Sheesh!

So here I am working studiously and my boss decides that I should leave early - 2:30! Wouldn't it be great if he offered that on a day when I wasn't so busy? I decided to keep working and basically wrap up everything I was doing so I can still leave early, but I feel like I accomplished something.

This has been a long week! Traveling for work is not my favorite thing. I was so glad to get home on Wednesday night! The kitties missed me, but not as much as Mat did!

Nothing too exciting has happened this week, but I just wanted to check in. I am ready for the weekend. Tomorrow night we are going to grill some burgers with my parents. I guess I should say that my dad is going to grill us some burgers tomorrow night! That sounds really good and it is supposed to be so nice tomorrow. Tonight we'll probably lay low at home. Mat has to work tomorrow morning, so we'll probably just watch a movie or something like that at home.

I'm out of here for now. Have a great weekend!

This Ain't No Disco

Whoosh. I am tired. Today was a fun filled day of work! I left my house at 7:20 this morning in order to get to the airport to travel to Coeur d'Alene. The plane was one of those little four seats across and you are basically sitting on the person's lap next to you. And the plane sounds like it could possibly just die any minute. But, it was only an hour ride and beat having to drive 8 hours by myself!

After I arrived in the Spokane airport, I had to pick up my rental car. It was so funny because it was very bright yellow and not very big. I feel like a spoiled 16 year old! So I went to the Coeur d'Alene Resort, which was lovely as always, and had lunch with one of the sales ladies there. We had a great meal and just chatted about future events. Then I went over to my next stop at the Coeur d'Alene Inn and met with a sales person there. I went on a tour and got to talk about some of our upcoming meetings. I was finished there way sooner than I had planned, so I went and checked into my hotel. Luckily, my room was ready! I got changed and went to their gym and then got back into work clothes for my last appointment. This was one was about 30 minutes away.

So I get there and stood in line to tell the front desk I was there. The guy who helped me didn't know what was going on, but another lady said that "they've been trying to call you all day!" I don't know who "they" is, but they didnt call my cell phone like you would think since I wasn't in the office. So I ended up saying, "so I guess I should just leave" and the staff was basically like, I don't know what else you want us to do. It was really annoying. I guess the girl I was supposed to meet with had a family emergency and she had asked someone to call me and gave her the office number. So this girl calls my office and tells me this on my voicemail. Instead of asking if I had a cell phone or a hotel in town or anything. I just couldn't believe how the front desk acted so rude. So now I may have to meet with this girl tomorrow, which is fine, but I just kind of feel like telling her I don't have any available time. But I know it probably isn't her fault. And I have extra time tomorrow. I was just going to look at a local bridal shop and then head to my hotel for the night after my morning's appointments. I guess I'll just see what happens tomorrow.

Weekend - hmm...we had a great time! First, Friday we walked downtown and met Laura and Tom and Devlyn. We had dinner and a couple drinks and then Mat and I headed home since he had to work early. Saturday, I got all the ingredients for a BBQ and did some cooking and cleaning while Mat was at work. That night his mom and Nick came over and we made hot dogs, pasta salad and some yummy dessert. His mom brought this delicious garlic dip and we ate that while waiting for the grill to be ready. After his parents left, we went over to a friends house for a game night and had such a great time! Mat and I only knew one person, but it ended up being fun and we met some great people. Sunday was a lazy day. We did shopping and cleaning, but then we drove around and looked at houses. We aren't ready to seriously look, but we thought it might be fun to go in some open houses. We went in this one house that I loved! But I figure if it is meant to be, then we will get it when we are ready. Then we watched the Departed and went to bed. I think that about covers it.

I am tired of typing on this laptop. Goodnight!

TGIF

I am so excited for the weekend! I think it should be pretty nice this weekend, but it looks as though next week is going to be rainy and cold. Yuck. I keep hoping that we are done with all that Winter weather and then it strikes again.

Tonight Mat and I are going to meet up with my co-worker and her man at a pizza place downtown. So we're looking forward to that. It seems like we haven't really gone out much in a long time! It is really nice outside, so I think we'll walk from our apartment to downtown and then home again later.

