The long, long post - may cause drowsiness!

Hello from the big city!  I hope that all of you have had a wonderful weekend.  I have been a very busy bee over the past week or so and have unfortunately neglected this poor little blog.  I promise that I am going to be a much better blogger and post more frequently from now on.  Not that you are losing sleep over the fact that you aren't getting your daily dose of what's happening with the country mouse. ;-)  Quite a bit has been happening and to make things simpler, I am going to break this post down into segments:  school, work, fun and driving.  That's right folks - driving.  Just wait until you read how that's been going!  OK...so here we go...

School

If you read my last post, you'll remember that I had a teensy breakdown over school a week or so ago.  Maybe that's normal for everyone in grad school for the first time?  Surely everyone calls home at least once and cries to their mother about how dumb they feel in comparison to everyone else in class?  Don't they?  No, I'm sure I'm probably the only 27 year old that still calls home crying when the going gets tough.  Oh well..at least I can admit it! 

Anyway...I went to class this week with a much more positive attitude (I think I can!  I think I can!) and I walked away feeling so much better than I did last week.  My professors and classmates are all fantastic.  I feel very privileged to be learning from some of the best leaders in the human resources profession.  I am definitely being challenged like I've never been challenged before, but it is such a great feeling.  Don't you think it feels so good when you really put your noggin to the test and achieve something you thought was impossible?  Well, this ol' noggin is being put to work and hopefully it will crank out some good grades this semester! 

After my little meltdown last week, I decided it might be helpful to buy an extra book or two on the basics of HR (you don't get HR 101 at GU!).  So, Lucy (the 3 year old) and I made a special trip to Barnes and Noble last week and we each picked out two books.  Lucy chose "A Bad Case of Stripes" and "Harry the Dirty Dog."  Actually, I sort of coaxed her into choosing "Harry the Dirty Dog" because I loved it when I was little. ;-)  I chose:

Not exactly as entertaining and colorful as Lucy's choices, but very helpful nonetheless!  Lucy asked me what books I picked out and I told her they were just "school books" because I didn't want to say the word "dummy" in front of her.  The last thing I wanted was for her to run home and call someone a dummy!

Even though it's been a little rough starting out, I am so grateful for this opportunity and I am looking forward to learning more and more every week at school.  Thank you Georgetown U. for letting this little mouse be a part of your community!

Work

I honestly feel like I don't deserve to get paid for what I do all day.  Gretchen and Lucy are just so easy it's abnormal!  They are also hilarious...I mean really hilarious.  Some days I am laughing so hard that I think I won't be able to stop!  One of my favorite parts of the day is when we sit down and have lunch together after they get home from pre-school.  They are so excited to tell me about their morning that they can barely stand it.  Those two monkeys LOVE school.  I think they wouldn't care one bit if I dropped them off in the morning and never came back!

Friday is normally our day to have lunch somehwere fun.  Of course we've already done McDonald's...that was first on the their list!  So, on Friday I took them to a cute little area of Bethesda where there is a sandwhich shop that makes their own bread.  The girls were mesmerized watching the man behind the counter knead and stretch the dough over and over again.  He was even sweet enough to bring them a tiny sampling of some freshly baked bread.  We sat outside and enjoyed our PB&J's on artisan flatbread.  They now refer to artisan flatbread as "that good chewy bread."  Afterwards we hit up the park and soaked up some of the good afternoon sunshine.  The girls want so badly to do all of the "big kid" things at the park, but I always have to pull them aside and remind them that the monkey bars are just a little too high for them right now.  Mainly I'm just terrified of one of them getting hurt while I'm on the clock!  Bless their hearts, they are too sweet to even complain.  If it were me at age five and someone told me I couldn't go on the monkey bars, I'd scream and them and tell them I was going on those monkey bars anyway!  Thankfully these precious girls are so understanding of their "nervous nellie" nanny!

Baby O'Brien #3 is due October 29th, so I am enjoying these last few weeks of it being just me and the girls.  Things are definitely going to be changing when the little one arrives!  And I have a feeling I'll be coming home with some pretty funny stories too! 

Fun

Have I been having fun in DC?  YES!  I love DC and have met so many new people!  Everyone has been so welcoming and have included me in all the cookouts, football game get togethers and nights out on the town.  We got together last night to watch the Auburn game and I brought over a big pot of homemade chili for everyone.  My whole apartment still smells like...chili!  Thankfully the Tigers pulled through...WAR EAGLE!

