The Latest and Greatest

Jun 25, 2011 by Rochelle

Well hello! I am emerging from months and months of work on my “big project” at work. I won’t bore you all with the details, but what began as an effort to create a new website at work a few years ago, finally came to be on June 21. The brand new big website (2000 pages), built in Drupal 6, is gorgeous and awesome and I am happy. I had so many challenges along the way and there were insane emotional challenges in the past two months alone. I really feel like I finished the website in spite of everyone and everything around me. By far, it is one of my greatest achievements there.

I did take a few days to have a little fun in the past month. I once again went to Los Angeles for the Days Fan Event weekend. I got to catch up with some dear friends and I had a pretty fun time too. Here are a couple of photos:

Dawn, Nancy, me, Dee, and Diane

Me and James.

I had a really pleasant time with James. Last time we met up in Boston we had quite a time (the proposal, the hat, the air hockey, the reveal that I had lost a massive bet against a friend that led to me eating a tuna, peanut butter, and cheese sandwich, therefore leading us both to grumpy attitudes with each other). This time we parted on a good note and that made me happy and satisfied.

I also got to eat lunch by the beach on my final day with two great friends, Nancy and Meredith, which made it feel like an actual vacation, even if it was only for an hour.

The other great thing about the trip was that I got to leave my laptop at home and bring a book along. I hadn’t been reading for pleasure in months. This was such a treat. So I started it on the trip and soon after my trip finished reading Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games Series. What a fun read. Well, as anyone knows who have those books it was impossible not to pick up the third book right away. So I took some personal time last weekend (three days before the website launch, eek!) and read the entire third book, Mockingjay. What fun!

Reading a book in an entire day is so fun, but it leaves you so empty when it’s over, especially when it’s the last book in a series. Bittersweet.

But I got over it…

Last night I went over to the Burke’s house and Michelle, who loves YA fiction and is my Twilight buddy amongst other things, loaned me a book called Anna and the French Kiss. I’ve never heard of it and I know nothing about it and that thrills me. (I’m becoming increasingly crazy about being spoiler free to the point where I don’t read the descriptions for TV shows on the cable menu). I started reading the novel this morning, in between eating pastries and drinking coffee, and it’s a fun read so far. So I think I know where my day is going. Pajamas, reading, and food. Hello Weekend. Sigh.

The relief I feel is incredible and my mind is opening up again to all the things I loved before the big project….. reading, photography, blogging, creative productions (like montages and gifs), all that.

So I welcome you back to the blog and I welcome myself back to me.

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Pizza and root beer

May 10, 2011 by Rochelle

I went to dinner with some guys on the softball team last night. Just a few dudes that I’ve known through work or through friends. We had pizza and drank root beer and talked about everything from Unix to early childhood education. At one point, a friend put down his pizza and asked me from across the table how my writing was going. Every time I see him, he always asks me that, and for the last year or so I’ve had the same response. “It’s not.” And then I always go on and on about how I simply don’t have the time like I used to because every time I’m on a computer I feel like I should be working on my big project. He usually then gives me updates on his writing and in particular a novel he’s been working on. This time it was about how his brother had been reading it and couldn’t wait to read more. It reminded me of when I used to send my sister pages from my own work and she always got into it. Sad.

Right now I’m on a mini vacation, which is to say that I’m just not at work or thinking about work. Pizza and root beer is about the highlight of this time off. It all happened so suddenly last Thursday. One minute I’m working on my Getting Started booklet and the next I’m headed home crying because my mentor and best friend has been unexpectedly let go from his position. He’d worked at the university for the better part of 23 years and just like that in an instant, everything he had worked toward was ripped away without little more explanation than “we’re reorganizing.” He doesn’t accept it yet, but he’s going to be fine. He’s brilliant and skilled and so incredibly likable that everyone has been sending him warm letters, calls, and texts. I haven’t accepted it yet that life will go on at work without him. I’m just one of many who are thinking the same thing right about now.

