Big Bonus Points for Gary

Monday was a big day - the 2nd anniversary of our first date.

I *completely* forgot. I forgot soooo much, that even when I received a voicemail that 1-800-flowers was trying to find me for a delivery, that I thought "Oh how nice, Gary sent me flowers out of the blue". To make matters worse, I didn't receive the message until right before I was leaving work so I wasn't able to return the call and get the delivery. Instead, I called Gary to tell him I was on my way home and I asked him, "Did you send me something today?". He said yes and I explained what happened. It *still* didn't dawn on me why he sent the flowers and he didn't say (assuming I knew). So then I asked him what we should do for dinner and suggested a couple things we could cook.

He says, "Well, I was thinking maybe we'd go out, it is a special day".
Rachelle says, "Huh? *pause*... Ooohhhhhh!!!!!!" Yeah, finally dawned on me.

Of course had I actually received the delivery, I would have been saved since it had a "Happy Anniversary" balloon. Argh - bummer. :-)

I told him I was all set to celebrate February 8th and therefore didn't even think about *this* anniversary. :-)

So... big bonus points for Gary. I, on the other hand, am in the dog house - ha ha.

Happy Thanksgiving

What a beautiful Thanksgiving today. It was in the 70's and sunny.... very nice.

Gary and I celebrated on our own this year. My parents are normally here before Thanksgiving, but this year they had a bit of a delay. Dad was recently scheduled for sugery to get his teeth implants... right before the surgery, his doctor had to have a triple bypass... obviously, his surgery was postponed. Now, although his doctor is not fully back to work, he is going to do Dad's surgery. Therefore, they are going to get that taken care of before coming down to Dallas. It will work out fine since they are planning on staying here until we leave for the cruise/wedding in Feb anyway... so they'll still be here for a couple months like they normally are.

Roberta went to celebrate with Dave's family. Gary and I had a nice Thanksgiving on our own. We bought a Tyson "oven-ready" turkey breast (which was very good) and had all the fixin's. Yummy.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

Holidays Coming

FYI.... I decided to put all the wedding stuff on a new blog:

http://stthomaswedding.blogspot.com

In other news, I can't believe it's so close to Thanksgiving already. We have our potluck at work this Thursday. Mom and Dad plan to be here next Wednesay (day before Thanksgiving). They are planning to stay until we leave for the cruise/wedding. They're staying with Roberta this year.

I was doing some shopping this weekend and it did put me in the mood for Christmas shopping. I also scheduled an appointment for engagement photos for this coming weekend, so we can send them with Christmas cards. I was surprised when I figured out that I'll barely get them back in time to do that.

I'm also excited to put my Christmas tree up this year because I bought new ornaments in the after Christmas sales last year. I can't wait to see what it looks like.

I have a feeling time is just going to fly by until our wedding.

Wedding Update

Gosh, my to do list has been growing, but I've gotten some things accomplished as well.

We got our airfare booked. We're planning on staying in FL after the cruise and going to Disney World. Should be a nice trip.

I also found and bought my dress. Yay!

We've gotten several people booked and ready to go. Guest count is currently 8 (for 10 people total).

We unfortunately ran into a little trouble with travel plans... found out the Superbowl is in Miami on the day we depart. This makes it nearly impossible for guests who want to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, to find a hotel room without paying an arm and a leg. :-(

I'm already annoyed with the wedding coordinators and the process has just begun, so wish me luck.

That's all for now.

We're Booked!

I'm happy to say that after much research our wedding and cruise are officially booked! Yay!!

We'll be getting married in St. Thomas on 2/8/07. Now we are moving on to plan details and I get to find a dress. I've already been out to a few stores. I'm taking my sis with me on Saturday to get another opinion. We did find her a dress already (I think). We have to order it online, so assuming it fits when it arrives and she likes it, we'll be good.

Oh and I guess we need some airfare to get to Fort Lauderdale... details. :-)

Duck Scam

Duck Scam
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

They're gettin' organized...

Wedding Website

I created a wedding website for us. I'll keep adding more details to it. I kind of did the easy stuff first. :-)

US Population Hits 300 Million

I thought this was a funny part in the article on the event:

"When the U.S. population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America's past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American.

This year, there's a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico."

I've had a good week...

I guess I haven't announced it here yet, but I'm sure I've talked to everyone who reads this. Gary and I got engaged last Saturday (the 7th). We went to San Antonio for the weekend and he proposed after dinner Saturday night on the River Walk. Yay! I'm so happy and excited. :-)

We've begun researching ideas for what to do for a wedding and it seems that we will probably do a cruise / destination wedding.

