Sanity

When I first started working in Houston, I made an agreement with my employer to work 80% (4 days a week) so I could have dedicated time to finish my dissertation. Once I finished my dissertation, I considered increasing my hours to full time. But another opportunity opened up in late spring. In May of last year I started working at The Grief Resource Center (TGRC) one day a week. That job has seriously helped me maintain my sanity here in Texas.

Ceramic hearts made by our participants and volunteers.

There are so many reasons that my one-day-a-week job is awesome. It is my first true opportunity to work with other counselors and helping professionals, which I missed more than I can describe. It has really helped me develop more of a community here so I don't feel as isolated. And the people - the people I work with are fabulous. It is such an affirming, positive place which is so good for my soul. Because of those people, it has also been a really supportive place for me when I've needed it. The final bit is that the work and the growth of the organization are challenging in new and fun ways.

One of the new challenges associated with TGRC is that we're trying to increase our business security and viability. We are currently in the process of starting a counseling program where before we were only providing support groups. As part of that process, I am going to transition over the next couple of months to full time at TGRC. I cannot describe how excited I am about this.

An image from our Silent Lights Remembrance Service this past winter.

Sometimes it's amazing how the timing of things seems to happen right when you most need it.

The third year

I mentioned in my last post that I felt like the husband and I finally hit our stride in this third year in Texas and we really have in so many ways. Professionally speaking, I have a ridiculous amount of stuff going on right now - which is all very very good and requiring a bit of an adjustment on our part!

• About a month ago I was asked to assist the administration of our department with various activities. I have been involved in different aspects of running the department and our medical clinic. It has been a nice addition to the work I am currently involved in, which at times can be really monotonous. It has also been challenging in a completely new way because I am primarily involved in finance and management activities of which I have no experience. I am really loving the challenge of it and grateful for the change of pace!
• At about the same time, I was offered the program director position at The Grief Resource Center (TGRC) where I volunteered for a few months this spring. I accepted the position and officially started two weeks ago. TGRC was hit pretty hard in the recession and right now I am only working one day a week with them. With several efforts in the works to increase their income, the hope is that I am able to add more days next year.
• Of course, I still have my main job, which accounts for 80% of my time. I will be promoted to faculty as of July 1! This is really exciting for many reasons but I'm especially psyched about getting an office! One other bonus of being promoted to faculty is that I am now able to participate in grants at the faculty level and I have been written into a new grant as a co-investigator and the project evaluator (stats stuff). As far as grant/university work goes, that is a great step for me.
• In addition to those experiences, I have been offered one other position that is based on grant funding. We just heard last week that the department received the funding and so I should know more about what that might mean for me soon.

Describing all of that makes my head spin a little. After what felt like a really long period of uncertainty and an experience in a job that is less than fulfilling, things are finally moving in the right direction. With any change, it has also been a little challenging. After two and half years of the same schedule, adding lots of hours all at once has resulted in a little bit of chaos at our house! But we're making it work and I think things will start to settle down in the next few weeks just in time for us to start the bathroom remodel! Oh goodness! :)

Halloween treats for the office

Often times, office parties are pretty stale when it comes to the food and decor. When we decided on the Halloween theme for our party, I knew I wanted to make it a little more fun by having a few theme-related treats and decor. I also knew that I didn't want to spend a ton of time on a work party! :)

For the food, I decided on chocolate covered pretzels,

pumpkin rice krispie treats,

and witches hats.

 

I made the pretzels ahead of time, knowing they would be fine for quite awhile after I made them. The night before the party, I made the pumpkins and put together the hats in about an hour and a half.

I also found a cute veggie tray idea that my coworker created for the party.

And instead of buying decorations or making something, I brought a few Halloween/fall related items that I already had. It added a nice touch without adding any time!

The party turned out to be pretty fun!

Family updates

Our little family has two professional-related updates.

1. I received my LPC in North Carolina. Yay! Licensure was a huge professional goal of mine and really means a lot to me.
(Yes, this may seem strange given that I no longer live in NC, but it will make licensure easier here in Texas and now I will be all set when we move back to NC sometime in the future - see below.)

2. The husband got a new job within his company that opens up more opportunities for him both on a day-to-day basis and in the future. I'm super proud of him (and maybe a little annoyed that part of his new job duties involve playing golf during the work day - yep, he's one of those guys now).

Combined, these two changes mean that we will be in Texas for at least 2 more years and that I can now more easily pursue clinical work. Although being in Texas isn't ideal, its nice to know that we are both making headway in our professional goals and now have many more exciting opportunities. Plus, Houston is growing on me (a little), so I'm not terribly opposed to spending a little more time here.