The past few days have been a flurry of ups and downs. Mornings are the hardest of course. We’re both not at work and it feels weird. I’ve been helping him get prepared and doing what I do best, formatting and organizing but now that’s kind of done and so on my final day off I’ve been thinking about what to do for these couple of hours. What am I anymore besides work? Do I still have it in me to write? Those sorts of things. And then I’ve been wondering what will happen on June 21 when the website launches and the hard part of my project is over. Will I get comfortable again? Doubtful. I have ambition and goals that need tending to, and there’s so much more to do, but will I give myself time to every now and again switch gears in my head and get back to the fiction? I certainly hope so.

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Gah!

Mar 2, 2011 by Rochelle

Okay, so my friend Jen left me a comment that asked me what is up? Yes, dear friends, I have been such a blog slacker and a project 365 slacker. I have been taking pictures along the way, but I haven’t gotten them off my camera and uploaded and posted (obviously!).

I hate when this happens, because it just keeps building up and then I feel like I can’t blog at all until I get that updated. Terrible! We’ve been down this road.

Truthfully, I am actually struggling with the project right now. I’m finding that because I’m working so much and then crashing out at the end of the day that I don’t have the material. There’s always Mike’s kids to photograph, but that just isn’t really my life to document, you know? So, I’m struggling and I’m relying too much on my iPhone and not my camera. I might have to make this be a Project 52, because that I could succeed at. Anyway, I’m considering all of this.

So what’s been going on? Me – work is great right now. I mean really great. I attended a women’s conference last week in Colorado Springs and what I realized through all of that is that I really have no complaints at all and that I’m really happy. I also realized that I have a great work-life balance. I am completely capable of leaving work at the office and enjoying my home life.

Last weekend, I hung out with my family in Pueblo and we celebrated our birthdays. Since I last blogged I had a birthday! I’m now 32…crazy.

I had such a blast though this past weekend with my family. Both sets of parents (mom/stepdad and dad/stepmom) made these wonderful dinners at their house to celebrate. It was fabulous!

Here’s a little video I took of me blowing out the billion candles on my birthday cake that they couldn’t even get all lit. Yep, 32.

(Ps…the story my sister tells at the beginning of the video is hilarious. She said when she was little after she first saw Aladdin, she thought that maybe my dad ((who is Lebanese)) had outfits like Aladdin wore in his closet).

February was also a month where I basically had a cold the entire time. Yep, it’s the cold that will never die. I should invest in cold medicine.

And now March is here and I feel like this year is already slipping away. As the months go on, I’ll be even more swamped with a huge work project that I’m pushing to implement at the end of June. I seriously need you to send good vibes my way because there is a lot of work to do.

Anyway readers, I love you and miss you and I hope that you haven’t missed me too much. I promise I will try and be better about this!

Ro

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Day 30 – Recruits

Jan 31, 2011 by Rochelle

I got some help with my EJami postcards this weekend. Erica even wanted to see what EJ and Sami are like together. So I pulled up some clips. She said, “I like them together.” I replied, “I know what you mean, kid.”

Day 30 - Recruits

I also organized my pantry and used a shoe organizer like I keep reading about. It’s pretty great.

Day 30 - Recruits

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Day 29 – Breakfast with Mom

Jan 31, 2011 by Rochelle

My mom took me and the roomie and the kids out to breakfast. It was lovely and my mom had a lot of fun with the kids.

Day 29 - Breakfast With Mom

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Day 28 – Portlandia

Jan 31, 2011 by Rochelle

Have you seen this new show? I love it! And I can’t stop singing the song from the first episode, “The dream of the nineties is alive in Portland.” What a fabulous show.

Anyway, Carrie Brownstein was in Sleater-Kinney. One of my favorites from the beginning of the last decade. That makes me extra happy!

Day 28 - Portlandia

Tonight, I got to meet up with my mom for dinner at Mimi’s and then she came over to visit. I showed her the show about coupons. She was fascinated!

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Day 27 – These Days

Jan 31, 2011 by Rochelle

These days are the hardest of Project 365. The days when I just go to work, come home, eat dinner, and watch TV. Nothing happens. And so on those days, I take pictures of my cats.

Day 27 - These Days