Enjoyably Exhausted

Is that an oxy-moron? I'm still deciding. I have been busier the past 4 months than I have EVER been in my entire life! It's been crazy. I guess that's what three jobs does to a person. What three? Yes three. And I am so so tired but it has been SO SO awesome.

Job #1  9:00am-3:15pm  Marketing Coordinator at a Mortgage company in Danville
Considering my background is in Sports Broadcasting, this has really been a learning experience for me. It's a fairly small office so all of the marketing & communications responsibilities fall on me. Luckily I have a good amount of marketing experience from my producing responsibilities at True Blue. I've been able to apply that experience, but I'm still learning so much about marketing. AND so much about real estate and mortgages! It's really been a blessing having a steady day job that is helping to broaden my resume and develop new skills.

Job #2 3:30-5:15  Assistant High School Varsity Basketball Coach

OH MY GOSH. I've always wanted to coach basketball or volleyball, and having a dad who has a very long resume in coaching I thought I had a clue. It is so much harder than I ever expected. At the same time, it is so much more rewarding than I ever expected. The school is what some would call 'under-privileged'. We had no balls or practice jerseys when we started, but thanks to some local donations (and my dad calling in a few favors) we have the basic necessities now. Even better than that, we've already won 6 more games than they did last year! I've really grown to care for these girls. I learned quickly that it's a LOT more about creating a safe positive environment for them to come to for a couple hours, than about being the best at basketball. (We won both our games this week though! Huge! Only 7 to go)


Job # Public Relations Game-Day Assistant for the Golden State Warriors. 5:30pm-12:30am (give or take traffic!)

                (Red Sweater---where's waldo)

Just worked my 23rd game this season Friday night. I have games Mon-Wed-Fri-AND Sun. this week! It's basically all nights and weekends (with a few exceptions) which can get really hard at times.  HOWEVER, I have been able to work closely with an NBA team! Dream come true! And I've been able to watch some of the NBA's greatest players: Lebron, Dwayne, Kobe, Blake Griffin, Steve Nash(personal favorite) etc. My favorite part of the job is post-game interviews. I rotate with another PR assistant covering visiting team Coaches so I've been part of the press interviewing Erik Spoelstra, Phil Jackson, Alvin Gentry, Vinny Del Negro, just to name a few. It's really opened my eyes to the lives of professional athletes and coaches, some good some bad. Working with sports is my passion and even though there are some l-o-n-g days (and nights) the experience has been totally worth it.

 Also, I've been able to hand stats to Bill Simmons and Bill Walton. This past week I got a head-nod from Larry Bird! Maybe not a big deal to some people, but I loved it.

Anyway, my lack of blogging, responding to phone calls/texts, basically just being MIA is all due to this. Especially days when I get the "Perfect Storm". All 3 jobs on one day. It happens 2-3 times a week and it wrecks me. Then I remind myself how lucky I am to not only be employed, but also have 3 jobs that I enjoy. Plus, it'll only be this crazy for a few more months. High School ball ends beg. of March. Warriors are done end of April (probably--but hopefully not!) and then it is back to one job...until next October:)

I am SO loving California, the 65 degree weather in January, the gorgeous city lights when I drive home at midnight, the knowledge that I could get to a beach in under an hour...I'm totally sold. Yeah it's expensive but count it as a weather tax and I stop complaining.

I'm loving it....but I also can't wait for life to slow down again. SO ready for Spring!! Lucky for me it comes a lot earlier in California than it does in Utah:)

Home for Christmas

These types of posts have to be done in pictures and I could've added so many more! We had a wonderful holiday in Washington. 

First off, we had a beautiful White Christmas! And seriously, what could be better than four-wheeling and inner-tubing in your own yard? Awesome.

Meg building a snowman. Matt and CJ preparing to destroy it.

 I crack up every time I look at this picture. He was just protecting his face from the biting wind while hauling us on the tube---but I bet the neighbors were a little freaked haha.

 I love this picture, I think it is so scenic. And I love looking out at the orchards and pasture from inside a cozy warm house.

In true Stauffer fashion, we played a lot of basketball.

 And did I mention my brother is now almost 6'4"?!?! Unbelievable. Most frustrating is that I can't swat him anymore...(and he swats me any time I try and shoot on him. Grrr.)

As is tradition, we had a packed house at my Aunt Lucy's yearly Christmas Eve party. We always play the candy bar game and it gets a little crazy. People definitely fight for the "good" candy.

The Reynolds boys all rockin' holiday turtlenecks/sweater vests. So festive haha

Santa was good to us again this year :)

 Ready to watch our Christmas Eve movie (and wondering if we'd stay awake through the whole thing)

The "early morning faces" begin...

My favorite Lady!! She had us all laughing Christmas morning, I know where my dad gets his sense of humor from:)

Working for the Warrior's has it's hook-ups. Luckily I have a brother who appreciates those kind of things.

ALL the Stauffer Ladies

Matt and his favorite gift!! Thanks Bryson and Janice! (It took him longer than 20 minutes to build haha)

Then it's over to Grandma and Grandpa Lott's house for round 2. Sitting on the stairs was the most coveted spot as kids. We used to be able to fit at least 8--- now 4 barely squeeze in.

Cozy.

Me and Mama

I thought this was cute. Grandma was asleep on Dad, Shelly on Grandma. Of course right as I went to take a picture they woke-up, so I made them fake it.

I would say "family pic"--but Dad's missing since he is the one taking the picture:) Good pic anyway. Oh and all the snow melted off before New Year's! That is my kind of weather.

Classic haha

We got to meet up with some of our friends from high school, which was great and way overdue.

We also drove up to the mountains to watch the Elk Feeding. Sounds random but it's pretty cool. We used to go as kids when my Great Granny was in town. January to March or April, thousands of Elk come down out of the mountains for food. It is amazing to be up close with these HUGE animals and their massive antlers.

Finally, we had our annual family New Year's Eve party at my parents house, but were too busy having fun to take a lot of pictures:) It's always a fun way to end the holiday break and overdo it on the food, late night game-playing, and chatting. Luckily we had a couple days to recover before heading back to our real lives.

I love my family. Such an overused phrase, but seriously they are THE greatest blessing in my life. Sometimes Matt and I look at how we are surrounded by wonderful people on all sides and wonder what we did right to get them. Lucky lucky us. We missed our Cook family very much (COME VISIT!) but we know they had quite a fabulous Christmas break of their own.

I hope your holidays were filled with laughter and love (and LOTS of good food!!) just like ours!

Now.... when is Summer???