v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n!

at the end of july, anna and i got to go to florida and visit this awesome little man and his momma and daddy. max is our 3 year old nephew. we played and went on adventures and read many books and ate yummy food and loved on each other.

we went to a nature preserve near their home and got to see some really cool animals that are native to the area. this is an owl that i had to take a picture of through thin cracks in the fence. why, you ask? apparently he is a killer owl. creepy. max taught us a lot about the animals and their habits.

after the preserve, we went to a sea turtle rescue facility. this was my favorite. this is max in front of a pool of baby sea turtles that had prematurely hatched due to the recent weather caused by hurricane irene.

then we got to see this guy, zeko, get washed and weighed by the volunteer staff and vets. he was none too pleased to be taken out of his tub (and pooped all over the place to show his annoyance) but was still cute.

we spent a morning at the beach, riding the waves and frolicking like children,

became play-doh super heroes,

checked out ruby june celebrates (very cool to see anna's creations in florida!),

and spent some really great quality time with mark, kara and max! thank you for having us and i cannot wait to come visit again soon.

change of heart?

this little guy has been my temporary roommate since i have been staying with robin and brad for the last few weeks. i have never had a desire to have a pet, in fact, quite the opposite really. i live a pretty spontaneous life and have never wanted the guilt that would come along with leaving a pet at home too long alone. this being said, i sure have enjoyed brooklyn's company. who knows, maybe i am having a change of heart :)
thank you robin and brad for your hospitality. you are amazing hosts and i cannot express how much i appreciate you letting me stay with you.

back to life, back to reality

sweet relief.
new job - check. new house - check. new phone - check.
things are falling into place around here and i could not be more thrilled about the fresh start that is fixing to ensue.

via

i have been offered and accepted the position of social worker II on the care management team at parkland hospital in dallas. i have actually applied and interviewed here several years ago to no avail and am very excited to have the opportunity to start working with our world renowned county hospital. it is still a little unclear to me what all i will be doing and what patient population i will be working with but i am taking the leap of faith and am sure that there will be many good war stories to report.

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when the news of the job offer came through, the house hunt began. after several days of driving around, tracking down landlords, considering the commute (haven't had one of those is quite some time), and weighing the pros and cons i have decided to move into another duplex in the same neighborhood that i was living in before. bottom line is i feel comfortable there and love east dallas. looking forward to moving back to my hood.

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i have carried 2 cell phones for years. 1 personal, 1 work. luckily, i am relinquishing the work phone. unluckily, it is way cooler than my personal phone. luckily, i was due an upgarde with at&t and the above is what my new phone looks like. it does way more than just call and text. so excited!