Month: March 2006

I arrived home this evening without any problems – thank goodness. The bad part is I brought a sore throat with me. I don’t get sick – ever, but in the last three weeks I have been sick twice. And this is definitely a period in my life when I am getting enough sleep and not very stressed. I have had more OJ and ice cream today than in the last month.

But on to better things…

Wade and I had a date tonight. He offered dinner, but I wasn’t sure I could eat anything. Instead we went to see a movie – Failure to Launch. It was a good two hours and I think we both liked the movie – a rarity for us.

In other exciting news, there was a Borders across the street from my hotel in San Jose. I was rather excited about this because there isn’t one in Anderson. I had a 30% off coupon that was going to expire 3/28 and had given up hopes of using it. Instead, the nice man behind the counter let me use it on two items. Evidently he was trying to restock the DVD cabinet and by buying DVD box sets I was helping.

My trip to California has been, uh, interesting. I have spent a LOT of time with some of my co-workers (there are about 20-30 of us in the room) and learned a few things.

1.) Nobody should talk about how much things cost – especially high ticket items. The only exception would be if you got a great deal or if something bad happened (maybe needing a new home AC unit). Otherwise, talk about your new boat, but not how much you spent.

2.) Don’t talk just to talk. You don’t sound smart and interesting. You are annoying. Don’t try to guess what people are going to say. You look stupid when you are wrong.

3.) Don’t belittle people in a meeting when they are sitting next to you. That is just rude.

4.) Listen to what people say and to what they imply. If they don’t answer your question, maybe it is because it is a bad question. Definitely don’t repeat the question again. Then you look really silly.

5.) Don’t make things up to make yourself look better or other people look worse. Especially when others heard the same thing you did. Even if they don’t call you on it you look like a fool.

Did I mention I am the youngest person in the room by about 15 years? Surely I am not the only one seeing and hearing all of this.

I was supposed to fly to San Jose, CA today to visit Cisco (the company that bought SA). Wade and I got up really early to reach the Greenville, SC airport in time for my 7:25 am flight. The idiot that I am, I directed us to the wrong airport so by the time we reached the right one, I wasn’t sure they would let me get on the plane (I was cutting it close). I made it on the plane but the plane didn’t make it into the air. The captain started the engine and there was a popping sound. They had to call a maintenance man from his home to come look at the engine. Now I am sitting in the Greenville airport, where they have free wireless Internet (Yeah!). I am leaving for Atlanta shortly (around 9:30 am) and will sit in the Atlanta airport till 5:45 pm. Oh well, I miss a half a day of meetings. Another girl, Shelley, is in the same boat so we can hang out in the airport together.

Update: It is now 1:45 am Atlanta time and I have just reached San Jose, CA. I was supposed to be here at noon and attend a bunch of meetings. Fourteen hours late isn’t too bad, right? As an added bonus, the hotel says there are no non-smoking rooms after 10 pm so we can’t get one until tomorrow. It’s a good thing my sense of smell isn’t very developed.

I think it is a well known fact that I love chocolate – all chocolate – with the exception of white chocolate. I love very chewy chocolate carmel candies – like Milk Duds and turtles. My current favorite candy is Rolos, but Rolos can vary from the very chewy to the very gooey. I buy two rolls every time we are in a gas station or the grocery store always hoping to find the perfect Rolo that is super chewy.

My research has led to a few discoveries: Putting Rolos in the fridge makes them chewier. The individual wrapped ones in the big bags are chewier than the ones you get at the checkout line.

Wade and I spent our weekend furniture shopping. All day Saturday we shopped in Greenville and even looked for antiques too. At the end of the day we were rather disappointed. We weren’t excited about anything we saw and had bought nothing. (We won’t even discuss the fact that Wade and I’s taste are not at all alike.)

Sunday we decided to drive to Atlanta and just look around. I had gone to a huge store with Jamie and wanted to go back there. In Brownlee’s we found furniture we both liked! It was amazing. There were even numerous sets we liked. We decided on a bed, a chest, and were debating about an entertainment center. We got prices, the assurance that they would deliver to Anderson, and a page of measurements to take home with us. (All the pictures below show black furniture, but ours will be the stain color.)

Wade and I wanted to actually see the entertainment center before we bought it, so I looked to see if anyone in Greenville happened to have it. Wouldn’t you know there was a Kincaid dealer who carried the entire line we liked. I called and they had the entertainment center in stock. We got there tonight and they even agreed to match the prices from Atlanta (which were a lot cheaper)! Yippee! Now we just have to wait the 4-6 weeks for our new furniture.

