PIVOT!

We're settling nicely into married life so far and finally focusing on getting our new house in order now.  A week after our BIG day we decided to visit my bro and see what kinds of deal we could score on some new furniture for our house.  Luckily for us, we came in at a good time and were able to get a new dining room table and a new sectional for our living room.
Since D and I both have small cars and aren't able to transport a table, let alone a sectional, we opted to have our new purchase delivered to our house at a later date.
The store my bro works for set up delivery for this week, Tuesday to be specific, which left D and I to move our current sofa and loveseat to the basement living room on Sunday so we could make sure the delivery wouldn't be compromised.  I figured moving a sofa and loveseat wouldn't be that big of a deal.  Sure, they are a bit heavy but D and I both work out and I figured if anything we could walk them outside and around our house to the walkout basement.
D had other plans....he thought we could take them down the basement stairs and through the doorway that separates our downstairs from our upstairs.
I don't want to say "I told you so" to my new husband, but D, "I told you so."  Yeah, it didn't work so well.
Anyone remember that episode of Friends?!?!  D has never seen it and the entire time we're fighting with the loveseat to get it down the stairs and through the door, I'm yelling over the loveseat, "PIVOT!"  I was seriously perturbed but at the same time I couldn't stop laughing.

"PIVOT!"

"PIVOT!"

"PIVOT!"

D did not find this as funny as I did as I'm yelling "PIVOT!." But really, it was our own Friends episode.

After about 45 minutes of fussing with the loveseat, we finally got it back upstairs with the legs of the loveseat taken off and we walked it around the house to the walkout.
Once the loveseat was situated we started moving the sofa.  It was a bit heavier and longer and I knew that it had to go around the house to the basement.  We started the trek and after stopping 4 times for me to get a better grip around the sofa, we got it to the door.  We opted not to take the legs off of the sofa because we were sure it would fit through the door.

Sadly, it did not and we continued our little debacle in the backyard.  Finally after taking the legs off of the sofa and pivoting a few more times, we got the sofa into the basement as well.  Mind you, the task that we both thought would take us 30 minutes top, took us close to 2 hours.

Once we were finished, I found the clip of the Friends episode to show my husband.  Yeah, he still doesn't find it as funny as I do.
Thankfully we get our new sectional tomorrow, maybe I can get him to watch the whole episode with me and then he'll think its absolutely hilarious.

"PIVOT!"

Just call me Mrs....

10 days ago I married my best friend.  It's been 10 whole days....so crazy!  And so far we're enjoying marital bliss!!
Since our marriage license came in the mail yesterday, I was able to officially change my name today!  Yay!!  Maybe people will stop calling me by my last name when they address me in an email. Who wants to bet that I'll still get called by my last name since it's also similar to a man's first name just with an S on the end?!?  It'll happen I'm sure...

We had a few issues arise about a week beforehand (not us, others who tried to complicate our pending nuptials) but everything happened nearly perfectly and it is the best day of my life! There is nothing that could top the feeling I had all day long.  While the STL can sometimes be extremely brutal weather-wise in August, the day was mostly comfortable.  Sure, it was hot taking photos in the middle of the afternoon outside in Forest Park but I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

I could go on and on about everything but let's just say, we had by far the greatest bridal party ever! Our group was a combination of both of our families and longtime friends and from what I could tell, everyone had so much fun together. Usually weddings can be stressful, but the few days leading up to the main event were actually calm and it was so nice having everyone together. We missed Grandpa R who couldn't make the trip from Michigan but we were able to live stream it to him so he got to watch it from the comforts of his living room.  (Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he still is trying to recover.)

I owe a good part of my sanity to Shell who was my superhero maid of honor!  I'm forever grateful for our friendship that spans 25+ years and thousands of miles!

Our photographer was amazing as well and truly captured everything I could have asked for.  I wanted to post a pic or two but I couldn't settle on just a couple so here's a montage of our day:

First Look!

We're Getting Married!

Don't Drop Me!

Just hanging out with the groomsmen

Me and my girls!

Dustin just hanging with the bridesmaids!

The Flying V

Everyone Jump!

Our adorable ring bearer!

We're husband and wife!

Mmmm, cake!

The best cake ever

Our first dance, Nickelback "Never Gonna Be Alone"

Dancing with my Dad

Photobooth time!

Me and my sweet Nicole

My awesome Maid of Honor

How many can we fit in here?!?

In case that isn't enough wedding fun for you, click here to watch our ceremony.

And if you're really into our wedding, click here for our first dance.

With the house and now wedding complete, D and I have to figure out what sort of excitement we're in for next or maybe we'll just enjoy the quiet for now!

