hoppy Easter!

Last Monday I decided that the remaining 6 women on board were overdue for some girl time, so I set up a bi-weekly Ladies Lunch, and it was a huge success!  We have 6 women total from Chevron and another 2 from our contractor team, but typically there are anywhere from 2 to 6 onboard just due to everyone’s rotational schedules.  It’s actually super exciting because the 2 ladies on board from our contractor team are the FIRST two women in the history of the company to ever work offshore, which is a HUGE advance especially for the Korean culture.  So, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch on the platform, and spent an hour just being girls.  It’s easy to forget how much you need to be surrounded by women when you’re stuck on a boat with 800+ men. 

I’m starting my last full week and, as usual, getting pretty anxious to get back home – especially with today being Easter Sunday!  We had our weekly safety meeting this morning up on the top of the boat, and the sunrise was just gorgeous.  It was allllmost like the sunrise Easter service, just without all my favorite Easter hymns.  They even handed out colored eggs!  The workers are pretty excited because they get off at 3PM instead of 5 today, and we have a game night planned later this evening.  So, it will be a nice Easter Sunday :)

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35

I found this verse off of the website of my church back home, and I thought it was so perfect.  Not only for celebrating the resurrection of Christ our Lord, but something to reflect on during this time of what seems like constant hate in our world.  Rightfully so, the recent attacks in Brussels have once again set the tone of fear and hate across all cultures, continents, and religions.  We cannot let these radical people rule our lives or skew our views on how precious life is...we've just got to wake up and love one another!    

19 days down, 9 to go!  xoxo…

Palm Sunday

I made a goal for myself this rotation to try to be more “present,” meaning stop wishing the days away.  I am very guilty of always looking forward to something, basically my days off/vacations, but I realized that I am just constantly waiting for tomorrow instead of enjoying today. 

So as a result, I have made an even stricter schedule for myself than I had before.   I have found that the busier that you are, the more present you are in whatever you are doing quicker the days go by without thinking about it – which is a good and bad thing.  Because let’s be honest, I am always excited to get my 28-days on the boat over with, but on the flip side I want my days off the boat to drag on as long as possible. 

On that note, I am less than a month away from stepping my first step on Asian soil!  I am heading to South Korea with the Kilcrease’s to visit Laurel and Jason, and I could not be more excited!  We will tour around SK and then head to Japan.  On the way home, I’ll make a 1-week pit stop in Thailand where Courtney will meet me to soak in the Thai life.  Aside from traveling with some of my favorite people, I am most excited to EAT.  

In other news, my sweet cousin, Julie, found out that she has been accepted to residency “matched” to her top choice program which just so happens to be located in Sugarland, TX.  Meaning, that the Johnson’s won’t be moving from Houston!!!!  Wish I could have been there to celebrate, but there will be plenty of time for that when she officially graduates with a PhD in May :)

As far as work goes, all is good.  I’ve been getting in my 10,000+ steps a day with no problem at all.  I took a loooong walk out to the flare tip last Monday, and someone actually remembered to bring a camera to snap some pictures.  I also got up to the helideck, which I did NOT like at all because there are no hand rails around the thing and it’s the highest point of both of the platforms – talk about a looong way down!  Regardless, I did pull out my phone and snap a few pictures, but they are really terrible because I was in quite a rush to get down!!

Flare tip with Lauren, our process commissioning engineer, and my idol ;)

Flare tip looking back West at the PPP and Camelot, LQP is hidden behind the PPP

LQB helideck

I got a little more of the deck than anticipated...

Looking back East at the PPP

Next Sunday is Easter, so today is the day that palms line the aisles of churches everywhere!  I always loved Palm Sunday because I think palm leaves are really beautiful (which happens to be very “in” right now for home décor).  Anyways, next week is going to be neat because our workforce will get off at 3PM rather than the usual 5PM on Sundays (normal workdays quitting time is 6:30PM).  They also told us today that next Sunday’s dinner is going to be “special” – so I’ll be reporting back on that situation.    

