Pineapple Princess

This weekend has been more than I could have expected and I have loved every minute of it! Friday started out great as I left work and everyone decided to stick around on the parking lot for our after-work social event. It's not a real social event but rather an impromptu drinking party, but it's still fun to talk to everyone, especially since most days are so crazy that you can't take a whole lot of time to see what they are up to because you have your own job to worry about. So, I stood outside with everyone and got the scoop. I didn't drink with them because I had bigger and better plans for my evening so about 7 or so, I drove home to get ready for my dinner date with Josh. We were meeting at Red Lobster at 7:30 and I wanted to look like I hadn't just stood out in a parking lot for two hours, so I rushed to get ready. Dinner was great! Josh and I got to catch up with everything that has happened over the past month or so and we enjoyed each other's company. It's funny when we get together because there is so much that I want to tell him and so much that he wants to say to me and as a result, there is a constant conversation between the two of us during our time together. There aren't very many people that can hold my attention for that length of time and keep me wrapped up in conversation but he is surely one that can get me to talk for hours without losing my place or repeating anything else I've told him. Later in the evening, Josh came back to my apartment and spent the night since he was off on Saturday. Let me tell you, while I love it whenever he comes up to spend the night here, it's 100 times nicer when we don't have to get up at 6 in the morning so that he can leave for work! We were able to just take it easy and have a relaxing morning. I made breakfast and tried to be a good hostess overall. It's not all that often that we get to spend a lot of time together, so I try to make any time we do have together special.

We left my apartment around 12:30 on Saturday afternoon, after he packed up his car and he packed up mine for me. Josh was heading to his Dad's in Festus to take care of a few things while he was off and I was heading over to my Grandma's for the First Annual "How Do You Iron Chef?" Cookoff against my step-dad Michael. The cookoff went off without a hitch, except for my grill not cooperating but it was a lot of fun creating my 3 dishes for the competition using Pineapple as the secret ingredient. For the appetizer round, I made Blazin' Barbie Shrimp, my entree entry was Hawaiian Fire Chicken, the dessert was Cruzan for a Bruisin' Pineapple & Cream and I made a bonus cocktail of Pineapple-Orange Coolers. There was quite a bit of smack that was brought up over the past two weeks so it was definitely a sweet victory when I won the competition. The final score: 174 out of 180 for me and 170 out of 180 for Michael. I won a first place plaque and a singing and dancing pineapple, which I have sitting nicely on my entertainment center. It was really cool because my Dad came over and judged along with my Mom and my Grandma. I knew Michael was going to put up a good fight against me, but in the end, I think my over-organization and endless planning and notes paid off. We were all exhausted after everything though!

Yesterday, I took it easy most of the day. I had to go over and do my laundry at my Mom's in the afternoon and while I was there I downloaded the pictures from the competition and burned them to CDs. I came home last night and just laid around the rest of the night. Around 12:30 in the morning, Tom sent me a text message about a band at the bar he was at and I am not sure what I replied exactly. I know I did though because I heard my phone go off again a little while later. Hopefully I didn't send back something crazy....I'll have to check that in a bit!

Today, I have a day of relaxation planned. Although, it would be nice if the sun was out and it was a little warmer but I will take what I can get right now and I guess that is temps in the 70s and cloudy and rainy. It's not all too often that I have everything caught up at home so I'm going to try to take advantage of it today because I know I'm going to lose my mind this week at work. It's month-end again on Thursday and the last few weeks have been completely crazy so I know I'm going to have my work cut out for me when it comes to closing the books. It's very hard for me to believe we're heading into June already. Where has the last 5 months gone? Actually where has the past two years gone? I remember my first few months at work and it's weird thinking that was back in mid-2005!

Anyway, I hope everyone has an enjoyable Memorial Day! Thank you to those who have served and continue to serve this great nation we live in. And to my soldier specifically, take it easy and have a good day off - I know you need it as much as I do right now! :)