The dam wedding

I'm going to vent here because at this point in time with so much going on, I haven't had very much time to catch up with friends and well, Dustin is tired of hearing all of my complaints regarding this topic and Shell, well this is too long to type in a Telegram message, so here we go...
I have never gotten married before, nor do I plan to do this more than once in my life and with that being said, I think of August 15, 2015 as our day and that people should be catering to us that day.  It is the only day out of my 32 years of life, that I expect to be top priority, along with my soon to be new husband.  I don't feel like my request puts me into a "Bridezilla" category because my requests are not extreme.  I'm a fairly simple girl.  I've taken necessary measures to plan this wedding and have included most of our families and some of our friends throughout the process.

But as we're nearly 2 and a half weeks away from the big day, family members seem to feel like I have nothing going on but to cater to their every whim.  They would be wrong.

Now is not the time to present requests to me regarding such outlandish items like bringing a food processor to the wedding and making sure they have gravy and A-1 sauce because you just had bariatric surgery.  I'm sorry, if that's such a big deal, then maybe you should take responsibility for this beforehand.

It is also not the time for me to make sure that my hairstylist can do your up-do with extensions and match your hair color exactly with products they have on hand.  Maybe you should contact the salon with the phone number, email address or website that I have provided to you when I asked everyone if they wanted to set up appointments.

When I formally sent out invitations with pre-addressed stamped return envelopes, I wanted all RSVP cards returned by the July 18th deadline.  Whether you figured you would be attending because you are immediate family and you didn't need to return the card because "we would just know" you'd be there, you'd be wrong.  I wouldn't have wasted so much money on stamps for you not to return it.

I also do not appreciate you deciding at the last minute (ie, today) that you are changing the number of guests now coming to the wedding.  There is a reason I put a deadline on the RSVP card a week before the actual due date because I had to pay the venue for our final headcount.  Did you know I paid $50 a plate for you and your guests and now that you decided to decrease your family count, I'm out at least $50?  If not more, if your entire family decides to not show up.

It would be one thing if all of these shenanigans were happening and members of our families were actually paying for our wedding and then made these special requests but all of this is coming from immediate family members who haven't pitched in a dime nor have they offered to help us with anything.

Besides my parents who have done more than anything to help us with our house maintenance along with giving us some money to buy essential household items and the decorations handled by both my mom and step-mom, we've handled everything.
It's pretty sad that we're hosting our rehearsal dinner at our home the night before our wedding and the family that has offered to help is D's sister and cousin, both who have had babies in the past year.  Two people who have their hands full with small children but are going to make the drive and come early to help us with the last minute preparations.  And the other person offering to help is my childhood friend Shell who's flying all the way in from New Zealand for our wedding.  That's a huge sacrifice and undertaking in itself!

It's just astonishing to me that others can not make any sort of effort to lessen the stress but then comment, "you two have experienced 3 of the most stressful life changes in just a few months time."  Yes we have and yes it's been more than we could handle at times but somehow we've gotten through it, just D and me.
So, pardon me if I'm not always chipper and I don't answer every phone call or text sent within 30 seconds or I seem like I am not being helpful to your every whim, I would like to think that August 15th is my day and I'm allowed to be just a bit more self-centered for at least a few hours.

At least D has been able to make me laugh in spite of all of the stress.  I threatened to cancel the STL festivities and hop a plane to Vegas to get married after receiving one of the numerous requests.
His response, "It's not too late to go to Vegas again! But if we do can we go to the Hoover Dam again? It would then be our dam proposal and dam wedding. lol I just want you to be my dam wife and us to be so dam happy together!  Love you (so dam much)!!"

The Hoover Dam might just be our dam honeymoon after all is said and done!

Exhausted!

The last 8 weeks have been nothing short of exhausting and while we have a few more weeks of insanity, hopefully after this weekend, we can actually breathe for 5 minutes. 

I've never made so many trips to Home Depot in my life and yet over the past week and a half, I think I've spent more time there than just about anywhere else.  Paint, fire alarms, a new faucet, a washer and dryer, patio furniture, parts for this and that, you name it, we've checked it out and spent hours visiting multiple stores in multiple municipalities around the STL.  We've spent ALOT of time driving as well.  While our new home is only a 15 minute drive for each of us to work, it's a 45 minute drive from our loft. Driving 45 minutes, with a carload of our belongings gets tiring when you do it multiple times a week let alone multiple times a day.

It's funny that we weren't going to do much in the way of maintenance and repairs before moving in and now we've just about redone every room in one way or another.  The kitchen and living room both needed a new coat of paint and while we thought there was enough extra paint to touch them up, we found it was just easier to repaint everything in similar colors.  This past weekend, we got all of the carpets cleaned, built our new patio furniture, had the washer and dryer installed and pulled weeds from the partially overgrown landscaping.  And now, the big furniture is ready to be moved in.  I think we're both ready for it after all of this hard work!

