Thankful Thursday - Jobs

Today I am actually thankful for my job.  Which is really funny considering I have a HUGE deadline coming up and a little stressed out about it. But like my mom says, "It's job security".

For those that don't know, I am a Landscape Architect.  And no, I am not outside working, I don't do manual labor, I do not design pretty back yards, and summer is not our "busy" season.  I sit inside my air conditioned/heated building (depending on the weather obviously) and design stuff on either paper or my computer.  I've been working here for about 3 1/2 years, since I graduated from college.  It's a really good work environment.

The company I work for does a wide variety of things.  We mainly focus on recreational design which includes parks, playgrounds, spraygrounds, ball fields, community pools, and sports complexes.  We also have done lots of land planning which includes the development of Stone Canyon in Owasso, Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow, and Berwick in South Tulsa.

Check out our website to see all the fun things we have done in the past.
Planningdesigngroup.com

Here is a small group of photos of our work.  Like I said, we design it all, then we hire out contractors to build it.  Some of this is actually work I, myself, have created in my mind.

Berwick in South Tulsa

Stone Canyon in Owasso, OK

Bentley Park in Bixby, OK

Thankful Thursday - FALL!!!

Today marks the beginning of my favorite all time season, FALL!!! I am so thankful every year when the weather starts to get cooler and the leaves start to change color.  It's just so beautiful and I seriously get giddy.  Like a child opening presents on Christmas morning giddy.

Reasons I love fall:

• The temperatures (especially after this brutal summer)
• The leaves turn red, yellow, and orange
• Pumpkins! The actual pumpkin as well as the smells of spices and fall
• It means Christmas is right around the corner
• Football season!
• Getting to wear sweaters and jackets
• Drinking a cup of hot coffee on a cold morning
• Carving pumpkins
• OSU Homecoming :) 
• Thanksgiving

Lord, thank you for fall.  I believe we have to endure the hot summer to truly love and enjoy the fall.  And I am thankful for it every year it comes around :) 

Thankful Thursday - Army Wives

This week (and the past couple of months) I have been very thankful I have had the opportunity to get to know some other army wives.  Several of these women's husbands are in the same area/company as Ricky so it's beneficial.  If I haven't heard from him in awhile I'll ask one of them to see if they have heard anything.  (So yes honey, if you are reading this, I do keep tabs on you in other ways haha)

These girls are seriously so amazing.  I've mentioned before that it's a huge struggle to not have anyone around you realize what all you are going though and just how undescribable and difficult it can be at times.  Well these ladies sure get it.  Most of them have been through this 2, 3, even 4 times! Man, I simply can't imagine going through a deployment 3 more times! These ladies get it when you tell them you had a breakdown in the bathroom at work or in the middle of the grocery store, how anything and everything can set off your emotions, and how grateful you are when you get that phone call or email.  I am so so so thankful to have them in my life!

A great thing to help us all through this deployment is we have been trying to get together once or twice a month, just to chat, do something fun, and eat some food of course ha.  We've been to Discoveryland, Los Cabos (restaurant not destination), swimming, BBQ's, and the most recent was Purple Glaze followed by Shoguns.

If you have never been to Purple Glaze, you should check it out.  It's basically a place where you get to paint your own pottery.  You pick out whatever it is you would like to paint and then come back in a couple days and pick it up after it has been glazed.

I picked a large star platter that I can use in the future 

After I finished painting it.

The girls and our creations

After I got it back and it had been glazed! 

Thankful Thursday - Health

This week I have been very thankful for my health.  Even though I have been overweight since about 9th grade and on (off and on, I'd gain then lose, then gain again), I have still always been pretty healthy.  I haven't had any major medical problems, no hospital stays (except for when I had pneumonia in the 2nd grade), and no need for prescription medicine.  So today I am extremely thankful.

I will continue to do my best to stay healthy and keep my body happy.  I do that by trying my hardest to feed it healthy foods that it needs, and limit the processed candy and foods.  And also by regular exercise.

This week I started a bootcamp class here in Tulsa (bought it through Living Social) and it's been so great!  I'm excited to see what my results are at the end of my month long session.

Thankful Thursday

I have decided with all that I have going on in life at this moment, I want to start saying one thing I'm thankful every Thursday (love the alliteration).  These are by no means in order, it could just be something has popped out to me this week and I want to recognize it.

Today, I am thankful for the great communication between here and Afghanistan.  During Ricky's training phase, I was preparing myself for the worst, possibly only relying on letters, GASP! I didn't want to expect too much in case the technology was terrible where he was and then I was terribly disappointed.  I would recommend this theory to anyone having to go through a deployment. Thankfully, he is able to call whenever he can and the line is crystal clear.  Not much delay, and I can here him as if her were right here in Tulsa.  When he calls varies day to day, and sometimes I go days without hearing anything.  This is where my Faith in God comes in, a month ago my mind would automatically go to worry, but I am slowly learning to put all my trust in God that He is protecting those men and women.  I know he'll call when he can.

I'm extra thankful for this today because I went the last two days without a call.  And then he called this morning.  If you've ever had to go very long without hearing from your loved ones and/or have NO way of contacting them you know exactly how it feels to get that unknown number pop up on your phone.

So thank you Lord, for providing this capability for us.