Long Lost Lisa

This week was jam packed full of fun stuff! I got home from Louisiana after my mom somehow managed to fly me to Dallas, Tulsa THEN Denver instead of doing a non-stop flight or one stop flight to Denver.  One could only imagine what she was thinking booking this flight. Love ya mom but I will do the scheduling next time :)

After getting in Tuesday I had a quick dinner with friends to swap stories about Christmas.

Wednesday I picked up LisaLu and her BF and took her to some hot spots I've been wanting to try since I've moved to Denver.

Which brings me to today when I turned back around and brought Lisa and her BF BACK to the airport to head to L.A after a quick stop in Denver.

Boy am I exhausted! Waking up at 5:00 a.m. after a long night with Lisa proved to be worth it but exhausting.  I was so sad to see her go and made me miss my bestie. Next stop. Los Angeles.  So be prepared LisaLu!

Sorry for the graininess of the photo

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Rest in Peace

 A great man was lost on Christmas Day. His name was Walter Koelbel. Now I only met him a couple of times, but I can tell you this.  The people in his life loved him more than anything.  I've heard stories about how he had the best laugh. About how he could always make people smile.  About all the great things he had accomplished throughout his life.  About the memories that will carry on for years to come.

This was a GREAT man.

This was my boyfriend's "papa." His name is also Walter as you may or may not know.

I'm sorry to see him go and send all my love this his family at this sad time. He will always be remembered and cherished.

Rest in Peace, Papa.

Go here,  here,  oh and here to read more about his amazing accomplishments.

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I See. You See.

And we're back!

After a short break and a baby Meggy and I are back in action for our weekly ICUC.

This week's theme: CHRISTMAS (of course)

So instead of showing you what I got for Christmas this year, I thought I'd show you just how weird my sister is :)  My sister is OBSESSED with boston terrier dogs. I mean obsessed.  Not only does she have one pair of doggy p.j's but she asked for more dog p.j's (specifically boston terriers) for Christmas.  I refused... but my mom fell weak to my sisters insane obsession and gave it.  The awesome sister I am (no really I am....right, Katie?) I went with an iPhone clutch from Michael Kors knowing my sister needed a new purse and I LOVE coming up with great gifts to give as a surprise.

Which do you like better??

Now for new mommy Meggy.

Mommy's lil elf. My Christmas revolved around my best present ever...

Cute isn't he?  Oh little Liam how I wish I could hold you here in Denver with me! But for now I will just follow along on your mommy's new baby blog!

Don't forget to share some of your ICUC theme ideas with us! We love the challenge.  Email me at lmajor9(Dot)gmail.com or tweet me and include #ICUC.

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Deb.

Remember how I mentioned the other day life was getting a little boring sitting inside job searching all day and night.

Well FINALLY when I reached Monday this week I really had something to look forward to. The Deb Ball.

My boyfriend's little sister was a post-debutant at this years Deb Ball and I was lucky enough to be invited.  When I saw "black tie" on the invitation I was immediately stressed thinking I have zero long formal dresses to wear to this thing.  But thanks to Black Friday this year, I fell in love with this BCBG dress from Saks and it was at least 40% off! Now that is my idea of a steal! With my dress purchased, deciding to wear shoes I already had, I gave my Nanna (g'ma for most of you) a call. She LOVES antique jewelry and has more jewelry than anyone else I know.  She was nice enough to mail over some jewelry she had for me to choose from and voila it all came together.  With a last minute purchase of crystal earrings from Banana I was set.

After deciding to wear my hair up, I searched on Pinterest and the Google for hours to find a DIY hairdo.  The idea of someone else messing with my hair with the anticipation that I knew I'd probably hate it, I thought I'd save myself the money and stress and do it myself. Alas, I found a DIY tutorial for a high bun (that involded a sock - check it out here).  It looked simple enough, and although it took me several tries to get it right, I think I mastered it (with thanks to Teale for the assistance as well). 

Finally we headed off to the ball. It was a BLAST! Everyone looked stunning.We danced all night long. I even had some random old man come up to me and say girl you've got so much energy when we finally left the dance floor.

Here I am today, two days later with my feet STILL killing me.  But it was all worth it! I had the best night of my life - to date :)

Walt, Me, Teale, Carl (Walt's older bro)

My Prince Charming

Teale and Me

Me with Bethany (Walt's Little Sis)

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Wino.

Apparently that is me lately :)  No I'm just kidding.  I will say that unemployment has given me the much needed rest, missing social life I've been needing since move to Denver.

