Gameday, baby!

Today was a good day. We took our first pictures together in the snow, and we watched the Gators play in the SEC Championship--and win!! WOOHOO! I wish I could have been there, but it was still unbelievable...I thought for sure we were going to lose after the missed field goal. Still can't believe we won. National Championship, here we come!!

enjoying the snow before the game

I don't think he wanted to participate. Plus there is snow over his eye.

Representing the Florida Gators!

Chomp Chomp!

I love the snow!

Anyways, on to the Oklahoma game. Gotta check out the competition :)

da na na na....GO GATORS!!

Living in a postcard

This past weekend we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Florida. The ride home was long, as usual, but didn't get rough until we were just about 50 miles from home. Snow on the roads! It was a rough drive -- some parts were clear, some not so much, but when we got home we were greeted with a beautiful layer of fresh snow! I am finding it pretty impossible to not be happy when there is fresh, white snow outside. We unloaded the car, and had a quick snowball fight followed by hot chocolate. perfect.

Britt, Tiff and I, the night before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day

family

My favorite Norwegian meal! (Epcot)

on the drive home

my car when we returned (we took alexis's home)

our backyard the day we returned

my attempt at a snow angel (in cotton sweatpants)

my little mini-snowman

running errands on my lunch break at work

so pretty.

Right now I am watching College Gameday, getting ready for the big SEC CHAMPIONSHIP! woohoo, Go Gators! It's snowing again right now, and once again, I can't help but smile when I see it out the window. I NEVER thought I would be watching the Gators on TV with snow outside my window. Go figure. Last night after work Alexis and I went out to dinner (celebrating 1 year 6 months of marriage and the fact that Alexis got a PT job at the bank!) and it was 14 degrees outside! That was the first time I was truly cold outside. Right now it's 25. That I can handle. The weird thing is, usually when I leave for work in the morning, it doesn't feel that cold, so I don't worry too much. Then by lunchtime, the temperature drops. Totally opposite from FL, where it's colder in the morning than midday.

So that's whats happening up here in Fort Wayne. Tomorrow Alexis and I are going to the Colt's game in Indy. He won tickets on a Coors Light box. Then in just a few quick weeks, we will on our way back to FL. Too bad I can't bring the snow home to share.

So anyways, back to College Gameday. Once again, Go Gators.

"The SEC has been doing it longer, and is still doing it better"
-Chris Fowler on College Gameday

Baby, it's cold outside...

Well, kind of anyways. It's been in the 30's, which isn't that cold. There's been a couple of light snowy days, which is nice, it's not hard to drive in. These are from the first day that some snow actually stuck overnight.

I brought this inside for Alexis

on our cars

a little bit on the ground, and the roof

puppies new coats!

he's excited

modeling

I am looking forward to more snow. It's been snowing a couple of times a week, just not a ton of snow. It's been cool outside, but cold with the winds. I am definitely enjoying the season so far. Looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving as well.

Fall Fun

Fall has been an awesome time of year up in here in the midwest. Luckily, my parents were able to make a trip up and experience it. The trip mostly revolved around food and all of the specific restaurants we wanted to try. One of the highlights was visiting Hilger's Friendly Market, and loading up on pumpkins, fresh bread, and cider.

Hilger's

with my parents

some sort of tee pee?

hiding from the cold

dad's new favorite beer

The trip was really fun, and hopefully they will be able to come back soon. The weather was pretty cold while they were here (30s-40s) and then went back into the 70s awhile after they left. This week the weather went back down (it's 33 right now) and I think it even snowed today...it was definitely an icy, floaty rain, but not cold enough to stick. It can be annoying sometimes when it is cold outside, but I have to admit it makes fall/winter so much more exciting. We bought hot chocolate and egg nog today, and it just seems more fun to drink when it's actually cold out. It feels like this is our first real, authentic holiday season. Plus I also get to stock up on sweater dresses and boots : ) Needless to say, I am enjoying the season so far. I am looking forward to the first real snow, and I am thinking about decorating for Christmas soon.

Anyways, I need to go, or I might throw my computer against a wall and then repeatedly beat it with a hammer. No lie, every 60 seconds the computer pauses and 'refreshes.' I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! It's enough to make a person go insane.

Class of '85 Rocks!

On October 31st this year, we had our senior class prom! Not gonna lie, it was a bitchin' time! And a great excuse to bring out the crimper! The entire marketing department won the 'golden pumpkin' for the year, for our beautiful outfits and fabulous creativity.

'Enchantment Under the Java Blue Sea'

our dance floor and decorations

rockin the dress

with my date

class of 85

our yearbook

(can't get this to rotate right)
can you find me?

As I'm sure you can tell, we got A LOT of work done that day! It was definitely a day I'll never forget.

Chicago!

A few weeks ago I had my first trip to Chicago, to attend a web design conference with two other VB web designers. Luckily VB paid for the travel and hotel room, so Alexis got a free ride to Chicago as well! What an amazing city! We must have taken hundreds of pictures of all the architecture. Our hotel was right on the river, and right in the heart of the city. On night one, Ray took us to the top of the Hancock tower (breathtaking) and then we hooked up with Austin and Jen as well to get some sushi and drinks. Pretty much an ideal night!

