We have the most bizarre weather. Snow flurries this morning! Yet it's supposed to reach a high of 64 on Thursday? Crazy, crazy.
Well, we now have our flight schedule for Cabo, and we now know what hotel we'll be staying in! I've been anxiously waiting for this, so I could actually see where we'll be staying, and everything. Here are a few pictures from the hotel's website:
Taken from the roof of the hotel
One of the cliffside rooms, that face the Sea of Cortez
We're not sure if our room is Pacific Ocean view, or Sea of Cortez view. We won't know till we arrive.
Here is one of the rooms--it's an ocean view
An overlook of their many pools
Needless to say, we're just a little excited now! I found out that they are located near Los Cabos, so it's further from the touristy places, and more secluded. They have tons of different activities you can sign up (and pay) for, but it all depends on how much we're able to save between now and then. (There's less than a month to go!) Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy lounging poolside, or laying out on the beach the entire time! But we'll see.
Also! Ryan just recently purchased this little guy for his office:
It's a portable, 8" swivel DVD player, which he needed in order to play 10 hours' worth of DVD training material for his new sales rep, which are required viewing. Anyway, they won't need it during the week of our trip, which means we get to take it with us to Cabo, so we can watch movies during our flights! We'll basically be flying for over 6 hours, each way, with an hour layover in Houston. So, it's really nice that we'll be able to use that.
On a totally different note... I think it's safe to say that we are addicted to the show, Deal or No Deal, which was on last night. We somehow missed it the first week it was on, but we watched last night. Oh my goodness, we were on the edge of our seats! Literally. Then we'd yell once the guy picked wisely. We loved it! Now there's a show I'd want to be on... I mean, it really doesn't take any amount of skill, per se... just depends on the "luck" (I hate to use that word) of your draw.
Well, I'm only working till 3 today, then I have an appointment with my obgyn. Ick. Anyone want to trade with me today? It should just be a short appointment, at least. She just wants to make sure my birth control pills didn't up my blood pressure or do any other funny things. Should be pretty quick. :)
I was just about to write a new entry when my coworker announces, "Emily, I have another project for you!" Projects, projects, and more projects... they are neverending! I will be busy with projects till the 6th of March, our deadline.
Good news is, the weekend was wonderful, and relaxing. :) After Ryan worked for a couple hours on Saturday, we shopped a bit--two new pairs of shorts for him for our Cabo trip, and a giant beach towel for me. :) The rest of the day was filled with movies, ('Hotel Rwanda'--so sad; and 'Beyond the Gates of Splendor'--a documentary covering several missionaries, including Jim Elliott) Olympics, and good food! We actually grocery shopped together, which is a rare, but fun occasion. Then I made breakfast-for-dinner, including hashbrowns, eggs, and cinnamon raisin toast. Soooo good.
Sunday was absolutely freezing! After church, we stayed inside. We watched the last bit of the Olympics, and were especially taken with the 50 K Freestyle. How on earth those guys lasted over TWO HOURS on that course was beyond me. Ryan and I wondered if we'd even make it around the course ONCE. :) True athletes they are.
Work beckons. Hopefully back tomorrow, and hopefully a more exciting update than today's. :) How was everyone's weekend??
Ryan gets very anxious whenever there is a knife in my hand. I'm just speculating, but it could have something to do with this incident, where I proved that knives and I don't play well together. Anyway, he forbid me to use a ridiculously enormous knife this morning to slice his bagel, even though it was the only clean knife we had left in our kitchen. (we apparently use a lot of knives) So he did it himself. Even though he has cut himself before, too. Hmm. Just not as recently as I have, I guess. :)
Ooo, I think I could be on to something. Maybe I could hurt myself with the dishwasher, and get him to do the dishes? Nah, that might look too obvious.