Trust me I know that I have been neglecting this little blog here, and apologize.  Trust me on this when I say that it's probably for the best.  I wish I had new exciting stories and pictures to show you! Being cooped up in my house looking for jobs regularly doesn't really prove to be all that entertaining to anyone other than my cat.  She gets more attention now than EVER.  She loves it.

But with that being said, back to my first paragraph, I've begun balancing my "search efforts" with my social life.  In fact, last night I had girls night with some friends I met out here in Denver and some college friends that also happened to move out here.

Unbeknownst to us, we ended up at a close restaurant that had BOGO on wine and Tuesday Trivia. Both of those things are equally amazing. Mostly because the more wine we drank made some of us better at trivia (me not included...).  Overall though... a great, much needed night.

And yes.  Our table looked insane with all these wine glasses :)

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Little Update

If  you follow along on a regular basis, you will notice I have been quite absent over the past week.

Let's just say I HATE that. I've had some crappy things happen over the past week... Ah hem... I was laid off after three months of accepting a job and moving to Denver FOR the job along with about 150+ other people. Needless to say, if I didn't say it already, I was in pharma sales.  It was my first attempt and I really do think I was doing a pretty damn good job.... but as luck would have it, apparently this job wasn't for me.

20/20 hindsight, maybe there are better things out there for me?  I hate NOT having a job, and not having a purpose right now because I have worked/ran since I was 15 and here I am at 26 and no job in a new city.  I'm looking at this as a blessing in disguise.  It's the holidays and this company can suck it for doing lay offs during the holidays, but I am just going to have to find something that much better!

That information aside, I was so lucky to have my mom come into town the night I was laid off. We had this trip planned for a couple of months and as luck would have it, it worked out perfectly. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and a better time for her to come visit me in my new home.  I'm so blessed to have her in my life and to be there when I need her.

Just to kick things into full gear with mi madre... I had to take her to Canvas and Cocktails.  I had so much fun the last time I went with Teale,  I had to show off this fun new place when my mom came to visit.  Needless to say, Teale joined us because she is now my C&C friend.

Teale, Me, My Mom

What's with my mom being the best artist here! Teale and I have had practice!!!

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I See. You See.

Everyone ready for Christmas?  I sure AM! Well... sorta.  I am still slacking on my Christmas shopping and to top it off I also have to Christmas time birthdays to shop for as well. Eeeks.  Better get a start on it!

For this week's ICUC, Meggy and I thought it fitting to go with a holiday theme:

The First Signs of Christmas

After looking around on Christmas lately, I've seen beautiful pictures with Christmas lights.  With people, pets, trees, houses.... But what about just the lights themselves?  They are so pretty when all lit up. Alone they make it feel like Christmas.

What's looking Christmas in Kansas?  Well why don't I let Meggy tell ya?

The very first signs of Christmas...snow flakes are falling, real and faux! The last couple of years, we've collected these LED lite up snow flakes to adorn our house around the holidays.  Something a bit different than the rest of the houses on the block, plus mixed with a fresh dusting of our very first snow, quite fitting!

So what do ya say?  Let's all get in the holiday spirits shall we?

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Quirky but Beautiful.

Why hello there.

I hope everyone got off to a good start for their week.  Countdown is T-Minus 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas vacay/celebrations. I'm pumped.

After getting sick as a dog this weekend and losing one of my weekend days to the couch and trying to bring my body back to life - I feel like I deserve an extra day to catch up on all the errands I could only do on Saturday and missed! Wouldn't that be peachy?

Work got insane last week so I'm just now getting to post this quirky picture of my sister Katie. I convinced her and my mom to go for mini photo shoot when I was back at home for Thanksgiving and look when I ended up with.... a weirdo :) But actually a pretty cool picture with the sun coming through. I gotta hand it to Katie for always throwing a fit for being my "subject" and then "turning it on" when I start snapping away!

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How High?

Can he jump?

He meaning Enzo.  One of my sister's boston terriers.

When I was at home I got my fill of the four pups my mom and sister have combined. With stepping in poop in my room, seeing pee on my mom's nice curtains, and then stepping in poop again barefoot in my room (yes twice) I again learned that I am not a big fan of multiple small dogs in one household.  Not to say I don't like them at all, just not for me.  I'd rather step in a huge pile of poop than something that can be hidden its so small. Well not really. Just a big dog fan, bigger cuddle buddies, right?

Plus I don't have to worry about having a small dog that leaps over fences like Enzo. When a woman walked by with her dog the dogs went crazy jumping and barking all over the place.  Especially Enzo. He literally almost jumped over the fence.  I have NEVER seen a dog jump that high and I was actually scared he'd get out!

