3's

Well, this week started out with a bang.  Monday morning I was sent for a big loop when I found Phil on his way to a diabetic coma.  He was sweating profusely, not responsive, and unable to focus his eyes on me.  He was also mumbling and not making sense, but that’s not really out of the ordinary ;)  I knew he was a diabetic, so I thought that this just had to be low blood sugar.  Rene, Angela and I rushed him to the clinic and they started working to slowly bringing him back to consciousness.  Those first few minutes when he was behind the curtain were especially hard on the 3 of us, and lots of prayers were said.  We knew that he was going to be alright after about 30 minutes when the doctor asked him what his name was and he finally responded – Philip Lefort...LEFORT French for STRONG. 

Later that afternoon, our mechanical inspector came into my office and told me he hadn’t been feeling well and was going to the clinic.  I asked him if I could drive him up there, and he assured me he was fine.  About 5:30 that night he came back (having just been released from the clinic) and told me he has pneumonia?!?!!!  All I could think was that bad things happen in 3’s, and it was only Monday!

Things were pretty smooth until number 3 occurred Thursday morning.  Sweet Angela called the office just before 6AM to let me know that she was with security at the main camp check in (Hotel Malongo) because she had backed into a pole and smashed her taillight.  So I had to go up there to make sure they were going to release her and not send her to Malongo jail (luckily, she passed her 5:50AM breathalyzer...)  After the paperwork was signed off, she reminded me that that was #3, and we should be home free for the rest of the week!  

She was right.  I was able to convince our contractor Project Manager to let our folks have Sunday off since we had worked them the past 2 Sundays, so today is a good day!  The sun is out so I may change things up and go for a walk, then have my nap...things are getting crazy over here!

"here let me get that for you..."

the "sniper" is back in action

20 days down, 8 to go!  xoxo...

2-8

What a week!  Since our work got rained out last Sunday, we rescheduled our shutdown work for Monday, which happened to be my 28^th birthday.  Two years ago I celebrated my 26^th birthday while on a business trip with my 2 construction coordinators, so Phil and I had talked about just making a few steaks and drinking some good Italian wine that he had squirreled away on Monday night – nothing big.

So Monday morning I walk in and my sweet team had made the cuuuutest card for me…

I spent the rest of the morning through lunch in the field getting the morning meeting kicked off and then watching the shutdown work we had going on.  I came back to my office around 12:30 and there was an inner-office mail package that had been slid under my door.  I don’t know how she did it, but Alanna had sent me a birthday card and it arrived perfectly on my birthday – magic!

Once we had finished all of our shutdown work, I came back into the office for a conference call with my boss.  I had just hung up the phone, and Rene was waiting outside my door telling me that we had a 5:00 meeting with our contractor that I needed to be at.  Typically meetings get scheduled a week or so in advance, so usually the first week back to work I inadvertently miss or am late to meetings that I’m not used to having on my calendar.  So I thought nothing of it and went to our contractor’s conference room.  We had a typical construction planning meeting, which I tend to get fired up in because of poor planning.  Anyway, I spent the better half of an hour letting them know that they have a LOT of room for improvement.  The project manager went to go get the updated schedule from his office and came back with the office manager holding a birthday cake….needless to say I was speechless!

The English cake selection in Cabinda is pretty slim....I like to think they meant it ;)

Phil had planned to make dinner for everyone, but we were so busy in the field with the rescheduled shutdown that he wasn’t able to, so we rescheduled dinner to Tuesday and I made plans to go on a walk that evening with Angela.  She came by a little after 6 and said she was going to change into her walking clothes, so I did the same.  Then Phil came in to ask if I would sew a button onto his shirt, and I annoyingly started to get a needle and thread ready to get that done quickly before our walk.  There was a lot of commotion in the hallway, which is nothing out of the ordinary here, but I walked out to find all my sweet coworkers and 2 of my favorite people in the operations group in the conference room with ANOTHER cake...I couldn't be more grateful for my Malongo family! 

Only in Malongo is it acceptable to be in shorts in the office...(this is after 6pm)

THE cutest.

Sweet Helder reading the card he made me

Our crews are working all day today and will most likely be working every Sunday for the rest of my hitch, so my days of afternoon naps are officially gone.  The good news is the sooner we get this work done, the sooner I can go offshore, and the sooner I can get my time in Angola over with so I guess I can sacrifice relaxing on Sundays for a few more weeks!  

I'm not really sure where the rest of the week went.  Other than being super busy with work I've been trying to keep up with my globetrotting boyfriend who's gone from LA to Istanbul to Saudi Arabia to Kuwait and back to Istanbul in a matter of 6 days.  And yall thought my schedule was crazy ;)  I'll be able to sleep a little better once he makes it back to LA unscathed.  

