You know what I could use right now?!?

....a vacation! And a vacation is what I will get tomorrow morning! I'm heading to Memphis with my awesome bro for the big Memphis in May World Championship BBQ Festival. I can hardly wait! Even though we are both adults now, I still have that "Oh look...no parents! Time to party!!" feeling and like we're getting away with something.

I know we're going to have a blast and I'm ready for some time away from the Lou and work. I'm just hoping we make it back on Sunday in one piece, especially since there is only one rule for this trip....no tequila! Ha! As for the rest of the weekend, we'll just go with the flow.

Hope you have an exciting and relaxing weekend! I'll post a trip update when I get back! :)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

While most Americans take this day as a day to party...me included, I would like to note that I do know that this is a historical day for Mexico and more specifically for the Mexican state of Puebla and it should be taken seriously.

However, in true Lindsay fashion, I did find time to party with my awesome friends at Chevy's after work and have a margarita. What a great way to start off the week, especially since I'm sure that the next 4 days will be extremely hectic with working on financials and running analysis on last month's data! In any case, I'm sure I will survive it all just like every other month.

Hope you have a great week! I'll update again soon!

Sun, sleep and Kroger stores

What a difference a week makes! Last weekend I was going 10 different directions with things I committed to and this week I have no firm plans for the weekend.

The wedding reception last Saturday night was extremely enjoyable and I had a blast dancing and socializing with my co-workers. It was a bit disappointing that everyone couldn't be there but I understand things come up sometimes and not everyone could make it. MH looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress and I wish her and JF the best in married life now that they have finally taken the plunge.

Sunday was a really good day as well. Even after coming home late from the reception the night before, I got up at a decent hour and got myself out to Highland around 10:30 in the morning. After chit-chatting with my Dad and Bro for a few minutes, we headed over to pick up my Aunt and made our way to Nashville, IL for the anniversary party. I don't know about anyone else, but because my immediate family is so small, I forget that when a major family event comes up, we have a ton of extended family members. My head felt like it was on a swivel saying hi, telling people who I was and what I've been up to the last few years and figuring out who belongs to which part of the family. I also forget that with these events, comes a bunch of awesome homestyle cooking and I stuffed myself with the fried chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, cole slaw and rolls.

Before we left Nashville, we stopped into the one of the few local Kroger stores left and my Bro made fun of me for standing out front and taking a picture of it. He said something to the effect of looking like a crazy tourist taking pictures of grocery store. Kroger stores have always been a big deal to me and it brings back a lot of good memories of my early childhood. I still get excited when I see a Kroger trailer when I'm driving down the interstate and yes, I take pictures when I see a store out of town. (By the way, this is the 3rd store I've taken a picture of in the last few years, I also have pictures from Columbus, OH and Charlottesville, VA and when I come across another store, I will take another picture. So...Ha! Bro!!)

We got back to Highland and decided to just hang out at my Aunt and Uncle's house and enjoy the awesome springtime weather while sitting out and having a few drinks on their patio. Finally around 8, I had to head back across the river and get home so I could get ready for another week of work.

I must say, work this past week went very well once again. I thought I was going to have a few time constraints because I had two payrolls to enter this week and a few other "big" projects that needed to get done, but it went really smooth and I was even able to leave at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon and 10 minutes early yesterday. (Ok, it wasn't really early because I've been going into work at 7:30 and I had 42 hours in for the week already, but I like to think that I left early.)

Last night, the guys were playing racquetball again and we were invited to go watch and cheer them on but before that, M, SS and I decided to stop in to Wiliker's for one drink before the game. It's funny that we find enjoyment sitting there watching them play racquetball but it is a fun time and we laughed our butts off at them out on the court and laughed some more when we BSed afterwards. It ended up being an early night, which was perfect for me because I was completely exhausted by 9 anyway, so I came home and crashed. Literally, I walked in, put my purse down, called M and made sure she got home alright, walked into my bedroom and fell asleep with my jeans, shirt and jacket on. I don't know what is going on with my sleeping pattern but I've gotten to the point where I only sleep for 5 or 6 hours a night and then I'm wide awake. It wouldn't be bad if I was waking up at my normal time for work but no, I wake up at 3 in the morning and toss and turn until I have to get up at 5:30. Hence the reason why I'm so tired at 9 or 9:30 at night. I don't know if my body has gone back to my college schedule or if I just have too much on my mind, but it has to stop! Maybe this weekend will be a nice way to relax and clear my mind of everything and I can get on a regular sleeping pattern again.

