Christmas Week

The week between Christmas and New Years Eve is always a little strange. It seems like nobody is working, and the next few days exist just to give everyone a little break from the madness of the holidays and to prepare to party on the 31st.

Even though I didn't get to spend Christmas with my family, I did enjoy spending time with Ryan's family and opening presents with them on Saturday.

Let me back up.

Christmas Eve, I was off from work at Crosby-Volmer. Ryan and I decided to get out and see if we could find a Christmas tree on sale. We stopped by Home Depot and didn't see anything. Then we passed by a furniture store called I'O Metro and decided to go take a look at their couches. We found a pretty cool one- it's a big sectional, very comfy, and the material is a velvety type. I'm not sure what to call it. The color is "taupe," but in the light it looks a bit grey? It's really different.

While we were in the store, a guy from Craigslist called. I have been trying to sell my old set of couches/coffee table/end tables for about 3 weeks and finally this guy wanted to buy it. We headed to the old house and met him there. He talked us down from $500 and we finally made a deal at $420. I was so annoyed, but I wanted to be rid of them. He had his nephew help him load them up, and kept telling me his wif would probably kill him when he brought them home. By the time he left, it was time for me to go to work at Upper Crust. I spent the rest of my night there.

When I got home at 10:00, Ryan wanted to exchange presents. I got him a master remote, so that when he gets his receiver, Blueray, TV and all his sound system equipment someday....we can control everything from one source. I also got him a nice brown sweater, and a green sweater from Dillards. He liked his presents!

But I LOVED mine. He got me this:



I have wanted a Coach wallet to match my purse ever since I bought it 3 years ago, but could never bring myself to buy one. I have already transferred everything to the new wallet, and since I can't stand for it to get anything on it.....I put it inside a ziplock bag before putting it in my purse. I'll leave it in there until someone sees it and makes fun of me.

The next day we went to Shawnee pretty early to visit his mom and Grandma Lane. We got his mom a matching hat and scarf that Ashlie knitted, and she loved it. We got his 78-year-old grandma a purple Snuggy, haha! She looked so cute wearing it.





About 1pm, we went to his other grandma's and stayed there the rest of the day. We had a giant feast for lunch, opened presents, and watched TV/hung out until it was time to go home. Ryan's dad bought us a new lawnmower, which was pretty exciting because I hate paying for boring stuff like that but we really needed one. :)

Sunday, I woke up at 6am to hit the sales! I had intended to go to Macy's to check out their kitchenware stuff, but on the way to the mall I decided to stop into Target and see if it was open. A line had formed, and the store opened just as I was parking. I grabbed a cart and made a beeline for the Christmas aisles. I picked up some wrapping paper, gift bags, lights, the usual....and then I saw they had some Christmas trees on sale! There was only one that I liked, and there were no more in the box. I asked an employee if I could buy the floor model, and she said yes. I called Ryan to come haul it away, and I was very pleased with myself. It's a pre-lit, 7.5 ft tree....and it's in the attic waiting until next year when I can finally decorate like I have always wanted to in my own house. I had to work at the restaurant again, so I dragged my spoils home and cleaned up a bit until I had to be there.

It was really busy during lunch and we were down a few people. I waited on 5 tables and made a good amount of $$. It put me in a great mood, since I had to write a check for the first mortgage payment when I got home. Ha! We used our Dirty Santa present from Dayton and Abby's party (AMC Movie Tickets) and went to see The Tourist. It was great! Johnny Depp is my favorite, and I couldn't stop staring at Angelina Jolie. She looked gorgeous....I am going to try to do my eye makeup like hers for NYE :)

New everything!

I'm on a 6 hour conference call (yes, I'm not making that up. Although to be fair, I think we are breaking for lunch and I'm taking a SUPER long lunch). I figured, what better time than now to update the neglected blog!

