It's Been A While!

Hello again blog world--it's great to see your face(?) again! I am so happy to actually have a late afternoon off from work so that I can catch whoever it is that actually reads this thing up to speed. I really only have one question: Did 2011 start already?? Man. What a whirlwind the past couple of months have been. Honestly I think I will make a list because it will just take too dern long to try and summarize what we've been up to these days!

1. Went home for Christmas (yes, I am legitimately bringing you back that far....). See! I have proof:

I made the girls book page wreaths for Christmas. Talk about some QT with the hot glue gun!

I also made some nut wreaths. Basically the hot glue gun and I are now BFFs.

I missed my little Maggie girl!! (Told you my hair was blonde.)

Spent some long overdue QT with some great friends.

And with our wonderful family.

2. I came back to spend New Year's Eve working (we had two...count 'em TWO wedding receptions on New Year's Eve at Sky Event Centre, my humble work place) until about 11:11pm from where Graham and I sprinted to a friend's house to count down the new year. (Don't worry, we made it! I think they would have waited to start the countdown if we were running late, right??)

3. I was informed that I was going to be taking on the task of planning the First Annual Wedding show at work. When I say I was informed, I really was just that. Told that this is the way it's going to be so ready, set go! I'm glad I had some gasoline left in this nearly empty tank of mine to say I think I can, I think I can, I think I can all the way up to this past Sunday when the Wedding Show was officially complete. Phew. Can I go to bed now?? Check it:

It was actually such a blast to find all of our vendors, plan the specialty linen tables (it was like I got to get married all over again!!), entertainment, timeline, hors d'oeuvres (I have written hors d'oeuvres so much lately I don't even have to look up how to spell it. sad.), etc. It isn't every day that you get to plan an entire wedding show from start to finish! Very cool experience. Now you finally have a couple of pictures of where I work!

4. I've been coaching a USA Volleyball Cedar Falls 15 year-old team since November. We have had 3 tournaments now, and while I am realizing the stresses of being a coach, I am having a blast with these girls! If you're reading this and you were once a coach of mine: "THANK YOU!" I had the girls over for team bonding sleepover fun at our apartment. Hilarious. I totally kicked Graham out for the night and this is what I woke up to in the morning:


5. Graham and I were able to go out to Colorado a couple weekends ago to meet some of our long time high school buddies for some quality time. It was definitely a weekend filled with firsts, heart to hearts, traffic, skiing, laughs, traffic, the Coors Brewery, traffic, missing our flight back to Iowa, traffic...did I mention traffic already? Believe me, when it snows in Colorado, you do NOT want to be heading toward the mountains. You want to already be there to "lay the first tracks" as it were. We were not. A simple 2 hour drive turned into a 5.5 hour drive and a change of plans for night skiing and some sweet talking by my high school bestie's fiance to get us a place to stay close by for the night. Don't worry, our sweet digs were complete with Native American art, brown shag carpet and dreamcatchers. Definitely no nightmares to be had that night! Send our regards to the 70's.

I love besties.

6. My amazing hubby gave me the sweetest Valentine's Day gift yesterday, SEE:


Complete with everything anyone who absolutely knows me to my core would provide:
1. The Hangover. Classic.
2. The Time Traveler's Wife. I have been begging Graham to watch this with me for ages so maybe I'll convince him to actually do it tonight...who knows!
3. Tickets to see The Band Perry next Thursday. I hope this girl's voice is as angelic in person as on the radio--so excited! (We are also going to see Miranda Lambert here in Cedar Falls next week too! Here's to getting our fill of country music!)
4. Praline Pecans. If you're from the South, you love praline pecans.
5. Lemon Drop Martini Mix complete with Mixer. Yum-bola. (Don't think yum-bola is a word? Ask my mom.)
6. A $5.00 Starbucks giftcard. Can't wait to snag my non-fat no-whip white chocolate peppermint mocha one day this week. (Don't worry, I'm a girl so I can order these such things.)
7. A single red-stemmed rose, classy.
8. And last but certainly, not least, a 60-minute massage. Please and thank you. I've never had a professional massage before so I couldn't be more excited. The best part is, I got Graham a couple's massage for his gift, so I'm going to be feeling really good here pretty soon.

7. Brad finally kicked Michelle off the Bachelor last night. Can I get an AMEN sista??