How Time Flies...

Oh how time flies, friends! I can't believe that we're already to the midway mark of February and this is my FIRST post of 2013.

So, what have I been up to?

I went to Qatar--holy cow, what an amazing trip! 

Day one- working away in the media center

My official United Nations accreditation badge 

Speaking on an United Nations Environmental Programme pannel on behalf of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

Doing a few warmups before getting started on the pannel! 

Reuniting with old friends in Qatar

Sitting in on a panel with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

Channeling my mother circa 1983 while finishing up a piece 

Trying out the United States negotiating seat!

Gorgeous chandeliers in the main negotiating hall. Each cost one million dollars...

I'll let you all do the math! 

Doha skyline

Spices in the Souk Waqif (market) in Doha 

FANAR Qatar Islamic Cultural Center

 Attending an amazing UN Non-Governmental party at the inland sea

Lights in the Souk Waqif 

Dinner at a delicious Turkish restaurant in the Souk Waqif

Outside of the gorgeous Museum of Islamic Art in Doha 

Museum of Islamic Art- Doha, Qatar

Inside the Museum of Islamic Art. This museum is a must visit!

A special thanks to Katherine, Becky, Lindsey, Katie & Lindsey, & Jen for fabulous guest posts while I was away!

I hosted a baby shower for L and Baby B

Mommy and Baby B

Holding my nephew for the first time!

L and I with our mom's. We took the same photo on the first day of Kindergarden!

I hosted a baby shower for N and Baby Z

For N's birthday we usually have an ugly sweater party...so we mixed things up a bit this year and made it an ugly sweater baby shower. It served as a fun birthday/baby celebration!

I celebrated the Christmas with my family

Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa

First holiday with the boy!

My cousin asked me to be Maid of Honor in her wedding!

With the lovely bride-to-be

I took the GRE..yuck. This isn't very exciting but it was torture, so it had to be mentioned 


I tried a new hair style

After slowly trimming it away, I finally took the plunge. I'm definitely missing my long hair, but am loving the new look!

I experienced a tough loss

My family lost our sweet boy, just one week shy of his 16th birthday.
I'm so thankful for all of the years I had with my friend..

I visited L and Baby B

Isn't he the cutest?!

He experienced his first shopping trip with his mom and auntie--he was such a good boy!

I started a new job that I'm oh-so excited about and absolutely love

Lovely flowers from my mom and dad on the first day!

I met baby Z!

Holding a baby that is only a few hours old is probably one of the most touching things I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing

Finally, I celebrated Valentine's Day with one great Valentine 

And that brings us to today-- Which also happens to be my last day of my 24th year...Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and welcome whatever a quater of a century brings me! Much like the begining of a new year, I think that your year is what you make of it, but I can't help but shake the feeling that year 25 is going to be a great one for me! Have a wonderful Monday!

Lately

Happy Monday, friends! Did you all have a nice weekend? I took my own advice from Friday and had some quality relaxation time. Here's a little glimpse into what I've been up to!

Although this wasn't over the weekend I have to share my Halloween costume for the year. In my current position I have the absolute pleasure of working with K-8th graders..so I of course had to dress up like a cat for Halloween! It was so adorable to see their reactions when they saw that I had dressed up!

I spent a few hours over the weekend setting up my new computer! Since changing jobs I've been without a Mac..needless to say I'm very excited to leave my PC behind.

Since I'm going to be out of the country for Thanksgiving and my cousin was home on leave from the Navy, we had our family Thanksgiving yesterday. I was given the hefty responsibility of baking one of the pumpkin pies. Baking pies is one of my favorite things to do so I had to go all out! 

Here I am with two out of three cousins!

...And cooking with my adorable grandma!

Also, you may remember that I mentioned a family auction last week. For those of you who don't know, I live in a small town in southeast Iowa and my grandparents' have a farm about 30 minutes north of where I live. After years of collecting, my grandpa gave us the go ahead to auction off all of his antique tractors, parts, 4 wheelers...basically a bunch of his toys. I realize this is a bit of detour from what I typically share with you all, but my family and I spent so much time preparing for the day I though I'd share a few pictures.

Although it went from 70 degrees and sunny to 35 degrees with clouds/sleet  (resulting in me bundling up in the farm attire below), it was still a great success! Here are a few of my favorite images that I captured...

Have a wonderful Monday!