out to dinner

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

We went to dinner at some friends' house last night, we had a really good time. After dinner, Mike went out to the garage to help out on his off-roading vehicle. It was really nice to just sit and chat with her. I'm glad I get along with her and he gets along with him.

Today is the last day for one of my visiting supervisors. :( She's going back to St. Louis, and I'm not happy about that. She has been here since the beginning, so it is time for her to go home. She's just the one person I got along with the best and could relate to. And after she's gone, the area I work in is going to be so confusing, because it's basically going to be ran by me and another new person. Anyway, I made cupcakes for her going away. I've been wanting to make cupcakes, but you can't have 18 cupcakes sitting around the house, so it seemed like the right time to make them.

I just wanted everyone to know our wedding announcement was in the paper this Sunday. I'm so glad I finally did this. The only thing I have to do is finish our wedding album. Who knows when that will be done. :)

back in lafayette for a night

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

okay, not really....but it sure seemed like it!

Last night Mike and I had a night on the town...in Quincy, IL. We had some errands to run that had to be done in Quincy, so we went. First, I took Mike to my work and introduced him to everyone that was there. I also got to show him some of the things I would like to get. :) I was good though, we didn't buy anything.

Next, we went to Best Buy to get Turbo Tax. I'm SO excite to do our taxes this year. I know that's probably not a normal reaction to taxes, but I want to know how much we will get back for filing together for the first time.

Next we went to the liquor store. There is a big liquor store there what is supposed to be the cheapest place around with the largest selection. They were right! We went really just to see what they had and their prices, but we did pick up a few things. Mike found the rare Sam Adams Chocolate Bock. We also found Oliver Wine!! I am still so surprised about this. Granted it's almost $10 a bottle here, so we probably won't buy it here anyways, but it's here.

We then went out to eat (gasp!) to BW3's. It was so good! This restaurant always brings me back to Lafayette, but to add to it, there was a Bob Rohrman commerical on!! He apparently has a car lot in western Illinois. It was so crazy to see him on TV, it was the last person I was expecting to see.

So last night, we went to places that are in Lafayette and are not in Hannibal, other than the liquor store, but we found something Indiana! I truly felt that we were back, until we had to take the 25 minute drive back to Missouri.

a day off

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I had yesterday off of work, which was really nice. I was able to get a lot done and felt productive all day long. I first went to the fabric store here in town. It's this cute little store downtown that has an amazing fabric selection. I hadn't been there since Thanksgiving. It's so nice to have a second income now and be able to do little extra things. I really like this store, I can see myself going and wandering around a lot. I've just got into sewing and am starting with small, simple projects; so I made my pin cushion. I'm not sure what my next little project will be, but I want to gradually make me way up to making aprons and then one day a quilt.


Front (top) and Back (bottom)


I make a weekly menu before going to the grocery, this week was no different. I am planning on making some Cuban food this week, but of course I couldn't find some key seasonings. I found them online and they are supposed to be here on Thursday. I hope they arrive soon, or I have to go to the grocery again this week. ugh! I'm really excited to try a new flavor and different cooking style. If you keep up with the food blog get ready for some Cuban later this week. :)

I got a call from the library yesterday, and my book is finally in! YAY! So I'm putting The Other Queen on hold (which I never do) and am going to read the heck out of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig. It's the 5th in The Secret History of the Pink Carnation series. It came out about a month ago, and I've never had to wait that long for a book. Other than the people, checking out books from Borders is what I miss the most.

weekend update

Monday, March 23, 2009

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Well, I've found out through the facebook world, Laura had her baby on Saturday. I'm very excited for her and her husband; it's their first! I wish them the best, and am eagerly awaiting an update and possibly a picture of the new little one.

On Saturday, we went to Hannibal Rocks. Everything started off well; we got to catch up with everyone we met on New Year's Day. We were having a good time, I really was enjoying myself. We were out about 2 1/2 hours when it happened.......Mike broke his drive shaft. :( He was being a good guy and pulling someone else out. This picture (to the right) is when it happened. We had never met this person before, he kind of just joined our group on the spot. It is a little frustrating to me because this guy didn't apologize for it and he didn't really seem like he felt bad. Oh well, Mike was a good sport about it; he wasn't really mad. We stayed to eat lunch with everyone and then left early.

Mike in action on the trails.

This is how the drive shaft broke. :)

The silver lining to all this is we got to spend a gorgeous day with each other. Mike cleaned up his truck and made sure nothing else was broken. We went to the grocery, and had our anniversary dinner a day late with steaks on the grill. YUM!

6 months...already?!?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Today is Mike and my's 6 month wedding anniversary! I can't believe it, it feels like it's just been 2 months. Time sure does fly by as you get older. This anniversary makes me think of all these things I wanted to do and haven't yet. I haven't finished our wedding album or honeymoon album yet. My mom and I filled out our wedding announcement for the Journal and Courier this week, so hopefully it will be in the paper soon.

