Giving Thanks

can we believe that the holiday season is here?! christmas decorations are gracing the isles of stores, red cups are in distribution, and I have been failing at not listening to Christmas music. i love the holiday's. and although it's fun to skip right to Christmas, Thanksgiving comes first.

i have so much to be thankful for this year. this has been a pretty amazing year and i am truly so blessed. 

One of the biggest things i am thankful for is finally being content in my current job and location. the last couple years i have been itching to get out and move on from little ole Corvallis and finally this last spring it all just clicked. And i found myself asking why? Why am i pushing to leave when i love what i do here at the college, when i am still able to pursue my little business, and when i have come to really adore this little town. I have been so focused on moving on that once i finally took a step back and realized uhhh you kinda have it made right now. For this particular time in my life this is where i need to be and im totally content with that. and it feels amazing

I am thankful for old and new friends. Still being in Corvallis means that a lot of my friends have moved back home, or across the country and i don't have my solid little group around me all the time. i am thankful that even with busy schedules and life when i finally am able to catch up with friends it's like we were never separated. i have come to cherish the dinners, visits, shows, vacations and little events that bring everyone together again. And thankful for new friends that have made this last year amazing.

I have also been blessed with meeting someone very special this year. It's true what they say...when you least expect it someone will walk into your life who takes your breathe away. And i truly think i might be the luckiest girl around.

The list of what im thankful for could go on and on. I am so happy to be back home for the weekend celebrating this great holiday and taking a moment to actually think about what this holiday means and not just about the great food and shopping. My heart is heavy with love and gratitude for all that has happened this year and i can only hope that you have been as blessed as i have been.

Wishing you a simply blessed and thankful thursday

so happy to see November

You know when life is so crazy that you literally just want to fast forward a day or so just so you can get to the weekend? Well thats how i felt about the entire month of October. I was just wishing i could skip the endless hours of work and stress and end up on the other side in lovely calm November. However, that is SO not how life works and instead i put in a bazillion hours of work, was stressed to the max, cranky, sleepy, and just plain exhausted. But there is good news.... There were a total of 12 events that happened in October and these were not small, order cookies and lemonade and call it a day events. These were all complex and complicated and although my love for events runs deep this was just plain a lot. And the good news is that they all went great. Obviously with any event there are always things i wish i could go back and tweak but over all there were no massive disasters. Phew! Talk about relief. So you now can see why i am SO thrilled to turn the calendar to November where things are a lot less hectic. 

So what exactly was i working on? Well here is a little pictures timeline for ya! Oh and of course i attempted to squeeze in a life as well..yep..packed month 

White Coat Ceremony 

Benefactors Reception 

made my annual trip to the pumpkin patch! 

The students had their annual Luau! 

celebrated my besties new home!

headed up to portland for work for a weekend. not a bad view from the hotel though 

had lots of early mornings and late nights and lived off coffee

the weekend in portland consisted of three events. My favorite was our OSU Alumni Reception.
 Any excuse to have some fun with decor. 

we even had specialty cocktails in orange and with my favorite straws
we named it Beaver Crush and is now available at the Marriott downtown if you ever want to try one!  

and in the midst of craziness received the most beautiful bouquet of roses from my boy :)
so blessed. 

then we built a float for homecoming! 

even benny stopped by to have a seat in our beaver lodge living room

great group of students worked hard to pull it all together 

Then it was reunion time! 

we also held our annual COP football and pharmacy social at squirrels 

game day consisted of a recent grad reunion and a deans coffee

but by the end of the day i was D.O.N.E. and obviously totally happy to be at the game and done with october events

sorry for the picture overload! 

Hope you have a simply wonderful tuesday!