No Occasion Needed!

{Baseball}

{Beach}

{Little Dot Clusters}

{Cornelli Lace}

{Colorful Dots}

{Winter Time}

{Flowers}

{Roses}

{Strawberries}

{Sunflower}

Special Occasion Cakes

Special Occasions

{Baby Shower}

{Nursing School Graduation}

{Easter}

{High School Graduation}

{Retirement}

{Teacher Appreciation}

Birthday Cakes

Birthday Cakes

{'Buggy' 1st Birthday}

{Horse Birthday}

{Skull}

{Corn on the Cob}

{50th Beach Birthday}

{Horse}

{1st Birthday}

{Elmo}


Cupcakes

Cupcakes

{Butterfly 1st Birthday - a joint effort with Jennifer}

{Butterfly}

{Jungle Animals}

{Goldfish}

{Hostess Knock Offs}

{Baby Feet}

{Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough}

{Bride & Groom}

{White Chocolate Birthday}

{Harry Potter}

{Tye Dye}

Wedding Cakes

Wedding Cakes

{Fall Wedding Cake/Cupcakes}

{Royal Wedding Cake}

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Here goes the posts to re-cap all the goodies I've made so they are all in one place!!

Decorated Sugar Cookies

{Valentine's Day}

{Valentine's Day}

{Valentine's Day}

{Chocolate St. Patty's Day Shamrocks}

{Vanilla St. Patty's Day Shamrocks}

{Cowgirl hat & Horse}

{Baby}

{Ohio 'The Heart of it All'}

{Rubber Ducks}

{Daisy Bouquet}

{1st Birthday Cupcake}

{Breast Cancer Awareness}


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Easter Recap

Wanted to post a few pics from our Easter weekend. We didn't do anything fancy however we did drive to the zoo, eat lunch in the parking lot, wait in the GINORMOUS line for about 5 minutes, decide we wouldn't have enough zoo time if we waited, then left and drove to Lazy 5 Farm on Saturday.  Bug wanted to see 'ammammals' and we had to oblige her of course!!  On Friday Bug and I hit up Lowe's for some spray paint for the doorknobs (thank you Anna Caranci for the inspiration!) and then stopped to enjoy the weather at the Botanical Garden in K-Ville.  All this while Shawn was picking up his new motorcycle!

{found the book section at Lowe's}


{pretty flowers}

{pretty flowers & a buggy}

{trying out daddy's new bike - i'm anxious for this thing to save us on some SERIOUS gas $$}


{ready to feed the ammamals at lazy5}

{on the move, she wouldn't put the food bowl down}

{hello little goat}

{she was a little leery of getting too close to the camel}

{mama & baby zebra  :O) }

{Buggy self portrait in the car}

{snapping a pic while we rode through the ammamals wearing our 'stunna' glasses}

{mama & baby horse}

{we had a long day in the car & stopped for a pick up dinner on the way home from the farm.  buggy had to have her own salad.  the kid cracks me up}

{buggy's Easter loot}

{eating squeezable marshmallow on Easter morning.  breakfast of champs!}

{running with strollers, little mamas on a mission}

{sweet little girlies <3}

{this picture makes me smile}

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! 


* i'm thinking about doing a post of all the cakes and cookies i've decorated over the last few years.  i don't really have another good way to document them so i thought doing a post would be a good way to have the pictures all in one place. then i can include all future cakes in new posts! so the next few posts may be a bit boring.  just bear with me!!