Some Exciting Times!

Wow...so where do I start? It's been busy once again and the month seems to be flying by!

On the 1st, I had my annual review at work and it went very well. My boss is happy with the job I've done over the past two years and he continues to sing my praises. I was thrilled with his evaluation and I felt much better about my position and the duties that I've taken on in recent months.

The next night a group of us from work decided to stop by the Coastal for an impromptu happy hour and then I met Shell for a late night dinner at City Diner. We updated each other on the exciting and crazy stuff happening in both of our lives.
I was completely exhausted since I ended up getting home at 3 in the morning, but I had a lot of things to take care of on Saturday. So I ran my errands and did my laundry and then went out to dinner with M and a few others that night and overall it ended up being a very full day once again.

Sunday was pretty much a day of rest for me and I was glad to have the extra hour from the "fall back." I spent much of the day watching football and trying to catch up on some much needed relaxation. I did go visit my parents new house and I got a tour of that in the late afternoon. It's just about done and they will be closing on it and hopefully moving in the next few weeks. The place is huge, but it will be nice for entertaining and family gatherings. (I'm hoping that should they go out of town anytime soon, I'll get to house-sit and perhaps throw a get-together of my own. Ha!)

On Wednesday, the 7th, Derick called me on his way to Vandalia after work and asked if I'd drive out to visit him. Of course, I was willing to drive out to see him. We hadn't been able to spent much time together the last few weeks because he's been so busy and was out of town for part of the time, so it was really a no brainer for me. It was fairly late by the time I got out there, but we were able to talk and visit for a bit and I was able to show him the specs for the new house and he showed me part of the reports he has to put together for work and the downloads that come off of his handheld for the logs he buys. We finally went to bed about midnight and tried to get a few hours sleep before we both had to go to work in the morning. Around 7 am we left Vandalia and headed on our merry ways for the day - he was headed to Northern Missouri to buy his last load of logs for the week and I was back on my way to good 'ol Earth City for another day in the office.

Friday I took a day off of work and it was needed badly! I took my car in to get the heater fixed and spent most of the day with my Mom and Grandma before heading to Highland for Nicole's birthday dinner and bowling with Ryan and the guys. We went to dinner in St. Rose and wow...was that crazy. The restaurant was packed and the service wasn't that great so it took quite awhile to get our food. After dinner we went back to my Aunt and Uncle's for cake and ice cream and then Ryan and I high-tailed it back to my Dad's to pick up his car and head up to the bowling alley. Let me tell you....I had an absolute blast bowling with the guys!!! I was a little nervous that they weren't going to like me tagging along but none of them seemed to mind. In fact, they gave me trouble just like they do to one another. I ended up bowling fairly well also - 101 in the first game and 107 in the second - much better than my experience with J when we went bowling two years ago! After bowling we came back to my Dad's and I played Guitar Hero in order to strengthen my skills for the Thanksgiving tournament with my Bro. I didn't do too bad nor did I do too great, but I had fun and that's all that matters.
Saturday morning we had to get up early to make the trip to St. Louis. Ryan, Kyle and I were making lunch for my Grandma in celebration of her birthday last weekend. We grilled Guinness steaks and I made my world famous roasted potatoes and had a great afternoon entertaining over at my Grandma's house. The food turned out awesome and I think we're becoming pros at this cooking thing. (Actually Ryan is becoming quite the grill chef! And I'm just his assistant that fills in where necessary.)
Around 6:15, we left my Grandma's and I headed out to meet M for drinks. We stopped into Las Fuentes and then went to Brewskeez. We were hoping to hear a good band, but really the group that was there could have used some work. Around 11 I finally decided to call it a night and I came home to crash. It had been a long two days and I was looking forward to finally seeing my bed!

Sunday was another low key day. I called J to leave him a message and wish him a Happy Birthday and was surprised to get to talk to him for a few minutes while he was down in the country deer hunting. Later on, I went back over to my parents' new house to take a few pictures to show everyone the place and I ended up talking to them for about an hour before coming back home and trying to get everything ready for the work week. The rest of the night was history.

Today I had to try to get back into the swing of things at work. With being off on Friday and having to get financials done, I had quite a day and I ended up putting in 10 hours just to stay caught up a bit. Tomorrow I have a meeting with our Director of Sales and one of our new customers at their facility and then I have my weekly AR meeting with the managers. Hopefully everything goes well! I'm not sure what's up for the rest of the week, but like normal, something always pops up.

Have a spectacular week! I will update again soon

A Low Key Two Weeks

It's been pretty quiet over the last few weeks and actually, I have behaved myself fairly well -- I don't know if that's a good or bad thing though.

On the 19th, Nicole came and spent the night at my apartment and we had an absolute blast dancing around my apartment and singing Bon Jovi. She also taught me about the phenomenon that is Hannah Montana. From going to lunch at Fiesta Brava to going to Claire's and buying makeup to making ice cream sundaes, we had so much fun and I was sad to see her leave on Saturday afternoon. Really, I had been looking so forward to our girls weekend that I was kinda lost when it was all over. It was nice being able to leave work early on Friday also...I could get used to doing that on a regular basis too!

We didn't throw any impromptu happy hours throughout the week so I just came home every night and pretty much took it easy after work. And really, work wasn't that bad either...I had the normal problems to take care of and in my spare time I helped out billing and payables so that we wouldn't have a backlog when it came down to the last few days of the month.

This past Friday afternoon Shell called me and asked if I wanted to go with her, Greg and Duane to the City Museum for the 10th Anniversary Party and since it sounded like it would be fun, I told her to count me in. Greg drove over to my apartment around 7:45 and then we drove over to Shell's to pick her and Duane up. It was the first time I'd ever been to the City Museum and it was a little different than I expected (really, I don't know what I expected though). We climbed through the caves and the monkey bars known as the MonstroCity and checked out most of the other attractions offered. Finally, about 1 in the morning, I made it back to my apartment and just crashed.

Saturday, I went over to my mom's to do laundry and she invited me to stay for dinner and I couldn't resist. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal, especially since I haven't done much cooking myself lately.

Sunday, I spent much of the day watching football and then decided to load some music on my Ipod, but as luck would have it, I couldn't get it to sync up and I ended up creating a bigger problem when I couldn't get my Ipod to reset. So I decided to take it to Best Buy to see if they could get rid of the error message. Well, of course with my luck, the Geek Squad rep was no help and told me that I needed to take it to Apple, so I drove out to West County for them to press two simple buttons and fix it for me. I felt like a complete idiot that I couldn't figure that out, but I guess that's what Apple techs are trained for. On my way home, I was sitting in my car thinking and decided to check in with my bro. He and I ended up talking for 3 hours and I must say...I miss our little weekly dinners and sibling nights out like we used to do when we lived under the same roof. We're actually more alike than both he and I thought and I think we truly do miss not seeing each other more often. But, he invited me out to go bowling with him and the guys on a Friday night and I think I'm going to be able to go in two weeks. I'm looking forward to it, even though I haven't bowled since my little incident with the work crew over two years ago. Hopefully I bowl much better this time....otherwise I'm going to be the laughing stock of the entire evening. (Although that won't be a shock...I usually am when I'm with all of them!)

I'm not sure what's going on the rest of this week. Halloween is Wednesday but it is also month-end so I'm sure I'll be at work a little late. M and I talked about finally doing some thing fun this week or at least just getting out for a bit. We'll see what we cook up!

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll update again soon...

2 weddings, a concert and trip to Vandalia....

Wow...two more weeks come and gone and we're already half way through the month of October! I guess first off is Angie's wedding a little over two weeks ago. The reception was absolutely beautiful. I can't believe we were able to pull off getting the entire Butterfly House pavilion decorated in only two hours. I was stressing beforehand because the tables weren't even set up when I got there, but we were able to work fast and get everything looking presentable before the first guests arrived. The night was perfect weather-wise and I personally had a blast just meeting everyone and dancing the night away. Of course, I was exhausted for the next few days so I didn't do much on Sunday and I did very little when I got home from work on Monday night.

While I was sitting at work late afternoon on Tuesday, Derick text me and told me that he would probably be stopping in Vandalia for the night and if I wanted to come visit I could. I thought that was a good idea so around 6:30, I drove out to Vandalia to see him. We watched I, Robot and part of Miami Vice before we both fell asleep. And I was glad to get to spend some time with him especially since he and I have been going in 100 different directions the last few weeks. I ended up getting up early the next morning and driving back to St. Louis to go to work and while I was on the road I passed one of our trucks a few miles outside of Vandalia and I was a complete idiot when I saw it. I rolled down my window and started waving like crazy in hopes that the driver across the highway would see me. He probably thought I was completely nuts, but it's not all that often that I see a truck on the road anywhere around here. It actually was a little exciting for me...even if everyone else just laughed at me for it.

