Pitaria Weekend Happenings

Good morning Monday, and blog, and bloggy friends. Have a good weekend? I did. Although, let's talk about how going from a four-day weekend, back to just a two-day weekend, is a little rough and I wasn't a huge fan of that. When can we work out another super long holiday weekend? Anyone with me on that?

Well anyways, despite it's seemingly short length, it was still pretty great, and it of course deserves the usual weekend recap, I mean am I right?! So let's back it up...

FRIDAY
Well, first of all (before it was officially the weekend), I spent the entire day in training with my new supervisor (who is extremely nice and I like her a lot), and started learning my new position. And it was a loooooot to learn, and we barely even scratched the surface. Still so much more to learn before I get it all down, but I'm on my way at least. I also got to spend just a few quick minutes in my new office, and I can't wait to set up and decorate in here! It's so bare right now and just begging for cutesy little things to brighten up the drab space.

Friday right after work, I went on a short 1.16-mile run for my second run of the day - go me! Then Friday night was the last night of leading games and rec at VBS for Jeff's church, so we took the kids outside and played water games. The kids loved getting soaked just as much as we loved spraying them with squirt guns and water hoses! :) Afterwards, we got cleaned up a bit and went to hang out with a couple friends for a while before finally calling it a night.

SATURDAY
Went with my parents to pick up some furniture that my mom's boss was giving away to her for free. We got a big comfy chair with an ottoman, and a huge coffee table. Mom wants to keep the chair (even though I tried to convince her to let me have it), but she said Jeff and I could have the coffee table. It's not exactly our style though, so we'll definitely want to try to DIY something for ourselves. Anyone know what we could do to get that marble out? We're thinking about maybe using some mosaic-type tile, or some Spanish-style stuff, but first, that marble stuff needs to go!

Then we had lunch and ran a few more errands around town, and eventually Jeff came and met us at Marshall's. I bought some cute new things for my office, some cards to use as shower/gift 'Thank-You's', and my Mama bought me a few office things too! Then Jeff and I just hung out at his house for a bit searching on Craigslist for random things, and found a nice comfy chair to buy, almost identical to the one my mom claimed earlier in the day, for only $30! Score. Then we went with his family to see "The Lone Ranger," and we all thought it was a pretty great movie. Definitely entertaining, and I enjoyed it.

SUNDAY
Went to church and Sunday school with my parents, and then a group of us did a pot-luck style lunch all together, and that was a great time. Mom and I then spent about an hour going over the guest list and doing a few wedding planning things, and then I went to meet Jeff for more wedding planning. We went and hung out at a local coffee shop down close to FSU's campus, Atomic Coffee, and we sat there for about two-ish hours with laptops and sketch pads and to-do list's, and I think we got a good couple of things accomplished, and at least got the ball rolling on some other things. Then we walked to the Greek restaurant that was right next door, Pitaria, and had a yummy gyro for dinner. It was probably the best one I've ever had. So yummy, and so huge and filling! I was real full from just the gyro, and brought the whole salad home for another day. Definitely going to visit there again.

After dinner, we drove around for a bit checking out a few places we found online to rent, but none of them ended up being good. They were either kinda crappy looking (not like their online picture of course), or one was in an extreeeeemeeeelyyy ghetto part of town. Like whoa. So they all got ruled out tonight. But then we went back to his house, and both pulled out our laptops to continue more wedding planning and research! And guess what, we have even more wedding planning stuff on the schedule for tomorrow, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and well...you get the picture.

So see? Pretty great weekend, if I do say so myself! Good food, time with lots of family and friends, and Jeff too of course, some shopping and lots of wedding planning. Sadly, the only thing I would have wished to add is some good ole' Florida sunshine! It only barely peeked it's head out for a couple minutes at a time, for a total of like 15 minutes the whole weekend, so it was still practically non-existent here in "The Sunshine State." Psh! Yeah right. Here's what I have to say to that though, "Rain, rain go away! We can't take another day!"

