Vegas Baby

Miss me? I know, I've had a life for a red hot minute! My trip to Vegas with Leslie was fantastic. Of course, I missed my husband. (And no, he did not crash our Vegas party. He went kayaking with the guys and then home to visit his parents.) I flew to Santa Barbara Wednesday evening. After a whirlwind second attempt at a landing, I arrived safely to be greeted by my buds, Leslie & Noel (co-director of the WDS). While visiting Meridith & Kiera, Leslie & I decided to be spontaneous. (ME...I know, it's crazy!) Being it 1030pm, we hopped in the car and headed for Las Vegas. An overnight roadtrip. We felt like we were back in college. What fun...no traffic, great tunes on the iPod, and my best friend. We pulled into Vegas around 4am. While the casinos were calling our names, the bed was yelling our names! That last hour reminded us that we're no longer in college.
I honestly felt like I was on vacation. Our nights consisted of getting in at 3am; our days consisted of sleeping till 10am and heading straight for the pool. I now have a lovely tan! By late afternoon, we hotel hopped and shopped. Then home to Marcie's (Leslie's mom) to change into our night outfits. We saw Avenue Q at The Wynn and Zumanity at New York New York. Avenue Q was the best! It was absolutely hysterical. My new favorite song is "Everybody's A Little Bit Racist!" You have to hear it to believe it. And, the puppet nudity was like nothing else.
Zumanity was good. I'll just say...it was what I expected from Cirque de Soliel (i.e. style & performance with Vegas flare). It was definitely over-hyped. The slots treated me well. I didn't loose much...definitely worth the entertainment. I highly recommend the penny slots...Hot Hot Penny, Catch-a-Wave, & Goldfish.
Well, those are the lowlights...as you know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Man, that saying is old!

Missing Pookey

As you can see, I finally posted some pictures. Do you like them? I've had a little extra time....my Pookey is on a business trip. I dropped him off at SFO Sunday morning. He's off to New Jersey & Pennsylvania. Fortunately, he comes home tomorrow night (Tuesday)! Wednesday I'm off to Las Veags with my best friend Leslie. Of course, I'll miss Pookey again. I secretly hope that he & Chris crash our girlie weekend. I guess it's no longer a secret! Either way, we'll have a blast hotel hoping, lounging by the pool, and watching Avenue Q and Cirque de Soleil's Zumanity. More to come when I return from Vegas.

Christian's Graduation

Christian's Graduation from NDNU - May 2006

In The City

P & C in the city - May 2006

Tarzan & Jane

Tarzan & Jane in Maui - January 2006

Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend turned out to be fabulous! Christian stayed home and hosted his mom, dad, and sister at our home. I went to Bakersfield to be with my mom. We had a great time visiting friends and family, shopping, etc. We even went to a scrapbook store to get her started...what have I done?!
Now we're back to work. Christian is preparing for a busines trip to New Jersey & Pennsylvania, and I am counting down to Las Vegas. Whew-who!!

Hobby Update

Well, I read your comments about my new hobby...scrapbooking. Very funny! For your information, I am enjoying it. In fact, I completed my very first scrapbook, our Hawaiin Vacation. Can you believe it? From your comments...no! And, no, I did not pay someone to do it for me. I considered it, though!

Graduation

Christian graduated from NDNU on Saturday, May 6th. It was so exciting! Now we're both done with our MBA's. Of course, we were done in December, but there' something about the feelings you get at commencement that wraps it all up. After the chilly, yet sunny ceremony, we treated our family and friends to lunch at The Fish Market. It was a lovely afternoon filled with many memories & pictures...I hope to get them posted to this blog soon. (Yes, I've said that before!) To top it all off...not even a week later our first statements reagrding paying back our student loans (aka the mortgage)!