I love the fact that so many people here are from the South.  It definitely makes it feel like a small town inside a big city.  I love the "energy" of the city too.  That may sound a little cheesy, but that's the best way I know to describe it!  There is so much to see and do and I love that the sidewalks are always filled with people.  I think my favorite thing about DC is how walkable it is.  I walk everywhere except to work!  Georgetown is so pretty with it's tree lined streets and row houses.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to drive around here if they could walk instead!  One thing that I have noticed is that just about every other person you see on the street is listening to their ipod.  I never saw this in Birmingham, but probably because you don't walk anywhere very much.  This is definitely a city full of earbuds!  I admit that I've adopted the habit myself, but mainly because I'd rather listen to music than be deafened on the street by the constant beeping of horns and roaring metro buses! 

Speaking of beeping horns....let's move on to the topic of my driving in DC.....you're going to love this.

Driving

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not the world's greatest driver.  I tend to have a lead foot and I need to learn the art of gently applying the brakes when stopping.  I guess it's safe to say I just have lead feet when it comes to all aspects of driving! 

All things considered, the driving in DC really isn't that bad.  You just have to understand that the majority of the folks on the road are in a big hurry and don't care if they shove you out of your lane to get in front of you.  And they will use their horns like it's nobody's business!  People up here love to beep the horn at you, even if you haven't done anything wrong.  I got my feelings hurt the first few days I was here from getting beeped at so much, but I finally decided I would just beep right back at them!  I think the bright pink Alabama breast cancer research tag on my car doesn't help much.  Thank goodness I don't still have the Farming Feeds Alabama tag I had last year!  Folks up here would have a field day with that one. ;-)

Anyway, I'll get to the point (I know this post is ridiculously long and you've got a life to get back to!).  Are you ready?  I've been here a total of five weeks and have already hit TWO cars AND taken out my right side view mirror!  I haven't even had a chance to go to the DMV yet for my car inspection and now I can't pass because my right side view mirror is gone!  The first "hit" was just a minor bump that didn't result in any damage.  I was backing out of a parallel parking spot and "bumped" the car behind me.  The owner was about to get in the car and I was of course completely mortified.  Thankfully, she was very nice and told me not to worry about it.  After all, this is DC and everyone's bumper is pretty much destroyed!

The second "hit" was not quite so minor.  Again, no damage was done, but it was all my fault and it happened on one of the busiest streets in DC...M Street.  M Street is in Georgetown and it is where alot of the the high end retail shops and bars are located.  It is definitely not where you want to have a car accident.  You will make ALOT of people angry if you back up traffic on M Street!  They also get mad if you get stuck in the middle of an intersection.  You know when you just happen to be that last car that's rear end is sticking out enough to prevent the oncoming traffic from going through the intersection?  Well, I got stuck a few weekends ago and the oncoming traffic started beeping at me like crazy.  I panicked and started to back up (without looking first!) and...WHAM!  I backed right into a car crossing over the intersection (think t-bone situation).  I scared me to death!  The other driver and I managed to pull over and amazingly neither of our cars had a scratch on them.  He was driving an older Toyota Forerunner and I have a Honda Accord.  Thank you Toyota and Honda for making such strong vehicles!  The man was so incredibly nice and told me not to worry, that his car was "practically indestructible."  Ha!  I can promise you that I will NEVER back up on M Street (or any street for that matter) again!

Now, for the side view mirror.  I guess it was just a matter of time before I actually did some real damage to my car.  Friday afternoon I was coming home from work and when I turned onto my street, a car came FLYING towards me and I jerked my car over to avoid having a complete head on collision.  Of course there was an entire row of parallel parked cars on my side.  So, I jerked my car over and...WHAP!!  My right side view mirror collided with another car's left side view mirror.  There's was fine, Stewart's was completely destroyed.  Go figure.  So, I parked and walked up and down the street like an idiot looking for the remnants of my poor mirror.  After about ten minutes of searching I finally found it underneath another car....

How many years of bad luck does that equal??  The actual plastic part that holds the mirror in place is still hanging by a thread on my car, but without a mirror in it it's not too helpful.  A trip to the local Honda dealership has been put on the schedule for this week!  And I am pushing my mirrors in every day when I park from now on!

OK...are you tired yet?  Or maybe no one has actually even made it to the end of this post because it was a small novel?  If there is anyone out there who has stuck with me, I promise that my future posts will not be nearly as lengthy as this one! 

