Twas the night....

Well today is my Friday, yippi! I have tomorrow and Friday off so it will be a much needed long weekend. I'm packing up when I get off work, heading to my parents house and then we're headed to Iowa for Christmas. We don't leave until 10pm tonight, so we'll get there in the wee hours in the morning tomorrow. I honestly don't think Christmas would feel like Christmas to me if it didn't involve some late night traveling in one of our many family SUV's from the ugly turqouise box van we used to have to the nice new Expedition, it makes for a cozy drive. Hopefully the roads aren't too bad, as there's a big winter storm a brewin!

We just finished a big pot luck at work, and I'm stuffed. Just the beginning of a very filling weekend (I think I gain at least 10 1lbs every year)! I brought some homemade Christmas sugar cookies with frosting....my favorite this time of year!

I was thinking about Christmas on my drive into work this morning and how it's just one of those times where everything seems right in the world. Even though we hear of an economic depression and bad things going on all around us, for just a day or two everyone seems to have a smile on their faces, even if for a fleeting moment. The image of family and friends and all sorts of goodies, games, fire places, santa, hot cocoa, what's there not to smile about.

I thought I'd share one little tid bit from my childhood. Somewhere along the way, it became tradition to read "twas the night before Christmas" every Christmas Eve before we went to bed. We have this blue hard covered book that we read every year. Although it's all tattered and banged up now, and we pretty much can recite it by heart, it will still get read. Being the oldest child, I took on the adventure to read it every Christmas Eve, my brother sister and I would all pile into my bed, snuggle up and read it. It may have been the smallest of things, but it just puts a smile on my face when I think of it. I hope that one day, my children will be able to have memories like this.

I hope you all have a very safe and blessed Christmas!

"I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses." - Taylor Caldwell

Heebie Jeebies

Yesterday was a hard day to concentrate....why you ask??

Because around 11am in the morning I was in my office/cube talking to a co-worker when out scurried a mouse, which ran behind my filing cabinet and then behind my desk. We both screamed and ran out of the office. So I found one of the only 3 males that work in our office and he came to check it out. He couldn't find it (of course) and the second he walked away it ran out of it's hiding place and my heart started beating wildly. So I ran out and wouldn't go back into my office for a while. I wish Icould say they looked Just like Mickey...but unfortunately no such luck.

Side Note: This reminded me of the house I lived in in college with 4 of my girlfriends where it was mouse infested. My friend Abbey and I lived upstairs (I lived in what I'm pretty sure was a closet at one time, as it was like 4x4, no heat vent and the closet was in the hallway, not in my room. Anyways we used to hear them inthe walls scurrying around and chewing up the carpet. Then they would run into our rooms. It was literally terrifying. I used to want to tape my mouth shut just in case one came up my bed while I was asleep. Ugg gives me the shivers right now. I can't tell you how happy I was to be out of that place!

Anyhoo, fast forward to the end of the day and we had caught 4 mice, running all over the office. They just kept finding them. Of course by the time we called the exterminator he couldn't find any (probably because we'd caught them all!). They were all pretty small so we think that they have a nest and had babies in the office. We'll see, I don't know how many more days I can handle this. I would stomp every time I came into my office just to scare one away if it was there!

On the plus side, my washer/dryer got delivered and installed last night (insert applause now). No more having to take my laundry to my parents house! Yay!

Well it's a long day at the office today, I have tastings so I'll be working until about 8 or 9pm tonight all the way in Plymouth. Then its 1 more day of work and I'm off to Iowa for Christmas! Yippi! :)

Emotional by Nature

I think I've just had to accept that I am an Emotional Creature. Some would just say it's in my genes, others would say I'm just blubbering fool. But yes, I cry at just about everything, especially around this time of year.

I have cried on my drive home from work on Friday and I cried today on my way into work. They were having a St. Jude's marathon on one radion station and it was heartbreaking to hear the stories of little kids with cancer fighting for their lives and the ones that had lost their battle (which the stories are put to music, which pull even more at your heart strings....American Media, darn you, you are good). There was one story where a little boy of about 6 wasn't going to make it much longer, this will be his last Christmas, and he asked his mom if they have choloate in heaven, and she said "well I'm sure they do, lots and lots of it" and he thought for a while and looked at her and said "Well I don't think heaven will be that bad then".

Bawled, just bawled like a baby.

