Hangman

The rain and wind this weekend was intense. Saturday morning I spent outside getting soaked to the bone, not because I had too but because I love being outside when it's raining and the weather is so overpowering. I found stuff to do while out there but honestly nothing that couldn't have waited. I loved every minute of it!

Saturday afternoon during the height of the storm Jamie and I decided to go out to Home Depot and a few other close stores to get out. Well we got out alright! We checked the house before walking out to make sure all the windows and doors were locked and properly secured. We then promptly locked the door behind us and found out we left the keys inside! Yup, locked out in the pouring rain and wind that could knock you over. We made a good time of what could have easily gone very sour. We talked and played hangman, Jamie's idea. There is no one else that I would want to be locked out of a house with in torrential rains then him, well maybe a locksmith but I digress.

Jamie's first hangman game, 4 letters.

__ __ __ __
humm, I guess E, T, R, A, K not too much to go on but getting something.

K E __ __
This had me stumped for awhile, guessing away and thinking that I don't know a single word that starts with KE, what the heck could it be. I then guess the letter S

K E __ S

I stare for a second before I start laughing, Jamie starts laughing too when he realizes that I got it.

My final guess: Y

This is why I love Jamie. Stuck in a car in pouring rain with a tree that is threatening to fall on us, locked out of our house, we are both soaked, nothing to do Jamie comes up with hangman and starts the game off with KEYS.

My dad finally made it out and unlocked our door. We both weren't up for going out anymore after that so we just hung out with my dad and cooked some dinner. We did make it out on Sunday, but I had a lot of fun stuck in my car playing Jamie in hangman.

Branding

Wednesday after work I went to a SWE Professional Development Workshop at BAE in Lexington, Ma. It was a great topic and I got to see my good friend Robin who was also going. SWE is the Society for Woman Engineers and they usually put on a workshop or seminar every month or so. The speaker was Thelma Kailiwai from Raytheon in Tewksbury and she spoke about "Developing Your Personal Brand".

She covered the importance of reputation and branding yourself. Reputation is other people's perception of you while branding is projecting what you want people to recognize you for.

Reputation has a big impact in reaching your career goals and can significantly help or hurt you. The steps to managing your reputation are to be aware of how you are seen by people who have influence over your career opportunities and by using any feedback you receive to improve. Feedback can come in the form of assessments, comments, and project debriefing sessions. Knowing where you stand helps in deciding the right path towards reaching your goals.

One way of improving your reputation is by branding yourself. Branding distinguishes yourself from others doing similar work, shows your true identity, highlights your talents, and establishes your position in business.

To develop your brand you need to find out who you are and what your values are. In an upcoming blog I will talk about exercises you can do to help figure this out. Your brand needs to have consistency, clarity, and authenticity. You need to also define what your dreams are and put them into action. Find out who you are and what your dreams are; sounds easy but try and put it down on paper!

So this was my attempt at explaining what it was all about, now I'll try and put it into action for myself.

Changing of the Seasons

I didn't realize it's been over a week since I last posted, time seems to be passing me by!

On the drive into work today I was amazed at how different the neighborhood looked after last nights rain. The leaves were all changing and most had fallen down last night, my car was covered in yellow maple leaves. The roads were colored a brown-orange from all the pine needles that had shaken loose.

I love being fully submersed in Fall. Things I love about the Fall: the trees changing colors, the big piles of leaves, pumpkin picking, apple picking, wearing sweaters, apple cider, fall decorations, apple crisps, mums, thinking about x-mas, crisp clean air, hardy meals like turkey and ham, carving pumpkins and reading a book of a overcast day. These are just some and I'm sure there are more.

I clearly remember when in mid to late August I was sitting at the picture window in our apartment overlooking the side yard when I saw one of the first leafs fall from the tree. I remember looking at it twirl it's way down to the ground and my mind was yelling "NO".

By the time it met the earth and joined the small group of previously fallen brothers my heart was racing and I was thinking that I wasn't ready for the Fall. I'm never good at the first signs of change, I really never have been. I was sitting there is the warm Summer breeze waiting for Jamie to come home so that we could go to the beach, and then BAM change was in the air.

This tiny leaf said to me, "Time is moving forward, things are always changing even when you aren't there to notice."