Now, just ONE more big goal for me and then maybe, just maybe, I'll feel like a normal person again. :)

Cooking for one

Weekend before last I did some me kind of cooking - meaning, I made food with beans. It really kills me that the husband doesn't eat beans because I do love them. We had a shared lunch with some of the ladies at work on Tuesday of that week and I contributed the black bean veggie chili and cornbread. Quite yummy. The chili recipe was modified from this one: vegetarian black bean chili. I added all kinds of things to this recipe including corn, garbanzo beans, and hatch chilis (frozen from the fall). The cornbread recipe is a seriously modified version of this one: southern corn bread. One of my coworkers is a vegetarian so I omitted the bacon fat, subbing in butter but two tablespoons only. I used high quality stone ground cornmeal, no onions, about 1/3 cup cheese, a can of hatch chilis, no corn, and about two pinches of garlic powder. Plus one cup flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Ok, so really, it wasn't even close to the same recipe. Oh well!

Chili cooking away

I made a lot!

I finally did it

You remember this post?

I finally caved and stopped by Crave on the way back from Gap today. I know - I hit almost all the things on the list! :)

Look at this place - just as divine as the cupcakes!

Crave - site photo

Crave is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I took back to the office! (Sorry pics are from the phone)

And look what's inside!!

Um, amazing. Oh, and no worries - I split the maple walnut, hummingbird, and lemon poppyseed with three co-workers. The dark chocolate is for the husband! :)

You can check out all the other yummy options at Crave's website:  https://www.cravecupcakes.com/

Now officially in post-sugar-high low. Wish me luck for the next hour!

Its been awhile

Actually it has been too long since I've posted. But (cue sad working-woman music) working is hard. To be fair, it isn't that bad. The travel to and from, making the total hours away from home for work around 11.5, is what makes it bad. Let me tell you, when we get home around 6 and have just enough time to walk the dogs, eat dinner, relax for an hour (maybe) and then have to go to bed, its hard to have interesting lives. Plus this last month has been one of those where I feel behind on everything - laundry, vacuuming masses of dog hair, cleaning, etc. Suffice it to say - life has been boring. Gasp! Fear not readers of this nonsense blog - things are looking up. Things appear to be getting back to normal so we're anticipating some projects coming soon. To keep you in the new loop of projects here is our list!

1. Half-bath remodel! :)
     We've decided on a pedestal sink,

Picture from here

and now we're working on finalizing the tile for the floor. I think I want something like this but not sure quite yet.

2. Bed skirt (I'm thinking A LOT about this one so I don't screw it up - that fabric ain't cheap)

3. Dog beds (yes, I  know I said I would do this two months ago)

4. Recover a lamp shade and make into a hanging light - bought a big 'ole drum shade from Goodwill last weekend for $3 :)

I'm excited!  And there will be a post tomorrow - just FYI! :)  Actually today!

And I've learned so much already

I've only been to work 8 days now and I feel like I've learned so much. Not necessarily about the job but lots about Houston. Here are some fun facts.

1. Baylor College of Medicine is NOT a part of Baylor College
2. There are two, yes two, fabulous-amazing looking cupcake stores less than a mile from my office - what are they trying to do here?? 




Image from Celebrity Cupcake - right down the street.


3. My office is on a major thoroughfare in Houston so I also have the best tex-mex place in Houston across the street (or so says the new boss), and all the shopping a girl could want less than a mile from my office - again, really? Do you know how much I love tex-mex AND shopping?
4. I left the house at 6am my first day to make sure I got to orientation by 8am. I arrived at 7am. I left the next day at 6am in the pouring rain and arrived by 6:45am. Traffic is strange here and a bit finnicky.
5. Shadow (we named our foster dog) should have the name Houdini - each of the first two days I worked I came home to her outside of her crate, where I put her before I left - she's really talented. The third day I put her in the laundry room and she destroyed it - now need to replace the door, molding, and ironing board cover.
6. Gracie felt left out of the fun of destruction and ate our bathroom door which will have to have pieces replaced. Lesson here - the dogs are less destructive together.
7. There are something like 6 or 7 hospitals in the Texas Medical Center - about a mile from my office. See the large complex below. (It includes Texas Children's Hospital where Jen Arnold works - she's on the Little Couple on TLC - yes, I like the show, mainly b/c she's in Houston!)



From http://www.north-houston.com/developers/healthcare.html


Ok, that's all for now - I'll update about other busy things going on in our lives later in the week.