Last summer, Wade and I finally found a church we really liked – Buckhead Church, a satellite church of North Point. I had been a few times, but never thought Wade would enjoy the extremely contemporary atmosphere. We walked out our first Sunday and Wade couldn’t stop talking about how great it was. The only bad part of this is we realized shortly thereafter that we would be leaving the area. On our last Sunday at Buckhead Church, I ran into an old friend from Tech who happened to be on staff. She told me a strategic partner church was opening up in Greenville. Wade and I couldn’t have been more excited. Wade immediately emailed the people and we attended our first meeting tonight. This is awesome. It’s a small group, which should make it easier to get involved with, but has the same feeling as Buckhead Church. Now we just have to wait till the first service on April 16th.

Before Wade got his internship with Ryobi, I had never heard of Anderson, SC. It’s not a large city. The population is probably about 40,000. All of a sudden, Anderson is the place to be. My mom called to tell me that a Paducah family I know is moving to Anderson. Wade’s Aunt and Uncle are moving to Greenville (20 minutes away).

Then I got a call on Friday from Gloria Kohler. I babysat for the Kohler family for years growing up and they were definitely one of my favorite families. They have four children – Kelly, Rusty, Andrew, and Becky. When I was in high school, they moved to Florida. Rusty chose GaTech as his college so I have seen him a few times in the last couple of years. It turns out Jim has gotten a job in Piedmont, SC and the family is moving to Anderson. Who knew that I would move here knowing no one and people I know would move to town?

I received this email the other day from a friend and cracked up!
——————————————————————————————–
Etta Bath time. Boy was Keefe not happy. WHATEVER??!
Just in case does anyone know an expert in parental custody rights?
-Ryan

So for the first time in our year and a half of marriage, Wade and I are both sick. I got it first and he got it worse. We’re going to blame it on either Dad or my brother-in-law because those are the only people (at all) that I have been around. Working at home, I don’t get out much.

We had another Madison incident tonight. Around midnight, Wade was watching TV in the living room and I was messing with my computer in the bedroom. I suddenly realized Madison wasn’t in the room with me – she normally follows me everywhere. I started calling her and she didn’t come. Wade had been doing some work up in the attic and in the basement so we looked there thinking she might have gotten trapped behind a door. No luck. All that we could figure is she got outside when I was taking some boxes out. I went outside and tried to “quietly” yell for Madison – it was midnight. And wouldn’t you know, after a few minutes she comes running down the street. She was even coming from the street with less traffic. This also happens to be the one time she didn’t have her collar on. It was being washed. Oh well, she is safely home now.

After three different colors, Wade has found exactly what he wanted for his office. I was out of town for the first colors, but there was blue, green, and finally brown. I have to admit I wasn’t 100% behind the idea of brown, but it looks fantastic on the walls!

The wall with the window is a darker color than the other walls, but it is subtle:

This picture is a little more true to the actual colors on the walls:

I’m going to continue with yesterday’s theme.
I want to know how the dog got in there:

This one is just funny:

This one is just cute:

Just pictures today. I wonder how many of these are for real and how many are posed or edited?
This is probably my favorite one:

This one is just crazy and looks believable:

This one looks a little too polished:

And this one is just funny:

Weird things seem to happen to me. I was taking Madison for a walk when a man in a SUV pulls up next to us. He leans out his window and asks, “Is that a Brittany?” I give him a funny look, but tell him that Madison is in fact a Brittany spaniel. Then he says, “Do you want to see mine?” I definitely looked at him odd then, but I agreed. He hops out of his car, opens the back, and I see two adorable Brittany spaniels. Then he gets to his real reason for stopping me. He asks if mine is a female and more importantly if she has been “fixed.” She has so he quickly looses interest and drives away. Only in a small town…..

When Wade and I first closed on our house, we got a call from the Welcome Wagon Lady. She had gotten our names from the realtor and wanted to come by. She brought a big packet of information (some of it actually helpful) and quite a few restaurant coupons (which we have already used). Well a couple of days ago, a girl about my age knocked on my door with a plate of brownies. She had recently moved to the neighborhood and the welcome wagon lady had told her that we were moving in. Danielle was excited to have someone close to her age only a couple of houses away and I was excited to meet her too. She has a two year old daughter and is a stay at home mom. Her husband works at a car dealership. Anyway, we agreed to have dinner in the future and she went home. Today I was taking Madison for a walk and ran into her. We took a walk together and had a good time. Her daughter is adorable and she has a Corgi, which Wade loves. I lived in Atlanta for two years and never met any of my neighbors. I met Danielle without even leaving the house!