Today has been a stressful day!

Whew, it has been quite a day at work today. I stayed up until 10:30 last night putting together a power point for an investor presentation today. Change this, change that, I don't like those colors, put it in this order....AHHHHHH, these people were driving me crazy. All of my slides were done by 5 pm, but some how I was the lucky one to be chosen to pull all of everyone else's slides together. I told them yesterday I would be in late today, but the emails began at 8 am to once again update the slide show that I thought was so badly needed to be finalized the night before. I just so happen to be in on time, because I went to sit for the CPA exam and they wouldn't let me since my last name didn't match my notice to schedule. I had my marriage license and my birth certificate, but they refused. I have called and emailed the Georgia coordinator about 10 times and NO RESPONSE! This is the "only person that can help me" and I have basically forfeited my $300 to take the exam according to the 3 people from NASBA that I spoke with. I have had nothing to do with this project up to this point and now I am having to explain other people's numbers...I mean really?!?!! When things don't even foot and they are hard coded in excel, how am I supposed to tell where the numbers came from, sometimes I do think these things just fall out of their ass. Work is getting worse and worse, I try to come in and as I would say it "just smile" and be thankful for my job, but sometimes it is hard. I mean we are all on the term list somewhere and they are getting pretty deep into the list, so who knows. And then, somedays I think I am safe, but then they will make a decision that I just don't get....OH not to mention my husband works here too....Yes, they support it for now, but maybe tomorrow there will be a new policy saying it is not allowed. Ugh, stress....why, why, why. You know the old saying, "don't put your eggs all in one basket?"- that is the saying, right?- well I am completely unboard with that saying. We definitely both want to keep our jobs for now, but probably not a great idea to think of this place as our long term career spot....I mean, I am just saying.

Ok, well that is all for now, I have to get back to reality!

Going out of town this weekend, leaving pups with 2 friends.

So this weekend Allan and I are headed to Florida to meet our new baby nephew Aidan. We decided to fly since we are limited on time and my mom is already booked to dog sit for my sister this weekend, which means we had to find someone else to watch Oreo and Otis. Oreo still doesn't absolutely love the thought of Otis, I mean for the most part she loves him and gets along with him, but every once in a while she just decides she has had enough and goes off on him- which makes me nervous, so we decided we would seperate them for the weekend so that no one else has to possibly deal with the 2 of them fighting. See, Otis is very timid. He cowards down to our neighbors 2 pound chihuahua and rubs up next to her saying, "be my friend, be my friend". He is the cutest, sweetest little guy ever- and thank god for that, because Oreo is definitely the Alpha dog in our house. She does not like other dogs being in her house and boy does she not like them coming near the bed. So this weekend Oreo will be staying with my best friend who does not have another dog in the house, so she should be fine. Otis is staying with a good friend of mine from work, who does have another dog, and I know he is in good hands. I wish I didn't have to seperate them, and I hope they don't suffer any emotional distress from this, so crazy how just leaving town for a couple of days and the thought of our pups not being there makes me sad already...

Today is my Hubby's b-day!

So today is my husband's birthday, happy birthday honey, I hope the coming year brings you all you wished for! This weekend we went out with friends, it was a lot of fun, we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives. Saturday we did dinner at Cantina, a fun mexican restaurant in Buckhead and then went to The Havana Club. It was our first time there and we had fun, but I was tired by midnight, lol, I am so boring! Does anyone else need to be tipsy before they hit the dance floor at a club? I totally do! I just need the liquid confidence, which I did not have on Saturday night. My husband LOVES to dance, he is so outgoing and energetic, so sometimes I feel bad, but he knew that he was marrying a boring old woman at heart. Anyways, it was a fun night, there was a great band playing so I enjoyed that. I can't believe how quick time goes by, feels like we just celebrated his last b-day. I hope this year is as wonderful as the last year was. Since his last birthday, we got engaged, got married, friends got married, pregnant & had babies, we bought a house, my sister bought a house, we got a new puppy (Otis) our nephew was born and so much more.

Baby Fever....we have it!