I was lucky enough to catch the little buggar on camera!

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I See. You See.

Tis' the season for the F&F (food & family)!

This week's ICUC, gives you a snapshot of our favorite parts about our Thanksgiving holiday this year.

My favorite part was actually being able to contribute something to our Thanksgiving dinner(s). I made my very first stuffed artichokes! Yum! I have always been a fan of artichokes, especially stuff ones that I usually get at either a restaurant or my Nanna's house every Christmas. This year, my mom thought it would be a new little treat if we made our own this Thanksgiving.  We actually made three so we could continue the yumminess over a few days and share with friends.

As for Meggy, she took it ALL in with her lens!

This year our family Thanksgiving was huge!  It seemed everyone was in town, so there was tons of food that covered the 10-person table. Some of my Thanksgiving favorites are sweet potatoes, meat pies and stuffing. Mmmm, now if only I still had leftovers...

I hope everyone got their fill of Thanksgiving and family because we only have a little over three weeks to stuff our faces again and revisit those embarrassing moments we may have said after too much to drink :)  You know we all did/said something stupid to be brought back up again at Christmas time for a good laugh!

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5 lbs Later....

I returned home to Denver from Tulsa, OK.

I did PLENTY of eating and wining it up back at home which left me exhausted today when I hit the road for work! Who knew that going on vacation could make you feel like you need another vacation to recover.

After having TWO, that's right TWO, Thanksgiving dinners over the holiday weekend, I opted to take the high road and convince myself a few extra yummy meals wouldn't make that much of a difference.  Psh... tell that to my work pants! Felt a little more snug this morning getting into them!

Oh well.  It was all worth it.  Especially getting to see my mom and sister for an extended period which we don't get to do very often.

Best part of the weekend.... Seeing "Breaking Dawn" the new Twilight movie.  It was AMAZING.  Yes AMAZING.  I mean it is hard to judge a movie vs. the book considering the book was just the best book I have every read (yes I am a huge fan - judge me if you want, but read the books first!). But I love seeing a book come to life and how other people portray it.

After the movie we headed toward the entrance to find Alvin and the Chipmunks waiting for us in life-size figurines.  How could we resist taking a picture with them?  After looking closely at my mom and sisters picture I noticed the chipmunk was taking a bite out of mom's butt! We all were laughing hysterically when we walked out.  Definitely the prime of the whole weekend and glad we got a good laugh out of it!

I hope everyone had a great holiday break and got their week off to a good start today. Stay tuned for ICUC tomorrow with Chasing Davies!

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2-Day Celebration

This is a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I was a little incognito over the past few holi-days trying to cook, catch up with friends and family, and catch up on a little R&R.

But of course, just like most times I come home over Thanksgiving, I'm starting to get sick.  You know the sore throat and achy body. How annoying. I work so hard to have a vacation and when I finally get home I feel like poop :( I guess when things finally DO slow down, gives you time to catch a cold.

To give you a brief overview of what the past couple of days have consisted for me....

Mom and Me on Thanksigiving

My idea of Thanksgiving

Dessert

Wouldn't you know it.  I took a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner on actual Thanksgiving with just me and my mom (she was cool enough tho make my favorite meal while we pushed Thanksgiving dinner off a day for my sister to get home), but forgot to take a picture when we celebrated with my sister tonight?  OOOPS. Guess that just goes to show how excited we were to celebrate and eat up!

How was everyone else's Thanksgiving?  Anything excited happen visiting with your families?

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I See. You See.

With the holidays right around the corner, Meggy and I opted to do something a little easier this week for our ICUC.

Theme: Fruit

I wish I ate more fruit.  This theme would have been A LOT easier. However, one thing that I do consume a good amount of that was helpful for this post... WINE. It's made out of grapes, which is a fruit,  right?  One better... boxed wine! A current favorite of mine pictured below. I cheated a little can you tell?

Meggy went the healthier route... 

Belly shelf made perfect for my craving of mandarin oranges (and sometimes ice cream, of course)!

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G

Is for Gracie.

Gracie is my friend Kara's Maltipoo that I dog sat for part of this weekend. I must say dogs are a handful. I always say I want a dog.  The idea of having one and taking them on a run after work and having someone excited to see me when I come home from work just makes me want to go to the pet store and get one right now!

