moving...simply moving! (and a little more, but don't hold your breath-very little)

too busy, too lazy, or too distracted? or all three? well, let's take a moment to get caught up.

since february, i've been keeping up with product knowledge and personal professional development webinars. then in march there was a quick trip to /////

DISCLAIMER: i had this page all done and ready to go-except photos, and it all got erased. so if i am missing some details as re-do, apologies. i'm not super happy about it either.

as i was saying, i was in dallas for a quick cohort/team meeting and gathering of minds (notice i didn't say what kind of minds, suffice it to say, all those minds were sound...unless of course they were psychopathic...at that point, it's so well hidden, not being a clinician, i wouldn't be able to separate the wheat from the chaff). ←wait, what??? anyhoo. we had a great group and a great session. there was much information, and a lot of valuable collaboration. i really do appreciate the work that went into it, because i know it isn't always easy to put something together, and there is always that desire to put something together that is valuable to the participants, so KUDOS to lori, suzanne and sabrina! thank you!

we had a great time of fellowship both evenings- first at lori's and then at our coo's. beautiful homes with comfortable atmospheres! 

my flight home? well that did not go as planned. but i made it, and in the end that's what matters!

almost immediately after i returned, it was kicked into high gear to move. i moved on april first, after EASTER service. shea and george, her 'uncle' were a great help putting everything in the uhaul, and then we used that as an excuse to go to the swordfish (which, in all honesty, never needs an excuse). when i got home, i put the lock on the uhaul, and wouldn't ya know it, it was too small. a locker lock. the kind you move a dial to open...but it was so tight that i couldn't double click the top part to get it cleared to open it. so, who do you think went to walmart for a cheap bolt-cutter (which i might add i will probably never use again)...that's right, it was me. when i returned, it took me no less than 30 minutes of struggle (wwe smackdown-ish) to finally get through the lock. then to my dismay, i still couldn't get it off, and had to hammer the lock around to the other side to cut through that part! UF. i may frame the metal cutters, because i threw away the lock. 

the next morning, shea and i got up early and took wembley to the sunrise service on the bay, because he really needed to hear the gospel and worship. it was a nice service, mostly music (which i get because they were having services back at the church normal time), but note to self: next year, please bring blanket, as it is chilly on the water!

shea came over and helped me unload everything into the apt and garage area, before taking off for a previously planned engagement adventure. it was a day or two before i was ready to bring the boys over. once we got here, bruno had some issues in the evening, and once again we visited the emergency clinic. it ended up being a bunch of poop. he just had to get a little enema (why does that always make me think of jack nicholson as the joker-thanks, 80s). poor guy, but it did help immensely.

then the furniture came. it's been a long year living on other people's furniture (the rental house was furnished- i stored their beds, because i brought my own, but other than that, it was all theirs). i LOVE my couch and breakfast nook (perfect size for the apt!) fortunately mom and dad were able to make the journey down to visit mid april. we still had some cleaning, nail-hole-spackling, painting, and furniture re-arrangement to do, plus we took out dead bushes and planted new ones and flowers. i probably did..no, i KNOW i did more than i needed to, but i always learned you leave things better than you found them!

i finally turned in the keys and wiped my hands of that place! so happy to be in the apt...and the boys seem to like the cozy comfort as well! i dropped from a 3 bed to a 2 bed/2ba, and we won't have wasted space...i was considering a 3 bedroom apt, one of the rooms for a study, but it wasn't necessary, and there weren't any available on the first floor, with an attached garage-which was a must.

we like the layout better than the house too,  and the laminate-wood floor better than the porcelain tile...

the good thing is that it's in the same area, just a couple minutes closer to the beach for walking!

alright, that's it for the move...i will probably post tomorrow-just a picture journal to catch us up!
goodnight! julie

what do you do? no, like i'm a driver, i DRIVE, what do you do? REALLY?!

remember where we left off? i'd just gotten back from pbi (west palm beach). now that that's out of the way. ju had asked if i might drop her off to pick up a rental car in dallas. well, duh! my life! i think acts of service is one of my love languages (that i give...i am also very good at giving quality time because that is the one i receive the best)..i've tried very hard to get better at noticing what people receive and try to meet those-if you are not familiar with the five love languages, i highly recommend!! the book is great, and here's the quiz! if you want to really connect with people (anyone) this is key!

