Camping Extravaganza

I had to use the title since our "Camping Extravaganza" organizer, Ang, decided to call it that on the Facebook invite :) ha. Anyway, this past weekend for camping was absolutely beautiful. No rain, just enough sunshine to warm up during the day, and enough to cool off at night in order to enjoy a nice campfire. I love this time of year! And I'm glad Ross convinced me to pass Dakota off to the in-laws this weekend b/c I don't think she would've enjoyed the cold nights as much.

As for our camping trip, we had quite a few people that were able to make it. Other than our good friends Ang & Mike, our friend Kris, and her new b/f, Josh (who we got to grill just a bit, j/k!) were able to make it, Ang's brother and his wife (first-time campers....I hope they enjoyed themselves and join us again in the future!), and a few other friends of Ang & Mike's who Ross & I got to meet for the first time that were really fun to hang out with. I think we had a total of about 12 people?! It was a great group and I look forward to camping with everyone again ...hopefully we didn't scare away any of the newbies :)

As for organizing the trip...thanks Ang!! It always ends up being more work than you think it will be, so I really appreciate all the time and effort she put into this...especially since she's back-to-school and working 10+ hour days!

Ah....time to reminisce. Hopefully we can get out one more time, but I'm not sure Ross is willing. He was already "camped out" a month ago, and I was lucky he enjoyed himself this weekend. So we'll see. I just may have to go stag :)

Finance Conference

Today has been a catch-up day at work since I've been gone all week at our Global Finance Conference at Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, WV. I was reluctant about attending the conference ever since I began helping to plan it almost 3 months ago. I really didn't want to go, I was reserved about not knowing anyone, being the youngest attendee there (since most of the invited attendees were managers, controllers, etc.) and just hoped that I could manage to mingle enough to survive. All in all, the conference went really well, and I even enjoyed myself for the most part :) (I guess the free Pedicure didn't hurt!). I hope to get some good feedback from people, but me and the other 2 ladies that planned it have already been voted to be the "conference planners" again next year...so we must've done something right!

I was excited to finally meet a lot of the people that I already correspond with. It always nice to put a face to a name. And it was great to meet some of our Global Controllers from all over the world, a few from Sweden, Japan, China, Germany, Spain, etc. Too bad our dept. won't allow us to plan the Conference in Europe next year :P Now THAT would be awesome, ha.

Anyways, I got home yesterday afternoon after a nasty drive in the pouring down rain, unpacked, did my laundry, and packed again (3rd time in the past 2 weeks! *sigh*) for camping this weekend with a few friends. So far, it looks like no chance of rain all weekend, and beautiful autumn weather!! I love Fall! It's certainly the best time to go camping :) Especially when it cools down at night, and we can hover around a nice campfire, and then snuggle into a sleeping bag. Ah...I'm so excited. Even though I'm not looking forward to another long car ride, it'll still be worth it.

Crazy Week

This past weekend/week at work have been absolutely crazy! I haven't even HAD time to surf the web in the past week...how DID I survive?! ha...

I've been wanting to update everyone on my weekend at VA Beach with mom and the girls, but alas, this is the first time I've been on here for quite some time. Anyways, I had a great time. Sorry, I don't have any pics to share. I've gotten so lazy when it comes to taking pictures. I was a little hesitant about going on the trip, it seemed like such a far drive for only 4 days, but in the end, it was worth it. I enjoyed just chilling by the pool (that did NOT have an ocean view....boo), getting some sun (but not too much, I LOVE my new HUGE beach hat :) :) :), and enjoying the great weather we lucked out on (boo-boo-pa-too to you Hurricane Earl)(HA! you just wait, my new phrase is going to catch on soon to everything!). And now I'm extrememly thankful I got some relaxation time in before this crazy work week had begun.