Hope you all have a great weekend!! I'll update again soon!

Earthquake!

Major news here in the Midwest! We had an earthquake Friday morning and I must say, I was completely freaked out by it. I know we have little earthquakes fairly often but this was the first time I've ever experienced the movement of one that strong (magnitude 5.2) and I didn't know what to do. Of course, I'm sure it did not help that it happened at 4:30 in the morning and I was awoken from a sound sleep. I also must note too that I was equally panicking because of the fact that I live by myself and there was no one here to even acknowledge to me that indeed it was an earthquake that I felt and the news stations were not reporting anything that early. I finally got online about 5 and found my bookmark for the US Geological Survey and checked out when the latest quakes happened and saw that there was one about 120 miles away from St. Louis. That calmed me down a bit, along with the phone calls I received from my friends and family asking if I was alright. The aftershock around 10:30 in the morning wasn't nearly as scary since I was at work and we usually feel the floor beneath us shaking because of the tractor-trailers that come flying down the street right next to us so to us, it was pretty much normal, just shaking of a little different sort.

Spring is in full gear here too and the Cardinals are back home for baseball season! Woo hoo! In the past two weeks I've gotten to go to two Cardinals games and it's been a blast! Because I've put in way too much time trying to get everything squared away with my new position, the President of the company told me to take the 4 tickets to the Friday night game on April 4th and have some fun. I was thrilled that he even offered them to me, but I wasn't sure who I would be able to get to go with me. And because I work with some of the greatest people in the world, I ended up asking 3 of my favorite co-workers to go and we had fun time at the game and partying on the way there and home.
Then, I got the shock of my life on this past Monday when my immediate boss called me into his office and asked what I had going on Thursday afternoon. Well, besides working on a few ongoing projects, my day was going to be pretty easy and he invited me to the afternoon game along with him, the President, and our Corporate Banker. I felt high class getting out of work and going to the baseball game! It was a beautiful day out also, which made me feel even more guilty for playing hooky, but I definitely felt like I was something special by being invited.

Usually I don't get into baseball season much at the beginning because a lot can change by the season's end, but I've started checking out the teams a bit more and rooting for my Cardinals a lot more now. I think by being cooped up all winter, I'm ready for summer and keeping track of baseball and how my team is playing is my way of saying "Adios cold weather."

The rest of the weekend is jam-packed. In about an hour, I'm heading out to a wedding reception of one of my co-workers who got married earlier today. Her wedding was beautiful and I'm sure her reception will be a lot of fun like any of the events involving work people. They really are a great bunch!

Tomorrow I'm heading back out to Highland for my second trip out there in a week and half. Last Friday night I drove out to go bowling with my awesome Bro and his friends and did my best not to make a fool of myself while hanging out with all of them. This week I'm going to a 50th wedding anniversary party for my great-uncle and aunt. 50 years....wowzah!

Then its back to work on Monday for another week of work. It seems like time is just flying by! Hope you have a spectacular weekend and I will catch up with you later!

Happy St. Patrick's Day....

....and Happy 21st Birthday to the Most Awesome Bro in the Universe!!!!

Ryan,
It's hard to believe that you are already 21! I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday and you have continued to amaze me since that day in 1987.

Funny story about when you were born:
I was adamant that I did not want a little brother. Mom and Dad kept telling me that it would be cool for me to be the older sister to either a little brother or sister and I just kept telling them that they better bring home a girl or a green baby (an actual green baby mind you because my favorite color was green). You were due on April 1st and for about two weeks, I would not budge on my demands and I kept telling Mom that if you were a little boy she better leave you there (stubborn little bugger!). Somehow though I got my wish and you were a green baby! Not in the sense that you were actually "green" but by being born on St. Patty's Day, the hospital had you in the cutest little green outfit and when I got to see you for the first time that evening, I was content that you were "green" enough and you could come home with us a few days later.

Sure we've had our ups and downs over the last 21 years but I could not ask for a greater brother or friend! I hope you have a very special day and even though we can't go celebrate tonight, we'll definitely find time to party soon! (You're actually much more responsible than I am because I would not have put writing a paper for school before going out...and I'm really proud of you for doing that and having your priorities straight!)

To everyone else, have a safe St. Patrick's Day!

