Headless Groom?

No, this post isn't about MY groom being headless...I just needed to vent. Far be it from me to post a negative eBay experience, but gah! Seriously?!? I don't understand some people!

For those of you who were able to attend my wedding (or just looked at the photos), you may have noticed the beautiful 8" LLadro of a bride and groom that my friend sent from New York. Now you all know how Lladros are in our family...so I'll skip that part. My mom saw it and fell in love with it. I was able to find one on eBay ending the next day, and ended up winning it for $46 (plus $6 shipping...so $52 total). YAY!! I won it, paid for it...we're good to go.

Fast forward about a week. I stop at my condo to get my mail, and have a 7"x7"x6" box waiting for me. Strange, I can't think of anything that I ordered that would be this size. I look at the return address...and the name sounds vaguely familiar. I start thinking it's the person I won the Lladro from...but that's impossible, right? A 7x7x6 box for an 8" Lladro? No....

Sure enough, I open the box and see a packing slip from my PayPal payment for the Lladro. *blink* It's in the box diagonally. Well...if the seller was somehow able to pack it well enough and have it still fit diagonally...I guess that works. I start unwrapping the brown paper that is around it. Paper. Not bubble wrap...not styrofoam...paper.

I got down to one layer of a bubble wrap style bag (where half of the bubbles are deflated) and I start to hear a clinking sound. Uhm...that's not good. No...really...when I got the Lladro out of the bag, the groom's head was missing. It was, of course, found at the bottom of the deflated bubble wrap. Hrm.

So I email the seller...inquiring about the 7x7x6 box for an 8" Lladro...knowing that surely she must have suspected that something could happen with a packing job like that. I feel that I was extremely nice in the email considering the words that I WANTED to use to ask about it. The response I got back? On Christmas??

"I am so sorry to hear that it broke. I often ship things that size in a 7x7x6 box, as it fits perfect on an angle and I always wrap it well, as I did. Since you did not take the optional insurance, I'm sorry I can not do anything about it. So sorry....."

*blink* seriously?!? So...I can start selling things...and if you don't purchase the $2.00 insurance then it doesn't really matter how well I pack the item to ship. I just don't understand what goes through some people's minds. I was also surprised to find that she stated that she often ships things in that size box. In reviewing her feedback, I see that she has sold a lot of high end items....but none that were breakable. I can understand shipping an 8 inch purse in a smaller box...but a Lladro??

Ok, I'm done. It's sad, my first post after so long really should have been about my wedding, or Christmas...but sometimes it just takes something THIS confusing to get you riled up enough to type it all out :-)

Where are we now? I sent her a reply letting her know that lack of insurance would be a good enough excuse if it appeared that the package had been mishandled by the USPS, but where the box was barely bent? If I had purchased insurance, the USPS wouldn't cover damage for an item that is poorly packed anyway. Luckily I paid with PayPal, so I'm covered either way. I just hope that she'll be willing to work something out before I have to go that route. I don't want to be the icky mean-spirited buyer...but in this case? I'm trying to be ok with at least expecting the seller to be fair :-)

Wedding news!

For those of you who haven't heard yet...a wedding date has been set. A lot of things are finally falling into place. It's so crazy to think that things are moving along so quickly. Matt and I will be getting married on December 19. That's just 31 days away for those of you who are counting (ok, maybe that's just me, hehe). I'm SO excited, but there is still so much to do!!

This does mean that I'm looking for addresses for announcements :-) Send them to me via email at coco_J_20@yahoo.com.

There has been a LOT going on, but I'm not sure what else there really is to say at the moment...so I'll just leave you with some pictures. For those of you on Facebook...these will, of course, be repeats:

Pictures from my Grandpa Hanson's graveside service

Pictures from celebrating Tyliegh's birthday last weekend

Last new Twilight Trailer!!

The last trailer for Twilight before it comes out next month was released last night. YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! For those of you who haven't been able to see it...you can love me now :-)

Clicky here to watch!!

(Just to give you fair warning...it takes *forever* to load...but it's DEFINITELY worth it :-) )

*watches again*

*and again*

Me? Obsessed? No...

*twitch*

Last day home

Today is officially my last weekday home before going back to work. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! After my foot surgery, I spent a lot of my time drugged up and sleeping. I got sick a lot from the pain meds...and would sleep some more. Next thing I knew, it was time for my tonsils to come out. The time to get to that came WAY too quickly. I can honestly say...I would rather go through the operation where they broke most of my bones and fused them all back together multiple times again before having my tonsils out again. Of the 10 operations I've had, that was the worst. Thank goodness that's only done once!!

It seemed to take FOREVER for my tonsils to heal, and they're still working on it. I still get pains in my ears at night and in the morning. It also still hurts when I yawn (and Rhonda, no more making fun of my "*yawn*OWWWW's"! Hopefully all of that will finish going away over the next couple of days. I *really* need to get back into a normal sleeping, then getting up for the day and doing stuff routine. We'll see how that goes, hehe.

Because today is my last non-work weekday, I'm going to try to get some stuff done. I'll be heading over to my condo to clean & box stuff up, I want to get to the store to buy labels so I can make my basket testers for my Scentsy stuff (Seriously?!? *anyone* want to have a party?!? I'm giving away a free warmer for anyone who does! *sigh*), and I need to do some laundry and clean up my room that I've been staying in at my parents' house. Just SO much to do, and it feels like no time to do it, hehe.

For now, I'll share my pictures from our trip to St. George from last weekend. I didn't get to take many photos, but there are a few at least:

Here ya go if you didn't catch them on Facebook :-).

Can't Sleep

So here it is...6:00am on a SATURDAY, AND I'm on "vacation"...and I'm awake because of pain. *sigh* I'm getting sick of this crap. My throat should be better by now!! It's finally working on it...but seriously...ridiculous. I'm supposed to go back to work on Wednesday. I really hope that I'm better enough to be on the phone all day by then. I'm really over being home all day (although I still have TONS that I need to get done while I'm at home...it doesn't really get done anyway because I don't have the concentration). I also *really* need to get back to my full pay *sigh*. I can't take not having enough money anymore. Luckily I have my parents watching out for me, and they have been helping me out...but I can only ask so much there. Blah. I'm just over it all. I can't wait to just be better, and back to work, and back to my "normal" life (as normal as it was anyway, hehe).