Then today they were giving away Christmas wishes on another radio station, and a father had stomach cancer and was given a year to live and his little son was taking care of him and people called in and gave so much more than they expected. When the radio hosts start to choke up, then I lose it. So I cried on my way into work.

Seriously, I've had my fair share of crying for a while. I can watch the same movei 15 times and know exactly what will happen and still cry every time. Extreme Home Makever-Bawlfest.

The Humaine Treatment of Animals commercial with Sarah McLaughlin singing and they show pictures of abused animals....cant' stop crying. Makes me want to adopt every animal.

Can't stop it- I'm just an Emotional Creature, guess there's nothing else to do but just embrace it.

One of those days

Well I'll start backwards, the day ended well, my sister and I baked some Christmas goodies to bring to Iowa for Christmas this week. With a little puppy getting into some flour, some yummy chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate bars, and some cookies! So much cookies tired Nic and the pup out! Pictures below:

Do you ever have one of those days where when one thing goes wrong the rest of the day follows suit and everything goes wrong? That was my day yesterday.

It started off having a vet appointment for Tucker (just a re-check to see if the Giardia was gone-it was, yay!). I'm standing at the vet waiting to check Tucker in and there are dogs all around us, and what 9 month old puppy doesn't want to go play? Well he tries running to a small beagle and his collar slips off and before you know it he's free! I am stunned and the only thing I can think to do is start yelling "Treat, Tucker want a Treat"? Apparently, he's caught onto that because he just keeps prancing away. Luckily there was a guy next to me (holding 2 other dogs), and he grabs Tucker, so I get the collar back on and everything is dandy (minus my embaressment).

I'm almost out of gas so I decide to stop by the gas station and get some gas and a car wash before I head home. There was probably about 5 different pumps open so I pull into one put my credit card in, get a car wash and continue to get some gas. In the meantime Tucker is in the back seat and keeps barking at me,and slobbering all over my window, because I'm not paying attention to him. Well I keep trying to pump, the little screen says it's fueling, but clearly no fuel is going into my car. The guy next to me sees me looking a bit frazzled as asks if I need help. He comes over and can't get it to go either, so I run into the gas station and a girl comes out and helps me. Apparently with the cold weather pump 4 and 6 (I was on 6) are finicky and don't always work right, so she has me slowly push the handle and of course it starts working. I would choose one of the 2 finicky ones when there are many open!

I get in my car and I wait in the car wash line for about a 1/2 hour before I finally get in there.

Side Note: I don't like car washes where you have to line your tire up with the track and you put your car in neutral and it pulls you through the car wash. In fact, it stresses me out and scares me because I never can get it lined up and the people behind me honk and get angry. Well maybe they've never honked, but I always think they are on the verge of it and I hate getting honked at!

So anyways, I drive until I find a car wash where you just pull in, sit there and it washes it :) Back to the story, I pull in, the was starts, Tucker gets scared and I just watch the blue and pink soap wash my pretty little car. Well it just stops, I'm wondering if it's done because the back door opens to drive out, but i'm pretty sure I didn't get rinsed off all the way, but the sign never says go, it just says stop. So I wait about 5 min, then drive out. It would break on me! I park, go back inside the gas station (in the meantime notice all the blue soap on the back of my car), and tell them it broke. They give me a free car wash and go re-set the car wash. Well the line is longer than when I first went in so I say screw it, go home, get a bucket of water and pour it on the back of my car to get the soap off (haha which I guess then iced up my parents driveway, whoops!).

It's almost like you are just waiting for the next thing to go wrong, when you have a day like that.

Happy Sunday, go Vikings!

Check this Out!!

Check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhAjo6zsLMU


It's a bride and groom doing their first dance from a wedding at the Boat Club this Summer. It wasn't my wedding, it was my co-worker Natalies, but I remember this wedding! This was the bride that got so drunk she had to be carried out and we almost had to call 911 because she was so bad. I bet she doesn't remember this dance! Too funny :)

Last One Here

I'm sitting all alone in the office, I'm the last one here! I scheduled a tour for 6:30pm tonight so I'm just waiting until I head over to St. Paul. Probably should take off now, traffic could be bad. It's oddly nice to be here all by myself :) No one looking over you shoulder all the time.....hmmm what it must feel like to work for yourself.