“And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”  – Matthew 21:9

12 days down, 16 to go!  xoxo…

coast to coast

Is it really already mid-March??  As usual, my 4 weeks off went by VERY quickly.  I actually hit 3 different time zones this trip going from central to pacific to central to east coast and back to central.  I'm still not sure I know what timezone I'm supposed to be in ;)  

I got back and headed straight to California for a weekend on the central coast that couldn’t have been more beautiful!  We celebrated Chad’s best friend’s 30^th birthday in Santa Barbara.  70’s and sunny in February, you really can’t ask for much more!  We headed back to Bakersfield for a day, and then down to Pasadena where Chad had a week of training.  He worked, I shopped, which I didn't mind one bit!

Santa Barbara with my babe

I had to make a pit stop in Dallas to see Nana, Papa, Jim, and Bettie – the parents and Dusty too!  I also got to see my sweet friend, Lauren’s, growing baby bump, which was extra special because I had to miss her baby shower.  I can’t believe that she’s going to be here in less than two months!    And of course, I got in some quality time napping on my parent’s couch ;)

Cute little artist!

Finished product!

I somehow conned my parents into spending a weekend in Houston, mostly to help me clean out some of my stuff.  It’s amazing how things just pile up.  We made a few successful trips to Goodwill and the dump.  Amazingly, I still have a completely full closet...I guess I still have some work to do! 

No roadtrip is complete without a stop at Buccee's!

After Houston, I headed to Atlanta to be a part of Natalie and Jeremy’s wedding celebration!  I flew into Atlanta a day early to spend some time with my college roommate, Julie, who I hadn’t seen in FAR too long!  I had big plans of exploring Atlanta on Thursday afternoon, but once I got to Julie’s beautiful apartment, the rain started pouring down, and I didn’t move from her couch.  We ordered in pizza and had wonderful a night in catching up on life.

Friday morning the clouds parted, the sun came out and the wedding weekend officially began with manicures and bridesmaid’s luncheon.  Then we knocked out the rehearsal and loaded up on tacos and margaritas at the rehearsal dinner.  Before I knew it we were getting ready for the ceremony!  It was a gorgeous ceremony and reception, I just didn't want my time with Natalie's family and friends to end so I basically invited Chad and myself to a family brunch Sunday morning...sorry Wagner's!  The weekend went by so quickly, and I still can't decide if it's better or worse to have a great weekend before leaving for work.  It's great because (obviously) I love spending time with family and friends, but it also makes it that much harder to leave.   

   

Rehearsal dinner with the bride-to-be

Gorgeous wedding venue...Pap's house!

Mrs. Sosa

So now I’m back on the boat getting up to speed.  There’s been a LOT of change on the platforms in the past 4 weeks.  We (almost) finished up the living quarters building, and have our first occupants!  There are about 40 people living in the building now, and we are scheduled to ramp up to 175 occupants by May.  The real benefit to this is that the kitchen on the platform is up and running, including the ice cream machine!   Our ops guys have been raving about the food and how much better it is than the Camelot, so naturally I had to find a way to get an invitation to come over.  I did get a little spoiled this week and had TWO breakfasts in the building.  I still haven’t sampled the cream yet, but I have that on my to-do list for next week.

2016 has been a bit of a stressful year for many of my friends and colleagues.  Mainly in part to the low price of oil and the constant worry about tomorrow.  There is so much that is out of our control with governments and politics, and it's so easy to constantly be anxious and worry over if we will wake up tomorrow and no longer have a job to go to.  The biggest worry is that right now there is no end in sight, which makes it difficult to ensure yourself and others that everything will be okay.  All we can do is be thankful for today and pray for tomorrow.  I think that Matthew 6:34 sums things up just perfectly...  

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34

5 days down, 23 to go!  xoxo…

PS:  GOOD NEWS!  The internet has somehow picked up a bit, so I was able to upload pictures :)  Hopefully it will stay strong and I will have more to come...