Ok, well I’ve been having issues with wordpress and it’s layout.
So…I’ve switched to another blog site with a new address. I’ll try this new one for a while and see how it goes.
The new address is:
www.becksintn.blogspot.com
Be sure to enter it into your favorites!! 
Well my co-worker, Ellen, is what you would call a modern-day domestic dream. She bakes. She cooks. She is thoughtful and her house is beautiful. Even her cube is decorated as if Martha Stewart just stopped by. She’s amazing.
So she has this great idea last week that we (Me, Amanda, Misty, Beth and Ellen) should get together and make our very own wreaths for our front doors. Now if you know me at all, you know that I love creative things, however my creative skills and domestic gifts are a little less than average. So I jumped at the chance to have a “pro” teach me.
Last week we went shopping for our supplies:
So then last night we all went over to Ellen’s (who was dressed in an apron and cooking dinner and met us at the door with her cute little dog under her arm) to actually make our wreaths.
Setting up:
Chasing Roxy around the table to get the leaves/flowers/ribbons out of her mouth:
They are all placed…now we just need to glue them in!
Beth took some time to bond with Roxy
All the finished products:
Ellen:
Misty:
Me:
Beth (aka, MF, we all agreed that her wreath looked like the flowers in the pattern of momma’s dress from Momma’s Family! haha)
Aside from some pretty painful glue-gun burns (Misty) and some flower arrangement issues (Me and Beth) we all came out true winners with amazing wreaths for our doors!
The time with these girls was incredible. We laughed so hard that I cried. We ate way too much and came into work this morning still giggling at each other. I really, really and very blessed to have them as friends.
In other news. These two goofballs are coming to see me tomorrow for the holiday weekend…AND I CAN’T WAIT!!!
Oh my gosh. One of the best weekends by far. I can’t tell you how much I love waking up to some of my best friends in the next room. I laughed until my face hurt and my sides ached. We shopped until our feet hurt and our wallets screamed. We ate until our pants were about to burst and nothing else would fit in our chubby cheeks.
We found a new store (well, new to us “Gordmans”) and bought as much as we could. Clothes, perfume, housewares…all of it at a super discount price.
We went downtown during BBQ Fest (took a taxi b/c the traffic was crazy and parking was $10/$15/$20 per spot. No thanks!) We got to experience Beale Street the way it was meant-with piles of people, tons of bands and police at every corner. Even though Memphis is the crime capital of the US, I’ve never felt safer. Strange to say huh?
We got to see Graceland from outside. The tour was $27.00 and we refused to pay that much to see a house that isn’t that big or that cool. I don’t even like Elvis to be honest…but don’t tell anyone down here. They might mug me!
All in all, I had a fantastic time and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate when people drive down here to visit me. It’s such a burst of happiness for me in this little town!
The sun is shining and the weather is amazing. Memphis in May is really a beautiful thing.
Only one day until I get to see my girls, Christy and Sarah!
A little background on these girls:
Sarah and I met in college during our Freshman year. She lived on the floor below me and I found her to be an amazing friend that I could laugh my head off with. We were basically inseparable from that first year on. We went on missions trips (LA and Miami). We hung out over summers. I was in her wedding last September and have never seen a more beautiful or radiant bride in all my days! I feel that even though we’re in different cities and don’t see/talk as much as we used to, we can still pick up right where we left off.
Christy and I also met in college, but I was a junior and she was a freshman. She knew Sarah from years of going to church and working together at their after-school program. So when Christy came…she was our new best bud. That child can make me laugh so hard. We lived together the last semester of college and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a time more in my life. We’d chat like little kids before bed. Neither of us were morning people, but one glance toward each other at 8am and we’d die of laughter. I love watching her. She’s just the funniest human alive.
There are tons of fun things that are going on here in Memphis this weekend so I’m sure we’ll have some fun pictures. The BBQ Fest is going on. There is a Redbirds game. Elvis would love to see us. The zoo has some cute animals that would love to make faces at our cameras…who knows.
All i know is who couldn’t have fun with these two?
I tuckered her out with all my talking…Silly goose!
Kelly and I took some pics at her graduation. One in front of her real banner (Education) and the other in front of the School of Dentistry. We coulnd’t help ourselves…
Got home to a nice welcome from my dad
Well this weekend was great…it included a LOT of driving, but it was totally worth it. I FINALLY got to see my dad after 4 long months:
I got to eat lunch with my 3 girls from Doe (Anna, Linds and Kat). Anna has a baby belly. I left and she was a stick. I come back 4 months later and she’s still a stick but now she looks like she’s got a basketball under her shirt. It’s amazing how time flies!