Chicago will never be the same!

Last week at this time, I was just getting ready to take a short nap after staying up partying in Chicago all night long. Quite an accomplishment for me if I do say so myself!

Our weekend in Chicago started last Friday afternoon about 1 when I picked up the Explorer and all of the girls met M and I at work so we could load it up and head out for our long awaited weekend in the Windy City. Let's just say we had a few issues before we even left St. Louis. First off, we didn't have all of our tickets for the Bon Jovi concert, secondly we weren't sure if Joe was going to be able to help us get a car because he didn't think they had anything available to rent that was big enough for all of us to go in the same car and then to top it off, it was a bit icy and starting to snow when we were getting ready to leave. Well, we ended up having one girl cancel on us, so Joe was able to hook us up with something a bit smaller and it worked perfectly and it was also big enough that we didn't have a problem driving as the weather continued to spit out all sorts of precipitation.

We got on the road around 1:50 and made the trek up north. Perhaps one of the funniest and most talked about part of the weekend happened just a few miles outside of St. Louis. My phone started ringing while I was driving. It was Joe calling to find out how the car was working for us so far (Awesome customer service if I must say so! Of course, it's probably because we are friends too!) and we got to talking and I blurt out "Cool Beans" and no one would let me live that down! I was given the nickname CB and every time something happened on the trip, all the girls would say, "Cool Beans." I'm not even sure what he and I were talking about when I said that...but we got carried away with saying it the rest of the weekend!

We made decent time driving up to Chicago and after checking into our hotel and getting ready we decided to head to dinner about 8. After asking the door man and the concierge about places to eat and party in the city we decided to go to Tavern on Rush. Dinner was pretty good but we had a better time when we decided to hit the martini bar there after dinner. I'm sure that you can imagine that seeing 5 girls sitting at a table often times causes a stir and we had a ton of people coming up to us and talking throughout the night....many of which were pickup artists who just wanted to impress us but we did meet a few nice guys that told us a little bit more about the city and wanted to know why we drove up from St. Louis for the weekend. One guy was even nice enough to buy our table a round of martinis! (All of the girls made fun of me for this too....supposedly because they thought he liked me because I was talking to him about being a pilot for much of our time there. I was just interested in what he was telling me especially since I don't know any pilots!) After Tavern on Rush, we decided we either wanted to go dancing or go sing karaoke. The karaoke bar closed at 1:30 and it was already 12:30 so we decided on going to Jilly's because we heard they had dancing....we didn't know that when we got there we walked into the piano bar, so we sat in there and had another drink and met a few of the off-duty Chicago police officers who frequent there. Nice enough guys also....one even though he could help us get backstage at the Bon Jovi concert because they provide security for one of the production companies in town....come to find out, it was not the production company that was sponsoring the show. We finally made it downstairs to the dancing spot, but as luck would have it they closed at 2 and the DJ was already packing up. So we sat and talked to more people until 2:30 and then decided to head back to our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, most of the girls were tired but Bryanna and I decided that we wanted to see what the 4 am bars looked like, so we set back out for a bar a few blocks from us.
Again...we met more interesting people including the owner and manager of another bar and grill in town and I spent a good portion of my time talking to the manager (who was about my age) about our jobs and what we like to do in the little bit of spare time we have. I think I talked more to unknown people in my night in Chicago than I have ever here in St. Louis! Finally about 5 and only because the bar was finally ready to close for the night, we headed back to our hotel. We were both still wired though and trying to figure out what was opened between 5 and 7 am. After talking to the clerk at the desk we found out that there is not much open in Chicago at that time. We could drive to Indiana to go to the casino but considering that cab ride was about an hour and a half it wasn't really worth it. She did ask us why we were in Chicago for the weekend and we told here about the Bon Jovi concert and how one of our friends was a major fan and you know what....she told us that 8 bus loads of his crewhands and band members had checked in earlier in the night! I was thrilled, especially since I had seen a guy in a tour jacket when we checked in and I had a hunch (since it was a very ritzy place) that they could be staying there. So Bryanna and I decided to check it out. We went up to the top floors to see if anyone was up at 5:30 in the morning that we could schmooze with and see about getting M backstage. Well, those guys aren't nearly the partiers that Bryanna and I were and that floor was completely silent, so we went back to our floor and woke up M and told her that the guys were staying in our hotel and we just might run into them. M was not nearly as excited as we were....could be because it was extremely early in the morning and she had just gone to bed like 2 or 3 hours before that. In any case, Bryanna and I decided that we'd go back down to the lobby and sit and wait for The Original Pancake House to open for breakfast since we didn't want to be quiet and sleep. Dozing and talking for about and hour, it was finally time for breakfast and since the other girls were not up, we decided just to go ourselves.