We're going off-roading tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun, but it's going to be a long day. This is going to be my second time going so I'm not really sure what to expect. We are going with the same group of people we met the last time.

beautiful weather

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I hope everyone had a good Saint Patrick's Day! Ours was good, we ate and drink everything Irish. The night before, Mike asked for Irish Soda Bread. So after work, I ran to the grocery and picked up a few items, and made bread before dinner. It was really good and went well with the corned beef and cabbage.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day! It got up to 79 degrees. Since it's been so nice, we've slept with our bedroom windows open the past two nights. The trains and river boats can be a little annoying and they woke me up a lot more, and it's a little hard to get up in the morning because it's a bit chilly, but well worth it.

missing ireland

Monday, March 16, 2009

Mike's training for this week was canceled! Yay! So the month from hell was cut short. It's good to get back to our normal routine. We went to Walmart on Saturday and Mike ran into someone he knew. After the person left, we got to talking about how weird it is to run into people again. We went a good 5 months of not really knowing anyone in town. One of my co workers saw me earlier this week at the grocery and called for me. Well, I still had my cold so I couldn't hear anything and I just am not used to listening for my name in a public place so I didn't know he was there. I felt bad when he told be a couple days later that he did see me, but it is good to know that we are meeting people.

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day! I'm really excited. I'm going to make corned beef and cabbage for dinner and drink some Jameson. It makes me miss being in Ireland. I can't believe it's almost been 6 months since we've been there. The Today show is in Ireland this week and I'm so jealous. There's been some shows on the Travel channel on Ireland and specifically Dublin, and it's crazy to see places on there that I've been to. We have some pictures that look just like some of the screen shots, and I talk to the televison saying, "ooo, I've been there!" Here is a picture of Mike and I at the Jameson Distillery.



So I'll leave you with a Pub from the Temple Bar area of Dublin.

flood gates are closed

Thursday, March 12, 2009

We had some rain earlier this week, it really wasn't that much. But apparently it was enough to back up this little stream off the Mississippi. This stream is pretty close to our house, it is where the new bridge was being built (for those of you who have been here). The water did come up on some of the streets, but you're still able to go over the new bridge. They're pretty sure it's not going to flood anymore, so we really aren't concerned about the water.



But the city was concerned about the downtown area, so they closed the flood gates. Yes, this city has flood gates. I really thought I would never see these in action, and they would only be used when the flooding could actually come into the city. This flooding is not that bad and would never truly go into the downtown area. I feel like they over reacted. In closing the floodgates, they put everyone here on edge and have them thinking it's worse than it really is.

sickness

Monday, March 9, 2009

I ended up getting Mike's cold. UGH! I totally thought I was in the clear, but no, it decided to visit me. Yesterday was the worst, so I'm hoping it's going to get better for here on out. I just want to get over this fast so I don't have to take any days off work. I rarely call in, but I really don't want to after only being there for 3 weeks.

I'm an official bridal consultant, I did my first registry on Saturday! I was kind of nervous, but it went pretty well. They just wanted to get on the floor and start scanning, so they didn't really want to hear my little speech. I wish they would of interacted with me more, I could only ask so many questions. My supervisor was "shadowing" the whole thing, and when we were talking about it after the couple left, she said I did everything I could and she was proud.

We had such a nice weather this weekend. It did end up raining a bit, but the windows were open again! In Indiana, we would be able to have the windows open once or twice and then the heat wave would kick in and we would have to turn the air conditioner on because it was so hot. I've already had the windows open here at least 10 days this year. It's a nice change. :)

Mike's aunt and uncle were in town this weekend, so we went out to their cabin for dinner on Saturday. We haven't seen both of them since before Christmas, it was nice to catch up. I will have to say, it was nice to come home from work, and not have to cook dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook, but I cook literally every night. It was good break.

foods mike doesn't like

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

So I was able to pick up even more hours this week. Yay! I guess the scheduler didn't know about some bridal training the trainers were planning for. Lets just add this to the list of things I don't like about the behind the scenes. It's unorganized and no communication between the trainers and supervisors. Anyway,I was only there for a couple hours this mornings, but it worked in my favor. I got more hours and I got to start my day early. The bridal training was fun, I'm really excited to actually be able to be a full on bridal consultant.

I went shopping after work, I needed to get a couple new shirts. Then I went to the grocery, and made myself a salad. It was a southwest chicken salad. I'll try and put the recipe up on the cooking blog sometime this week. It was really good! I was trying to copy a salad I had at The Cheesecake Factory. I tend to branch out and buy things Mike doesn't like to eat but I do when he's gone. There aren't very many things he doesn't like, but all of them I really like; avocado, sweet potatoes, olives and asparagus to name a few. Now, as you can tell, most of these things don't go together, so I normally just but one of these items each time he's gone.

So I had a pretty productive morning and early afternoon.

it was kind of like christmas...again

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Well, the store is a HUGE success. Some people are even driving from an hour away. Yesterday we were so busy I felt like I was working the Saturday before Christmas. I feel the karma behind this, since I didn't work retail this past holiday season. I am kind of torn about the work environment though. I like the freedom I have to just walk around the store, not having any tasks to complete and just help the customers. But I don't like the behind the scenes stuff. For example, they posted next weeks schedule and I only had 18 hours (with full availability) while others had 33-35 hours. UGH! So I just asked the general manager, because I was confused about it, and he said he didn't make the schedule. Well, he obviously talked to the supervisor who made it, because yesterday he came up to me and asked if I wanted more hours (I said yes) and what my availability was. So now I at least have 24 hours next week.

On Friday, they asked me if I wanted to be a bridal consultant. I was so excited because that's what I really wanted to do! So I basically have to be an expert on all the products,which won't be hard for me :). And then I get to sit down with engaged couple and help them out with the whole registry process. I can't wait for my training to start!

OK, enough about work...sorry if it was too boring.
Anniversary