Have a wonderful night!

Come on in!

Hello there from the big city!  I hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall day as much as I am.  The weather in DC today is perfect - crisp, cool and sunny.  I just want to light a pumpkin scented candle and snuggle up on the couch with a cup of apple cider and a good book! 

I have been a busy bee this past week and have a very long post in the works that will fill you in on all my latest news.  And...I have also decided to make the blog public!  In the beginning, the idea of sharing my life on the internet for anyone to see scared me, so I made it an "invitation only" blog.  But, several people had trouble with the whole Google password deal and I felt like this was keeping people from reading my precious blog!  And I know all of you out there are just dying to read about the life and times of little ol' me, aren't you?? ;-)  Well, if you are, then come on in and visit awhile and feel free to invite your friends too!

I hear the little monkey's stirring from their naps, so I'd better run.  More later! :-)

I think I can....I think I can....

Have you ever felt like the little engine that could?  Of course you have!  Who hasn't?? ;-)  Well, I definitely feel like the poor little engine struggling at the bottom of the hill.  Actually, I feel more like the little engine that fell off the tracks and crashed and burned!  If I've learned one thing in DC so far, it is that graduate school at Georgetown University is tough...really tough.  I knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park, but I didn't think I'd walk out of class feeling completely clueless as to what was just taught over the last three hours.  Here are my thoughts from a few hours ago:  "Franchise taxes?  Revenue vs. expenses?  Succession planning?  Inclusion management?  Could you run that by me one more time professor??  Dude, what did you say?? HUH???"  Yep, that's about what I was thinking tonight during class....just a big fat "huh?"  I just had a big fat question mark floating over my head.  If you've ever felt this way before when trying to learn something, you know how unbelievably frustrating it is.  I hadn't even been home from class five minutes and I was already emailing the professor asking for help.  I hope he is going to take pity on this poor little country mouse who knows NOTHING about business finance and inclusion management!  Even after reading and outlining each chapter ever so carefully, I still feel like I'm not "getting it". 

Of course after I finished emailing my professor I called home and cried to my mother with the hopes of her taking pity on her pitiful daughter, but all I got was "You need to adjust your attitude and not act so defeated after only three weeks of school.  Think of yourself as the little engine that could!"  Normally my first instict would be to scream when she came out with the ol' little engine that could line (how many times have we all heard that one!), but for some reason this time it actually was comforting and encouraging.  OK, so maybe I feel lost and stupid right now, but this is graduate school and it's not supposed to be easy.  Maybe I'm having trouble and don't like admitting it, but that's just life.  So, I have decided to take the little engine that could theory and truly put it to the test!  A little cheesy maybe, but at this point I'm willing to be the cheesiest of cheeses if it will keep me from flunking out of grad school!  Every day I am going to wake up and tell myself "I think I can, I think I can...I know I can!"  And every day I'm going to envision my little engine inching it's way closer to the top of the hill.  Yes, I am going to be taking this inches, not feet!  I'm also going straight to Barnes & Noble tomorrow and buying every "for dummies" book I can find on business finance, taxes, budgeting, human resources, succession planning, etc!  My textbooks aren't going to cut it...they aren't exactly written in "dummy" format with an index of key terms in the back. ;-) 

OK, now that I've had a good cry and felt really sorry for myself and blogged about it I'm going to go to bed and wake up tomorrow a positive little engine.  I think I can...I think I can....and I hope you think I can too! :-)

Night night!

Moving right along

Happy Friday to you!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful week.  My week has been ALOT better than last week!  Really...ALOT.  Dropping down to six hours in school really has made a huge difference in my overall mental state!  Last week I was a good candidate for the psych ward.  While the six hours I have are by no means a breeze, I am thankful I now have an extra night of the week to study...or just relax. ;-) 

Gretchen and Lucy started preschool on Tuesday at Chevy Chase United Methodist Church.  They were so excited.  You would have thought we were taking them to Disney World!  Gretchen's mother told me that Gretchen came into their bedroom at 6:30AM dressed and ready to go.  Of course school didn't start until 10AM!  We all went to school and met the teachers and other children in the classes.  Each class is designated by a particular type of bird....Gretchen is an Eagle and Lucy is a Robin.  I had the best time sitting back and watching them introduce themselves to the other children and explore their new classrooms.  Tuesday was just a "get to know you" day for one hour, so Thursday and today were their actual first full days of school (9AM-12PM).  Have you ever picked up a child from school and had them run towards you like you were their most favorite person on the planet?  If not, it will make you feel like a million dollars!  When they see me outside the door they run to me and give me the biggest hugs.  And today I got a hug plus a beautiful picture from Gretchen.  It was a princess that she colored...complete with blonde hair like me.  So today I felt like supernanny and a princess...hard to beat that isn't it? :-)