Breakfast was good and exactly what I needed after drinking all of the Cosmos, Bud Light and shots on Friday night. Around 7:30 we made it back to our hotel and decided to just rest for a bit since we had a big day of shopping ahead of us. By 9 am cell phones started going off and everyone was getting calls making sure that we made it up to Chicago alright so we decided to get up and get ready to hit Michigan Avenue for the day. We spent most of the day hitting all of the department stores and designer shops up and down Michigan Avenue. Around 3, I felt absolutely miserable from the lack of sleep and vodka reacting in my system and I decided to go back and lay down for an hour before I had to get ready for the concert. That helped TREMENDOUSLY!!! And once again, I was pumped up and ready for Bon Jovi!

The concert was probably one of the best I have ever seen and it was well worth the money I paid for the ticket. He rocked with his old stuff and his new stuff and put on an excellent show. I was on my feet most of the night singing and dancing. The only thing that was not so good was trying to get a cab after the show. It took an hour and a half to get a cab from the United Center back to our hotel downtown and we finally got back to our hotel at 12:30. Everyone was exhausted by this point, but I still wanted to go out. It's not all that often that you get to go to Chicago and hit the town. For me, it was a first going to Chicago as a mini-vacation and being of age that I could get into all of the places that I wanted to check out. Since I couldn't get anyone to go out with me, I decided it was just best to stay in the hotel and make it an early night. Nothing like getting lost by myself in another city!

We all woke up Sunday morning and got ready to leave and decided that before we left town we'd go to Navy Pier for lunch and to look around for souvenirs. Around 3, it was time to get our Explorer and drive back home. I must say, the drive home was not nearly as fun as the drive there...probably because we were all sad that the weekend was ending and we had to get back to real life in a few hours. We made good time coming back and I got all of the girls dropped off and the car back by 9:30 and I came home to unpack and crash.

Overall the weekend was a complete blast!! I think I've told just about everyone about the crazy antics and how much fun we had in the city. Derick called me about 6 on Monday morning and wanted to see how the weekend went and I know I talked non-stop for 20 minutes about the trip even while I was half-asleep.

It was difficult going back to work on Monday, especially since it was the last week of the month and I was still extremely exhausted from the weekend, but I made it through and even completed month-end yesterday. Of course, I must say, this weekend can't even compare to last weekend. I'm back in the real world taking care of laundry, grocery shopping and running other errands. Ugghhh!

Hope everyone else has a pleasant weekend! We should have nice weather for a change...which is a major plus! Catch ya later!

P.S. Pics from Chicago are posted on my Photobucket page. There is a Chicago album and then a Bon Jovi sub-album for the concert.

Chicago here we come!

Wow...it's been a busy few weeks once again. I've seemed to stay hopping lately and most of the time I can't tell if I'm coming or going. It's all good though!

Let's see...the Sunday after my birthday was Superbowl and I, along with a few of my coworkers were invited to a party at my boss' house. It was really awesome to get to watch the game on a big screen and hang out with the fun people from the work crowd. It was pretty cool to see the Giants win too, even if I didn't pick them in my football pool!
Exactly one week after my birthday, Derick called me while I was at work and asked what plans I had for the night. Considering it was almost 6:30 and I was still sitting at my desk trying to plug along through payroll and inter-company transactions, I didn't have much planned. He was heading back to Missouri after spending the day in Benton, IL and would be passing right by my house and since we didn't get to do anything special for my birthday, he wanted to make up for it. I was definitely excited to see him so I packed up my stuff and headed home. We went to Olive Garden for dinner (one of my favorite places!) and just came back to my place to talk and relax for a bit. I was so happy he thought of me and it really did make my night 100 times better.

On Friday night, I called Shell after work and asked if she wanted to go out and have dinner and catch up because its been so busy with the holidays and all. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and then hit a few stores in St. Peters. It was so weird seeing all of the teenyboppers at the mall on a Friday night. I remember when we did that 10-12 years ago and man...I don't think we were nearly as disruptive as kids are now days. (Guess this just goes to show that I'm getting old!) Then on Sunday, I drove back out to St. Peters to see Shell model in a bridal show.