Wednesday night I met M, S and some of the others at Brewskeez for dinner and a few drinks. It was a pretty early night for me though and I came home and crashed about 10.

Thursday night I had to run a few errands after work and pick up a birthday present for my Dad. Around 7:30, M called and asked if I wanted to go to Rookies and meet TL and one of his friends. Impromptu happy hours are always fun so I was definitely in.

Friday night, I decided I was going to have a low key evening, especially since I had been going pretty much the entire week, but that plan changed when M and I decided that we both didn't want to sit at home by ourselves, so we went to dinner at the Ameristar. Our plan included checking out Joe Dirt at the Bottleneck Blues Bar, but we ended up just sitting at Amerisports and talking for a few hours. It's amazing how we can work together for 40 hours a week and still find numerous things to talk about outside of work. She definitely helped me through some things I've been thinking about and dealing with lately and I believe I was able to help her through a few things as well.

Saturday morning, I made the trek back out to Highland to visit my dad and to attend another wedding. This time, one of my 2nd (or maybe 3rd?) cousins got married. This was the 3rd wedding in 4 weeks....crazy. But, it was a lot of fun! It still was hard to believe that Tori got married..especially since she's my brother's age and I can not picture him nor I getting married anytime soon.
I spent part of Sunday out watching football at my dad's and finally decided late in the afternoon to make my way home and take care of a few things before the crazy work week started over once again.

Monday and Tuesday went by as normal...I worked on financials, called customers about past dues and met with the managers in my weekly AR meeting. We had one of our local drivers from Laredo in the office working on orientation training so we decided that we'd all go out on Wednesday night to welcome him up to St. Louis. A group of us went to Hotshots after work for happy hour and to watch the Blues game.

This past Thursday night the work crowd decided to have a tailgate party at S's house. As I was driving over there, my phone rang. It was Derick checking in and seeing what I was up to for the night. I told him about the little shindig we were throwing over at S's and I asked what he was up to for the night. Come to find out he was about three hours away but he was driving in to visit me. That was awesome news....and I know I said, "Are you serious?" like 5 times because I just couldn't believe it. So we had our little party over at S's and around 8:30 he called me and told me he was about 40 miles away...so I made a quick exit and came home to pick up around my apartment a bit. We ended up staying in and watching movies again since it was somewhat late and I made a pizza for us. Really it was nice to have the company and to be able to spend time together once again. We both had to get up early the next morning for work so it was fairly quiet evening for us.

Friday night a few of us from work went out to dinner at Rookies and then decided to go do karaoke. M and I sang Toby Keith's, "I Wanna Talk About Me" and Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" and then M, R and I sang Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me." "Wanted Dead or Alive" was our best performance and I think that will be our signature song for karaoke.

Saturday was a big day....I had tickets to see Rascal Flatts! I invited M to go with me and we made an evening of it. We went to dinner at Massa's and then went to the concert. The concert was awesome! This is the second time I've seen them in concert and they were just as good as I remembered. Our seats were really good and perfect for the stage extension they had in the middle of the floor. The only thing I was bummed about was that they didn't play one of my favorite songs -- Dry County Girl, but even without that, I would definitely see them again.

I spent this past Sunday doing my laundry and watching football most of the day and decided that I needed a day to just take it easy since I had been going pretty much non-stop for most of the week and I did just that.

Today it was back to work and hopefully this week will go by fairly smooth. I don't know of anything major going on and really I have nothing planned until Friday. Friday I am working a half day and driving out to Highland to pick up Nicole after she gets out of school. Luckily she has a half day as well and we're planning on hanging out in the afternoon and then spend the night at my apartment while my aunt and uncle go to a business function. I'm very excited to see her, especially since we haven't had a girl's weekend since last summer. We don't have any set plans yet, but I know it will be a fun-filled Friday and Saturday.

Sunday I am having my mom and Michael over for dinner since I haven't spent much time with them lately either. It's going to be a simple chili dinner, but it will be nice to catch up with them also.

I guess that is pretty much everything. I hope you have a great week!

Cardinals, Rams & Golf, oh my...

It's been an interesting two weeks...that's for sure. Let's see, since my last post, I made a trip to Vandalia, reconnected with one of my favorite work buddies, been to a Cardinals game and played in a golf tournament.

On Wednesday, the 12th, I drove to Vandalia after work to see Derick and catch up with him a bit. After driving numerous miles in between Indiana and Illinois, he stopped into Vandalia for the night so that he could visit a sawmill in the morning and I decided that since it wasn't that far from home for me, I'd come by for a visit.

On the 14th, Friday, I got the surprise of my life. One of my bestest buddies and most favorite coworkers, J stopped into our office from Little Rock and even though he's been gone from our office for nearly two years, it was like no time had passed and I had a blast filling him on all of the stuff that has happened lately. We were all hoping to go out with him after work, but C had other plans for him and finally he had to get back to the real reason he came up this way...to get his deer stand ready for hunting season in a few weeks. M and I ended up getting pedicures and pampering ourselves after work.

The next day, Saturday, the fam and I went to Michael's work for an Open House. It was neat to see the offices and different departments that make up the company he works for. Sunday was the Cardinals game with the work crowd and even though the Cards lost - the day was overall a blast. We started out at 9 am and had breakfast downtown before tailgating and heading to the game. I had a heck of a time concentrating on the game and I found it was much easier to socialize with my coworkers and considering the Cardinals were playing horribly against the Cubs...socializing seemed to be the best option. After the game, a group of us went back to the bar we started at and continued our fun for a few more hours.


This past Tuesday, Shell and I were finally able to get back into the routine we started before she left for Columbia and we went to Vincenzo's for dinner. I caught her up on everything that has happened here in the last few weeks and she told me about what she's been doing since she moved back home.

Thursday was Boatfest 2 after work and considering I hadn't been feeling well for three days, I was not planning on going. But, after my doctor's appointment and getting the first dose of antibiotics into my system, I told M that I would go along for the ride to keep her company. Boatfest 2 was a success even though we didn't have near the amount of people we did the last time, and it was nice to just get out for one last summer fling before fall sets in. The river was quite chilly though so most of us spent our time on the sand bar checking out the scenery.

At lunch Friday, I drove out to Chesterfield to pick up all of the decorations for Angie's wedding next weekend. I'm in charge of decorating for the reception and I had to make sure that I got the directions and all of the accessories I needed to make the Butterfly House look spectacular. I'm looking forward to putting it all together this weekend! After work, I drove out to my dad's to pick up the golf clubs I needed for the tournament the next day. While I was out there visiting, I decided to stop into Walmart (because I don't have a good one close by here) and I spent about an hour shopping. That place is awesome and I ended up spending much more than I anticipated but it was all stuff that I needed anyway, so I didn't feel nearly as bad then.

Saturday was the much anticipated golf tournament at Belk Park. The girls and I threw together a group and actually had a blast swinging the club around and pretending we knew what we were doing out there. Really though, we didn't do too bad....only about 11 above par...of course, we were in last place. I think I had more fun going around the course in the golf cart though...especially since S was driving all over and getting carried away as we made our way through the trees and around M's golf cart. After golf, we came back to the clubhouse and played a rousing game of quarters. About 8:30, I drove the crew back to M's and headed home myself. I was completely exhausted after spending the day outside chasing a little white ball.

Finally, we're up to yesterday and I wasn't quite sure what I had in store for the day when I got up about 8. But, I got up and got dressed and went to take care of my laundry. Around 11, Lake Joe called and asked if I wanted to meet him to watch the Rams game and go out to dinner. So I met him and after watching the Rams lose their butts to the Bucs, we went out for Mexican.
It was really nice to actually get to sit down and watch football for a change and not have a million other things to work on -- I might have to make this a Sunday ritual for myself!

Today, was back to work and the normal stuff a Monday brings. I took care of a few issues that I left on Friday afternoon and just plugged along all day like usual. I left work about 5 and came home and cooked dinner (for a change!), worked out, repainted my nails, and then had a few beers with M. Not too shabby if I say so myself!