I've been running around crazy this week with 4 events, which all booked with in the last few weeks. Looks like everyone is deciding to do a nice holiday get together for their employees...good to know there are still some very appreciative people out there! I had dinner at a great new Italian place called Bar La Grassa last night with an old friend I haven't seen in a while. The food was AMAZING, I highly reccomend the place. It was a great way to spend a Wednesday night and catch up over good food, good wine and good conversation.

I plan to head on home after my tour and curl up by the fire with a nice cup of Chai Tea, a good new book I'm reading (or maybe I'll just watch the Grinch), and with my puppy curled up around my feet (he's a great heater)!


Happy Thursday everyone , stay warm :)

Things I like

I know, I've been boring lately. Really, my washer going bad is the most exciting news this blog has seen in a while (note to self-lead a more exciting life).

So as boring as I am today, I thought I'd write about a few of my favorite things (as I sing the sound of music "these are a few of my favorite things" song in my head as I type.

i LiKe:

Coffee. Yum.

Puppies. Cute.

Sitting by the Fireplace. Snuggly.

Massages. Yes Please.

Helping People. Gratifying.

Purple. Everything.

Being on the Lake. Heaven.

Everything about Christmas. Everything.

My Noise Maker. Seriously.

Cheking Blogs. Routine.

Cheese. Haha.

Dancing around. Crazily.

Games. I Win.

Babies. Clearly Not Mine.

Blankets. All the time.

Honesty. Most of the time.

Wine. Relaxing.

Shoes. Millions.

Snow that Sticks to the Trees. Stunning

Minnesota. Hard to Beat.

Friends & Family. My Air.

Movies. Not Scary.

Bras. Comfy Ones.

Big Sweat Shirts. Boys Shirts ;)

What are a few of your favorite things?

Washer/Dryer Debacle

I went shopping yesterday for a new washer and dryer since mine broke earlier in this week. There was a really nice front loading washer and dryer on sale so I bought it, it was a little pricey, but a nice one. Only today when we went to my place to take the old one out, we realized there was only one plug in (since my washer and dryer now are in one unit) and my new unit has 2 plug ins. So I now have to go back tomorrow and return those two and get another crappy unit like I have. The thing that sucks about the one I have now is that my dryer still works great but since it's all in one unit, you have to replace the whole thing when one breaks. Dumb, the people that designed my laundry closet (not even a room), were dumb. Just trying to get by cheap and then selling the place for a large profit. Ugg...sometimes the real world sucks!

Spotted-Dog getting into trouble

Well, Tucker decided to get into a little trouble today! After work I had to run a few errands, so instead of putting him back in his kennel (where he had been all day), I decided to just leave him in my bedroom to roam around, since I wouldn't be gone long. I was testing him....he failed.

The little snoop somehow opened my closet door and dug around and found 2 of his Christmas presents I was going to put in his stocking and took them out and started chewing on them. This is how I found him when I got home, he didn't even get up to greet me....

Apparently just 1 bone is not enough, he has to have 2...

And this is what he did when I tried to take them away...


Spoiled Puppy.

When it rains...it pours....or snows

Well I am frustrated! There are so many good things to owning a home and having a dog, but I got a good taste of the not so nice things about these things this weekend!!

-My washer went kapoot! And, to top it all off, I have a washer/dryer stackable unit so even though my dryer works perfectly fine, they don't separate and I have to buy a whole new one. booo! My roommate was doing a load of 2, yes only 2, towels last week and it didn't finish the cycle and smelled like something was burning. Alas, repair man comes out...to the tune of $75, and tells me there is some oil leaking. He wipes it up and says it should be good. Fast forward to this afternoon, same smell and cycle problem happens. Repair man, you suck. So he said if it happens again I'll have to buy a new transmition for $700 plus labor. So came to the conclusion, it's not worth it to fix it, more cost effective to just buy a new one! So the shopping commences....lowes, sears, etc. Anyone know where to get good/not too expensive appliances???? Help.

-Doggy gets sick this weekend. He's been kind of sick for a few months but I've taken him to the vet and they just say he has bacteria in his stomach. Saturday he goes out 3 times in the middle of the night, not normal. Take him to the vet, he stays with them all day, he has Giardia-even though he got the shot for it. To the tune of another $300, he gets 2 meds, and some special food.

December=I'm poor.

Let's all pray I get my bonus at the end of the year. The way my weeks have been going, I'm gonna say it's a slim chance. So if in the near future you hear me saying "Would you like to supersize your order?" just smile and nod, it's just my second job :)


Happy Holidays!