My Mom just sent me an Apple e-card to say, amongst other things, that there are birds in her birdfeeder. We send e-cards to each other constantly, (my Mom is a blessing) but this was meaningful because I mentioned that I, personally, never see birds in there. I bought her the slightly large, barely-able-to-fit-in-my-little-civic, white gazebo-style birdfeeder for her birthday last year, after she had mentioned that she really liked the one we saw on the side of the road while we were on our way to cousin Justin's wedding. I drove back to the little stand where we originally saw it, in order to get it for her. Aside from the guinea hen (the "blue chicken") we got her one year, I don't know if I've ever seen her so surprised. It's the best thing in the world.
About ten people from PBT (the company that bought us) came out to visit us yesterday. We had a meet-and-greet, and an impromptu meeting around lunchtime. They all seem to be very smart, well-educated, (nearly all of them have PhD's or MBA's) and, did I mention, very tan? They live in California, after all. Maybe I could get a job transfer? Kidding, kidding. I'm really kidding. They seem to be very nice people, though.
I really, really enjoy being a wife. I really do. But I don't think all wives do. There's this website called thenest.com, which is basically theknot.com for married people. :) Anyway, they have message boards on thenest, and I've decided, after browsing through several different boards, that they give horrible advice, and heaven help anyone who heeds their advice. One woman was complaining that she does almost all of the housework, and wanted to know how she can get her husband to pitch in. Honest to God, there were several women who suggested that she stop cleaning at all, and he'll eventually get the hint, after the house is a disaster area. Oh, YEAH, that's a mature, loving, and unselfish way to handle the situation!
But I don't think women would appreciate my advice in the situation. I'd be labeled as "too traditional." But I enjoy being traditional.
We don't really have any set-in-stone plans for the weekend just yet. We were invited to a birthday party at ESPN Zone, where they'll have dinner and play some of the games, but we just can't afford that right now. We're really trying to save right now, plus we'll need a teeny bit of spending money saved up for Cabo. (which is just a month and a day away!!) Anyway, the weather is supposed to be nice and warm tomorrow, so I'm hoping we can go to the park after Ryan leaves the office. That's something we haven't done in a while. :)
Hope you all have a fast workday, and a great weekend!
And the best part is, it came out of nowhere! I think they were calling for maybe a 20% chance of some form of precipitation. I noticed some flurries as I was getting ready this morning, and by the time I was walking out to my car, it was snowing like crazy! Everything is white now, and I've got our window at work wide open so I can still see it from in here. :) This has completely made my morning! So pretty.
I wish I brought my camera!
So anyway, from snow to the beach... we only have a month and three days until Cabo! :) I'm trying to work out every day now, and we're both officially on a diet. Lots of fruits, veggies, salads, lean meat, and the occasional low-fat granola bar... I cannot cut out dessert completely! :) And Ryan started tanning, too. (We just don't want to burn once we get there.) He doesn't understand why I'd want to lose any weight, but he's supportive anyway. I guess we're our own biggest critics, though.
I still need him to find out for me what kind of dress code the awards ceremony in Cabo will have. He just recently told me that they have an awards ceremony where they announce each rep, (he's not a rep anymore, but he was during the past year) and how much they did in sales. Every rep going on the trip had to do at least 1 million in sales. However, if they did over 1.5, they also will present them with a Tag Heuer watch! Ryan did nearly 1.6, so he will be given one on the trip! I am so, so excited for him. We'd never, ever in a million years spend that much on a watch, (they're roughly $1,500, or more, we've been told) but it's definitely a great incentive gift, as if the trip wasn't enough!! I'm so, so proud of my husband. Have I mentioned that lately? ;)
So, the Cabo trip is my motivation to get into really great shape... which I hope to carry over into summer. It seems like I finally get happy with my body at the END of summer, which is kinda depressing. :) Not this year!
Did anyone watch American Idol last night? We watched it over at my parents' house last night, and flipped between AI and the Olympics. I tell you what, I've liked Kelly Pickler from the start, but I think she picked too big of a song for her voice. I mean, to sing Martina McBride, that's very ambitious. I had always hoped Carrie Underwood would pick a song like that, to showcase her powerhouse voice. I still like Kelly, though--she's very unassuming, and likeable. As far as vocal talent goes.. I'm not sure who my favorite female is this season, but it's a very easy pick with the guys. That guy Ace is pretty much exactly what they're looking for.