As for the rest of the weekend, we don't have any plans yet. Except for tomorrow evening, Mat's mom and Nick are coming over for dinner. I think we are going to BBQ some hot dogs and make some pasta salad for dinner. Then Mat and I found a recipe for dessert that we are going to try out and see what everyone thinks. Mat was supposed to work tomorrow, but we don't know if he is going to. He probably found out this morning at work and I forgot to ask.

I leave Monday morning for North Idaho. I am going on "business" to check out a few different hotels and meet with some of the sales people and take some tours. The best part is that I get to have dinner and drinks with my friend from college, Erin, who is attending the University of Idaho in Moscow! So that should be fun. I got to see her last year and we had a great time catching up. So I need to get all packed up on Sunday so I can leave first thing Monday morning. I'll be back late Wednesday evening. I am taking the company laptop, so hopefully I should be able to keep up with emails and my blog.

Have a great weekend!

Hello Wednesday

The week is officially half over! I like the sound of that. I was thinking this morning about what I am going to do this weekend. I am going back to the library for sure. I didn't get much further than that.

I walked again at lunch! We are really getting serious about this walking business. It was cold today, but we still made it. Mat and I walked last night again too! I'm just a walking fool.

I was going to start on knitting my kitty bed last night, but then I realized that I am not really that experienced of a knitter. I had to start looking through one of my knitting books to get the terminology down, but then we started watching Little Miss Sunshine and I got sidetracked. Plus it was cold and so I had to cuddle with Mat under a blanket. We thought Little Miss Sunshine was a cute movie and pretty fun. I really want to learn how to do more with knitting, but it is hard to get motivated sometimes. I guess I'll just keep learning little by little.

Hmm, that's it for now!

Tuesdays are Neat

It's Tuesday and that is just a fact. Last night Mat and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. That was two walks in one day for me! I think we might go walking again today after work. It is so nice that it stays light later. It is a little chilly today, but we'll just throw on a jacket before we head out. I decided to quit my gym today to save us a little money. I can always rejoin if I want, so I figured I can just make do with walking and exercising at home. It made me think of a Friends episode when Chandler (I think) wanted to quit the gym. Everytime he would try to quit, some hot girl would convince him not to quit. So Ross went to help him quit and ended up joining the gym! I think that is right. I haven't seen that episode for awhile, so maybe I am wrong. We got some movies for tonight and the rest of the week. I'll give reviews as we go through them. It seems like all of our favorite shows are taking breaks right now. Except for Lost, Survivor and Amazing Race.

No wedding news to speak of today. We need to select our date so we can reserve the barn. Maybe we'll decide tonight on our walk! I think we'll get really serious about the planning this summer when we both have some more time available to go try caterers and stuff. Better get back to my database updating. Just wanted to check in.

I'm Cleaning My Financial House!

The Financial Forum I attended this weekend was funny, but also informative. They kept saying things about my "Financial House" and how the pipes were leaky or there were cobwebs in the attic. I think they were just trying to associate it with a house and typical household problems, but it was a little silly. I did learn some interesting things about organizing financial paperwork and budgets. I was proud of myself because I did know about many of the things we learned already! They had bumper stickers that said "A Man is Not a Financial Plan". I thought that was kind of funny too, but there are so many women that don't have any idea what goes on in their finances, so it really is an important and educational conference. Many of the women there were in their 50s and 60s, many had gone through a divorce or had been widowed recently, so it was a great learning experience for them. I was glad I went and attended the entire day!

Back to Friday! I got busy on Friday and never even wrote a happy Friday blog. Work was work, but 5:30 came and it was the weekend! I went home and changed into some walking gear. Mat and I walked to my work to do our weekly cleaning of the office. Then we walked to Hyde Park and got burritos to take home and have for dinner. By the time we got home, my feet were tired! We ate our dinner, watched Lost and The Amazing Race, then started Xmen3 and both fell asleep about an hour into it. So we went to bed early and laughed at how dorky we were. We did both get up at 7:00, so it was probably good that we went to bed early. Then I spent all of Friday in my financial conference and he spent the entire day in his workshop on Archaeology of Idaho. We did have lunch together at Quizno's. Those are some good sandwiches. That night my sister and I went to eat downtown and then went back to my apartment for a marathon of America's Next Top Model. That is one good show. Mat went to see 300 with one of his friends and then they had a green beer.

