strings and whistles

Today was a very productive day. I haven't had much time to check my home email at work lately - which I miss my morning email time. I usually email my uncle, but the past three days when I get in early I have been working, not chat or play time. Kinda stinky if you ask me. Tonight, I brought the work home!! Yay! But that is okay.

Tomorrow Kib is coming over and staying the night. It will be nice to have the company and just sit back, relax and not do anything - but have that company to do that with. Friday, Tim and I are supposed to be hanging out. Not sure what we are doing, but it'll be fun - always is. Hey - ice skating, I don't think I stopped smiling once! Then Sunday (from what I hear) I am chaparoning (spelled wrong i know!) a kids' birthday party. Party starts at three, so I have my morning to work around the house, which is good!

So, we have one more holiday left this year...Christmas. We, my family, are supposed to leave hints as to what we want for Christmas. You see, we draw names each year and we don't know who has each other - and since none of us know what the other wants, we are to drop hints as I mentioned. Since I just bought a couch - I can delete that from my list. So let's see, what suttle hints can I leave??? I would like a new car, I guess that will do. You can decide between a proche or a ferrari - you know me! Decisions are the worst! In all reality, I don't really know what I want, let alone need. So bare with me on the hints!!

As for Bart - he is preparing his list for Santa, I will post it when he is finished!!

They think they are sooooo funny! (this is my family hiding) 

Shhhh! Bart's sleeeeeeeeeeeping. 

As Dad would say "Which one's the monkey?" 

Funk

Ever since I found out Rudie passed, I have been in a funk. I was pretty grouchie after Kyle left town, and today - still not there. I don't know - it'll pass - it is just annoying. I don't really want to do anything, so I make myself do it.

Last night I drug mom out with me to go couch shopping. It is nice to have a second opinion on something that people will be sitting on besides yourself. We have gone to a couple places, but last night we went to Value City Furniture. I ended up buying my first couch. It is nice - and not too pricey!! It comes a week from tomorrow, so that will be fun.

Oh, another thing I have done was start to decorate for Christmas. I thought that would put me in a better mood. I made a super cheesey fireplace on my wall and hung Bart and my stockings on it.

Above are some pictures from when Kyle was in town. He had some better pictures - I mainly took ones of Bart. Hey - he was sitting still because of his de-clawing and de-balling - so I had to take advantage of it. He was a good sport. Now, back to kitty. But I do have to say that he isn't nearly as hyper as he was before his little proceedures!!!

Rudie Wash 

A Time For Everything

Ecclesiasties 3:2
a time to be born, a time to die...

I come on from work yesterday, met up with my family and I found out that Rudie had passed away. Rudie was with us for 17 wonderful years. We got him at LollyPop Farm in Rochester, NY and he cheerfully came with us where ever we went - Colorado, back to Rochester, Connecticuit, DC, and Maryland. He was happiest when he was with the fam - or outside chacing a mouse! Rudie was the best cat we could has asked for. We will miss him with all of our hearts. So I wanted to share some great memories about Rudie...

When I was little, he was the most patient cat/kitty - I found out he fit perfectly into my dolls clothes, and he would lay there and let me dress him up!! Not many cats will let you make them look like dolls.

When we lived in Colorado, Rudie got into a fight around Christmas time, and another cat bit him near the tip of his tail. The bite went all the way trough the tail, so we had to shave that part - and at the tip of his tail, all that was left was this ball of furr! It made a great look for Christmas pictures.

When we got Hogan in Colorado, Rudie had no trouble making sure Hogan knew he wasn't welcome. After some time (a lot of time) they became best friends and there was no such thing as taking a nap with out the other.

Rudie - we love you!

The picture of Rudie that Dad made me two years ago for Christmas - a picture that will always be hung in my home. 

This is Rudie receiving his care package when he moved to Connecticuit with Mom and Dad! He loved his treats!! 

Almost Turkey day!