For the next two days I was in my conference pretty much all day so Alexis got to explore the city and take pictures. We hooked up for dinner and Alexis and I, along with Mark and Steve, my fellow designers, ate at Shula's steak house. Expensive and YUM. I love a fancy steakhouse. VB is now responsible for my first trip to Morton's and Shula's, and I am truly grateful! The second day I skipped out for lunch at Giordano's with Alexis, so we could get some authentic Chicago-style pizza. Again, delicious. I wish I could just eat my away around that city! We did some browsing (but not shopping) along the Miracle (?) Mile, which I think was my favorite place to hang out, naturally. We headed back to Fort Wayne on Tuesday night with high hopes of going back to Chicago someday with more time to explore. Only problem is, next time we'll have to pay for ourselves. ugh.

Chicago at night

cousins

a night out

chicago

across the river

the bean at millenium par

at Giordano's

yum!

More Chicago Pictures...

So that was Chicago, it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go back...one day when we have money! Plus I learned a lot at the conference as well, so hopefully we will get to back next year. The only downside of the trip was the news of grandaddy : ( but thankfully I work for a great company and was able to take time off and drive home that weekend.

Anyways, stay tuned...more posts to come about what we've been doing for the last month.
: )

Grandaddy

I haven't posted in awhile, because things have been busy. But in the midst of everything, we lost Grandaddy, and that really threw a wrench into life. My Grandaddy was an awesome man...he was a veteran, a pilot, a captain, an entrepreneur...but most importantly, he was a family man. A father to four, a grand-father to 9, and a great-grandfather to 5. There are a lot of things to miss about him, and a lot of things he shared with me...week long boat trips, flying excursions in his plane (I am still uncomfortable with flying unless he is the pilot), oysters, gator football...I will miss him everyday, but I know he will be with us always, and for that we are blessed. We miss you, Grandaddy. Thank you for creating our wonderful family.

The rose bush in my grandparents backyard where grandaddy would clip a flower for grandmommy.

Think Pink

So, I wanted to share about last Friday night, Tickled Pink, which is a night benefiting breast cancer. What a fantastic time! I went with two of my co-workers wives, and we had a blast. After trying on a million different outfits and stressing over my pink-less wardrobe, we arrived in style (i.e. we were dropped off by our husbands) and immediately walked down the pink carpet. At the end was Delta Goodrem, the #1 recording artist in Australia, singing/playing. We stood outside (in the cold) for a little bit to listen to her. She was beautiful, and had an amazing voice as well.

The three of us were starving and not sure what to expect inside. The event was held at the new VB facility in Roanoke, about a twenty minute drive from the facility where I work. We found a small table of food and made a plate, only to walk outside into a large white tent, FULL of food. Tons of different restaurants from around town had brought in tables of food, so we basically stuffed ourselves until we could eat no more. Needless to say, we did the same with wine. White Zin was our beverage of choice, considering it is pink.

We mingled all night, checked out the silent auction (but didn't bid on anything), looked at the Spring and Fall Previews for '09, listened to Delta perform some more, etc, etc. Basically just checked out all the party had to offer. I didn't have many expectations going into the night but found the evening to be completely fun and inspiring. What a great event to benefit breast cancer. I am genuinely looking forward to going back next year.

Getting ready. All the pink I'm wearing is borrowed.

Delta Goodrem!!

cheers!

WITH Delta! A cancer survivor.

Link to Delta Goodrem's song In This Life. Good stuff.

What a great night!

Well, I have to go now, Grey's Anatomy is on. Looking forward to tomorrow...jeans day at work, breakfast and lunch provided, and pizza and poker night after work. Can't get much better than that.

Outlet Sale

This week at work we had the outlet sale (second one this year). What an experience that was! Tuesday I had set-up duty, which just unpacking boxes and putting out product. That was great, because I got to see firsthand what was going to be sold that night. It was a looong day, but I did get to start shopping early on employee night, so it worked out well. Wednesday was a normal work day and then Thursday was back to the outlet, where I was stationed to work in the check-out area, getting tags ready to be scanned. However, since our register was the very last one, and there were oh, say, 20 something registers, we rarely had a customer! I left my station early and headed back to the office for a meeting. The people are pretty crazy at the sales, running up and down the aisles, just stuffing product into their bags, not even looking at what it is. Then they go and sit on the floor and dump out their bags to sort out their stuff. There are bins all around where you can put product you don't want anymore, and there are vultures constantly going around to them looking for something they want. Tomorrow is the last day and I plan on going back to possibly buy some more stuff now that they have been marked down  to the cheapest prices. 

rows of product

more product

Michelle (another designer) and I. The nametags make you 'VIP' at the sale : ) 

view from above

Friday was another regular day of work, although I did go back to the sale at lunch. Friday night was Tickled Pink, a night out at one of our facilities where all the proceeds benefit the VB Breast Cancer Foundation. What a great night! I am going to make that a separate post once I get all of the pics from my friends.