Ryan and I had such a great weekend up in Pennsylvania! Grandpa and Grandma S. live up in northeastern PA, in a cute, little town. It's a good 5 hour drive for us, so we didn't get there till around 10:30 on Friday night. We stayed up talking and catching up since the last time we saw them was at our wedding! They really appreciated the wedding album--Grandma S. was especially excited about it, and said she's going to show it to everyone. :) I'm really, really glad they liked it.
Saturday was a scene straight out of Groundhog Day. Clarks Summit was having an Ice Festival throughout the weekend, so Grandpa, Ryan and I headed out to see it. They had 36 ice sculptures, and 3 different stations where guys were carving sculptures so you could see how it's done. Very, very cool! Only problem was the weather--the wind chill was -1! We went into different stores to warm up, and lasted for about an hour. :) Then we hopped back in the car, map in hand, and drove around to find all the other sculptures we hadn't seen yet, which were spread all throughout Clarks Summit. We all agreed it was more fun with the heat on. :) It's a whole different kind of cold in PA!
On Saturday night, we all played Dominoes for a couple hours. Ryan and I had never played, so his Grandpa taught us. It's pretty addicting! We watched some of the Olympics, and called it a night.
We were all up bright and early on Sunday.. we needed to get on the road and get home, or we wouldn't get home till late. It's hard getting up for work the next day if you don't have much time to come home and unwind. Unlike some lucky people I know, we don't get today off. :) Anyway, his grandparents and I talked about politics--they're involved in their community, which I thought was really interesting, so we talked about that. I really love Ryan's grandparents. They're the kind of people that are so kind, and big-hearted, I already feel comfortable calling them Grandpa and Grandma. They're just really nice, sweet people, who make you feel at home.
Anyway! On to the pictures. :) I took pictures of a whole bunch of the sculptures, so I'm going to post them all. Scroll all the way down to comment. :) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
Live ice sculpture carving :) Now there's a profession I could never do!
A cute picture Ryan took of a little boy checking out the eskimo
Big and little eskimos :) They were made without faces so that adults and kids alike could have their pictures taken as eskimos. :)
Very cool snowflake throne
Grandpa S. and I on the snowflake throne :)
Cute seal!
I loved these snowflakes!
An intricate eagle
This castle must've taken forever!
A penguin feeding it's baby
A bear (with a martini glass) outside one of the restaurants It was one of our favorites :)
Ryan & the bear :) Ryan tripped over that rope there so I could get a pic of him, and the whole thing nearly toppled over! Oops. :)
It's FRIDAY!! At long last. I've been extremely busy at work lately... actually, ever since the company was sold, I've been extremely busy. Time has been flying by so fast.
So, we're heading up to PA after work to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma S. over the weekend. We're also bringing a little gift... A "memory book" I spent close to an hour making on snapfish.com, which is essentially a rather professional looking wedding album. I was very impressed with how nicely it turned out! I hope they will like it. :) Anyway, they're calling for snow there tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday. Needless to say, we're taking Ryan's truck!
I'm really in the mood for a frapaccino, so I may head out to Starbucks. :) So, get this.. Ryan and I both packed our suitcases last night, and he took his suitcase with him to work, while I took my own. Um, we share the same toothpaste tube... he totally forgot that I use it also, and packed it in his suitcase before I got a chance to use it. Hello mouthwash and 5 zillion cinnamon Altoids. Ugh!
Must get back to work. I'm actually kinda important around here since we were sold.. imagine that. :) Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
Some guys just don't know how to deal with the holiday of love and romance. Some guys just don't get it. The sleazy guy who rolled down the window of his BMW and yelled, "baby, would you be my valentine?" as I was walking into a store yesterday? Um, yeah, he doesn't get it. (nor did he apparently get the concept of my wedding ring. Ugh!)
My husband, however, he gets it. :) No, he's not the typical Mr. Romance, but he sure knows how to make me feel loved and appreciated. His sweet card to me made me tear up, and the Ralph Lauren perfume gift set is just deliciously yummy, and thoughtful. (I just ran out of perfume!)