Ahhh, tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Our office is rather humorous today. All the VP’s are hard at work, then there is everyone else – pretending as if they are working, but they really aren’t. We have a pot luck at 1, and everyone is walking around talking about how hungry they are. I on the other hand and spread papers all around my desk, and keep typing emails – fun emails at that – to make my boss think I am doing a good job. OH WAIT! I did update our conference agenda, and make one phone call!! That counts right? It is very hard to work when your brother is sending you pictures, via text message, of him shoving food in his mouth, and your friend is calling you to talk about appliances. Oh, Kar – I love yah hun – but I really don’t care what kind of dishwasher you have. Hey as long as it works I will be happy for you!

I get to pick up Bart after work today. Yesterday he was neutered and he had his from paws de-clawed. I missed him last night. I get home and there was no one there to greet me. No one to cook with, clean with, and watch Gilmore Girls with. But I made it through, and today my cute little kitty gets to come home!!!

Tonight, Kyle, Mom, and Dad are coming to dinner tonight. It will be nice. I will be making spicy O’nuts (spicy onion rings), bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops, and spicy stromboli. Hopefully all will be good. As for Bart – he gets kitten chow, and lots of lovin!!

Well I am off to test the sloppy joes I made last night for our pot luck – I need to see if it is hot enough. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Best Time of Year - THANKSGIVING

Every year, we go around the table and say what we are thankful for. Now when it comes down to it, each person could spend a half hour on their list. And when I read Christine's blog - I had to do the same. Here is my list:

I am thankful for my family, the love, care, and support that they provide on a daily basis is something I will never forget. I love you guys!
I am thankful for my religion. It provides me with a path to follow and is a leaning post when needed.
I am thankful for my friends. Thank you for holding no expectations and always being there. I couldn't ask for better. (those in rochester, thanks for still being there, I love you guys so much)
I am thankful for my freedom.
I am thankful for pictures - they are the best present anyone can give. (yes, even those horrible pictures where your eyes are closed!)
I am thankful for education - for this we would not be capable to doing what we do today.
I am thankful for feelings, it is what makes your days what they are.
I am thankful for Bart - my little terror - how can I not love him!! (and Bart is thankful for he is getting de-balled and de-clawed the day before thanksgiving!!)
I am thankful for the roof over my head - heat, electicity, and water (hot water!) - not everyone has this and that is something to be rememebered.
I am thankful for FOOD! And i am starving!!
I am thankful for my brother - K, I don't know where I would be with out you. Plus, you are a great cook!! Even though we don't live in the same town anymore, I know we live under that same sky, that same sun, and those same stars and that makes it okay.
I am thankful for technology - and maybe someday I will get to go to space and view the lovely planet we live on. Because of technology, we are able to communicate as we do today.
I am thankful for laughter - now who doesn't enjoy a good laugh.
I am thankful for my Mom and Dad. They are the two people that brought me up, allowing me to follow my dreams, let me choose the path I felt was right. And because of them, I have a wonderful brother, I am living a life that I love, I have a place to live, a great job, and a cute little kitty.
Last - I am thankful for memories. Holidays are the times where you reflect. You look back over the years of all the good times you had. It is a time when you also refelct on those that have past, and you reminisce on all great times you had.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Honesty

My dad brought me up to be honest, and the more I hear people lie the more it pisses me off. Now I know some people exaggerate about things and sometimes it is the small crap, but when you lie to someone or you are exaggerating something that is important or can really hurt another person or your company – then I think it is completely inappropriate and inexcusable. Today, it has been a day of lies. I go to read this article, and it says our company has 70 people in the corporate office – NO we have 35, but we do the work of 70. Then I over hear a woman I work with get lied to, right to her face, and I can tell she is seeing right through the lies. HELLO! If you don’t have good news, just say – don’t try to BS your way around it. I would rather get the flat out truth then someone try to lie to make me feel better. I am sooo sick of it. If someone calls me and I am not ready for the conversation, I don’t say I am on my way into a meeting, I ask if I can call them back in such and such a time when I am prepared to give them the answers they are looking for. I don’t BS people and I don’t want them to BS me. I, flat out, don’t like liars – and that is what I have been working with today. If you don’t want me to trust you – lie to me – then I will never trust you, and I will have to verify everything you tell me. Plus, you will never be a friend – always an acquaintance.

