hump day

:: This work day was hectic and a tad on the insane side...lots and lots going on. Trying to keep my head above water!!

:: We are growing mint, and it smells so good!

:: Book study tomorrow! Should be a good lunch.

:: Tomorrow evening, there will be no blog :) Chris and I are taking a 4 week dance lesson!! Very excited!! We are doing it with 3-4 other couples that we know. Not sure what we'll be learning or when, but it will be great to learn to have rhythm as a couple!! I will have stories for sure! Our lesson is at 8:00, so it will be late when we get home.

:: Poppy is curled up on the cushions on the back of the couch...her favorite place!

:: Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and chopped salad tonight for dinner...yum!

:: Trying to watch Survivor...whew. A bunch of women together just makes my skin crawl sometimes! All that bickering and being rude to one another! It really does not need to be like that!

:: I'm reading about Audrey Hepburn...interested in her story. Should be interesting!!

happy valentine's day!!

The day of love! Hope you had a great one!

Mine was good! Chris "spilled the beans" a few days ago and let me know that he is whisking me away to Fredericksburg this weekend for a Valentine getaway!! I am very excited! We will leave Friday after work and come home on Sunday...it's our favorite spot, and the best part is that we know what we like there and can't just kick back and relax! Chris has some "plans" there so we shall see. :) So...we exchanged beautiful cards today, and I gave him some candy and a red Casio watch. He has quite the watch collection now...the Casio watches are cheap, and he has the cream and the turquoise...and now the red! Honestly, probably the cheapest thing he has ever liked or wanted :) Aspen got a bag of goodies too...magazine, two books, a cute cross bracelet, candy. Mimi gave us a bottle of yummy wine! And me a cute frame and a pair of yoga pants. Great day for all involved!

I'm also feeling better...some pain today, but manageable and getting less and less.

More book study reading to do! Very long chapters, and we're doing two at a time. Until tomorrow...

better, not great

Hello world...I am about 80% back to normal. Much better today, but still there a little bit. Instead of having a constant wave of pain in my stomach, I only had about five pains throughout the day. Big improvement! However, I did wake up with a throbbing head, so all was not won :( I had a lot of catching up to do at work, and the renovation in our area was pounding all day long. So it was a busy, loud day.  Especially in my head!

I have lots of reading to do for my book study this week, but I have some fun things coming up that I will be posting about soon. Valentine's Day...Chris and I taking dance lessons...Fredericksburg...

So...stand by with anticipation! :)

interesting weekend

I had such a wonderful, wonderful visit with Dronda!!! I certainly do wish that we could see each other more often throughout the year. That's my girl right there!

Thursday, I was off work and we played all day!! We shopped at Hobby Lobby for last minute retreat items, then stopped at my office so I could participate in a one hour book study at lunch. From there, we shopped around at Stokes and Jordan Taylor, since she needed a gift for her boss. Then headed to Target and the mall. It was nice to just bum around town together, chatting and laughing. And later that evening, she was so sweet and treated us to dinner at Cotton Patch!

The whole family enjoyed her visit...even the dogs! Well...Ocho warmed up to her pretty quickly, and she even held him once. Poppy didn't do too badly, honestly. I think if Dronda had been at the house a little longer than a day and a half, she would have won her over. Maybe gotten to hold her. But overall, not too shabby.

Friday morning, we woke up and headed to pick up Kim...and then we headed to our scrapbook retreat at Camp Butman!!! We were so excited...giddy! Eight of us attended, and they all took to Dronda quite nicely. I knew they would. She's the best! Friday I completed 21 pages, and was happy with that. Unfortunately, when I went to bed, my stomach started hurting. A weird, clenching cramping in my upper stomach. This pain proceeded into the entire day Saturday and all day Sunday. Still hurting now. Not sure what it going on, but it really put a damper on my productivity and my fun level!!! I managed to squeak out 8 pages for the Ellery album I'm doing. Sunday I accomplished nothing. However, Dronda finished up her project and worked on my pages :) She did 17 pages total, and I am so grateful to her. They are beautiful!!! So...not the weekend retreat I was hoping for certainly. But I do hope everyone had fun, especially Dronda!

I've barely eaten in two days. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I hope so, work won't be too fun with this pain.

dronda is here!!