Since most Valentine's gifts cater to women--pink, frilly, heart-shaped, and so forth--I just got him some things I knew he'd like. I got him a Columbia half-zip sweatshirt, (since he has more "dress" clothes than casual clothes) a Car & Driver magazine, (sounds like a silly gift, but he loves that magazine) and practical (ie-not silk or satin) red boxers. (Since it IS Valentine's day, after all)
After we exchanged gifts, he grilled our filet mignon, which I served with seasoned red potatoes and mixed veggies. Oh my goodness! Everything was perfect. It's a shame filet mignon is so expensive, or we'd definitely be getting that every night! I'd never made it before, so I scoured recipes to see how best to cook it. The best part, though, was that we spent the evening at home together. It was just the perfect evening.
Our candlelit dinner for two!
The illumination of one of my heart-shaped candle holders I just thought it was pretty.
Well, it's my first official Valentine's Day as a married woman. I've got lots of sweet, romantic stuff planned for tonight... but I'll mention a bit of that tomorrow, maybe. :)
So, what are you all planning on doing today? I'm always curious to see how people who are in relationships plan on celebrating this day. Some say, "well, we celebrate our love every day," so they really don't do anything special for the commercialized holiday, while others view it as the one day when their significant other had better put some thought into them. I'm more in the neutral camp who just appreciates any opportunity to be sweet and genuinely romantic, and have a really good reason. I know Ryan has been really busy lately, so I'm not expecting that much. I'll be happy with a card! I know he adores me--he shows me all the time. But I'm certainly going to try to make it special for him. :)
Regardless of how you plan on spending this day, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it's a great one for all of you.
They called for it, and it came. Thirteen inches of snow fell between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning! We were so excited--like little kids on Christmas morning. We haven't seen snow since the wedding, and we decided to take full advantage of it. :)
We decided to make a snowman!
Here's Ryan putting the carrot nose back in. I broke pretzels to make the eyes.
Ryan with our snowman :) (it was really bright once the sun came out)
Me kneeling down with our snowman :)
And lastly, our apartment building in the snow.
We walked around the now-frozen lake, and took it all in till we couldn't feel our fingers or toes anymore. Then we made the rest of it into a movie-and-Olympics day. Couldn't have been any better!
Now it's back to work.. hope you all have a great day! :)
Ryan took me out to dinner last night to celebrate it. :) Hard to believe it has already been two months already, yet the wedding seems like it was so long ago! I'm loving every minute of this life.
You may have noticed yesterday that my pictures at the top of this site, and my pictures on our wedding website were not working. That's why my layout is a little different now. Maxipoint Servers hosts my website, and they seem to be down completely--doesn't look like they're coming back anytime soon either. So, be patient--I may have to find a new home for my pictures.
Happy Friday! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :)
Ryan's flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:00 PM last night, but I got a call from Ryan at 3:30, saying that it was snowing like crazy. Uh oh. They were getting lots of snow since Ryan arrived on Sunday, and this was exactly what I had worried about. :( He called every half hour to give me an update--from 4:30 on, every flight was cancelled.
I kept myself busy--cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, which is no easy feat. I love our huge tub, but it's a bear to clean. We really need a mop, too. The floor takes a long time to clean without a mop. :) Haha, how sad is that? I vacuumed, I organized, I straightened things up. I kept praying that if Ryan WAS able to catch a flight, that he'd be safe--otherwise, it'd be better if he stayed another night. But, if he did make it after all, at least he'd have a clean apartment to come home to!
Sure enough, he called to let me know he was boarding at 8:30. By 10:30, my husband was safely on the ground!
He had to be up at 5:30 this morning to get ready to leave for his meeting in Beltsville--which meant I was up at 5:30, too. He was out the door at 6, and I heard a knock on the door about 5 minutes later. "I'm not going anywhere," he told me. Apparently, his emergency brake was frozen and he'd have to wait for it to thaw. I guess God knew he needed a morning off. :)
Unfortunately for me, my emergency brake was just fine, and here I am at work. :-P Haha. Hope you all have a great day!
