I'm a Grad Student!

As of yesterday afternoon, I passed my math and English assessment tests and became an offical Grad student!

I am taking the MBA program with a concentration in General Management. I start March 1st with the online school at DeVry University. My first online school, so I'm a little nervous, but so excited to be back in school!

So wish me luck... I will need it.

Bbbooooorrrrrreeeeeeeedddddddddddddddddd.....

I can't take it anymore... I'm at work and I don't want to be... Help me................

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S

Last summer Joe and I bartended my friend's wedding and decided to use our earnings for a nice New Year's getaway... Since booking a cruise seemed to be more effort than what we wanted to do - We decided on Fort Bragg. Joe found Ocean View Lodge, a place with a view of the ocean and if we left the door open, we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks. We even received a complimentary bottle of champagne!

The first evening we were there we went for a walk. There is a path in the back of the hotel that leads into town. We also went exploring down the cliffs and climbed around on the rocks. On Thursday we were able to get a table at Eggheads - a delicious breakfast diner! OH MY GOSH!!! Everytime I went to Fort Bragg there was always a long line and I never had the patience to wait... But this time we were able to get a table right away. The food is delicious - and I don't really like breakfast food. It was so good that we went the next day! Anyway... We ate breakfast then went exploring through town and checked out all the little cute shops. We drove out to the Lighthouse and walked some paths around those cliffs. Then we went to Mendocino and walked around there for a little bit.

We ate dinner at a great sushi restaurant and ended 2009 at a party at The Cliffhouse restaurant. The party was very low-key (which is not what we totally expected)... When we called the night before, they "strongly recommended" that we make reservations for the party if we wanted a window table - so I did. That night, only 14 people showed up for the party! There was a great DJ, our tickets included two drinks, appetizers, and a champagne toast, but it was missing the crowd. But we still had a great time together - that's all that mattered right?!?! Being with each other for the New Year.

Friday we went exploring on North Highway 1. We found a lot of different coastal accesses and climbed around on the rocks and cliffs. The road was winding though!

This was one of the beaches we found along Highway 1.

Climbed around on these rocks.

The ocean was beautiful!

I like the shadow look of this picture.

This was out at the Lighthouse!

And this was on Jughandle beach.

And this was at our awesome party!

Check out that butt!

I absolutely LOVE Fort Bragg. Everytime I drive out there I immediately feel relaxed and get the urge to explore! I'm so grateful the weather was perfect and the company was spectacular!

Annual Gingerbread House Party!

Every year my girlfriends, Sonja and Lauren, and I get together to make Gingerbread houses. Well... OUR rendition of gingerbread houses anyway.

We started this tradition in 2005 and have made every effort to keep it going each year. This year it was at my house. We started the night off with homemade fish tacos for dinner. Lauren had just come home from three months in Europe, so Sonja and I were enamored by her stories of the life and culture over there! While she was in PT school she made friends with people from Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, and Ansterdam. She was lucky enough to be able to couch surf with her friends and see the real sides of the countries. I'm so jealous!

This is the beginnings of our creations.

This is my house... It's tiny and if you look carefully you will see a slug coming out of the door to welcome you to her home. Check out my M&M trees I made!

This is Lauren's flower creation. Isn't she so creative? She chewed the graham cracker to shape the petals! Yes, that's right... We had white AND pink frosting!

Sonja made a UFO with a dome on top. She added a Chinese temple entrance as well.

We are so proud of our gingerbread houses!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Time to Gripe...

Hello all...

I am a positive person, or at least I like to think I can find the positive in ANY situation... But right now - I am in a total negative mood and I want to share it with everyone!!! Just in time for this holiday season... How sweet (see my sarcasm is coming out - that's me in a mood).

So I bought this beautiful ring from NY & Company in the mall. It is a purple stone weave ring. It has small amethyst colored stones at each criss-cross of the metal weave. I absolutely loved it! You know when you find a piece of jewelery after searching for months and it's perfect!

Anyway... I'm regressing.

So I had the ring for a month and when I looked at it one day, there were two stones missing from it! So I went back to the store to try and exchange it, but since I didn't have the original receipt (who knew the ring would fall apart?!?!?) I could only exchange it for the sale price. So instead of my exchange receipt saying $15 it said $4. Didn't think anything about it... UNTIL NOW!!!!

Just imagine a look of shear disgust on my face right now. This very minute.

The ring I exchanged was size 6, the size I received in return was size 7 - doesn't fit me! So I went to exchange the ring AGAIN at the store and they did not have the size. So I left my name and number for the manager to call me for when the next shipment comes in. Apparently the store cannot request certain items to be shipped to them. So the manager told me I just had to wait and see if the ring comes in.

That was about three weeks ago - I am still a ring size too big. I have not been able to wear my ring because it will fall off my finger. I called the corporate number from online - they told me they cannot do store transfers and that they could give me a list of the store that carry the ring size. Non of the stores were in CA.