Last month passed in the blink of an eye. We finally closed on our first home on November 12th. It was a huge headache, and at the last second the loan company had to take Ryan off all the paperwork because we didn't receive some documents from Sallie Mae in time. They were to prove that he can defer his student loan payments from medical school for a few years until he starts making more money. So, now I'm the only one on the mortgage, and I was the only one signing everything when we closed. I think Ryan's ego took a little blow and he was not happy about it, but we wanted to move in without more delays and they convinced us it didn't matter. If we would have waited for Ryan's paperwork to go through, Jeff Click Homes said they didn't have any openings until December to do the walk-through and do all the closing stuff. I told Ryan he better be really nice to me since I own our house now, and he told me I better be really nice to him since I have a XXX,XXX loan hanging over my head. Haha!

The loan company bought us pizza and soda that night, and I bought champagne. We had our friends, Josh and Jana over to the old house to celebrate. My original plan was to spend our first night in the new house the day we closed, but it was so late by the time we were done at the loan office and it was cold and rainy....we never did have that romantic night alone. Ryan ended up spending the first night there by himself while I was on a business trip in Memphis.

Since the day we closed, we have slowly been moving in. I tell everyone, I will never do this again. Next time, it's U-Haul and ONE moving day. All the way. Last night was the first time I got serious and unpacked a lot of the boxes that have been sitting around everywhere. It's still a state of complete chaos over there, but I haven't had enough time to get everything situated. Jenny is coming to visit for the weekend (YAY!!!) so in between the U.C. shift tonight and the AEP Christmas party tomorrow night, I'm hoping to get some more put away before Friday evening.

I'm so excited that she'll be here, we have all kinds of fun plans! We're going to go eat at Upper Crust, see a matinee, go to a Christmas party at Abby and Daton's house, go Christmas shopping and she'll finally see the house. :) I will also have a fun update after all of that to post next week.

Since we left most of the furniture behind (it was either old and didn't match the feel of our new house, or it was Ryan's mom's stuff), we have a lot to buy. We started with a bedroom suite that we got a pretty good deal on from Suburban Contemporary Furniture. We love that store, it's got lots of cool, modern pieces, but everything is so expensive. I saw on the store's Facebook site that they had an italian dark wood bedroom suite that had been discontinued, and they were offering a pretty good price for it, AND it was a king-sized bed like we had been wanting. We bought that, and while we were in the store I fell in love with this linen colored leather couch. It is amazing, and I don't want anything else. The price is ridiculous, but I've been hoping it goes on sale.....I will wait until it does!

We bought a front-loading washer and dryer set. It took awhile before we found one that was the right price, but Ryan found a great deal on Veteran's Day at Home Depot. When it was time to deliver them, they called us to say the dryer had been damaged in the warehouse and did we still want it? I was so upset, because I wanted a brand new, pretty set. Ryan talked me into accepting it, it has a big crack in the plastic on the door and paint scratched off the front. It still works fine though, and we ended up getting an extra $250 off for the damage.

And finally, we bought a stainless steel french door fridge! It is massive, and it has a freezer on the bottom. Which is actually pretty cool, because now the fridge shelves are really long and hold tons of stuff. We can stick pizza boxes in there, no problem. It's beautiful and I'm really happy with it.

So, a quick update on the work situation- we lost the Regional Food Bank as a client, and I have to say that I am THRILLED. I hated working with their marketing manager. She's my age, and she's the bossiest, most obnoxious person I have ever met and it's a long story, but she tried to get me kicked off the account a year ago. I have loathed her ever since. But that means the situation at the office isn't the greatest. The same day we lost that account, the client we share office space with informed us that we needed to be out by the end of January. They said another company is coming in, and they don't have space for us anymore.

No local clients (except the mayor) and no office makes for a negative atmosphere around here lately. I applied for a job with the OKC Thunder and my fingers are crossed that I get a call for an interview. It's a PR/Marketing position and I would be working with one of my old friends from college, Vicki Guerra. She has the position right now, but I think she's getting a promotion. How cool would it be to work for the NBA? I think the pay would be good enough to where I could quit the restaurant job too.

That's all for now!

Up and Coming

November is going to be a busy month!