BUT, and it's a big BUT, after watching my friends dogs over the past few years I have learned it is a BIG responsibility. One day I will be responsible and tolerable enough to have a dog full time, but now I am content on dog-sitting :)

ESPECIALLY, when I have Mia my cat.  She gets excited and "talks" to me when I get home from work and rolls around on the ground purring as loud as she can and follows me.  I'll settle for that kind of pet love!

Best part is though.... Mia and Gracie get along GREAT! Mia usually freaks out around dogs and hides, but with Grace its like they've been friends forever!

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Great Grand Junction

I feel like that could be the name of a song.

But my suggested song title aside, about two good things came out of my trip.  These pictures.

Oh and the fact I saw more cats wondering their streets than I had seen in two months being in Denver for the past two months. That was slightly exciting except they would all run when I'd try and catch them :)

The first one was on my way to Grand Junction and the second was on the way from Fruita to Grand Junction.

I was so happy to get back to Denver last night and sleep in my own bed.  I have always been one to get excited for work travel especially when it meant going to a new city I'd never been before.  But Grand Junction just didn't do it for me.  Not so much fun when you travel on your own and sit in your hotel room.

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Awkward & Awesome Attempts

To begin this post I'd like to announce that I am in Grand Junction, Colorado. Has anyone ever been here?

It's approximately 4 hours away from Denver, PAST Vail, which is as far West as I've ever been in Colorado to date. The population is roughly 60,000 from what I have learned from speaking to the locals here.

I'm here on a work trip, and I've been trying to find a good time to come here for a month or so.  Last week I decided that I had to just make a decision and go with it. None of this postponing business. Especially before the snow hits big time.  I'm not looking forward to driving through all the passes when that happens. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it though.

Awkward:

• The picture above. The story.  I am in a hotel in Grand Junction and decided to order room service for dinner tonight. I REALLY wanted the cobb salad, but I also wanted a grilled cheese for whatever reason.  So heck why not order both and eat what I want of each. Wouldn't you know it that room service brought me TWO water cups, TWO silverware sets.  How fat do I feel right now?
• In a waiting room today an old lady farted as she walked towards the door, it took everything in my NOT to laugh.  I know she didn't mean to but it was so loud. How did her old lady butt do that??
• Watching Private Practice right now in my hotel and crying on two separate occasions. #PATHETIC
• Having to admit to myself that I may not THINK I have a lot of awkward moments to recall from week to week, but I really do think if someone else was in my shoes they would hit the ground running realizing I'm just an awkward person so typical awkward things just aren't that awkward for me

Awesome:

• I had someone say they are having a hard time remembering what I am selling.  My immediate thought.  I will sing and dance for them. Literally.  I sang and danced in front of a person I have met at best three times.  His face was priceless and I SHOULD have felt awkward, BUT I felt awesome because I found my niche.  Who can forget bad dancing and singing?
• It's been about two weeks since I've gotten up any motivation to work out for some reason.  I was a good girl and went for a 3 mile run Tuesday, opted for not working out yesterday, and almost did again tonight, but decided I had to get my butt into shape.  I ran/walked for an hour! YAHOO! But then I ate the above... well part of it. OOOPS.
• I just found out on of my best friends is pregnant! Not sure if I can announce her name on here yet but I'm super excited for her! That makes TWO pregnant friends at the same time -  Crazy pants!
• Seeing my old co-workers at Angela's wedding this past weekend, and knowing that I will be back in Tulsa in less than one week to see my mom and sister.  EXTREMELY pumped!

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I See. You See.

Megan had a great idea last week. She texted me and suggested this week's theme as 11.11.11 at 11:11. Now whether that was at 11:11 in the morning or 11:11 at night was up to us. Want to see which one we chose?

I went with 11:11 am, considering I knew I'd be in a car on my way to KC and nothing about me being exhausted and taking a picture from a car would be that exciting. So I opted for a morning shot.  Not saying that this is the most interesting photo I've ever taken, but it not only represents 11.11.11 at 11:11 am, but it represents my day about 5x a day. Lots of Starbucks runs :)

Now for what Meggy was doing at 11:11!!!

I thought shooting a shot at 11:11 am or pm on 11/11/11 would be so neat, but then I realized how lame my life really is at this point.  At 11:11am I was at my messy desk working and at 11:11pm I was laying on the couch watch a movie with my husband.  So you get to see the lazy side of my life and my husband (well, the back of his head that is).  Hopefully you all did something way more fabulous at 11:11 on 11/11!  I at least did make a wish. :)

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8th and FINAL Wedding

This is IT! The last wedding of 2011! The Shaw wedding came and went SO fast!

