"No Accumulation"

We knew we'd have some flurries on Thursday evening, but the weather people (even weather.com) said there would be no accumulation. Guess they define that a little differently than I do!

At 7:00pm it measured exactly 1" and continued to snow the biggest flakes I've ever seen until 9:00pm.

This is what I saw when I left for work Friday morning. The windy back roads we have to travel to get out to a main road were rough, but most melted by the time we got home Friday evening. There is still some snow in our backyard even today!

I'm On The Radio...

... Well, kind of! Part of my job that I didn't learn about until after I accepted was the fact that I am part of a radio show every Monday morning (unless there's a guest speaker and then I'm off the hook!). The TMA "Green News" is broadcast from WAKM AM950, Franklin's "hometown radio station"! Tom, the on-air personality (they aren't DJ's on talk radio are they?), the Executive Director of our organization, and I are on each Monday morning at 7:40am to talk about the latest environmental news and what's happening in Franklin (Williamson County) as far as its related. I was scared to death last week, but it went okay. I was stuck in traffic so they stalled until I got there! We talked about November being Lung Cancer Awareness Month and how air quality can, in a few cases, lead to cancer and tips to reduce air pollution.

I have a feeling this won't spark any new found radio personality talents deep within, but it makes for interesting conversation. I also feel comfortable talking about it since its only broadcast in Franklin and there is no online streaming!!

We also have a tv show on government access in Williamson County, but I've avoided it so far. I must have a face for radio!

What I do...

Lots of people have been asking me what I do at my new job, so I thought I'd make a post of it! Truth is... I'm still figuring it out. But this is what I know...

As the program administrator, I'll be working with businesses and individuals to be more environmentally aware and, therefore, reducing air pollution in the process. So when we meet with people (at fairs, corporate information sessions, etc.) we try to make sure they can do at least one thing to reduce consumption of anything that might be harmful to the environment (especially transportation alternatives). Same with businesses. Then we recognize the ones that are making a significant impact. Part of this includes letting companies know when there are "air alert" days during the warmer months so they can inform their employees and make changes to routines to help the situation. So it sounds like I'll be out and about meeting with people/businesses quite a bit!

I'll also be doing some grantwriting and fundraising along the way. All part of relationship building! I may even be part of a Monday morning radio show at some point!

Since I will be working with two different agencies it will be a little tricky. Both are in very different phases of development so balance will be key.

Both would really like to expand into the schools to do air quality/environmental education with children. That is something I can wrap my head around and will get into I'm sure!

These first few weeks I'll be doing lots of reading about air quality issues and meeting lots of new faces! I've spent much of my days, so far, online researching terms as they come my way. Everyone at the office has been very helpful in showing me around and helping me figure things out.

The New Office

Today was my first day at the new job. I'm still trying to figure out just what I'll be doing, but I've got some time. Today started with a breakfast for all the partners at the Williamson County Library. I got to meet a lot of the Clean Air Partners all at once and they got to meet me! Hopefully that will make it a little easier to call on them. Our Clean Air spokesperson is Taylor Ware. Taylor was a finalist on America's Got Talent the first season and wrote a earth-friendly song for the group this morning.

I spent the day "nesting" in my office, checking email, and doing some research. I also had to get a drug test.

Here are some pictures of my new office.

I can see the church we got married in from my office!

Everyone at the office seems really nice. I worked with Lisa, the executive assistant, at the Martha O'Bryan Center years ago, so it was nice to have a familar face today!

My Last Day...

Yesterday was my last day at the center... very bittersweet. While I'm very excited about my new job, I'm sad to go. My staff and the Martha O'Bryan staff and the CWA staff came for a potluck lunch in my honor at the center yesterday. Here are some pictures of that!

The CWA Apartments staff... Billy, one of our off-duty police officers is the one giving me bunny ears!

Me and Sharon... my Nashville mom who takes care of me, partly because her daughter lives a plane ride away and hopes someone takes care of her.

And me with Misty Moody, my partner in crime and supplier of tires the last several years.