We close on the new house NEXT WEEK! Well, fingers crossed...Ryan is still trying to sort out some financial stuff with Sallie Mae, so hopefully nothing will get pushed back. This means it's time to move once again and I'm not looking forward to it. I have been trying to make myself start packing a few boxes every night, but every time I get home and think about it, I come up with a good reason to wait until tomorrow. Or Ryan will talk me out of it, like he did last night so that I would watch a movie with him.

We have been shopping for furniture for the past few weeks (did I already mention that?) It's been SO frustrating because we don't have the same taste in anything. I think he should let me pick everything out since guys aren't supposed to care, and since I do most of the housework. I think we'll be sitting on boxes for a few months while we try to find something we can both agree on, and we'll just have to use my old bed that has been sitting in the guest room for 3 years and creaks.

Also in the near future is a visit from Jenny, Tim and Alicia for the final HP movie!!! I need to buy our Sunday matinee tickets tonight, before the balcony is sold out for that day too. We wanted to go on Saturday, but apparently people bought their tickets a month out and it was too late. Gah.

Then to Minot for Thanksgiving. I'm half looking forward to it, half dreading it. Who knows what it will be like, with my mom and Dex split up. :( I hope it's not too awkward, I think having Susie and my grandma there will help.

I really can't believe it's almost time for the holidays again. Where did 2010 go?

My List

Someday, when life slows down, I would like to learn how to do a lot of things. And do them well.

1. Photography
2. Cook
3. Decorate cakes
4. Snowboard
5. Knit

Those are at the top of the list, in that order. I also can't wait for more time to scrapbook, host parties and READ! I hope someday comes sooner rather than later.

Weekend Review

I finally got a whole weekend off from the restaurant!! My fun began on Friday evening when I met up with Rhiannon in Edmond after work.

I was already up that way to pick up a Scentsy order from Megan Rountree when Rhiannon texted me and asked if I had to work. I didn't, of course, so we came up with a plan to get pedicures and grab dinner at the Spicy Pickle. It was glorious!!! I love random opportunities to get together and catch up with old friends. And of course, splurging on pampering and good food too. We both got the "Citrus Pedicure," and after we ate our yummy sandwiches, I headed home to clean up a little and watch some TV.

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early to pack and then I was headed to Dallas for Jenny and Tim's housewarming party. I gave Jenny her housewarming present, which was the previously mentioned Scentsy warmer. It is brown, with a cross on the front and I got them some scent bricks to go with it! I forgot to take a picture :/ Sheh plugged it in and the whole condo started to smell like Blackberry Raspberry (or whatever it was called!)

Our first stop was the grocery store to pick up food and wine. We spent the afternoon preparing the food, arranging things in the condo and getting ready. The party was a success....lots of people showed up, everyone loved the food (including the awesome baked brie that Jenny made- I HAVE to get the recipe) and playing Beatles Rock Band. Jenny got lots of great presents, like gift cards to Lowe's and.....CANDLES!!!

Mmmm....food table.




My other favorite teacher friends, Kate and Alicia.




Me, a bit tipsy, sending self pictures to Ryan.



Jenny as Paul McCartney.



Sunday, I slept in while Jenny and Tim left for church. Lucy kept me company.




Then I met up with Jessica and Jim for lunch. Jess has a black eye from a softball game on Friday. She wore sunglasses everywhere we went!






So that concludes my fun trip down South. I'll be back before too long, I hope.

Lucky

Last night after work was the October AEP meeting at the Oklahoma Ballet Company studio. I struggled with whether or not I wanted to go...I took off work for it, but then all I wanted to do was be at home, watching TV and snuggling with Ryan. I decided to go for a few hours to see everyone because I knew I would feel guilty later for skipping out.

There are two people that always go to these events that drive me completely INSANE. I can't stand them. I go to great lengths to avoid being near them. Last night was no exception, and I spent half the night avoiding eye contact and walking very fast in the other direction when they came my way. I think the stress has built up and I just don't care to pretend anymore...I don't want to be around people that make me uncomfortable.

Eventually, my friends showed up and we had a great time! I love all of the PR girl friends that I have made this past year. Rachel, Dena, Kristen, Mindy....they're all so smart and connected and wonderful. We had some wine and caught up on the latest. And then, we got to have a sneak peek of the dancers performing Phantom of the Opera!