I'm also tired of waking up at odd hours and not being able to get back to sleep. Matt & I are in St. George for the weekend visiting Todd & Rhonda, so I already have the "not my own bed" factor against me. Then I realized that there is no humidifier (which I've been depending on since I had my tonsils out), and I'm waking up at exactly the 4 hour mark from taking my last drugs for pain. The last little bit I've been able to get away with sleeping a little longer to put the pain off, but apparently not today. I hope this doesn't keep up, because I didn't bring enough drugs with me!

This ramble is brought to you by Lortab and my inability to sleep. Thank you.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

So, I'm *really* close to hitting a goal with my Scentsy stuff for the month. I hate to advertise it here...but as my title suggests...desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm giving 20% off of everything in the catalog for one day only. Everyone that I have introduced to these products have absolutely fallen in love with them, and they make GREAT gifts!

What's great about this, is that those of you who are out of state? It's only a 10% charge for shipping, which means that it's still a great discount! I know most of you aren't interested, but I have to at least try to see if I can hit these numbers.

You can read more here.

Victory is mine!!

So tonight while I was in the bathroom, I decided to pull the scale out of the tub long enough to weigh myself. It's not healthy AT ALL but I haven't really been eating because of the pain from my tonsils. What I saw on the scale was a shock in and of itself, but I'll get to that in a minute.

After weighing myself, I shook the scale a bit and listened for the spider. I could hear him last night, so I figured after shaking him a bit he would need to readjust himself somehow. I didn't hear anything. Could he be gone? I couldn't be sure, so back into the bathtub for the scale.

When I went to return the scale to the bathtub...I noticed something in the drain...



Either he had come out, or I had made yet another spider discovery. We all know which theory I'm choosing to believe! I immediately sprayed the drain with hairspray, then turns on the water and let it run for a full 10 minutes. In case that wasn't enough, I also closed the drain so he couldn't come back up.

Like I said...victory is mine!!

It's mine in another way, as well :-) I'm trying to not be *too* happy because I know I'll go back up after I start eating again...but my scale tonight said...

*drumroll*

149!! *gasp* I NEVER in my life thought that I would see the numbers "1" and "4" together as the first 2 numbers on my scale! I know there are a lot of you skinny minnies who read this who are thinking, "Man, I'd kill myself if I got to 149 other than through pregnancy"...but seriously?!? Never in my wildest dreams...so...YAY!!!

Spiders

UGH! I hate spiders. I'm not like the people who can't kill them on their own or anything...but I just hate them. Whenever I let one live...I wake up the next day with a spider bite. Just gah.

Now for those of you who have attempted to watch a movie at my parents' house in the last few years, you know about the little spider that Todd & I found while my parents were out of town years ago. He had somehow gotten between the screens, and couldn't find his way out. He decided to die in the middle of the screen. When we watch tv, it'll end up on people's faces, and in food, and we always have to explain the spider.


Here's our little friend. I should name him or something.



The week before last, I was walking into the family room after grabbing one of Jen's fabulous no bake cookies. When I took a bite, a piece fell. It was dark, and I bent down to try to scoop up the dark spot on the kitchen floor. Instead of a piece of cookie, I was shocked when the SPIDER started scurrying away. I jumped a mile and ran (*laugh* that would have been a site since I can barely walk) to the other room to get a shoe to kill it. Grossness.

I told my mom about it, and she of course laughed at me. The next night, however, I had just finished my ritual gargling with salt water for my tonsils and was on my way back to the family room...and what do you know? A couple of feet away from the first night...there was ANOTHER yucky hairy spider. I jumped again, and grabbed a shoe and killed it. Blah. Luckily, my dad has one of those things that you plug into the wall and it keeps spiders away. I had him plug it in so that theoretically it will work for the family room and kitchen.

So imagine my surprise when tonight, I go into the bathroom and I'm doing my thing, and I look down to see spider legs sticking out of the hole on my scale where you turn the dial to set it! I immediately picked up the scale and tried to shake the stupid thing out. Of course it didn't come out, so I have a spider just waiting to come bite me.

This is where he was trying to come out...

but he wasn't there later when I had my camera.

I went in to tell my mom about it, and was asking about the little plug in thing. I wasn't sure if it actually killed spiders, or just repelled them. My dad mentioned that it just repels them. Crap. I asked my mom if I plugged it in the bathroom, what the chances would be of the spider turning suicidal since it can't seem to get out.

So I went in a few hours later...and the little wheel with the numbers was moving. Nice. I then saw little spider legs sticking up. *shudder*


So as if scales aren't evil enough, I have a spider living in mine. I promptly put the scale in the bathtub so the ugly little thing would have one more obstacle before it could get away and find me!

Gah. Stupid spiders!

Still recovering

So in the midst of my excitement, I'm still trying to recover. I'm having a very difficult time staying down, though. I keep wanting to get up and do *something*. Generally anything I can find. At the moment, I'm fighting the urge to put together my cheap Ikea computer chair that I bought *forever* ago. I've been getting up and putting things away and organizing little things in my old room at my parents' house for the last few days. I need to learn to at least obsess over stuff I can do on the computer while sitting down rather than the things I have to sit down to do.

Ok, I'm going to put the chair together then go to bed. 9am church in Lehi. Blah. I want to thank everyone for all the well wishes from my last post :-) I'm really excited...and I'm sure I'll be even more excited when we start to put things together. I was talking with my mom about reception type stuff tonight. It's really odd to think about. It still doesn't feel real.

Ok, here I come chair. Then bed. Night :-)

Yes, that is what it looks like. Last night, Matt took me to dinner and asked me to marry him. As you can see, I said yes. We don't have any details down (like a date or anything). Right now we have little mini-goals we're focusing on first, then we'll set a date. We just decided that it's silly for us not to be engaged when we know we're going to get married. He already had the ring, and he would rather it be on my finger than sitting in a box in his room, hehe.

We went to The Melting Pot for dinner (and we all know how I love The Melting Pot). I was actually sick, which was REALLY sad with so much yummy food in front of me. I was just leaning over against him because I was trying to decide if I needed to throw up, and he started talking about how much he loves me and how lucky he is to have me *insert the appropriate "awwww's" here*. I'll spare you all the rest, but he went on and pulled out the ring and said, "I know we've talked about it already, but I still need an answer" and asked me.

So there's your quick rundown to catch up with me :-) I also had my surgery last week and I have pictures and everything from that, but I'll work on that post later. Now, I had to get pictures of the ring put up beause the family that lives far away (or those that are traveling...like my parents) wanted to see the ring. I figure it's a good time to just get the "announcement" done and over with at the same time.

I don't have many pictures of us together, so this will have to do for now:



Also, here's a link to the picture of all of us from Lagoon for those who haven't seen it on Facebook.