Then once the kids arrived after school, we had another party! They made a slide show for me with pictures from my last eight years. Of course I had taken the majority of the pictures so they had trouble finding any with me in them! Some of my girls that are in college now came, as did one of my students that moved out of the apartments. I got lots and lots of cards! When I can get them all in one spot I'll take a picture of all my gifts. I really wasn't expecting it! Even one of my volunteers showed up with a gift. Very generous people! Probably one of my favorite gifts is a framed picture of my students (or most of them!) that was given specifically for me to hang in my new office. They all signed the mat around the picture. Here are a few of the pictures from last night. I think I might try to do a slide show on blogger later today with all of them.

This is Jalisa, one of my graduates!

These are the Eli sisters... Yasmine, Ilham, and Jihan. I've had them in my program for at least seven years! Ilham is at Belmont this year, Yasmine is a junior in high school and Jihan is in the 7th grade! I've known them since they were teeny tiny! In fact, Jihan was in Kindergarten I think!

My yummy, yummy cake!

This is Kenithia, our Education Assistant and one of my all-time favorite people! She's rescued me a countless amount of times since she came in August of 2006!

Catching Up!

So I haven't been the best blogger lately, so here's my attempt at catching you up on the few things that we've done lately.

It seems like most of our posts are about the garden or our niece... so here you go!

The last weekend in September, we traveled to Birmingham to spend a weekend with all the Taylors. Here are a few pictures!

Abby loves the camera... and more importantly, seeing herself on the back after you take the picture!

Abby playing with "Maddie", Jeff's mom

Then this weekend, my parents were here for a visit and to celebrate Kelly's 29th birthday. They ran errands with me on Friday and then Saturday we went to The Avenue, the new mall in Murfreesboro. I'm not that great at entertaining! Apparently, not so great at taking pictures either. They were here three days and the only picture I took was of the apple pie Mom made for Kelly's birthday. If you look close, you can see it says, "Kelly- 29" on the top! Mom's a nifty baker!

This Sunday we'll get to see Jeff's parents again. They'll be staying with us a few days on their way back from Tazewell to see Don's sister.

In other news, now that I'm having to do some research for my new job (air quality info), I've put a link on the right side of ways to help our air quality this fall. No political statement really... just trying to figure out if I could paste the info into a website. Thanks for being my lab rats! I'm also going to add links to the two agencies I'll be working for!

A New Job!

This morning I accepted a new job as the Program Administrator for the Clean Air Partnerships of Williamson County and Middle Tennessee. Yes, technically I'll be working for two different agencies with the same mission. I'm starting on October 20th. Although I'll be traveling around the area meeting with people, I'll be working out of an office in downtown Franklin (actually almost right behind the church we got married in!).

While this is very exciting, its also very scary to start a new job after almost nine years here at the community center. So keep the prayers coming! I'm not going to tell any of my students until we get much closer to my last day... little kids don't have much of a concept of time and it would just confuse them. I officially turned in my notice here last night and everyone has been a little shocked, but very supportive. So I have three weeks to get nine years of work out of my head and onto a piece of paper for the next person! Good thing I've already started! And please join me in prayer for them as they search for my replacement!

Mystery Solved!

So I did accidently plant the butternut squash instead of the yellow squash, but it seems to be doing well despite the heat! In my defense, the seed packet had no picture and the word SQUASH really big at the top... "butternut" was typed quite small below it in the middle of the variety name!


So does anyone have any good recipes that include butternut squash? I have a good casserole one, but that's it! And we have three on the vine already! This one is about ready to be picked!

The Garden Is In...

Shortly after we got our fence, we began putting in our vegetable garden! We lost count (after about 50) of how many bags of top soil we went through to fill it, but we've got enough to finish out the summer and maybe even the fall. Right now its about 25 feet long, but Jeff's hoping to take it all the way across the back and down the left side!

Here's the view from a distance. Notice how lovely our grass is (or lack there of!). We'll be working on that in the fall!!!

This is what it looked like when we first got it planted. The rounded part in the corner is the herb garden. The herbs aren't really doing that great, but we're holding out hope!

This is what the plants look like today. We started them in cups in the house and they have REALLY taken off since we put them in the ground to stretch out! We've got (from left to right), tomatoes, cucumbers, squash (maybe yellow, but I think I accidently planted butternut), and watermelon!

