Where I have been

Well, I've been around since I obviously blog each week. However, I haven't posted updates on anything I've done lately. I get so caught up on the theme posts that I forget about everything else.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we drove 7.5 hours to SC to visit my father-in-law and his family. We hadn't seen them in almost 2 years, so it was nice to visit with them again. We also got to see my husband's grandmother a couple of times. She was confused a lot of the time and kept falling asleep. However, she recognized my older son and seemed happy to see both kids. I'm glad we sent her pictures in the past so that she knew what to expect. We had a lot of water time over the weekend between the pool and the water park. My older son loved being in the water, but my younger son refused to go in the pool and took a while to actually like the water park. And since my father-in-law has teenage girls, they were able to watch the boys so the adults could go out for dinner. It was nice catching up without being interrupted every few minutes. My father-in-law has 2 cats and my younger son was obsessed with one of them. He followed him all over the house and kept getting in his face.

Work is still going well. I still like it after 6 months. Things have been busier lately with the fiscal year coming to an end soon. I like being able to contribute to the greater good in any way possible. My organization had its annual meeting in early June at an old style movie theater. It was a neat venue for the meeting and I enjoyed being able to assist at the event. I stuck around for part of the meeting after my duties there were finished. Last week, there was a party for our CEO, who is leaving soon, and a social gathering at Dave and Buster's. It's nice to talk to my coworkers in a different setting. I usually tend to flock to the same people, but it's hard to find time to catch up at work. We're all in different parts of the office. I also saw two coworkers at a women's event at a nearby shul this past weekend. (I'll discuss the event in another blog post soon.)

This past week, my husband and I went to Wolf Trap (the Ravinia of VA) to hear Harry Connick Jr. perform. We didn't actually see him perform, but it was nice to bring a picnic and sit on the lawn and just listen. It was just nice to be on a date again. The only thing that bothered me was that a lot of other people on the lawn were talking loudly while Harry was singing or talking. It's one thing to talk before the show, but another to talk throughout. One woman was even on her cell at one point and then repeated her whole conversation to the person sitting by her. It made me wish that Wolf Trap had the same "quiet" policy as Ravinia.

I've been focusing a lot on Chick Lit Central, the Facebook group I created to discuss all things chick lit related. I also keep a blog for the group and run author interviews and book giveaways through it. I am very passionate about this group and am looking for ways to keep it fun and interesting. I recently had a conversation with someone that helped me think of ways to handle what and how often I post on my wall or other walls. It pushed me to think outside the box in regards to how I run the group and I appreciate the insights from the person with whom I spoke. I want to keep things as positive and upbeat as I possibly can for the group and hope my new "guidelines" will help in that effort.

I had a really nice Shabbat yesterday. It started with lunch at a friends' house, where I enjoyed getting to know them better. Then I went to a women's event that I referenced earlier and will discuss in another blog. Afterward, I stopped by our next door neighbor's house, as my husband and kids were hanging out there. Then another neighbor came over to our house with her kids later and stayed till after Shabbat ended. We had a nice conversation and it helped the last hour before the end of Shabbat feel less like it was dragging. I love being able to visit with friends on Shabbat. It's something I was hoping for when we moved here and I haven't been disappointed yet. :)

Today was nice. I took my older son swimming in the morning. They had a women and children (boys 5 and under) only swim. We stayed for about an hour and my older son had such a nice time. In the afternoon, we went to a minor league baseball game. It was fun. The last time I was at a baseball game was to see the Cubs on my older son's first birthday. I'm glad we went later in the game this time because both kids were getting antsy by the end and it was really hot out. We were with our next door neighbor and his two sons. Then we all had a barbecue at our house. It was a nice way to spend Father's Day.

I'm hoping this week will be low key. Maybe it will allow time for me to start writing the short story for the contest in Family Circle magazine. I have an idea in my head and am still playing around with it. I'm also supposed to meet a local author at the end of the week. I'm really looking forward to that!

Recent movies I've seen:
"An Education": Disappointing, compared to what I was expecting. Good acting though.

"The Princess and the Frog": Liked the old school Disney feel but not my favorite. Songs were not that memorable.

"The Invention of Lying": Very clever and funny. I definitely recommend it.

"Leap Year": Cute, but predictable. I like Amy Adams though.

"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus": I didn't like it and found it confusing. It put me to sleep too.

"My Life in Ruins": Really cute and better than I expected. Lots of funny parts.

"Dear John": Decent book adaptation, but slow at times. Good music though.

"When in Rome": Cute, but silly. A light chick flick that men can also enjoy.

I know this post was long. Goes to show how bad I am at keeping people up on my life. Thanks for hanging in there!