Surgery Day

So...today is surgery day. It's almost 2am...and where am I? Oh, at work. I've been here for HOURS and haven't managed to do what I need to. I have issues letting go...so I'm avoiding. I need to get on the ball, though. It's only 7.5 hours until I have to be there, and 9 hours until surgery time. Yikes! I'm really not excited. I'm just anxious. I know this won't be even close to as bad as prior surgeries...but I'm still anxious. I think it's ok to be anxious when you know that you'll be waking up with pins sticking out of your toes :-P. On to happier stuff...

Saturday my work had a Lagoon day for our Summer picnic. I took Matt and his kids with me. Even with only hitting like 5 or 6 rides, almost passing out, the whining, and the pain...I had a lot of fun :-)

We went to Pioneer Village and did one of those Outlaw pictures (which I'm sure I'll post later when I get home). I was a little reluctant because...well...it appeared to be a family picture, which we're not yet. The kids loved it, though...and made sure to take it around to show everyone at Matt's house when we got home.

I ran into Alisha Rios (Jones...Linda Rae's daughter) at Lagoon, too. I hadn't seen her in years, so it was a LOT of fun to chat with her for a bit :-) We were able to exchange numbers again, and will hopefully keep in better touch.

We went on the skyscraper, which was hilarious as Matt & 2 of the kids are afraid of heights. This wasn't too bad until we got stopped right at the very top while they were letting people off. I had Tyleigh on one side just holding onto me for dear life...Owen on the other who started holding onto me as soon as he saw Tyleigh do it (I guess once he saw that I was ok with it?), and Matt getting after Gavin who kept wanting to spin us while we were so high, hehe. It was entertaining if nothing else :-) I also had the privelege of taking Tyleigh on her first (and possibly last) roller coaster ride. She chose Jet Star 2, thinking that it wouldn't be that bad. As we got closer and closer to the front of the line, she was holding onto me tighter and tighter. I had to keep reassuring her that with this ride, I would be directly behind her (she'd almost be in my lap) and the seatbelt would be directly over her holding her in. I felt horrible about halfway through as she was screaming for dear life, saying that she wanted it to stop. Poor girl. She can now say that she went on one, though!

That's when the kids started to get cranky (the boys were upset that they hadn't been able to go on the ride with Tyleigh and I), so we decided it was time to leave. I smoothed things over with the kids by letting them see my Guitar Hero for my Nintendo DS and by letting them play with the pictures that we had received on cd from Pioneer Village. Overall, they all still say that they had a good time, and "can't wait to go again next year if my work does it again!"

Ok. I'm really going to get this work stuff done so I can get out of here for the next month and a half!!

Shameless Scentsy Plug

So I just saw that one of my friends mentioned a Scentsy party that one of her other friends was having. Made me kinda sad that I hadn't told this friend sooner that *I* sell them, too!! I'm really not a salesperson, so I don't generally mention it. I would, however, like for those of you DO like this kind of stuff to have the chance to take advantage of the cheapness :-) So...I decided to do a quick post so everyone can have a chance to get the best and yummiest smelling candles ever for the cheapest price you'll probably ever see!

For more details, see my Scentsy site here!

These candles are wickless and burn using a 25 watt bulb. It's great for those of you with kids, because the wax doesn't get hot enough to burn them if they somehow happen to get to it. There's no yucky soot in the air from the flame, and the the way the yummy smells can fill up the house is amazing! Not to mention, the warmers are just cute!!

I also have all kinds of capabilites for out of town/out of state parties. If any of you out of state would like to host a party, please let me know. I would LOVE to send you the scents!

Ok, I'm done. I just wanted to make sure that I let you guys know! I won't push anyone, but I might end up keeping you all informed a bit :-)

Stupid broken toe

Sadly, it looks like the 5k is a no go for me :-( I'm *really* disappointed as I was looking forward to proving to myself that I could do it. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to do it with a broken toe (or the breathing problems, or worse ankle problems that came up...but the broken toe did it). I kept hoping that I'd start feeling better enough that I could justify it. Sadly...it seems to be getting worse. The other days I could at least wear some of my normal shoes. Today? I had to resort to my wannabe crocs. Blah. I hate that pain can control me like this. The good thing is that it saves me over $100 in gas. The bad thing is that Rhonda had planned a candle party because I was coming down...and now I won't even be there to do it. Luckily she's fully capable of handling it on her own...but it doesn't make me feel any better. Blah. I'm sick of this crap.

Quick Update...

So I guess a quick update is in order now that I've had my dr. appointment and a few other things have taken place.

It turns out that I'll be having 2 operations over the next 6 weeks here. Talk about crazy! On August 25 I'll be put under for yet another operation on my foot. They'll be cutting away a bone on the side of my foot, cutting out a wedge of bone from my big toe so it'll sit straight, then they'll cut away the ligaments that are holding my other toes in place. I then get pins yet again to try to keep them in place while they heal. They'll also cut into the top of my foot and cut down the stupid bone spur that I found while snorkeling. Blah. This should be a LOT easier than the other operations I've had on my feet, and it sounds like I don't even have to have a cast. Just a walking boot. YAY! I can hope :-)

On September 16 I'll have my tonsils out. I swear, aren't I too old for that?? What's funny is that years ago I asked a dr. about it (as they've always kinda been in the way for me) and he kept talking about how unnecessary it was. Turns out...he was wrong! We'll see how that goes. I'm just not excited.

The rest of the week and weekend has been pretty crazy. Matt's family had a reading party carnival thing yesterday, so I helped man the wheel (which we borrowed from Rob & Chris, of course!). It was a LOT of fun, but I'm exhausted. (If you didn't see the pictures on Facebook, you can see them here).

The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy...so I'll update when I can!

Oh yeah!! I forgot to mention...I have my 5k coming up on Saturday, right?? One by one...I'm getting knocked down. I had a very lenient goal of making it in under an hour. As I went on with training...I started to lose hope that I would be able to do it. Still planning the 5k, though. I then started having problems with my breathing. I got some inhaler things...and moved on. I then started having problems with my ankles. Got some braces (which I think made it worse) but decided to move on. But a sprained toe?!?!? Come on!! Enough is enough!! (because I'm horrible, I'll be taking a picture of the lovely bruises to post later...lol). I sprained my toe last night after the carnival thing while climbing over kids in their basement where they had all settled in for a movie. I'm STILL going to do the 5k. I don't care if it takes me 2 hours!! I'm VERY sad that this is becoming more and more of a reality *sigh* I was REALLY hoping to be able to stick to under an hour. I know how slow that sounds to many of you, anyway...but blah.