I'm not sure what's up for the rest of the week besides month-end on Friday and decorating for Angie's wedding on Saturday, but I'm sure I'll find something to keep me occupied -- I always do!

I'll update again soon! Have a great week!

Labor Day, St. Louis Traffic & A Wedding

One week and another post....what's going on with me?!?! Anyway, there is a lot to get to once again. Labor day ended up being quite a bit of fun with our family BBQ. My Grandma had a good portion of the family over and we spent the afternoon just enjoying the weather and catching up with one another. It's not all too often that you can get the aunts, uncles and cousins together and while we did have a few people missing, it was still a good time. (Bro...we missed you!)

Tuesday I drove to Arnold after work to get my hair highlighted and cut. It looks absolutely gorgeous - Angie always does awesome though.

Wednesday was an easy day for me and I came home after work and just took it easy. Thursday I drove out to Hermann, MO for dinner. The drive out there wasn't so bad, but the drive home at 9:30 at night was not the greatest. It felt like it took an extra hour to get home - of course, it didn't help that I had a margarita with dinner and I was exhausted on top of it all.

Friday was a normal day at work and all I wanted was for the day to end so I could come home and relax the rest of the night. While I was waiting for M to finish up a problem with one of our Mexican carriers at 5:30, my cell phone rang. It was Derick calling to find out what I was up to. I told him about my day and asked what he was up to besides driving through Illinois. Come to find out he was on Interstate 70 and passing Vandalia, which is about an hour from me. As we continued to talk, I tried to convince him to stop in for a visit since I was so close. And about 6:45, I heard a knock on my door and there he was! We ended up just staying in and watching the craziest movie possible and trying to catch up with all of the stuff that has happened for the both of us in the past few weeks. After the movie, he headed for his two hour trip home. Of course, while driving home he had to inform me of all of the St. Louis traffic and construction that was in his way and ticking him off. And my response back was..."but wasn't seeing me worth it all?!?" (Still don't have an answer to that one! Ha!)

Saturday morning I got up and headed out to Highland to visit with my Bro and for one of my 2nd cousin's wedding. I spent much of the afternoon talking with him and playing Guitar Hero. We ended up BBQing steaks and making my famous roasted potatoes.
That night was the wedding reception and I must say...it is probably one of the most memorable receptions I have ever been to. The wedding party drove up in a cattle trailer and came walking into the reception with their can coolies and beers and the toasts were hilarious. I saw quite a few of the guys I went to college with as well. I even went out and danced a few songs with relatives once the DJ got going. Overall, the night was a blast.

Yesterday, I watched football for a bit with my Dad and then trekked back home. And, today was back to work to start another week. The day went fairly well, even though I didn't feel that great. Hopefully I'll be back to my normal self tomorrow - I don't really need to be sick right now.

Anyway, have a great week and I'll update again soon!

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!

What happens at the lake....

...stays at the lake. Boy - does that ring true! Actually I can say that this time last Saturday night I was passed out (literally, passed out) at the condo from too many shots of Jose Cuervo Black Tequila. However, I was a trooper and after being passed out for about 4 hours, I got up and took a shower and was ready to party the rest of the night. The girls were shocked when I called to have them come pick me up to go dancing but as soon as we made it back to the bar, I was out on the dance floor shaking my groove thang. However, I did learn that I am not invincible and I can not drink half a bottle of something that is labeled with a warm and smooth finish. I found out that warm and smooth means you can't feel your legs when you try to walk and you really don't remember how you got from the dock, up two flights of stairs and a car ride back to the condo.

The entire weekend ended up being a blast and I'm so glad that S invited me to hang with the girls. Of course having to go back to work on Monday was quite a challenge. Not only was I exhausted from getting only a few hours of sleep in 3 days time, I was also sunburned. But, I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

The rest of my week went awesome! It was a little stressful at work but in my spare time I managed to kick back and have some fun and that's exactly what I need right now.

More to come later....have a great weekend all!

Two years and counting....

Wow...where do I start?!? This week went by in a blur and I'm still on the run. Really though, it reminded me of old times and how crazy I can be some times, but I'm definitely having fun. Monday was the only night of rest for me and Tuesday started off with a bang. It was a normal day at work and I prepped for my meeting that afternoon and worked on my usual things. In my meeting, I got a little peeved because my numbers were up (let's rephrase that...AR was up, that really needs to be low and cash should be up) but all of my bosses understood and just told me to focus on contacting customers and see what we could work on for next week. I totally understand that, but it seems like the same customers are the problem and sometimes it takes more than me to get the problem fixed, especially when many of them take care of the problem and 30 days later they have the same issues. After my meeting, I came back to my desk and was talking to M and telling her about the meeting and how I felt about everything. She thought I needed a pep talk and told me that we should hang out after work. So after work, we drove over to her house and ordered a pizza and picked up a few coldies. These impromptu nights are so much fun. We reminisced and drank a Fosters (Australian for beer & an inside joke between her and I, which is why we bought it) and had a blast. We were also supposed to be getting everything organized for the graduation party we were helping S with, but after talking about what needed to be done for about 10 minutes we decided that was enough work for the night. I came home and went right to bed since I had to be up early for work the next morning.

Wednesday was my two-year anniversary at work. Two whole years -- I can't believe it! M and I celebrate our work anniversaries and as a gift she gave me a Three Days Grace CD. I absolutely love Three Days Grace right now and I'm relating to many of their songs, so it was definitely a treat to get that CD. She also took me out to lunch which was completely unnecessary but I was very appreciative. For M and I, the work anniversaries are something special because it was only the two of us in the Earth City Accounting department in the beginning. She and I also faced quite a mess with the work of some of our C-town counterparts and we bonded as co-workers and best friends because of all it all.
After work we were all planning on going home when S asked if we wanted to go out for happy hour margaritas at Casa. Of course, we couldn't pass up margaritas so we got a group together and had a few rounds. We met a one of the guys we know from the Coastal and he introduced us to a few of his friends. Come to find out they were going up to another bar down the street for spaghetti wrestling and they said we should go down there to check it out. Now at the time this did sound very intriguing, so I drove M, S and I up the street and experienced a few rounds of spaghetti wrestling. I must say though...there is not a whole lot to it and it actually is a bit disgusting, but I can now check that off of my list of this to see in my lifetime. And for a second night in a row, when I got home I went straight to bed.

Thursday rolled around and it was supposed to be Parties at the Plaza, which was originally the only night of an actual organized get-together for the week; however, there was a chance of bad thunderstorms and they called it off early in the day and rescheduled it for the following week. We had told everyone earlier in the week about it and most people were going to go. M and I felt bad that it was canceled so we changed the plan a bit and went to Sybergs instead. This was not a late night for me...thank goodness, but it was still a fun night. I got to know the new traveling sales rep for the dedicated division a little bit better and a few other coworkers who can't usually make it to the other functions we put together. Of course, everyone was making fun of M, S and I going to spaghetti wrestling the night before also.

Yesterday was an overall good day as well. Everything went pretty smooth at work and I got through the day in one piece. Last night S and I went over to M's to help clean before the graduation party this afternoon. I scrubbed the deck and dusted and moved furniture and tried to help out as best as I could. It went by really fast and we got a lot accomplished in just a few hours. Finally about 10, M and I grabbed a beer and went to sit on the deck for a bit to talk and plan out some of the things going on next week.
Right now I'm getting ready to head back over to M's for the party to help finish setting up the last little bit. I have my cookies ready to go (a big thanks to my mom who helped me out tremendously by making them yesterday! Thanks Mom...I owe you so much!) and other than that I don't think I have anything else that I need to bring. It should be a good time, but I'm definitely planning on taking it easy tomorrow! 5 days of partying is the limit for me, especially since I'm trying to work inbetween! :)

I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable weekend!

Rollin' down the river

There is nothing better to do on a nice summer day than go floating down one of Missouri's rivers. And after being excited for weeks Tuesday finally rolled around and we were able to take our much anticipated trip down the Meramec. Let me tell you...this was one great trip. My bro is an awesome float trip coordinator and we had a blast! It started at sunrise on Tuesday morning -- actually before that because they were banging on my apartment door at 5:30 am. I had been awake for all of 2 minutes when the clan came walking through my living room. I got ready as fast as I could and we were on the road to Steelville by 5:50. The whole car ride everyone was cracking jokes, especially Ryan who had me in stitches much of the trip with all of his antics. We made great time and missed much of the rush hour traffic and because of that we decided to stop for breakfast at the Hardee's in Cuba. Munching on our breakfast sandwiches and hash browns we all talked about what we were expecting out of this trip. Armed with the directions to the floating outfitter, we got back on the road and finished the last half and hour of our trek. We made it there with an extra hour to spare so after we registered and bought a few hats (I was one dork that forgot to pack that before we left St. Louis), we parked the car and got all of our gear out. Finally at a few minutes to 9, the van came and picked us up and drove us to our starting point.