Sunday I slept in a little and Mat went to his workshop, day two. Then I made my grocery list and my mom came to pick me up to do our grocery shopping. We went to a ton of places! We had some lunch, went to Petco, Fred Meyer, Costco and Walmart! Whoosh. I got the groceries for the week and some kitty litter and kitty food. That night Mat and I went to his Dad's for dinner. He barbecued steak and hot dogs, and we had some noodles and garlic bread. Then Mat and I headed home. It was a weird weekend since it seemed like Mat and I didn't get to see each other as much as we normally do.

No exciting plans for this week that I know of yet. I think it is supposed to be nice again today and then get a little colder for the rest of the week. Ick. I am so ready for Summer. I know, it isn't even Spring yet. A girl can dream, right?

One More Day to Go...

Thursday is almost over! Hooray! So that means only one more day until the lovely weekend. I think it should be pretty nice again, at least in the 60s. I decided to take this forum this weekend at BSU. Mat has a workshop on Saturday, so we can just ride together and they begin and end around the same time. I think it will be kind of interesting - at least I hope. It is called Money Wise Women Education Forum. There are a few different breakout sessions and a couple keynote speakers. Laura in my office is going, so at least I will have someone to sit with.

Nothing else much new today. Happy Thursday!

Walking is Good

Today was the second day I spent walking with co-workers at lunch. It has been nice weather and got us motivated to start walking for our lunch hour! Yesterday we walked for about 40 minutes during lunch and then Mat and I walked after work for about an hour. Today I walked again during lunch for about 50 minutes. It was nice to get out of the office and get a little midday cardio. I think we'll both continue at least until it gets really hot and then we might switch to the gym treadmill!

We watched Night of the Living Dead last night. I thought it was pretty boring, but Mat enjoyed it. He thought it wasn't too bad. I did some knitting while it was going on. I finished a scarf, or at least as much as I could because I ran out of yarn. So I'll tuck that away for awhile and get some more yarn sometime in the future. Now it is time to start on my kitty bed! I am going to attempt to make a bed for the cats, but I may end up having to make two if they won't share.

We don't have any plans for tonight, which means we will probably watch a movie or something like that. Two more days until the weekend!

Pictures

This is the side of the barn. It has a big wrap around patio that we can decorate any way we would like.















This is where you pull up, but the entrance is around the other side.


















Here is a shot of the inside. It is really simple, but we can do whatever we want to it!



All of these doors open up on to the patio!

Be Warned - Long Post

This post is what happens when I go without blogging for 5 days! I decided that it would be fun to get sick. Not really, but I did. Thursday night I was feeling not my best, so we decided to cancel on the hockey game. We ended up watching a little tv and I got into bed early hoping to make the sick go away. But no, I woke up Friday morning and felt icky. I decided to take the day off to hopefully keep it away from anyone in my office who hasn't already been sick in the last few weeks. Friday was mostly spent sitting around the house watching tv and resting. Friday night I was feeling good enough to make it to the barn we were thinking about using for our reception site. We loved it! I am going to try to post some pictures, but this is my first picture post, so it might take a couple tries.

We decided for sure that we want to use it as our reception site, but we'll wait until this june to see if we want to do our ceremony there. I think it will be really pretty, but I guess we'll just wait and see. That will still give us a year to pick somewhere else for the ceremony, but I think we'll end up wanting to do it all in the one place. It is basically a big open room and has a bathroom and a kitchen off to the side. We can do whatever decorations we want and I am just so super excited that we found something we both really like.

Saturday I went over to my co-workers house to do laundry. She was out of town, I was taking care of her cat and our laundry facility is down for the month. So free laundry! I watched a few movies while I was there. Shop Girl - not too bad, but not what I thought from the preview I had seen. I also watched 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. I've seen this one before, but it is pretty cute so I watched it again. Then I watched Simply Irresistible, a silly romantic comedy that I had seen before, but it has been awhile. All while I did laundry! I also looked through bride magazines and found some great tips for our wedding. Saturday night was not so exciting, mostly because I still felt yucky and so we just watched Lost and part of The Illusionist and I didn't make it through that. We finished it on Sunday though. It wasn't too bad, but I am looking forward to the Prestige more than I was this one.