The BF and I flew into KC late on Friday night, went to Angela and Matt's wedding Saturday, watching the Chiefs vs. Broncos Sunday and boom... here I am sitting on the couch like it didn't even happen!

The weekend FLEW by! I had so much fun seeing all my old co-workers/friends, it really made me miss Kansas City.  Having that commodore of having friends in the office every single day is VERY different than being in a car driving from place to place by yourself all day.

Instead of getting into the nitty gritty details I typically splurge over, I am going to give you my favorite moments of Angela's big day.

1. When Carrie and I went to go see her while she got her makeup done in the hotel. It was the first time I'd seen Ang in over two months and even with just her hair done and no make-up she looked beautiful.  It was such a great feeling being there with her and seeing how excited she was for the wedding.
2. Watching Matt (groom) walk up and down the aisle at least four times getting someone new every time.  It looked like a work out! Not only would I have been sweating because of the big day all that walking would have worn me out! 
3. Ang laughing throughout the ceremony because she was so happy, it made me smile! 
4. When they went to put the rings on each other both times, they had a hard time finding the right finger and everyone started to laugh.
5. Ang walking down the aisle talking to people like she was just walking down the hall at work.  She is ALWAYS so friendly and smiling!
6. Seeing ALL of my favorite co-workers from my last job.  It was so fun to catch up and feel in the loop again. 
7. When Ang and Matt were eating their cake from each other Matt was gentle and didn't get any cake on Angela's face, and Angela said you're being too nice and tried to smash it into his face! 
8. The fact that the bride and groom were drinking Natty Light at their wedding - gotta love them!
9. Her table numbers.  Each number represented something.  i.e. There was no table 2, there was a 1.6 instead which was the distance between their house.
10. The DANCINGGGGGG!!!! Especially Danielle and Angela's private dance. 
11. The fact that their photographer was there until the very end.  Of all 8 weddings I've been to this is the only one that had the photographer there the entire time.  That WILL happen at my wedding!  I once asked a photographer why they all left at 10 pm, his response was that the pictures all start looking the same.  I beg to differ. I get the FUNNIEST pictures and the ones that are my favorite towards the very end! 
12. Slumber party at Carrie's house! We thought we'd all be up all night and we got home to have the boys do a night cap and Carrie and I ran and put our PJs on! Guess the wedding really took it out of us!

Me with the bride and groom

Carrie, Matt, Danielle Dance Party!

Walt dancing

Kristin and Matt dancing - HILARIOUS!

Our Table - #18 - Day in June 2010 that Matt took Angela to Record Bar to see her first summer breeze show. 

The beautiful wedding cake!

Yes I know these pictures are a little out of order of the events - but oh well ;) Enjoy! 

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Awkward & Awesome Week

You can say that again. Do you ever have those weeks where you just feel "off?" That is how the past week has felt like.  I don't know if it's because of daylight savings time or the full moon, who knows.  All I know is I am ready for this week to be over and Friday to be here!

Awkward:

• Repetitively having to go to Starbucks EVERY day for my job.  No... I don't work there, I just buy drinks frequently as part of my job! 
• Going to Kona this weekend for the first time since I've been in Denver I had no idea where the bathroom was and walked to the bar to ask which way to the bathroom.  This young guy proceeds to tell me it's right through those double doors which didn't look like bathroom doors at all, but considering he was an employee I figured I should trust him.  I pull the doors open to find the room with a ton of equipment.  The kid told me to walk into a closet because he thought it would be funny and "he just couldn't resist" according to him.  Weirdo!
• When I asked someone at work how I could get them to remember something, he said you'll come up with something.  Result: Me saying that I would do a song and dance to help him remember. Not only did I say I would, I did it right then and there.
• Calling the BF to surprise him at work and told him to come downstairs to then realize I was still 5 minutes away because I went to the wrong place! Not so much a surprise is it?!

Awesome:

• Only one day of work left, and then I leave for KC for my final wedding (#8) of 2010!!! 
• Doing Canvas & Cocktails for the first time, and definitely not the last time this past weekend
• Packing for my KC trip and didn't over think anything in my suitcase.  Pretty sure that is a first, and pretty sure I'll end up forgetting something
• Getting my very first coffee maker as a welcome gift from the BF's parents.  I can choose to put hot chocolate, hazelnut flavored coffee, ANY kind I want EVERY morning without spending $4+ at Starbucks!!! Now that is AWESOME!
• My friend Carrie got engaged this past weekend!!! Congrats Carrie! Can't wait for our slumber party this weekend.

 

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