So I called the manager that I have been working with at the Chico store and she informs me that the ring still has not come in. So I told her I wanted the full refund of $15 (not the $4) because the ring was defective. I told her I have been patient in waiting for the ring to come in especially since each time I went in or spoke to her on the phone I was told it should be in any day now. She informs me that since I am not in their system nor did I have the original receipt, that I cannot receive my $15. I also told her I am not being unreasonable for asking for the full refund since the ring was defective! I am not trying to cheat the company out of anything - THE RING WAS DEFECTIVE. I was actually yelling at the manager on the phone.

For a big company, I do not know why their customer service is so messed up.

So now I am out of an awesome ring and out $15.

I am going to cry.

Someone I work with found me a solution - to buy a ring snuckle. So I am on my way to Walmart to see if I can find one.

But it's just the principle of the situation... I've been patient and now I am being punished for purchasing a defective ring. Thanks alot NY & Co. I am NEVER SHOPPING THERE EVER AGAIN.

Wedding Bells...

But not mine!!!! I'm so evil!

Joe spanked me for that one...

I took Joe to my friend Kari's wedding in Wisconsin this past weekend. What a whirlwind trip... Seriously... I hope to never fly again. DO NOT FLY WITH DELTA OR NORTHWEST. I put that in capitals because it is now a rule I am going to live by. First off, I called the airlines on Wednesday to see if the flights were still on time (I was told they were) and to change my seat to accomodate my motion sickness (which they did). Oh wait... I forgot to start at the beginning. The Bay Bridge decided to break so we couldn't drive straight to the airport hotel; we decided to drive through San Francisco because I didn't know the San Mateo area. BAD IDEA... It took us about 4 1/2 hours to drive to our hotel because of traffic. Okay, got that out of my system... Back to my story - We arrived at the airport at 4am and the ticket agent informed us that they did not have any record of tickets for us. The start of a very bad weekend... We finally got our tickets - they never did tell us why we didn't have tickets in the first place. We landed late in Minneapolis because a runway was down due to construction so we had 10 minutes to make it from one end of this ginormous airport to the other end... After we ran to our connecting gate, there was no one there and there wasn't a plane waiting... We checked the monitors and our connecting flight had been cancelled. Great - I have to be in Milwaukee by 5pm for the wedding rehearsal - THAT wasn't going to happen.

We talked to a new ticket agent who told us the next two flights had been overbooked, but she could put us on stand by to arrive in Milwaukee by 530pm. I don't think she understood what I was saying to her - I needed to be in Milwaukee by FIVE PM... Luckily we made it onto that flight and we flew into Milwaukee in time for the rehearsal dinner at least. The worse part about this is that a Supervision came out because Joe and I were throwing a very loud fit - all he could tell us was "There's nothing I can do." He did offer us a $25 voucher for future flights - I told him I didn't want that becuase I would never fly with Delta/Northwest again. I even showed him my itenerary... He still didn't help us out.

So I made it to the dinner and didn't know anyone except her parents! Haha - It was funny. But I met her Whitewater friends whom she talks about all the time so it was nice to put some faces to the names.

This is Kari - the Bride - My very good friend from my days in Platteville, WI. (Elisha - I've been wearing the pearls you gave to me!)

Joe and I had our very first Fish Fry - Although it is exactly like Fish & Chips... Funny thing - Every time Kari and I talked on the phone she was on her way to a Fish Fry - I lived in WI for 4 years and never had fish fry - so we had it at the rehearsal dinner. Yummy.

The next day we had the wedding. I carried the Gospel book in at the beginning and I read the Prayers of the Faithful. I was so honored to be apart of her wedding.

Here is Kari walking in with her father - Rick. Very beautiful dress with lace and beading. Her veil was her mother's headdress with a new veil sewn on it. She looked so happy!

They are husband and wifie!!! Mike and Kari after officially taking their vows. It was such a beautiful ceremony. What made it even more special was Mike's brother was just ordained as a priest so he was able to marry them.

The cake was beautiful as well. White frosting with some elegant piping and ribbon wrapped around the bottom of each layer with some red roses planted on top.

They had a humungous wedding party - 8 people on each side - A couple of them were students at Platteville when I was there - apparently we recognized each other, but we couldn't place how we knew each other.

Don't they look soooo happy?!?!?

I guess everyone in WI are midgets - Joe towered over a lot of the guys out there. He looked soooooooo friggin' handsome in his suit!

I was so very blessed to be invited to this wedding - and I would never have missed it for anything! One of the best parts was seeing her parents - Linda and Rick. I remember going home with Kari for Easter and spending the week with her and her family. Her mom was so serious and stressed out about making the Easter meal so perfect and her dad spent the day teasing her mother and just laughing at her and having fun. I also remember going to mass with them and then there was a food festival afterwards. Each table had a special meal from a different country including their signature liquor. We spent the evening drinking and stuffing our tummies!!! Tons of fun I tell you.

All in all, I was so glad we went out there even though traveling was such a headache. I'm also glad to be home after this ordeal. Kitty missed us so much!!!!!!!!

Greet Each Day With A Smile.

I have just acquired some cute pictures of my nieces and I have decided to share them with you! The baby is Madelyne and the older is Eleni. Mommy is Bethany and daddy is Seth. I love them so much!!!