Valentine's Day (Thursday) was just like every other day for me and rather than having a hot date that night, M, Kristin & I headed to Syberg's for happy hour. If you can't be with the one you love, its definitely nice to get to spend the time with close friends. While we were there we tried to convince Kristin that she should take this upcoming weekend off and go to Chicago with us for girls' weekend. She agreed and became just as excited about the weekend as we already are.

Friday night was absolutely a blast. M and I decided after work that we were going to go somewhere for a drink. For some reason Wiliker's popped into my mind and off we went. Well, I wasn't ready to go home after that, so we headed over to Charlie's for karaoke. I've become much braver in the past few weeks with getting up in front of a crowd and singing and for some reason on Friday night, I thought I was invincible (of course, it might have to do with the fact that I had 7 Bud Selects! ha!). We ended up singing "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down, "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi & the finale for the night, "Desperado" by The Eagles.
Around 1 in the morning, we headed to pick up my car and then I took off for home. Along the way I decided to call Joe and see how he was doing. And since I was in such a talkative mood, I spent a majority of the time telling him about nearly everything under the sun. Side note: Thanks Joe...I owe you a big time for listening. I bet you never thought I would talk as much as I did that night! I probably could have gone on and on too if you didn't stop me. :)

Saturday I woke up about 8:30 and I was seriously debating whether or not I would drive out to Highland later in the day, but I had made a promise to my bro and around 11, I made the trek out to see him and do his taxes. Like always, I had an absolute blast hanging out with him and Kyle. He was even nice enough to take me out to lunch!! My dad came home a little after that and I was able to visit with him too. My dad also took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday since I wasn't able to make it out there around my actual birthday. And overall it ended up being a really great day!

Sunday I decided that since I haven't spent much time at home, I would at least spend a few hours trying to clean up my place and then try to get a few things together for Chicago, especially since I was not sure how the rest of this week would pan out.
I must say though, this week has gone somewhat smooth for me so far (it's only Tuesday though!). It's amazing how some weeks go by and I can catch my breath and other weeks go by and I could just cry or scream because life is so demanding.
I am hoping that with this weekend trip to Chicago (and also the trip to Memphis in a few months), I can finally take some time for fun and enjoy what little free time I can find. This upcoming weekend is a girls only weekend with some of my friends and friends of friends. 6 girls in Chicago, shopping, going to see Bon Jovi in concert and having an all out good time...watch out now! I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories and maybe some pictures when I get back! And if I have time, I'll update again after the trip...I guess it will depend on how many more sets of taxes I have to get done in the next few weeks.

Hope you all have a great week! Catch ya later!!!

It's official....

I am 25. No longer in my early 20s....now I'm in my mid-20s and halfway to 30. My oh my! Everyone kept telling me at work that this is the last birthday I have to look forward to for awhile and to look on the bright side my car insurance should be going down. I can only hope!

It was another extremely busy day at work and I was happy when I finally got to leave at 6. I decided that I just wanted a relaxing evening at home to try to unwind a bit. I have a few more days of hell but I'm hoping that I can finally get into a routine schedule again next week.

But most of all, I want to thank all of my family and friends for the birthday wishes today and for all of the nice things they did for me! I truly did appreciate everything! You all are the best....thanks for thinking of me!

Big News!

Major news on the work front...I have been promoted!

The last two weeks have been extremely crazy as I have had to train for my new position personnel and administrative payroll. I took over the reigns for good Friday afternoon and really everything went off without a hitch. I am working for the President of the Company most of the time but I'm still trying to hold on to as many of my Accounting duties as they will let me because I truly do enjoy that aspect too. Yet, I'm positively thrilled that they have so much confidence in the job that I'm doing that they would trust me with something as important as personnel and payroll, especially since it was only 2 1/2 years ago that I walked in with no prior knowledge of my job or the industry itself. I'm also pretty proud of myself for working so hard and showing them that I can get the job done.

We'll see how things progress...I'm sure there will be some snafus in there now and again, but with a few people helping me, we should do fine. I'm definitely excited for what's to come though!

In other news, I turn 25 a week from tomorrow. And really, for the first time in a few years I'm not too worried about this birthday. Usually I start freaking out about not accomplishing enough by a certain age but besides the few minor inconveniences I've faced in my personal life, I'm pleased with where I sit right now. I plan on having a low key birthday this year but we'll see if that pans out or if I change my mind before next week. You never know with me....

