Working 9-5 & The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So I made it through my first week at work! It wasn't as hard waking up and getting my shit together to go to work as I thought it would be. It probably helped that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week and I've been waiting for the bus and walking to work in the sunshine, too! I might be less happy to leave the house if it was rainy and cold!

I've been taking everyone's advice of making sure all my clothes are laid out the night before and anything I need is already in my bag. I've been trying not to wake up NBH and BB so I've been using the guest room like my vanity and doing my hair and make-up in there before I leave. My only problem is getting my hair to look cute. More and more I'm convinced I need to do something different with my hair; I wanted it crazy long forever but now that it is it is more crazy than long if you know what I mean. If anyone has any style tips for fine hair that are quick and easy send them my way!

Work itself has been good. It is really great to be working with an organization where so many people are excited and enthusiastic about social media. I spent most of this week trying to get my head around things and attending a lot of meetings but towards the end I started to plan future activity  with another colleague. Next week I'll be sitting down to talk about work load and work plans and I'll have a better idea of what my day to day might look like.

There are lots of different lunch options around my office and I ended up with a huge new stash of nail polishes after wandering into Superdrug on my lunch break. Normally if I'm in a drug store I run in and out and NBH hates how I can window shop for ages so it was nice to leisurely check out different polishes. Wow that sounds really lame but it was nice!

I was worried about missing Blondie Boy's school show but then I decided to ask if it was okay to take a late lunch so I could see him. Luckily my new office is super office friendly and it was not a problem at all!

The show was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and Blondie Boy was three plums! Cutest three plums you've ever seen right? The children all sang a few songs and then "acted" out the story of the hungry caterpillar before singing a song about a butterfly. Blondie Boy however spent 80% of the time like this:

He never chews his hands and sings all day every day so why he sat with his hands in his mouth who knows! The head teacher came up to say how he sang all the time and we were like oh yes we know! He knows all the words to every song on the Cars soundtrack and we have to listen it any time we're in the car! He did act out some parts and it was super cute though and I'm glad I didn't have to miss it! I know not being able to attend school events can happen to a lot of working moms so I was glad that was not something I had to deal with just yet!

So far my working life has been okay and everyone seems really nice! I've got two days in the office next week before we are off to Spain on vacation and then when I get back I'm off to Brit Mums Live and The BiBs! Two days after that it's my birthday--June is going to be a bit hectic to say the least without even adding in the new job! 


Let's be friends! Find me here:

WAHM+Toddler=Boring Blog

I will admit I've been slightly neglecting my blog but I swear it is for good reasons. Y'all know I'm a WAHM (work at home Mom) and honestly juggling a toddler and work doesn't always leave me tons of time for writing especially now that Blondie Boy is older and coupled with the fact that I've got more work.


Don't get me wrong more work is awesome. I'm really lucky that I've found my niche and created a career for myself that I truly love. It may seem weird that I'm saying this since I work from my couch but I'm a people person. I like to talk to people and help people and though it isn't face to face that is what I'm doing. Throw in some event planning, copy writing and a bunch of other stuff I'm not listing off (my resume is on LinkedIn if you are that interested) and that is what I do day to day.


I really love my clients, too. They are great people to work with and believe in me which is a wonderful feeling. I have some new projects in the pipeline too that I'm super excited about as well. When people used to ask me if I wanted to move back to the USA I said yes but it depended on the job market. Now I say eventually but my career is here right now.


I'm not sure where I'm going with this now other than to say I'm sorry if my blog is getting boring or if I don't write as much anecdotal stuff any more but I promise I'm really going to try. If I don't it is only because I'm working my tushie off (wouldn't it be great if work really shrunk your ass?) or I'm playing my tushie off with Blondie Boy.


Please accept some Blondie Boy cuteness for your viewing pleasure as an apology:

Jet Set Bebe

If you could get frequent flyer miles in utero, this baby would probably have a return domestic flight by now! We've done two return flights to London, return flights to Bangkok via Dubai, return flights Bangkok to Koh Samui and today we are going down to Bristol.



This is my last flight for this pregnancy and I had to get a letter from my doctor saying I was "allowed" to fly. I find this slightly patronizing, but I'm flying Easy Jet and with most low cost airlines, they don't make things simple. In this case any woman more than 28 weeks pregnant needs a letter saying they are fit to fly.

