A Big, Exciting, Scary Announcement!

For the past couple of years, I've had ideas floating around in my head about different careers I'd enjoy. But honestly, I was too afraid to try. So I stuck with what was familiar and stayed in my comfort zone. I don't know exactly what pushed me to try for more, but I finally got the courage to just try. 

I am starting my own professional organizing/interior design company! I'm equally excited and terrified by this! Okay I lied, I'm probably a little more terrified than excited right now...but great risks lead to great rewards, right!? 

I had my first job on Friday, where we organized the client's entire house. It wasn't as severe as you see on Hoarders, but it was definitely the closest thing I've seen to it in real life. It was very fast-paced and physically demanding, but the finished result was incredible. And the best part was showing the client her new organized home. Such a wonderful feeling!

My business will be called:

 My new website is just about complete and you can check it out here! And I would love for y'all to check out (and maybe like? :) my Facebook page here. The few people I've told so far have been so supportive, and that means the world to me right now! I was especially happy when I saw this comment on yesterday's post:

Allison, you could not have encouraged me at a better time...thank you, sweet friend! :) 

I've always had a passion for both organizing and design, so I'm really excited to get started on this new journey! (Don't I sound like someone on the Bachelor? :)

Monday Ramblings

-As I mentioned on my last post, I am throwing a baby shower. It is probably my favorite thing to do. I am OBSESSED with crafting right now. OBSESSED!

-Some might say that I also have an obsession with creamer. Too much?

I bought out our grocery store of the Peppermint Mocha, since it is only out once a year! :)

-I made this chore chart a long time ago and always forgot to post about it. I'm terrible at keeping our house clean, but this makes it a lot easier. Only a few things each day, so I never have to do it all at once when we are expecting company! It also helps with forgetful husbands :) (I need to buy white board cleaner...it looks a lot worse in pictures than in person!)

-I am LOVING my job. The baby is the sweetest thing, and she is also one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen. I don't want to post pictures of her on here without asking her parents, and that would be a pretty weird conversation if I did ask! haha So here's one that I can show you!

-I video-chatted with my 2 besties a couple weeks ago. We enjoyed using the features on google chat :) Love these two!

-I just bought the Hunger Games series...I can't wait to get started! But from what I hear, I think I need to choose wisely on when to read them, since I will mostly likely be unable to put them down!

-Has anyone had the Keratin treatment? It sounds pretty appealing to this frizzy-headed girl, but I don't want it to take the curl out of my hair. (I know my mom is screaming "NOOOOO!!!" while reading this....don't worry Mom, I haven't decided for sure yet!)

Wouldn't this be nice!

Employed!

I have a job!

I haven't mentioned anything about working on the blog since we moved to CA. We moved here in August, I got the house all settled and finished at the end of September, then traveled home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, we decided that I would wait until after the holidays to start looking. 

So on January 2nd, I started looking at my options. I thought about doing the temp-agency thing, golf courses, and nannying. In the end, I decided the job I would most enjoy is nannying. I'm not a big fan of desk jobs, and I absolutely love kids. 

4 interviews and 3 job offers later, I found the perfect family! Today is my first day, and I think I will be SO happy in this position. The precious little girl is 9 months old, and she is just the happiest baby I've ever seen! Plus, this will satisfy my baby fever for the time being :)

Me and my sweet Meg! I nannied for Meg and her brother, Brooks, in high school!

A Wonderful Weekend

We had such a wonderful weekend. Friday night, Doug took me out for a celebratory date in honor of my new job! Of course, I chose Chili's (probably my favorite restaurant...is that sad? haha!) I had my favorite salad of all time, the boneless buffalo chicken salad, and my favorite margarita, too! And of course, lots and lots of chips and salsa. It was a perfect feast.

Afterwards, we walked around the mall until it was time for our movie! (I love going to the movies...it just makes me really happy!) I chose to see Tangled, because I wanted a really happy movie for this happy day. And we both LOVED it. It was hilarious and adorable, and you all need to see it. Yes, we may have been the only adults there with no children, but it was a great movie.

Saturday was also a wonderful day. I headed up to Snellville to volunteer with Bliss at a holiday adoption event, but Doug sadly had to go to school (I don't know if I've mentioned this, but Doug is getting his MBA). I probably had a lot more fun than he did, because I got to play with adorable faces like this.

This is Penny, my twin. I was holding her and someone pointed out that we were matching! What fashionistas we are :)

 These little guys were brothers, and they were about the cutest things ever. They played all day together, and then they just flopped down on top of each other and snuggled.

It was a great weekend- we adopted 6 dogs out!!!

Saturday night, Doug and I drove into Atlanta to go to the Thrashers game! (Atlanta's hockey team) It was an incredible game of 7-1, and we had a blast. Afterwards, we drove around Decatur, writing down names of apartments we passed :) We want to move to Decatur sooner than later, so does anyone know of any good apartments, townhouses, or houses for rent? We want to stay right around Emory.

Sunday was more of a "get stuff done" day. I cleaned. And baked. And cleaned. And baked. When I go out of town, I like to leave the apartment pretty spotless so 1) it will be easier on Doug and 2) he will have a harder time getting it messy. So I made sure he had clean clothes and dishes, and I was off to Atlanta!

My former boss at Towne Lake Hills Golf Club, Rob, invited me to their annual Christmas party, so I was happy to attend! I brought my brownies (and I decided this would be the last batch for a while....I've got to control myself!) and saw all of my old co-workers, which is always fun and entertaining. One of my favorite people ever is Lance, our Autistic dishwasher. I. Adore. Him. He is so sweet and absolutely hilarious, and I can just talk to him for days. He has recently taken on a new hobby- throwing knives. I did my best to talk him out of it, but he seemed determined!

This is Lance and I several years ago when we all took him out for his birthday.

And this is me and Lance at our reception. I told him in advance that I wanted to dance with him, so he brought a nice sweater to change into :)



I went to my parents' house afterwards since I had my pre-ops on Monday. Those went well, and then I headed over to my in-laws' for our Christmas celebration, where I received one of my favorite gifts this year. Doug's brother and sister got me GIGI'S CUPCAKES! I was soooo excited. They are the best. Markus (my BIL) had sent me a picture message of one a few days ago that he was eating, and I was so jealous. So this more than made up for it! They are almost gone, and I'm trying to savor them!

Tonight, I am seeing two of my best friends from high school, Suzanne and Rachael, and I am so excited about it! We don't see each other as often as we'd like, but it's always so fun to get together. We are cooking dinner and renting a movie!

And then Doug is coming into town tonight to be with me for the surgery tomorrow! I'm a little nervous, but mostly just ready to get it over with. At my pre-op, a PA saw me and he was shocked to see just how deviated my little septum is! He said it's basically pressed up against the side of my nose, which makes sense since I can never breathe through that side. So let's just get it over with!

The nurse was joking that she is going to color my nose brace red and buy me reindeer antlers, and my mom jumped on board. So I will probably be leaving the hospital as Rudolph!

I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging afterwards. It would probably be hilarious if I did, since I will be on plenty of pain medication :) Doug says he might write a post about how I'm doing (mainly all of the funny/embarassing things I will say and do!) so we'll see if that happens!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!