I've been helping plan a Finance Conference at Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, West Virginia since June, and it's coming up next week!!! So last minute details have been taking over my life at work, hence the reason my week has been so hectic. I even SKIPPED my lunch yesterday, eek! As much as I've been enjoying being an "event planner" for this conference, I think it's earned me a few gray hairs. The conference is next week, Monday through Thursday, which I will also be attending to make sure it all runs smoothly. Let's just say, I hope the week goes by fast. I am not one to mingle. Or make new friends. No thanks. I actually enjoy silence, thank-you-very-much. So for me to have to mingle with about 70+ people I've never met (even a few from out of the country....did I mention how AWFUL I am with accents?!?!?), will certainly be a challenge.

Lastly, at least I will have a camping trip coming up the weekend after the conference that will surely get me through the week. I can't wait to see all my friends :) And surely Ross will miss me after I'm gone for 4 days?! ...*ahem*....maybe. Did I mention how much he enjoyed me being gone over Labor Day weekend?! just kidding. Although it WAS nice to have some time apart ....and even nicer to come home to a CLEAN apartment! *gasp*

My Typical Workday

Here's a little preview of what a typical workday looks like for me:

8:30 am: Get into work
8:45 am: Read through new emails
9:00 am: Asked to schedule various meetings w/ 15+ people throughout the end of the year
9:30 am: Send out meeting requests to people for various dates
10:00 am: Realize I scheduled the first mtg. during a weeklong conference that I am indeed attending, but completely forgot about
10:14 am: Re-send meeting request
10:15: Apologize to the 8 emails I received in all of 3 seconds reminding me about the conf. and why I would schedule a mtg. for such date
10:30: Dilemna solved, everyone likes the new date
10:40: Try scheduling another meeting
10:45: Realize there's not ONE SINGLE Conference room available in this entire HUMUNGOUS building during my time slot
10:50: search for new time & date
11:00: Finally find a conf. room I can use
11:05 ADHD kicks in, and I stare at the Facilities guys removing ceiling tiles above my head, to feed a wire down to the other end of the building
11:10: still watching, la dee da
11:20: what is that white foamey stuff in the ceiling?? dust or fire-proof preventatives?? hmm...
11:30: Where did the Facilities guys go, the ceiling tiles are still outta wack
11:45: lunch lunch lunch, food food, num num num...
12:00: Go to lunch w/ Mom since she's shopping in Cranberry today :)
1:00: attempt to work while counting down the hours to my weekend!

yup, a day in the life of me is never boring. Unless it's yesterday, now THAT was a boring day...

Twilight Fever

After having some doubts about being left home alone this weekend, and what I would do with myself, I surprisingly kept very busy and had a great weekend!

Friday night I got the chance to see 4 of my girlfriends, at an impromptu dinner at the Olive Garden :) It was a great start to my weekend! Afterwards, I decided to rent "Remember Me" with Robert Pattinson. You see, I'm a lil' obsessed with him lately, since Michelle's gotten me hooked on the whole 'Twilight' series, and since Redbox was not carrying either of the Twilight movies, I had to make due with what I could. The movie was pretty good, it was a little intense at parts, with a sad ending. But I'm a sucker for "drama" chick flicks.

Saturday I went out to lunch with another friend, did some shopping for fun (aka Target), and then stopped by my dad's birthday clam bake at his friends house to hit up some free food for dinner :) I left just after it started to pour down raining, in order to start my 'Twilight' marathon! I rented the first Twilight, which I saw a few years ago after it just came out. But back then, I didn't know what all the hype was about, and thought the movie was awful. So I decided to re-watch it now that I've read the book, and enjoyed the movie much more. I also rented New Moon, which I had yet to see. It also did not dissapoint, and worth staying up until 1:00 a.m. (yes, I know...I'm old, I have a 'strict' 10:00 pm bedtime during the week and more often than not do I still fall asleep at the same time on weekends! HA!)

Anyway, I'm halfway through Eclipse, and completely and unwillingly obsessed with this series. I don't even like "sci-fi" but I can't put the book down. I can't wait to see how the story ends! If you already know...please don't spoil it!