The Great Update

I know, it's been a while. I swear it's not my fault!! The last 2 months have just been a big whirlwind. I'm not even sure if I remember all of the highlights...but here goes the highs, lows, things that mattered, and things that don't:

• June 3 - I had the 2 moles on my face removed (uhm, yay?)I'm still getting used to this :-)


• June 6 - I had a lovely little chat with Brandon. You all remember Brandon, right? Guy I "knew" I was supposed to marry like 8 years ago? Yeah, that was fun :-P Long story short...we decided we should go out and "see how things are".


• June 14 - I went on my, date(?) with Brandon. I then went to Park City for our annual Father's Day bbq & swimming party at the timeshare.


• June 15 - Spent Father's Day hanging out in Park City with my family.


• June 18 - I finally got rid of my parasite of a roommate. I had *never* referred to her that way before...but wow. When you can give more than you even have to someone, and they STILL can't respect you? I'm just happy that she decided to move out :-)


• June 18 - 21 - eBay Live in Chicago! This was a BLAST!! Lots to report from there...but it'll have to wait for another post (which means I'm sure I won't mention it...but...at least I have a highlights list!


• June 26 - July 2 - Scott came to town from Arkansas. YAY!! I love when I get to see my brother.


• June 28 - My parents, Julie, Roger, Dominic, Scott, Jen & other Scott, and their 3 kids all went boating. It was my first time boating since *thinks* I think since we all went to Lake Powell back in like 97! How crazy is that!!


• June 30 - I went with Julie, Roger, Brandon, Todd, Rhonda, Jake, and Levi to see Josh Gracin, Collin Raye, and Joe Nichols. It was a BLAST!! We spent half the time playing cards, and just goofing off. I LOVE blankets on the grass concerts! There were even fireworks :-)


• June 30 - July 10 - Tammie & Shantal were in town from Germany. I LOVED having them here, and cried when they left. I can't wait until next time I can head out there, or they can come back :-)


• July 3 - Julie, Roger, Dominic, Tammie, Shantal, & I went to the Drive In to see Wall-E and Prince Caspian. It was SO much fun!! I love the Drive In.


• July 4 - We had a bbq at Jen's house, and did some fireworks. It was a LOT of fun, as usual.


• July 5 - The drive in group got together again for some mini golf. I hate to love mini golf.


• July 10 - I finally caved and decided to start selling Scentsy stuff again. I apologize ahead of the time for the catalogs which may be spamming your mailboxes. I'm SO not a salesperson, so I'm just trying to get the word out. No pressure at all (but if you're interested in hosting a party or whatever...let me know!)


• July 14 - I photographed a wedding and a 50th anniversary in the same day. Insanity. It reminds me why I'm *not* a professional photographer...no matter how much I would LOVE to be. I have the interest, and can push the button...but I just don't have the ability to take pictures that people would pay for...lol. I then went to play games at Julie's, though I was so late...we only played 1 game before everyone left...lol.


• July 17 & 18 - I went to St. George with my parents to support Todd & his family for the big "finally! Unsuperised visits!!" decision. About freakin time, is all I have to say!


• July 18 - I was supposed to get back from St. George in time to see Dark Knight. I got back in time...but not to the theater in time. You see...like a moron...I looked at the tickets on a stressful day and saw $8.00...and in my head that translated to 8:00. Since I "knew" start time was 8:00...I didn't bother to look again until I was on my way into the theater. Yeah...start time was 7:00 :-( My friend and I went to see Mama Mia, instead, after dinner at Geckos.


• July 19 - I was able to get tickets to see Dark Knight (which is good...cause I was VERY sad about missing it the night before).


• July 20 - I had an interesting chat with a guy I dated about 4 years ago. Things didn't exactly work out then. Long story. He's been trying to get me to entertain the possibility of us dating again for about 6 months. I decided to at least drive down to see him. We had a nice, long talk. Matt and I are now "dating" I guess. I feel too old to be calling it that, heh.


• July 23 - After a LONG day at work, I got REALLY sick. I decided that sleep was more important than going to the dr. I woke up just in time to go to InstaCare and find out that I don't have strep. Same stupid thing they tell me 3 - 4 times a year when I get the strep-like symptoms. They then referred me to my dr. so that HE could refer me to an ENT. Aren't I getting too old to be looking into having my tonsils taken out?


• July 24 & 25 - I stayed home because of being so sick. It was SO nice to rest...but I hate missing that much work. I can't stand getting behind.


• July 25 - 26 - I went to Julie & Roger's for Dominic's birthday party. I slept over the night before with the intention of helping them finish up a few things in their yard. Instead, I didn't do anything. Way to be helpful. It was fun to spend the extra time with them, though :-)


• July 26 - After Dominic's party, Rob & Chrissy's girls decided to ride home with me. I went rainbow chasing (VERY cool rainbow and I wanted a picture...Mandy and Anna mocked me). I didn't get a good picture of the rainbow, but we did end up at temple square for an impromptu photo session with girls. They're so easy to photograph...makes me sick.


• July 28 - I had my Dr. appt and got my referral. I also got asthma meds (which helps a LOT with this 5k I'm getting ready to do, ugh). I also went to dinner for Dominic's birthday with Julie, Roger, & Dominic. I love Pizza Factory! I also closed my first Scentsy party since returning to selling. It was just a catalog party, and kinda happened by accident...but it was my first order over $150.


• July 29 - I just hung out with Matt. This is starting to become a habit again, and I'm not complaining at all. I love the fact that I can just take my laptop with me...and he can do his thing and I can do mine. I just enjoy spending time with him. (Sorry, I'll try to be done with the pukey stuff, heh).


• July 30 - I ended up taking Matt to the ER (against his will). He's been having problems with his stomach, but kept saying that things would just pass. Sadly...nothing was found.


• July 31 - We spent most of the day at the hospital, again, for Matt to get tests done. I went with him to get an endoscopy, which found minor stuff. He kept insisting that he needed to get back to work, and the nurse was begging me to not let him. Luckily, he works at the same hospital that we were already at. I figured that alone should get him a pass for missing the time. I then went to work for a couple of hours, then back down to take him in for another test. I finished taking him home from that just in time to pick up Rhonda from my mom's house and head down for our football clinic at the Y. *drool* there were FAR too many hot football players hanging around. I already posted about all of that, though :-)


• Aug 1 - I went with Rhonda, Kenz, and Ashalee to the BYU bookstore for the release of "Breaking Dawn". Now for those of you who have finished NO TELLING ME ANYTHING!! THIS MEANS YOU, ASHIE!!! I love you, though :-)


• Aug 2 - Bobby's baptism. After not much sleep, it felt like a long day. It was fun, though!
  