It has become a bittersweet move for me though.  I didn't think I'd have any sad feelings towards moving from downtown, but over the last day, I've had a few moments where I know I'll miss being in the loft.  D and I have a lot of special memories together in the loft.  It's where I hung out with him before we started dating.  Memories like our first work Christmas party where he held the "pre-party" and "post-party" at his loft; the "pre-party" before the pre-season Rams game a few years back; our first actual date on New Years Eve 2012 where he cooked me dinner and we rang in 2013; our walks to work in the bitter cold and extreme heat; our first few dinner dates where we had to sneak out through the alley to avoid running into our former coworkers who frequented the bars below so they wouldn't find out we were dating just yet; and bringing Kinny home after we adopted her.  I know we'll have a lot more great memories in our new house but it does make me a bit emotional leaving the loft.

I will be happy to be settled into our house and I'm excited to show off our place to our family and friends.  We've worked extremely hard to be able to afford such an awesome home!

A house update

We officially closed on our new house last Thursday afternoon.  Now the real fun begins.
Thankfully we knew we would be doing a deep clean of the entire house, repairing the few items listed on the home inspection, getting the carpets cleaned and touching up the paint before moving in. We set our move in date as August 1st and figured we'd keep the apartment until the end of the month and hopefully get out of our lease here with little to no hassle.
We've little by little started moving stuff into the new house over the past week and Monday night my dear friends Mimi and MaryAnn helped me clean the entire house.  We purchased our washer and dryer with the help of my Mom and Step-dad (the washer was a wedding present) and those will be delivered next weekend.  We also got a patio set from my Dad and Step-mom as a wedding gift.

Today, we received word from our property manager at the loft that he's begun showing our loft and he's got a potential renter who would like to move in sooner rather than later.  So we're trying to bump up our last day downtown to August 8th.  So much going on in such a short amount of time and as my luck would have it, D will be out of town the next two weekends for his bachelor party and the annual Ribfest in Chicago.  Leaving me on my own to continue to pack and slowly move totes and boxes to the new house.

We're hosting our Rehearsal Dinner at our new house on August 14th so I'm hoping the move and all of the fun that comes with it isn't too crazy.

On the wedding front, with only a month to go, I've got most of the planning complete and we just have to finalize the guest count (RSVPs are due Saturday), get our marriage license and finish putting together the schedule of events.  We bought our wedding rings finally and started paying off the balances for our vendors.  We've spent more money in the last two weeks than I think I've spent in my entire 32 years alive but we're heading in the right direction.

Hopefully I'll find a second to breathe throughout all of this!

Getting ready for summer

It's been a month and 1 day since I re-entered the transportation world and quite honestly, I couldn't be happier about my decision.  Things have finally started to fall into place and while I know that I had to leave back in 2011, I know my heart never left the position and friends I made while working here.  I'm so glad to be back!

Besides working, D and I have knocked a few more wedding to-dos off of our list, including ordering our cake, buying our unity ceremony supplies and sending out the invitations.  We still need to shop for rings but we will have to wait for a few weeks before actually making our purchases.  We've been so on the ball with most everything and you're probably wondering why I haven't jumped the gun and gone out to buy those already too.  Well, we had another major purchase take priority in the recent 2 weeks.

I guess I should mention that 4 weeks ago D was offered a position as a Logistics Manager at a new company and officially started his new job on June 1st.  With security in knowing we would be staying in the STL area, we decided we wanted to finally lay down some roots in an area closer to where each of us is working.  We met with an awesome realtor who has been a huge help in answering all sorts of questions we've had regarding first time home buying, securing a lender and getting pre-approved.  Not only that, he personally met with us before we went to check out any houses and helped us decide what we really were looking for and most importantly, where we wanted to look.  After scoping out houses online and then checking them out in person, we found a place out west that we just fell in love with and 12 days ago, we made an offer.

Our offer was countered....we countered back.  Then we decided to withdraw our counter and accept their counteroffer.  We scheduled a home inspection and on Tuesday we waited at the house while the home inspection took place.  The inspection came back clean and now we're just waiting for our closing on July 9th.  So, wedding rings are waiting until we close on our new home!

We're so excited and ready for the move and we've started the process of packing up all of our treasures. I'm getting used to moving (3rd time in 4 years!), but D has lived in the same place since moving here 4 years ago and has acquired quite a bit of stuff in our loft, so we're taking the purge then pack approach in hopes that we don't have an insanely large moving day later this summer. Thankfully we've got the space to start packing totes and getting everything organized, hopefully making the move right before our wedding just a tad easier.

