Do earthquakes count as weather? I don't even know. I also didn't know they happened in Virginia, but apparently they do. This has been a crazy week at work, and the earthquake on Tuesday was the beginning of that. About an hour after I got into work, I was sitting in my seat conveniently location directly next to our HUGE wall of windows... oh wait.. our whole office is essentially a huge wall of windows... on the phone, when I heard a loud rumbling and felt shaking. Now, I live near a rock quarry, so this was nothing new. Except for the fact that I was in Tysons, not Ashburn. Naturally, I completely stopped paying attention to whatever the customer was saying, and looked out the window trying to figure out what this was. Earthquake crossed my mind, but then I thought of the more probable things since I don't live in California anymore: huge truck going by, something weird in the parking garage below, a jet flying very low overhead, or even a terrorist attack. After 10 seconds I began realizing this had to be an earthquake, and then it got even harder. That's when those of us who hadn't already freaked out went under our desks. It stopped shortly after, but then we all got evacuated and got to hang out in the parking lot next to our building for the next hour plus.
Now, I've seen a lot of people saying it felt like barely anything. From the people north of here, that makes sense. From people in the Northern Virginia area, I'm shocked. I'm assuming being 5 floors up made the earthquake feel that much more intense? Because from where I was, this could not be missed. We had ceiling fall through in our office, I watched things tumble off their shelves, and my dad's office even had a wall crack. Between that and the Washington Monument cracking, and the National Cathedral breaking... this was a REAL earthquake. Awesome. Just awesome. I love weather... and even things kind of like weather.
One of the coolest parts of this earthquake is definitely the stories that have come out about how animals at the zoos knew it was coming before it came. I wish more people realized that many animals are just as intelligent, if not more intelligent, than humans, and they need to be treated as such. I love the zoo, but its a sad place to go. I can't imagine being stuck in the same place my whole life with no way of deciding to leave, so its sad that they have to live that way.
Now, we have a hurricane coming. We are far enough inland that I doubt its going to be serious, but its cool anyways. So torrential rain and wind is supposedly on our way. That'll be fun when I work Sunday. We also kicked off our new branding this week, it's AWESOME. I still believe I work for the coolest company ever. We have been doing a lot of exciting stuff at work for the branding, but we have also gotten new phones so its been a little hectic. Phones were done for 3 hours yesterday. Craziness. But, it makes it exciting to switch it up, and I'm working with such cool people that I don't care what happens, I'm happy to be there anyways.
Lastly, today I told people at work I would make a peach cobbler for someone's birthday tomorrow. I came home to my dad making peach cobbler. And now I'm making mine. We're a peach family apparently. Thanks to Zach's family for donating the crate of peaches.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
The End of an Era
I saw the final Harry Potter today. Sad.
I don't even know what to make of it. I will say, though, that they FINALLY made a HP movie I actually liked. Usually I am very disappointed in the acting, the way they portrayed the book, something.... All along I have said that every movie since at least 5 should have been in two parts. There is just too much information to cover it all in 2 hours. Finally, they listened to my advice. Learn from this people, I'm always right.
Next subject, because the more I think about that one, the more depressed I'll be. This morning was super amazing, primarily because we have had incredible weather for the past week or so. This morning Zach and I went on a great bike ride and bought an apple pie at Mom's Pie Shop in Leesburg. People at work were talking about how amazing that place is on Thursday, so I've been craving it ever since. Plus, I had chinese food before I ate the pie. Awesome.
Back to the work subject though... everything is still ridiculously great. We are now done with the first part of training and are actually taking customer's calls with a mentor sitting next to us. It was pretty nerve wracking to take our first few calls, but by the end of the day I was loving it. It gets so much easier over time, but its still tough because there is just so much information.
Not much else is new though. Things are good, but time is flying. Oh and I'm plotting a way to get Mitch and Donna to move to the east coast. I never lose my battles, but I'm scared this will change that. But I'm trying anyways..
I don't even know what to make of it. I will say, though, that they FINALLY made a HP movie I actually liked. Usually I am very disappointed in the acting, the way they portrayed the book, something.... All along I have said that every movie since at least 5 should have been in two parts. There is just too much information to cover it all in 2 hours. Finally, they listened to my advice. Learn from this people, I'm always right.
Next subject, because the more I think about that one, the more depressed I'll be. This morning was super amazing, primarily because we have had incredible weather for the past week or so. This morning Zach and I went on a great bike ride and bought an apple pie at Mom's Pie Shop in Leesburg. People at work were talking about how amazing that place is on Thursday, so I've been craving it ever since. Plus, I had chinese food before I ate the pie. Awesome.
Back to the work subject though... everything is still ridiculously great. We are now done with the first part of training and are actually taking customer's calls with a mentor sitting next to us. It was pretty nerve wracking to take our first few calls, but by the end of the day I was loving it. It gets so much easier over time, but its still tough because there is just so much information.
Not much else is new though. Things are good, but time is flying. Oh and I'm plotting a way to get Mitch and Donna to move to the east coast. I never lose my battles, but I'm scared this will change that. But I'm trying anyways..
Friday, July 1, 2011
What a Difference a Month Makes
...Or however long its been since I last updated this thing.
First off, I think I need to do a new blog because now that this wedding is on hold for quite some time, the name doesn't really make a lot of sense. Most of my postings will be completely unrelated to wedding stuff for a while.
Instead, I have other exciting stuff to talk about! First off, its been a crazy awesome week/month for many people in my life, including myself. It started with Isabella's graduation from high school, and just yesterday she got married (on paper, didn't have her going-to-be-gorgeous wedding yet). Very happy and excited for her. Also exciting is that I got a new job! Not just any job, the best job ever. More on that to come. Because of that, Zach took my place at the country club, so he is working now too (almost full time). Dual income will be wonderful. Zach's mom's boyfriend also got a job the same week Zach and I found out we would be at new jobs, so it was an exciting week. Plus, Zach has decided to go back to school and started classes this past Wednesday. Oh, and I got my hair cut. Like, really cut. I loooooove it. Ch-ch-ch-changessssss.