This is the conclusion of the great update. Today I have my appointment with the ENT, so I hope to remember to update later (and a lot more often so that none of us have to go through a "Great Update" again!!)

BYU Football clinic

So I have this whole long update waiting in my "draft" section to update everyone on the last couple of months, since I haven't been around. In the meantime, though...I thought I'd share the pictures from the night that Rhonda and I had last night.

(Click on the picture to see the rest :-) )


I stepped down too hard on one foot, twisted the other, and looked like a fool, but it was a BLAST! I did take a few videos, also. If you go to YouTube and do a search for "BYU Women's Football Clinic" you should be able to find them. I would go grab the links...but I gotta get focused on work here. Blah.

Random pointless update :-)

Well, there has been a LOT going on. Not sure where to start :-)

I've been working TONS of overtime lately. There's just so much work to get done...and not enough time to do it. Last night, I didn't go to bed at all. I worked until about 11:30pm (only on the clock until about 6 something...then I just wanted to get caught up!). I then went to a midnight movie with one of my friends. I went home to shower and change, and was right back at work by 4 this morning (I didn't log in until 6, heh).

The building has been FREEZING this morning, though. Luckily, I have a wheat bag here from when I used to hurt more. I threw that in the microwave for 5 minutes, and put it on my lower back. I don't hurt...but it helps SO much with the cold :-) I'm so happy that my mom and I made so many of these a few years back. I don't ever know where any of them are...but I always happen to find one when I need one. This one I'm definitely going to continue to keep at work.

I know how random this all is...but I feel the need to express my love for Pandora.com. If you love music like I do...and haven't discovered it yet? You'll thank me! You just create your own music stations based upon a group or song, and it'll play music by that artist and similar artists. My problem is that I'm finding WAY too much new "unknown" music :-) I started with just 1 or 2 stations. I keep finding new artists that I *love*. It's to the point where when I'm just listening to music while doing other stuff, I have to keep a notepad document open or keep a physical notebook by me. Even with how long I've been listening to Pandora, I have 15 new songs I need to look for just since yesterday. Yeah, I'm a music geek...I know :-)

Now I guess I should get back to work. I want to thank everyone for your congratulations on my 1 year mark in my previous post :-) I'm pretty excited. I still have a difficult time knowing what to say when people tell me how good I'm looking. Still gotta work on the self image thing. I'm trying to learn to say "thank you" and leave the rest of my line ("for saying so") off. We'll see how that continues to go.

When I finally get a block of time at home, I'll try to post some pictures from the last few weeks :-) I have some fun pictures of the Idaho Falls temple (that's for you, Court) from when my friend and I drove to Montana a couple of weeks ago to take his kids back up there. I also have some WAY cute pictures of Dominic trying to help put together the play yard thing in Julie and Roger's backyard last weekend. That was a LOT of fun! My Dominic is finally starting to get attached to me, it seems. He played frisbee with me for a while last weekend. Yeah...lots of cute stuff. I promise I'll try to get to it!

1 year

Wow...today is my 1 year anniversary of my gastric bypass. I'm just...surprised. If someone told me that this is where I would be a year ago...I wouldn't have believed them. Especially with all of the plateaus and such I was hitting.





10 lbs away from what I had as my "I would be happy here" goal. It's interesting. There are still SO many things that I'm not happy with when it comes to my weight and my body. I think that a huge part of me sees the 325 lb me. Wow...did I just admit my pre-op weight?? Can't say I *ever* thought I would do that. Especially where all you skinny butt girls could see. Now? Doesn't really matter. I've come to terms with how I got to that point, and have decided that I don't care what anyone else thinks anymore. People can think that I just sat around watching tv and eating junk all day long. That's fine. I know that I did everything that I could...and ate less than most people I knew. It's interesting to me the number of people who get this operation who are ashamed. There is a girl at work who I ran into at the place that I had it done, and she begged me not to tell anyone. How sad that must be! For me...it was the most exciting thing to happen for me in a LONG time. I was finally making a choice to make myself feel better! I'm happy that I don't really care anymore :-) I might even post a "before" and "after" picture later today if I'm feeling *really* brave. We'll see how that goes, heh. The "before" pictures make me want to cry. That helps me see how far I've truly come.

**Edited**
Ok, I decided to just post pictures. Why not? It's not like you all didn't know me then, anyway. Just a note...I chose the "huge" pictures on purpose. I know I look *extra* gross because it was just after a concert. They have hot Pat McGee in them with me, though...so I figured at least then there's someone attractive in the picture (and it's about the only time I allowed pictures of me at the time).

Before....here's what years of operations and drugs and crap in your system will do to you:


Now...


So that's where I'm at now. Craziness. I still have a VERY long way to go...and I would give anything for the money for the plastic surgery it will take for my skin...but I'm SO much happier. Just looking at my accomplishments over the past year. Most of you won't understand this...but they're huge.

• I can cross my legs at the knee again, and now do *constantly*.


• 4 months after surgery I was able to ride on a plane without a seatbelt extender. I haven't been able to do that since I had the surgery to remove my ovary in 2005.


• I went to Disney World and didn't worry about whether or not I would fit on the rides.


• I went to Germany and was able to walk around pretty much anywhere I wanted to.


• The 2 events I've been to for work, I've been able to stay up and walking and mingle with sellers like I'm supposed to. I didn't have to take all kinds of breaks to sit down.


• I wore a swimming suit in public without wearing a shirt over it!


• I can now work out for an hour a day again!! This is HUGE for stress relief.


• I can clean for longer than 15 minutes without having to sit down!! Now if I can just make time for it to get myself all caught up, hehe.

There are literally hundreds of other milestones. I'm just thrilled.

Twilight Trailer

Since none of my "Twilight" friends are online...I have to blog about it.

They finally have a trailer for Twilight!!! Yes...I know it doesn't come out for 7 months...leave me alone :-P

Twilight in HD



Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. (Again...I know I'm a geek. Leave me alone...lol)

Sooooo much!

Do you ever just get SOOOOO much going on that you know you can't write about it all? Then...it seems kinda silly to write about part of what's going on, but not everything?

Yeah...it's like that.

Maui firsts...

