It's baby time!

I love babies.I also love buying baby stuff.  Two of my awesome friends have had babies in May and I went to their baby showers. I always give the same general gifts, and then I have to incorporate some special 'home made' stuff as well. It's more personal I suppose.

One of my friends, Kari and her husband are huge Bearkat fans.  They go to all the Sam Houston State football games as well as baseball games.  They also are huge into comics.  Their baby, Logan, is the Wolverine's real name, so I wanted to go with a Wolverine theme.  I couldn't find Wolverine fabric anywhere locally, so I couldn't stick with it.

I made this awesome blanket for them in Sam Houston colors.  This way, they can take it to games and keep the baby boy warm. I made a blue one for Jeanette. but forgot to get a picture of it.

I took a regular paper box, covered it with fabric that went with their theme, and used that as my gift box. Turned out pretty great.

Lunch with the big dawgs

It’s not a really big deal, but it’s unique for a company and unique for me as well. A week ago my boss told me that he chose me from our department to have “Snacks with Steph”, to be scheduled June 24. Steph is our CEO/President for my company. She tries to be down to earth and relate to the employees. She does a monthly blog (sometimes bi-monthly) to keep us informed if what’s going on. My company employees 680 people currently, in about 15 different cities, some 3 hours away, so it’s nice for her to do this to keep all informed. Anyway- She extends this offer to several departments each month to select 1-2 people to have lunch with her. This was the first time my department got the offer, and I was chosen. I didn’t ask to have lunch with her. It made me feel honored that my boss thought of me first. It was 1-1/2 hour lunch where about 15 of us sat in a conference room and just got to talk with her. It was pretty neat to be a part of that. The culture of my company is really genuine for the most-part, and we stick out. We were even voted one of the top work places in the Houston – area.


 

Independence Day

A serious post here.  This past holiday event, Independence Day, got me to think a different way than I ever have before.  I want to open your eyes as well. Everyone needs to be aware, and considerate, and think about it some. 

July 4 every year our nation celebrates our Independence Day with BBQ and beer and fireworks.  If nothing else, Fireworks is the one thing almost everyone participates in. The cities spend lots of money and put on great fireworks shows.  It's beautiful to watch them light up the sky.

Something we need to realize is, the fireworks are loud. They make loud BOOM noises.  The noises sounds like guns and bombs going off if you might be living in another country that you hear that noise often.  For me, it sounds like fireworks.  For the one I love, it gave him flashbacks to the war he has been fighting since he joined the Army in 2002.  I never thought about the affects our fireworks, our normal traditions on American Soil affect our military men and woman.  I looked into it a little, and found this article:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/4th-july-fireworks-nightmare-shell-shocked-war-veterans/story?id=19554318#.UdmXZ9iXuSo


 Once I realized that the noises I was taking for granted, enjoying, made him feel the way it did, it put the fireworks in a whole new perspective.  I was no longer enjoying this beautiful site, yet having my own 'flashbacks' of what it might be like for our men and women who are in the middle of this 10-year war and what they may be dealing with.  As someone who will never go to war, I will never fully understand, but this can put it in some perspective...