but i digress...so we went to get the shuttle, and i missed the apparently epic stumble-up-the-stairs...depth perception, ju!! she biffed it-let's blame it on the luggage being top-heavy and throwing her off balance. regardless, smacked her shin and hand (left a mark) and the shuttle driver-pat? kinda' mumbled to ask if she was alright, but didn't lend a hand or make an effort to help with the bags...first day on the job? crack addict? not sure...a little slow. anyhoo, i gave my ticket to the driver and the driver looked at it and said the number. there were others on the shuttle as well, which was probably a good thing because the driver was awk-ward-as-all-get-out. (notice that i have not assigned a sex, as we were a little uncertain? see how i did that?) yeah, so anyway...we were the last ones off, and we kept seeing people give tips, without really being helped, and by the time it was down to us, i wasn't going to, but then in the back of my mind, i was thinking, "shoot, if i don't, will i look racist? or if this person is indeed on some illegal, mood-altering narcotic, i don't want ju to get a shiv in the kidney" i even looked at julie and was like:do i? don't i? of course she was biased, as she was almost hospitalized for the aforementioned mishap...not really, but i'm a sucker, so i doled out two dolla. (you think i jest...) and then wouldn't you know it, this person who was pretending to be a mute the entire 20 minute ride got a second wind and became a chatty chat chatterson...i wasn't trying to start a conversation, because julie had someplace to be, but (now we know it was a girl) she asked a question and i thought it would be rude to be short.
she: what do you do?
me: i'm a trainer.
she: no, i mean, like i'm a driver, i DRIVE. what do YOU do?
me: (scratches head and tilts to the side)umm... well, i'm a trainer. i TRAIN people. on a computer-based reading program. 
she then starts asking all sorts of questions trying to understand. eventually telling us she went to school in louisiana or something like that, when julie told her she went to college at baylor, this lady got ALL excited and started getting passionate about her friend who played ball there. we were finally able to tear ourselves away without an embrace (julie looking at her wrist, as if to be keeping time). 

we were able to avoid traffic for the most part, and i hope she was able to get to her bro's house in time to see her nephew and not run into too much traffic going to meet up with her friend, who just happened to be in town as well.

(sorry ya'all, get the popcorn and settle in, there's more! i mean, that could've been the post in and of itself, but nooooo, i've gotta go and tell you everything!)

on saturday i went furniture shopping with one of my friends- we hit up nebraska furniture mart just to make sure that's NOT what she wanted! and after looking at several couches and taking pics to get a second opinion from mom, we left with a better understanding of what she did not want. most of them were comfortable, and me, the least particular person in the world, didn't get it (not a 100%). i will say this, she'd been talking about a particular couch from pottery barn for the past 9 months, so i had an idea that she wouldn't settle. and she shouldn't-her heart was already set. if you're going to pay money for a big-ticket item, you should get what you really like! so we ended up at pottery barn and she did find the one she wanted! i'm moral support, and i really do like the one that she chose! party at her place in 8-10 weeks!!

after going in on sunday and making the final purchase, i came home and prepared for my trip du jour- monday i'd be taking off for miami-coveted time with sabrina. if you recall, i got to spend a day with her in magnolia about a month or so back-not nearly enough time, so i was really looking forward to this because i'd get to observe in two separate venues. and i was a little anxious, because i was going to get to meet dr. campbell, from ucf. i kept hoping that i'd make the cut with her (always good to have your clients like you, right? exactly! best behavior!) 

so i'll get into that a little more tomorrow, but i will say that i was delighted to find sabrina at love field and i sneaked up behind her at the airport to surprise her, and just kept thinking, "i hope that's her!" as i walked up behind her and you know how you walk up behind someone and cover their eyes and say "guess who?!" well, i DIDN'T think she'd probably appreciate having some stranger in the airport put their hands over her face, but it was something like that...again, i was hoping for the love of all that is good that i did indeed have accurate recall the back of this head! praise Jesus, it was sabrina!

it's always a good flight when you're among friends! (can i say that figuratively-not metaphorically...as there really isn't a metaphor, but there really weren't a lot of friends on this plane so to speak and it would really be hard to be surrounded by one person...and now i'll shut up about that, just know that this is one of the things i appreciate about southwest when i'm traveling with friends-we can sit together and enjoy the trip-and we did! whew! did that tire anyone else out??) we looked at the power point and then played word games-she introduced me to my newest addiction- alphabetty. curses. what do you MEAN i have to wait 2 minutes for a new life?!

so that was that, and when we got to fll, we rented a car and headed for the first part of the trip to miami for our adventure. (by now you know that everything with me is about some sort of adventure, and if an adventure doesn't happen, we're going to make that trip to the grocery store into a freakin' adventure! i didn't grow up watching indiana jones for nothing!)

our rental convertible...lori, that's covered by our rental agreement, right? not really, we had a dodge durango with a personality crisis...almost a diva about stoplights. 

patience, more coming soon.
julie