Randomness

Adam and I arrived home safely from our vacation. It is always hard for us to come back because Colorado is so beautiful and we love being out there.

Our first week back wasn't too bad. We both had lots of stuff to catch up on at work. The day after I got back Build-A-Bear hosted a Teddy Bear Picnic with Navy Pier. The turnout for the event was decent. It would have been better if there wasn't some silly winter storm advisory.

On Thursday I headed to Indiana with Adam for the day. He had Wednesday and Friday off from work this week, so he headed to Chicago Tuesday night after work. I had to work all day Wednesday, so Adam bummed around the apartment. We got up Thursday morning and headed to Indiana so Adam could work. I spent the day getting my hair done, hanging out with my parents and doing laundry. When Adam got done with work, we headed back to Chicago. I know it sounds silly that Adam drove back for just the day, but it really wasn't too bad. The worse part about it was driving through the crazy rain on the way home. One second it would be lightly sprinkling and the next second it was a torrential down pour.

Yesterday we got up and ran some errands. We had to take the recycling to the recycling center and pick some stuff up at Costco. We spent less than expected at Costco, which is always a good thing. In the evening we hung out with The Kileys and got to play with McKenzie for a few hours. She is getting so big and it so much fun to play with right now.

Adam got up this morning and headed back to Indiana. I don't have to be at work until 2:30. Tomorrow I am taking the train to Indiana for my friend Moriah's baby shower. Adam and I will head back to Chicago after he gets off work. We both have Monday off and are going to the opera on Monday night.

Lots of traveling in February. I can't believe the month is almost over. We don't really have much to look forward to in March. Just work.

Safe Arrival

Adam and I arrived safely in Colorado around 11:30 local time.  It was a treat to fly directly into Aspen and not have to go through picking up a rental car and making the 3 hour drive to Carbondale.  The only bummer about not flying into Denver is that we don't get to go to our favorite bookstore The Tattered Cover.  Adam's dad Stephen picked us up at the airport.  It was a pretty uneventful flight.  There was girl on the plane with the rest of her family and today happened to be her 11th birthday.  The flight attendants moved her up to first class.  I was so jealous.  

We had lunch with Adam parents and then fell asleep watching TV with Adam's brother Aaron.  Right now Adam and Aaron are playing Wii.  

I am so happy to be on vacation.  We have made no plans yet because we are enjoying relaxing and being lazy.  Isn't that what vacation is supposed to be about?  :-)

Amazon Part 2

I e-mailed Amazon yesterday about my order. They said if my book doesn't arrive today that I should e-mail them again. Again, how hard is it to ship 1 book to Chicago?????

10 Reasons Why I Love Adam

1. He does a great job taking care of me when I am sick. I have been fighting a cold/sinus infection for a week now. He is constantly making sure I am drinking fluids and helping me feel better.
2. I love to cook, but don't really like leftovers. He makes sure the leftovers don't go to waste.
3. He taught me how to ski. If you ever want to learn, ask Adam to teach you. He is the most patient teacher.
4. He makes me laugh by doing and saying certain things.
5. He knows how I like my coffee and will even bring it to me in bed on some occasions.
6. He puts up with my crazy hair and only complains a little bit when he finds it all over his car and clothes.
7. He works for Pier 1, which means I have a continuous supply of candles and stemware.
8. He makes me try foods that I claim to hate and then I end up liking them. Ask him to tell you the story about plums.
9. He knows how much I hate unloading the dishwasher and usually does it for me.
10. He genuinely loves and cares about me.

Sega

About a month ago, Adam was bored while I was at work and he unearthed his Sega Genesis. I have come to understand that he and his friends Joe, Al and Brendan spent countless hours playing hockey and basketball on this little machine. I got to experience their insanity last night. The four of them played these games for about 5 hours. They were loud and silly. Lucky for me that Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice were on to entertain me. Adam checked up on me every once and while to make sure they weren't being too loud. It was so funny to listen to them yelling at the games. Boys will be boys. :-)

Amazon

I am not happy with Amazon.com right now. I ordered the new John Grisham book to read while I am on vacation. I picked a shipping option that stated the book would be here before we left. My book was supposed to be here Tuesday and is still not here. I had a problem with my last order as well. How hard is it to ship 1 book to me? GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

5 More Days

Adam and I leave for our much needed vacation in 5 days. I can't wait. I spent a little time this morning looking at trails online. We are going to check out some new ski resorts this year and I just wanted to see what I was in for.