Right now we have broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and butternut squash (again?) started in our kitchen for the fall garden. We'll also plant snap peas, spinach, lettuce, and carrots depending on how much room we have!

Yum, yum.

A New Fence!

Two posts in one week!! Can you believe it???

After a year (plus!) of talking about getting a fence put in, we finally saved enough and did it! Okay we didn't do it, but we hired someone to!!

The new fence! Now our neighbors won't have to look at our dead grass!... at least not in the back yard. We'll spend some time this weekend getting our garden built along the back (at least part of it). Our vegetables are growing in cups and would like to stretch out a bit!

The geniuses who built our fence dragged our hose into the backyard to mix concrete and then built the fence on top of it! We have some digging to do to get it out!

Girls Weekend!

Becky B, Missy, Elizabeth and I headed to Blue Ridge, Georgia this weekend for our annual girls weekend. We had a tagalong... Caroline... Elizabeth couldn't help but bring her along! =) Next time she'll get to experience it outside the womb!

Friday we did some shopping in downtown Blue Ridge and then headed to the pool with the lunches we had packed. This is what happened next...

Saturday we took a train ride to McCaysville, GA/Cooperhill, TN... the state line ran right through the middle of downtown!

We also just chilled out at the cabin, ate some good local food, and of course... played cards!!

For all of our pictures, you can see Becky's Blog. She posted a slideshow on hers! The link is on the left hand side of the page.

Josh & Jenn's Wedding!

We were in Jacksonville, FL this weekend for my cousin Josh's wedding! Here are some pictures!

Josh & Jenn at rehearsal with Uncle Chuck officiating.

The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner!

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool at Grandmom & Granddad's house!

Jeff and I at the reception. We were asked to read scripture at the ceremony and managed not to butcher it too much!

And finally we ended the weekend with a Cacace family wedding tradition. Beginning in 2001 after my cousin Phil's wedding to Brooke, Uncle Rusty (shown above) made each of us write out the order in which the remaining 11 grandchildren would get married. At each wedding we pull out the cards and score them. When scoring is done, they are sealed in an envelope, signed by someone on the seal and returned to Uncle Rusty's safe deposit box until the next wedding! We aren't competitive or anything! So far Kelly is winning. Laurie is in second and Grandmom is a close third... although we think she listed someone twice! =) Apparently, all of the uncles are going in on a gift for the winner at the end of all of this... although we are only on wedding 5 of 12 so it will be a while!

Graduation Day!

Today I had the honor of attending the graduation of one of my students, Ilham! Ilham has been in my program since the 5th grade! She is a genius and has the most intelligent sense of humor. She was the salutatorian and will be attending Belmont in the fall... and got enough grants and scholarships to go for free! No loans! We are all so proud of her!! She gave one of the speeches and blew the valedictorian speeches (there were two) out of the water. I'm hoping that the video turned out well enough to put it on the learning center's blog next week. I realized I can't hold my arms up with a tiny camera for three minutes without shaking... okay... even one minute! =(

Hoda's Graduation Address

Elizabeth sent me this and I knew I had to post it for everyone to read!! Its long, but well worth the read...


Over the weekend, Hoda Kotb had the honor of delivering the commencement address at her alma mater, Virginia Tech. Here's the text of her speech:

Hello, graduates!

I asked my friends one question before I came here, and that question was, "Who spoke at your college graduation?" Do you know not one person could remember? No one could remember who stood at a podium like this one and spoke at graduation. They couldn’t remember the speaker, but they all remember the message. It was always the same. It was always poignant, always memorable and it went like this...

"Wa wa ..wa wa...wa wa” (a-la Charlie Brown’s teacher)

Class of 2008, I am going to remember you and I want you to remember me.

I am Hoda Kotb -- and I am a HOKIE!

I am a TODAY Show co-host -- and I am a HOKIE!

I am a breast cancer survivor -- AND I AM A HOKIE!

I am addicted to my iPod -- and I am A HOKIE

People ask me all of the time, "How are the kids from Virginia Tech doing?" And then they give me "the look." You know the look -- the one that says, “Awwww,” the look of pity. I always answer the same way, “Have you ever MET anyone from Virginia Tech???? We are not-curl-up-under-the-covers, suck-our- thumbs kind of people. We are people who RISE UP.”