Let the fun begin!! :)

I worked this morning from 8:00 - 12:30...then headed to the airport to pick up Dronda Louise!! Her flight was just a little late, and it was so good to see her come off the plane!!! From the airport, we headed for a light lunch at the salad bar at Zookini's and enjoyed talking for a bit.

Our evening was nice and relaxing...tour of the house; looking at scrapbooks; dinner; a little Just Dance...

Poppy was not fond of her at first, and barked quite a bit...but honestly, she has eased up quite a bit, and the barking has been very minimal. Poppy did a lot of sniffing and seemed curious. We will see how she does tomorrow. If anyone can bring Poppy around, it'd Dronda!! Though we just have one more day here before we head to the retreat, so that isn't much time :)

Tomorrow I am off and we intend to have a fun day together!! It will include a stop at Hobby Lobby or Michaels for last minute retreat stuff. Beyond that, we will do whatever strikes our fancy!!

I'm looking forward to another day with my PTS!!!!!

Busy

Life is busy busy!! Last night spent the evening with Aspen's youth pastor and his wife. We had a very good conversation. Got home too late to blog. Tonight I have a long chapter to read for a new book study we are doing at work. Need to get that finished up. Then I work a half day tomorrow and THEN!!!! Then I get to go and pick Dronda up at the airport!!! Looking so forward to her visit!!!!!!! We will spend a bit at the house and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will be at a scrapbook retreat! Can't wait!!!!!

Heading home

I am on my way to the airport here in Cincinnati! Flying to Dallas, then a short layover, then on to Abilene. Looking forward to being home. It was a great educational week and I am pooped!!

Long full day

This has been a long day so this will be short! I rode with Pam today and we accomplished a lot. She picked me up at 8:15 and we headed north to Columbus for the day, which was an hour and a half drive. Met with a funeral director; met with a group of funeral directors; had lunch with a preneed agent and then talked business afterward; then headed back but stopped at another funeral home along the way; chatted for awhile and then went to dinner with the funeral director; got back to the hotel at 9:00. So a long full day. Got to see inside a cremation room and saw the "bone cruncher". Interesting times!! I am pooped. It's hard work being on the go all day and driving so much. Makes sitting at my desk all day dealing with my stuff seem a little easier ;) Tomorrow I am back with Shaun to finish up my last day here. Then 8:30 flight home on Friday!

Full day

My first full day in Cincinnati has been very good! Shaun is a great tour guide and conversationalist. We visited one funeral home and it was good to see him in action. We also discussed marketing plans a bit. From there we met a preneed agent for lunch. I tried their special chili 3 ways...chili, spaghetti and cheese. It was ok. Very soupy chili!! From there we met up with Shaun's brother Kevin who also works for our company. I went to visit the US's second largest cemetery with him and it was very impressive. 750 acres of history and beauty. Just gorgeous. Kevin dropped.me off around 4:00 and I hit Macys which is next door to my hotel. Didn't find a darn thing!! Now I am going to enjoy a Cobb salad and then workout a bit later. Early start tomorrow. Being picked up by Shaun at 7:15 and he will deliver me to Pam who I will spend the day with in Columbus. Fun fun!!!

Cincinnati

Hello from Ohio!!! Flights see good! Heading out to dinner and then tomorow the fun begins!!

weekend...then ohio

:: Our weekend was pretty good here! Friday evening, we had dinner at Casa...yum! Then shopped around at Target for a bit. I had a $10 gift card from bunko, so I bought a new Jodi Picoult book. Love her! Will read that when I am done with "Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close"...which is pretty good by the way! I will definitely want to see the movie once I'm done reading.

:: Saturday, Aspen had her first driving lesson with A-Ok Driving School...she was supposed to drive for an hour and then observe the other student driver for an hour. Except her partner didn't show up, so she was able to drive for two hours. So, she completed two driving lessons. Now needs to complete two observation lessons. She had a great lesson and seemed to learn a lot and get much more comfortable. Saturday, our slab was also finished up for the garage/shop. So Chris and Neeley will be able to begin building any time they are ready. That will be an experience!!! That evening, Chris and I enjoyed a date night together!! Aspen had given us a gift card to the movies for Christmas, so we used that to go see The Grey. Definitely Chris' pick, and though it was a decent film, it didn't have quite the uplifiting ending. To me, what's the point if you can't leave the theater with a smile and a warm heart??? Afterwards, we enjoyed a late dinner at Jimmy Johns...our first time there. It opened here in town not too long ago, and we thought it was pretty tasty.