The kid driving the van obviously knew the roads like the back of his hand and he had me freaked a few times going up and down the hills. Ryan continued to crack jokes and had this guy laughing the entire time he was driving through town. Finally he dropped us off and unloaded all of our gear out of the van. He put the raft halfway in the river and we put all of the coolers and bags and paddles in and 4 of 6 of us decided to sit in the raft. The van driver was laughing his butt off as my bro and Kyle went to put the rest of the raft in the river and offered one simple piece of advice....it might be best if everyone got out of the raft so that it wouldn't scrap the rocks and would go into the water a little easier. So we gave the raft a running start and all jumped in and then tried to paddle our tails off to get going. The first attempt at paddling was not a successful one and we were doing 360s down the river but we definitely gave everyone watching us quite a show.

The river wasn't moving much and most of the time we had to paddle to get anywhere. With Captain Ryan leading the crew though we were able to make some progress although we did have a few paddling mishaps now and again. The river was almost totally empty from other floaters and we continued to joke and sing as we traveled downstream. About 11:30 we decided to pull over a small rock bank and we had lunch. My bro ordered awesome deli sandwiches and we had a picnic lunch right alongside the river.

Perhaps the funniest thing from the trip was when Patrick fell out of the raft and Ryan had to "rescue" him from the river. Patrick had his soda around his neck in a coolie cup and he leaned back to take a drink and fell out of the raft. Well my bro being the hero that he is leaped across the raft to grab him because Patrick thought he was in deep water. Not hearing Magen saying, "guys...the water is only a half a paddle deep," Ryan continued to struggle to get Patrick back in the raft. He wasn't letting one of his men fall victim to the river and finally both boys were back in the raft and trying to recover from a silly, silly scene. I laughed the rest of the trip when I thought about the slip and the recovery and all of the other jokes that came about because of it.

We continued to paddle and a short while later we were at our take out spot. The official time for a 10 mile float in a 10 man raft for this 6 person crazy crew....4 hours and 15 minutes. I have never floated that fast in a raft but we paddled like idiots and it paid off. We brought everything to shore and packed the car and were on our way back to St. Louis in nothing flat. After stopping for gas outside of Cuba, it was decided that I would drive back to my apartment. I didn't mind, but it wasn't my car so I was a little tense, especially since a Crown Victoria is much much larger than my little Mitsubishi Lancer, but I did a fairly good job getting us back.

Everyone just chilled at my apartment once we got back. It was a crazy day and it was nice to just sit back and relax. We ordered pizza and watched "I Love The 80s" on VH1, which was a little weird for me because I felt so old compared to the rest of them considering they were born after 1987. It was a lot of fun though and I do believe this is going to be an annual trip for us. I owe a big thanks to my bro for getting everything organized and buying all of the food and for buying my hat down at the country store. Thanks bro...you are awesome and also a bit dorky for putting together your spreadsheet (like brother, like sister, huh? ha!), but I love ya anyway! (Seriously though, I probably would have put together a spreadsheet too.)

The rest of the week flew by and considering all of the adventure I had on Tuesday, I've decided that I needed a low-key Wednesday through Friday. I don't have big weekend plans yet either but that's ok because there is always something to do around here. But right now, I think I'm going to read and clear my head for a bit. Have a great evening and an awesome weekend! :)

Styx -- you rock my world!

Another great summertime week here....it's hot and humid and just how St. Louis should be in July and to top it off its been a great week for me personally. Tuesday was a good day at work. It was busy because of it being a shortened week and because I had to start producing June's financials for all 4 companies, but I made it through the day and was ready to party Tuesday night. I knew I didn't have to get up early for work the next morning because it was the 4th of July so I told M that we should plan on sitting out and having a few beers on my deck or at her house -- she agreed with me and we made it a point to get out of the office on time that afternoon to start our holiday off right. So after work, I headed to M's. We were going to sit on the deck, but one of her sons had just finished cutting the grass and stuff was flying around so we decided to sit inside and listen (actually sing along) to an awesome CD and talk and have a few beers. About 10:45 we were both dragging and hoping to get our second wind so she laid back on the sofa and I laid back on the love seat and we were both out for a 10 minute cat nap. That's what working all the time does to us though! Finally I decided that I wasn't going to get a second wind and that I should be getting home because 4th of July was going to be a busy day.

The 4th of July was awesome! I got up and leisurely got ready. It was definitely nice not to have to get up early and get ready for work. Josh sent me a text message wishing me a happy 4th of July and I sent a few back to him keeping him updated on everything going on up here in the Lou. Later in the afternoon, my bro Ryan, his girlfriend Magen and his friends were coming to hang out and go to the Styx and Def Leppard concert with me so I decided to go to Target and buy a new cooler for our float trip next week and to pick up a card and gift for M for her two-year anniversary at work before they got here. I got back just in time for everyone to come over and the rest of the day passed by in a blur. We went swimming in my pool for about an hour before it decided to pour down rain and I got to horse around with my bro just like when we were younger. We all came back in once we decided the rain wouldn't stop and my bro and I started preparing our exquisite dinner. If there is one thing my bro and I have in common above everything else, is our fascination with cooking. He had called me a few days before everyone was coming over and asked if I'd pick up some chicken breasts and he'd bring over the potatoes and corn on the cob and we'd just have a feast at my apartment. It was a blast and our meal turned out perfect!
Just about everyone napped while watching Mythbusters and then it was time to hit the concert! So we piled into my car and headed out to Riverport. What can I say...the concert was amazing once again! I love that venue and Styx was stellar as always. Tommy Shaw still looks awesome out there rocking the place. Def Leppard was really good too, even though I didn't know many of their songs. I did hear "Pour Some Sugar On Me" though and I was pleased.
It was definitely a late night though and I did my best to get out of the parking lot as fast as I could because I knew I had to be up for work very early the next morning and I needed a decent amount of sleep. We got back to my apartment about midnight and everyone left to go find a late-night snack and I went to bed.

Thursday was a normal day at work and I just came home to crash because I was still tired from the night before. But, Friday was a different story. It was a busy day at work but it flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go. Last night, S, M and I decided to plant flowers at M's house because she's hosting the graduation party for S's son in a couple weeks. We planted the flowers, drank a few beers and tried to plan everything out for the party. I always have a blast hanging out with M and S -- they are two of the most caring and nicest women I know and I'm extremely lucky to have them as friends. I left M's about 11:30 and got home to just head right to bed once again.

That brings me up to today and I'm not sure what's in store for today yet. I probably should clean up around my apartment a bit and do my laundry and maybe I'll lay out in the sun and try to get a base tan before I go floating on Tuesday. Nothing like getting burnt because I haven't gotten much color lately. I'm looking forward to the float trip and the antics of my bro and his friends and I'm sure I'll have some sort of update from all of that later next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Summertime in full swing

Wow...we're already to July...I feel like I don't have time to blink anymore without another month passing. I guess that is alright as long as you're staying busy and having fun and I seem to be experiencing both lately. Last Monday and Tuesday were a bit crazy at work since M was on vacation but I made it through. Of course it did help that J kept me sane on Monday with his emails. I would have been completely lost if it wasn't for his comforting words of wisdom. Well that and the jokes....and it definitely made me wish that he was back in our office helping me get through all of the trucking craziness. Maybe someday he'll be back up this was for a visit. It would definitely be nice to catch up in person rather than through email or phone calls down to the terminal.

