Big changes

As you might remember, I work in Mergers and Acquisitions in an investment bank. Our M&A department has 6 teams (one for each sector) and my team, Food & Beverages, is composed of 4 people – my boss (FS), a girl who’s a bit more senior than me (MJ), me and an analyst (IM).
Basically when a project comes in it is attributed either to me or to MJ and then we both work on it with FS and IM does the “dirty work” (powerpoint, etc). The difference between me and MJ (other than the pay check, of course) is that she is more independent than me, so when a project is attributed to her FS is less involved than when it’s attributed to me.
Well, today I am told that MJ is leaving and that a new, younger analyst will be recruited. So the idea is that I take MJ’s place, in that I have to become more independent and take my projects practically on my own, IM will slowly take my place, by having projects of her own she will take with FS, with more involvement from his part, and the new analyst will do the “dirty work”.
This is good news, of course. I got the promotion I was expecting last June and they seem to be happy with my performance. I thought their reaction to MJ leaving would be hiring a new senior to take her place but no one seemed to even hesitate that I could do it. And I can see a new promotion in the near future. That’s good.
The only down side is that I had planned on going of birth control next month, and now I will have to reconsider, and postpone that decision for awhile. I know there is never a good moment work wise but there are definitely terrible moments, and this is one. I’m just hoping a couple of months will be enough to get everything on track.

Summer Vacation

Here are some pictures from this summer. I said yesterday I didn’t even remember having had a summer vacation, but I do have pictures that prove I did.
We spent a week in Algarve with my parents and my sister, her husband and her son (who, if you remember, is a week younger than Manel). We rented a great little house, with a pool and horses, close to the beach. I eventually had to drive to Lisbon for a work meeting right in the middle of the week, which stress me out a little and stress my dad out completely. You would’ve thought the whole vacation was absolutely ruined because I had to spend one morning away.
Anyway, it was a great week and the kids loved the house. And it was the first time in 3 years we had a vacation with the whole family, which was also great.
Then we spent a week at my in-laws beach house, which was the usual chaos, with 20 people in the same house, lining up to use the bathroom, cooking for a battalion, etc. I get more used to it with every year that passes and I’ve actually come to enjoy it quite a lot. I wouldn’t do it for more than a week at a time but it’s actually fun and the kids have a blast.
So that was my vacation. In November ZM and I will be going to Italy alone for 9 days and that’s when I’ll really get some rest.

I'm back!

I can’t believe it’s been 7 months since I last posted! I can’t even believe it’s been 7 months since we went skiing! I sometimes feel my life is escaping me, seriously.

Work has been crazy these past few months, and I don’t even remember having had a decent vacation this summer. At work I never have time to write a coherent sentence to post here and lately I don’t even have time to put up a couple of pictures now and then. It seems to have calmed down a bit now, though, so I’ll give this blog another try. That is, if anyone still reads it.

I’ll start with a quick update, and we’ll see how things go from there.

Kids: Rosarinho is turning 5 in December and she’s become a young lady. She’s not a baby anymore and she really enjoys her role as a big sister. Manel turned 2 last week and he’s the most cheerful and easy going child you could ever imagine. They really are what keeps me going everyday!

ZM: I have the best husband in the world. We had our 6th anniversary earlier this month and we’ll be celebrating with an 8 day trip to Italy I November. I can’t wait!

Me: I had a Chron’s Disease crisis last April and lost 15 lbs. My weight has been stable in 101 lbs since then, but the doctor seems to think it’s not enough and that I should try to gain at least 4 lbs. The crazy work isn’t helping in that department and I forget to eat all the time. ZM thinks I look great, of course.

That’s about it for now. Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of the summer vacation (we did have a vacation, it was just so short and interrupted with work related issues I don’t even remember it anymore).