Onto my wonderful, fabulous, amazing job. I got a job at CustomInk.com, a customized t-shirt website. It's kind of funny how it happened. I was training a new girl at work (CCF) as a family came in that I really like. I went over just to say hi to them as they walked in, even though I don't usually do that. I usually would wait until someone sat down, and then maybe only go over if they were my table or I could tell they were trying to talk to me, because I'm always concerned about annoying people. But I went over anyways just because I wanted to say hi to her, and right before she was about to go to her seat she like pulled back to tell me that the company her daughter works for is hiring and gave me all of her information so I could apply. This type of thing is SUPER rare at the club, I've had a few people talk to me about jobs, so I wasn't sure how into it I would be. Butttt she had said they were listed in Washingtonian as a top place to work in DC and had won other accolades, so I looked up the website. Loved the company from the second I got on their website. Not only is it an awesome concept, but then when I read about their work environment and beliefs on everything related to that, I knew it was the perfect place for me. Everything they believe in is what I've been saying for years - and a lot of that comes from my experience at the country club as compared to jobs that I hated and didn't feel like they treated me well. Anyways, to make this slightly shorter, I'll just say that I became more and more obsessed with how awesome this place is when I went on my interviews. I was super nervous by the third interview because it was with the owner of the company. Intimidating. The whole time I felt pretty confident though, which is hind sight I just don't understand. I think I just really knew I would be a good fit for what their looking for, and believed they would be able to tell.
In hind sight, that was CRAZY of me. Now that I've gotten my first week in (btw I found out I had the job last Wednesday and started on Monday.. crazy week) I realize just how competitive it is to get a job here. Hundreds upon hundreds (I know its at least 600) applied for this job. Then I started thinking it was because I had a referral from someone within the company that I was able to get the job, but then I heard that a lot of people who have climbed the ranks within the company (which is common there) have referred multiple people and NONE of them have gotten the job. So obviously the referral isn't even close to a guarantee. Today I found out that they had several people interviewing daily for the past 2 months plus. That's what really blew my mind, because only 4 of us were hired for this training session. They planned on hiring just a few more after us, but today we found out they were going to hire another 12. The company is growing so quickly, so its an exciting time to join their ranks.
Why is this job so awesome?? There are too many reasons to list, so I'll just mention the first few that cross my mind.... First off, it pays really well for an entry level job. They train us for the first like 2 months of the job or so, so they are really setting you up to succeed and take their time shaping every one of us. Then, they really just focus on making the customer happy, so its not like we will ever have to argue with a customer or deal with unhappy customers really. We can make them happy, so that makes it that much better. On Monday mornings they put out breakfast. On Tuesday they get boxes of fresh fruit delivered to the office that sits out in the eating area until its all gone (as of today, a Friday, there was still a little left). Every Friday they have lunch and dinner catered. At the end of every month they put out cake for the birthdays. The office is a circle, with windows everywhere, and the center of the circle is a courtyard that has picnic tables, benches, an arbor with Xmas lights, trees... its gorgeous. People eat out there and hang out out there during the summer. During the winter, there is a room with comfy chairs and couches and a fireplace, complete with iPads for people to use. There is also food like Nature Valley bars, popcorn, etc. always out, as well as a Starbucks machine.... that's free. Oh, and the average age is like 28, which is cool in itself.. but what makes it even better is how awesome each and every person there is. They all want to be friends with you, they are all nice and interesting (we employ professional artists for redraws of designs, just to give you an idea of the kind of people), and despite how awesome they are, everyone is still a hard worker so it isn't frustrating. Last thing I'll mention so I can go have cheese and crackers with my fam... we can wear whatever we want. I mean whatever. Jeans and flip flops are encouraged. Many guys wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. But you can also wear dresses, skirts, whatever. Essentially its like walking onto a college campus, because they're all your age and your friends, and they're all wearing what they would wear to hang out or go to class. Ugh I love it.
BBQ time!
First off, I think I need to do a new blog because now that this wedding is on hold for quite some time, the name doesn't really make a lot of sense. Most of my postings will be completely unrelated to wedding stuff for a while.
Instead, I have other exciting stuff to talk about! First off, its been a crazy awesome week/month for many people in my life, including myself. It started with Isabella's graduation from high school, and just yesterday she got married (on paper, didn't have her going-to-be-gorgeous wedding yet). Very happy and excited for her. Also exciting is that I got a new job! Not just any job, the best job ever. More on that to come. Because of that, Zach took my place at the country club, so he is working now too (almost full time). Dual income will be wonderful. Zach's mom's boyfriend also got a job the same week Zach and I found out we would be at new jobs, so it was an exciting week. Plus, Zach has decided to go back to school and started classes this past Wednesday. Oh, and I got my hair cut. Like, really cut. I loooooove it. Ch-ch-ch-changessssss.
Onto my wonderful, fabulous, amazing job. I got a job at CustomInk.com, a customized t-shirt website. It's kind of funny how it happened. I was training a new girl at work (CCF) as a family came in that I really like. I went over just to say hi to them as they walked in, even though I don't usually do that. I usually would wait until someone sat down, and then maybe only go over if they were my table or I could tell they were trying to talk to me, because I'm always concerned about annoying people. But I went over anyways just because I wanted to say hi to her, and right before she was about to go to her seat she like pulled back to tell me that the company her daughter works for is hiring and gave me all of her information so I could apply. This type of thing is SUPER rare at the club, I've had a few people talk to me about jobs, so I wasn't sure how into it I would be. Butttt she had said they were listed in Washingtonian as a top place to work in DC and had won other accolades, so I looked up the website. Loved the company from the second I got on their website. Not only is it an awesome concept, but then when I read about their work environment and beliefs on everything related to that, I knew it was the perfect place for me. Everything they believe in is what I've been saying for years - and a lot of that comes from my experience at the country club as compared to jobs that I hated and didn't feel like they treated me well. Anyways, to make this slightly shorter, I'll just say that I became more and more obsessed with how awesome this place is when I went on my interviews. I was super nervous by the third interview because it was with the owner of the company. Intimidating. The whole time I felt pretty confident though, which is hind sight I just don't understand. I think I just really knew I would be a good fit for what their looking for, and believed they would be able to tell.