So with this being my first trip to Maui...pretty much everything is a "first" for me. I've been here since last Wednesday...but I've done a lot of just hanging out. Yesterday I did visit my first volcano. We drove up to Haleakala. I know that most of you know...but man...what a drive. I think I might *still* be carsick! I have my certificate to prove that I survived the 37 mile drive from sea level to 10,000 feet, but I'll have to post it later, heh.

This morning I went snorkeling for the first time. I know that most of you already know how completely cool snorkeling is...but wow!! I was skeptical...but I will never doubt again! I went through about 3 minutes straight of hyperventilating when I first started looking under water. Something about having my head submerged and breathing through a tube just wasn't connecting for me. I, of course, got over it and loved every second. Even if I did spend the rest of the day with a line through my forehead from the mask...lol. I also attempted to take some underwater pictures. Unfortunately, they're not of the digital variety...so it'll be some time before I can even think of getting them put up. We'll see how they turn out :-) I also thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever that I could hear the whales!! Again...I know that most of you already know how cool it is...but WOW!!

I got back to the condo in time to get showered and changed, then went shopping with my mom and Aunt Sharon. I definitely spent FAR too much money (although not as much as my mom OR Aunt Sharon...lol). I do have a *bit* of buyer's remorse...but I think I'll live :-)

After shopping, I went back out to the beach for a bit. I swam in the ocean with Sharon, and I can still feel the waves even just sitting here. Unfortunately, I didn't have TOO much time. I came back, took another shower and got ready *again* to head out to my first Luau. Well...my first "real" Luau, haha. One of the girls who grew up in my neighborhood was Hawaiian...so we had a "luau" almost every year in school. This one was pretty cool. The only problem is now that I'm back...my body realizes how much I've been up and going today...and I'm ready for some SLEEP! Especially when I plan on being up and going again at 7 for more snorkeling ;-).

Oh yeah...and pictures of everything will come later. I'm definitely WAY too sleepy tonight!

Only a month later...

I know it's been a month since I last posted. It makes me feel better to know that I'm not the only one falling behind, though. I do still need to try to keep everyone caught up a little better.

In the last month...SO much has happened!! There are some things that I'm not quite ready to discuss here, even...so feel free to ask me about it if you talk to me...lol. For now? Here's the gist of the last month:

March 13 - 16 I spent in St. George celebrating Levi's birthday. It was SO much fun!! We had 2 parties. The first was a family party with Ashie, Andrew, and Adam. Any chance I get to see those kids is just absolutely amazing. I always worry about the time we were apart...and I think that they'll forget or not like me. Luckily, they seem to still enjoy being around me at least some, hehe. The 2nd party was on Saturday for Levi's friends. It was pretty cool, I was able to help design some stuff for the party. I was able to put together some candy wrappers for favors as well as a Transformer's Bingo. Rhonda also put together a WAY cool Optimus Prime cake that I was able to help frost. It turned out really cool :-)

Thurs March 20 I was able to make my 2nd trip to The Melting Pot. Man, it was just as good the 2nd time as it was the 1st. I went with Lys and Dan, and we were able to talk lots. It was great, because Dan and I were able to restart our friendship. We had stopped talking for a while (SUCH a long story), but after clearing up a few things, we were able to talk and stuff again. It was great because I really missed his friendship.

Sat March 22 I met up with Julie and Roger at my mom's house. We dyed eggs, and had dinner. It was a lot of fun. Then again...any time that I get to spend with my Dominic...I'm happy, hehe.

Sun March 23 was Easter. Lys and I hung out all night because her best friend that is a guy got married that night. It was crazy. Not much else I can say about that, heh.

Things were a blur for about a week. Trying to get stuff ready with work for all kinds of stuff.

April 1 - 2 I was in Mesa for an eBay In Person event. That was actually fun. I had to deal with the guy who caused the biggest problem during the Q&A session...but he left happy. It was GREAT! Such a good feeling to show what I do every day. I was also able to hang out with Debi, Emily, Zach, and Alyssa. We went shopping for a few hours and grabbed some lunch before I had to head back to the airport. I'll have to post some pictures later :-)

April 5 - I was able to attend the morning session of conference at the conference center. That was amazing! I was about 10 rows back in the very center. Such a cool place for a solemn assembly! I do have to admit that with the resemblance to Grandpa...it was tough being that close to President Monson. The resemblance is even more amazing now that his hair isn't quite as red. I cried when he entered and left the room. It was such a great experience, though.

April 6 - I was at Jen's for the morning session of conference. We had breakfast, then played some Settlers of Catan in between sessions. I love family time. I also went to Lindsey's for dinner. I LOVE her new house!! I'm extremely jealous.

April 9 - I headed out to Hawaii to meet up with my parents and Sharon and Stan. That has been a LOT of fun so far. I'm looking up some stuff for us to go do. It might be too late to get into too much...but it was such a last minute decision to go...I dunno. I don't have any money, so it looks like it'll just be a lot of reading and relaxing time. If the clouds would go away...I might even be able to get a tan before coming back, hehe.

So...that's the last little bit with me. Lots going on...not much to say. I'll try to update more (but everyone else needs to, also!!)

Sorry, I know how long it is...

I kept planning to blog over the weekend...and just never did. I was very busy, but I did actually have some downtime. I just kept falling asleep when I pulled up the page to post anything.

First I want to let Debi know that I found out on Thursday that they're sending me to Mesa at the beginning of next month! I realized after I didn't directly tell Melissa about DC that I need to point it out more clearly :-( I'll only be there for 1 night, though, unless I make other arrangements to go early or something. Let me know if you wanna say hi while I'm there :-)

So on to my weekend. I took Friday off. I wanted to go to KFC downtown at noon to score free passes to "Horton Hears a Who" on Saturday. Because I took the day off, my mom wanted to have lunch with me. Worked out well that KFC is where they were handing out the tickets. My mom, my friend Lys, and I headed downtown where we met up with Roger, Dominic, and Cami. We got our passes, then settled inside for lunch. It was a lot of fun to just hang out, talk, and eat.

