You’re Beautiful…

i was in a bathroom stall today when i came across these six little pearls of wisdom.

such a simple and timely reminder.

for a split second my focus even shifted away from the incredibly unsanitary accommodations as i focused on taking a picture with my iphone. talk about acrobatics.

Birthday Buddy

happy birthday, lola boo!

you have brought us such joy and endless laughter this past year. we love you and feel so grateful that you took our little family from two to three.

enjoy your birthday cannoli and thanks for being such a good sport – the hat was all my idea! guilty as charged.

 

An Offer

after months of interviews, frequent trips to the ucla campus, phone calls with the recruiter and what felt like eons waiting on bated breath…i got the job.

i will officially join their external affairs department as the associate director of development – physical sciences division on august 23.

i can’t wait!

Still Grateful

i started this blog exactly 365 days ago and i've been making daily entries every day since.

wow.

it's certainly been a labor of love and one that i will continue (in a less consistent form) in the coming year. for now, why not continue my tradition of listing all i'm thankful for on my birthday...

breakfast in bed
lola's puppy breath
coffee
massages
mucho
hot tubs
new pjs
a glass of wine with my mama
hugs
health
lunch with my two favorite ladies - sis and mom
guac
great genes
so many cards, calls, texts and messages
smooches
a sexy date
5:00 am text from my pop
sunshine
a beating heart, running legs, eyes that see, fully belly, strong will and enduring passion

Mom = BFF

i ran into an old friend today and i was terribly disappointed to learn that since i saw her last, her mom had passed away unexpectedly. i could feel her heart breaking as we spoke and next thing i knew, tears were running down my face as well.

my one positive take away from this occasion? that it's is so refreshing to learn that the women i know love their moms as much as i do. considering what a thankless job it is to be a "mom" it's nice to see how many women refer to their moms as their "best friends."

Memories in the Making Judging

we have a fabulous art program called "memories in the making." all of the pieces are created by individuals with dementia or alzheimer's and many of them are incredibly beautiful. they include stories about what the artist was thinking or feeling as they painted and many end up being memories they thought they had lost until they saw them appear suddenly on their paper.

every year we pour through hundreds of submissions to select the handful that will be part of that year's collection. the staff gets two days to judge the artwork and often times they're my favorite days of the year.

anything for a reminder of why we do what we do and who we're serving when we come to work each day.

Well, Hello There!

you know those moments in movies where two friends are sitting in a restaurant on their lunch break and in walks random friend from high school and surprises them out of the blue?

well, that happened to me today.

a guy i haven't seen in years suddenly appeared at our table. i was stuck in that awkward position of wondering whether to get up and hug him or not - i went with the hug - followed by the 30 second brief on the past 10 years of our lives. just when it got really uncomfortable he announced that he was late and should be getting back to work. we exchanged business cards and made a poor attempt at promising to grab lunch one of these days and he was off.

while not an altogether pleasant experience it was a nice reminder of the fact that i'm officially that 30-something character in movies. believe it or not, sometimes i actually forget and try really hard to relate to the 25-year-old recent graduate instead.