It was so dreamy.....








And when it was over, all of us decided that we were going to go see the show and make it a big girls night. We were going to head to the desk to buy tickets, but first there was a business card drawing for a free pair of tickets. I won! Hahaha! Two fabulous seats in row C, all mine.

Of course, being the nice person I am, I let them offset the cost of the other four tickets and all 6 of us girls split the remaining cost. We're going to see the Halloween show at 2pm and I can't wait :)

Things Lately

It's been wayyy too long since I last updated. Lots going on, I'm not sure where to start.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is that we close on our house November 11. That's less than a month away! The original closing date was supposed to be October 29, but things are crazy right now- I'm working two jobs and Ryan is on a hard rotation. The mortgage broker is asking for all kinds of papers, letters and documents. The sink we picked ended up on backorder. Then some of our lighting choices were on backorder. We had to pick the blinds color. A lot to do in a few weeks, and we haven't even started packing! So, today when Brodie (the guy who showed us the houses) called, I told him we could push it back two weeks to make it easier on everyone involved.

I am anxious to see how everything is going to look when it's all in one place. We have made some crazy, fun choices and it will be very different. For example, here is our (2nd choice) vessel sink for the guest bathroom:





And here is the chandelier we chose to hang in the breakfast seating area...it will be one of the main focal points of our big open living room/kitchen/breakfast area:




So much time and thought went into every single thing...grout color, trim color, where we chose to have the concrete poured for the outside A/C unit. It's pretty stressful but it will be worth it!

In other news....

My mom decided to get a divorce. I admit, I didn't really see it coming. I knew they had their problems, but she kept most of that to herself. I haven't talked to him since the wedding and now it's weird, and a little sad to think that he's out of my life. I am visiting for Thanksgiving in November and wonder what the situation will be. He's still living at the house for now.

Pauline left to go back to France. I miss her a lot. She actually just called from Skype as I was writing this post and we talked for a half hour. Her parents were awake and I "met" them, haha. They seem really nice. I can't wait to meet them in person in a few years. I really do want to take a few weeks off and go spend some time with her and Agnes and show Ryan my favorite city in the entire world :)

Upper Crust is my free time now. I've been there about a month. It was rough at first, we went through training in a week and it was hours and hours each night going over the booklet in class. We were split into small groups, and we had a trainer named Ryan from Charleston's in Edmond. Then we did practice sessions the weekend before opening for all of corporate's friends and family. Now that we're open, I'm making decent money on the weekends. I haven't ever made over $100 in one night though...which I seem to remember doing at Johnny Carino's. I think business will be steady though. I can't wait to get our debt paid off, and after I buy some new furniture for the house and pay that off...I'm quitting!

Off to Dallas this weekend for Jenny's housewarming party! It will be great to see her and Tim and finally have some downtime!

Labor Day Weekend

We finally made it out to the cabin this summer for Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun!!! Friday after work, Ryan and I packed up and then picked up Pauline for the drive to Tahlequah. Josh, Jana and Wes followed behind us and we all met up at Sam and Ella's in town for dinner together. We sat in the chicken coop and ate tons of cheesy, artery-clogging goodness. I think the Chicken Palace now has 5 more out-of-towner fans :)

After dinner, everyone wanted to stop by Walmart. While we were there, poor Ashlie called and was lost out in the dark up at Pettit Bay. I hurded everyone out and tried to text her more detailed directions. She ended up finding it, phew!

When we got there, Ashlie was waiting and she had her little dog with her- for some reason, her name escapes me right now. She looks like a Teddy Bear. We all settled in to play some Catch Phrase. We stayed up until about 11 and then the old people in us came out, and we headed to bed. Robin made it in around 1am (he called my phone after sitting outside for 20 minutes wondering if it was the right cabin, haha!!) Then Jessica and Jim made it in from Dallas around 2am.