After that, I went back to my mom's to help her with her blog and getting pictures from Mexico up. I missed not going this year :-( It would have been SO nice! After that, Lys and I hit Beehive Clothing. Since my weight loss...I haven't bought anything new there. It was becoming apparent that it was a necessity. That's the one difficult part about this weight loss thing...I feel like I keep shelling out money...and I STILL never feel like I have anything to wear! I really need to clean out my closet/room. There are SO many clothes that I keep picking out to wear, then realizing that I REALLY shouldn't wear them anymore. I then headed to the library, then to get an oil change, then finally home for my weekly WoW group. Fun as always :-)

Saturday was even more busy. I woke up at about 6:30 to go get in line for "Horton Hears a Who". We got our passes, but unfortunately a pass didn't guarantee a seat. I ended up driving to Bountiful to pick up Julie, then we headed back to Gateway for the movie. Armed with donuts and hot chocolate, we were set to face the rain which was falling at that point. We were the first there, and it wasn't too bad. The movie was REALLY cute. I'm happy I took the time to do that.

The plan was to go home, pull out rolls for dinner that night, then head out to have them take plasma. Yeah...I decided that I didn't need the money bad enough to go on Saturday. After being up late on Friday and waking up early on Saturday...sleep was MUCH more appealing. I then checked my bank account online, and found out how necessary the money was. Off I went to get poked.

I got to the plasma place, and everything just went wrong. They lost my folder, so I waited about 30 minutes longer than I would have had to. I finally got to the back, and the girl couldn't hit my vein (my veins SUCK...they roll LOTS and are just really deep...so I really didn't blame her). She finally got it...and they got one round of plasma out of me, and the machine couldn't return the rest of my blood because of how the needle was placed. They dug around with the needle to get it again..that didn't work. The poked my other arm and dug more...that didn't work. They poked one more time and dug around more...that didn't work. So...they sent me home. Luckily I still got paid...but my arms are now both all purple and red. FUN!

I then came home, overslept, and went to Rob's for his birthday dinner. I love getting together with my family. I just wish they were all here! It was fun, though. I then went to Lys's to introduce Lys and Dan to Settlers of Catan. I've created 2 more addicts. YAY!!

That's about it for me. I started a 5 day pouch test thing yesterday which means liquid only yesterday and today. That kinda sucks, but I've already started losing weight again (I've been at the same place for a month!) so that's good :-) Tomorrow I can have this omlet casserole thing that sounds SO yummy. I think I'll have to make it tonight and put it in little containers for me to bring to work with me. We'll see how it is, heh.

Group Date Pictures :-)

Ok, I know I'm WAY behind on pictures...but FINALLY...here are the pictures from the infamous group date with Courtney and Rebecca.



Click HERE for the rest :-)

Free rice?

Ok, so I normally don't advertise stuff or send forwards, cause most of them are completely stupid. I did just find out about a site today that donates rice while you improve your vocabulary. As I'm ALWAYS trying to improve my vocabulary (if anyone wants to buy me "My Word Coach" for my DS I would love you forever), I found this to be interesting.

www.freerice.com

The skeptic that I am, I ALWAYS check these things out (to the best of my ability as far as the internet is concerned...but if you read it online it's ALWAYS true, right?!?) You all know that Snopes has been my "is it true?" site of choice for YEARS, so you can read up on the free rice thing here.

So...go check it out, donate some free rice, and pass it along!!

*smooches*

eCommerce Part 1

So I never did give my report on eCommerce last week. It was INSANE!! I'm still not sure where my time went.

We left Sunday morning, and the airport was crazy!! In trying to figure it out, we finally realized that Sundance had just ended. There was also some kind of outdoor convention thing that had happened the week before. It took over an hour to get through ticketing and security. Thankfully, we made it. We got to DC, and I was in charge of the shuttle. I had made a reservation ahead of time, and silly me...I thought that meant that a shuttle would be there for me (they ask for all the flight information, so I figured they would know whether or not the flight actually made it). We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to an hour for the shuttle after getting our luggage. Gah. So much for reservations.

We got to the hotel, and it was pretty nice! We got all checked in, and decided to all head to dinner. We went to a place called Clyde's, and I have *never* had worse service. We called ahead of time to make sure that a group of 18 would be ok. 45 minutes after we got there, a few of us were finally seated. The rest were seated about 10 minutes later, and we still hadn't even seen our server, let alone even water. Another 10 minutes pass, and the group that was there after us was served their water and they got their drinks ordered. Meanwhile, those of us who were seated first...waited. The bad thing is that 2 of the guys sitting with us needed to get to a meeting. We finally communicated that, and they were able to order and get rushed out. The rest of us ended up being at the restaurant for 3 hours total. So much for having time to do anything else! We got back to the hotel, and a bunch of us hung out playing Guitar Hero. Someone actually packed up their PS2 and guitars, and they rented a large tv for the room for $75 a day. Crazy! It was a lot of fun, though :-)

Monday morning we had a meeting at 10 before sellers showed up for the conference. A few of us met up at 8 to see how far we could walk and how much we could see before we had to be back. It was a lot of fun (even though it was COLD). After that, the whirlwind began. I went to our meeting at 10:00 then had time to quickly grab lunch and eat in the lobby. My sellers were already showing up, and I was meeting with them all afternoon up until the cocktail reception and dinner. It was SO much fun to see them all, though! Some of them I had met before, and others I hadn't. I'm not going to lie, it was GREAT to see the people that I've met before, because they all just told me how fabulous I look ;-) I don't ever feel that way, so it was fun to hear. We had our dinner and were able to be done for the night at about 9:30 or 10. Knowing how long Tuesday was going to be, you would think I would have made that the end of my day. Of course not! A group of us decided to grab a taxi and head up to the Lincoln Memorial. We got there around 10:30, and wandered around taking pictures. We then decided that it was time to head back, and we couldn't catch a cab for the life of us! We checked with the information booth that was there on the grounds, and they told us where to stand. We did that. We saw cabs passing another corner, so we went there. Nothing. Someone dialed 411 to get the number for a cab company and got voicemail. We went back to the information booth and they gave us another number, and the number was no longer in service. The guy then suggested that we head down to Constitution Avenue, thinking we'd have better luck. On the way there, we found another information booth. We figured we should get the number for ANOTHER cab company just in case. The guy at that booth told us that even if we DID have a phone number, no cabs would pick us up from the Lincoln Memorial because there is no address there. *blink* REALLY?!? NO cab can pick you up from the Lincoln Memorial by calling?!? Huh. We finally made it to Constitution Avenue and caught a cab about 2 blocks down (after Lance rolled his ankle, of course). I have to admit, though...it was a lot of fun watching all the guys chase after cabs that were driving by, hehe.

