A Long Overdue Post

It was recently brought to my attention by Colleen, one of my two faithful blog readers (the other one being my mom), that I have done a less-than-stellar job of keeping my blog up-to-date. Truth be told, I have had neither the time nor the content to make any exciting blog posts. Over the past three months, I have spent a lot of time at work. A LOT. Women in Birmingham seem to be birthing babies at an alarmingly high rate as of late, and they all seem to be coming to UAB to have their babies. Props to them for choosing to come to the best hospital in Birmingham to have their babies (with one of the most state-of-the-art NICUs in the country, and THE largest all-private room NICU in the country). However, this baby boom resulted in a high patient census for most of the summer, which meant several months of mandatory overtime for me and my co-workers. There were several weeks when my co-workers and I strongly considered setting up tents in the break room on my unit since work really became our primary residence during the summer months. Mandatory overtime definitely meant a lot of time spent at work, but it also made for some pretty sweet paychecks. Things seem to have calmed down a good bit at work, and we are slowly getting back to normal...whatever "normal" is. Here's a brief update on the few happenings in my life since we last talked. Feel free to go ahead and take a good snooze. You won't miss much.

Beach Trip

Me, the Stephs, Bev, and Luna managed to escape our crazy workplace for a few days in August to take our annual beach trip. As usual, it included good laughs, good food, and good fun. And as usual, we had our annual photo shoot on the beach.



Getting into Shape

Mandatory overtime meant little time to cook and a lot of eating out. And the scale doesn't lie. So I decided it was time to join a gym. On my mom's advice, I joined Planet Fitness. I really enjoy going to the gym, and it has now become part of my daily routine 3-4 days a week.

JustFaith

Several months ago, I heard about a program at my church called JustFaith. It is a 30-week program that involves a small faith community coming together once a week to discuss issues of social justice and social ministry. There is assigned reading each week and several immersion experiences throughout the program where the group doesn't just serve the poor, but really spends time listening to the poor. After hearing about the program, I felt called to participate. Unfortunately, I was not able to partipate in the JustFaith program at my church due to scheduling conflicts. However, one of the other churches in the area is also offering the program, so I was able to join the program at that church. I am only five weeks into the program, but so far I am enjoying it. Everything I have heard and read about the program says that it really "transforms" participants. While I wouldn't consider myself "transformed" yet, I have begun to take a more critical view of the way I live my life. For example, one of the issues we have really focused on is world hunger. We have heard so many harsh truths about hunger, both throughout the world and in our own country. Knowing these truths, I have started to think twice about throwing food away. I am trying to do a better job of eating all of my leftovers whenever I cook a meal, which means taking lunches to work and avoiding the temptation to go out to eat. I know my actions cannot solve poverty and social injustice, but I can live my life with more gratitude for everything that I have.

New Office Furniture

Up until recently, my method of organizing bills, important papers, etc. was to make piles. Lots and lots of piles. It got to the point where every room of my house was full of piles. During one of their visits to my house, my parents had an intervention and told me I needed a better method of organizing. So I decided I needed a filing cabinet. But not one of those ugly metal ones that would ultimately end up just taking up room in a closet. I wanted a pretty wooden one. While I was at it, I figured why not buy a new desk, a matching bookcase, and a new office chair in addition to the filing cabinet so everything would match. Thank goodness for the mandatory overtime... The purchases have been made, the furniture has been delivered, and it is all put together thanks to my awesome dad. I would include pictures of the new furniture, but getting everything organized and filed in the filing cabinet is a process. And the new desk definitely shows it right now. Once everything is neat and organized I will post some pictures.

Becoming a Grill Master

As if that wasn't enough spending, I decided to purchase a grill as well.



I've been having a lot of fun learning how to be a grill master!

All into Football...As Much As I Hate to Admit It

It all started when my friend Beverly needed a friend to go with her to the first Alabama game of the season. I volunteered to be her friend at the football game, and I haven't been the same since.



College football really is a bit addictive. And it doesn't help that it is the only topic of conversation at work from about September to December, so the more you know about football, the better able you are to contribute to conversations at work. My allegiance is still to the New Orleans Saints, but I have enjoyed watching some college football this season, namely Alabama and Notre Dame. Roll Tide. Go Irish.

Trip to Austin, TX

About two weeks ago, I ventured to Austin, Texas for a work conference about cue-based feeding for infants. I won't bore you with the details of the conference, but it was a great conference and it has really changed the way I think about feeding babies while I am at work. I didn't get to see a whole lot of Austin because I was attending the conference most of the time I was there, but what I did see, I liked.



I hope to make it back to "The Live Music Capital of the World" one day!


Well, you can wake up now. You can see it hasn't been the most exciting few months, but they have been good nonetheless. I'm hoping the weeks ahead will provide me with more blog content, but also give me some much-needed rest!