Sunday we went grocery shopping and cleaned my work. All while I am still not feeling that good. But we got that done and then we watched two movies on Sunday night: the original Friday the 13th and Pulse. I don't think that I actually have ever seen Friday the 13th, so that was kind of fun, but it is not that scary. We didn't ever end up watching Little Miss Sunshine, but we both want to rent it again, so we probably will this week or next.

Monday I woke up feeling ick again and this time I was all stuffed up! I think my allergies were getting to me on top of the sore throat stuff I had earlier. So I stayed home again from work and am finally back today. I feel better, but not so much 100% yet. I am just going to hope that I get better soon!

I hope the pictures come up, if not, I'll work on those later today.

Go Idaho Hockey Team!

Tonight Mat and I are going to a hockey game! It will be my first hockey game ever. This group that I am a part of for work has a hospitality suite, so I figured free tickets and free food and drinks were worth it.

We watched a movie last night - The Covenant. It was okay, but not the best. I probably wouldn't recommend it just because I got bored the last 20 minutes and fell asleep a little.

That was pretty much our evening. We had leftovers for dinner and watched a movie. I rented two other movies: Little Miss Sunshine and The Illusionist. We'll probably watch those this weekend sometime.

Short post today - got to get back to work.

If you are interested, this is a weird bill the Senate passed yesterday: English Language Bill Gets OK from Full Senate.

Spring?

I think Spring is here, but probably not for very long. It is currently 63 degrees outside! Of course, I am inside working and typing this blog instead of enjoying the outside weather. Hopefully it will last until the weekend and Mat and I can find something fun to do outside. Even if it is just a quick walk through the foothills. I guess we'll just wait and see!

We made Oriental Turkey Burgers last night and they were a dud. Not horrible or anything, but just not really what we were expecting. I put honey mustard all over mine to cover up the weird taste and then it wasn't too bad. Mat poured BBQ sauce on his to mask the weirdness. I think it is just that it looked like a burger, but didn't taste like one. I would not recommend making these to anyone, so that is why there isn't a link to the recipe like the others.

We didn't end up with any movies last night, so maybe I'll go on my way home. We did watch an old episode of "A Wedding Story" on TLC that was horrible. I thought it would be fun to watch for ideas for our wedding, but it was just mostly about the couple and how they met. So we won't continue watching those. We're thinking about changing to cable everything. They are offering a good package right now that would save us some much needed money. So I thought I would check into that to see what we would need to buy for it. It may end up not being worth it if we have to buy a whole new modem and everything.

Tonight is leftovers. Not my favorite, but someone has to eat them!

Site Visit Cancelled

The Powerhouse Event Center, where we had our appointment today, was cancelled and moved to next Tuesday. I think it looks really nice, but I just don't know how much I like that there isn't an outside of any kind. We'll go see it next Tuesday, unless our appointment at the Community Barn goes really well on Friday. I will try to remember to take some pictures of the barn since there isn't a website for it like most of the others.

We made a new recipe last night - Beef Carnitas. They were pretty good and I think we would make them again, but I might try using pork instead. I don't know why, but I tend to like pork and chicken for Mexican food (unless you are making basic ground beef echiladas). I roasted some potatoes, corn and onions and we ended up putting that with the beef in a tortilla for a little burrito.

Tonight Mat is making some oriental turkey burgers that sound really good. I'll give you the verdict on that tomorrow. We might rent some movies tonight. There are quite a few good ones at the video store, so we'll see if Mat feels like going after school.

Abracadabra!

We had so much fun this weekend! Sunday Mat and I went to see David Copperfield and it was awesome. He is so unbelievable. It's just fun seeing all his tricks and wondering how he does it. If you ever get a chance, you should definitely go see one of his shows if you haven't had a chance.