One more thing - if mike calls me and hangs up one more time, I am driving to his work and we will have a talk – I AM SICK OF IT – call me if you want to say hi, not to hang up.

Wedding Season is Over!!

The past 5 days have been great! Thursday morning I was pretty stressed. I wanted everything to be perfect for my dear friend's wedding and I felt like I was missing something. I was at work, my computer wasn't working and I get a text message on my phone. I check it, and it is Tim - he offered to make me dinner AND bring it to me! How can I pass that up! I get out of work, and Tim had a meal ready for me with a glass of wine and a movie! It was a very relaxing night leading into my hectic weekend. So I thank Tim for dinner and a relaxing night that I really needed!

Friday morning I was up at 3:30 to get ready for the weekend and head off to the airport! My flight was at 6 something so I could be in Rochester by 9. Friday went fast, I through a laid back gathering for all the girls at my aunts house, then we all got ready and headed off to the rehersal dinner. After dinner we went to the comedy club. We were all a little too tired for that, but it was fun.

Saturday, I was up early to alter my dress and have tea with Grandma. After that, I met up with Kyle and Willy - and we ate breakfast/lunch at Bruegger's and got a cell phone for Kyle then grabbed a beer at Thirsties! One of the best parts of the weekend if you ask me! After that I was off to Bridal bootcamp and rehersal, and the beginning of pictures! That was easy and went fast. That night we ate dinner at McGreggor's and has Girl's Night Out at the Roost! Line Dancing was a blast - and I think all the girls had a great time! We were all in bed by midnight - since it was up at 5:45 to get beautiful!!

Sunday the bridal party was at Shadow Lake by 7am to start getting our hair done. 1pm we start pictures. It was nice to have the pictures before the wedding - made for an easier afternoon!! The wedding was short and sweet. There was an elderly lady making not so nice comments of each girl walking down the isle - I don't think she realized how loud she was! Apparently some of us weren't so pretty or a little on the heavier side! After the wedding, we had cocktails, which lead right into the reception. Jeremy (bestman) and I gave our speeches and we had a great night. By the end of the reception hair was down and the dresses were off, we were dancing in the pj's that we wore that morning while we were getting ready!

Monday morning I was up way before the sun to catch my flight home! The weekend went fast, and it was a great way to end my wedding season! Seven weddings, and now there are none! Congradulations to all my friends and family that got married this year!

Now - prep for Thanksgiving!!! MY BROTHER IS COMING!!!

Aerosmith - what?

This morning there was this little blow out at work. My boss saw what was going, but didn't really know what was going on. He asked me, but if I told him - it would have made it ten times worse. When it came to lunch time - I had to get out. I was up near our receptionist - and she was like: "kel have you read your emial?" and i replied "no, not in the past hour, why?" She told me to check it before I left. Come to find out, our CEO has box seat for the Aerosmith concert tomorrow night, and the first 6 people to respond back got to go. So, of course, I replied back! Come to find out - I AM IN!!!! Tomorrow night, I will be in the corporate box at the aerosmith concert!! Oh, and Barb got in as well!!! We are a weeee bit excited. So I sent out an email this before I left stating the dress code: platform boots, fishnets, fake leather minis, tub tops, purple and blue eyeshadow, and bright red lipstick. Hey, if we are going, we might as well class up the joint! Six girls at an Aerosmith concert - the guys just weren't fast enought to reply! Sux to be them!

Hjuuuhgy (bart says hi!)

Well I am off to make dinner!

TV - got me thinking...