But ending on a happy-ish note - I'm back in training again today, and looking forward to learning more. And maybe I'll get a few minutes to start setting up the cute new things in my office! Tonight after work we're going to pick up that chair we found online, check out some potential groomsmen wear, and then get some save-the-dates sent out! Hooray! Hope y'all had a good weekend as well, and that of course your Monday is off to a good start also :)

Much Love,
Halie

Princeton, NYC & Elizabethton - FFTL Link-Up

Yesterday I took the day off work for an extra day of wedding recovery. It was much needed, and definitely a good thing for me, but I really wish I could have taken another day or two still! I'm back at work today, but absolutely wishing I was still at home. At least this coming weekend is a long one! I am excited to be back in the blog-world though, because I really haven't been since this time last week! So let's dive right into our normal Tuesday post, with my weekly link-up, From Firsts to Lasts!

Today's topics are:

First thing I do when I get to work

First vacation without my parents

First thing I do when I get to work

Unload and unpack all that I brought with me that day. Sometimes I bring in my bag of workout clothes, that's also loaded down with snacks and who knows what else. So I gotta put all that away somewhere! Then I head to the water fountain to fill up my cup of water - and then I'll do that at least four more times during the day. (And then I'll have to pee about six more times during the day...) And then I finally get my computer up and running, and get going on all the emails! I answer a public inquiry inbox for my department, so I'm always answering emails from the public. It gets real old, real fast, but at least it's pretty easy most of the time.

First vacation without my parents

Well, I went on a ton of trips to church camp and cheerleading camp and mission trips and stuff all through my middle and high school years. But I'm not sure I would really consider that a vacation. So I'm gonna say that the first vacation without my parents was probably The Great American Road Trip (The GART) that I took with my girlfriends in August 2010. Three of us (me, Jenni & Cally) started in St. Augustine, FL, drove to Charlotte, NC, to pick up another girl (Hollis), and then drove to Elizabethton, TN, to stay four days with one of our married couple friends (Megan & Dan). Then me, Jenni, Cally, Hollis & Megan all drove to Princeton, NJ, to stay with another couple of our married friends, Kaley & Zach. From there, we went into New York City for a day, and had a great time there. 

It was a 10-day long trip (maybe a little longer, I can't remember), and we had such an amazing time!! We laughed so much, and explored everything we could. We played tons of games, and went shopping, and saw a Broadway, and wore funny hats, and hiked part of the Appalachian Trail. And generally, we just had a freaking blast! We haven't been able to do a trip like that again since then, but we're hoping we can one day!

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics & link up with us!

2. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

3. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

4. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

<center> <a href="http://penguinspastapolkadots.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Firsts%20to%20Lasts" target="_blank"><img alt="First Things First" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrwkIAid5vWXfGGkNjq6FQv4vvqZDxLXcMp670eJ2k7tfrfkBrZYiGCr0icOPCsIYvq5MR3qLifCTXPxMVdiq77A56Zq2_nIiRzk2hyphenhyphen1gEmgp6NcoBlX5TNfobmRzpUAjnkoXPjsNXIU/s1600/Firsts+to+Lasts+-+1.jpg"/></a></center>

And if you'd like to prepare for next week's link-up, the two 'first' topics will be:

First blate you went on (or who you like to meet if you haven't done this yet!)
First blog you visit on your blog roll or RSS feed

I'm silly and forgot how to run my own link-up, and that next week is actually the last  week of the month, which means it's also the first time we'll write about our lasts!  So don't write about those firsts I gave you before, you should actually write about:
Last book you read
Last movie you saw in a theater

Partitions Will Be Needed

Sadly, I have to move away from my beloved little cute cubby at work. I'm not moving very far away - just down the hall - but I will no longer have my cute little private space all to myself. I am going to be moving closer to the lady who I work for as her assistant though, so that part will be good.

My current cubby. Pics taken last fall - hence the pumpkins! Things look even a bit cuter now actually!

That bad news however is that I'm moving out into an open space, which is currently being used by a receptionist-type position. That part of our area is a lot bigger, and so there are more people, and it's a much higher traffic spot than my current cubby, that hardly ever gets passed by or disturbed by random people. So now there will be so many distractions!

