Summing Up the Narratives, Part 1 - So, I posted lots of photo albums in my last update, and it was more than a month earlier that I told you any stories. So, let's see how well I can sum up the past five weeks.... and after having drafted the stories, I think I should break this into two posts. Today you get the stories without the nine photo albums I want to append as well.

Short hair - Yup, I had it chopped again - http://twitpic.com/85nac and http://twitpic.com/8cbip -- I absolutely love the easy of the cut, and the best... I cannot BELIEVE how oppressively hot having long hair on my neck really was! And best of all, I've been getting tons of compliments. Several people said I should make this my "haircut for life." I'm not sure about that, that's not enough variety for me. But how nice to get feedback from friends that it looks good.

Several Birthdays - My roomie hosted a little dessert party where she made four pies and invited us all over to enjoy the pies. I just love her approach to things: She loves to bake, and she invites us to come eat her baked goods. It's such a neat outlook.

Kim, for her birthday, did something similar: She likes Japanese food, and she wanted to see the Harry Potter movie on premiere night (her birthday). So she invited us to join her, because that was her plan for her birthday. So we completely took over a back room at the restaurant, where I had a silly time bouncing my nephew Benji, and bouncing around talking to different people throughout the meal. The movie was fantastic: We dressed up in our Hogwarts costuming from all the various Hogwarts parties over the years. And Patrick brought (one of) his concertina(s) and entertained us for the 90 minutes we sat in the theatre before the midnight showing. It was a tough day at work the next morning, on only three hours sleep, but oh so much fun.

Lots of Family - Besides all the photos just posted, with my cousin's baby shower and her son's baptism, it has been a month of family. My Mom and sister and I grew up in the theatre, and my nieces have been raised the same way. In the end of June, I caught "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" with my friends Kim and Kevin, to see my sister and brother-in-law on stage (and even my nephew Jack in a cameo in the curtain call).

Tons of Variety at Work - For a while, one of the summer interns was loaned to me to work on a project. I definitely learned a few things about how much I take for granted in the work environment, the things I've learned over the years about professionalism. I'll have to remember those lessons, if I'm ever giving direction to a 19 year-old again. *sigh*

In addition to the work I've been doing for the past year, in technical writing and training development, I've been brought on to two new teams (only one of them has had assignments for me so far). I'm now working 50% of my time doing actual, professional web development and support. I help create online communities for engineers in various disciplines, and maintain the various resources they use for knowledge sharing across different agencies. And later, I'll be doing communications and event support for an inter-agency innovation conference. I've been walking on clouds, stunned that I'm involved in such projects. My resume needs some serious upgrading. (And my security clearance was reactivated, so wow. Cool, huh?)

The other shocking excitement: They held an Innovation Challenge in our IT division, for new project ideas. 11 Finalists were chosen to present their proposals, and 4 proposals were awarded funding. Our proposal was one of the winning four! The Finalists' presentation was nerve-wracking (although exciting), and I did our ten-minute public presentation. I think I shocked a few co-workers, who only know me as a heads-down, quiet, paperwork kind of publishing person. They'd never seen me do public speaking before, and really had no idea this was one of my primary interests and skills. I think I smiled for hours and hours, afterwards.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Lora, for the best haircut in a long time (and because you're awesome)