In other news, I am hosting a study group at my house this Sunday afternoon for one of my classes.  Five of us have been assigned a group project that is due in November.  Thankfully everyone in our group is a "get it done early" type!  My apartment just happened to be the most "central" location for everyone and it is much more inviting and pleasant than the Georgetown U. library.  Of course I am going to provide homemade appetizers because that is what a southern lady should do, right?  What kind of a hostess would I be if I didn't provide finger sandwiches and tea to sip?  Haha...I think it will be more like chips and salsa and cheese dip! 

I'm off to do a little studying and then maybe I might sneak out and see what's happening on the town.  Until next time, have a wonderful weekend!

Sometimes you just need a hug

Have you ever thought about just how much a hug can help when you're having a bad day?  Needless to say, the past two weeks have been just a tad stressful for me and I've been in serious need of a hug!  Well, the two precious little girls that I am nannying for (Gretchen (5) and Lucy (3)) have definitely provided me with all of the hug medicine anybody could need in the last few days!  Every morning this week I walked in the door to work and the girls hugged me like they hadn't seen me in years. It really feels good to know that you're needed too, doesn't it?  :-)

The girls and I had a big day yesterday (Thursday).  I took them to the park, out to lunch and to the bookstore where they each got to pick out a book.  They were in heaven!  Lucy ordered spaghetti at lunch.  At first I almost didn't let her because I knew what a disastrous mess it would make, but I couldn't resist the excitement on her face when I told her spaghetti was on the child's menu.  Naturally she wanted to feed herself without any help from me.  And naturally, she ended up with spaghetti all over her hands, arms and face.  I looked at her when she finished and couldn't help but laugh at the way she was covered in spaghetti sauce.  The sweetheart looked at me with the biggest smile, stretched out her little arms and started to lean forward to give me a hug.  I yelped "No Lucy!  You'll get spaghetti sauce all over me!"  Well folks, you would have thought the poor thing had lost her best friend.  Her eyes teared up and her bottom lip started quivering...it was so sad!  I laughed and told her that I would love nothing more than a hug, but that I didn't need to have spaghetti sauce stains all over my shirt.  She understood, but as soon as I got her all cleaned up she gave me that big ol' hug!  It really made my heart melt. 

So, if you're having a bad day or just feeling blah, tell somebody to give you a hug! :-)

I'm still here...but barely!!

Hello all!  I am so sorry that I am just now updating you on my first big week in DC!  The internet at my apartment was down for the past few days and it just came back up.  Thank goodness!  I have felt lost without it!

So, my first week in DC has been...well...honestly...TOUGH.  REALLY TOUGH to be perfectly honest.  Homesickness hit pretty hard my first day here and unfortunately it hasn't disappeared completely.  When I realized that I really did move to DC and am no longer within driving distance of my friends and family it hit me like a ton of bricks.  If any of you have ever been truly homesick, you know what I'm talking about.  It is the worst!  I've probably cried enough tears to fill up the Potomac River!  My face has looked very similar to this little gal's over the past several days (Miss Sarah Alabama Coxwell):

On top of the homesickness, things haven't gone as smoothly as I had hoped with my new job and school.  The family that I am nannying for is great.  They have been so kind and welcoming and their girls are precious.  Unfortunately, the transition from working in an office setting to being a full time nanny has been much more difficult than I expected.  It may sound like a piece of cake, but taking care of children all day is pretty exhausting!  I'm sure you mother's out there reading this can relate very easily!  It has also made me miss my former co-workers at JSPB tremendously. I was so homesick and upset my first day at work last week and it was tough not having my "second family" around to get me through the day. How many of you out there have cried because you wished your old boss was there to pat you on the back and tell you everything is going to be ok? ;-)  Things have gotten better this week and the girls and I are starting to get more comfortable with each other. They start school next week (they will go for a half day in the mornings) and I think that will really help us get a good routine established.  It's been raining here every day this week, so we've spent ALOT of time inside. Again, you mother's out there know that this can be tough!  Aside from all the first week blips on the radar, I really am very thankful to have such a good job and I think I will definitely look back a few months from now and laugh at how upset I was in the beginning!

