As for my herb basket... I need to have a talk with my parsley. When I planted everything at the same time, parsley and rosemary refused to grow. Basil and thyme were just fine (must. stop. rhyming). So I replanted the parsley and rosemary. Parsley has slightly overcompensated for its initial lackadaisical growth and is now taking over! Poor thyme is being squished into the corner! After Memorial Day, I'll get another planter and spread them out some more. In the meantime, the basil smells AMAZING. Everyday after work I go out and inhale the delicious aromas! Love it!
Yesterday was a momentous day in my life. Finally, after 5 long weeks of love and care and daily monitoring, I was able to eat my very first home-grown strawberry! It was glorious, juicy and delicious. I want to buy about ten more plants and fill my balcony with strawberries for the summer! I have another berry that is probably "done cooking" today and ready to eat. Then I have about a dozen or so who are getting bigger and bigger by the day!
As for my herb basket... I need to have a talk with my parsley. When I planted everything at the same time, parsley and rosemary refused to grow. Basil and thyme were just fine (must. stop. rhyming). So I replanted the parsley and rosemary. Parsley has slightly overcompensated for its initial lackadaisical growth and is now taking over! Poor thyme is being squished into the corner! After Memorial Day, I'll get another planter and spread them out some more. In the meantime, the basil smells AMAZING. Everyday after work I go out and inhale the delicious aromas! Love it!
0 Comments
Last weekend, Sean, Malomar and I went to our second Nationals game for Pups in the Park. Three times a year, the Washington Nationals open the ballpark up to owners and their dogs to come see a game. We went last July and it was blazing hot, so I picked an early season game this year! It wasn't the prettiest day, but our seats were covered so we didn't get rained on. The Pups in the Park event is always a lot of fun. There are vendors and lots of free goodie bags to be had. Malomar came home with lots of new treats, kibbles and dog food! They even have a large area with a real grass turf brought in to serve as the restroom for the pups. I made Mar a little Nationals bandana which earned him some big screen time! When he wasn't posing for the adoring cameramen, Malomar laid down under the seats and slept. Sean and I enjoyed watching all the other dogs, I'd say there was easily 100+ dogs in attendance. It really is a great event and I recommend anyone with a dog in the DC area check it out! Unfortunately at this game, the Nationals fell to the Marlins.
Recently, I started to think about my Bucket List. What are things I hope to accomplish before I kick the bucket? I started to write. And write. And write. (My mother would be proud.) I realized that it was far too much for one post. Considering the goal of this blog is to examine how I live with intention, I probably shouldn't jam up my life's intentions into one teeny post. So going forward, every Friday will be Bucket List Friday. I'll do a little inward thinking and come up with a new goal for my life each week. Today's first item is rather lengthy, so without further ado...
1. Become really good at my job. I know that sounds rather absurd but I’ve realized I need to make it happen. I had a rather inspiring certification class this week and think I may have finally found my work calling. I specify it’s my “work” calling and not my “life” calling because let’s be honest, stuck behind a desk 9-5pm for the rest of my life is not on my Bucket List. But since I haven’t married my prince yet, hell, I haven’t even found him yet, I should probably get serious about this whole career-thing. I realize I’ve had several career “ideas” over the past few years so many may be taking this at face value. Fair enough, but allow me to explain. I did the teaching thing- which don’t get me wrong- it’s still on my radar. Just not right now. I always said teaching is something I want to do once I have kids and want to “settle down” a bit. While I’m here in Washington DC I want to get as much experience I can in the industry. Consulting has been extremely rewarding but it’s also demanding and I may not want to do it forever. I’m also still pursing photography and have never claimed to think I’ll make a full time career of it (but gosh that would be lovely!). It’s something that I enjoy and love to do for myself and at best, would love to do it as a side job. If I am ever afforded the luxury of pursing my “life” calling instead of my “work” calling, photography will be it. That said, as my official “work” calling, I’d like to become an IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Expert. For the 99.99% of you who have no idea what that means, it’s basically an expertise in Information Technology (IT) Service Operations. According to the official website for ITIL, “ITIL is the most widely adopted approach for IT Service Management in the world. It provides a