12 days down, 16 to go!  xoxo...

family, friends, and fun

Well, those 6 weeks went by quicker than expected...

Let's see...I got home, spent a few days in Houston with some of my favorite people then headed up to Dallas to spend the weekend with my BFFs.  It took us a while to think back and calculate, but I have had a love affair with these 3 ladies for 16 years.  I'm still confused how these past 16 years have flown by so quickly, but I am lucky to have them in my life.  Anyhoo, Lauren kicked her sweet husband Brett onto the couch, and we had a good old fashioned girls-only sleepover, and it was even better than I remembered.  Saturday we were moving a little slow, so we walked up to have lunch and some bloody mary's at an outdoor restaurant...which turned into a 5 hour event.  At one point Lauren saw a guy that looked familiar and asked me who it was, so I took a look and jokingly said oh yeah, that's Kliff Kingsbury.  An hour or so later, out of nowhere Lauren goes OMG IT IS KLIFF.  She had just seen a group of girls go up and take a photo with him.  Naturally, we jumped up, walked over, and casually asked for a photo (while exploding with excitement inside).  I then proceeded to send the picture to every Red Raider in my phonebook.  Needless to say, it was a wonderful weekend...I wonder if Brett will be up for getting kicked out every time I'm back in Dallas ;)

Houston lovahs

Lucy Braun gives the best cuddles.

Basic, but cuuuute

Just us and Kliff, no big...

After a weekend with the girls, I headed home for some quality time with my parent's couch - them too.  My mom always says she looooves having me home, but all I seem to do is get in trouble for napping on the couch.  It's really not my fault, that thing is COMFY.  I spent the next week taking naps, going down the street to Nana and Papa's, and eating home cooked meals.  There's nothing better than home!

SO lucky to spend an afternoon with this group :)

Mom making me do activities, nothing has changed.

From Dallas, Mom, Dad, and I headed to San Antonio for an impromptu family weekend.  Andrea, Mom, and I took a girls trip (I got lots of girltime last month) chauffeured by Dad to Fredericksburg.  We did our fair share of wine tasting...just to make sure that Texas wine can compete with California, Italy too :)  The next day I FINALLY made it out to Uncle Billy's Triple Creek Ranch in Uvalde.  I'm not sure exactly how long Billy has had the land, but I know it's been a year or two, only because he so lovingly asks me to go out to the ranch every time I'm in San Antonio, and I always turn him down.  Mostly because it's typically sunny in SA, and Andrea has a really beautiful backyard equipped with a pool, cabana, and a super comfy hammock/chair so it's really hard to leave.  Lucky for Billy, it was super cloudy so we all decided to make the trip, and I am SO glad we did!  He has a beautiful plot of land and has gone back to his roots as a country boy!  He even let me drive the tractor...

Fredericksburg!

Life on the ranch

On top of the hill at Triple Creek Ranch

Daddy on the tractor

Uncle Billy does a GREAT job with the landscaping...

After San Antonio, I headed to California to (finally) see my honey! We hit the road headed to Palm Desert for our yearly pilgrimage to Stagecoach.  Last year my sweet boy partook in too much tailgating and only actually attended 1 concert.  I'm proud to report that this year he not only made it into the venue every day, but saw several concerts and even took me on the ferris wheel - which I asked to do about a million times last year.  I'd call it a successful weekend with sun and good times old and new friends...     

laaaaaadies

One of MANY failed selfies.

Ferris wheeling with a view!

I spent the next week in Bakersfield recuperating from Stagecoach, celebrating Chad's 28th birthday, and catching up with friends.  Chad had a training scheduled for the week in Dallas, so not only did I get to spend my last week with him, but we also got to celebrate Mother's Day with both our moms and grandmothers!  I was excited because I thought I was going to be able to rest up (since all I do is sleep at home) and be well rested for coming back to work, but between all the crazy severe weather and my sweet Nana giving us a hospital scare again (all is well, the Lord is SO good) I didn't get to lay on the couch as much as anticipated, but I wouldn't have changed a second of my trip ;)

28 never looked so good!

Carrie and Cody are going to be in trouble with this cutie!

loved getting to see baby Nora and big sister Jenna!

Spent some time in Dallas going through old photos, these are two of my favorites :)

I am SO thankful for all the quality family time that I got to have during my 5 weeks home.  After 3 months away, it sure does feel good to know that my family and sweet friends haven't forgotten about their part-time African over here!

We were supposed to have our last big shutdown this morning and work through the day, so I was nervous that I wasn't going to be able to get my blog done which tends to get me in trouble with my mom (there is a trend here...)  BUT I think the good Lord really wanted me to get my blog done because a HUGE thunderstorm rolled in last night and rained out our plans for today.  It's still a little drizzly outside, but I'm hoping the sun will come out for my walk this afternoon.  

5 days down, 23 to go!  xoxo...