We had a busy weekend this weekend as well. Friday night we made a quick appearance at Main Event for an outing with Gary's work team. Then we went down to the Sons of Hermann Hall to see Guy Forsyth. He was very good and it was an interesting place (a music venue since 1911). We met Liz and Daniel there and we haven't seen them in quite awhile so it was nice to see them.

Saturday evening we went to see the Blue Man Group at the American Airlines center. That was pretty cool also. It was definitely different from anything I've seen in person. It was more of a concert than I expected, however the show is called "How to be a Megastar", so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.

And that was my good week. :-)

In Other News...

Just a few tidbits of my life lately:

- I got an MP3 player and I had no idea what I was missing. Gary described it best when making fun of me... saying that I would be like "Oh, I like that song.... Ohhhh, I like that song too". It's true. :-)

- Gary and I did a record 3 laps around white rock lake on our bikes this past weekend. It's 27 miles and although we have gone that far before, we've only done it at bike rallies where there are lots of rest stops and refreshments to keep us going. We did stop between each lap for a Clif bar but, Gary's convinced that a banana sure would have made that last lap easier.

- Work is getting a little less stressful again, however I doubt it will last. I've been training someone to take over part of my duties, but she just got moved. She's being replaced, but I will basically need to start training over with the new person.

- I've been checking out several new shows and really like Six Degrees and Studio 60. I still have my old standbys... and then I'm really liking Nip/Tuck which I started watching on DVD (just finished season 1).

- I do do more than watch tv though. I've been continuing to work out and I can actually say that it may actually be getting easier. I do a lot of step classes and I think I am finally ready to graduate to using 1 "riser". Woohoo.

- Gary is also on quite a winning steak with games lately... Trivial Pursuit (not a surprise, it's really not my thing) and Crazy Rummy. For the next Trivial Pursuit game I believe we agreed on a new rule to make it a little more even: I get two chances/questions every time I land on the opporutnity for a pie. :-) Believe me... it's fair.

And that's my update.

Skunks Again

Would you believe the skunks are still living around our office building??

My boss saw one today when he went out to lunch. I guess we all need to be careful walking out to our cars. They seem to be living in the bushes right near the door, since that is where they've been spotted. Yikes. Wish me luck. LOL.

Skunks

So... I'm walking into work today and suddenly a black and white critter strolls across the sidewalk in front of me. I don't believe I've ever seen a skunk that closely before. I backed away slowly and walked around to a different door. Aren't skunks night creatures? It seems I've heard if you see one during the day, that's a bad thing.

I certainly didn't want to take any chances. I'll be really cautious leaving tonight. Yikes.

Rachelle & Roberta

Rachelle & Roberta 2006
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

Roberta and I went to a wedding this summer and her boss took this photo. He just sent it to her and I thought I would share. Tomorrow is her last day at her current job so I guess he's wrapping up loose ends. Of course, if we had known there would be pictures, maybe we would have coordinated and not both worn floral prints that clash. lol.

Visiting ND

I'm visiting "home" this week. It's been very relaxing. We haven't done much of anything except shopping. :-)

I'm enjoying the weather, but I see it has gotten cooler in Dallas as well. We're headed to the lake today to see my aunt and uncle. We waited until the coldest day of the week to venture out to the lake, as seems to be tradition (at least for the past couple of years). I'm in jeans and a sweatshirt - I'm set. It's supposed to be a high of 75 today and it's been very windy. The wind has died down here in Fargo, but I suspect it will be windier at the lake.

I managed to help my dad with some computer stuff this week, and it's worth mentioning since I'm by no means a computer expert. It wasn't without troubles, I did manage to delete an entire folder, but hey... I got it back. I'm happy everything is working. :-)

The diet on the other hand... not going so well. I've managed to gain 4 lbs this week, but who can blame me when there are caramel rolls (homemade) and birthday cake to tempt me. lol.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday so we'll go out for dinner for that. (Yes, we got the birthday cake early so we actually had a chance to have some of it before we leave on Sunday... bad, bad, bad).

I miss my sweetie and my kitties though. Gary didn't come along this year. Roberta, her cat and I made the trip. Quincy is no replacement for my kitties since he is such a brat he usually won't let me touch him.