Luckily though - I've been told that we have some partitions around here somewhere, and that I can probably have them. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can actually find them, and that it all works out. Other wise, I can see myself being driven crazy by the change of people, and scenery and environment outside of my cubby. I will miss it down here, but working closer to my supervisor will make being her assistant a bit easier - at least I hope so!

So next Thursday, the 29th, is our scheduled move day. This will be my 4th office here in our new building! (and hopefully the last...) I'm really hoping we can find those partitions by then, so I can surround my desk and bookshelf in order to seclude myself from all the busyness of my new section!

Personalized Cubby

I have finally gotten around to making my cubby more personalized. Before I just had a few random things that I could manage to grab real quick on my way out the door - like a lamp, a starfish picture and a small stuffed penguin. But now I have gotten pictures printed, and frames brought in. And those pictures have been put in the frames, and/or taped up on the wall. And I like looking around in here now. :) 

I am still going to get more printed because I want some of my New York City trip last May for graduation, and the G.A.R.T last August with my besties, and my family vacation from this June...but for now, I am happy with it, and I think it looks cute.

Here are some of the cute things in my new cute cubby :)

Love y'all.

Penguin On My Desk

Last week I moved into a new cubby at work. I have my own tiny little space now, and I don't even mind it's technically a cubicle. (I am in a long office, with two doors, split by a 5-foot divider and a bookshelf...) It's mine and it's private and I like it.



I have slowly been bringing in a few items every day in order to make it look a little cuter, and I just wanted to share this little guy, because he is way cute. And he of course goes along with my theme/title. His name is The Admiral, and I like having him on my desk. Now I just gotta get some polka dots up in this cube. Probably not gonna bring in any pasta to decorate with though...but definitely to eat at some point.

Peace, Love and Penguins ♥

Participation Required, Please

Last night at church my friend Trey McQuaig told me about a little game that I though sounded like a fun way to pass some time at work.

So this morning, I started off with his first challenge: by clicking the links on a Wikipedia article, try to get from “Shakespeare” to “Mac” (Macintosh/Apple). I thought it sounded a little tricky, but I underestimated my powers. I was able to get there in only 5 quick clicks. And I was pretty proud of myself actually! (For those of you who aren’t aware of this, I’m kind of a Google Master – so that helps in this game.)

I texted him immediately for a harder challenge, and he responded with “Spaghetti” to “Holocaust.” And wanna guess how that went? Awesomely. On click number 3, I was at “concentration camps,” and by click number 4, I was at “Holocaust.” Boom. Roasted.  The next one was trickier, and required much more time, reading, and thought – “Gatorade” to “Star Wars.” But I still got it in only 4 clicks.

I like this game, and want to take it to the next level, if you will. So friends – I want to accept challenges from all of you. Please think long and hard, and then TEXT ME two words to connect through this Wikipedia game. I’ll even buy a treat for the person whose challenge requires the most clicks. (And yes, I will actually mail it to you if you live in say – NJ, Tennessee, St. Augustine or Pensacola!)

Ready, set, text-me-some-random-words-to-connect-for-my-game-GO!

Oh, and love yall.

Political Visit

Today, Governor Rick Scott came for a visit to the good ‘ole Department of Corrections. ALL of the Central Office employees were required to attend his address, which was held on the ground floor of our parking garage.

It was supposed to begin at 3 p.m., and about ten minutes before, four almost-identical black SUV’s made a spectacle of pulling in and backing around, making sure to face the entrance. Secret service personnel started pouring out, and “secured the perimeter” of the parking garage, standing about 20 yards apart from each other all the way around. Complete with fancy suits and ear pieces. Very official.

I don’t think I should broadcast to everyone out there if I voted for him or not, but I will say I was a bit underwhelmed by his ‘speech’ this afternoon. He didn’t seem to be the greatest speaker, and it felt a bit unprepared. During the Q & A portion, I don’t think he really even answered any of the questions? I can’t be too sure though, because honestly, I didn’t know what all they were talking about – taxes, retirement, benefits, blah, blah, blah, things that don’t affect me, yet. So it was hard to follow.