I will update again soon. Have a spectacular week all!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Let's hope 2008 has more exciting yet stable things in store....I feel like 2007 was a complete whirlwind for me.

As for New Years Eve, I'm heading out for dinner with my friends and who knows what else. It will be a calm night for me though because I would like to enjoy my day off tomorrow without feeling the effects of a hangover or being overtired from lack of sleep!

However you spend this last night of 2007, I wish you all the best in 2008. Here's to a healthy and prosperous New Year!! If you're in the Midwest, try to keep warm! :)

And finally, go Mizzou!!!

Gratitude

The holidays are usually a crazy time of year for me -- one, because I'm an Accountant and heading into year-end normally produces a lot of extra work to the point that I'm going nuts thinking about all the stuff I still need to accomplish before December 31st and two, I'm always the one driving in between my parents' (and other relatives) houses seeing everyone and spend what little bit of time I do have with them trying to enjoy their company. This year has been a little bit different. I have decided to ease off a bit and take more time to think and truly enjoy the season.

While my workload is something that I can't always control, I've tried to prioritize most of my duties for the next 4 weeks and try not stress out nearly as much as I have the last two years. As for my family life, I also decided that instead of running myself ragged with all of the driving, I would spend Thanksgiving with my Dad and Bro and my dad's side of the family and then spend Christmas Day with my mom and Michael and my Grandma. This one little change has brought a huge relief to my already busy schedule and has allow me more time to think and figure out what's truly important in my life.

I don't always recommend me thinking because most of the time it brings about many wacky ideas, but I have found over the past few weeks that this extra time to think has actually been very helpful. One thing I slowly realized was that there are many people and little things I have to be grateful for at this point in my life:

- My bro for our awesome friendship and sibling relationship. Dad always told us that one day when we were older we'd be friends and we both thought he was off his rocker, but I know now that he was right all along. Ryan, you are one of my closest friends and I'm very lucky to also be able to call you my brother.
- My mom and Michael for always allowing me to stop by and throw in a load of laundry or two
and totally change their weekend plans so that they can spend quality time with me.
- My dad for looking out for me when I drive to and from Highland and anywhere else for that matter. Even though I make fun of him for always telling me I not to drive in the dark unless there is absolutely no other way around it, I do appreciate his concern.
- Derick for always listening, whether we're visiting each other or he's miles away and driving. No matter if it's complaints about work or exciting news about any other aspect of my life, he hears it all. And even though we've only known each other for a short amount of time, I truly do think of him as a special part of my life.
- Josh, for never giving up on me...I know I've been a complete psycho as of late...but I truly appreciate everything you have done for me over the last 4 and a half years. Your support has kept me going through so many hard times.
- M, for being my best friend and always getting me through the ups and downs life has to offer. She's been my shoulder to cry on, my happy hour com padre and my Accounting partner and a friend like her is very rare nowadays.
- J, for helping me understand who I am as an individual and bringing out my true personality. It's funny because he and I talked about this when he came in for a visit from Little Rock a few months ago - he told me that I was almost the complete opposite from the girl he met when I first started at work nearly two and a half years ago. Then I was shy, quiet, and highly unsure of who I was; now, I'm outgoing, bubbly and comfortable with both myself and my work.
- Shell, for fueling some of my quirky ideas and helping me through some of my worst fears. (Like my idea to go through Santa's Magical Kingdom in a convertible or making me climb to the top of the MonstroCity at the City Museum even though I'm deathly afraid of heights.)
- Nicole, for allowing me to stay young at heart and think that I'm still cool even though I have no idea of what it's like to be "in" now. (Really, why are Hannah Montana, the Cheetah girls & the Jonas brothers so popular? What happened to the Backstreet Boys, NSync & Hanson?)
- My brother's friends, who for some reason don't mind me hanging out with them and playing Guitar Hero and crashing their bowling nights every now and again.
- All of my family and friends I have yet to mention, for helping me realize that the relationships I've built over time have made me the person I am today and even though we continue to evolve and change, I have learned some very valuable lessons from each one of them.

Hopefully I'll get another update in before Christmas rolls around. I know there is a lot going on the next few weeks and I really need to start my Christmas shopping fairly soon, but I'll see what I can do....have a great rest of the week all!

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! :)