There is a saying: "If you fall, fall on your back. Because if you fall on your back you can see up. And if you can see up you can get up. And you can keep going and going and going.”

People say a lot of things.

They said it would be tough to recover after such a tragedy. It would be tough to heal, tough to rise up.

But you did.

They said new students would not come to Virginia Tech. They would be too afraid. They would not set foot on this campus.

But they did.

They said it would be tough to separate the tragedy from the tradition, that you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the Virginia Tech experience like Top of the Stairs, the ACC championship game, the girls softball team beating the U.S. Olympic team …

But you did, and it felt good.

Ok, so now it is time to look forward, time to look ahead.
How many of you have jobs?

(kids screaming)

Ok, I see where the engineers are sitting. Some of the rest of you may be traveling. Who is going back home to live with mom and dad????

(roar)

Parents, you must be so proud.

OK, this part of the speech is for those of you WITHOUT a job. DO NOT PANIC. Your job is out there waiting for you. You just have to go get it.

Here's how I got my first one.

I graduated from Tech, had my college degree in one hand, my resume tape in the other, and ONE job interview set up. I had on a brand new green suit, borrowed my mom's car. I told her, “Mom, I am going to drive from our house in Alexandria, Va. to this T.V. station in Richmond. I am going to get hired, then I am going to bring the car back, pack and move to Richmond.

She said, “Of course you will.”

So I drove to Richmond, met the news director, looked around the newsroom and thought, “Hmmmmm. I will sit THERE, and I will date HIM.” Seemed promising. The news director put my tape in the machine, played it for about 30 seconds. popped it out and said, “Hoda, I am sorry but you are not ready for Richmond.” Hmmmmmm. I asked him if there was any tips he could give me, advice. He said, “No, you are just not very good right now. Good luck and buh-bye.”

As I was leaving, he said, “Hoda, wait a minute. I have a friend, a news director in Roanoke. He is hiring, but he is leaving tonight. If you catch him I am sure he will hire you.”

I said tell him I am coming

So I called my mom about the car and said, “Mom, I did not want Richmond. I want ROANOKE." So I started driving south, got to the newsroom, looked around and thought, “This is ok. I will sit THERE. And I will date HIM.”

The news director put my tape in, played it for 30 seconds, popped it out and said, “I am sorry, but you are not ready for Roanoke.

I couldn’t believe it.

He said good luck to you and buh-bye. As I was leaving, he said, "Hold on. I have a friend of mine who is hiring. He is in Memphis, Tenn.”

Now Tennessee is the long, skinny state, and Memphis is at the other end. And I said tell him I AM COMING.

I drove across the great state of Tennessee, met the news director. He put my tape in the machine and promptly said, "Hoda, I am sorry but you are not ready for Memphis.”

I almost died.. Oh yeah, and then he said "buh-bye."

As i was leaving he said, “Wait a minute. I know someone who will hire you.”

Graduates, I was in the car for 10 days. I got 27 rejections. Twenty-seven news directors told me no. I got rejected throughout the entire Southeast. Does anyone know where Dothan, Ala. is? I got rejected there. I made my way to the panhandle of Florida. There was nowhere else to go.

I decided it was time to drive home. I was sad, listening to James Taylor on the radio, and then I got lost.

I got lost in Mississippi.

You know how they say God gives you a sign? Well, he gave me a sign alright. It was a real sign. It said, "Greenville, our eye is on your CBS," or something like that.

I went to the TV station, and that man HIRED ME.

So I am telling you your job is out there waiting for you, you just have to go and get it.

I told you I am a breast cancer survivor. If you survive a tragedy, you get some unexpected gifts. You get some gifts, you have to look for them. Breast cancer taught me two things. Number one: my life has margins and is to be valued and not wasted. So I say not one more minute. I will not waste one more minute. So I held onto the things I love, and got rid of the things I didn’t.

Number two: If you survive a tragedy you get four words. You get YOU CAN’T SCARE ME. Nothing will be worse than what you faced. So let’s say the tax man is on the phone. Ok, let’s say your boyfriend breaks up with you via text message. Ok, you can handle it.

Ok, I have a little surprise for you. I told you I am addicted to my iPod, and I have it right here...a little song i think you will enjoy..