New jobs, new home, marriage, I don't know what more we can take on in 2015, but we've done a darn good job of packing in a lot of excitement this year.

Another chapter of 2015

Seven weeks ago I started my new job.  I got all of the 2014 books up to date and even got 2015 off to a great start and have been keeping up with it on a daily basis.  It's been a good run so far, in spite of losing the "space" manager 2 weeks after I started, having multiple part-timers helping out, catching a new "space" manager up on everything happening in the office and working with a management team that was also focused on a municipal election for the area.  But, all good things must come to an end and that end is tomorrow afternoon at 5 pm.

Yes, that's right...I'm leaving the new job I just started seven weeks ago.  Not for good just yet, since I'm going to be working there on a part time basis for the next few months, but I have been given another opportunity that I just couldn't pass up.  It is an opportunity that I've crossed paths with before...it's even a position I've held before.  In fact, I know my former employer hasn't even changed some of my usernames and accounts I set up nearly 10 years ago.
Yes, I'm heading back into the transportation world and picking up where I left off 4 years ago.
My former and soon to be boss again contacted me when the Accountant that replaced me put in his notice about a month ago. While I wanted to jump at the opportunity, I also felt a tad bit of guilt for even thinking about it since I just started my new job.  But given the circumstances with D losing his job and being able to ask for the benefits and salary necessary to provide that extra security for our future, it made the most sense to accept this.  Not only that, I've got the chance to make huge strides with the executive team and I get to work with some of my favorite co-workers and my good friend and PPC partner, M.

Since I still want to do something to help the community and my boss, I've offered to work for him in my spare time to keep his bookkeeping going while he looks to hire someone.  One day each weekend, I told him I'd come in and work for 4-5 hours to keep everything up to date.  It's about all he needs right now with the system I've set up and I think I can handle it at least for a few months. And really the job there isn't that overwhelming.

Thank goodness I was neurotic about the wedding planning early on, huh?  Who knew I'd be volunteering to work a 2nd job with only 3 months until D and I tie the knot.

It's another exciting chapter for us with so much on the horizon, yet we always manage to get by.

Oh March

I should really start to get on a better writing schedule but as soon as I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel, life throws a wrench in my plans.  I decided I needed more excitement and decided that it was time to move on from my ever stressful, never-ending, always on my mind job and I officially quit my job.  Thankfully, it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made (its right up there with accepting the job 3 years ago so I could meet my love; agreeing to go on that first date with D; and the most important and BEST decision, saying YES! at the Hoover Dam).  In the meantime, I've secured my new job which is more of a position I am equipped to do with less stress and more control over the Accounting functions and it’s with a company I truly believe in.  I start next Monday, the 23rd and I’m excited to work for someone who is actually trying to do some good in this city of ours.  St. Louis has gotten a bad rap lately and while there has been a lot of bad national publicity, I know there are great things also happening here that I want to be a part of.  My new position and boss are a great example of that and I’m ready to be a part of that crowd.

My resignation actually happened at a good time…if any time really is a good time.  But, as luck would have it, over the weekend the company I left and where D still works, has agreed to be acquired by another company and the corporate office will be leaving the St. Louis area around the time we’re getting married.  It means that unless D is one of the “lucky” 19 people (out of 50) asked to relocate to an area about an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh, he will be on the hunt for a new job as well.  For us, we do have the flexibility but we also are trying to figure out what is best for us (living in the middle of nowhere doesn't sound like it’s the best though).  It’s amazing how much money talks to some people and how the rich just keep getting richer even if it means shutting down an office and costing employees their jobs.  I’m not sure how these types of people can actually live with themselves knowing that their current net worth of billions just isn't enough and they need more.  (Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox.)

We knew life would be changing but we just didn't know it would be this much.  We’re still trying to plan our Easter trip to Michigan to meet our new niece that was born on March 7th, finish wedding plans (less than 5 months to go!) and figure out where we’re going to live once married (Buy a house & where? Stay in the loft another year?) along with dealing with this new stuff.  Oh and in the meantime, I became an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay and I’m trying to grow my little business with scheduling skincare and makeup classes in my spare time.

Yes, life is crazy but despite that, we’re all getting by. 

Snow day and taxes

Yes, it snowed here as expected and while I think we only had 4-5 inches around the metro area, other areas farther north and south got 10-12 inches.
Work was like a ghost town for the first few hours but about 75% finally made it in by 10 am.  The rest took a "snow day," including the guy that has officially given his notice and is quitting next week.
Perhaps it is rude of me to say, but according to my co-worker he was already talking about the potential "snow day" before he left early Friday afternoon, when there was all of a dusting predicted for Sunday night so I wasn't too surprised when my boss told me he opted to stay home. 
Guess he figured since he's on his way out anyway, no need to bust his butt and try to get any work done in his remaining 6 days.  Wonder if he got to do any sledding on his day off today?!?