I got to see my mom and have a great girls night that was spent drinking Starbucks, laughing, talking, watching movies, looking at poland pictures and getting to actually see each other smile instead of hearing it:
I think I tuckered her out…what do you think?
Kelly graduated with her Masters in Education…don’t have any pics of that just yet since they live on her camera and not mine. I’ll have some later. It was a funny graduation filled with yelling families, crying kids/babies and hundreds of students finally walking across the stage to get a small piece of paper.
Mother’s Day was great. Went to church and then to brunch. It was nice to have our little family back together. We got to talk about old stories that still make us laugh. We got to watch my mom eat Bourbon sauce for the first time. Apparently it’s not her thing. Classic.
Drove home on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like fighting through a flood warning and wind advisory. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was going to be swept off the road! Made it home just before 9:00pm and hit the bed. I was a bit tuckered out from all the fun of the weekend.
I’m VERY MUCH looking forward to this weekend. My friends Christy and Sarah are making their first trip to Memphis and I am thrilled to have them stay with me. So now I just have to make it through the week and I get to see them!!! I almost can’t stand it
So I woke up to rain again. I’m serious when I say that I’ve never seen so much rain in one city in my entire life. I think we might be giving Seattle a run for it’s money this Spring.
I never used to be bothered by gloomy days or rainy nights, but I can honestly feel myself get sad when I open my bedroom blinds and see more water, more puddles and more umbrellas crossing the street. That means my feet get wet. My hair gets frizzy. I have to eat inside unless I want to brave the elements for a simple sub sandwich. I just stood in front on my window, looked at the dark sky and let out a deep sigh this morning. I then realized I didn’t have any pants on and quickly closed the blinds.
Today is a bit rough at work. Ever have days like that when nothing goes right? Ever have days when your deadlines are off and your co-workers seem to drop the ball and let you take the fall? I talked to my dad earlier and he said “remember you’re doing it for the kids”. He’s right. Time to suck it up, pop 2 Aleve and move on. I can only do what I can do. At some point in life these grown adults around me will have to pull their own weight.
I’m looking forward to my little mini-vacation home this weekend. I need to see familiar faces and talk with familiar voices. I think I need a break from work and this city for a little bit. Perfect timing if I do say so myself
So, last week flew by. And so did this weekend. I hate that.
My friday night was spent in a tizzy of cleaning. Seriously. I don’t think I’ve cleaned that much in a LONG time. It felt good though. Clean sheets. Clean shower. Clean dishes. No garbage in the trash cans. All my bills are paid. I like being ahead of the game for once.
Saturday morning I was grocery shopping at 9am. Why? Who knows. I hate that I can’t sleep in anymore. I used to be good until at least 11:00 and now? 8:30 or 9 is good for me. I don’t think it’s good to get old if this is what is in store for me.
Jill (Lori’s sister from Nashville) and her friend came to stay with me this weekend so they could attend the Beale Street Music Festival. So it was nice to have company and other humans in my apartment.
Saturday night I met up with some work girls for a girls night at the sushi bar. It was fantastic. I haven’t had sushi in a few months and it totally hit the spot. I tried a great new roll that had apples in it. Totally made the taste POP! I can’t wait to go back. After dinner we met up with some other friends and went out for a night on the town. Would have been great if the waiter at the next place didn’t lose my debit card. Yeah, the night went like that. Uh.
He claimed that it must have “fallen out” of the credit card holder on my bill. Needless to say I was super scared that I’d have $1000 in charges to my account, but I checked it yesterday and today and no activity…so the card was cancelled and now I must wait 7-10 days for a new card. So apparently the waiter was just a complete idiot. Talk about SUPER INCONVENIENCE. How did we live before debit cards?
Yesterday was spent doing errands and making dinner. The weather was great so it was a nice driving day…or would have been, if gas wasn’t $4.50/gallon.
This week has nothing planned. Just some lunches and dinners with friends. I’m taking Friday off and will be heading home for what promises to be an incredible weekend!
-After 4 months, I finally get to hug my dad (I get teary-eyed just thinking about it)
-Kelly is graduating with her Masters on Saturday (and we have big celebration plans!)
