If you’re tuning in today for some decorating tips and tutorials, I’m sadly going to disappoint you. This will be a personal post catching you up on all that has gone on in my life over the past month. April has been INSANELY busy, and I have been mostly M.I.A.
Let me fill you in on all that has transpired this month! My husband took a job (starting next fall) as a high school teacher at a local private school. The kids get to go to the school tuition-free starting THIS school year, so they just switched to their new school and so far are loving it :). For those of you who have been following our job search, Matt has been underemployed for a few years now. He works as a college professor but wasn’t able to land an Assistant Professor job so just decided to work as a high school teacher. It’s not ideal, but we’re trusting it’s what he’s supposed to be doing for now and are so grateful for a job!
The first week of April was spent at my mom’s house in Virginia to celebrate Easter. We frequently drive the 6 hours down and 6 hours back to visit family.
I live in Pennsylvania, but I’m home in Virginia so often that many of you think I live in Virginia :). I so wish I did! I adore my mom, sisters, and extended family so drive “home” every chance I get!
Out to dinner with my sisters! Kim is the first born, Christianne is the baby, and I am the “middle child”!
I returned home for one day, did laundry, re-packed, and flew to L.A. to help a friend with a project!
Unfortunately this trip had been rescheduled a few times, and I didn’t look closely at my new return date. I realized a bit too late that I wasn’t going to return from L.A. in time to make my flight from Philadelphia to Salt Lake!
Ack! So, I had to buy a one-way ticket from L.A. to Salt Lake City. Tip: If you ever have to miss the first leg of your round-trip flight, be sure to call the airline immediately and TAKE NAMES of who you talked to otherwise they will cancel your entire flight. I am $510 in the hole because I didn’t take names :(.
When I realized that I wasn’t going to make my flight from Philly, I immediately called Delta and worked it out so that my ticket would still be active for my return flight. However, they have NO RECORD of me ever calling! Whoever I spoke to didn’t enter the information correctly and my reservation (that I already paid $400 for) was canceled. I spoke to a bazillion people after this trying to work it out and was told to basically just suck it up. There was no refunding my ticket and a “change in flight fee, rebooking fee, and flight cost difference” was going to cost me $670. Wha???? So, at the very last minute I scrambled to find a new flight for $510, one-way home from Salt Lake to PA. That of course was on TOP of the $200 ticket I already paid from L.A. to SLC. My original $400 ticket was just a complete loss :(. A very, very expensive lesson learned indeed. Always take the names of the associates you talk to on the phone and any other badge or ID info they have available.
Okay, so back to the fun stuff. I went early to Salt Lake City (with only 4 outfits and no camera) to visit my best friend from childhood, Melanie. Melanie and I met in seventh grade when I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were only in the same state for two years before we BOTH moved all over the country during our adolescence. Somehow we’ve managed to stay best friends in spite of all the distance. I hadn’t seen in her in 7 years so this was a very special reunion! We picked right up as if a day hadn’t passed between us :). Isn’t that the way with best friends?
Melanie and I toured Salt Lake, Provo, the mountains, ate out everyday, ate too much chocolate, got our eyebrows waxed, and ultimately had a fantastic girlie time! I cannot tell you how much I love this sweet girl :).
And then it was on to SNAP!
Since I didn’t have my camera with me Rhoda was nice enough to send me some of her photos! I had the honor of speaking on a panel entitled “Dimension, Pattern & Texture=STYLE”. I presented a PowerPoint on how to create vignettes for tables, mantels, and bookshelves.
It was so much fun! I wanted to share my talk here on the blog but Rhoda has “ordered” me to give a revised version of the presentation at Haven. I don’t want to ruin it for you so it will have to wait until after Haven ;).
The conference was beautiful, well organized, informative, and FUN! My favorite part of attending any blog conference is of course the PEOPLE! It’s overwhelming to have so many amazingly talented women gathered together in one place.
Rhoda, Wendy, Ana, Me, Brittany
Four out of eight of our Haven team were honored to speak at Snap! All of us would have been there if time, money, and schedules permitted! Haven <3’s Snap!