As for Ross, he had a great time camping with his friends. It's not often that they all get to hang out, so they made the most of it. And they even ended up with good weather. Apparently for now on he is blaming me on when it rains when we go camping. Thanks hun!

All in all...it was great to be home alone and not feel guilty about watching chick flicks all weekend! But I am happy to have my best friend home :)

"Best Wife of the Year" Award

I've often liked to acknowledge that I should be awarded "Best Wife of the Year." Last year, for example, when I 'allowed' my husband to buy a motorcycle without giving him much of a fight. THAT in and of itself should've won me the award :)

This year, I so kindly planned a camping trip for my husband and all of HIS friends. You see, it started out with all of us wanting to do a camping trip again (like we did 2 years ago). In the end, any of the 'few and far between' girls in his group weren't able to commit, which would leave me alone with 5 guys...camping. So you can understand when I opted out, and insisted they have a "guys" weekend. In the end, I had done all the planning and nagging to get enough people to come, and now I don't even get to enjoy all the effort it was worth. You'd think this was just some kind of ploy to get Ross out of the house for the weekend! Not really, although now I'm wondering if this was somehow a result of my subconcious. But after being sad that I won't be able to enjoy a weekend of camping, I'm kind of looking forward to a weekend of doing nothing :) And having Ross gone for a few days will allow me to take advantage of catching up on all the chick flicks I've missed in the past year! SO...I guess it won't be such a bad weekend after all.

AND I'm *again* awarding myself "Best Wife of the Year" award :)

It's a win-win situation!

Now if only I could get him to take the dog too ...it would be completely and utterly delightful....




AH. who am I kidding?! I love that stinkin' cute weiner dog....

Happy Anniversary

Ross and I celebrated our 2-year anniversary this weekend at The Melting Pot in Station Square. We've heard so many good things about it, so we finally decided to give it a try for our special night out. It was exciting to try somewhere new, and somewhere unique, where all of your courses contain some type of fondue (for those of you who have never heard of the restaurant).

Our watress was nice enough to take a few photos. You can see by our

food that this was the end of our meal...chocolate fondue!

We went all out and ordered the "4-course dinner for 2," which we were told was the way to go, if eating there. It was great to try every course that they offered! Our first course was a Spinach & Artichoke Cheese Fondue, served with bread for dipping, apple slices and veggies. I was a bit confused how apple slices and cheese fondue go together, which was not one of my favorite combos, but Ross surprised us both by how much he liked it!


Our entree contained a ton of food, like sirloin, chicken, pork, tuna, shrimp, and lobster tail. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy the entree that much. It was a little disheartening since I don't like seafood, so Ross got the majority of that dish! At least the sirloin was good :) My other favorite part of the meal...dessert! We ordered the milk chocolate fondue, which came with pieces of brownie, pound cake, cheesecake, strawberries and bananas. Simply put....it was delicious.

Lastly, our waitress knew that we were celebrating our anniversary (which was funny when she asked, b/c when we told her, she assumed that we were still dating, since she started to go on about how her and her boyfriend's 1-yr. anniversary was coming up soon!), so she offered us a free celebratory toast of champagne. I wanted to do an *awesome* pic of us linking our arms together and drinking, but Ross would not cooperate. O well...just trying to recreate our wedding toast ....loser.... *ahem* Anywho, moving on..... here is our *un-awesome* toast pic....

...which was caught in the middle of dessert, so you can imagine my eagerness to get back to the chocolate fondue.

Even though we decided that we will probably not eat there again, we had a great night out and a great experience! I DO want to note though that we decided to forgo gifts this year in order to do a "nicer" dinner, in case any of you were wondering how we could splurge on a more expensive restaurant. Unlike last year, where we celebrated at Sir Pizza :) .....now THAT, is the way to girl's heart!

Happy 2 Years Ross :)