-I get to see my mom and hear all her Poland stories and see her pictures
-It’s Mothers Day and I get to spend it with my whole family
-I get to laugh with my brother until my sides ache
Life doesn’t get much better than that does it?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Well this past weekend was pretty good. I’m feeling better since my last post regarding my stupid co-worker who obviously doesn’t have a heart or solid professional mind. I wrote him an e-mail giving him all I had…he apologized but sadly I still don’t think he gets it. Sad.
Friday after work I headed home and took a much needed 3 hour nap. Nicely done if I do say so myself I got ready and met some friends at a jazz lounge to celebrate Thad’s promotion. Thad worked with us on “AE Row” (Account Executive Row) but was recently promoted and no longer works on our floor. So we decided to take him out and celebrate! We found this great old Victorian home that was renovated into a jazz lounge and took him there. Had a great time despite the floods of Noah that once again hit Memphis.
This is my work group. Tiffany is in the blue. Thad…obviously is the guy. And Lisa is in the black (she’s the one that I walk with at the park a few times a week.)
Here is Tiff, me and Lisa
And despite all the jazz music, there was some rock songs that came on and Lisa and I couldn’t help ourselves
Saturday I slept in…really slept in. I don’t think I got up until 11ish. Went to the park for a quick jog and long walk. The weather was amazing and I don’t think the sky has ever looked so blue. They say the Carolina’s have blue skies? Yeah right…they’ve got nothing on Memphis.
Did some much needed cleaning and errand-running. Have you ever noticed how it takes you forever to straighten up your home and within a matter of 4-5 days it’s trashed? How does it get that way? I don’t live sloppy or anything…it’s just unreal. One day I’m brushing my teeth in a perfectly clean bathroom and the next day I’m brushing my teeth and walking around shoes, clothes, towels and trying to find enough counter space to plug in my blow dryer. It’s like *snap*, everything gets messy. Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?
Sunday I tried out a new church that I really liked. It’s called Highpoint and it’s about 15/20 minutes from my house. The group is a few hundred people and super young. I went with a girl I work with, Amanda, and had a pretty good time. I saw some other people from St. Jude there too, so I think I’ll have to give it another try.
My mom left today for Poland…for 10 days. Geesh. Talk about a bit of a long time to go without talking to her. She left at noon today and we’ve already texted and talked to each other a few times. Apparently she’s in Detroit now and heading to Amsterdam in a couple of hours. I love that she goes on these trips, but man, I feel extremely sad when she’s away for that long. And even though I’m 5 hours away, I don’t get any more happy about it, in fact, I think I get more sad because I know that our only way of communicating is the phone…and now that can’t even work.
This week is off to a slow start, so I’m guessing and hoping it will pick-up tomorrow. I hate being bored.
In other news:
-the boy turned out to be a loser (go figure)
-my shoulder is still hurting…might have to suck it up and chat with a doctor
-couch shopping is in my future this week
Hope you are all doing well. Hugs-
b.
Oh I’m just a BIT heated today. I thought instead of calling all my friends and family about this, I’d just vent on here.
I got an e-mail from a former co-worker at my old agency. Granted I haven’t worked there for almost 4 months so you’d think at some point you just move on and DO YOUR OWN WORK. It’s so annoying when I’m into work over my head and I have to stop and write an e-mail about something that happened in September 2007.
Anyway that’s not the upsetting part. The first line of this man’s e-mail (and yes, he’s a full grown adult VICE PRESIDENT of an ad agency) says “so are you sick of being around sick kids yet?”.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
It took everything I had in me to not pick up the phone and scream at him that very second. How inconsiderate. How rude. How VERY unprofessional. And as a father of two kids, you’d think he’d have a bit more compassion about children who are fighting for their lives. Sorry that I left your agency to pursue a job that has meaning. Sorry that you feel it’s totally acceptable to joke on the fact that there are toddlers and teens that can’t get out of bed on some days because their treatments cause severe side effects. I felt in a way that he was almost making a joke of my job. And that does NOT settle well with me. AT ALL.
And to top it off, he ends the e-mail with “I know you’re probably doing a good job to help those kids get well and those doctors get rich”.
If the man were standing in front of me I think a right-hook might have been on the menu. I mean where do you draw the line between humor and just pure sickness? Obviously he has NO idea where that line is. Our doctors get compensated like any other doctor. They went to medical school and they are some of the top researchers in the world. They deserve as much as we can provide for them.
Oh, I’m just so upset about this right now that I can feel my face getting hot. Don’t you DARE think you can make a joke out of this hospital. These are my kids and we are all here working for them. You jump on them…expect me to jump right back.