So I have talked about this before, but does anyone else have the baby itch? Allan and I just got married in April and have only been together for almost 2 years, but we cannot wait to have a baby. Everyone around us is having babies- his friends, which is pretty normal because they are hitting their 30's- but even my friends who are mostly mid 20's. I am begining to think there is just something in the air...and it is spreading like wild fire. We don't know when the timing is right, I mean who does? I think people either reach a certain point or age in their life where they decide to go for it now before they lose their chance, or it just suprises you, but either way most of the time they are in for a suprise and definitely a life changing event. Where we are in our lives we feel like we can handle it, we don't want to say it is going to happen this month or say we are going to wait a year...we just will see what happens, but if it doesn't happen with in 2 years, we will be visiting a doctor, lol. There are many reasons for us to wait and reasons for us to go ahead and do it, so who knows...! My best friend is pregnant and she is letting the sex of the baby be a suprise- who does that right? Well, she does. Her and her husband are care- free and simple, and I think it is so cool how they are going to let it be a suprise, I could never do it, so I envy them and I cannot wait to see what it is going to be- I am guessing girl by the way! They are picking names for both and the initials will be the same if it is a girl or boy, which is cool. For as long as I can remember, I have always known I wanted to be a mom some day and have been picking out my baby names, but my favorites have changed over the yearts, so this has me thinking...what will Allan and I name our babies? I have my favs, but you just never know until you are planning what you will go with.

My top girl names are:
Peyton, Chloe, Adrianna, Avery, Zoe, Sofia, Bailey, Mallory, Olivia
My top boy names are:
Mason, Parker, Logan, Miles, Landon, Owen, Max, Brady, Brody, Nathan "Nate" for short

For the girl middle name definitely Rose- it was my grandma's middle name
For the boy middle name...want to do something with a family name, but haven't decided

My favs are of course based on how they sound with my new last name and other things as well. You will see the influence to the TV shows I love in here, lol, but I think that is ok. I know 1 day Allan and I will be selecting our babies name and I know we will both be extremely excited to do so.

We finished part 1 of our back yard project

So this weekend we finished part 1 of our back yard project, now we are going to wait a couple months to get over the huge investment we just made and then start on the firepit on top of the hill- which we will be doing on our own! Very exciting.... :)

My weekend

So Friday Allan and I went to Lowes and got some stepping stones to complete our back yard and yes, yes...we got some patio furniture!! Woohoo!!! I have been trying to find a set that Allan liked for so long and he finally agreed to one. It was kind of pricey, but after looking at 100 sets, I just wanted to have some seating out there, so we got it and it looks great. His friends from Albequerque and Florida came in and stayed at our place. They are buying a jewerly store and moving here in a couple of months with their families. I think it is soooo cool that they are taking this kind of risk and going for something they believe in. Like his friend Dubi said, what is the worst that can happen? He is so right, I mean if it were to fail, they would just get regular jobs again, but they are moving somewhere new and great for their families and giving it their all, I think it is totally awesome!

Also this weekend a boxer wandered in our yard...Oreo HATES boxers. My sister has a boxer who Oreo does not get along with so immediately she tries to attack the dog. THANK GOD the dog was friendly and did not fight back. Allan and Sean catch the dog and spend an hour or so walking it around trying to find its owner...nothing. So we tie it up, we call the police, the animal shelter- but since the dog is not aggressive, no one will come get it. Then, someone reports a missing Bull Mastif- which ironically looks VERY similar to a boxer and both dogs had red collars. I thought ok, for sure this is the owner. So we finally get in touch with the guy, but he is drunk and about 15 minutes away. So by 2 am he sobers up and after probably 10 phone calls back and forth he comes to pick up "George". It wasn't his dog... so we let the dog go. Sunday, the dog was still sitting on our patio, he was attached :(

Ugh, we did not know what to do at this point, so we call my mom and she is such a good mommy she drives up to pick George up until we get the owner- or a new owner for him. Needless to say, he was reported missing this morning, so now the guy has to drive an hour each way to pick up his dog- that's what he gets- take care of your animals people!

People like garbage trucks

So this morning as we were driving in the Bert Show was talking about this great article that I wanted to share.

Beware of Garbage Trucks ™

SEPTEMBER 24, 2007© David J. Pollay, HappyNews Columnist
How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you’re the Terminator, for an instant you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly she can get back her focus on what’s important. Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!Here’s what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face. Now, here’s what blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck™.”Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.When someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll be happy you did. I guarantee it.So this was it: The “Law of the Garbage Truck™.” I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, “I’m not going to do it anymore.”I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the little boy said, “I see Dead People.” Well now “I see Garbage Trucks.” I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don’t make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about. The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?

Ah, work.....

So I am sitting here today, like a lot of days lately wondering why didn't I chose something fun to be my career...I could have been an actress, a jouranlist, a photographer, a ballerina (lol, probably not), or an astronaut, but I chose Accounting & Finance? Really?! Ever since I could remember I loved math and problem solving and I still do, but I just feel so blah lately. I remember how good it felt to win the math bee in the second grade and always finish my times tables first, or to be able to leave class on thursdays and go on field trips with the PC kids, but being smart- well, it just doesn't feel that way anymore...