Now, I'm sure you're wondering if I'm making all A's in my classes and literally blowing Georgetown U away with my brilliance. ;-)  When I was accepted into the program I registered for three classes, which counts as nine hours of credit.  Most people take two classes at the most, but I wanted to quality for the student health insurance and you had to take nine hours in order to do so.  Let's just say that after hitting a few bumps in the road I went to the dean's office today and was advised to definitely drop down to six hours!  I think that will make a huge difference in all the pressure and stress I've felt since I've been here.  I guess I'm learning the hard way what the consequences of trying to overdo it can be.  Don't you just love those fun life lessons like that? 

On a much, much lighter note, I've met so many nice and fun people since I've been here!  And all of them (except for those in my classes) are from the South!  I had such a fun weekend meeting new people and they were all so encouraging and welcoming.  I am looking forward to another fun weekend of meeting more people....after I've spent some time in the library of course! ;-)

Well, this little mouse is tired and ready to hit the hay.  I hope all of you are doing great and I definitely be back sooner next time now that things are starting to fall into place here in the big city.

Sweet dreams!

 

A long way from the country

Hello there!  Well, I finally arrived in DC yesterday at around 1PM!  That was one LONG car ride.  Very pretty, but LONG!  I definitely won't be making any car trips back down south anytime soon. ;-)  I was completely convinced that I could make the drive in one day.  Thankfully, my parents insisted on reserving a hotel room for me in Christiansburg, VA (close to VA Tech).  I thought I would be so "journey proud" that I would just whiz right by Christiansburg without even blinking, but by the time I got there my head felt like a ton of bricks!  I got a good night's sleep and only had a short three hour drive to DC yesterday morning.  Driving into the city was almost surreal.  I couldn't believe that I had really driven all the way from Monroeville, AL to Washington, DC!

All day yesterday and last night I was a complete nervous wreck about starting work and going to my first class today.  Well, the mother of the children I am nannying for called this morning and told me to take the day to rest and regroup and to come in on Thursday instead.  Wasn't that so nice of her?  I wanted to jump through the phone and give her a hug for the few extra hours sleep she had just given me!  I spent the day reading over my homework assignment for class (yep, an assignment before the first day of class!) and praying that I wouldn't forget everything in the fifty pages of material we had to read.  Well, at 5:45 I packed up my brand new book bag (courtesty of my old boss - thanks Tom!) and headed out to class.  Unfortunately, class was to be held at a Georgetown U. office on M Street, which is the main drag that contains alot of the posh retail shops in Georgetown.  Naturally lots of posh, pretty people walk up and down M Street going in and out of these shops.  Can you see me right in the middle of them with my fifty pound book bag on my back?  Believe me when I tell you I was the ONLY person on M Street with a book bag!  I probably wouldn't have looked so ridiculous if I hadn't filled the thing with:  all of my books (even the ones I didn't need for this class), three legal pads, a three ring binder, a laptop, about fifty pens and highlighters and a thirty ounce water bottle!  I thought that if I kept everything in my book bag at all times that I would never forget to bring anything with me to class.  Forget that!  I think I'll be taking just the necessities for each class with me from now on.  Maybe my book bag won't stick out five feet behind me and I won't hunch over while trying to walk!  Hopefully I'll be looking a little more "posh" for class next Tuesday. :-)

While I am so excited about being here and starting out on this new adventure in life, I have to admit that I am already feeling pretty homesick and scared.  I realized this morning that I really am a long way from my friends and family.  I can't just jump in the car and come home whenever I want to anymore.  That's a pretty hard pill to swallow for me.  I've never lived this far from home before, so I guess these feelings are normal.  They certainly don't feel good though.  I spent alot of the day bursting into tears and then stopping and then bursting into tears again.  It was pretty pitiful!  Despite how rotten it feels to be homesick, I'm thankful that I have such wonderful family and friends to be homesick for!  And I know that adjusting to a new place with new people just takes time.  Hopefully my adjustment time will be short! ;-) 

Well, this homesick little country mouse is about to turn in for the night.  Tomorrow really will be a big day and I can't afford to be sleepy with two little girls to take care of from 8AM-5PM.  I will post again tomorrow with a full report on how the day goes!

Sweet dreams to you!