We got up early the next day and sloooowly started getting ready to go float the river. I don't know how guys would get anything done if there weren't girls around to boss and hurry them along. We got the beer in the coolers, packed some snacks and grabbed the sunscreen. Then we headed out back to Walmart for the second time in 12 hours. Oi.

Jenny and Tim met up with us in the deli section where we grabbed lunch for the river and then some random supplies. We got out to Eagle Bluff around 10:30 and they had 3 rafts held for us. The float was incredibly awesome. The weather was perfect, nobody splashed us, nobody pulled me in...it was just serene (for the most part) floating, eating and drinking. I think everyone had a good time. It ended so fast! It's the first time I remember being sad that it was over and wondering where the time had gone.







Everyone (not me) wanted to watch the OU game that night since it was the first game of the season, so on the way back to the cabin, we called around and finally found a new restaurant that was showing it on Pay Per View. It was a tiny place behind Taco Bell called Smokehouse something something Wings??! I am so tired, I can't remember the name of that place either. We were so excited that we had found a place, and we had them hold a table for our group as we got cleaned up a bit at the cabin and then went back into town. The restaurant was basically empty. We ordered tons of food, including some of the hottest wings I've ever eaten. I felt sick when we were done.



Then they charged everyone $10 a person just to watch the game, so that caused some grumbling and hot words to our waitress because they hadn't explained that over the phone or when we came in. Jenny and Tim headed home, and after the game, we did the same.

We built a big fire and cooked smores. Only nobody wanted to eat them, so we now have 2 bags of marshmallows, a giant family box of graham crackers and like 6 chocolate bars sitting in my cupboard at home. The girls turned in earlier than the guys bc we were exhausted.

The next day, the toilet in the bathroom exploded. There was dirt, tissue and nasty water flooding over the toilet, and up out of the bath tub. It was SICK!!! We had to call Roto Rooter to come out there and snake the water line. We were worried it was a break in the line, but I guess it was just blocked because the water came down and everything went back to normal. While I was in the middle of dealing with that, Jana and Pauline and Wes and Josh went out to the lake to fish. After I cleaned up the bathroom, the rest of us met up with them and we all went to Cherokee landing to float around on noodles and lounge on the rock beach. And drink a lot.







Even (now I remember the dog's name!!!) Birdie got in the water to swim!







We hit Walmart to get macaroni salad, potato salad, hot dogs and brats for grilling. Jim cooked us dinner and then everyone except Pauline, Jessica and Jim decided to head home. I was sad. That night we watched a few movies and the next day we got up and cleaned the cabin. We left around 11 and stopped in Shawnee on the way home for lunch and to show Ryan's family our 2,000 wedding pictures. haha! They loved Pauline, and she was excited about the cornbread. She really loves iced tea too. I'll have to get her some packets she can take back with her (she leaves in 2 weeks!)

We were almost home, when a giant metal bar flew off the van in front of us, bounced off the highway and flew up and cracked the windshield and dented the top of Ryan's 4 Runner. It was so scary!!! If it had been at a different angle, I have no doubt it would have come through the windshield and killed me. We followed after the van and pulled up next to it. The whitest piece of trash lady I have ever seen was driving, and she completely ignored us for awhile while we honked and shouted at her to pull over. Then she looked over and mouthed "Eff you!!" to Ryan!! I was so pissed off, I pulled out my phone and called 911. We tailed her for awhile, and she had about 6 little kids in there without car seats that were throwing piles of trash out the window. She must have realized we weren't going to stop, so she finally pulled over and then acted really nice and like she was so shocked at what had happened. The police came out, didn't make up a report because they said we didn't need one, so we exchanged info and left. It was crazy.

And that was my holiday weekend!

Come See The Animals At Arbuckle Wilderness

On Sunday, I woke up extra early to pick Pauline up from her apartment. We were headed to...Arbuckle Wilderness! I told her about it when she first came to Oklahoma and she really wanted to go. This was one of the last weekends I have free before she leaves on October 1st, so we grabbed some breakfast and hit the road.

I had forgotten how much fun this place is.

There were camels,llamas and an alpaca that spit on us in the car.





There were antelope looking things.



