Weekend and Monday Shenanigans

WEEKEND:
         Weekends are a lot shorter when the weeks are guaranteed to be filled with work Monday-Friday. There have been some adjustments in lifestyle, not just for me but for most of my friends with fulltime jobs. I had to make excuses to not go out this weekend, not only because I do not currently have an income to fund those kinds of outings. At the end of the day, I am typically too tired to participate in any kind of social activity. Carrie and I haven't even spent significant time together and we are living in the same house!

        My mom was nice enough to come down on Saturday morning so that we could head to Anderson, SC to pick up the rest of my things from Susan's house. (For those of you who don't know, Susan is the head coach's assistant for men's basketball at Clemson...and acted as office mom for me while at Clemson). She has let me keep my stuff at her house for the past couple of weeks while I was figuring out where the heck I was going to end up. I had some bar stools that Coach Purnell had given me last year and, although I had no idea where I was going to put them, I wanted to keep them...simply for memory's sake. I also had loads of clothes at her house that made picking out an outfit a lot more difficult this morning now that my options are endless. On our way down to Clemson, my mom and I were in the middle of a conversation that did not lend itself to multitasking and I didn't realize that she had turned onto 77 instead of 85 until we reached Chester, SC. What a...town. Eventually we made it to Anderson and got my stuff and I got to say a sort of official goodbye to Susan!

Side Note: Susan told me I needed to stop apologizing for writing long posts...and for that I unapologetically write this extensive account of my weekend and beginning of my work week. 

        When we got back to Charlotte, my cousin little Bobby was at the house and we got to enjoy an awesome dinner with the Conrads and my mom. When Mom left Uncle Bobby, Aunt Ann and I all three thanked her for visiting "our home"...no one else expected me to thank her for visiting "my home" and Bobby got a kick out of it...I think it's safe to say that I've made myself at home here by now.
        On Sunday, I followed Uncle Bobby around for most of the day. In the morning we walked to Mass with him in the morning, where I almost passed out kneeling...who starts seeing spots and feeling nauseous while kneeling?! Anyways, Bobby asked me if I thought it was divine intervention, and I noted that I hoped God would intervene to the point causing embarrassment like throwing up during a service! After the service we got to meet several of his friends and one of his Clerk's family. All the kids at St. Ann's LOVE my uncle which is no surprise. Afterwards went to Belmont Abbey to take Ryan to school. Just when you think you’re done with college move-in day for good...circumstances change. I had no idea how beautiful the Campus is and I was really taken back when we drove up to the main chapel. Ryan has his own huge room, which was great, except for one thing- no air conditioning. But his teammates and coaches were so nice and laid back and Ann and Bobby got me a T shirt so I am ready to go watch Ry play when basketball season kicks up again! By the way, guess who Clemson gets to play in their exhibition game...wonder which T shirt I'll wear that night.

MONDAY:
        I got to work this morning completely disoriented for some reason even though I arrived 20 minutes early as usual...I was worried that I had missed the Monday staff meeting. Luckily, it was all paranoia and I was there in plenty of time. On the other hand, I didn't realize that the meeting would be held in the back conference room and that the meeting would end up being meetingS and would last from 9-11:30. Our office is one of the coldest in the building, only second to the back conference room. After my third straight meeting, I was almost numb. I am drinking coffee throughout the day, with the intention of keeping warm...but I think I need to come up with a better strategy because I may be overly wired throughout the day. I have always sided with bathrobes when it comes to the snuggy/bathrobe argument, but I am realizing that a bathrobe would probably be completely inappropriate to bring to work.
        All of the meetings were really informative though. In the first two, we got to meet with all of the staff associated with the two games, and here how deals were coming along as far as sponsorships, events, etc...if nothing else, this internship will certainly be a lesson in excellent business tactics. In the third meeting, Sarah and I got to meet with Frank, who heads up the promotions and media relations stuff (a lot of the promotional writing) about the 4 newsletters that we will be working on. We got to brainstorm ideas for each of the newsletters, and I realized that I think I enjoy coming up with ideas for things like that better than writing the actual stories!
        During one of the meetings we were discussing the need for ACC gear for our staff and I had an opportunity to bring up to Will our need for items to give away on the ACC Championship pages. Courtney, Abby, Sarah and I got to meet about these items today and will hopefully be ordering several things by the end of the week! Other than that, we finished up several smaller projects like the ticketing one I was working on with Will that ended up being much more small scale than I had originally anticipated, and a spreadsheet of consumers with balances owed. It was a stop and go kind of day.
        I FINALLY got to talk to Sallie tonight, after weeks of phone tag, about the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while…she and Caleb are moving to Nashville! Please pray for them as they take this leap of faith. Sallie will be working as a Medical Coordinator for a Presbyterian Medical Center specializing in patients with mental disabilities (Sallie, correct me if I’m wrong). I am so excited that the two of them will be starting their own life in a city that’s new for both of them! After my conversation with Sallie, I got to top the night off with dinner with Ann and Carrie at the Pizza Peel. It is this awesome restaurant in Charlotte that my aunt does artwork for and it has this bruschetta that is unmatched by any other I’ve had. I have been waiting to eat there since before I knew I was moving Charlotte, and tonight was the night when all of my culinary dreams came true.