I guess I got ahead of myself! Friday night we decided to go to Primo's, a nice little cheap all you can eat pizza buffet. Yum. Then we decided to drive to my parents to say hi and check out this little barn they have in their neighborhood. It is kind of like a clubhouse. Anyway, it was dark and we walked around it, but of course it was locked. So my mom is going to make an appointment for us to come back and look at it in the daytime. I am really excited because we both really liked the looks of it in the dark. Then we just headed home to watch Heroes and Lost.

Saturday we had lunch with Mat's cousins and his mom and Nick. We went to Cracker Barrel and I had fried okra! I haven't had fried okra since leaving Oklahoma. It wasn't as good as OK, but still was fun to have. Then Mat broke a bunny's ear off in the country store and we had to leave. It was pretty funny. We went to library where we checked out some wedding books and magazines. Then we went and found some shoes for Mat. He really needed new running shoes to exercise in. That evening we went to eat at Tablerock for Cory and Mat's birthday. Then we headed downtown for a couple drinks. We had a good time and it was fun talking with Christina abour her upcoming June wedding.

Sunday was our usual day, but then we got to see David Copperfield! It was a good weekend and now I'm back at work. I'm looking forward to this weekend already!

We have one appointment scheduled so far to look at tomorrow afternoon. I'm not too excited about this place because it isn't outside at all and is right on the freeway. But it is worth a look anyway!

Botanical Gardens Make Me Yawn

We went to the Botanical Garden this afternoon. We walked around the grounds, but it was hard to tell what it will actually look like when all the plants have actually bloomed. The lady we spoke with had some photo albums we looked through to see what some of the weddings looked like. We were both surprised that there weren't that many flowers. It was really green and there were flowers, but I guess we both thought the place would have so many flowers that we wouldn't even be able to see each other. So we didn't mark it off our list, but it wasn't that exciting either. We might go look at some of the local parks this weekend and see what we think of them, but other than that we don't have any wedding planning plans. Have a great weekend!

Weekends Rock

So it isn't officially the weekend yet, but only 9 or so more hours until work is over for the day and the weekend can begin! We decided to go look at the botanical gardens this afternoon for sure, so we just have to call and let her know we are coming over. So we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to seeing it again! I looked at a couple websites of local photographers yesterday. I didn't find any specific company or person I wanted to use, but I found a few that Mat and I can do some more research on.

We don't have any official plans for tonight, but it has been discussed going to Primo's (cheap pizza buffet) for dinner and then maybe to a dollar movie. We'll see once the day is over what we feel like doing. Tomorrow, we are going out with friends to celebrate Mat and Cory's birthday. We're going to eat at Tablerock and then out downtown, which will be determined by the boys tomorrow. Sunday is the day I've been waiting for! David Copperfield will be performing here in Boise and Mat got us tickets for my birthday! I am really excited. Mat hasn't seen him before and I love David Copperfield!

Work is very slow today. There are only three of us in the office right now and one other across the street at the statehouse. We got new phones and now the phone doesn't actually ring in my office! It's been weird to get used to, but I really like the new phones. They look nicer than our old ones and it is always fun to have new technology. Even if it is a silly phone!

Thursday are Good

I am so happy it is finally Thursday! That can mean only one thing, that tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is almost here. We are thinking about visiting the local botanical garden tomorrow. When Mat called, they said they didn't need us to make an appointment, so I think we will just go check it out after he is out of class. I have actually only been to the botanical garden once and it was during their Winter Garden-a-glow. So it will be fun to see it in the daytime.

No progress yesterday on wedding planning. Although I did read a little in my Bridal Bargains book and found some good things to research. There are a ton of places that make bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses like J. Crew and Talbots. Weird, huh? This book is really good and packed with lots of great information. My sister gave it to us as an engagement gift. She bought the Baby Bargains book and loved it, so she figured we would like the Bridal one.

We had our breakfast burritos last night from our leftover Chicken-Chile Tostadas. They were scrumptious. I also made some salsa to go along with it. I tried a new combination of peppers, onions, tomatillos and garlic. It was all green and I guess you could call it a salsa verde. Other than that, we watched some TV and then went to bed. I warned you we were exciting!