:: Sunday, after church, we attended the annual church meeting to be updated on the status of the church. You could take either a casserole or a dessert, and I took a new yummy dessert from Pinterest!! It was white chocolate chips, melted and mixed with crushed oreo cookies. Turnd out pretty tasty and I will be making that again. You can switch it up too, using different chocolate like mint maybe. Gotta love Pinterest!!

:: After that, I started packing up for my week-long trip, and did the laundry. And Chris tested out our new margarita machine :) It worked just dandy, thank you :) He made margaritas for himself and strawberry daiquiris for me. Since I am allergic to tequila :)

:: So, tomorrow my flight is at 9:15...and I am off to Cincinnati, OH! I will be hanging out with a sales manager named Shaun for most of the week. On Wednesday, I will be going with a sales manager named Pam. So it should be a fun and very interesting week. The purpose of this trip is for me to get a feel for what the life of a sales manager is like...on the road all the time, etc. I don't believe I have ever been to Ohio, so I am looking forward to the week. I will be back in the office Friday afternoon, if flights go according to plan.

:: While I am gone, I will have my Xoom and will still be posting. I will also be checking email if you want to say hello! I will be on the road away from my love, so I will be lonely!!!

almost friday

: Today was a very busy day...Chris and I had manager training from 9:00 - 1:00. It was such a great session! We learned more about the Happiness Advantage, and how to motivate our team. Learned some good things that can definitely be used. Had lunch together and talked about successes. It was time well spent.

:: Of course, when I got back to my office I had a ton of emails to work through. Tomorrow is my last work day before being gone for a week, so I have to finish up a handful of things.

:: Made a delicious recipe that I found on Pinterest! It was slices of baked potatoes, with cheese and bacon and green onion on top.  Very very tasty. Will be making this often. If you look at my pinterest recipe board, you can find the recipe there. Pinterest has a lot of yummy looking recipes...though most that I post are desserts :)

:: I'm in a much better frame of mind today. Yesterday was just one of those days...

:: Today I wore my donkey necklace! My girl Allison made me an adorable necklace with pink and green beads...and a silver donkey charm :) It's a little crazy, but I wanted to at least wear it once. She gave me a different charm to switch it out with, a little nest of silver with green beads nestled on top. Very cute. Love my pink and green!

just a january day

I would have to say that I am not a huge fan of January.  Especially a dreary, rainy January Wednesday. Just feeling a bit blue overall and ready for some sunshine and warmth.  Did manage to get a workout in this evening. Guess that is a plus.

Instead of wracking my brain for something to entertain you with I am just going to say...until tomorrow...

not sure where my day went to

:: Oh yes I do! The majority was spent in a three-hour meeting :)

:: I've been reading my Kindle when I walk on the treadmill, and that makes it so easy! I can enlarge the font on the screen to be quite large, and then the movement from walking doesn't jostle too much. It makes the walk go so much faster!

:: We have casual day at work for the next three days! That was music to my ears!!!

:: Aspen begins the driving portion of her driver's ed this Saturday. Bless the instructor with patience!!!

:: I think some relaxation is in order this evening. I was going to do some preplanning, but nah...just want to veg!!

another week begins

:: Super busy at work today...seemed like my desk exploded all around me. I was in the middle of it all and not sure what to even work on!

:: I have been diligently working on preplanning for the upcoming scrapbooking retreat. I have almost 12 ready to go. Another big batch in the works.

:: I ordered  a case for my Xoom tablet and it was delivered today! It's black leather and works very well. And now my tablet is protected and safe from scratches.

:: Mimi made roast, carrots, and potatoes for dinner tonight...it was so nice to come home to a prepared meal, and it as so tasty! MMM. I don't cook food like that, so it was a treat. I don't make much meat, beyond chicken!

:: I finished "Heaven is For Real"...it was a good book and one I would recommend. The writing itself was nothing fancy, but the story is interesting. A four year old little boy visits Heaven and meets Jesus. He comes back and has interesting things to report. If you read it, let me know!!

:: I just purchased "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" for my next read. Looking forward to it...t must be good if they made a movie about it!

:: I'm going to try to get a date night planned with my hubby this weekend!! We have a movie gift certificate, so that would be nice. Gotta see what's playing.

:: Alrighty, that's all I've got! Until tomorrow!!