One lady did specifically ask him what he’s making the wealthiest Floridian’s do to contribute to our failing economy – and she got applauded for her question. But again, I’m not too sure what the answer was. It was kind of a canned response, and he seemed to evade the specific question, and simply dance around the answer.

All-in-all, it wasn’t too thrilling. But, I’m sure not complaining – I got to go sit outside in the nice weather for an hour instead of staring at my computer screen and answering stupid questions on the phone…

Prayers of Praise

I just want to take a brief minute to express my praise right now! I’ve just been thinking about it a lot this morning (cuz work is real slow and I have plenty of time to think), and am so thankful for a pretty great life that I have right now. Of course things aren’t always pretty and perfect, but it’s all in the perspective of things…

ONE – I have a wonderful family. Sure – they get on my nerves pretty often, but for the most part, they’re awesome and I love them so very much. And my parents are letting me live rent free right now, and still providing so much for me, so how can I complain about that?!

TWO – I am making some truly amazing friends here now. When I first moved back home last May, I left an amazing community of friends and believers behind in St. Augustine, and I miss them dearly. But God is placing people in my life right now who are quickly becoming awesome friends! I love hanging out with these people, and am so excited to continue to grow our friendships.

THREE – I have a job. Granted, it’s not one that I love and want to be at forever, but God is providing, and that’s all I need right now! I should just be grateful that I’m at least getting a great paycheck.

FOUR – I have lived another pretty fantastic year. My year as a 22-year-old had some pretty great memories: graduating with honors from college, vacation to NYC with three great women, an amazing road trip with eight of my best friends for two weeks, a new job, a new laptop, making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, fun at FSU football games again, and so many other wonderful blessings. Thank you Lord for a great year! And now I’m ready to see what’s in store for my life as a 23-year-old, in just a few days!

So God – bring it on. With you by my side, a circle of support around me, and my heart tuned into you – I’m ready for another great year.

Love you friends.

Prison Paperwork

So, I’m here at my desk at work – bored. Crazy bored. I’ve read over 25 letters today from inmates, lawyers, and family members. Some of them have been sad and depressing; some have been dumb; and some are just ridiculous and funny. Unfortunately, I can’t share any of these over the world wide web…

Luckily, I still haven’t been cussed out yet, but I most definitely have been yelled at numerous times by family members calling to complain because they’re angry about Lord knows what. Today, I even hung up on a man because he was being so rude and persistent. So that was fun for me.

Other than the boredom though, things are going good here at the new job. I’ve gotten two fabulously awesome paychecks so far, and they came just in time too. (My first payment on my giant student loan automatically came out of my account this morning. Yikes. Welcome to the big-girl-world.)

So for now, I’ll just go back to talking about prisons, looking at prison facilities, and reading letters from inmates in prison. And of course, waiting for 5 o’clock…

Praise the Lord!

I GOT A JOB!

For those of you who haven't heard, I just recently landed my first official "big-girl job." Since arriving home in May, I have applied for over 50 jobs, in a number of capacities, in maybe seven different cities! Sounds a little excessive right? Well I was certainly getting tired of it. And I was getting really discouraged. I was trying really hard to trust God, and wait for his plan. But I felt like I had been waiting forever...

At church the last few weeks, we've been going through a spiritual emphasis, and have been focusing on different basics of our faith. One week was worry. And man, did that ever hit me right smack in the face. All I've been doing lately is worrying about one thing or the other. So at the end of the message, we all wrote down the one thing that's weighing us down right now, and put it in a shredder on the stage. I wrote "JOB." And I felt better immediately, because it really did feel so symbolic.

Then that next Wednesday, Duncan emphasized worry in youth, and we did a similar exercise. And again, what did I write, but of course, "JOB." Then only a week later, after a quick application, interview, background check, and phone call later, I was offered a job!

So now I am the receptionist in the Classification division of the Department of Corrections. It definitely isn't the most fun thing ever, but it pays me, it's interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning a new job, and meeting new people.

So all this to say, PRAISE THE LORD. I got a job. And here's the object lesson: it really DOES pay to stop worrying, and simply hand over your problems to the Lord. Cuz our awesome God really does have this kind of thing under control.