“Whacha Reading?” Wednesday

 

I read a lot of articles, I read mostly about business development, human resources, and employment trends. I know this doesn’t interest everyone, but I thought I would at least start to archive some of these articles on a weekly blog post. I also have lot of friends and family members who are in the market for a job. I’m hoping some these posts will help some people along in their journey

8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees

Linked-In is Disrupting the Corporate Recruiting Market

The Wise and the Foolish

The Map Has Been Replaced By The Compass

And for fun… I found this Cost of Living Calculator on Pay Scale

Cost Of Living Calculator

The Mountain Top

Saturday we took a drive to the top of our mountains. I feel like the mountains are kind of part of the family around here. They are always watching over us. Whether we’re driving to work or playing outside the mountains are here. Usually I forget about the mountains or take them for granted, but as soon as I find myself on flatter land I realize, ”something is missing from this landscape”.

Looking down from the mountains the world seems smaller, problems seem less important, and stress blows away like the clouds.

These are my mountains. They’ll always be home.

 

So close to the clouds it feels like you can jump up and grab them!


A little hike!

 

We calibrated the location of our house.
On the picture to the left, we’re at the base of the mountain on the left.

I didn’t even notice the crazy graffiti until after I took the pictures, kind of ironic.

Update

 

I’m reading this book:

I’m taking a graduate class from this school:

My OneWord365 is:

Character

I like this quote:

I’m looking forward to visiting:

It’s a New Year!

No your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, after a nearly two months hiatus—I’m back!

The holidays are over and although we were “glad to see them come” we were equally “glad to see them go” (borrowed quote from my Papa, who these same sentiments to describe his feelings about visits from relatives).
At the close of the year Matthew and I had lots to reflect on. It wasn’t that this year was necessarily a bad year, in fact, we had a pretty great year (bought a house, ran a half marathon, promotions, etc.). What made 2011 so difficult was that so many people around us were in the midst of life-changing obstacles. In most cases there was nothing we could do to change the situation, but it didn’t stop us from wishing things were different. At the same time we have had to learned that difficult situations are sometimes the best (and only) teachers.

I think I am still processing a lot of the lessons of 2011. But one thing I didn’t have to process at all was that I was relieved to have the opportunity for a new start. Not just for myself, but for everyone I know that wished 2011 would have turned out a little (or a lot) differently.
As for resolutions. I have one.

1. I want more moments like this.


On another non-resolution (but slightly related) note I want to identify one word to define my year. I got the idea from this site OneWord365 and I think it’s a great.

I need some time to think about what my word will be, but I will be sure to update as soon as I have it. See, I already have a topic for my next post, so I’ll definitely be back!

Hasta luego.

November

What a month you’ve been November! Changes, victories, accomplishments, and stepping out into the great unknown. I’m hitting the highlights of this month but I hope to update more often in December—we shall see…

I won a scholarship. Matthew passed a Microsoft certification test.

I was offered a new, and completely unfamiliar position at my company. Matthew is learning some new skills to add to his existing genius.

I ate some good meals. Matthew did too.

I finished a Thanksgiving Day 5K. Matthew got to sleep in.


We put up our Christmas tree, and BOTH avoided all Black Friday crowds. 

I’m attempting to keep this post short, but if there’s one thing that I could not have gone without this November it would be the support and love of the most generous, kind, and thoughtful husband on the planet.

Thank you for keeping our home peaceful and encouraging me in the chaos of this month.

I love you!

Memory [Card] Lane

 

This post is written in honor of my old Verizon touch screen phone. She was finally laid to rest yesterday in a bubbled wrapped lined manila envelope. She will be returning to the place from which she came (I will be receiving a $100 Verizon gift card—sweet!).

I am learning to love again as I have replaced old phone with an Iphone (yes, I am still in awe).  I felt it was proper to pay homage to my trusty cell phone of the past 2 years with this little montage of extremely random pictures of all good times we had together.

This picture actually predates my old phone, but I sent it to my old phone from my old old phone. This was Matthew in his bachelor days—he’s thankful I rescued him!  


A musty picture of Lake Julian pier. Date and time unknown.

A picture of my friend Mallory’s name in the graduation pamphlet. Hurray Mallory!!

Our first apartment and HUGE snow! 2009.

Memories from my days at UNCA. To the left a classic UNCA college T-shirt. To the right the actual computer I used to document research.

The cutest and smartest little girl that I had the pleasure of babysitting. 2009-2010.



This picture is from May 2010 when I walked into the office of Earth Fare for my first “real” job interview. The ceiling lights on the elevator were amazing and if I didn’t get the job I at least wanted to remember how cool the elevator was.

I got the job! This was my first office space!

    
The memory of the shattered glass door….and the basketball coach campaign.

Church in Motion on location in Asheville, NC. Our first venue was an old church building in downtown.

Winter in our new apartment 2010.

Christmas Tree apartment 2010. Annual reunion Christmas party. Excitement!!

Early 2011 RITA’s opened in Asheville. Grand Opening Matthew won a gallon of Italian ice….which we never finished.

Our house we dreamed up March/April 2011.

Settler's of Catan. Game Nights! 2011

Our friends on the cover of a local magazine!

Ramble Run 12K. My first “real” race.

Asheville Citizen Times Half Marathon. 2011

Baby Juliet Born Sept. 19 2011.

 

The past two years have flown by. Glad I at least capture some of the moments that made me smile—even if they were completely random!

Mission Accomplished!

 

Back in May I finished my 1st 12K race (see the “proof” here). After the race I got the crazy idea to run a Half-Marathon. With some encouragement from my running pal and best amiga Lara. I decided that it just might be possible. 

So I trained. I ran up mountains, and hills, through trails, and parks I even had a run-in with a black bear.  The funny thing about distance running is that you have to allot for a significant amount of time if you going to run a significant amount of miles. Between moving into a new house, traveling, work, and a number of other time zappers my running schedule was mediocre at best.  Despite my best efforts I was never able to free up more than an hour and a half to run and the longest I ever made time to run was 10 miles.

The morning of race day I was apprehensive. I wasn’t even sure I could run 13.1 miles, much less run the infamous hills of the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon. 

My only goal: to finish the race, and not to stop running.

     
                                    
My company was a sponsor of the race so I proudly sported our shirts!

 

Matthew came as my biggest fan, and documented the entire event.

I ran with a water fueling belt so that I wouldn’t have to stop for water at the water stations. It worked really well and helped me not to slow down. I also filled it up with jelly beans and energy fruit snacks for a quick power boost. Thanks mom and Bekah!

The race was huge. Over 1,200 people ran the half marathon.

But despite the turn out there could only be ONE PERSON to finish in 710th place and that person was ME!

Ok, the number might not sound impressive to you but what it means to me is that I finished a Half Marathon in 2 hours and 4 minutes. That’s 9.27 minute miles! A personal best!

As impressed as I was with my own results my friend Lara’s race results tops it all.
She finished the 5K in under 40 minutes 9 months pregnant and greeted me at the finish line. 


And there you have it—I reach the finish line and more importantly reached a goal that I wasn’t even sure was attainable. I am thankful for the ability to run and the support and encouragement that I had the whole way through.

Mission Accomplished.