In other news, after being a slacker, I finally finished my taxes and D's and got them filed tonight.  It may have been the only productive thing I accomplished today.  I had all intentions of taking both of our returns and creating a joint return for giggles.  Actually, I wanted to see how screwed we would be not having any deductions.  Typically I get a refund which is like bonus money for me (more wedding funds!) but D make sure that he nearly breaks even.  We'll see what getting married does to us for 2015....and we'll see if I actually get around to our "mock" joint return for 2014.

First major snow of 2015?

Source

Even though it seems like everyone else has been hit hard with winter and snow already, we're just getting started here.
First winter storm of the season is supposed to hit STL later this afternoon into tomorrow evening.  The snow was first predicted as a dusting to 1" and as of this morning its now 3" to 6" but with a possibility of as much as 10" for our area.  Fun, fun, fun!
I'm holding out to see what really happens but at this point, I'm wishing it will snow enough to keep me from walking or possibly driving the 8 blocks to work.  (Yeah, really wishful thinking!  Can you tell how much I don't want to deal with work tomorrow?!?)

We'll see what happens....

Cracking jokes

As probably everyone knows D and I work for the same company and in the same group even though we do two completely different jobs.  He recently moved into Export Logistics from Domestic Logistics and for the past 2 years I've been the Export Sales Accountant.  Export isn't much harder than Domestic, there is just bigger sales and a few more details to worry about when loading a vessel rather than a train or barge.  I've been showing him the ropes over the last month as he's the Logistics Coordinator I work directly with in order to get a good portion of my job done.
D sent an email out at work this morning notifying the sales, logistics and accounting group about a export vessel nomination. The vessel name is Tana Sea. 

So I sent him a side email:
How does someone from the deep south say the name of the state where Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville are located?

Tana Sea

I was expecting he would groan at my bad joke but instead he sent me back an email....

Good one!  That was really funny!  :)

 

I'm not known for cracking many jokes and he's usually the one that makes me and everyone else laugh around the office (and at home for that matter), but I had to pat myself on the back for being clever enough to come up with that one.

Not impressed

So I was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel this week at work and I had even started working out at lunch again after a LONG hiatus and what happens?  My work world comes to a screeching halt once again as the newbie hired a mere 4 weeks ago already turns in his notice because the job is just "too much responsibility" for him.  Really?!?
When we (me and another co-worker) interviewed him in mid-December, we used almost scare tactics to see if he could handle the position he was applying for and ironically he impressed us with his ambition and everything he had already learned in such a short work history.  We explained, you come in and hit the ground running and our boss does not follow up to make sure the job is getting done, you step in and create your procedures to get your work done and pretty much handle everything from start to finish, he was ok with that.  He struggled through close last week, to the point where me and the other co-worker had to step in to finish his facilities, but we still were will to help and just figured it would take him a bit longer to fully learn the ropes.
Nope....
He was done even before he really got started and he pretty much told our boss that yesterday.  So now, we're back to square one and finding another new person and me training someone else for 4th time in 7 months.
Guess taking lunches or lunchtime workouts and potty breaks will be at a premium again.

32

Today is my 32nd birthday.  Not quite sure how I got here and I definitely don't have much idea as to what the future holds but I'm hoping to get through the day as best as possible given how exhausted I'm feeling from the work overload right now. 

Last year, I was fighting my way back to STL from New Orleans after the crazy ice storm that hit the south and two years ago, I spent a quiet evening at home taking my 30th in stride.
Tonight, I'm combining a bit of both of those birthdays and spending time with my little fam. 

D is again cooking me a birthday dinner like he has done for me the past two years and per my request, we're having gumbo.  Guess NOLA does have a special place in my heart.

January at a glance

The past month has been nothing short of insane but productive as well.  I guess the only way I seem to be able to survive is to be going a mile a minute.
D and I got through the holidays, spending nearly a week in Michigan and then coming home to work a few days and ring in the New Year with my family.  It wasn't much of a holiday as we both spent a good portion of our time off working and I even spent all of January 1st at work trying to prep for year-end.

Besides brain storming a guest list for the wedding, we really held off most of the planning until January rolled around and since then we've gotten a good portion of the details nailed down in the past 3 weeks.

Date: Saturday, August 15th, 2015
Colors:  Michigan State Green (Emerald) & Silver
Wedding Party:  Decided and Notified!
Venue:  A beautiful banquet facility a mere 10 minutes from our loft, Booked!
Reception dinner:  Tasted!
Photographer, Photobooth, DJ:  Booked!
Wedding Website:  Set up!
Save the Dates:  Ordered and Getting Mailed!
Flower Bouquets, Boutonnieres and Corsages for the Moms:  Purchased!
Wedding Dress and Veil:  Purchased!