It's been a nice week though. A lot of times when we come home there are other guests around also, so it's been a rare treat to actually sleep in "my" room all week. The weather has been nice and we've been able to have the windows open every night too. I really need a break from work, so it's been great. It will of course be hard to go back though. :-)

I'm Back

Yep, I know it's been a long while since I've written anything here. I've been super busy at work. We recently re-organized and although I have the same boss, everyone above him changed for several layers up. We've been swamped getting things in order for the way those upper levels want it. I've been putting in some long evenings and weekends. Whoa is me.

We are also no longer in the Finance department, so I quickly dumped the idea of a second Masters degree in Finance. No more school and I'm happy to have my free time back. The short bit I did was very time consuming. Oh, and maybe the best part of quitting that is not having to deal with the tuition reimbursement people.

Anyway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In the re-organization, I managed to gain a counterpart for my position to take half of it *and* I gained an employee. So I now have one direct report, which is great. Unfortunately I have to share the person with two other managers, i.e. she reports to me but has to support three managers. At least I basically get to dictate what she will and will not be taking on as part of her job functions.

Things are looking up.

Kittenwar

This is a cute website that Gary found.

It randomly puts up two kitten photos up against one another and you are supposed to pick the cutest. Gary and I immediately sifted through our kitten pictures and...

Abby's results were very good



Molly's results were not very good at all



We *couldn't* have that, so I had to try again, with much better results - Happy Dance, I have a cute kitty too.




My conclusion is that you just have to show a little belly to get some cuteness points. :-)

(We don't have kitty pictures of Isabel, but I'm sure she would kick butt too).

Kitten Wars

I put a baby picture of my cat, Abby, up on KittenWar.com.
As I write this, she's been in 699 battles and is totally kicking ass!

.

Another Cycling Photo

Gary and Rachelle at Mesquite Ride
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

Here's another picture from a recent ride. This was at the end of the Mesquite Ride last weekend.

On a Brighter Note

Gary and I did a bike rally this weekend. We went 32 miles and I believe that is probably a record or very close to it for us. It was tough, but we weren’t hurting too badly at the end. The worst part was the heat. It was a hot, sunny morning with no clouds whatsoever and very few sections of shade.

The ride was good. Nice route, good rest stops and support. They had one of the most organized starts I’ve ever been a part of. We also picked up our packets in advance for this ride (we normally have to register when we get there). That was very convenient and I’ll definitely try to do that in the future.

We went to the Parade of Homes on Sunday. They were neat to see. Some stuff was so extraordinarily over the top… it was just ridiculous. One house had a garage with a lift to work on your car... and the whole garage was visible via a window from the gameroom on the second story. A few of the houses had 2-story media rooms. Some were well done, some were not very functional. It was interesting though. There did seem to be a trend to have the media room located off of the main living area versus normally seeing it upstairs off of a gameroom. There were a lot more interesting things that we saw also. It was fun. It’s time to win the lotto! :-)

Infuriating

I am so steaming mad right now, I thought this may be a good outlet to vent. :-)

The last time I was to the dentist, I made an appointment for 6 months in advance for my next appointment. I’m sure this is pretty standard practice with dentists. Today, I discovered that my dentist appointment that is scheduled for next month is scheduled for a day that I will be in Rhode Island. So, I called to re-schedule. I say “I’d like to reschedule an appointment I have next month since I will be out of town”. She says, “Would you like me to put you on the list?”. I say, “What is the list?” First gripe… do you think maybe she should explain what the list is rather than just asking if I’d like to be put on it???

Well, guess what? No appointments are available until January, so “the list” is their cancellation list. They will call me if they have a cancellation and I can come in. Initially I said, OK fine.

After thinking about that idea I was concerned that them calling me at the last minute because they have a cancellation is not likely to work with all the conference calls and meetings at work. What are the chances they will call when I have nothing scheduled??

So I called back and asked more questions. “Does this mean that you may call me last minute to come in?” She says, “Well yes but we always allow time for you to get here”. What???!! Sounds last minute to me. I explained that with my work schedule, that is not likely to work. Asked again if there was nothing else she could do. Nope.

Then, I asked “If I were a new patient and I called and said I’d like to come in, you would tell me ‘Sure, in January’?” She said they don’t do cleaning on first visits so that’s not a problem.

Ughhh…..

I left this dentist once before for this very reason. (The first time was because I had to go to court for work… I thought that was a pretty legitimate reason to reschedule and surely they could do something, but nope. I was mad then too so I went to a different dentist).

However, I like this dentist because it's so convenient to work, etc so I went back. And the reason I asked that last question was when I did go back they were able to get me in within a week!!

I guess I’ll see how the list thing works out and find another dentist if I have to. I did certainly tell her how disappointed I was with their system. :-(