2 years ago I was all about becoming a successful business woman, a big wig and my career, my title, my salary, all of that really defined success for me. Today, I feel so completely different. As I sit here in the office thinking of how far I have already come at such a young age, I just feel confused. I want to have babies soon, I want to be able to get up go to work, leave work, not answer emails after I leave or ALWAYS be that go to person for projects. I want to leave work and really leave it if ya know what I mean. But then I wonder, is that what I really want? Did I work this hard, get my MBA and all of that to be a pee-on, hell no! I just want to find the balance. Maybe a job where there are several go to people, they solicit work life balance, I come in, I stay busy with challenging and dynamic projects, but then I go home and leave the work till the next day...I know those jobs are few and far between, but they are out there and gosh darn it, that is where I am ultimately going to end up. I want to be successful, I want to continue my move up the corporate ladder, I want all of this, but...I would also love to open my own business, or do well at my own gig, but that takes great ideas and a big risk- so until I get that einstein idea and take that leap, I will focus on the now. I guess all of this really boils down to...where do I want to be in 10 years? Career wise, I have no idea honestly. I can tell you what I think sounds appealing....

I want to be in a stable company working in a VP type role, maybe 10 miles or so from home, come in, make my valuable contribution for the day, and head home to my happy family. I know some of you are saying dream on and that's ok, because ultimately it is my destiny and so far I have done a pretty good job at acheiving my goals, so I will achieve this one too, I just have to be patient- which is one of my biggest weaknesses....and trust that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Until then, I will just continue working hard, finding my peace in Hot Yoga on tuesday nights and let life just happen, I know whatever happens, we will figure it out.

So, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Sandals Vacations!

[caption id="attachment_160" align="aligncenter" width="130" caption="My 1 month cookie bouquet!"][/caption]So on Monday my hubby and I celebrated our 1 month anniversary being married. I know some of you are laughing saying 1 month, that is nothing, and you are right, I mean don't get me wrong we hope to 1 day be celebrating 25 and 50 years being married, but life is not guaranteed and we were happy to be married 1 month. He got me these adorable cookies arranged in a bouquet and they are delish! So being married 1 month got me thinking about our honeymoon. We met sooo many great couples while we were there- 2 inparticular our now our facebook friends and we plan to keep in touch with them a very long time. We had a destination wedding which entailed a lot of planning, so while I did want to go to Greece and stay in a little place on the Mediterranean, I just couldn't imagine planning a wedding and huge trip, so I decided to put Greece to the side and book an all expenses paid, stress free vacation to Montego Bay through Sandals.

First off, they always have great sales. We booked our trip for 65% off!!! Secondly, all food and drinks are included. I don't really drink much, but Allan definitely does and that can get very expensive. Now, they are a little stingy with the liquor, so Allan figured out right away to ask for a double and become friendly with the bar tenders slipping them a dollar here and there, so I do recommend if you like your drinks a little stronger, do that! In Montego Bay there are 3 Sandals resorts within a 5 minute radius, so there was probably about 10 restaurants to choose from. The food overall was excellent! We did a couple 5 course meals and did a couple beachside grills for lunch and everything was good. Again, all paid for, no tipping or anything. Oh and did I mention the shuttle back and forth between resorts is free too! Now, activities...you can do the activities inside the resort like sailing, snorkeling, diving, parasailing and all that kind of stuff for free, but anything outside of the resort is pricey- but that is pretty standard. We did 2 outside activities during our 5 day stay and it was plenty. During the other days we mainly stayed on the beach, but they always had fun things going on. Our first night there was a HUGE beach party at night and a little meet and greet during the day. We played couples games like which couple could pop the balloons while bouncing on eachother the fastest, which was hilarious! Allan even entered a little dancing contest. We played beer pong on the beach and flip cup.

For anyone who wants a stress free vacation with little to no planning and without spending a fortune, Sandal is definitely the way to go! The people are great, the resort is accomodating and you are guaranteed to meet some great people, it is 99% couples and no children under 18 are aloud, so it really couldn't get any more relaxing. Sometimes I like to just close my eyes and imagine being on the beach in a lounge chair sipping a Jamaican Smile and having not a worry in the world.

Our first big investment into our home....

Allan and I have decided to fix up our back yard. We were hesitant at first, just because it is such a big investment and we don't plan on being in this house forever, but we decided to go for it. We received some cash for the wedding and decide this would be a way we could put it into something we would really enjoy. We are not putting an extreme amount of cash into it, because in 6 or so years we will probably move on to a bigger home, but in the mean time we want to enjoy our back yard. The guys are coming today to start on it and it should be complete in 3 days. These are some before pictures that we took this morning. Our back yard is great, it has a lot of character, it is a 1/2 acre lot with a hill that goes up to a flat, big section. We are cutting out some of the hill and extending the patio, putting up a stone retaining wall, replacing the rocks to the shed with big stone steppers, and putting stone steps up to the top of the hill. In the fall, we are going to put a fire pit area on top of the hill. We are kind of nervous and excited to see how it turns out and hoping that we are happy with it.