YAY for wedding shows and bridal events!!  They provide an overwhelming amount of info but for me, it was way easier going to one place and getting info we needed rather than having to call for info/prices, compare multiple vendors and then hopefully make the best decision for our wedding needs.

We're working on finding our officiant, choosing bridesmaid dresses, finalizing tuxedos, cake tasting and ordering invitations over the next few weeks.  With those out of the way, most of the major decision making will be complete and I'll work on a few details as they come along.

I don't know how I've managed to get as much done as I have considering I've been working 12 hour days and some weekends but my determination must be stronger than what I've previously given myself credit for.  (I'm guessing the lack of sleep will catch up with me eventually too....)
Right now I'm the veteran Sales Accountant at work and besides actually doing my normal responsibilities, I'm now training another new (think: green) person to be a Sales Accountant, being a mentor for the another Sales Accountant that was hired in November and trying to clean up all of the issues left when the prior "veteran" was terminated on January 5th for not doing her job for the last 11+ months.  Why did it take my boss 11 months to realize the other veteran was a train wreck?  I'm not sure but it's not helping now that I'm left picking up the pieces and holding the department together.  I may be turning 32 on Thursday, but with this work schedule I feel like I should be near retirement age.  Let's hope I don't have another 30 years of a schedule like this!

And even though, I'm heading into another stressful week with month-end close to cap it off, at least I'm not going on a work trip like I had to last year at this time.  The best feeling in the world is knowing I'll be home with my fam and not 677 miles away searching for any way possible out of NOLA.

What Happens In Vegas....

Typically what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay there but we had too many exciting things happen that the blogworld needs to know about, that we're breaking that rule.
We left last Thursday (the 11th) to spend an extended weekend out there celebrating D's 30th birthday.  We had planned on hitting some of our favorite chefs' restaurants and visiting Hoover Dam and Madame Tussaud's as well as seeing one of his old college roommates and taking in all of the Vegas excitement.
Thursday night after checking into our hotel (The Cosmopolitan), we walked up the Strip to Planet Hollywood to have dinner at Gordon Ramsay's BURGR for D's birthday. 

It was so amazing and absolutely delicious!  After splitting 2 burgers, fries, onion rings and a banana shake for dessert, D and I decided we couldn't just go back to our hotel to gamble or go to bed but we needed to walk off our meal and we spent the next few hours, making our way through Miracle Mile shops and a few resorts.
Friday we woke up and decided that we would rent a car and drive to the Hoover Dam.  There was a chance of rain but that didn't stop us from trying to enjoy our mini vacation in Sin City.  After a morning workout and brunch we hit the road for Boulder City.  We parked the car and started walking around the outside part of Dam before taking the tour.  We snapped a few pics in Nevada then walked over to the Arizona side taking the same pics just in a different state.  D stopped me as I was heading back towards the tour area in Nevada and told me that we should go farther down on the Arizona side away from the crowds to get a better look at the Dam.  Me thinking, "ok, but I'm fairly certain it looks the same from each side," complied and we walked farther down away from all of the people to take a few more pictures.  As I'm snapping pics on my phone, I was not truly paying attention to what D was up to.  Come to find out, he had thought up a plan for this Dam visit and as I turned around after he was pulling a small ring box out of his pocket and was proposing.  Absolutely surprised and shocked that he was formally proposing to ME!  I stood there amazed that the man that started out as just my co-worker 3 years ago, the man that asked me out 10 months after that, and the man that asked me to move in a year and a half ago, wanted to marry ME!  With so much emotion and joy, I said YES and proudly put on the beautiful ring.  I stood there amazed, smiling foolishly and tried to take in the moment as much as I could.  I honestly could not believe D had gone to such great lengths to make this proposal so special.

We snapped a few more pics of us and my ring and decided to take the inside tour.  Really though, I'm not sure how I was able to get through that and really I probably only paid attention to 85% of the facts because I was still in awe that D carefully thought out this very moment and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.
It was pouring as we left the Hoover Dam but we carefully made our way back to Las Vegas and planned to call our family once we returned the car.  The next few hours passed in a blur as we made our calls but our entire family was extremely excited and can't wait for our wedding.  (Side note:  No date has been officially set as we're trying to plan but it has been scheduled for Fall 2015).
After our calls, we met up with D's old college roommate for beers and the Red Wings game (once a Michigander, always a Michigander) and then dinner at Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen and Bar.

We finished walking around The Linq and made our way back to The Cosmopolitan.

