Johnsville Comes to Alabama

Photo from Johnsonville Website

Major news update, the Johnsonville Brat 65-foot grill is coming to Huntsville this weekend! As a Midwesterner making it here in the south, it makes me feel like a piece of home is coming just to visit me. Now I just need to pick up a Leinenkugel's (limited selection in stores but beggars can't be choosers) and cheese curds (not squeaky but see previous statement) from my local Publix because they are awesome and head downtown. #IHeartHSV but I am a #Cheesehead at my core!

The End of an Era

This Friday, February 6, 2015 marks the end of an era in my life. It will be my last day of work at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The USSRC has been a part of my life since 1997 when I first attended as high school student who had a passion for space exploration. I was privileged to join the team in January of 2004 and in the last 11 years I met my husband there and have made countless friends that have become an extension of my family!

I am looking forward to Friday and dreading Friday all at the same time. What we do at the Rocket Center changes lives every single day and I am honored and humbled to have played just a tiny role in that. It has changed my life in ways I could have never imagined. At the same time, I have a new challenge on the horizon and I am so excited to start that journey. I will be sad, and I am sure there will be tears, but I will walk away knowing this: I am inspired every day to dream big and achieve those goals because of my time there. That is what we do at the USSRC, we INSPIRE everyone who walks through our doors to explore!

I am so incredibly grateful for my time at the Center. It has truly been life changing. I look forward to my new roles in life and I am certain it will include new ways to be connected the place I love, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

And the winners are...

For the last 12 months this LibbyDoodle has been hanging in our kitchen. It represents the three words I selected as my focus for 2014. The words were: courage (to try something new), commitment (to checking a few important things off my to do list) and adventure (go have them!). This was the first year I went the words list rather than making a new "to-do" this year list. Now don't get me wrong, I still made to do lists because that is who I am, but these words meant so much more to me than just checking a box. They really helped guide me in some of the decisions I made this year. The idea to select words came from the #GetGutsy community founder, Jessica Lawlor. I am so grateful to have come across the idea along with the #GetGutsy community and am excited to repeat it again this year. 

The task of choosing three words to help set course for your year is not an easy one. The words have to feel right and really speak to you. What a word means to you may not be the same as it does to someone else so careful consideration is important. Last year the words just came to me as I was talking with the hubby and a few friends about my new plans. They just fit right off the bat. This year was a bit more of a struggle to find the right ones. I made a brainstorming list (ok more like 3 or 4), scratched them up, rewrote them, and just looked at them for about a month now. A lot of brain power went in to this decision. I think that is part of the reason I enjoy this activity as much as I do. I feel very invested in the time it took me to come up with just three words to reflect on for the next 365 days.

Without any further delay, the words that I spent so much time coming up with are: Strength, Simplify, and Focus. The last few years I have felt not as emotionally or mentally strong as I would like. I have been just dealing with it as those days happen when I am feeling week but this year I am ready to conquer that head on. I am not sure yet just how that will happen but I have some ideas and I think just telling myself I am ready for it is a huge step in the right direction. Simplify is my second word. Oh my goodness I am so excited about this word. Everything around me feels like chaos lately. My stuff, my work, my work and life balance and the list goes on. I am ready to simplify and just keep what really matters around me and get rid of the rest. I have days of anxiousness that comes from the chaos and I can't wait for the calm that will come with this word. Lastly I chose focus. For a while I was struggling to decide between simplify and focus, however I finally realized the reason it was so hard for me to choose between them is that this year I really need them both. So I embraced them both. Focus for me this year is going to be about checking some boxes but I need to focus on those boxes that are important to me and that I have put on my own list rather than allowing distractions to take my time and energy away from them. It is an ambitious list I have under this word so it is going to take strength and a simplified life to stay focused on the goals ahead of me this year. See what I did there? I sure do love it when it all comes together like it was meant to be!

So, what are your New Year's traditions? Do you make a to-do list,  set goals, or make resolutions? If you had to pick three words to define your year, what would they be?  

Happy New Year friends and family!

Still Searching

It is my favorite time of year (well almost). Labor day is over, football has started and pumpkin spice lattes have arrived. As soon as the temperature drops we can officially say Fall is here and it is truly my favorite time of the year. Growing up in Wisconsin Fall meant hayrides, apple picking, visits to the pumpkin patch, trips to Holy Hill during the peak of the color change, hours in the deer stand, and caramel apple pie in a bag. Sadly, it also means many months of cold and snow are around the corner. That snow and cold is one of the main reasons I moved away. For anyone who knows me, i am a weenie when it comes to being cold. You can expect loud whines, many layers of long underwear and requests for hot beverages when the temperature drops below 60! Fall is the one time of the year I really miss Wisconsin. Alabama is where I call home now but Fall in Wisconsin has a special place in my heart and I usually get a bout of homesickness this time of year. I have found many events and activities I look forward to throughout the year here but for some reason there just isn't something I have found yet this time of year that makes me feel the same way as Fall in the midwest does. So Southern friends, help me out here. What is your favorite thing you do to enjoy fall (and please don't say college football - we all know that isn't my thing.)

How do I Choose a Bathroom Stall in Public?

So I have been thinking about this question for weeks now, just ask the Hubby. He has had to listen to more than one tirade from me about the right and wrong way to choose a bathroom stall. Consider this my PSA on how to pick a public restroom stall. This all starts with our ladies bathroom at work that has 4 stalls, 3 regular stalls on one wall and one stall on another wall. Walk with me through this scenario if you will. You are a lady, you open the door to the restroom and you notice that there is someone in the middle stall. No matter which stall you pick you will be right next to someone else when there is obviously enough room for there to be stall between you. Frustrated you turn around and walk out, politely wait until they are finished. Then you walk back in and pick the correct stall in the pattern. Here come the PSA - when you have the option to select a stall, always pick the stall that will allow user 2 to have an empty stall between you and them. Yes, i realize if you have 2 stalls this is not an option. Anything more than 2 stalls however allows you the option to pick. Ok...back to the scenario. You are ready to make your selection, so you correctly select stall 1. This allows person 2 to come in and select stall 3. Can you visualize this? It has left an open space between you two. Then person 3 comes in. Well unfortunately for them they have to pick the middle stall OR they can wait to start the pattern over again. They won't have this option however if you have selected the wrong stall to begin with! The moral of the story here is personal space is always important but it is extra important in the ladies room so always choose the stall with the best chance of giving the other users their space! Thanks for relieving me of this burden. I have been carrying around this important unshared advice for way to long and I feel much better!

Side note - I am not sure what that has to do with living in the south or being from the Midwest but bear with me here. I am working to get back on track, promise!