My only regret from Snap was that I didn’t have more time, more energy, and more extroversion (you might be surprised to learn that I’m actually quite introverted and a bit shy in a crowd :)) to get to know more of YOU! I’m hoping to have another chance with some of you at Haven!
If you want to see more pictures from the event, click on the Snap Flickr stream. Thanks for letting me share a bit of what I’ve been up to this month! I hope to have some fun project reveals for you soon ;).
What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this web site regularly,
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Don’t think I’m weird but I just found you! What’s weirder is I live in Pittsburgh, my name is Kim and I am the middle child as well. I feel special some how =0) Super cool to follow your blog and learn more about cha! If you feel like bonding with another middle child, feel free to visit my blog as well
Kim@reposhture.blogspot.com
Aww, thanks for putting me in your post!!! I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have the most loyal friend ever. It was soooo fun to see you! Come back soon!!!! Love you!
Argh! That sucks about your ticket! Sucks! That is great that your hubs got a better position, even if it isn’t ideal. And how great that the boys get to go to school there! I loved your panel and I am trying to breathe deeply and remember your tips as I contemplate my mantel from hell. 🙂 I am really looking forward to Haven.
Ugh, that mess with the airlines is something I learned when working in retail(= ALWAYS get a name!) for anyone you talk to…manager, associate, other store, etc… and Ive never forgotten it.
Just recently we got burned big time by Verizon and I kept telling my husband “get a name!” Hes always thought I was over the top about it but now he understands why. Its a hard lesson to learn:(
On a side note, we HAVE to meet IRL one of these days. Its ridiculous for us to live this close and never meet.
Way off topic,but you mentioned you had your eyebrows waxed and I realized that you have blonde eyebrows.Like me.I started having mine coloured several years ago,a brown shade and I can not believe how good it looks.It opens you eyes and makes you look soooo much better.It lasts about 4 months and grows in very naturally.I wish someone had told me to do this a hundred years ago!!!!
You know, when I had them waxed the estition recommended that I have them colored and she filled them in with a light brown pencil to give me an idea of what it would look like. I hated it on me. It made me look like a “bleached blonde” which I’m not :). I just couldn’t handle the change.
Wow! That is quite a month. So sorry about the Delta snafu – airline runaround is the worst. But so happy to hear of the new job for your husband – tuition-free private school is quite a perk!
Looking forward to hearing more about your Haven talk as I can seriously use some staging advice…..
So sorry about the plane fiasco! It looks like Snap was a great time….I cannot wait to see you at HAVEN!! 🙂
UGH! That stinks!! I would be writting a letter!! Seriously you should at least have a credit for the original flight purchase. That just stinks!! 🙁
It was so good to see you in UT though and your class was hands down my favorite session of the entire conference!!
Congratulations to your husband on the new job. That is awesome about the free tuition! Thanks for sharing all the pictures of SNAP 🙂 Looks like you guys had a great time.
wow…busy traveller! But looks like you have had lots of fun!
Loved meeting you Beth! Only I wish I was going to HAVEN!! Your super sweet and I cant wait to meetcha again:0))) xoxo Destiny
You have just been all over the map, Beth! Sorry you had to skip over me in Chicago! lol! I saw Rhoda’s post on SNAP! It looks like it was so much fun!
Congrats on your husband landing the job. I am sure it is a relief for all of you! Kudos to him!
XO,
Jane
I’m so happy your husband has found a job nearby! That’s great that the kids can go to school for free! WooHoo!
It looks like you had a great month!
Wow, you had a whirlwind month!! I’m so sorry Delta gave you the runaround. This was a good lesson for the rest of us. I’ll keep that in mind for when I travel to Haven.
Speaking of Haven, I can’t believe how soon it will be here! Reading SNAP posts is good practice. 🙂
Beth, I’m bummed I didn’t have a chance to chat with you. I saw you several times, but the timing was never right as you were usually chatting with someone else. 🙂 I had a ton of fun at SNAP too and was glad I at least got to see you in person. I’m pretty introverted too, but it was fun to meet everyone and get all that talent together in one location! Thanks for making the trip, wish I could attend Haven!
What an exciting time for you and busy girl!!
Glad to hear that hubby has landed a job in quite a school and your wee ones get to go free. Can’t wait to see what you are going to reveal.