Thursday was quite a day for all of us and my department decided that the best thing to do after a busy day at work was to go to Hooters for wings and beer. We were having a blast and decided to continue the party at M's house. S and I picked up a 12 pack and drove down the street to M's. After talking to M and catching her up on so many things that I wasn't able to tell her while she was gone and having her do the same, we finally decided to call it a night about 1:50 in the morning. I don't know how it got so late so fast, but I knew there was going to be trouble when I tried to get up for work a mere 4 hours later. It didn't help that I couldn't sleep when I got home and I had a horrible stomachache from the hot wings and the beginnings of a hangover. And by the time it was all said and done I got about an hour's worth of uninterrupted sleep. Work was an absolute blur on Friday and I would have probably not have cared about coming in but it was month-end and that is the one day that I have to be there no matter what. I actually was able to make it through the day and I got out of there right on time. And because of our antics the night before, M and I decided to skip any parties on Friday night and we both went home to crash. That was until 7 pm when she got a phone call from another friend that had two extra tickets to the Toby Keith concert and wanted to know if we wanted them. Of course we wanted them! So I got up and got ready and M picked me up about 7:45...not too shabby if I say so. Of course, I was in no mood for drinking so I had a lemonade and I just had fun singing and listening to Toby. I must say though, I believe he is my new country boy crush. He looked awesome in his cowboy hat and jeans and his arms were absolutely amazing in his cut-off shirt. The concert was great and I'm glad that I didn't let the night before hold me back from such a good show. I did come home and crash right afterwards though because I was completely exhausted.

Saturday I decided that it was time to buy a new swimming suit. This summer I have a few things planned water-wise and since I haven't gotten a new suit in nearly 4 years, I felt I was due. What is extremely awesome about losing 60 lbs is that I was finally able to buy a two-piece! A tankini to be more specific, but it is absolutely adorable! I'm excited about wearing it on the float trip next week and if I'm able to make it, the trip to the Lake with the girls at the end of the month. Plus, when I finally decide to lay out and get some sun, I have a new suit to wear that will allow me to get more tan than any of my other suits. Maybe I can lay out for a bit on Wednesday for a few hours since I'm off of work. I hope to have a nice relaxing morning before going to the Styx and Def Leppard concert with my bro and his friends. The concert will be a blast but I know that I'm going to be extremely tired going into work the next day...maybe everyone will have some pity on me going back to work however, I don't think I will be that lucky! It is definitely worth it though and I'm sure I'll get more than 1 hour of sleep so I'm already doing better than last week. ;)

I'm not sure what else is going on this week. I'm going to try to play it by ear and see what happens. Hope the 4th is fun for everyone! Enjoy the day with friends and family and remember how important our independence is, especially in today's world!

What a good weekend!

Ok, so I finally realize that I'm not superwoman and I need to just relax and chill a bit but I haven't found much time for just taking it easy over the last two weeks. It's been very busy once again but it's also been very fun as well.

Last Saturday was the Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure. It was year two of participation for M and S and I and it all truly hit home this year. S is going through a second stint with breast cancer and we have tried to do whatever we can to support her and help her through it. It was definitely bittersweet to see all of the participants in the survivor t-shirts because for every survivor that was there, there are dozens more that are not well enough right now to even make it out to an event like that one and many more that have not survived the horrific illness.

Sunday was Father's Day and I tried to make it a good day for both my dad and my step-dad. My awesome bro called me earlier in the week and told me that he was going to bar-b-que for our dad and that I was invited out for the shindig, so I decided to go over and cook my step-dad breakfast and then head out to my dad's for the rest of the afternoon. And let me tell you...that was probably one of the most memorable times I have out there since my dad moved into his house! My bro and I grilled corn on the cob, pork steaks, bratwursts and homemade cheeseburgers from my bro's special recipe. We made a feast and had a lot of fun doing so. In fact, my dad was thrilled that both of us were out working together and cooking while he got to watch the Nascar race and the US Open.

The week went by in a blur again. Tuesday night after work, M and I sat on her deck and had a few beers and just tried to unwind from the crazy day we had. Plus, it was such a pretty night out so it would have been a waste to just come home and sit inside and do nothing. It's definitely nice to have a friend that knows almost exactly what you're going through at work and in your personal life and the support helps tremendously. Friday after our extremely crazy week ended, M, S and I decided that it was time to hit the town so we went to Casa for happy hour and then drove to the river and went to one of the seasonal bars in the boonies. We met a few more friends out there and had a great time just socializing and cracking jokes...many of them towards the band that was not very good. Usually the band determines the kind of evening we have at a place, but we still managed to have fun anyway. However one thing I know for sure... I will not be within 5 miles of the band that we heard because that was not pretty!

Saturday night Joe and I went to the Arch Rival Roller Girls bout here in St. Louis. I have been intrigued by the new women's flat track roller derby since the bout in Chicago and I hadn't seen the St. Louis teams in action so I thought that since I was actually free one night when they were having a bout that I would check it out. Joe was nice enough to invite me along with him so we were able to hang out just like old times. The Smashinistas beat the Stunt Devils but it was a close night and while these girls are not as experienced as the Chicago and Seattle teams I've seen there is a lot of potential there and I can tell that they are serious about the game. Hopefully I'll get to go to the next bout in July...we'll see if I can get anyone to go with me to that one.

And finally, up to today....today has been a great day! My bro and Magen (his gf) came over and visited me on the Mo side and we had a blast. I helped him get some loan stuff organized for school in the fall and then we went to the Mills to walk around for a bit and just hang out. There were a few things that he was looking to buy and because we have gotten so serious about our grilling since the week before, I was looking for a hamburger patty mold to make our special recipe patties a little easier. We both found what we were looking for and after a jog around the mall a few times we left to go have a late lunch at Red Lobster. As most of my friends can tell you, that is one of my most favorite places to eat and I was so glad that Ryan and Magen wanted to go there. I thought Josh was the only other person I knew that didn't mind going there every time I asked! We came back to my apartment and chilled and downloaded some of my bro's CDs to my computer so I could sync them up to my Ipod. My bro thought I needed some good music on my Ipod and I'm grateful that he let me borrow his CDs so that I could add them. Thanks a bunch Bro...you are the most awesome brother ever!!! And my weekend went out with a bang!

I'm not sure what this weekend has in store for me yet. Month end is on Friday so I'm sure my head will be spinning by the time I leave Friday night. But as always, I will make the best of it and get through it all! Hope every one has a great week! Enjoy this great summer time weather!

Something's gotta give....

I believe I'm slowly starting to go crazy and I'm not exactly sure why. There is not one specific thing I can pinpoint as the problem right now. Usually I can blame something on work, but right now I'm working less hours at work than I ever have before, yet I believe everything is just getting to me and I'm just too demanding for my own good.

On a personal level...I believe everything is ok. Things are not perfect, but I guess since I haven't heard anything bad, I should assume that things are just moving along alright. Really, I think I just need a stiff drink and a night of dancing with my friends. It seems like when I'm out on the dance floor and listening to music I have no cares in the world, which is the complete opposite of my normal super high maintenance personality.

It's funny that I realize what I need to do to change, but I just can't give myself that little bit of wiggle room. Maybe I can do some very important thinking over the weekend and get everything straightened out and maybe I will finally come to the conclusion that I'm not super-woman...no matter how hard I try. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

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! :)

Another month come and gone...

Ok, so time for a new post. So much has been going on the last month or so that I've had a hard time finding time to update. After my last post, I drove down to Columbia to help Shell move into her new apartment. It's a cute place close to where she works. Hopefully we'll be able to stay in touch even with the few hours distance. The following weekend, Tom, Joe, Lindsay and I went to Chicago for a roller derby bout. It was the first time I had ever seen the "new" roller derby but the weekend was a lot of fun. We also were able to see the Sears Tower and walk around Navy Pier. That weekend went by extremely fast, but it was a blast and I'm becoming a fan of the roller derby.

For the most part though I've spent the majority of my time working. Business is booming right now and some of our customers are requiring more detail for their billing due to the high surcharges on hauling loads so I've spent quite a bit of time working on special projects. It's definitely kept me busy and out of trouble for the most part.

Finally last weekend we cut loose and M and I hit one of our local dance spots to catch one of our favorite bands and dance the night away. It was great to just get out there and kick it. The band was awesome as usual and we met some of the band members during the break between sets -- very nice guys if I may say so, even after M ran into the guitar player! :)

This week has been very strange for me and I'm not exactly sure why. My head has not been thinking and working clearly for the last few days and I don't have any answers as to what is wrong. I thought I was all caught up at 5 pm on Wednesday and I left work and came home to have dinner and all of a sudden I remembered I forgot to send all of my Wednesday reports to my boss and the President of the Company. I have one task that has to be completed on Wednesday afternoons and I forgot to do it. What is going on with me?!? I took a deep breath and drove back to work and sent my reports. Thank goodness I live only a few miles away from work and I was able to go back in with no problems and get my stuff finished. Thursday the work group went to Parties at the Plaza at Westport after work and I think that is exactly what I needed because I was able to get through today with very few issues. And I did not forget to send out my weekly reports before I left for the weekend! I still can't figure out what is going on because I seem to have less stress now than about a year ago but I'm still having issues that I can't pinpoint. Hopefully my head will clear out a bit in the next few weeks and I can go back to what I consider normal.