Hobbies

Pookey and I have been married 3 years and have been together for almost 6 years. For many of those years, he informed me that I need a hobby. Let's take a brief look back at my time availability for a hobby...
When we began dating, we lived in different cities. Thus, my social life was my hobby when he wasn't around. A year later, we moved in together...he got me addicted to SIMS! I broke that habit, not really a hobby, when I went back to school. Thus, school became my "hobby." With school, came planning a wedding...again, not really a hobby, but very time consuimg (especially for an out-of-town wedding and many multi-city pre-wedding festivities). You get the picture! In the post wedding phase, Christian went back to school...he suddenly realized that school consumes the time of a hobby, and so, he shut up! Well, we both graduated with our MBA's in December. He quickly got back into his hobbies, while I seemed to just shop more. Thus, he decided to revisit the "you need a hobby" speech. Oh my!
Well, much to his dismay, my hobby also costs money. Big surprise! Are you curious to know what my hobby is? For those of you who know me well...are you sitting down? Seriously!
I'm scrap booking.
Yes, I said scrap booking. Pookey & I went on a fabualous vacation (a fantastic graduation gift from my mom & stepdad) to Maui, Hawaii in January! We took oddles of pictures and I've been meaning to put them in an album. Believe me, I know how easy it is to just download my digital pictures and forget about them, but I thought it best to do something with them! I know many scrap bookers out there...I even by scrap book stuff for my friends and family. I never thought I'd do it. If anything, I'd rather pay someone else to do it for me....and I still might!
Saturday, I ventured to a scrapbook store with my Aunt Carrie. We had a great time picking out the album, extra pages, card stock, and my favorite part, the embellishments. I love embellishments, but I'm not into stickers or die cuts. (Can you believe I speak the lingo?!)
Monday, I got started. I measured the pictures & card stock to background them. Then I got started cutting. Oh my...I had a minor fraction incident. Apparently 4 1/2 x2 does not equal 8 1/2! But 4 1/4 x2 does! So, once I figured how to back three photos from one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, I was set. Here's an issue...I didn't buy enough card stock. I have nearly 150 pictures and only 72 backs (for those figuring out the math, I messed up on an entire page of card stock!). Do you know what this means? This means I have to get more card stock in the same color. Do you know that not all scrap book stores carry packs of solid card stock. AGH!!!!! So, in order to complete the backs, I must travel down to San Jose (25 miles) to go back to the original scrap book store. I'm beginning to hate scrap booking and I haven't even started attaching the pictures or embellishments to the album pages.
Wish me luck, or give me suggestions for a new hobby! And no, it cannot be child bearing. We're waiting until winter/spring 2007!

A Splendid Easter

Pookey & I had a splendid Easter! We pulled in to Bakersfield on Saturday and had lunch with my dad and stepmom at Luigi's. Yum. Bakersfield is good for food & family...not much else. (We also enjoyed Smith's cookies & hot cross buns, besides some awesome home cooking & BBQ'ing.) I ran into my nephew, Max, at Luigi's. He's so grown-up now. Man, I'm getting old!
Easter Sunday began early at church with my mom & stepdad. I really enjoy going to my home church. It's so great that I compare all other churches to it...and nothing compares. Pookey & I attend two churches; one is large, has an incredible pastor, & feeds us via the Word; the other is small and feeds us via praise & worship. You'd think we would have found a great combination by now. After church we had a lovely brunch with my mom & stepdad, and wacthed the original Sabrina (not as great as the remake, although I love Audrey Hepburn). Then we headed over to my aunt & uncle's for a big family BBQ. It was great to see everyone. My cousin Amanda is pregnant & due at the end of May. She looked fantastic! I can't wait to see her new addition.
A quick weekend, but quite enjoyable!

Baby Fever

I have baby fever! My friend Heather gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Friday. I had the opportunity to visit her in the hospital and meet Zoe Alexis on her day of birth. It was fantastic! I even got to hold her...yeah! Zoe is the first baby I've held on their day of birth since my cousin Jadon was born...sixteen years ago. Zoe is precious; all 6 lbs 19 inches of her. I want one!! Heather looked great despite the all night birth experience. Congratulations Heather & Chip!

Brunette

In an ongoing mission temporarily titled Physique Improvement (lame...let me know if you have title suggestions), I am now a fabulous brunette! Of course, this is my opinion. Pookey loved it, as did my coworkers. Then it must be true! I'll try to post some pictures next week.

Hand Slap

Well, I got my hand slapped. Mr Chris decided to scold me for not blogging often enough. I am sorrrreee! Honestly, I thought I was saving people time and energy from reading a brief or boring blog. We may live celebrity-like lives with all the running from paparazzi, but frankly, things don't happen every day! And if it did, we'd be in People or Us Weekly, or heaven forbid, Star. I mean come on now, Chris!

Work is awesome...I love my promotion and responsibilities. I got my first new paycheck...cha ching! Needless-to-say, it felt great. I went to lunch with Carin & Claudia today. What fun! It was an absolutely beautiful day; a nice change from the downpour. We went to Stanford Shopping Mall and had salads, sandwiches, and great conversation.

Pookey also had some exciting work news. He petitioned, via a well-written business plan, the president of his comany to transition into sales from client relations management. Things are a go! I'm not sure how this will happen, but I'm grateful for his opportunity. I guess that's the best part of a start-up company...it's small enough that you can build a rapport with the president/v.p.'s and write/present/implement a new position & business plan.

We're looking forward to celebrating Easter. We'll travel to Bakersifeld, Saturday thru Monday, to visit my family. I haven't seen my parents in two months, so I'm especially looking forward to the trip. I hope to see some extended family & freinds as well, but that is usually difficult due to time. Maybe I'll get more visiting in on my next trip in May.

Have a blessed Easter!

Don't Feed the Swans

Pookey and I had a lovely anniversary celebration/date night. We ended up canceling dinner (neither one of us were hungry). However, on our way to the theatre Pookey got hungry and decided that he wanted McDonald's. Can you believe our romantic evening began with McDonald's?! Since I don't eat fast food (and still wasn't hungry) I had a lovely ice tea.
Anyway, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake was great. It was quite modern. The choreography was fantastic! in addition, the male swans were incredible. If you go, I recommend sitting at least six rows from the stage. ACT II is intense and sweat will fling from the swans! Hence, don't feed the swans.