happy halloween!

conor meets his cousin.

mr. conor meets miss zoey

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our little boy is becoming quite the social pup. earlier in the month he met tyson, and now he's meeting his sweet cousin zoey. i love the picture above. so. cute.

at first they weren't sure what to think about each other.

zoey was really unsure. it was her first week with her new mommy and daddy, so she was still pretty shy.
conor wasn't sure what to think when zoey hid behind her mommy.


she even took to uncle travis pretty quickly.

conor seemed to really like her and didn't even really bark or growl at her ... until people started picking her up. when amanda first put zoey on her lap, conor started jumping around and pawing at amanda's leg. he couldn't believe he wasn't the center of attention. any other pups he's ever been around have been too big to be held. he really wasn't sure what to think.
by the end of the afternoon, he had somewhat adjusted, and i think he will grow to love his new cousin.

welcome to the family, zoey.

meet the newest member of the family, our sweet niece zoey.

zoey is a boxer adopted by amanda and zach.
we love her already.

conor meets tyson.

conor and travis came to visit me one last time before time for me to leave edmond. tabitha and the boys brought their corgy tyson over to meet conor. the pictures are a little fuzzy as they were taken with a camera phone and texted to me while travis and i were at the grocery store. they became fast friends. i love how conor is smiling in both of the pictures.

wrapping up my last week.

i'm wrapping up my last week at pier 1 and will soon be saying goodbye to edmond. i talked to brad ... but i didn't tell him i was leaving for a new job. if you post on my facebook wall or twitter, could you please not mention it? i understand it was the coward's way out ... but i had already left him once before for a "better opportunity" and i just couldn't do it again.

i'll be back at the end of this week ... the next few days promise to be pretty jam-packed with work as i try to get everything in order before i leave.

mommy's coming home.

since i've been staying in edmond, i don't get to see my boys very often. it's usually almost a full week before i head back to broken arrow for a few days.

i was driving home last week when i received this heartwarming text from travis and conor. travis had told conor "mommy's coming home" and the following scene unfolded. melted.my.heart.

{i think pics 1 and 2 should actually be swapped, but blogger is not cooperating with me right now.}

pedicures with andy.

last friday {wow, i can't believe that was already almost a week ago!} i was miserable after working at the store. my feet hurt all the way up to my knees and my lower back was killing me. i talked to travis and he suggested i take a long hot bath. i took his advice and laid in the tub for about an hour. that usually helps, but this time i felt no better than i had when i got in. i had been wanting a pedicure for sometime and felt that a spa pedicure could actually help me feel a lot better.

i decided i was going to get a pedicure and thought that a night of girl time would do me well, too.

since being in edmond, i really haven't gotten to see any of my friends who live here. andy has been working at the upper crust most nights, shannon seems really busy with school and her new job, and miss kasi and i can never seem to connect.

i took a chance that andy wasn't working that night {but felt it was a slim chance since it was a friday night}. i sent her a message on twitter and not long after received a text from her. she was in edmond! it was meant to be. she met up with megan to pick up a scentsy order {which is funny because i had just picked up a scentsy order from her a few days before}. then we met up at spring creek for a massage chairs and spa pedicures at avalon. it.was.divine.

i loved catching up with her and hearing the latest news in her life, while bouncing thoughts off of her regarding my resignation at pier 1 and my upcoming new position. i could have fallen asleep in the chair as the guy doing my pedicure did an excellent job massaging my feet and legs.

andy had to get ready for a trip to dallas for jenny and tim's housewarming party, so we couldn't spend the entire evening together, but we decided a little spicy pickle {a local sandwich shop} was in order. i was sad for the evening to come to an end but really excited that i actually got to see my friend -- i'm pretty sure it was the first time since our trip to hawaii!!

conoco phillips.

about a week and a half ago i received a call from conoco phillips. i had applied as a recruiting recoordinator with the company before accepting the job at pier 1. my close friend kate is a recruiter at the company, and she didn't take the news of me moving to san francisco or even edmond very well. we practically live across the street from one another, and she's probably my closest friend in tulsa. we were both really sad to think we might get to see one another on such a regular basis. kate set the ball in motion for external candidates to be considered for an upcoming position in the HR department. ambra, another former co-worker from the addison group, also put in a good word for me. kate and i first started discssing this little plan back in august when i left magnolia gardens. corporate sometimes moves a little slower, so it took a little while for the interview process to start. after a somewhat lengthy wait, i received the call, officially accepted the position and will start on november 1st in bartlesville.

it will be fun to carpool with kate and get to see her on a regular basis again. for a time we were seeing each other several times a week, but since i've "moved" to edmond and have such a non-traditional schedule, we haven't seen each other in quite sometime.

i'm sad to tell brad goodbye, he's a great boss and pushed me through the hiring process with pier 1 very quickly just to get me back onboard. i'll make the most of the next two weeks and then update more as i start yet another new chapter.

someone remind me how this became my life ...

