Time FLIES!

Holy moly what a crazy summer it has been! I feel like the past few months were just a blurr of memories! Almost 'dream like'. I can't believe it's almost October and I've been living here in Dallas for a little over a year now! It seems like yesterday that I was unpacking into my one bedroom apartment in the 'big city' of Lewisville. From my air mattress 'couch' to the 28" TV sitting on top a milk crate, I was so smitten with finally being in 'the big d'. And somewhere between buying a real couch and creating a budget for myself, I grew up.

September 8th marked my one year anniversary with Affirmative. I became interested in HR my senior year of college. I took a Law of HR class and became so fascinated by the course's content. I knew HR was a path I wanted to get on very quickly. When I moved to Lewisville I had moved to work for a mortgage company, all the time I kept my eyes open for a better opportunity to present itself. Then by some miracle I caught a break in my job hunt for an HR Assistant position and now a year later, after a promotion and a half, I am finding my niche in HR.

I have a couple more markers coming up in my life pretty soon. I turn 25 in November, which is insane to me and in December, Matt and I will be together for a year. Who would have thought it would have taken me 25 years to find my 'match'?! I have always been the person to keep looking for love but I have a feeling that the next 25+ years of my life will involve a different type of searching that will expand from houses to paint colors to baby names.

Here's hoping for 'Father Time' to slow down long enough for me to savor each of these memories as they happen...

Labor Day Weekend Highlights

This past Labor Day weekend, I went with Matt to visit his best friends' family in Minnesota. This was only my second time to visit them but I already feel like "Auntie Crissy". Here are a few pictorial highlights of the weekend...

1. Saturday night we had a 3 1/2 hour eating and drinking frenzy at Manny's in downtown Minneapolis. To say the least....we did not walk away hungry or sober!

2. Took the girls (Olivia and Isabella) to the Mall of America and rode some rides with them. They had a blast....for the most part!

3. Watching Matt interact with those girls makes my heart melt. They absolutely adore him!

4. We went to Afton State park for lunch before I had to fly back to Texas.

5. By far, the highlight of my weekend was when we were at the MOA and Iz was trying to tell me something. I leaned down to hear what she was saying and she said "Um, Um, Um, Crystal...I love you."

My Sister's Keeper

I just finished 'The Shack' and was quite surprised that I liked it. After years and years of religious books being shoved down my throat, I was not typically thrilled about beginning this book. BUT I pushed through it and I will say, the last half of the book is much better than the first. It gave a very different take on God's view and love for us. It didn't get too 'sunday school' for my taste and asked "Papa" some tough questions, which I appreciated.

So last weekend Matt and I made our typical Target shopping trip where he ventures to the electronics section and I take a look at the book section to see what's new/popular/etc. On the top shelf were several books written by Jody Picoult, including 'My Sister's Keeper'. I've heard various friends mention her and obviously MSK the movie came out this past June which tanked in theaters but that usually means the book is so fantastic they can't make a movie to depict it well enough (i.e.: Twilight). So I decided to give this author a try.

I am only 50 pages in and can I just say WOW! I'm not sure if it's the writing, the content, or the fact that the family's name is "Fitzgerald" that make me want to gobble this book up but is so good! The way she writes each character is just brilliant and I can't help but be consumed by this book. I'm sure she, and many of her other works, will become apart of my blogs to come!