Already?

I was running errands this evening and saw this tree:
I couldn't believe that the leaves were already changing colors... not sure I'm quite ready for colder weather!

We'll Miss You Diana!

I knew I should have knocked on wood! For the last year and a half, I have had the ideal Systems team. I bragged all the time about my great employees and how well everyone worked together. Several months ago Diana approached me and said she was thinking about applying for a Business Analyst position in another department on campus (it was a promotional opportunity for her). As soon as I found out she was applying, I should have started looking for her replacement... She was so good at what she did in our office, that I KNEW she would get the job. The hiring manager would have been stupid not to hire her :-) Well, a couple weeks ago she was offered the job and her last day in the Registrar's Office was Friday. What a bittersweet day it was! It is hard to lose such a good employee, but I am happy for her as I know she will have the opportunity to learn and grow in her new position. We celebrated her time in the Registrar's Office with Cookie Lady cookies (yum!) and then Ross, Jami, Diana, enjoyed lunch together (we were sad Terri couldn't make it!). Diana - I wish you the best of luck in EAS!

Boise State is Smoke Free

I have been working at Boise State for almost four years now... boy does time fly! Over the last four years I have grown to love Boise State, and am proud to be a Bronco. I love my job, have excellent co-workers, and think campus is so beautiful. I can't wait for students to be back on campus Monday - the energy the first week of school is incredible. It often makes me wish I were back in college.

One thing I am very excited about is that this past Monday Boise State became smoke free. That means that no student, employee, or visitor can smoke on campus or any of the sidewalks surrounding campus. All the ash trays have been removed and there are now smoke free campus signs reminding people of the new policy. There are no longer designated "smoke free entrances" to buildings because they are all smoke free - hooray! I definitely didn't enjoy walking through a cloud of smoke to get into a building, so I either held my breath or went to another entrance... No longer will I have to do that!

It's probably about a mile from one end of campus to the other. I work right in the middle of campus, but walk all over throughout the day to get to meetings. It seemed inevitable that I would get behind someone who was smoking as I walked from meeting to meeting, so I would have to walk really fast to get around them - I HATE the smell of cigarette smoke! Needless to say, I am thrilled that this new policy is in place :-)

18 Days and Counting

With temperatures in the 70's this weekend, it felt like fall... which made me even more excited for football season! To top it off, I got my season tickets this week. I know I'm not the only one who is excited, because there are lots of people wearing blue and orange around town. Only 18 days until the first game, and boy should it be a good one!

Record Low-High

I knew it was cold yesterday! The Statesman reported today that we set a record for the lowest-ever high temperature for August 7th. The thermostat peaked at 60 degrees yesterday! The previous record was set in 1976 at 74 degrees... so we broke the record by 14 degrees. Insane! No worries though, we still have plenty of summer left - it'll be in the 90's again by Monday.

Box Seats!

I'm sure I've said this before, but I LOVE the Shakespeare Festival. The atmosphere is amazing and the actors are fantastic. I have thought several times over the years that I should purchase season tickets... maybe next year. Last night I splurged and took a group of friends to see Twelfth Night. I was totally bummed all day that thinking that the show might get rained out. It was raining when I woke up and continued to rain throughout the day, hardly breaking at all. Finally at about 6:30, right when we met to leave, the rain let up... Perfect timing!

The storm system that came through over the last couple days brought with it cold weather. It totally felt like fall last night! We all had coats and blankets and you could see the actors' breath when they spoke. Crazy... you would have thought it was October instead of August! At the festival, we had box seats, so that was extra fun. I treated everyone to Costa Vida for dinner, and Jen brought PF Changs Wall of Chocolate for dessert. The play had a great story line and was really funny, and everyone had a good time. I can't wait until next time!

