Where has the past month gone???

Goodness...nearly a month since a post! Things are extremely busy here and I'm trying my best to just enjoy whatever free time I can find every now and again. Let's see...since the last update we celebrated Boatfest, Summerfest, Chuckfest and Slamfest along with a birthday, a float trip, a trip to the casino, 2 concerts and numerous dinners and happy hours.

The month started with Boatfest on Thursday the 9th after work. A group of us from work planned to go out on the river on MK's boat and TL's waverunner. It was a complete blast! I hadn't been on a waverunner in years and TL graciously let me ride with him to the island on the back of it. My heart was racing the entire time as we hit the boat wakes, but I knew I was in good hands. We just joked around when we got to the island and had a great time just relaxing in the river. The next day was Summerfest at work and we got to come into the office wearing our shorts and flip-flops. We also had a catered lunch provided by the President of the company since we were Carrier of the Year again for our top customer. To continue our celebration of Summerfest, M and I went to a happy hour at America's Pub and went to listen to one set of Paint the Earth at Trainwreck.

I was planning on staying home that Saturday night (Aug. 11th) because I was going on a float trip with my mom, Michael & my grandma early the next morning, but I got a call from Derick around 9 pm telling me that he and Cole were driving up to St. Louis to go to the casino and if I wanted I could go with them. Well, I couldn't pass up that invitation, especially because I had been wanting to meet up and hang out with Derick again since the lake trip. So, around 11:45, I met them at the Ameristar and we went to gamble for a few hours. I ended up losing my money and some of Derick's money but the guys did awesome and both came out quite a bit ahead. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I never have much luck at the casinos here. They left to make their 2.5 hour trek back home around 2 in the morning and I drove home to try to get a few hours sleep before my family came to pick me up at 6 am. I woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed when my alarm went off, but I knew it wasn't going to last all day and I was just waiting for it to hit me. However, I did make it through most of the float and that's even with being the main paddler and it was only at the last mile that I was completely exhausted and ready to head back home.
I took it easy that next Monday considering I was still tired from the entire weekend, but Tuesday (Aug. 14th) a group of us went to the Coastal for a drink and then M and I headed out to Massa's for dinner. Thursday, Derick stopped in on his way home from working in Illinois and we had dinner at El Maguey's and then came back and watched a movie at my apartment before he made the rest of his trip home. Everyone made fun of me at work because I rushed out of the office so that I could meet him on time, but I had put in enough time and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't late meeting him. Saturday (Aug. 18th), M and I threw a pasta con broccoli party at her house before going to the Strata-G concert down at the Pageant. Actually we were making pasta con broccoli for Chuckfest which was scheduled for that next Monday and since we needed enough to feed 40 people we thought we'd get together and make it a few days beforehand. Around 8 we left to drive down to the Loop to see the concert and besides the little flood mishap, I think it was one of the best Strata-G shows I have seen so far.
Monday was Chuckfest at work and I must say, M and I are getting good at planning these work luncheons and parties and overall it was a success -- just another one to add to our book!

Tuesday night, Derick and I did dinner with my fam at Olive Garden and then Friday (Aug. 24th) some of the work crew went out for dinner and margaritas at Las Fuentes. I laughed so much that night my cheeks hurt when I finally made it home at 1:30 in the morning.
Saturday morning I was taking care of a few things after I finally pulled myself out of bed much later than I anticipated, when my phone rang....it was my cousin Nicole calling to find out if I was driving out for the Kirchenfest. I hadn't seen Nicole since her dance recital and she is the little sister I never had, so the choice was easy...I was driving out to Highland to spend the day with her. Man, she has grown up so much! It's so hard to believe she is 10, almost 11 years old! We spent part of our time up at the picnic and the rest of the time just talking and hanging out at my aunt's house. She reminds me so much of myself and I had an absolute blast spending the day with her. In fact, we even planned for her to come spend a weekend with me in October while I was out there.

Last Sunday (Aug. 26th), I went over to do my laundry at my mom's and then went house-hunting with my mom, Michael and my Grandma the rest of the day. This past Tuesday, M and I went to dinner at Cugino's since we had a coupon and put together the components for Slamfest. Slamfest was our brainchild for the weekly A/P reports for the President of the company and this was definitely the best slam we have put together over the past two years.

Wednesday night, Shell called to find out what I was doing after work and invited me to go out with her, Greg and Matt. I hadn't seen Matt or Greg for a few years and I thought it would be fun to catch up with everyone so I agreed and Shell came to pick me up around 9 and we drove out to Greg's and then to Growler's Pub. It was fun getting the scoop on what everyone has been up too...it's also quite strange though to think that we are all adults now, especially because I have known all of them since elementary school or junior high.

Friday was month-end again at work (dang...these come around so fast!) and I plugged along all day making sure that I had everything entered into all 4 companies and I closed the books on time and was out of the office at 5. I didn't think there was much going on for me the rest of the night and I was planning on heading home for a quiet evening until M asked me if I wanted to go out for a drink. So we went up the street and had a drink and then decided to go to the Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd concert. The concert was great. I like both bands and they put on a very good show. However, I was exhausted when it was all over and we still had to sit in traffic in the parking lot for about an hour.

Yesterday, I was planning on staying home and catching up on some much needed cleaning and projects around my apartment when the power went out about 10:30 in the morning. Not knowing what happened considering it was sunny and nice out, I decided to spend a few hours out running errands. I was hoping that by spending some time out, the power would be restored and I could get back to everything else I had planned to do. Well, come to find out a transformer was down and finally about 5, I called my mom and decided to drive over there. I got home to complete darkness around 10 and finally at midnight the power was back on. However, that also meant that all of my household projects had to be put off until today and that's what I spent most of my day working on. Fun, fun stuff!

Tomorrow is Labor Day and I'm not sure what is going on yet. My grandma is having all of the family over for a BBQ, but I was also planning a trip out to Hermann, MO. We'll see what happens, but one thing I know is that there is always something to do...so I won't be sitting here staying out of trouble. Ha!

So there is the full recap for the past month. I'm sure your brain is on overload now. :) I'll keep you all posted!