Speaking of the weekend, this weekend I'm driving out to my dad's to spend a little time out there and to see my cousin Nicole's dance recital tomorrow night. I haven't been to a recital of hers in a few years so I know I will be surprised to see how good she is now that she's grown up a little. I also get to hang out with my bro, who I haven't seen in a few months. I always love hanging out with him so it should be fun. As for the rest of the weekend...who knows...I would love to just lay out and get some sun because it's supposed to be a nice weekend. We'll see if I get to relax at all!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

A survey of my thoughts....

Since I'm really not in the mood to put together a real post right now, I am planning on leaving some of my thoughts based on a survey. Kinda touches on a few subjects I'm thinking about right now and other things that I rarely think about, but probably should more often. Anyway, hope it all makes sense! It's called "finish the sentence" survey:

I've come to realize that my last kiss was: way too long ago...when will Josh be back in town?!?

I am listening to: commercials on tv

I talk: when necessary

I love: my family!

My best friend: always looks out for me.

My first real kiss: quite a long time ago.

I hate it when people ask: so you're really an accountant...how old are you?

Love is: grand if you can find it.

Marriage is: something to take very seriously.

Somewhere, someone is thinking: is there really a city named Flippin? (Yes, there is one in Arkansas!)

I'll always: think way too hard for my own good!

I have a crush on: someone very special and near and dear to my heart.

The last time I cried was because: I was completely stressed out.

My cell phone: is always close by.

When I wake up in the morning: I always make my bed.

Before I go to bed: I brush my teeth.

Right now I am thinking about: one of my most favorite people in the world and wondering if he stayed in Little Rock tonight.

Babies are: cute but not for me right now.

I get on Myspace: pretty much every day.

Today I: went to work.

Tonight I: went to Syberg's with some friends to listen to the awesome band.

Tomorrow it will be: laundry day and a time to relax and chill out.

I really want to... be content with everything going on in my life. Fat chance of that right now though!

Another week come and gone....

Well time for a little update....since I'm sitting at my mom's right now waiting while I do my laundry, I figured there was not a better time to put a post together.
Easter turned out to be a great day. My dinner went over pretty well and we had a lot of fun just watching movies and talking. It was a very low-key Easter and I think that's what made it really nice. Usually I'm running around on holidays trying to visit both sides of my family so to be able to stay home for one was a treat.

I went back to work on Monday and was faced with completing March financials for a few of the companies that I work for. March also signified the end of the first quarter so my boss and I were also working on figures to give to the CPAs at our tax firm so that we can make an estimated tax payment to the IRS. Of course we don't want to have an enormous tax bill at the end of the year so we're trying to get projections together to make sure that our numbers are fairly accurate. Nothing like getting stuck with a huge penalty for estimating incorrectly.

Tuesday Josh finally came into the office to meet all of my co-workers. He was in St. Louis for a dentist appointment and thought it would be nice to stop in and see me for a bit. It was a quick visit because he had to be to work in like 2.5 hours and it's a 2 hour drive back home so we weren't able to go to lunch, but we were able to catch up for a few minutes and he finally got to meet most of the people I talk about constantly. And finally the office got to meet him, considering many of them thought he was imaginary since he hasn't been able to come in before. Hopefully we'll be able to meet for dinner soon and spend more time together. It's definitely crazy for him right now trying to finish up the last month of the semester and still take care of everything else going on with the Guard and work and his family.
Also by stopping in, he finally got to see me in action! Ha!

Tuesday night Shell and I had dinner and tried to hang out for a bit before she moves to Columbia to take a new job. It seems weird to have one of my best friends growing up not within a few miles of me....but I guess it will be like the days when she and I were in college and in two different cities. I definitely hope everything works out for her in Columbia with the position and hopefully we'll be able to visit one another on a regular basis.
Wednesday night my Grandma had the family over for dinner, which was very nice. It's always great to get a home-cooked meal when you get off of work at night and I must admit I've slacked in that department lately, so I really enjoyed the dinner.

Last night we ended up going out after work and it was a lot of fun. Of course it was the usually crew that went out and we just had drinks and appetizers at SidePockets. I was ready to play pool but didn't want to wait for a table because it was packed in there...maybe next time!

I'm not sure what's in store for the rest of the weekend...it's cold and rainy and it seems like a good weekend just to stay in and chill, but we'll see!

An Easter first...

For the first time since moving out on my own, I have decided to cook Easter dinner. I invited my mom, step-dad and grandma over for baked penne. Doesn't sound like a normal Easter dinner, but I wanted to be original. It should be nice...I was stressing out earlier, because I haven't been the greatest housekeeper lately, but I finally got everything organized. Hopefully my dinner turns out and it's a nice afternoon!

I have to say it's not been too exciting lately. I've just spent most of my time working my butt off and trying to stay ahead of the game at work. It's been pretty cool though learning more about trucking and cross-training, especially since it helps me understand how my job fits into the whole scheme of things. Maybe if someone else can cross-train and learn my job, I might be able to take a day off this summer! M is definitely trying, but with all of her work, it makes it very difficult to find the time to show her what I exactly do all day long...and it's really hard when I don't do many of the same things from one day to the next! (I like to think of myself as the utility player in the office...I do what needs to be done at any specific time...thank goodness my Accounting degree prepared me for that!)

Anyway, I hope everyone has a very happy Easter!

This is my kind of weekend!

Finally, I am getting back into the swing of things. It's been quite some time since I have really gone out and had a lot of fun with my friends and I must say we did a good job of it this weekend.
Friday night we decided to party as soon as we got off of work. M had a cooler of drinks in her car and I had frozen margaritas in mine. We sat out waiting for some of our other friends and just shot the bull with everyone from work. We were all pumped anyway since it was St. Patty's Day weekend and to top it off we were heading down to the Loop for a concert. We made it down to U City about 7:30 and grabbed something quick for dinner and then proceeded to the Pageant. M's son is in a hip hop group and they were playing along with 4 other underground artists. It was pretty cool and really I know I might be partial since M is my best friend, but out of all of them, Strata-G was the best. Could be that I know most of their songs or it just could be the fact that they have worked so hard at putting together quality material that it shows in their stage presence. I definitely had fun dancing and singing along and it was about midnight by the time I made it home.
Saturday I had to get my car in for a safety inspection and some other tune up work. I was up bright and early so that I could get it in and finished at decent hour. I wasn't sure what we were doing for St. Patrick's Day yet, so I headed over to my mom's to spend some time with her and my step-dad. My mom and I went shopping to pick up a few more things for my new bed and some other accessories for my apartment. I'm finally getting to the point where I can go out and buy the fun stuff for my place. I've only been here about a year and a half and it's nice to be able to get the non-essentials that I have put off for so long.
M called me around 7 and asked what I was up to for the night and I told her that I had nothing planned but that we should go out and celebrate. We decided to go to one of our favorite spots to listen to the band and have a few drinks since my first plan flopped. Plan one was to go to Rolla to see Shinedown but as my luck would have it when I went to buy the tickets earlier in the week they were sold out. I was bummed because I absolutely love Shinedown and it was supposed to be an awesome show. But plan two came through and M came and picked me up about 9 to head to the bar. It was an absolute blast! The band was great and we had good time out on the dance floor. It brought back a lot of good memories for both of us, plus we haven't really had a chance to go out like we used to in quite some time. When I got home I was completely exhausted since I had been going for about 20 hours straight and I crashed immediately.
Today I pretty much took it easy. I needed to go grocery shopping and catch up on some paperwork but other than that I've been able to watch Food Network and just have a relaxing Sunday. It was definitely nice because tomorrow I will be back into the grind of trucking and accounting.

Oh and one side note before I go. Just want to wish my little bro a Happy 20th Birthday! Dude...you are starting to get old! I still remember the days when you used to call me Tissy Bear like it was yesterday. Anyway, I'll take you out to celebrate the next time I see you!