In hind sight, that was CRAZY of me. Now that I've gotten my first week in (btw I found out I had the job last Wednesday and started on Monday.. crazy week) I realize just how competitive it is to get a job here. Hundreds upon hundreds (I know its at least 600) applied for this job. Then I started thinking it was because I had a referral from someone within the company that I was able to get the job, but then I heard that a lot of people who have climbed the ranks within the company (which is common there) have referred multiple people and NONE of them have gotten the job. So obviously the referral isn't even close to a guarantee. Today I found out that they had several people interviewing daily for the past 2 months plus. That's what really blew my mind, because only 4 of us were hired for this training session. They planned on hiring just a few more after us, but today we found out they were going to hire another 12. The company is growing so quickly, so its an exciting time to join their ranks.
Why is this job so awesome?? There are too many reasons to list, so I'll just mention the first few that cross my mind.... First off, it pays really well for an entry level job. They train us for the first like 2 months of the job or so, so they are really setting you up to succeed and take their time shaping every one of us. Then, they really just focus on making the customer happy, so its not like we will ever have to argue with a customer or deal with unhappy customers really. We can make them happy, so that makes it that much better. On Monday mornings they put out breakfast. On Tuesday they get boxes of fresh fruit delivered to the office that sits out in the eating area until its all gone (as of today, a Friday, there was still a little left). Every Friday they have lunch and dinner catered. At the end of every month they put out cake for the birthdays. The office is a circle, with windows everywhere, and the center of the circle is a courtyard that has picnic tables, benches, an arbor with Xmas lights, trees... its gorgeous. People eat out there and hang out out there during the summer. During the winter, there is a room with comfy chairs and couches and a fireplace, complete with iPads for people to use. There is also food like Nature Valley bars, popcorn, etc. always out, as well as a Starbucks machine.... that's free. Oh, and the average age is like 28, which is cool in itself.. but what makes it even better is how awesome each and every person there is. They all want to be friends with you, they are all nice and interesting (we employ professional artists for redraws of designs, just to give you an idea of the kind of people), and despite how awesome they are, everyone is still a hard worker so it isn't frustrating. Last thing I'll mention so I can go have cheese and crackers with my fam... we can wear whatever we want. I mean whatever. Jeans and flip flops are encouraged. Many guys wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. But you can also wear dresses, skirts, whatever. Essentially its like walking onto a college campus, because they're all your age and your friends, and they're all wearing what they would wear to hang out or go to class. Ugh I love it.
BBQ time!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Putting Everything on Hold
So, I haven't updated lately.... again. Surprise Surprise.
First things first, the wedding is delayed for who knows how long at this point. The only reason to have the wedding right now was because Zach was joining the military. Now, it looks like he is not joining, and instead he is going back to school this fall. Because of that not only do we not have a legal reason to need a marriage certificate, but we also will most likely be living at home for a while since Zach isn't looking for a career, just a job to have during school.
It will also help give me more time to set a date and let people know about it with ample time, find a great venue, decide food options and a dress... etc. I have found a couple more venues to go investigate, and I have found a food option that I'm excited about but still need to feel it out. I thought I knew the exact dress I wanted, until Isabella and I went to some super fancy store outside Georgetown and tried on dresses. I loved a look that was entirely different, so I'm going to keep considering other options and try to find something similar to this for LESS than the $7500 price tag. :/
I'm actually very relieved to have it pushed back indefinitely. I was stressed about figuring everything out so quickly, plus it was putting a strain on our relationship. I'm so picky that its hard to plan something as huge as a wedding that quickly. Now I have more time to find DIY projects and do them, really explore all the options and everything else.
First things first, the wedding is delayed for who knows how long at this point. The only reason to have the wedding right now was because Zach was joining the military. Now, it looks like he is not joining, and instead he is going back to school this fall. Because of that not only do we not have a legal reason to need a marriage certificate, but we also will most likely be living at home for a while since Zach isn't looking for a career, just a job to have during school.
It will also help give me more time to set a date and let people know about it with ample time, find a great venue, decide food options and a dress... etc. I have found a couple more venues to go investigate, and I have found a food option that I'm excited about but still need to feel it out. I thought I knew the exact dress I wanted, until Isabella and I went to some super fancy store outside Georgetown and tried on dresses. I loved a look that was entirely different, so I'm going to keep considering other options and try to find something similar to this for LESS than the $7500 price tag. :/
I'm actually very relieved to have it pushed back indefinitely. I was stressed about figuring everything out so quickly, plus it was putting a strain on our relationship. I'm so picky that its hard to plan something as huge as a wedding that quickly. Now I have more time to find DIY projects and do them, really explore all the options and everything else.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Complete Overhaul
So the past week or so has been fairly crazy, wedding wise. I originally had planned on doing the most casual wedding imaginable, and then not a reception for another year or so. That changed once we moved home, because that super casual wedding kept expanding. As of last week this wedding had turned into a "real" wedding. We looked at reception venues and it seemed like things were just getting more typical wedding... and more expensive. Seeing the numbers makes me think of what else we could be spending this money on. Yesterday Zach and I went on a hike and decided we're taking this thing back to basic. We'll find some local place to rent for the day, have some BBQ and some very casual food.. fruit platters, cheese displays, desserts, you know. Food, but not anything close to a sit down dinner. It feels more like us. THEN instead of spending that money on just one day, we are going to go on a mini honeymoon right after the wedding, and then next summer we will go to Europe for a few weeks with my family (but I don't think we'll stay together the whole time). This has me WAY more excited. Zach is rightfully concerned that if we don't do a traditional wedding I will regret it, but I'm fairly certain I would regret spending the money on one party instead of the trip of a lifetime.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Blah, Blah, Blah
Not much new to report. Went shopping for weddings dresses a couple times recently, and I think I may have found the dress I want. I went and saw a bunch at Tysons II with my mom, and I had already found a particular dress that I liked, and as I was looking at these other dresses, I kept thinking of the first one. So, maybe thats the sign? There are parts of it that aren't 100% perfect, but I'm figuring that I can have a tailor fix those. We shall see!