Monday's, Monday's, Monday's...

Oh Monday's, how I do dread you. Isn't it funny how on Monday's when you ask someone at work "how are you" and you get the response "Oh you know, It's Monday". I am guilty of it too, but it is just amusing how your mood and outlook depends on the day of the week. Tuesday's are always better days than Monday's, Thursday is always better than Wednesday and Friday is always nice because the weekend is right around the corner. When really, if you are anything like my husband and I, the weekends are just as busy and filled with work as the workday's, but it just feels different. I guess planting and putting down pinestraw is at least something you get immediately paid back for when you look at how much better your yard looks, where as work you only get paid every 2 weeks and the money goes right towards bills. I try to remember to be thankful to have Monday's to dread- lol. Not many people are blessed enough to love their jobs, but just be happy you have one and even happier if you have one that you don't absolutely hate. Work for us is very demanding, blackberries that you have to answer all times of the day, big meetings to prepare for with executive management, etc. But...there are plenty of people without jobs, plenty of people who cannot afford to go out to a nice dinner or even buy groceries, so this Monday, let's all be thankful for our jobs.

Officially, Officially a Changar...

ok, so the Social Security office ended up being painless. Other than the slight smell of urine in the building, it was quick and easy, now just waiting on my card to get here. Today, I changed my name at the bank, the hair salon, my credit card, car insurance (I combined our accounts and we are saving $200 a year, whoop whoop) and....my license. I am missing my old, younger picture and my old, better weight, lol...but it's ok I needed to update the address anyways, it was like 10 addresses ago. So now I think of what's left. Mortgage, gym, regions/rental bank account, health savings account, work payroll, and passport- which I have GOT to mail since we have a trip planned for Canada the 1st of July...I know, I am slacking, I got the pics and all paperwork filled out, I just have to make it to the post office to send certified mail.

If I am leaving anything out, let me know... :)

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

You and your partner on the same page?

So last night me and my hubby were watching Tough Love Couples and the theme was about couples being or not being in some cases, on the same page in their relationship. They were asking the couples questions like:

- Is it ok for your partner to dance with someone of the opposite sex?
- Is it ok to flirt?
- Is it ok for your partner to fantasize about someone else?

It was pretty funny to see how different some of the couples answered these questions, so it got me thinking, hell, Allan and I really haven't ever answered these questions ourselves. On the show the guy recommended that you write down a bunch of questions like these and you each answer them, then you go over the questions where you had different answers and discuss them and decide together on a response that you will both be happy with. After all, for any relationship to work you have to communicate and you HAVE to be on the same page. I think this would be a pretty fun and interesting exercise for any couple to do, I am betting Allan and I will do pretty well. Yes honey you can dance with girls, keep it clean though, but No flirting and NO fantasizing (like I would know if he did, right).

Sweating the small stuff?? ..well, don't!

[caption id="attachment_132" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="us sitting on the same side of the booth!"][/caption]So I was reading this article on the Nest that says sweating the small stuff in a relationship can, and often does, ruin relationships. I know everyone out there has pet peeves about their partner, heck I do...

Where do I start? Allan loves to come home, take his socks off, ball them up and leave them in the most random spots like the kitchen table, the steps, the sink, etc. Oh, and his snoring isn't the most pleasant thing either- last night it woke me up and I spent about 30 minutes trying to fall back asleep until I couldn't stand it, so I punched him and told him to roll over on his side because his snoring is outta control! We sleep with a sound machine (ahhh, the sound of rain), so most nights I am ok, but boy, last night was something!!!

Anyways, the point is I could go on and on about little things that he does that get on my nerves, like slamming on the brakes and ALWAYS blaming it on the car in front of us. Ok, Ok, I will stop. I know he has a million too, like when I bite my nails or complain about his driving, but honestly thinking about it, I have got to have more, lol...JK! Back to the point- are you really going to let these little annoyances ruin your relationship/marriage?? I am not! and I hope he never does either.

Today (and everyday) rather than putting your focus on the little things that annoy you try to spend at least a little time focusing on the little things that you love. I love how my husband always sits on the same side of the booth with me, how he sets up my humidifier when my nose is dry, how he orders desert because he knows I want it, how he brings me home flowers when I send him to work on his own, how he always makes my mom margharitas and so, so much more.