Whew, seriously, never a dull day here. I got to work at 7:40 this morning, and the power in the entire business complex went out at 8. The few of us that are crazy enough to get here as early as we do all gathered in the front office, where there's plenty of light, and more warmth. (my office is freezing in the morning!) They kicked on the generator at 10:30, and our actual, full power just came back at 11.
Anyway.. what's on my mind right this moment... MY HUSBAND COMES HOME TODAY!! I miss him like crazy. I've just been praying that all the snow they've been getting in Cleveland, and the little bit of snow they're calling for us tonight, won't delay his flight or make the flight unsafe. I just want my hubby home in one piece!
I sent him a whole bunch of pictures last night, which I took on my camera phone while relaxing around the apartment. This is what happens when I have entirely too much free time on my hands.
He says I'm a nut. I say he knew what he was getting into when he married me. Hehe. I'm just kidding. :) I just miss him... and love him lots.
Also! I'm officially Mrs. Emily S. on pretty much everything. So exciting! :) Driver's license, social security card, most of the bills. It was quite a long process, but now it's pretty fun to see my new name on everything. :)
I've worked out every night since Ryan's been gone. Victory! I feel really good, too. Ryan says he wants to start working out in the mornings, but we'll see how that goes. We both treasure our sleep. ;-) He just works too late to go in the evenings like I do... but that won't last much longer now that he has hired a new sales rep! Hopefully the new guy will be a quick learner. Besides, he'll be learning from the best former sales rep, ever. ;-) Yep, I'm just a lil proud of my husband.
Pretty good weekend, aside from the fact that I dropped my hubby off at the airport yesterday morning. :( Yep, he's up in Cleveland, again, on what will hopefully be his late business trip for a good, long while! Anyway, he gets back Wednesday evening, and I already miss him. A lot.
Though, this trip has been drastically different than his last! Unless you're a district manager, they pair off all the guys, and make them share rooms. How lame is that? For Ryan to get his own room, he would've had to pay $50 a night. So, he was paired up with an "obnoxious" guy from Tennessee, who apparently snored loud enough to wake the dead. Anyway, the manager of Ryan's district gave the OK for Ryan to get his OWN room this time! Yep, he's got a marble floored bathroom, a King size bed, and 8 inches of snow outside. Can we say "jealous"? ;-) I wish I was there.
Anyway! So, I spent Super Bowl Sunday over at my parents' house. My cousin Alan, his wife Shelley, and my second cousins Rachel and Courtney, all came over, too. Here are some pics. :)
What better place to watch the big game? I mean, really ;-)
With my Dad :)
With my Mom :) Aww
Anyway, it was a pretty good weekend. I'm on a BIG workout kick again... only 47 days till Cabo, San Lucas! I worked out Friday night, (best time to workout at an apartment gym.. NO ONE was there!) and then again yesterday, for an hour and a half. I'm going to go every evening while Ryan is gone, and then at least every other day once he gets back. I'm on a mission. :)
So, the SB commercials this year weren't as good as usual, in my humble opinion. I mean, what was UP with that Burger King commercial? What a waste of money. And the Jessica Simpson Pizza Hut commercial? Okay, yes, she's gorgeous, but after they played it for the 1,457,685th time, I was ready to shoot her. My favorites were "the streaker," the "baby clydesdale," and the "FedEx caveman" one. But there were a few other good ones. :) http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads
And...I've got two words for ya... PUPPY BOWL! It was the second annual Puppy Bowl, and yes, we watched it last year, too. :) Way too cute! They have clips from it on the Animal Planet website, too. :) You can vote for the "MVP," which was definitely the poodle. Total spaz, but he was the life of the party. My favorite pup was the wrinkly tan one. :) Sooo cute.
I was working at my desk yesterday morning, shortly after I wrote yesterday's entry, when we heard one of our coworkers yelling, "Fire! Everyone get out; this is not a drill. This is a real fire!" Took a moment or two to sink in, but I grabbed my purse, my jacket, and some bills I had on my desk, (funny what you find to be truly important in an emergency, huh?) and ran out the door with the rest of the accounting department. As we made our way through the building, (we're in the very back) you could see thick smoke, and smell the most awful burning smell, as we all rushed out.