Venues.... oh venues... I have found 1,000 places that are great, but some just don't have the right feeling, or are crazy expensive, or are far away and everyone would have to get a hotel. I like the idea of a mini-vacation... but I don't want to force people to spend more money than they want to. Still a chance it will be somewhere that requires a hotel, but I am looking at a more local venue on Thursday, and I am really hoping that it will work out, because I need to get this thing figured out.
Things I have figured out... I like the idea of keeping this wedding as close to home as possible, which has worked so far. Ceremony officiant? Zach's friend's mom. Who will make our wedding cake? My friend from work, Kristen, who is going to school to be a chef. Photographer? Friend's boyfriend. I love it.
So hopefully by my next post I'll have more major things figured out (hopefully enough that I can send out invitations).
Venues.... oh venues... I have found 1,000 places that are great, but some just don't have the right feeling, or are crazy expensive, or are far away and everyone would have to get a hotel. I like the idea of a mini-vacation... but I don't want to force people to spend more money than they want to. Still a chance it will be somewhere that requires a hotel, but I am looking at a more local venue on Thursday, and I am really hoping that it will work out, because I need to get this thing figured out.
Things I have figured out... I like the idea of keeping this wedding as close to home as possible, which has worked so far. Ceremony officiant? Zach's friend's mom. Who will make our wedding cake? My friend from work, Kristen, who is going to school to be a chef. Photographer? Friend's boyfriend. I love it.
So hopefully by my next post I'll have more major things figured out (hopefully enough that I can send out invitations).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Decisions, Decisions
Well, I would say that I'm awful at keeping up with this blog... but there still isn't much to report so I guess theres a good reason I haven't been updating?
I've looked at a lot of venues online, and ruled a lot out. I'm SO picky (more on that to come later). Its not so much that I think I'm going to find a perfect venue... I just want one that will let me have a lot of control over the wedding, since I don't want your traditional wedding. One of the things I HAVE decided (for now..) is that I want it to be a cross between what a BBQ and a garden party would feel like. Garden party because I want it to be pretty and class, but BBQ because I want it to be fun. Zach's mom always said to just have a fun party, and I think that is what I want to do. I'm not so into formal.. I can't imagine myself doing some grand walk down the aisle to all these people waiting in chairs staring at me. I rather just do a quick ceremony with people gathered around (like my uncle Todd had) and then have a bunch of food and fun. Maybe even fun little things like a photobooth so people can take crazy pictures or ladderball.
Anyways, I thought I had found the PERFECT venue.. partially because it isn't really used for a lot of weddings so it could feel more like a party. Its also fairly close by, in Winchester, which is better than one of my favorite venues so far, which is down between Richmond and Williamsburg. I like the idea of having a mini destination wedding, as I've mentioned before, but my mom isn't so into the idea. Anyways, the venue said there is no access to a BATHROOM!!! This is not the first venue to have a bathroom issue (since I want to be outdoors), and some of them even include the rental of "nice" portapotties in the price of the property. I can't even imagine. Maybe there are some nice ones, I guess I'll have to look into it and give it a chance... but uhhh, wow. Way to make things difficult.
The other news is the wedding dress. I went to the Running of the Brides in DC two weekends ago with my mom, Tracey, Kristen, Katie and Sarah. It was SOOO much fun. Most of the dresses looked really cheap, though, and the ones that were nice just weren't the style I was going for. Oh well, I kind of new ahead of time I was too picky to find something there.. but we had a blast anyways. I have wanted to go since I heard about the event years ago, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. People are CRAZY.
Isabella comes home in June for a couple weeks and we are going up to Kleinfeld in NYC then. Hopefully I will have a dress by then, but she is trying to pick hers out. I also hope to have a wedding date and venue picked out by then so I can send out invitations! I hate that I haven't been able to send them out yet. But when she is here we are going to do a lot of crafty wedding things together, hopefully including making the invitations, so my goal is to have everything figured out by then. A bonus to wanting to be all crafty for this wedding? I read an article the other day that one of the popular trends this year is crafty weddings! Sweet. We were way ahead of our time.
I've looked at a lot of venues online, and ruled a lot out. I'm SO picky (more on that to come later). Its not so much that I think I'm going to find a perfect venue... I just want one that will let me have a lot of control over the wedding, since I don't want your traditional wedding. One of the things I HAVE decided (for now..) is that I want it to be a cross between what a BBQ and a garden party would feel like. Garden party because I want it to be pretty and class, but BBQ because I want it to be fun. Zach's mom always said to just have a fun party, and I think that is what I want to do. I'm not so into formal.. I can't imagine myself doing some grand walk down the aisle to all these people waiting in chairs staring at me. I rather just do a quick ceremony with people gathered around (like my uncle Todd had) and then have a bunch of food and fun. Maybe even fun little things like a photobooth so people can take crazy pictures or ladderball.
Anyways, I thought I had found the PERFECT venue.. partially because it isn't really used for a lot of weddings so it could feel more like a party. Its also fairly close by, in Winchester, which is better than one of my favorite venues so far, which is down between Richmond and Williamsburg. I like the idea of having a mini destination wedding, as I've mentioned before, but my mom isn't so into the idea. Anyways, the venue said there is no access to a BATHROOM!!! This is not the first venue to have a bathroom issue (since I want to be outdoors), and some of them even include the rental of "nice" portapotties in the price of the property. I can't even imagine. Maybe there are some nice ones, I guess I'll have to look into it and give it a chance... but uhhh, wow. Way to make things difficult.