Our favorites by far were the crazy zebras, who came right inside the car to eat the feed from our hands. It was a bit freaky when the food was gone and they were still looking for it...you can't just roll up the window to make them get out!






This picture cracks me up because Pauline didn't know the ostrich was behind her. She is terrified of them!!! There were tons of them roaming around, and every time she saw one coming up to the car she would freak out, shriek and try to roll the windows up really fast. I have a video of this happening several times. It's hilarious!!



The rest of the assortment of animals...





These giraffes stretched their long necks from the fence and were eating from her hands and licking the windows! It was so cute/gross!



I just love that place.

Baby Bojangle Rose

Abby Rose is one of the few on my favorite people list in OKC. I'm friends with her through Jana, and we hang out often with their other high school friend Savanah who lives in Dallas and a girl named Beth. Here we are all together:



Abby and Dayton tried to have a baby for over a year and it was heartbreaking to watch and hear her talk about it. We didn't ever think they would get pregnant. And then one day, voila! Just when they had been talking about trying to use science to conceive. Very cool.



Abby is having a boy named Jordan, and he is due on Ryan's birthday- September
14th. She is the cutest pregnant lady ever. She has always been very small and fit, and she told us she has been working out, even until now. She does elliptical and low impact aerobics every day. She has hardly gained any extra weight, besides the baby bump. It's amazing!

We played a lot of games at her baby shower, which was on Saturday afternoon. Jana and Savanah were the hostesses, and we played "Guess the Circumference" of the baby bump using a string of yarn and then measure it against the real bump to see how close we were...



"Guess that Goo" where we had to smell/taste labeless jars and figure out what food it was (GROSS!!!)



We guessed the number of safety pins inside a glass jar. And of course, there was baby gift Bingo. Then after she unwrapped her gifts, we played another game where we had to make up a baby name using the letters in Dayton and Abby's full names. You could only use those letters and Abby got to pick her favorite. I thought of a funny one, and we were cracking up at the ones everyone else came up with. "Agile Bot," "Jail Bait," and mine..."Bojangle." I was laughing so hard I was crying. Abby picked mine! I won a cool reed diffuser.

I got her this teddy bear and an infant "Sleep Sack." You put the baby inside it when it sleeps and it looks like a baby burrito!



Look at all the great food we got to chow down on too! I didn't know there would be food, and I was starving before I arrived...so I had just eaten lunch at The Spicy Pickle and then I had to eat again. Haha! Mmmm.





Here's the group:



Congrats Abby and Dayton!!!

Weekend Review

Once again the weekend has passed way too fast.

Friday night, Ryan and I rented Hot Tub Time Machine and watched it while we ate dinner. It wasn't very good, but it was about what I was expecting.

Saturday, Ryan was on call. I had a secret shop to do at lunch, and I met Liz at Mama Rojas after I was done running a few errands and getting my name changed at the bank. The food was soooo good! I think it was my last secret shop for a long time though. I don't have time for them anymore, because the reports take so long to do. Liz was very entertaining, as always....we caught up and talked about me watching her pomeranian, Wolfie, while she's gone on vacation to Florida.

After lunch, I went out and did a bunch of errands. I went by Dillards to get my work jeans, and I went by two different places in search of Ryan's birthday present. One of our friend's has a pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes, and Ryan thought they were really cool. I had no idea what to get him, so I think these will work. Apparently, they're in high demand because there were only a few pairs at each place. I'm happy with the pair that I found though, I hope he likes them!



I went home to get ready for Diana's wedding. Rebecca was my date, but she hit construction coming from Tulsa and so she was running way behind. We sped to El Reno and got there at 7 on the dot. Good thing the wedding didn't start on time! It was an outside ceremony, and it was sweltering. Diana and Kevin were so cute, and she looked beautiful. Her colors were pink and green, it reminded me of Jenny's wedding a little. The reception was fun, we spent some time hanging out with our PR friends and eating chicken fingers and mashed potatoes :) Rebecca wanted to drive home to Tulsa the same night, so we left right after the first few dances.

Here are a few pictures from the night.