A Week in Photos: Weeks 6 and 7

As of late, my weeks have been hectic and I have been exhausted! The treatment facility that I have been working at the last year has finally opened it's doors and Ryan and I have been working overtime to make sure our pieces of the pie are well taken care of. It's a wonderfully rewarding job, it just takes a lot of work! So the posts have been few and my free time has been short, but I'm finally feeling adjusted to the new schedule and hope to be back in the swing of things shortly! Without further adieu, here are the last few weeks in photos:

  

 Monday 2/4: As the intro said, adjusting to the new working hours (8:30am to whenever) has been a challenge. I have stopped drinking coffee because I don't like the way it makes me feel throughout the day, but of course I NEED something (anything) to energize me and get me through the day, thus, Redbull. I've been riding the bull now for a few weeks straight and I now can safely say it's just as bad as coffee for me. I crave it, it keeps me up through the night, so on and so forth, it's a vicious cycle. But until I can find a natural supplement that will keep me going and "on" through out the day, this is the lesser of the two evils.


Wednesday 2/6: Part of my job (I am a woman of many hats) is to run the girls art group once a week. When I was in treatment, it was a free-for-all lacking any real structure or creativity. My goal when I took on this challenge is to make things the girls would actually like, use and get a kick out of at a very low cost. Thus the tissue paper pom-poms. I've seen these everywhere and they make me think of Kate Spade, so I thought it would be a really fun to decorate their rooms with these gems. It was a very simple craft with a beautiful end result which the girls LOVED!


Thursday 2/7: We received a wonderful visit from Ryan's mom and brother for the week of 2/4-2/8. One of the most important things we had to do while they were here was make a trip down to Cannon Beach to visit the fabulous Sesame and Lillies. I had to have Ryan take a picture of me and my new J. Crew jacket. I am in LOVE LOVE LOVE with this jacket. It was such an impulse buy but I am so excited about it, it's a wonderful spring addition.

Friday 2/8: On Friday evening I got some very sad news from my dad, our lovely kitty cat Bella had been hit by a car on the road in front of his house. I got this sweet little girl in college when a previous boyfriend was moving into his first house, only to find out he couldn't have cats. My dad volunteered to keep her, which then she became his cat. She was a wild little girl that we all loved very much, it was a very sad day for the Briggs family.

Saturday 2/9: As a way to show his condolences and to cheer me up, Ryan surprised me with these wonderful roses on Friday evening. They've looked beautiful on our mantle this last week, even if they're in a pitcher of water. We are not a flower vase kind of family apparently :)

Monday 2/11: On another craft day with the ladies, I decided we should do something special for Valentine's Day. Last year I decorated Ryan's room with heart garland, and I thought we could do a spin on that this year. With the help of Pinterest, I came up with this heart wreath which adorned all of their bedrooms leading up to Valentine's Day!

Thursday 2/14: The "big" Valentine's Day gift I got Ryan came about two weeks before the actual day, but I couldn't not give my Valentine something on the 14th. I saw this idea on The Confessions of a Product Junkie  blog and decided it was what any 25 year old man would want to get, a sugar overload candy bouquet! Yes, I'm still reaping the benefits of this!

Thursday 2/14: As a surprise for Valentine's Day, my love took me out to a wonderful indian dinner. We have a favorite spot in Astoria called Himani that we try to go to about once or twice a month. It was the first place that Ryan ever had indian food, and for me, it's probably some of the best I've had to date. We always have one (if not two) orders of Chicken Tikki Masala (NOM!!!)

Friday 2/15: Since a treatment center is considered a medical facility, every employee is required to be CPR/ First Aid certified. It was my first time ever sitting through a class like that, so imagine my surprise when our trainer whipped these little faces out. Naturally I reached for my phone and started snapping away, right in the middle of his discussion. For my next character flaw, I will be working on: tact.

Saturday 2/16: After spending the night housesitting our bosses house and watching HGTV all night, I thought it would only be fitting to check out our favorite home decor store in Astoria, Vintage Hardware. This store has amazing upcycled pieces with the most fabulous upholstery, like this owl/deer/giraffe scenario to the right. Swoon.

Saturday 2/16: With said work situation stated above, house work and cleaning throughout the week get put to the back burner. On Saturday, I needed to take an "Erin Day" to get our living situation back to something that was more manageable. Living with two lusciously furry kitties, things can go awry real quick. Fur builds up into something that resembles little tumbleweeds across our wood floors and that it not attractive or hygienic. In the process of de-furring our couch, Marley took the no cushion occasion to remind me that my job is never going to be done. Oh the joys of cat motherhood.