The other news is the wedding dress. I went to the Running of the Brides in DC two weekends ago with my mom, Tracey, Kristen, Katie and Sarah. It was SOOO much fun. Most of the dresses looked really cheap, though, and the ones that were nice just weren't the style I was going for. Oh well, I kind of new ahead of time I was too picky to find something there.. but we had a blast anyways. I have wanted to go since I heard about the event years ago, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. People are CRAZY.
Isabella comes home in June for a couple weeks and we are going up to Kleinfeld in NYC then. Hopefully I will have a dress by then, but she is trying to pick hers out. I also hope to have a wedding date and venue picked out by then so I can send out invitations! I hate that I haven't been able to send them out yet. But when she is here we are going to do a lot of crafty wedding things together, hopefully including making the invitations, so my goal is to have everything figured out by then. A bonus to wanting to be all crafty for this wedding? I read an article the other day that one of the popular trends this year is crafty weddings! Sweet. We were way ahead of our time.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Summer is Almost Here
Today was essentially my idea of the perfect day, or at least pretty close to it. This morning I watched my girly shows while Zach slept in, and then we went for a walk at Difficult Run with Joey, Sam and Kinas. I haven't seen Joey since before I moved, even though I consider him to be one of my best friends. There aren't many guys out there, besides Zach and the two Thomas's lol, that I can talk to on the phone for very long, but I distinctly remember a long conversation I had with Joey while I was in California, primarily because it happened right when we were deciding if we wanted to come and it reminded me what it was like to have such a great core group of friends around. Its something we were lacking in California, even though we really loved Mitch and Donna's friends. Anyways, we had a great time on the walk.. Sam almost swam across the river to do the cliff jump, but I'm really glad he didn't because with all of this rain lately I'm fairly sure he would have drowned because the water is still SO high and fast (the restaurant Cameron works at has been closed all week because of the flooding in Georgetown). The dog ran away for a while, but came right back once he exhausted himself. The heat worked in our favor (it was 90 degrees..) so he couldn't keep going for too long. I seriously love, love, love going on walks with these guys. It was nice hanging out with them again.
This past weekend was Easter, which for me just means working a banquet. I hate working banquets because it almost always means I'm working on a holiday only to make less money because we don't give out checks at the end of the meal, so we only get money when people hand us cash. Its rare. Easter was exhausting, but it was okay because Friday and Saturday were really great. They were actually really busy and exhausting too, but it makes it that much better in my opinion.
Another perk from this weekend was having Mark, Maddy and Jon visiting. Friday night we spent at Jon's house just talking and watching TV and it was so nice just being lazy together. Saturday we went to Starbucks and hung out for a couple hours just telling stories. It was so interesting hearing Jon's story, for example, because it reminded me how much I don't know about a lot of people in my life. Some of the events in his life that he talked about both Zach and I didn't know about, or didn't know the exact details. This had occurred to me before, but mostly with the guys in mind. There are so many things about them that I am aware of, but don't know the details. Its strange. But yea, Starbucks was great. My other major thought leaving that was how fun it would be if Mark and Maddy and Zach and I had children around the same time and were living in the same area. They are so fun.
This week I am preparing to go buy my wedding dress on Friday. I am very hopeful that I will find it then, and will be pretty disappointed if I walk away empty handed. I can't believe this step of the process is about to happen, so it has spurred me to start looking into wedding venues more than I had before and go visit the ones I have already contacted. I am the kind of person that doesn't just see one place and go with it... I have to see every option out there before I can feel comfortable with any decision. Its going to make this whole thing take that much longer.
Besides that, Krista is home so we are going to lunch with her and Kevin on Thursday, and on Wednesday I am making shirts with the girls for our wedding shopping extravaganza. Friday is the big day and tomorrow we have our helper guy, Tony, coming over to paint and stuff, so I have to be here for that. Between all of that and work, I have a full week. But an exciting week!
This past weekend was Easter, which for me just means working a banquet. I hate working banquets because it almost always means I'm working on a holiday only to make less money because we don't give out checks at the end of the meal, so we only get money when people hand us cash. Its rare. Easter was exhausting, but it was okay because Friday and Saturday were really great. They were actually really busy and exhausting too, but it makes it that much better in my opinion.
Another perk from this weekend was having Mark, Maddy and Jon visiting. Friday night we spent at Jon's house just talking and watching TV and it was so nice just being lazy together. Saturday we went to Starbucks and hung out for a couple hours just telling stories. It was so interesting hearing Jon's story, for example, because it reminded me how much I don't know about a lot of people in my life. Some of the events in his life that he talked about both Zach and I didn't know about, or didn't know the exact details. This had occurred to me before, but mostly with the guys in mind. There are so many things about them that I am aware of, but don't know the details. Its strange. But yea, Starbucks was great. My other major thought leaving that was how fun it would be if Mark and Maddy and Zach and I had children around the same time and were living in the same area. They are so fun.
This week I am preparing to go buy my wedding dress on Friday. I am very hopeful that I will find it then, and will be pretty disappointed if I walk away empty handed. I can't believe this step of the process is about to happen, so it has spurred me to start looking into wedding venues more than I had before and go visit the ones I have already contacted. I am the kind of person that doesn't just see one place and go with it... I have to see every option out there before I can feel comfortable with any decision. Its going to make this whole thing take that much longer.
Besides that, Krista is home so we are going to lunch with her and Kevin on Thursday, and on Wednesday I am making shirts with the girls for our wedding shopping extravaganza. Friday is the big day and tomorrow we have our helper guy, Tony, coming over to paint and stuff, so I have to be here for that. Between all of that and work, I have a full week. But an exciting week!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Home Again
My grandparents and I are now back home after a great time in California. Last time I wrote we were about to head to Joshua Tree, which was a huge highlight of the trip. I happened to get pretty sick while in the desert, but I still had a good time because its just one of those places I could go 1000 times and still be amazed.
