Birthday

I just spent the last week in Utah for my birthday.  It was fabulous weather; I don't think I've ever had a really warm birthday (in the low 60s/high 50s).  Anyways...

We meant to fly out on Wednesday evening, but flying standby can be awful.  We had to fly out Thursday morning.  I flew threw Atlanta and Jared flew through Detroit.  We both barely got on the flights to Salt Lake City by the skin on our teeth.  I'm just glad we were able to make it out.  Some funny things while at the airport: I had to take Gizmo potty outside in Atlanta.  Going back through security took forever and almost caused me to miss my flight.  Fact number two: a big snow storm fell over Wisconsin and Michigan (mainly Michigan).  Jared said he couldn't see the runway from the windows in the airport.  They had to de-ice the plane making his flight late (and I arrived in SLC an hour before him).

Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City.

Anyways, we spent most of our time in Utah visiting family.  We saw all of the new nephews.  And then we visited with some friends and saw their babies.  So many new babies, yeesh.  For those wondering when our babies are going to make an appearance: don't hold your breath.  It'll be another five years (I'm having too much fun spoiling myself).

Cortnie and I in an Outhouse at the Playhouse.

My mom did a girls' night at the Desert Playhouse.  We watched a Phantom of the Opera spoof.  For being a family-friendly non-alcoholic event, it was pretty fun to watch.  While I definitely enjoy the Comedy Club in Madison (with the alcohol), I could see this Playhouse being the Utah-version (clean-cut and modestly funny).

Our hotel room had a foosball table and a mini-golf green.  It was awesome!

We spent my actual birthday up in Logan.  We decided to stay at Anniversary Inn and took a tour of the rooms to pick the one we wanted.  We thought we'd try a hike in Logan Canyon, but the trails were too muddy.  We stooped at the university, ate some ice cream, bought some Aggie-wear, and wandered around campus.  For the most part, Logan hasn't really changed.  And I'm still glad I didn't stay there.

Mountain range in Logan.  I really miss my mountains.

It was kind of bittersweet going home.  I really enjoy not working, being lazy, and seeing family.  I definitely miss that while living in Madison.  And I've worked this weekend trying to pick up overtime (to fund the vacation we just finished).  I'm also really annoyed with the weather out here.  After being catered with warm weather, I can't stand the harsh winter that's still here (it's in the single digits still).

Just staying alive doing the usual.  And praying for warm weather...

A While

Well, it's been a while since I posted.  And I've sure kept busy.  I was in Lancaster last weekend.  It was a pretty, small, old town.  I enjoyed seeing all of the old buildings and walking around.  I got a few pictures.  But I am sure glad to be done with all of the traveling.  No more traveling for a long time.  I want to readjust to the home lifestyle.

Jared ended up buying me a new laptop while I was on my business trip.  I have converted to the 'evil' mac system.  It has certainly taken a lot of adjusting, but I'm slowly figuring it out.  And I'm starting to like it.

I had Friday off to recover from all of the hours I've put into work.  It was a much needed resting day...  My stress load is beginning to become more manageable.  As to whether or not I love my job, that has yet to be determined.  Only time will tell.

We planted our vegetable garden on Friday.  It took us about three hours because we had a lot of weeding to do.  We've planted tomatoes, onions, green onions, corn, red and green bell peppers, jalapeños, fresno peppers, lima beans, peas, a sugar plant, strawberries, grapes, and raspberries.  And ever since then, my wrist has been killing me.  My knees are also deeply bruised.  Hopefully, I can say it was worth it once in two months.

We went to Milwaukee yesterday.  Jared's cousin goes to school there.  That was a lot of fun.  We went to a one-of-a-kind nightclub called the Safe House.  They require a password to get in and it's like a spy/secret agency-themed restaurant.  It was definitely interesting...

And now I'm home reading my book.  I haven't read a whole lot this week.  I've been taking a break.  But now that Jared goes to Salt Lake in two days, I'll quickly pick it back up.  I don't know what I'm going to do with myself for the next week and a half.  It'll be just me and Gizmo.  I hope we survive...

Pictures from Lancaster:

My 60 oz rum and juice.  Let me tell you, I was gone after this drink.  Best thing is, I got to keep the glass.  It was awesome...

Hollywood Beach

I've been in Hollywood Beach for the weekend.  Too bad I spent it working...  Also, too bad I'm not completely stable and sane enough to enjoy it.  All I can think about right now is getting back to my husband and trying to find my routine, boring life again.  Too bad I'm stuck traveling for the next couple of weeks.

Figure if I can't enjoy it here, maybe you'll enjoy pictures of Hollywood Beach, FL (It's the furthest south I've ever been).

I walked on this boardwalk (I found this on the web)

Yes, I touched the ocean with my feet.  You know how miserable it was to walk back to the hotel in socks and shoes with sand in between?  Miserable...

Me and my hair...

Organic

Jared and I decided to read the nutritional labels while grocery shopping.  And wow, there's a lot of sodium and bad stuff in the food out there.  Needless to say, we bought a lot of organic and healthier stuff.  It was an expensive shopping trip.  Let's see if the food tastes better or the same.  Can I handle organic food?  Can I handle healthier foods?  Hmm...

I'm enjoying my three day weekend.  I've been running a lot of errands and cleaning the house.  It's nice to do almost nothing.  It's supposed to get really warm this weekend.  Mid 60s to lower 70s.  Exciting.  I'm glad to be home.

Gizmo got his Spring cut today.  I didn't do anything too severe by saying chop all of his hair off.  So, he still has quite a bit.  And I'm beginning to think they didn't use a shaver but actually cut his hair with scissors.  The groomer said I did a good job maintaining his hair throughout winter.  In other words, he had absolutely no mattes, and his hair was very smooth to the touch.