Saturday was our day to explore the rest of the Strip and Downtown.  We went to the Hershey's and M&M's store, stopped by Buddy V.'s Carlo's Bakery and also decided to pay a visit to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, because who doesn't love taking pics with wax celebrities?!?

After we could walk no farther, we got a taxi and headed Downtown to experience Fremont Street to play a few machines at Mermaids and have dinner at Le Thai.  Before we headed back to the Strip, we also stopped into Fremont and dropped a few bucks into the Blazin' 7s machine.  It was one of my Grandpa's favorites and we were never able to take that trip out there with him as he had always hoped we would after I turned 21.  I tripled my $10 on that machine in a few minutes and we cashed out and made our way back to The Cosmopolitan for the night.
Our flight out on Sunday morning was at 8 am, which isn't horrible but when the Rodeo is also leaving town that day, we had to get an extremely early start.  But by the time we got back to St. Louis, we had Mom and Michael waiting for us with a celebratory dinner for D's birthday and we got spend the evening with our Kinny.

Who knew a trip to Vegas could lead to us trying to plan a wedding?!?

And, no despite the airport advertisement, we're not having a Shotgun Wedding!  :)

The best part of my workday

I have had a crappy, crappy last 2.5 days dealing with month-end close and just general work nonsense; so this afternoon when I happened to catch this on my Facebook feed, it's the only thing that saved my day at work:

Look at his NEW JERSEY. ‪#‎Brodeur‬ (via Blues)

Yes, I realize that he's a bit past his prime days in New Jersey but who wouldn't love to see one of the greatest goalies ever in a Blues jersey?!?  I'm super excited and will be cheering him on throughout the rest of the season.
I even told D tonight that I'd love one of those "t-shirt jerseys" that everyone sports, with his name on it.  D got one with Ryan Miller's name and number last year and now Nicole and Em make fun of him for wearing it. 
At least Brodeur will be around a bit longer.  :)

A quiet night

After work tonight, I dropped D off at the airport so he could fly back to Michigan to visit his grandparents for the next 4 days.  I can't take the time off of work right now and he's been wanting to make a trip up since he hasn't seen this side of the family since last Christmas, so off he went.  Of course in true girl fashion, I bawled my eyes out as soon as we pulled into the departures area and he tried his best to crack jokes to make me laugh.  It's not like he's not been gone before but with the work stress and everything else going on, this time is way harder on me.
On my way back downtown, I stopped into a beauty supply store to pick up new shampoo and conditioner and then made my way home to Kinny.  We've had a quiet evening so far, she's confused as to why I didn't bring dad home with me but she's now firmly planted on the couch next to me and we're watching Game 7 of the World Series.   (Go Royals!!)
We also started our online Christmas shopping tonight.  She's a pro at picking out gifts and typing my credit card info into each site, she even knows her home address.  I might leave the rest of the shopping up to her.  Afterall, she is home all day!

The other exciting news this week is this....

....after nearly 32 years as a blonde, I decided to switch it up last night at my hair appointment.  I'm not sure why I was too chicken to do this before last night.  Besides my mom, who is just having a hard time picturing me with dark hair and prefers my blonde highlights, everyone else seems to love it and so do I.

Another One Bites The Dust

It was just a few short months ago, when I explained one of the other Sales Accountants left the company and a new person was starting.  I think everyone in our group thought it would be good to have someone new with prior experience joining our team.  The past 3 months haven't really gone as planned with the new girl.  She seemed like she would just jump in and be able to pick up most of what we do on a daily basis since she had worked in the industry before but after the first month and asking question after question and then the same questions day after day, I knew she was struggling.  The one thing about the company we work for is that it's extremely fast paced and really, you have to come in and hit the ground running otherwise you will be miserable or working a lot of additional hours.  (Yes, I work a lot of extra time but that's because there haven't been 3 strong Sales Accountants since I started 2.5 years ago and somehow I have proven I can handle my normal job and the projects and reports necessary for upper management.)
While I was trying to get out of the office the Friday when D's family was in town, my co-worker decided that she needed to give her notice.  Now, this would have been sufficient had our actual boss been in the office but she did it via email and then decides to tell the rest of the office before our boss even has a chance to respond.  (Not good.)  On top of it being a day I'm supposed to be getting out early, she wants to sit and chit-chat to all of us about why she's leaving, when she's leaving and other BS that truly doesn't matter.  She then makes a snide comment about me not caring because I'm not sitting there chit-chatting to her and the other people about her resignation but in fact, I am working trying to get my job finished to the point where I can leave.
Trust me, I care.  I care quite a bit because her last day is October 31st, exactly 1 business day before she was supposed to close her facility for October sales and now that she'll be gone, I'm officially closing the facility she was the Sales Accountant for.  A facility that is the same size as the 4 facilities that I handle on a monthly basis.  Oh yes, I care....I care so much that I will be spending all of next weekend working so I can get everything completed in 1 days time so that we can officially close out the month and train the new person on November activity without excessively overwhelming her on the first day.