In hindsight this was one of my favorite parts of the trip because it was just so relaxing. We lounged around the house all morning and just enjoyed the perfect weather, nice view and amazing home. On the way back we hit the outlets (best ever, by the way..) and then I went to have sushi at my favorite place with my old coworker. It was so nice seeing her again, and it made me feel like I was living out there again. She is one of the nicest people I've ever met.
After the desert we headed to Jerry's house, which we had to ourselves so it was very nice and relaxing. That night Mitchell drove us around the neighborhood in the golf cart, which was quite the experience because this neighborhood is ridiculous. Then we went to The Yard House, which I loved when we went there over Christmas, but this time it was super loud and packed with women that all looked like they were from the Housewives of Orange County. I still liked it a lot, and maybe my annoyances were based on how I wasn't feeling well. After that we just lounged around, and then I got one of the best nights sleep in my life. Important stuff going on in this blog people, pay attention.
In hindsight this was one of my favorite parts of the trip because it was just so relaxing. We lounged around the house all morning and just enjoyed the perfect weather, nice view and amazing home. On the way back we hit the outlets (best ever, by the way..) and then I went to have sushi at my favorite place with my old coworker. It was so nice seeing her again, and it made me feel like I was living out there again. She is one of the nicest people I've ever met.Friday we went to see the storyboards for Mitchell's movie, a remake of The Wizard of Oz. I can't say anything about it because we signed strict confidentiality agreements, but lets just say its going to be AMAZING. I was so impressed and definitely want all of the pictures they have for it once its all over with. Mitchell said he would try, so we'll see what happens. That night the Tomcos and Susan and John came over for pizza night. That was another one of the best times we had there. Mitch and Donna have a great group of friends, and these people are some of my favorite. I have such a great time whenever they are over, and everyone is laughing the whole time. Plus, Mitchell's pizza and fried zuchinni can't be beat. Soooooo good.
Saturday was Manhattan Beach day. Our first stop was Charlie's house, which is great because its a beautiful home to begin with, and his wife, Liana, has great style. Then we went to their friends house which is right on the beach. It was probably the size of my parents townhouse, and very outdated, but since it was right on the beach in one of the most expensive places in the country, Charlie estimated that it was worth $12 million. Absurd. I think that might be a little mroe than its actually worth, but still. Whoa. After hanging out on the beach for a while Donna and I walked down to the main area and did a little shopping. They were having sidewalk sales that weekend so it was a really great time to be there. They had some reallllly amazing deals, and if I still lived in California I definitely would have been buying a lot. Unfortunately, the clothes people wear out there don't really have a place here in Virginia. But its probably for the better, since I didn't have a lot of room in my suitcase. I did get a few things, though :) Oh, and one of the highlights of the trip? Donna and I got Gatorade and soda the second we got there (10 block walk!) and we had to leave them sitting outside the stores we walked in. A lot of the places have little tables outside for that because theyre upscale stores and its just the norm. The second store we get to, we come back outside to just my Gatorade! We couldn't figure out what was going on, checked the trash can, looked around.. and then I saw it. A bum walking right down the street from us with her soda in hand. Guess he was thirsty. I'm also going to guess he has a soar throat now, because she was sick. We saw him sitting in a little corner later, with a huge sandwich and a lot of half empty drinks; he got himself a nice little meal.
Sunday was a day of rest. I watched a lot of Housewives and then Survivor. Then Isabella and David came by with their new puppy, Benny. SOOOOO cute. No words for it really. Suffice it to say the blades of grass were just about as tall as he is. Its the smallest dog I've ever seen. The girls fell in love. Monday the flight back was great, and I feared it wouldn't be because the way out here was awful. Andddd now I'm bac. To find out there has been major flooding, so we're going to check it out today :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Back to the Golden State
I am currently sitting right in between Keira and Kyla watching Cupcakes Wars after a long day of hiking with my grandparents, Menchies for lunch, and then new bikes for the girls. I'm exhausted, but I'm happy because its just like the old days. I was nervous about coming back because a) I hate flying, b) I don't like being away from Zach and my family for so long and c) I didn't know how I would feel being back. Not that I thought I would be unhappy.. but maybe I would miss living here? Who knows what I was thinking. I now know that I am very happy seeing the girls and Mitchell and Donna, because the #1 thing I miss about living here is being able to go over to their house for dinner, or spending weekends finding things to do with the little girls. I love having them around. I also missed the weather and the access to endless things to do. It is just so beautiful here, so walking/hiking anywhere is incredible. What don't I miss? Prices and traffic, and being so far away from home. Gas is already about $4.50 here, and today we went to Griffith Park, which used to be right next to where Zach and I lived, and it took probably an hour because one lane was closed on the 5 lane road. Awful.
Anyways, we've taken a few walks to enjoy the scenery. We also went to a nursery to pick out flowers for Donna's house which made me want to have a garden of my own. It's a dangerous place because I could sink a whole lot of money into that hobby. Saturday (today is Tuesday) was the auction for the girls school, which Donna and Carin organized together. They have been working on it like crazy for months; it was more than a full time job. I told her when I still lived out here that I would volunteer during the event, so that was one of the reasons we flew out here now as opposed to another time. First stop was loading up the cars with the gift bags, and we got to her country club, where the event was being held, at about 9 am. We worked solidly until 1:30, which consisted of putting the baskets people could bid on out on the table. They had SO many items, so it was a ton of work. At 1:30 we rushed home, I packed bags of clothes for the event and Donna showered as fast as she could because we had to be at her hair/make up at 2:00. It was a mad dash. After hair and make up we went back to finish setting up. It looked amazing by the end of the whole thing. Mitchell surprised her with a beautiful Tiffany's bracelet and she was very emotional the whole time. It was the culmination of so much hard work. The event went really well, but was very stressful at the end when we had to give people the things they won. But they had great items, so it was fun seeing everything. They had an autographed Twilight poster, a lunch with Jerry for $1000, trips to the Caribbean, Cancun, San Diego and New England, Oscar de la Hoya boxing gloves, so many yoga/workout packages, Disneyland packages... and about 30000000 other things. The benefits of living in Hollywood..... But it was nice seeing so many of Donna's friends (especially Amanda and Susan who volunteered to help Donna even though they don't have children in this school, great friends) and we left the club at 1:30 am... 30 minutes earlier than we thought we would. It was a longggggggggggg day.
