Family, Fun, and Food

The adage goes that you can either enjoy the moment or enjoy the pictures later - you can't do both. I planned to take all these great pictures while we were in Atlanta, but it just didn't happen. You get this picture and you like, because we were too busy having fun.

We spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta with the Kurtzer family (my aunt's family). Contrary to the very small number of branches on my side of the family tree, hers goes far and wide. Scott and I hang out with my aunt, grandfather, cousins and lots of other friends and family, while Sarah and Jaley played non-stop with a whopping 11 2nd and 3rd cousins. My aunt and cousins planned tons of fun stuff to do, including football in the park. Doesn't that sound perfect for the Thanksgiving weekend. However, we didn't play nearly enough foodball to run off all the food. The thanksgiving meal alone was four courses. That doesn't count all the other wonderful meals. I am still full. It was grand fun.

The important part of the trip was seeing family, but we did sneak downtown to visit Georgia Tech and the Georgia Aquarium. Downtown Atlanta today is nothing like the downtown Atlanta I lived in. The Atlanta I lived in was dirty and dangerous. The Atlanta we visited was beautiful and upscale. What a change. We all loved the GA Aquarium. I'm not an expert, but all the hype about it being the world's best aquarium seemed pretty true to me. It was amazing.

And to get in one parental brag. The girls were amazingly well behaved for the car ride. Historically, car trips have been anything but smooth for our family. Hopefully, this trip marked turning the corner to make road trips possible again.

That is life in the Stroller Lane. Lots of Love.

Get A Job

Ever since our Harrell & Harrell Properties came to an end in June, I have been planning to get a job. My temporary retirement was supposed to be 2-3 months, but 5 months later I am still at home full time. I have lots of good excuses for delaying my job search, but one of the biggest reasons is that I sure do enjoy sleeping in (at least when the girls let me).

Recently, I freshened up my resume. The last time I went on a job interview or sent out a resume was in 2000 before graduating from UNC. My old resume was missing 8 whole years. As you know, resumes are all about marketing. It is an "As seen on TV" commercial for yourself. I would never lie but I also make sure to only tell the good stuff. That is just what I have done. My resume contains lots of convincing words about my education and work experience - words like: managed, created, invented, directed, and (always a favorite) grew revenues.

Everything on my resume is factual and true, but in the words of Paul Harvey "here is the rest of the story." For my faithful blog readers....

***********************************
Gigi Harrell "REST OF THE STORY" Resume

Education:
Georgia Tech (got out in 1996)
Majored in beer drinking and football games. Got a degree in engineering that I really never used.

UNC (or as I call them the Stafford Loan Years)
Majored in meeting very cool people who are moving up the corporate ladder. I hope to ride their coat tails. Actually, got an MBA, which leaves me qualified for any job working in a cubical.

Work Experience:
My PowerPoint Job - Deloitte & Touche Consulting
Job Responsibilities: Working 12-16 hours a day tweaking PowerPoint Slides. Also, gained vast skills making copies and filing documents.

My Excel Job - Intel
Job Responsibilities: Worked 8-10 hours a day making Excel files. My job was to divy out allotments of Intel computer chips, but back then Intel couldn't make enough of them to meet demand. So I shuffled numbers around paper for no reason at all.

My Too Many Bosses Job - Cisco
Job Responsibilities: I reported to 6 different Managers and 5 Directors in just over 3 years. My main job was learning the names of my ever changing list of new bosses.

My Everything Job - Harrell & Harrell Properties
Job Responsibilities: Janitor to CEO. I was the only worker, I did everything (whether I wanted to or not).
**********************************

We all have a "rest of the story" resume. I won't be sending this one out with my cover letters, but I still wanted to share it.

That is life in the stroller lane. Lots of love.

We Three Girls

Scott's in Europe this week. He left on Saturday and is due in Friday night. While I am used to him traveling, I am used to 5 day stints. This trip is just 48 hours longer, but it feels like 48 days longer. I honestly don't know how single moms (and dads) do it. I get worn out doing every meal, every bath, every good night book. After 5 days, I am ready for 5 minutes where I am not in charge. Single parents run the ship 24/7 and never get a break. God bless them.

Scott called to check in on Tuesday and I asked how the weather was - he said it was cold and rainy - just how Europe is supposed to be in November. I told him - North Carolina was cold and snowy - just how it isn't supposed to be November. Yes, we had snow flurries this past Tuesday. I completely missed the weather forecast and thought it was supposed to be in the 50's. Imagine my surprise when I went out to get the mail and was pelted with a face full of snow. None of the flakes stuck, but it was definitely a reminder that it is winter coat time of year.

And when it is winter coat time of year, it is also winter cold time of year. Jaley was the first casulty, followed 3 days later by Sarah, and 3 days later by me. It was just a quick cold and the girls were good as new in a few days. I, however, was lucky enough to get the bonus sinus infection. Trying to be part of the solution instead of the problem, I tried so hard to avoid getting antibiotics. I practically drowned myself in saline using the neti pot - to no avail. (Don't know what a neti pot is? I didn't either until I learned about it from the highest of news sources - Dr. Oz on Oprah). It usually works well, but didn't do the job this time. Instead, I got me some drugs on Wednesday. A 5-day Z-pack and I am feeling a zillion times better now.

So my sinus infection is on the way out and Scott is due home tomorrow. It is definitely will be a TGIF tomorrow. Next week we are headed (finally) to Atlanta. We haven't visited as a family since Sarah was 3 months old. There a many reasons to visit Atlanta, but this visit is about seeing family - specifically my grandfather. He turned 80 in September. But due to my "medical drama," we missed the big party. Ever since, I have been so bummed that we missed seeing him and all of my extended family. I called my Aunt Marie and she just opened up the invitation door. She said come join us for Thanksgiving - I'm already hosting 24, what's 4 more. She didn't have to ask twice, we jumped on the offer. While we won't get to see a GT football game or have time to see very many of our GT buddies, we will get to go to the Georgia Aquarium and MOST IMPORTANTLY see my grandfather, aunt, and all of my cousins. Now that is something to be Thankful for at Thanksgiving.

That is life in the Stroller Lane. Lots of Love.