First Thursday

Tonight, despite the rainy weather (it totally felt like it was October today!), Jen, Tyler, and I headed out to enjoy First Thursday. We hit up the Idaho Historical Museum, the Boise Art Museum, and Boise Art Glass. My favorite was Boise Art Glass where we got to watch artists at work making blown glass vortex marbles. It was so beautiful to see how everything came together. I especially loved some of the chandeliers that were for sale... I think it would be so cool to have one over my dining room table - wouldn't that be a cool conversation piece?

There was one exhibit at the Boise Art Museum that I really loved by artist Devorah Sperber called Threads of Perception. She literally makes art out of spools of thread. The interesting part, though, is that the artwork looks like it's upside down, but then you view it through an acrylic sphere and the image displays upright and and is much clearer. It's so much cooler to see it in person, so if you live in Boise and get a chance to visit the Art Museum before September 20th, I strongly encourage you to go!

Once we had finished hitting the galleries we wanted to see tonight, we met up with Jared and Andrea for dinner at Chapalas. It was definitely a fun night!

Roaring Springs

I spent last Friday with my cute nephew Alex. I haven't hung out with him in a while, so we planned a fun day at Roaring Springs. The water park has been in operation for 10 years or so, and I had never been... I wasn't sure if, as an adult, I would really enjoy the park, but I had a blast! Corinne and Lisa and their kids joined us for the day, which was perfect because then Alex had a couple kids his age to play with too. We spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool area, but we did venture out to try out the wave pool, the racing ridge, the endless river, and pipeline mines. Alex's favorite phrase of the day was "That was AWESOME!!!" Thanks everyone for such a great day!

My New Guest Bathroom

Last weekend, the guys at Tresidio finished my guest bathroom remodel, and I am thrilled! It's amazing how different the bathroom looks, and how now it matches my style and the rest of my house. My splurge in this bathroom was the custom counter top (I love the jagged edge!) and the basin sink. I wanted something a little different, and fell in love with this combo. In addition, I got new tile floor and shower surround, a new vanity, new toilet, new lighting, and new fixtures. Or course I had to get new accessories, and I'm excited to hang some beautiful artwork I just purchased.

In addition to my bathroom remodels, I had all the brass door knobs throughout the house replaced with oil rubbed bronze knobs. Wahoo! I feel like my big house projects are finally done, and now I can focus on paying down my mortgage!

Team Building & Leadership Retreat

We have a Leadership Retreat in our office twice each year... one at the beginning of the fiscal year to set goals, and one mid way through the fiscal year to evaluate where we are at and to have some training/professional development. Today we deviated a bit from the norm. In addition to setting office goals, we also had a team building component to the retreat - we went bowling! I decided I should have brushed up on my bowling skills over the last few weeks :-) I definitely had the most gutter balls of anyone, but a few lucky frames in each game saved me. I ended up with 123 my first game and 113 my second game... not great, but not as bad as it could have been! I even ended on a high note - I got a strike on the 10th frame of my second game, and ended up getting a turkey! I had to get a "shoe shot". I also loved how we ended up with a bunch of blue and orange balls (at least in the beginning)... how appropriate!
The afternoon ended at my house with a review of last year's goals and setting new ones. It was fun to see what we accomplished over the last year, and it was exciting to see some of the fun projects we hope to accomplish this year. Here's to a productive year!

Night at the Hawks Game

As I sit down to write this post, I realize that it sounds like I am repeating myself from last summer! If you look back a ways, you can find a post almost identical to this one... as well as posts similar to my last two posts! Oh well, what can I say? Tonight a group of us went to the Boise Hawks game. We tailgated beforehand with some yummy Mexican food - thanks to all those who organized everything! It was super HOT outside, and of course our seats were right in the sun, but we still had a good time. To tell you the truth, I'm not a big baseball person... it just seems kinda slow paced for me, but the company was good so that made the game much more enjoyable. We left just after the 5th inning (the Hawks were up 9-0) and finished off the night with scones from Merritts and swimming at Jen's house. Fun times!