Another big event so far this trip has been going to the hair salon with my grandma. It was nice, until the end. The people ripped her off and charged her $145 for something that should have been far less, despite the fact that I told them to make sure she knew the price of what she was doing before they did anything. They didn't. There was just a bit of a confrontation, and they ended up lowering the price to $125, then $90, and then they called after we left to offer her a Keratin treatment. I was so livid. I haven't been that angry very many times in my life, I almost didn't want to drive right after because I knew I couldn't focus. But, my grandparents were impressed with how I handled the situation, so that's good at least.. I guess.
Also, I read the book "The Help" over the past few days, which was great. It's based on the issues in the South during the 60's, which is one of the topics I studied during school and really fascinates me. It was so good, and made me kind of excited to live in the South, especially now that those troubles are (mostly) over. Except I did read a stat about how many people in the GOP is Mississippi (where the book is set) think interracial marriage should be illegal. On second thought, maybe things aren't that much better down there....
Anyways, Ira comes over tonight for dinner. Tomorrow we go to Joshua Tree and then back to Jerry and Susie's house in Palm Desert for the night. They wont be there so we'll have the place to ourselves. If you want to see how AWESOME the house is, you can watch "His Way" on HBO, which is about Jerry and a lot of it is filmed from the house. That's about it for now :)
Also, I nearly died on the plane ride here. I was on the verge of puking for at least 20 minutes. I still am not sure how I got off that plane vomit-free. Also, I'm not sure how I'm ever going to fly across an ocean, because I was convincing myself not to panic the whole flight. Worst part of the trip.
Anyways, we've taken a few walks to enjoy the scenery. We also went to a nursery to pick out flowers for Donna's house which made me want to have a garden of my own. It's a dangerous place because I could sink a whole lot of money into that hobby. Saturday (today is Tuesday) was the auction for the girls school, which Donna and Carin organized together. They have been working on it like crazy for months; it was more than a full time job. I told her when I still lived out here that I would volunteer during the event, so that was one of the reasons we flew out here now as opposed to another time. First stop was loading up the cars with the gift bags, and we got to her country club, where the event was being held, at about 9 am. We worked solidly until 1:30, which consisted of putting the baskets people could bid on out on the table. They had SO many items, so it was a ton of work. At 1:30 we rushed home, I packed bags of clothes for the event and Donna showered as fast as she could because we had to be at her hair/make up at 2:00. It was a mad dash. After hair and make up we went back to finish setting up. It looked amazing by the end of the whole thing. Mitchell surprised her with a beautiful Tiffany's bracelet and she was very emotional the whole time. It was the culmination of so much hard work. The event went really well, but was very stressful at the end when we had to give people the things they won. But they had great items, so it was fun seeing everything. They had an autographed Twilight poster, a lunch with Jerry for $1000, trips to the Caribbean, Cancun, San Diego and New England, Oscar de la Hoya boxing gloves, so many yoga/workout packages, Disneyland packages... and about 30000000 other things. The benefits of living in Hollywood..... But it was nice seeing so many of Donna's friends (especially Amanda and Susan who volunteered to help Donna even though they don't have children in this school, great friends) and we left the club at 1:30 am... 30 minutes earlier than we thought we would. It was a longggggggggggg day.
Another big event so far this trip has been going to the hair salon with my grandma. It was nice, until the end. The people ripped her off and charged her $145 for something that should have been far less, despite the fact that I told them to make sure she knew the price of what she was doing before they did anything. They didn't. There was just a bit of a confrontation, and they ended up lowering the price to $125, then $90, and then they called after we left to offer her a Keratin treatment. I was so livid. I haven't been that angry very many times in my life, I almost didn't want to drive right after because I knew I couldn't focus. But, my grandparents were impressed with how I handled the situation, so that's good at least.. I guess.
Also, I read the book "The Help" over the past few days, which was great. It's based on the issues in the South during the 60's, which is one of the topics I studied during school and really fascinates me. It was so good, and made me kind of excited to live in the South, especially now that those troubles are (mostly) over. Except I did read a stat about how many people in the GOP is Mississippi (where the book is set) think interracial marriage should be illegal. On second thought, maybe things aren't that much better down there....