This post is dedicated to my Grandma

It stinks to have to put together another update under these circumstances, but really everyone should know that I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth, even though I haven't been around much lately.
I've been dealing with a lot of family issues the last few weeks and especially over the last 4 days. My grandma on my dad's side passed away earlier in the week and I have slowly been trying to get my emotions back in check and take care of everything that comes along when you lose a loved one. It has been a very difficult week that is for sure. I tried to go back to work yesterday and I had a horrible time trying to concentrate and catch up and get back into my routine.
All I can say though is that my Grandma was a trooper. She moved forward after my Grandpa passed away in November 2005 and was trying to just live her life, even if it was hard to do. She lived on her own until she broke her hip in September last year and even then she went to therapy at the nursing home and tried to make a full recovery. Who would have known that a day after her 71st birthday her body would decide to start failing on her and she would go through so much in just one week's time.

I went out to my dad's last weekend because I had heard that things were not looking good and I spent all weekend at the nursing home just trying to do what I could to make her comfortable. I joked with her to ease the pain I was feeling in my heart and told her about my failed fudge attempt at Christmas and how I needed her to teach me to make something besides marshmallow fluff with chocolate chips in it. And would you believe that even though she couldn't get all of the words out, she mouthed that I needed to time it for 10 minutes while its on the stove and it would work...even at her worst she still looked out after me. That's what Grandma's do though....or at least my Grandma did and I am extremely grateful to have her around for as long as I did.
She wanted me to have her wedding dress...a dress that would make anyone look like a princess and even though the idea of marriage has not crossed my mind recently, it would be an honor to wear such a beautiful dress -- a dress that has 52 years of a strong, loving marriage embedded into its threads. I made it through the rest of my week trying to think positively and remember that she and my Grandpa are back together, but it still proved to be very difficult.

Thank goodness I have all of the wonderful people in my life to help me out too. M took care of me on Monday night after I found out the news and my cousin Mary came over and spent a few hours helping me look for pictures for my memorial board.
And I would have been completely lost without Josh. He knows exactly what to say to calm my nerves down, no matter what and this time was no different. I drove down to Festus to meet him for dinner last night and got to spend some much needed time talking and catching up. I think I was finally content with everything that has happened the last few weeks by the time I made my way home and for the first time in nearly two weeks I got a decent night's sleep and I didn't wake up completely exhausted.

I don't have a whole lot planned for this weekend. I know there are a million things that I need to accomplish but I just would like some time to rest. Tomorrow I have to go do my laundry and I am going to spend some quality time with my Grandma on my mom's side. I realize now that it is extremely important to share time together with family and that's what I intend to do.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

Happy Birthday to me!

The last weekend of me being 23 years old and this has been quite possibly one of the best weekends I have had in long time! It actually helped me deal with turning 24...something which I have been dreading for about a month now. I'll get into that more later, but first my weekend....
It started about 10:20 on Friday night when Josh made it up to my place after his two hour drive from Cape. I was so excited to get to see him and spend some quality time together, especially since the past month and a half has been completely insane for both of us. So I ran downstairs to meet him as soon as I saw him pull into a parking space and from there all I wanted was to enjoy every second we were spending together. Lately, when we see each other we have dinner in Festus one night during the week or we'll grab dinner here in STL and then go on with whatever else we have planned for the night, but this time was a little different. I decided to go back to the old days when I used to cook every time he visited. This time I made a homemade pizza and we decided to stay in for the night. Since so much is going on and it seems to get crazier and crazier as each day passes, we definitely needed to sit down and talk for a bit. I told him all about year end and my month at work and he told me all about school and work and the National Guard and then we both updated each other on family life. Really, this was what I needed....and like I told him...I feel so much more safe and secure and content with my life when I know he can spare whatever little time he has to listen to my worries and stresses and the accomplishments. We fell asleep on my couch and thank goodness I set my alarm on my phone because I'm sure we would not have gotten up in time for Josh to leave and get back to work if I hadn't. 6 am came very early on Saturday morning but I got up bright-eyed and bushy tailed after the alarm went off and made breakfast for him while he got ready for work. You've gotta love a guy that will drive 2 hours in a night and spend almost 9 hours up here and turn around and drive back to be at work at 9 in the morning. That is dedication and I'm so lucky that he would do that for me! So I sent him back on his way with a batch of cookies and a lunch for work, just as a small token of how appreciative I am for everything.
Saturday I do have to say that I didn't do much. I spent the day in my pajamas just lounging around and catching up on some much needed relaxation. I paid some bills, got online and checked out my taxes for a bit but other than that, the couch was my best friend.
Today I had to catch up on all of my laundry and my mom and step-dad invited me over for a birthday dinner. My mom made one of my favorites....chicken parmesan and spaghetti and my grandma made me a birthday cake. It was a nice quiet dinner.
Next weekend though it is definitely on and we're celebrating big time. I've invited my friends and family out for dinner/appetizers and a night of dancing at one of my favorite spots. I know it will be a great time.

Tomorrow is the big day....I turn 24! Like I said earlier, over the past month I have had a hard time when thinking about turning 24 and I'm not exactly sure why. For some strange reason I think it has to do with where I thought I would be by the time I got to this age. Everyone keeps telling me to look at what I have done so far and see that I have made great strides but in the back of my mind I'm still thinking that I could have done so much more. (Who knows how that would have gone though because many times I feel like I don't even have time to think.) But, I think the idea of turning 24 is growing on me...I just have to justify to myself that I have done enough and I wouldn't be in the position I am with my job and my life if I did not work my hardest. I've had these thoughts before but for some reason I actually took them to heart this year....maybe my subconscious is getting to me now. That would be scary for sure!

Anyway, I hope everyone else had a good weekend as well!

Self reflection time

Bear with me now...I'm going to get philosophical here. Ever feel like you don't know why you are put here on Earth but that there is a reason why you meet the people that you do and you form the relationships you do? This has been a constant analysis for me but really over the last few days I've started to ponder this question more and more. Anyway, I'm not going to bring up details of anything but I am finally starting to feel like I've found my place here and while I'm still extremely young (at least according to most of my current friends!)...I think I understand the kind of person I need to be. I finally realize that it's not about the money I have or the car I drive or the clothes I wear or the career I have, but rather the way I treat others and how much of a friend I really am. I know this is a simple concept, yet how many people actually think about what they say and do around those people that they "supposedly" care about and call friends? I thought I knew the answers but I was mistaken before. It is about the giving of yourself unconditionally and without boundaries...a lot like love, but like love we fall into a trap and fail to follow through every time with those we care so deeply about. Most importantly, I'm very lucky to have these best friends in my life that helped me realize this and helped me find my purpose. Of course it took other's hardships for me to see this but maybe in the future it won't be the just hardships that keep us bonded but rather the "rules" of an unconditional friendship. I am also very lucky to have found friends that see this as an important value as well.

Ok, enough self reflection...the last two weeks have gone fairly well otherwise. I've been busy at work but I haven't completely lost my mind yet. Actually I finally was able to catch my breath this past week and work on everything for the IRS 1099 reporting that I have to finalize by the end of the month. I know the quiet, calm atmosphere won't last long but it sure was nice for a week. Last night we went to a trivia night and it was a lot of fun! My regular group that I hang with got a table and we went after work. I actually didn't do too bad with answering some of the questions and probably the best part was that we beat another table that we knew! It was a personal competition for us. Out of 100 points I think we had 76...not too shabby!!! After trivia night we hit Syberg's to go dance. I got home about 1:30 this morning. Haven't had a night like that in a long time! But, it was a lot of fun that is for sure! There was a lot of reminiscing for M and I too.
Tonight I have a quiet evening at home....nothing wild planned and that is probably for the best. Right now I'm listen to my Ipod that I bought a speaker base for today and I'm going to work on getting it loaded with more music so M and I can listen to it while we're working. I know...I'm too much of a mover and shaker here! :)

Days like today...

Days like today are the reason why I love my job so much and I can't imagine working with a better group of people. Anywho, it was a really good day -- very busy but I found time to talk to one of the greatest people I know and he had me laughing most of the afternoon. I don't know how I get myself into the conversations I do (ok, that's a lie...I say crazy stuff...that is how it happens), but J seems to know exactly what is on my mind and where I'm going with everything and that is pretty scary! We got to talking about Christmas and New Years and the next time he gets to head north and somehow I thanked him for a very nice compliment he gave me this afternoon and the next thing you know we're talking about the crazy compliments I've gotten from my other co-workers this week and soon enough I brought up the fact that one of our fleet managers told me that he loved my shoes yesterday and that another one said I had cute pockets on my pants today. These are guys that I never would imagine giving me a compliment and so I comment to J about it and then he absolutely kills me by saying that if he was in St. Louis he would have probably joined in on the crazy compliments today as well. And of course I come back with that I didn't think that he would ever compliment my shoes or tell me that I was wearing cute pants and I'm sure he never noticed what the heck I had on like most of the fellas I work with. But it definitely got me to thinking....are people actually looking at what I'm wearing and how I look. I mean I never go into work wearing something tacky and I'm always put together, but I think I'm going to have to make sure that I always keep up a certain image...you never know what someone is thinking and willing to say!