Once outside, we found out what had happened. Some of the lights had cut off in the customer service area, and they started noticing smoke coming down from the ceiling. A couple of them pushed up on one of the ceiling panels, and saw flames spreading throughout the insulation above the ceiling tiles. It was an electrical fire, started by a small spark when a light shorted. Wouldn't normally be a big deal, but with the dust up there, it ignited.
Seven firetrucks, and numerous emergency vehicles later, our parking lot was swarming with people. We all stood outside, all noting what an awful smell was coming from the building. Ugh. 15 or more firefighters headed into the building with extinguishers and the big water hose. Hello, water damage. We all stood outside for the next hour as they extinguished the flames, and used heavy duty fans to pump out the smoke from the building.
Over an hour later, we were cleared to head back in. Some people opted to leave because of the smell, but the fire chief himself said the fumes were not toxic. We were all kind of hoping we'd be cleared to go home for the rest of the day, but no such luck. :) The burning electric smell is still ever-present this morning, but we're all just thankful that no one was hurt, and that the damage was pretty minimal, considering how bad it could've been. The building committee is going to have a full electrical inspection done, to make sure this won't happen again anytime soon. Pretty scary to think that something so small could turn into such a big thing.
Well, today will be pretty busy, but hopefully nowhere near as eventful as yesterday was! ;-) Thank God it's Friiiiiday! I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend. :) Hope you all have a great day!
Ryan and I were laying in bed last night, and I asked, "Is it bad that I've been thinking about babies lately?" and he replies with a very emphatic, "YES!" Not exactly the answer I was expecting. I thought maybe he'd think it was sweet that I was thinking about babies down the road, but no.
Lesson #1,203,041 : Men and women think differently.
Apparently, he thought because I was thinking about babies, that I wanted to start trying for one. Like, now. This was not the case! I've merely been thinking about how neat it is to think about what our babies will look like; what features of Ryan's will they have, and what features will they get from me. What will their little personalities be like? Will they be like me, more like Ryan, or a good mixture of both? It's fascinating to me.
Obviously, I love babies--I'm a woman, and, like most women, it comes naturally. I've thought about how much I want to be a mom since I was really little. (I owe a lot of that to my great rolemodel!) But I want to enjoy married life first, and I know we're not where we should be financially to not only support a baby (they're expensive) and allow me to be a stay at home mom. (big drop in income)
But I still didn't understand why he reacted the way he did. Then he explains to me that yes, he definitely wants to have kids... we had already discussed when, and how many we'd want to have, while we were seriously dating, to make sure we had similar ideas. But when he now starts hearing me talk about babies, he starts thinking about what he needs to do to make sure he can support me and a new baby. Wow. I have an amazing husband; have I mentioned that lately? I am so, so blessed.
So, after we finally figured out why we were not seeing eye to eye, (men and women, gotta love it!) I fell asleep. Well, Ryan was awake till 3 . :( I feel so guilty! He was really tired last night, and I feel like if I hadn't brought it up, he would've gotten plenty of sleep. Oops. No more baby talk for a while.
Anyway, last night we also discussed a "savings plan"--how much we want to save from each paycheck, to put in our savings account. Exciting! We're also starting to look at two bedroom apartments. Even though our lease isn't up till September or so, we'd have to give 2 months' notice if we want to move after our lease is up, so I thought it'd be a good idea to start looking around now. It's sad that we really have no chance of buying anything in this area, (250k for just a condo here!) but since Ryan's doing so well with his job, we probably will be in the area for longer than we had originally thought. Oh well! Life doesn't always go according to the plans you've made in your head. God knows better than we ever could, so we're taking it as it comes.
Oh, and Happy Groundhog Day! :) We'll definitely be watching that movie tonight. Mmhmm. Have a good one!
A penguin feeding it's baby
The illumination of one of my heart-shaped candle holders
And lastly, our apartment building in the snow. 
What better place to watch the big game? I mean, really ;-)
With my Dad :)