Anyways, Ira comes over tonight for dinner. Tomorrow we go to Joshua Tree and then back to Jerry and Susie's house in Palm Desert for the night. They wont be there so we'll have the place to ourselves. If you want to see how AWESOME the house is, you can watch "His Way" on HBO, which is about Jerry and a lot of it is filmed from the house. That's about it for now :)
Also, I nearly died on the plane ride here. I was on the verge of puking for at least 20 minutes. I still am not sure how I got off that plane vomit-free. Also, I'm not sure how I'm ever going to fly across an ocean, because I was convincing myself not to panic the whole flight. Worst part of the trip.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Horses, Cherry Blossoms and Honeymoons
This weekend was great. On Saturday we went to Morven Park, which has this beautiful mansion, gardens and an equestrian center. Zach and I briefly walked around the house and other buildings near it before meeting up with my parents at the equestrian center. They were having a steeple chase that day so we found a nice little spot for a picnic and watched. It was a different way to spend an afternoon, so despite the cold weather we had a lot of fun. Sunday I worked all day, but it was actually a really fun day. Katie worked all day too and we decided to go to the Cherry Blossoms today because the weather was supposed to be so nice. The weather turned out to be even better than expected (I have the sunburn to prove it) and DC was amazing. Apparently the rest of the DC area saw the weather reports too, so traffic was crazy. Once we got there we went to Old Ebbitt's Grill for lunch because Katie had never been there. That was a hike and a half, so by the time we got back to the tidal basin we were exhausted and didn't do the whole circle. It was okay though.. the scenery doesn't exactly change a ton. It was a thoroughly exhausting day, and weekend for that matter. Tomorrow I work at night and have a lot of errands to run before that because my grandparents are coming in Wednesday, which is also my mom and Connor's birthday. Then, Thursday I fly out with them to California for a 10 day trip. As far as wedding planning goes, I've been looking at photographers and spoken to a few people at some of the venues. I also told Zach today that we should just go to the courthouse to get married and spend this money on a month in Europe. He said no. Which is okay because I love planning weddings, and hopefully we'll get to live there eventually anyways.That conversation led to a honeymoon conversation tonight.. and I'm left wondering how on earth people decide where to go for their honeymoon. There are just so many amazing places to see. I want to try and find somewhere that has history and culture, amazing weather, nice beaches and some adventurous things to do. My first thought for that was Belize, which I found while reading an article on honeymoons. It has ancient ruins, beach resorts, snorkeling and scuba diving, and ATVing and cave tours. Awesome. I also like the idea of Puerto Rico because it has the beaches, it has nice towns to visit, it has the bioluminescent (or whatever) bays, it definitely has some history. And I think I would feel more comfortable in Puerto Rico than Belize because I know more about it.. but who knows. The place I would feel the most comfortable is probably Europe, but since we may end up living there I don't know if its worth honeymooning to. Plus, I would have an impossible time deciding where to go. Ireland and Scotland look incredible, and then there is Paris and the rest of France, there are about 5 areas of Spain I want to visit, even more in Italy, and then the Greek Isles sound amazing. I won't get started on all of the great things to do in Turkey, or the opportunity to travel between a lot of the countries on the train. It's impossible! Sooo many decisions that still need to be made, and most of them are hinging on us hearing back from the Navy so we know when Zach goes to boot camp. Speaking of the military, I found out this week that my friend Krista is moving home because her husband is deploying. I am so excited, especially because it seems like babies are everywhere in my life.. and as much as I want to have one to play with, I don't want to have any yet. What does this have to do with Krista? She has a 15 month old and is pregnant with #2!!! Sweet. A good friend back in Loudoun to hang out with, and she comes packaged with babies. Its been a good week.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
We're Engaged, Now What??
Three weeks ago today Zach and I got engaged. Since then we haven't nailed too much down, but we have certainly started the planning. First step was adding gifts to the registry. Zach was way excited to use "the gun." Plus, he loves shopping. We went to Macys and found lots of great things, and we also added a few things from other places, such as an amazing duvet cover from Z Gallerie and fun things for camping and hiking. We wanted to use a comprehensive wedding registry because we already have quite a few household items since we've lived together before, and we also wanted to get some things (wish for things) we wouldn't usually indulge on ourselves but that we would really love to use as a couple. That was the thought behind the camping stuff, etc. - the more fun little things we do as a couple the better our marriage will be.
I created a wedding website the other night (www.weddingwire.com/carolineandzach) and didn't expect quite so many people to look at it so quickly. Our registry certainly isn't quite finished, and it even has things on there that we need to take off, but this computer wont let me!! Hopefully no one is buying yet!
So at this point, we are looking at venues and dresses, and making decisions about the invitations, guest list, food, etc. As far as venue goes, its a battle between close and easy for everyone, or a little further away but more in sync with the wedding I had always imagined. As of today I am leaning towards the latter. I love the idea of getting married on a beautiful farm a little south of Loudoun, or maybe on the water in Maryland. After some research last night and today I would currently bet on the farm idea; it is easier to access from Northern Virginia, will have less expensive hotels for out of town guests, and will provide a lot of options that have so much land and privacy (think: parking). I found a great farm today that has horses, a lake, old barns, a view of Old Rag Mountain.. I love it. The house is small and quaint, which is fine because it will be an outdoor wedding anyways. Of course I will have to speak to the owner more and consider other possibilities, but it's exciting to find somewhere I like so much that may actually work. I'm thinking somewhere about 1 1/2 hours away isn't too bad at all - people could drive there and back easily if they don't want to book a place to stay, but it would also be a nice mini-vacation for anyone who wants to explore the wine country, hiking and other amazing things the area has to offer.
Dresses... oh dresses. Isabella and David are in town for a few days so we went to Nordstrom and Priscilla of Boston today. Nordstrom had so many dresses I loved online, but a very small bridal suite in the store. I was shocked because Tysons is such a major mall. I did, however, find a couple of great options for bridesmaids dresses. We ran to get some sushi for lunch and then over to Priscilla of Boston. There were a few AMAZING gowns there. I'm not going to give too much away about this wedding, especially the dress, because I want people to be surprised when they are at the wedding.. instead of knowing everything before they're there.. but I definitely found myself going in a different direction than I thought I would be. I already know when and where I will get my dress, so this was more of an exploratory mission. Plus, I wanted to try on dresses with Isabella at least once. Its so tragic that she and I switched coasts and won't get to do all of the wedding planning together.
As far as food.. Zach really wants to do a pig roast. Since the guy doesn't get to make too many decisions in the wedding situation, I am really trying to make this happen. This is another part of the wedding that really leads me towards the farm setting. We will have the space and hopefully someone with the equipment to figure it all out.
So for now I will continue to research flower options, decide if I want to make the invitations myself or order them, look at different cake designs and bakers, get loads of emails from photographers.. its great. My purpose in this life is to plan things, so planning I will do.
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