Tuesday was an early morning. We had to be down for breakfast by 7:30. We ate and had to socialize, and we couldn't sit with our "friends", we had to find lonely members and go talk to them. Last year, that part killed me. I hated walking up to people that I didn't know. I have this tendancy to assume that no one would want to talk with me. This year it was no problem at all! I would just walk up to random people and start talking. It was a LOT of fun :-) It was a day full of not fun announcements for the company, and long classes and complaint sessions, but we made it through. We did the dinner thing, then a performance by "The Capitol Steps" (I wasn't too impressed...but I don't get into political stuff much so I had a difficult time finding the humor). Then came my FAVORITE part of the conference. Karaoke!!

Ok, I'll pick up where I left off later :-) It's time for me to hit the gym before heading home!

Adam's Baptism

Wow, I never even got caught up after eCommerce. I decided that I'd better write about Adam's baptism while everything is fresh on my mind. Unfortunately, I tend to get caught up in the idea of "but I need to get caught up on everything else first!" I then get further and further behind...so I decided that everyone can deal with me writing about things out of order. Maybe one of these days I'll even get back to writing about Disney World from clear back in September. Tonight it's all about Adam and his baptism, though :-)

It's been a really long day. My parents, Julie & Roger, Jen & Scott, all their kids, and I all met up at the gas station to caravan down to St. George. After my whirlwind trip to DC earlier this week, the last thing I wanted was another 5 hours cooped up (that's how long my flights were). To see the kids, though?? I would have doubled the travel time and cut the amount of time I could see them in half. It's just really nice to be able to spend time with them again.

We made it to Hurricane in time to hang out with Todd's family for a bit before the 3 kids came over. I was SO excited to see them! Dominic had fun handing money that he found over to Ashalee. He was hesitant at first, but he warmed up :-) My mom gave the 4 boys each a hat of Grandpa Astle's. Jake and Adam both like BYU, so they got the BYU hats. Levi and Andrew ended up with Dodgers hats. They all looked so cute! It was nice to see how well all of the kids interact.

We then hurried over to the church for the baptism. The baptism itself was great. I had a few issues that I was trying to get over with the whole thing, but overall it was really nice. I'm SO proud of Adam for making this decision on his own. After the baptism, there was time for cake, a little chatting, and a quick change. It was nice to see Angela and her family again. It always makes me sad when I think about the friendship that was lost with the way that everything took place. I'm hoping that at some point there might be a way around that. Who knows.

I considered staying down there overnight with Julie and Roger. I decided to come home, though, due to all the time that I had already been away this week. I really wanted my bed. Then what do I do? I stay up until almost 2am instead, hehe.

You can see the rest of the pictures from the baptism here.

Quick post before leaving...

Ok, it's 6am and I haven't slept yet. Does this sound familiar?? Sadly, this happens almost every time I travel. I don't know what it is. I thought I would spend a little time catching up quickly, again :-)

After New Years, things got really busy at work. Between trying to rush through and finish getting stuff ready for eCommerce and trying to catch up from being gone for a month...I had a lot to do.

The next couple of weeks were a little foggy. I went to a YSA activity somewhere in there, and we played glow in the dark volleyball. Seriously...a LOT of fun :-) We also went to lunch for my mom's birthday. It's getting to be near impossible to get everyone together for that stuff anymore, hehe. I also had a game night at Jen's where we played "Settlers of Catan" (the German version that I brought back, hehe). When my friend Brandon came home from his mission about 8 years ago we played it (he brought it back from Germany with him). I LOVED it. While I was in Germany, I mentioned to Tammie that I couldn't remember what the game was called or anything about it, but I knew what the board looked like. By looking at the backs of all the games, I was able ot pin it down to "Settlers". I then got back home, and started hearing commercials for it over here...lol. I see how it is!!

I also ended up going to a play with my friend, Marjorie. I think this has to do with the "news" that my mom was referring to in her comment. One of Marjorie's other friends ended up coming with his nephew, and he sat next to me. As soon as intermission started, he started grilling me. Long story short...after the play, he gave me his email address and had asked for help with his eBay account. I answered his questions and sent an email back a couple of days later. I then got another email back asking if we could text back and forth. I said yes, of course, and we've talked to each other at least on the phone every single day since. He invited me to lunch last Saturday, as well. That went well enough that he ended up coming to Julie's to play games with me.

The rest of the week followed with dinners, lunches, or him just stopping by to see me every day for the last week (and 3 times on days like Friday). I'm still deciding how I feel about the whole thing, but apparently it's exciting for everyone, hrm.
Not much for "news" but apparently everyone gets all excited at the possibility of me dating someone...lol.

Ok, I've GOT to finish getting stuff ready for eCommerce. I need to leave for the airport in a little over an hour. Blah. I can't keep my eyes open! With any luck I'll have some pictures ready to post when I get back :-)

Where did all my time go??

Wow...it's been a month since I posted. I have NO idea where all my time went. Christmas, starting back at work, New Year's, game nights, WoW nights, yeah...I don't seem to know where it all went. Here's a *very* quick update (and I promise I'll try to get pictures later).

We started our new Christmas traditions this year. We got together with my brothers and sisters (all who could) on Christmas Eve for dinner, presents, and all around family togetherness. It was a lot of fun to be together. As always, we really missed those who weren't there. One of these days we'll all be together again. I'm counting on it!

Christmas morning, I made the rounds with my parents. Wow, could I feel any more pathetic? I'm going to be the psycho aunt Coco who has nothing better to do for Christmas day than tag along with Grandma and Grandpa. It was nice to see the kids again, though (even though I had just seen them the night before). It was fun to see excitement on Christmas morning :-)

Mandy and Courtney came over a couple of days after Christmas to help me clear out my office. We got TONS done, but I still have a lot to do. It's always fun to just push through some cleaning with some nice good help.

I went back to work on New Year's Eve. I was SO not ready. Even though I had just spent 3 weeks out of the country...it didn't feel like I had been off of work for long enough! The first day was pretty easy, though.

I spent New Year's Eve with Julie and Roger and some members of Roger's family up at their house. We had a lot of fun with dinner, playing games, and just talking. Julie and I went outside and did fireworks at midnight (which was HILARIOUS when we came inside and saw the 3 guys hanging out in the living room watching out the window).

New Year's Day, we went to Stan and Sharon's to hang out. It was a LOT of fun. Becky, Courtney, and I shared the kid's table with Dominic (pictures still to come) while some of the other kids were swimming. It was then that I was convinced to make dinner and plan games and stuff for a double date for Courtney and Becky. More on this to come later.

Ok, at least I'm caught up to New Year's Day :-) A lot more has happened since then, but I'm far too exhausted. With my traveling to DC on Sunday for eCommerce...I have a LOT to do before then. I'll try to get a little more info in where I can, though :-)