(I put the earbuds on the mic, and blast “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. The kids went completely nuts)

I want to close by saying they said it would be tough to recover after such a tragedy, tough to rise up. But you did.

They say it will be tough to change the world.

But you will...

Yard Work!

Last weekend was so beautiful, and Jeff got home really early Saturday, so we finally got some yardwork done! Our boxwoods in front of our window had completely fried in the horrible heat we had last year...

Jeff doing the hard work... I mowed the lawn though! =)

Weekend in Birmingham

Actually less than 24 hours in Birmingham! We went down to celebrate Abby's first birthday this weekend!

Opening gifts!

Okay, so this is what Aunt Becky made for her birthday present! First attempt at a rag doll!

But it seemed to go over well!

The sliding board we bought... well, she's still not too sure about that!

April 16th

Today is a day of reflection for a lot of Hokies all over the world. Last April 16th was a day that will live in our memories for the rest of our lives. I remember being glued to my computer watching video stream of Channel 10 out of Roanoke as everything unfolded. It started with a girl from work calling me to ask if I knew that someone (one person at the time) had been shot on the VT campus. From there, the emails and new updates kept coming. Pray today for the Hokies and those that are working on campus to help them heal... specifically Darrell Cook, Mark Appleton, and Missy Cheliras at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries!

As I've said earlier, in the middle of all the tragedy on this day last year we received a phone call saying that our niece Abby was born. A bright spot in a terrible day. But today she turns one and we'll celebrate with her this weekend. Happy Birthday Abby!

A New Camera!

We bought our new camera this weekend! Its a Canon SD1100IS. Unfortunately for Jeff, the only one they had left at the store was pink. He doesn't believe me, but really it was all that was left.

Here's a picture we took this weekend with it! Can you tell I took it?

The blog should get much better now that we can take pictures again!

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Anniversary to Us!

Marta told me I had to have a shameless Happy Birthday to Me post today, so here it is! I'm finding 31 is harder to handle than 30 for some reason. But its also our anniversary today! Hard to believe two years ago we were walking down the aisle! Time's flying!

We begin our hunt for a new camera today, so hopefully our posts will be better once we can take some pictures!!

Camera Recommendations?

We want to buy a new digital camera for our anniversary and are looking for recommendations. Have any? Hoping not to spend more than $200 for a simple point and shoot. Leave us a comment and let us know.

If you are looking for a camera, stay away from the brand that starts with a "P" and ends in "oid". Figure I shouldn't say who it is... don't want to be sued! Ours died within a year and they wouldn't replace it. The one we bought for my parents was also dead within a year!

Snow Video

Wednesday last week we had quite a bit of snow.... didn't really stick, but it looked impressive! At work that day it was pretty quiet, so I took some video of it coming down. That's the center in the video... not my house... We don't have bars on our windows at home.




Of course on Sunday it was 72 degrees and they are calling for a rain/snow mix again tomorrow. Can't wait until it really feels like spring... every day.

I'm DONE!!

After a very long two months of research, meetings, standing strong on issues, and plain old freaking out... today I submitted our grant proposal to United Way for their three year funding cycle! Printed, it comes out to 20 pages. This will, if awarded, provide funds for my afterschool program, the one at Martha O'Bryan Center and the Reading program.

This year, each question had a 2500 character limit on it. It has ruined my typing! I still have to stop after every period and make sure I put TWO spaces instead of the ONE I was using to save space! Looking at the paragraph above it seems I'm still not doing too well!

This is a picture of my computer while I was clicking "submit"!

The process isn't done... still have an interview round once we've made it that far. We'll know how much we get in MAY! The hard part is over though. I'm sleeping very late tomorrow!

It's Snowing!

I'd love to show you a picture of how pretty the snow was on our house this morning, but the camera is still toast. You'll just have to close your eyes and picture it!

Blogs aren't fun without pictures. Sorry.

Figures...

Just when I was starting to get better about posting more often, our digital camera dies! So much for that!

In the meantime, check out this cool website... www.freerice.com ! Its a website that tests your vocabulary and donates actual grains of rice through the United Nations for each definition you get right! Our kids at work are on it pretty regularly. It's pretty hard!