Anyway, I just found that funny, especially since I thought I was a just a wallflower to all of the Ops people besides J and C. I guess I have made myself known! I wonder if that is a good thing....I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Final post of the year...

About 12 hours left and it's the start of a new year and a new beginning for this girl. 2006 has been a great launching ground for me and I'm ready to do even more in 07. Now if I can only remember to write 07 on my checks now! :)

I went through many of my old posts the last few days trying to get an idea of how I wanted to put together this post and really there is so much to say about the past year. But, I'm not going to bore everyone with the details; however, I've made a lot of mental notes to myself on what I think I could do better and improve on and what has helped make me somewhat successful so far. Probably the biggest thing for me this past year is opening up and growing up and speaking my mind not just allowing the world around me to pass me up so with that said that is my main focus for 07 -- along with being a little nicer. Sometimes I think this outspokenness (if that is even a real word) gets the best of me and because I think everything is about attitude, I'm going to try to improve mine. I can be outspoken, but I'm going to try to be a little more happy-go-lucky as well. We'll see how this plays out....

As for the rest of 2006, well, Christmas was a lot of fun. I spent Christmas Eve with my dad and bro and my aunt, uncle and Grandma and then spent most of Christmas Day with my mom, step-dad and my mom's side of the family. I ended up getting a lot of neat stuff and I think the presents I gave were a hit as well. This year was less about household items I needed and more about fun stuff.

Tuesday I had to go back to work and start preparing for year end. In fact, that was what I did most of the week. M and I entered payables for what seems like an eternity and I made cash projections into early 2007 and tried to get my reports together for the new year as well. Wednesday was more of the same and we went out to happy hour after work at Casa. It's always nice to finish off your day with chips and salsa and a margarita...especially when the week seems to just pass you by. After work Thursday I went to the Styx concert at the Pageant with my bro, his girlfriend and his best friend and it was amazing. The ticket was a Christmas present from my bro and it was an awesome one at that. We were down in the pit and about 10 feet away from the stage....doesn't get much better than that! I don't know what my brother can do to top this year, but I'm giving him about 360 days to figure it out!! :)
Friday was year end close at work. We cut checks pretty much the entire day and I helped out as needed so that I could get the reports done for the year at a decent hour. It didn't take too long this time and I was out of there before 6, which shocked me because I had been preparing for much worse. Hopefully I followed through and took care of everything because my mind was surely not at work on Friday. In any case, I got the preliminary work done so that we can start financials in the next couple of days.
Yesterday was a nice break. I didn't have much to take care of in the morning so I just stayed home and then went to my mom's in the afternoon and I took her and my step-dad out to dinner for their anniversary. And this morning I was up at 4 to get them to the airport. Lucky them...they are on their way to Hawaii to work on the house...while I'm stuck here!

Tonight a few of us from work are going out to an early dinner for New Years Eve. Nothing like last year...but it will be fine. It's probably best that I keep myself out of trouble anyway! It will be nice to go out with everyone though and get the scoop.

I hope 2007 brings health and happiness to everyone! Here is to another great year!!!

One year ago....

One year ago today...M and I were in C-town after a crazy miscommunication when our billing department decided to fail to show up to work. We were going to C-town then we weren't then we go into our office and at 10 am the President of the company decides that we can't go 2 days without billing any revenue and our services were needed in the office down south. So we get down to C-town around 1:30 and work until 7 with our boss, trying to get some sort of billing out for the day. Not knowing that $65,000 was not a good amount to bill for the day and that half of our invoices were wrong...M and I were so proud of our work. In fact, after a quiet dinner with our boss we dropped him off at our hotel and then went and hit the town for a bit. Nevermind that we couldn't find any liquor at the truck stops and we had to call J who was on his way to Arkansas for Christmas and have him figure out our location in a town that was about 4 hours away from where he was at or the fact that Josh called me 5 times frustrated while trying to figure out what I wanted for Christmas while out shopping and I couldn't give him any kind of answer besides that he should drive 40 minutes to C-town and party with us in our hotel rooms once we found the drive-thru liquor store. It was fun times and as I think back now I wonder if I will ever have a memory from this year that sticks with me as much as this has. Last December was a month filled with many memorable moments....I hope as I finish out the next few weeks of 2006 there are more great times to come, however it will be hard to top the drive-thru liquor store in a place like C-town!

Another exciting update...

It's been so long since I've posted...sorry about that. Work and my life just seem to be so busy that by the time I make it home at night I can't even sit down here to get another entry out, but alas here I am. Let's see...since the last post -- the wedding was freakin awesome! I had so much fun with my co-workers and she was such a beautiful bride. I hope if I ever get married I look that good. At the reception we had a great time talking with everyone and dancing the night away. I danced with C most of the night which was pretty cool since he and I haven't danced together for quite some time. I dared M to get the President of the company out on the dance floor and told her I would give her $100 if he danced with all of us (thinking he wouldn't because one of the guys that I work with is his best friend and he said he wouldn't get out there and shake his stuff) and I lost that bet! Of course, M told the President that she had a bet going with me and he told her that he would get out there and dance if she gave him half.

I guess the next big event was Thanksgiving. It turned out to be a pretty good day. I went to my dad's and he cooked this year. All of my cousins came over along with my aunt and uncle and my brother was there. It was so fun to get to spend the day with my bro. He and I have completely opposite schedules right now so I hardly get to see him or talk to him for any length of time. He got me hooked to the PS2 game Guitar Hero 2 while I was there. Let me tell you, I felt like a Guitar Hero playing that game. Pretty much you just stand there with a fake guitar and try to play the guitar notes to a rock song. I was absolutely horrible in the beginning but then he and I played the two player version and we sounded pretty good. Freebird was my best performance and I was rockin' out and showboating during that song. My dad took a few pictures of us while we were playing this game and I'm still working on getting them up on my Photobucket. They probably will be up after I take Christmas pictures since it is easier for me to upload a bunch of them at once rather than just 1 or 2.

The next big event was the ice storm about a week and a half ago. It took me two hours to get home from work on the 30th and I live 7 miles away from the office. It didn't help that it was month-end and I had to stay until everyone else had their work finished. I got out of the office about an hour early but still didn't get home until 6 and I was a nervous wreck driving the entire time. M called me numerous times while I was driving and I didn't hear my phone but she was freaking out because she hadn't heard from me and I was supposed to call her when I made it home. She had been home for an hour and a half when I finally got around to returning her many calls. My power was out from that Thursday night until Monday morning and it was freezing in my apartment so I stayed with my cousin Mary on Friday night and then at my parents house on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know how others in northern cities and states can deal with this cold weather all of the time! I need to be where it is warm!

This past Wednesday was a nice treat! I met Josh in Festus for dinner after he got off of work. We went to Ruby Tuesday's again and had a great time talking and just spending a few hours together. Our waitress probably thought we were crazy though because any time she came over to check on us we were talking about work or history related things. I guess they don't get a whole lot of twenty-somethings talking about what they've watch on the History Channel! :)
After dinner we warmed up our cars and we sat together in my car for a bit talking about the next few weeks and everything that is going on. About 11:30 we left and I had to make my 45 minute drive back home. I was fine until I made it to Arnold and then I was exhausted....it made for quite a trip home, but I'm still so glad that we got to meet and spend some time together.

Yesterday I went to the movies and dinner with my parents. We went to see Deja Vu. That was a crazy movie....I was confused the whole time, but I would still recommend seeing it. Today I get to go out Christmas shopping. I have a list of what I would like to get for everyone and I started shopping online a few weeks ago so I'm hoping I can just go out and get what I need to in order to finish up. It's hard to believe that Christmas is 15 days away! Where has the past year gone? Last year, I was planning the "Good Luck in Laredo" happy hour and having fun going out with the crew every night before J left St. Louis. Ahh...the memories.

Well that's it for now. I'm sure there will be another exciting update in the next week or so. My company Christmas party is coming up in a week and a half and then Christmas will be here and I'm sure I'll have something to write about!