practical, no-nonsense framework for identifying, planning, delivering and supporting IT services to the business. ITIL has been adopted by thousands of organizations worldwide, such as NASA, the UK National Health Service (NHS), HSBC bank and Disney™. ITIL is also supported by quality services from a wide range of providers including examination institutes, accredited training providers and consultancies, software and tool vendors and well known service providers such as IBM, Telefonica, HP and British telecom (BT).” http://www.itil-officialsite.com/AboutITIL/WhatisITIL.aspx Allow me to explain a little further for those not in the wonderful world of IT consulting. When you log on to Facebook or any of your favorite technology platforms, there is an enormous amount of coding and procedures constantly happening behind the scenes to keep everything up and running smoothly. Sometimes upgrades need to be made or bugs need to be fixed and they require a lot more work than most people realize. Hours, days, weeks, sometimes months can go into a single change. It takes teams of people to code, test the code, and analyze the impacts and risks. And it takes a few Service Operations people to keep those teams on track and on target. It’s a grueling process but I find it rewarding and engaging and think a career in IT Service Operations is where I’m headed. The class I had this week was wonderful. I found it so applicable to what I do every single day in my job and think that if I continue learning the process and best practices, my performance and work quality can only improve. And that’s always a good thing. At the end of the class we took a certification exam which was hard, but I felt prepared. Fingers crossed that I pass, so I don't feel like a dolt for writing this post! So that’s my item for this week’s Bucket List. I’ve found something that I would love to do in my career, and now it’s time to master it. UPDATE: I passed the exam! I'm officially certified in ITIL Foundations. Hooray! In honor of my best friend finally realizing I even have a blog, I'm writing a celebratory post about our upcoming trip to Europe! (Sidenote: At first I sent her to livewithintention.weebly.com and she asked me why I was blogging about needy children. Not that it isn't a worthy cause, but let's be honest, my needy pets are enough for me to handle right now. Lesson Learned: Know the name of your own blog before giving it out to people.)
My dear friend Diana and I took our first trip to Las Vegas last February (2010), after a particularly generous tax refund from Uncle Sam. It was her first time, my... 4th? 5th? I'm starting to develop a strategy with Vegas First Timers. That strategy being: they need to go back a second time. The first trip to Vegas is overwhelming. If you've never been, you simply cannot comprehend it. Vegas is always open. It's a 24/7 Disney World for adults. You can get a drink in one casino and sip your drink walking down the street to the next casino. There are no rules. It's glorious. It sparkles. It is complete sensory overload (even for a veteran like me). And yes, for a first timer it is overwhelming. You cannot possibly see or take in all Vegas has to offer. Which is why after you get your bearings on Trip 1, you need a follow up Trip 2 to really dive in and learn what you love about Sin City. That said, Diana and I had a great time on her maiden voyage to Vegas. I taught her to play Blackjack and she really held her own! We went to fancy restaurants, had makeovers at the spa and drank enormous margaritas on The Strip. We took pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower and ate chocolate delicacies at the new Aria Hotel and Casino in City Center. We watching the dancing fountains at the Bellagio and stayed up until the wee hours of the mornings. But now she needs to go back. But before she goes back to Vegas, Miss D is joining me in a fabulous trip to Europe! (I feel like the announcer on the Price is Right.) Always my reliable travel buddy, she booked her ticket last week to join me as I travel to Germany and Spain for a college friend's wedding. We'll stay with Rob and Dave for most of the trip and travel locally around Germany. Then the final few days we'll jump over to Madrid and down to Sevilla for the wedding. It should be a really great trip and I'm excited for her to see my home away from home. I'm sure there will be antics, there always are when D and I travel together. The trip is at the end of September so look forward to some great pictures and even better stories! Enjoy a few pictures below from our adventures in Vegas... Much to my elation, my strawberry plants are starting to produce berries!! They're still in the green seedy phase, but they're growing fast. I suspect in about 2 weeks they will be big red strawberries! Now I'm afraid I won't ever want to eat them because I've put such love and time into growing them, they're practically part of my family.
And on that note, let me get going on my next post, which will be named "My life is pathetic." |