I'm just down for one day for a conference and back up Friday night. Nothing exciting; I know some people think travelling for work is glamorous, but when you work for a charity it means cheap flights and even cheaper hotels, so nothing posh. It does mean I will accrue more TOIL (time off in lieu; time back rather than overtime) and have enough to take the day before NBH's aunt's wedding off as well as make my last day the 15th of December, rather than a half day on the 16th.

Seriously? I hate buses.

I took my time getting ready this morning because I'm off to Parliament tonight for another cross-party meeting. I was maybe running 5 minutes late after doing my "fancy" work makeup, actually styling my hair and accessorizing, so I was feeling pretty good.

I got to the bottom of the street and saw my bus across the road, not even 50 ft away. So I started to run down and waved at the bus driver as I looked both ways to try and cross the street.

The bus driver let the last person on, shook his head at me and drove off!

I most likely made some sort of hand gesture in shock (not rude, just flailing my arms in the air) looked both ways and crossed the road. I could see a red light ahead, so I ran up to the next bus stop (the best I could in boots and a dress).

The bus was not even 1/2 a bus length in front of the stop at a red light, but still up against the curb. Score, I thought, oh how naive I was.

I knocked on the door and the driver again shook his head and wouldn't let me on. I stood there for 30 seconds and motioned (again not rudely) that I'd just ran after the bus and was shocked he wouldn't let me on. He still shook his head sat there until the light changed and then drove off.

Seriously? Now I feel like I'm going to cough up a lung. Yes I'm not a runner or in shape, but if I coughed up a flemball I wouldn't be surprise right now. What a way to start the day.

At least I don't have to feel guilty about having chocolate cake for breakfast I guess.

You say I'm crazy? I got your crazy....

Today is my first day back at work since before the holidays and I've got a ton to do before we leave for the States in a week! To try and make myself do work instead of play online I've brought in the two CDs NBH got me for Christmas. While I'm fairly sure no one else got these two CDs in tandem, they are very me (as I'm sure anyone who knows me will agree):

I got less than 5 hours of sleep last night thanks to my holiday sleeping schedule of snoozing until noon and my gums are randomly bleeding, but hopefully the dulcet tones of Britney Jean and Axl will help me crunch numbers and create speculative budgets. Look for reviews later today...

Back to work...

I've only got 4 more days left at the NHS, but tomorrow will be my first day at work in 25 days and in my opinion day 2 of jetlag is the worst. So how do I plan to deal?

Do the Dew (diet)......

So long farewell...

We leave tomorrow at 5:30am GMT for our flight to the Nasti 'Nati. It's a bitch of a trip from Glasgow to Manchester to Chicago to Cincinnati and we are carrying on my dress and Col's kilt....not looking forward to lugging those around 4 airports, but what can you do?

I had my joint work shower on Friday with Laura who gets married August 23rd and it was really lovely. There were lots of people and loads of food. I made chocolate covered pretzels and Sherbet punch, yums. I also got some fab presents which is always nice!

I don't know if there will be WiFi at the hotel or not, but I will leave you with these pics from the shower.

I've resigned!

On Wednesday I resigned from my position with the NHS as I've been offered a new job! I will come back and work the last week in August after the wedding/honeymoon so I can get all of my holiday entitlement for August, but I will still end up owing back 8 days.

In September I will start by new job as Project Officer with Alcohol Focus Scotland. It's a Comic Relief funded project until 2011 to:

1. develop a strong and vibrant national network of professionals who work to reduce harm to children and young people from alcohol misuse.
   
   
2. facilitate via the network the sharing of good practice, the development of policies and services where appropriate and to raise awareness of the issues affecting children and young people in relation to alcohol misuse at regional and national levels using a variety of methods.

It's a really big step up both in responsibility and money and I'm really excited about it. And my office will be on Buchanan Street, which is smack dab in the city centre! I've never worked in the city centre of Glasgow; the Red Cross was based out in an industrial estate in Hillington and the East Health Improvement Team was in the most deprived area of Glasgow. No more chippies and snack vans for me-- I could actually have sushi for lunch again, YUM!