Okay, I am not sure how much of the sentimental girl I am – but I like the happy ending. I like the girl to get the guy, when you think they are right – but when the guy is a creap, I defiantly don’t want the girl to get the guy. So I am watching television last night – waiting for the trick-or-treaters, and it just got me thinking. I see this girl who likes a guy on this show – but I don’t know if they should date. And then, she is putting herself out there – and how do you know if he likes her back. Then there is this other girl who still likes the guy that she is no longer dating. Well at the end of the show, you find out the ex may not want to lose her while talking to the girls sister, and the sister said to the guy – leave her alone until you know. Which is right – you don’t want to get the girl’s hopes up. Well all this got me thinking – I hate this part of life. I hate the dating scene. You never know if something is right. You might get along perfectly – and then the next minute it is over, and you are wondering why? Am I not smart enough, pretty enough? Did I not like the right things? All these things go through your mind – and life just sucks. I have had one bad break-up, and I know my close friends hated him, but that crushed me, and for the longest time I was wondering if we would ever get back together. Later I realized, with the help of my friends – we were defiantly not right for one another. But it still sucked. Any who – I hate dating. I hate putting your heart out there to get hurt. I hate thinking that you may have found some really great person, then realize what a jerk that person can be. Then I think of some guys I blew off because it just wasn’t the right time for me…and they are guys I still see and they are so genuine and caring that I wonder why I never gave them a chance. I guess that is life. If one of those guys were to ask me out – I would most likely still say no. Why is that?

You never know what life brings – maybe some day I will meet that guy that will make me smile. Yes, there will be hard days, and things won’t always be perfect – what relationship is? As long as you stick together, and work it out – and keep making eachother smile and laugh – and be honest, that is what counts, besides the love. There is so much more than love.

Okay enough mushy yuck yuck – I am off to go home and terrorize my kitty and give the sucker a bath!!! Plus I need to call a friend and give him hell for the Eagles/Bronco’s game!

Two Down - Many To Go!

I have worked two shows now - and this last show was a little more of a learning curve. I have learned more of "what not to do" and some things we might want to try for our other shows. One thing is the receptions - those were a hit. At those, I have learned that when the sponsors of the reception are from a different country, and drinking is the thing to do - "no thank you" is an insult. When they give you a drink, you drink and act like you can't wait for the next. I am just lucky that I had a friend there I could go up to and politely say "I'm a goner" and they will make sure I get back okay. I have also learned to write down your hotel room number somewhere, so when it comes time to go night night, you know where to go. I should be sending Tony a thank you note for taking good care of me. He was my saving grace. All in all everything went well, but I am exhausted!

Now I have a friend here for the night from NC. Her and her boyfriend. I like her boyfriend - very nice guy. He fits right in and is very polite! So I am off to be a good host - and not fall asleep!!

Dear Willie

Apparently this is the only way to for you to read this. If you are going to post, you have to know that your friend will want to respond. Notice how I said friends – that means we care, we love you. We have been apart of each others lives now for at least 5 years, some longer than others. That means no second guessing if we like you. Willie, if we take the time to talk to you, get to know you, hang out with you – that means you are liked. And what the hell do you care anyway? Do you like yourself? That is where you need to start.

Yes, your grandfather was a significant person in your life, and when he passed, it was an extremely difficult time for you. But you know what, he is still alive in your heart, and he always will be. You have all these reminders of him everywhere you go. Use that to your expense. Instead of wallowing, and missing him tremendously, continue to make him proud. He is still watching you, you just can’t see him. Your grandfather wants to see you use your talents to the fullest, not watch you sit on your loral’s and complain about it. Willie – get up, get out there and show yourself what you got, because Willie, you have a lot to give. (You don’t have to show us, we know, we are just waiting for you to figure it out!) Now it is up to you to prove it to yourself to do it.

And Willie, one more thing. The answer isn’t in drugs and alcohol or smoking for that matter, it is in you. And if you need a shoulder to lean on, man you have plenty of those! Don’t doubt that. You have a roommate who will be there to listen. Now he might be strong with advice, but listen – he is a pretty smart guy and it may help. You have Sean and Christine – both very smart people who care and will also give you good advice. And you know you will always have me. If you need another night, staying up chatting all night – count me in. Those are the best times – when friends are there for one another.

Slacker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!! I wish I was there to celebrate with you!