Last Saturday, my coworker and I went to Virginia City, Nevada.  It's an old ghost town turned tourist town.  There were a lot of older buildings and shopping areas.  It was also very windy.  Anyways, I had lots of fun learning Virginia City's history and window-shopping.

Where we ate lunch.  It was an old saloon.  I didn't get a picture of the bar.  Thought of that mistake after the fact...

I believe the name of this church is St Mary's in the Mountains or something like that.  It's one of the oldest Catholic churches in the US.  I got to attend mass in it.  I enjoyed it.

Hotel

I've been in Reno for almost a week.  And I believe I'm ready to go home...  Granted, almost all I've done here is work and more work.  But today's my day off.  Maybe I'll get out of this hotel and go do something...  If only I had a car.

Normal

Let me say, last week was the best birthday ever!!  Seeing my family was so fun and refreshing.  The only drawback was the flying standby business (as always).

Thursday - 24

Jared, Gizmo, and I flew from Madison to Minneapolis.  I saw the Mall of America in the air and told Jared, "If we get stuck here, we're so going there!!"  We couldn't get on the first flight to Salt Lake.  For those who don't know, Salt Lake is the western hub for Delta which makes it very hard for standbys to get on these flights.  The second plane, I got on easily but Jared barely made it on.  So, the fact that we got on the plane together was a good start.  Picked up the rental car in Salt Lake.  Thanks to my membership (that work gave me), they upgraded my car and gave us something nice.  Renting a car for a few days for only $80 was completely worth every buck.  Anyways, we had a big family get-together at Cafe Rio for my birthday.  Why Cafe Rio?  Because it's awesome (and not in Wisconsin).

Friday - 25

There was a big surprise right next to the Winco store; a Culver's opened up in Utah.  We're like wait a second, I thought we were in Utah.  Culver's is Wisconsin-based, so we were very surprised to see it opening in Utah.  We went to see a lot of family members including our brand new nephew.  Restaurant choices include Carl's Jr (Hardee's just isn't the same) and Sconecutter.

Saturday - 26

I took my siblings shopping.  They were so happy to see me.  And it was fun hanging out with them.  It's also a nice reminder that I'm still not ready for kids.  I like being selfish and only thinking of myself (I really do), and that mentality doesn't go well with having kids.  Anyways, we also talked Jared's brothers into trying out Culver's.  Who'd have thought we'd be eating at Culver's in Utah??

Sunday - 27

We saw all of our grandparents one last time.  I really don't remember all of the specifics of my trip other than I loved it.  Granted, it did snow a bit.  And I do have to say, Utahns are very spoiled with their snow.  Someone said there was ice on the ground, and I asked where.  She pointed out a small thing of ice.  Yeah, that is ice but I don't think a two-inch piece of ice should be scaring everyone into saying there's ice everywhere.  Trust me, after living in Wisconsin, I know what ice everywhere looks like (the ground turns into a solid block of ice that never ends)...

Monday - 28

The most disappointing day of our trip.  We got to the airport at 5 in the morning hoping to get on an early flight to Detroit.  Turns out everyone with money flies out to Utah over the weekend for skiing, and then they fly back on Monday.  Yeah, we didn't get on any of the early flights.  The one we did get on was a very delayed one going to Minneapolis (arrived in Minneapolis at 10:30pm).  Since it was so delayed, we missed our connecting flight.  And we figured renting a car would cost the same as trying to find a hotel with a low dog fee.  So, we rented another car to drive home.  Initially, they told us there were no cars available.  But thanks again to my job's perks, we got a car to drive home with. The only drawback is it cost more than the one we rented for the weekend (one-way rentals cost a lot).

And now I'm trying to get back into the normalness of my life.  It's hard going back to my long days at work.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job.  The hours (~7:30-~5:30) just take a lot of getting used to.

Gizmo went to the vet dentist on Wednesday.  His teeth are still too crowded.  Another tooth was pulled.  And they sent us home with antibiotics.  Apparently, the antibiotics don't taste very well.  He jumps up and down when we pull out his pain medication (arthritis), but he tries to hide when I pull out the antibiotics.  Other than that, he's doing well.

Accent

It's more than official.  I have a Wisconsin accent.  Want to hear it?  Give me a call, and you can laugh at my dialect.  I can't help it.  I assimilate to the people around me.  And even though I'm laughing very hard when I hear those thick Wisconsin accents, I can't stop my own from starting...

How is my brother doing now?  His ACL is torn.  And he has a hairline fracture.  He needs surgery done on his knee.  But that can't be done until after the fracture heals.  So, a few extra weeks of not moving.  But at least he's okay and doing better...

A lot of traveling is coming up for me.  I'm getting nervous and oh so excited....  When I go on-site, I'll be doing 12 hour shifts in the hospitals.  So, that leaves very little time to check out the sites.  I probably won't sleep a whole lot either.  Oh well.  I'll be in Atlanta Halloween weekend.  I'm planning on going out a day early, so I can spend Saturday with my family.  Then I'll be working Halloween night and Monday night.  The night shift; we'll see how that goes (think Wisconsin accent on all of the "o" sounds - kind of nasally sounding).  And the weekend after that, I'll be in Zanesville, Ohio.  A new city.  I don't think I've ever been outside of an airport in Ohio.  So, this'll be fun.

I need a good camera to take lots of pictures.  I might actually be able to justify that if I used the camera a lot and enjoyed taking lots of random pictures.  But no, taking pictures is more extra random work for me when all I want to do is take in the sites...