Adam taught me how to ski shortly after we started dating. He has been skiing and snowboarding since he knew how to walk. I have gotten somewhat good, but will never be able to keep up with anyone in his family. I like skiing with his mom the best because she is very understanding of my fear of going too fast. Adam and his brother like to speed down the hill, but I like to go nice and slow and I hate bumps.

I need to head to Target today to pick up some last minute things. I also need to clean the apartment before we leave. It is much easier to come home from a vacation to a clean house than a dirty one.

Vacation Preparation

Adam and I are trying something new this year. We are shipping all of our clothes and ski/snowboarding equipment to Colorado a week before we fly out. United Airlines charges $25 for the 1st checked bag and $50 for the 2nd. THAT IS INSANE. The only reason we are flying with United is because we were able to get 1 of our tickets for free because Adam has so many frequent flyer miles.

Tomorrow we will head to the laundry mat to do all of our laundry and then get everything packed. I am able to ship boxes via Fed Ex through my work and get a great rate.

If we checked 3 bags with United (1 bag for me, 1 bag for Adam and one bag with equipment) it would cost us $200 round trip. Shipping our stuff through Fed Ex will only cost $60 round trip. It will also be nice that we don't have to lug our crap to and from the airport. We can print our boarding passes the night before and just walk directly to security. We also won't be frantic the night before we leave because we waited until the last minute to pack. This is usually what happens.

Dresses

The main reason I came home to Nappanee this weekend is because I had to get fitted for a dress for my brothers wedding in Chicago. I can't believe my future sister-in-law Jen was able to get all 5 bridesmaids together at the same time. We came from all different directions. I rode into town on Friday with Pam, who lives north of Chicago. Lisa came from Washington. Brooke came from St Louis and Rhonda came from Ft Wayne. We had a good time trying on the 3 dresses that Jen had picked out. They are black and strapless. We even ended up picking the cheapest of the three dresses. Woohoo for that! Of course I still can't find my camera cord so I can't show you a picture. I think I might have to break down and buy a new cord.

Year End Reviews

I hate writing reviews. This is the part of my job I hate the most. I am very hard on myself and my boss always tells me that I need to stop being so hard on myself, but it is hard. I have very high expectations for my staff and my store and it is frustrating when things don't go my way. I was so happy when I got them done on Thursday and sent them to my boss. Now I can spend this next week writing 18 million to do lists so my staff knows what needs to be done while I am gone.

Rough Week

Last week was a very rough week. Here is the breakdown:

Sunday-Adam and I attended McKenzie's 2nd birthday party at Fantasy Kingdom. McKenzie is Adam's adorable god-daughter. We had a great time watching the kids play and catching up with some of our friends. After the party we went back to McKenzie's house and watched her open her presents. She is so cute. We went home around 7pm and I was asleep by 8:30. I thought this was kind of weird that I went to sleep so early.

Monday-Adam had to head back to Indiana and dropped me off at work. I started feeling ill around noon and by the time 2pm rolled around, I was not doing well. I was supposed to work open to close at Build-A-Bear, but left around 4pm.

Tuesday-I woke up with a cough and the rest of the day went down hill from there. I worked for half a day and then came home to write my year end reviews for myself and my assistants. I will talk more about reviews in a later post. I took some Theraflu before I went to bed, hoping that I would wake up better the next morning.

Wednesday-I woke up around 5am and knew I couldn't go to work. My cough had gotten much worse and and my head was full of yucky mucus. I called and woke my assistant Ian up at 7am and he covered my shift for the day. I spent most of the day sleeping and blowing my nose. I took some more Theraflu and again hoped that I would wake up better the next day.

Thursday-I had to be at work very early because we had a shipment coming in. I have no clue how I worked a 10 hour day. It was horrible. Thank goodness I had the weekend off to recover. After work I went home and took lots of medicine.

Friday-I got up and went to the store to get more tissues and more medicine. I then headed to Indiana to celebrate Adam's birthday. We didn't do much celebrating because I was still too sick. I told him I would make it up to him when we were on vacation. I spent most of the day on the couch at my parents house with Adam taking care of me.

Saturday- I woke up still feeling like crap, but had to go to Middlebury to get fitted for my bridesmaids dress for my brother upcoming wedding. This wore me out for the day. I came home and took a 4 hour nap. Adam had to work, so I went out to dinner with my parents.

Sunday-I woke up this morning feeling much better. I still have a little cough, but things are much better. Tonight when Adam gets off work, we are headed back to Chicago and might make an appearance at a Super Bowl party.

I have a feeling I may have gotten Adam sick. Keep your fingers crossed that he stays well because we leave for vacation in 10 days.