Okay, so I love my job, we all know that, I have said it about 10,000 times. And I do, I love my job. I enjoy the people I have met and the whole shebang. But as you can probably see coming – today has sucked. My day was going well, it is Friday – can’t get off to a better start to a day of work! Seriously, how can you not smile on a Friday? Well the day got worse and worse and worse. I have spent most of my day helping a very nice co-worker with something she doesn’t know how to do. And instead of taking the time, that we both don’t have, to show her how to do it, I did it for her. And I will show her how to do it when we have the time to spend on it. Now this other co-worker of mine, lets call him slacker, talks on his cell phone all day with his wife, family members, and friends. He is supposed to be our top sales person in our division, but you wouldn’t think so if you saw his work habits. Now he and I have our tiffs, and we can really work extremely well together. Well today, he has really done it. He has made me madder than ever before. I can almost say that our trust is gone.

So Slacker went to my boss and told him that he didn’t have time to do his own admin work. Now we all do our own admin work – that is part of the job. So my boss calls our division into a meeting to discuss Slacker, and how he doesn’t have time for this and we need to work together. Well the other person on our team has a show in three weeks – so she doesn’t have the time. Well Slacker got it all pinned down on me. So maybe a half hour after the meeting – does he not call me and ask me to update the verbage on his power point presentation and tell me he wants it in an hour. So I told him to do it himself!!!! My boss and I will be having a conversation. I do not have the time to do his “grunt” work just because he doesn’t want to. I will be a team player – but not when you go behind my back and get try to get me stuck with all your crap. I have my own crap to do!

HELP!

Okay, I need some help. Don't worry - not bad.
So my phone rang tonight, and I go to see who it is...it's Tim. Tim is a guy I went to college with, barely knew him in college - we just rememebered eachother, and I worked with him at Wegmans. So I see his name on the ID, and I answer. Now I haven't talked to tim in a couple months. When mike and I broke up, he was just starting to date someone - needless to say, we haven't talked since. Anywho, we are talking and he was saying it has been a while. Now when I first started my "new" job, he came over and I cooked him dinner because he was helping me out with the DVD project I had. (yes this ties in) So Tim was telling me it was so nice of me to make him dinner, and that he would like to hang out again. So he asked what I was doing this weekend, and just so happens, I am doing nothing. Somehow, we are going to dinner Saturday night before we go out with a bunch of Wegmans people. Now I am a bit confused. Now besides the fact that I don't have the money to go out in DC, I am confused as to why we are going to dinner and why he brought up me making him dinner while asking me to join in for the night. Plus he told me, I always look good when we go out. I am all over the place, but this call was random, and now saturday is random, and I am lost. someone help!

It is 5:30 yet???

I have been sitting here, staring at my computer all day. I don’t think I can do it any more. My eyes are so tired. I am supposed to get 50 formal letters of invitation out today. It is now about 4:00 and I have gotten 10 out. They take a little longer than you would think. Plus this morning I got stuck doing a bunch of other things. Tomorrow should go better. Someone, just please remind me to wear my glasses!

Besides work, things are going well. Bart is doing well. He has his own towel in the bathroom – he tends to get in the shower, then at night it is from a squirt gun! He is getting bigger, but he is still pretty cute.

This past weekend, I went to an UVa game in Charlottesville. That was fun. It wasn’t a Purdue game – but it was still fun. We did a little tailgating – which is always a blast. Had a couple cheesy burgers, a braut and a few beers. The weather was beautiful – perfect day for a ball game. UVa won – it came close in the end, but they pulled it off.

This weekend, relax with Bart. I have three more weekends home before I have to truck it back to good ol’ Rochester, and I am welcoming the break. I love being back there, but it is becoming a bit much. This next trip – I am not sure what to expect. It is the wedding I am maid of honor in, and there are many, many, many planned events. The closer we get to the day, the more planned events there are. I am beginning to think I won’t see anyone but the people are will be in or at the wedding. So I am considering getting a date. Yes, me take someone to the wedding. A couple weekends ago I went solo to mike’s wedding, and I hated it. It was the worst. I am trying to find Blakeslee’s number – I have seen him a couple times back home, but we keep forgetting to exchange numbers. We talk about doing it, but then things happen, and we forget. So I feel like a stalker trying to hunt him down!

Okay, enough ranting for me. Back to work. It has been whole five minute break!!