I said to the leaf "But it's still August! It's still Summer and warm, I'm not ready to let this part go yet. Get back on that tree!"

The tiny leaf just continued to twirl down and responded "Enjoy the moments that make up your life, there are only so many. We are one day closer to Winter; we are one day closer to next Summer as well."

Strange how we are never comfortable with Change but it's always happening, you'd think that just by having it bother us so consistently we would become accustomed to it. I think that seeing change coming is never welcomed but after change has come and gone we are usually ok.

I remember sitting in the picture window watching the tiny leaf fall and feeling not ready at all but now that we are fully in Fall I love it. I'll try and remember this when I see the first flakes of snow pave the way for Winter.

Making a House a Home

It was nice to have a few days off from work to relax and get things done around the house. Thursday after work Jamie and I went up to his folks house for dinner to celebrate his 30th birthday. It was nice to see them along with Jonny, Erin and baby Brendan. I had sent Jean flowers at work to thank her for the Big ray of sunshine she brought into the world, she loved them and they had really made her day. Jonny and Erin's birthday present was 2 ice cream scoops, a perfect gift for Jamie!

Friday Jamie and I went apple picking at Sweet Berry Farms. It was a great time, the air was warm and crisp with the smells of fall. We had a fun time walking up and down the rows of apples and choosing ones to pick. I love apple picking, it's one of my favorite things and I'm glad we were able to catch the season this year as well. We also picked up pumpkins for each of us. We both can be particular and pumpkins are no exception. We both checked each pumpkin over and carefully made our final decisions. I chose the brightest orange round pumpkin I could find. Jamie wanted a darker tall one that had no blemishes on it. We both found our own perfect ones and walked away very happy. To me this farm hold a magical piece of life, if I go enough then maybe I'll be able to figure it out. Friday night Jamie cooked up pork roast with corn and I made up homemade applesauce. Greg came over and we all had a great dinner and night.

Saturday we worked around the house and went to a friend's house for Octoberfest in the evening. It was the first time Jamie and I have crossed the Mount Hope Bridge into Bristol, which seems strange because it's maybe 10 minutes from our house. There was a good crowd of people and we had dinner and tasted all different types of Octoberfest beers that people had brought. After the tasting there was lots of jokes and laughter, we had a fun time hanging out with everyone.

Sunday we finished up some jobs around the house and started the attack on the basement. It was dirty but I'm glad that we got it started.

Yesterday we went out to my parent's house for dinner. It had been awhile since I had been out for a visit and they loved having us over. I packed up the car with the last few things of mine from my parent's house. It felt strange that I didn't still have most of my things there, a sad separation for me. It affected my dad too, he said that he didn't like the fact that I didn't call their house "home" anymore. It was an unintentional realization of leaving the nest for both of us I think.

It reminded me of when Jamie and I came back to Mass. after living in South Carolina. When we were down there I missed being home in Mass. and when we moved back I missed living down there. There was an odd sense of longing no matter where I was, both had a place in my heart. Change is good but it uproots the comfort factor that sneaks in when you aren't looking and just going about your day.

I'm happy in our new house, it truly feels like home to me. I love the routines that we have fallen into, it feels comfortable and perfect. It feels good to be doing manual labor on our house and putting our fingerprints on it. I am looking forward to our years together in our home, putting down roots and making memories.

Jamie my Love

Happy Birthday to my Dear Husband!!!

I've never dated a 30 year old! How exciting! I'm looking forward to many more birthday's together.

My mom came over last night and brought Jamie his first Son-in-Law card, and this morning I gave him his first Husband birthday card. Got to love it :o)

Have a good weekend, I'm taking tomorrow off.

October 4, 2006

Tomorrow is Jamie's 30th birthday!! Whoo hoo! We are planning on going up to his parent's house after work for dinner tomorrow. We both are taking off Friday of this week and Monday of next week, so we are going to have a mini vacation/birthday bash. It should be fun. We wanted to start working on the down stairs at the house now that most of the upstairs is looking good. Not sure yet what the plans are but we'll figure that out on Friday. I'll have to let you all know how his big birthday bash goes on Tuesday when I get back near my computer.

Today is also the session premiere of Lost! I can't wait it should be really great, and full of suspense.