Sometimes I feel like this job should have a warning on it for all interviewees and potential new hires...don't take this job if you aren't crazy, organized and highly detailed and can't handle an extremely fast paced, on demand environment.

A Beer-filled Weekend

Last weekend, D's dad and step-mom came to visit us from Michigan.  It was the first time they've been down here since D moved here 3 years ago and actually it was their 1st visit to the city ever.  We tried to take advantage of showing them some of our favorite spots and also visit other St. Louis attractions.
They came to town Thursday afternoon and after showing them our place we were off to the historic and haunted Lemp Mansion for an evening tour.
The Lemps were well known for their brewery in the mid 1800s up until Prohibition but unfortunately the family faced a lot of tragedy and ultimately are more known for the Lemp family curse more than anything else.  This intrigued D's dad and step-mom and they wanted us to visit the Mansion with them.

I was stuck at work for most of the day on Friday (a long story for another post) so D played St. Louis Tour Guide until I could finally make my way home.  That evening we went out for pizza and for a few drinks with Andy and Amy before the guys played hockey.  D's dad hasn't seen him play hockey since he moved here so it was a treat for him to back out on the ice and playing on a team with Andy instead of against him like they did when they were kids.  The good news is that TNT shows off their skills that night and posted a huge win for the fans.

On Saturday after a quick stop in to show off the office, we decided to tour the well known St. Louis brewery, the Anheuser Busch Budweiser brewery.  In D's 3 years in St. Louis, he still had never been on a tour and I hadn't been since I was a teenager, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit the St. Louis landmark located only a few short miles from home.

D especially enjoyed the complimentary beer after completing the tour....

...and part of my complimentary beer too!

Sunday morning we had to say goodbye to our guests so they could make the 7 hour drive back home.  We had a blast hanging out with them and were so glad they made the trip down to visit us.
After seeing D's dad and step-mom off in the morning, we waited for my cousin Sam and his girlfriend to make their way downtown for the Rams-Seahawks game.  It was family day at the game for our company and D and I decided that our family football star would have fun getting to take in the game in style in a suite.

Not only that, it ended up being one of the most exciting Rams games I've ever been to and the team pulled off a huge win against the Hawks!

I'm only sad that I didn't pick them in my weekly football picks but I'll take the loss there to see my home team take down the Super Bowl champs!

After a whirlwind weekend, I was hoping the week ahead would be a calm one but soon found out, it would be another week of pure craziness and long hours....more to come on that soon.

Blinded by the Light

A year ago today I was suffering from a really bad GI infection that caused me to be hospitalized and off of work for a week.  I knew going into this week that one year ago I was battling that bad infection and was hoping that I wouldn't have to face something like than again any time soon.  While I am not hospitalized, I was faced with another medical issue this same week, one year later.  It all started yesterday morning, when I woke up I couldn't see out of my left eye.  I quickly tried to splash water into it in hopes that I just was dealing with allergies or maybe a head cold.  As the day progressed, my eye continued to turn more and more red and my eye and eyelid felt on fire, I tried everything possible to make the pain stop -- warm cloth, ice pack, tea bags, a home-made eye patch.  You name it, I tried it.  Nothing helped, so this morning, I decided to call the eye doctor just a few blocks from the office and see if I could get an emergency appointment.  Luckily, I was able to score a 9 am appointment, so I got as much as I could done at work and then headed to my appointment.  Thankfully, my boss gave me the rest of the day off just after looking at my eye when I went to explain that I needed to leave for a bit. Actually she told me, she couldn't even look at me with my horrible looking eye but in the nicest way possible.
Come to find out, I have a severe case of corneal infiltrates caused by my excessive wear of contact lenses.  I was given an antibiotic and told to take the rest of the day off from work by the optometrist. I was also told that I need to come back in tomorrow and Friday and probably also next week for further follow up and I can't wear contacts for at least 2 weeks.  That would be okay but since I always wear my contacts, I don't have a pair of glasses with a current prescription.  My glasses have a prescription from my college days. 

I had been talking to D about getting in to the eye doctor to update my glasses for the past month.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it taken care of before this little issue happened and I could kick myself in the butt for this right now.  I guess the one good thing to come out of this is that this is going to force me to get new glasses as now I have multiple appointments for this problem.
For the time being though, if you see me walking down the street, you may want to point me in the right direction because who knows what I can or can't see.