"where have you been?" -- edmond

san francisco and stillwater brings us almost to october. i started in edmond the last week of september and temporarily moved in with travis's aunt sue and uncle jim. it's been really nice.
sue and jim have been so kind and living with them has been a little bit like being on vacation. there's not a lot of chaos around the house. we can sit and watch television together at the end of the night and unwind, or i can catch up on my shows online in my room if i just want to veg out and be alone.

the store has been doing well. we are up almost 50% above target since i started at the store and each week we are congratulated for our conversion. it's been a lot of fun to see the store improve and grow while i've been there.

on october 10th and october 17th all of the employees turned into christmas elves as we worked together until 3:30 in the morning to transform the store into a winter wonderland.

i've been spending about 90% of my time in edmond, and since my schedule has required me to work every weekend, the boys have been coming to see me. travis has been loading up the truck and he and conor have spent lots of time visiting with me, hanging out with tabitha and her boys, and relaxing with sue, jim, tabby, and ashley.

it's so funny because we really don't talk about it, but travis and i both get house fever more when we're in edmond together. and we both consider it as a place to call home. it's the only place in oklahoma outside of tulsa that we've ever considered as home. it's really funny that we feel that way. i think it's because we both feel like it's a vacation. it's laid back and comfortable.

my time there will be ending soon {more on that in my next post} and i'll be sad to see it come to a close.

"where have you been?" -- stillwater

i was in san fran about a month ago ... starting september 9th to be exact ... wow, a month and ten days ago. time flies by so incredibly fast. so i brought you up to speed with san fran, but a month and ten days is still a lot of unaccounted time. so where have i been since then?

well the next steps along my journey took me to stillwater. if you remember, i mentioned in my last post that i've been embarrassed and haven't felt like blogging. embarrassed because i didn't get the job everyone was "sure" i was a shoo-in for at mashable. and embarrassed to be working in retail again. a few days before my whirlwind trip to the bay, i accepted a position as the store manager for the pier 1 in edmond. the sunday i returned home from ca, i met brad {my former/current regional manager} at the pier 1 at the farm in tulsa. i got my paperwork, discount card, and schedule. that monday i picked up a rental card and began a two week voyage back and forth between stillwater and broken arrow on a daily basis.

it was funny to start my manager training in stillwater since it was the first store i ever managed. i had a great time meeting shawn, the current manager of that location. she's a hoot!

i ran into girls from high school though who were in town for the osu game. i felt humiliated and tried to avoid anyone i really knew. again, kate keeps reminding me that it's ridiculous to feel this way, but i can't help it.

everything came back quickly during my training -- how systems work; policies enforced; audits required, etc. i was anxious to hear about the mashable job, but grateful at the same time to be doing something that didn't stress me out. the drive wasn't fun, but with the exceptions of just a couple of times, it really wasn't too bad.

i spent two weeks there and then it was time for me to head to edmond.

"where have you been?" -- san francisco

"where have you been?" you ask me. well, as usual, a lot has been going on lately. but not a lot that i really wanted to share. why? i don't really know. mostly because i'm embarrassed i guess. my friend kate tells me i'm being ridiculous {in a sweet and loving way of course}.

i suppose at some point, i'll want to remember this time in my life, thought i can't for the life of me imagine why, so i thought i better get to updating.

when i last left you, i was in san francisco, the city of my heart. and if you remember, it. was. glorious. glorious i tell you. i couldn't have gone on a better week. the weather was perfect. i had a bit of alone time, which is not something i ever want, but i found it relaxing. my interview went spectacularly. had i mentioned that i was there for an interview?

it really was a whirlwind process. i found out about the interview, booked a flight from tulsa to san fran at 5:00 pm, caught the plane at 8:00 pm and made it to SF at about 3:00 in the morning CST. i interviewed that afternoon at a little sidewalk cafe. i was interviewing for a position with mashable. their event director was looking for an assistant and i was the woman for the job. she's an oklahoma girl like myself {a sooner, actually ... i know that would make a few of my readers very proud} and had a sweet little yorkie that she brought to the interview with her {i love that city}. his name was louis and he reminded me so much of my sweet conor. upon meeting me she told me she was very impressed. the girl she had originally interviewed for the position had no corporate event planning experience, had never done any kind of sales or solicitation for sponsorships, had never done any kind of blogging, and would be an assistant in the truest sense of the word. she told me she absolutely wanted to hire me, but i was definitely not junior level as the first girl had been. she was going to rewrite the job description and get with the ceo and coo to see what we could do to make it happen. she told me the process would move very quickly. {at the time, she was gearing up for the social good summit in nyc with the 92nd y and the united nations foundation. very cool event}. needless to say, i was stoked.

i had to wait for the social good summit to wrap up ... it was a massive event ... before the director would be able to meet with the guys. she kept in good contact, though, and i still had a great feeling about the position.

at the end of last week, however, the director contacted me to let me know she would only be able to bring on a junior level assistant. i tried not to be, but i was devestated. if i could afford to take the junior level position, i absolutely would, just for the experience.

so, now i'm looking at the few pictures i snapped while i was there and wishing i was walking down the streets along the bay with a spiced chai tea latte on this beautiful fall day.