Lauren

As you can see, the last 2 weeks of April is a flurry of activity on my birthday calendar.  First there is Sprangers at the beginning of the month (Sorry I didn't have the birthday dedications down in time Sprangs...)

Then in rapid succession there was Amanda, Samson and Brooke.  Finally, rounding out the month is Lauren... my baby sister (3rd of the 4 of us).

I apologize for the short posts, but since I'm technically in Seattle right now, this is the best I can do.

I love you a million times over Lauren.  I'm so lucky to have the siblings I have.  Can't wait until we can see each other more often than we do!

XOXOXOX

The last one was taken at the most recent wedding weekend.

On top of the space needle

Quite the way to start off my Seattle trip

So yesterday, my flight was uneventful to Seattle.  I was lucky enough to be seated next two soldiers who couldn't have been more polite.  Probably the best flight I've been on in a while.

We kicked off the first night here by going to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Seattle, the one that my coworker and I are trying to keep a secret so it doesn't become super crowded.  It's called The Pink Door.

They have entertainment scheduled for every night of the week and Monday nights is a trapeze artist.  I was really excited that we were going to get to go on the trapeze night because I've been dying to see how they do it.

Well, luckily for you guys... I was able to snap a couple of pictures and a short video.  She did her routine a table away from us.  This restaurant is small, so keep that in mind.

It was pretty difficult to get photos of her while she was spinning so fast, but I'm pretty impressed with the first photo.  Here's the video.

Today we have a few meetings with the headquarter hotels and then another coworker and I are going to see the Space Needle and get dinner at a place I saw on the Food Network.  I'll try to post a bit later.

The view from my hotel room

Thanks for the evening sun Seattle!

Brooke

Today marks Brooke's birthday.  Of the three of us (Amanda, Brooke and I), I will always remain the youngest....  So while these two are 29, I'm still savoring a few months of being 28. :)

Brooke is the 3rd on our trip to Mexico and I can't wait to spend time with her. 

Queue the really old photos... :)

For some reason I can't find all my photos from college on my computer, so this is the best I have.  The last one does the best justice.  Love you Brooke!

Before the storm...

Today is my last day in the office before I head off to Seattle for the conference.  Some of you may have noticed, like Lauren commented to me, NO OUTFIT posts this week.  Well, I actually wrote all of this weeks posts (except for this one) on Monday.  It's hard to pre-write outfit posts and I knew this week was going to be too busy to post every day.

But, don't you all worry.  I fixed my mobile posting so now it will let me email photo posts from my cell phone.  Look forward to posts in the next day days of how I try to spruce up my "work polo" that is my staple uniform at the conference.  :)

Also, to stay true to the birthdays... Happy birthday to my Uncle Pat.  I don't have enough pictures to give a proper shout out but.... he does have a flickr account that he posts some pretty cool photos to.  Enjoy!

Cuteness of the day

so what is it exactly that you do??

Every time someone asks me that question I say a little "I'm sorry" to every time I told me dad, "I have no idea what you do".

I truly appreciate now, how difficult it was for my dad to put some context around his job when I was 12, 15, 22... :)  I feel his pain now.

I figured since I am just days away from the annual event that I spend all year working on that this would be an appropriate time to put a little perspective.

I work for a non proft membership association.  In short terms, we provide educational needs and certification to those in our members' field of expertise.  (I'm intentionally trying to be a little vague here just in case someone randomly stumbles into my blog).  My job at this association is to plan and develop our annual meeting/conference and ensure it's ultimate success.  Sounds fancy doesn't it?  :)  I've been practicing.

Our conference consists of 2 days of professional development courses, a day of pre-conference workshops (half day or full day classes) and then 3.5 days of sessions.  The sessions can be one hour or 1.5 hours depending on the type of session.  In addition to the educational portion, there is also an exhibit hall, where companies pay to have a booth and promote their products/services.  We also have several "networking" opportunities (I'm really growing to hate that word).

I work closely with a meeting planner that really handles all the logistical aspects of the planning (food orders, space, all the signage, etc.) and an adminstrator that works with all the speakers.  So then, what is it that you do, Megan?  If those people do those jobs.

TO be honest, I don't know how to put it into 20 words or less.  I oversee the development and planning of all aspects of the conference and I responsible for the staff onsite to make sure everything goes smoothly.

So I will be heading to Seattle on Monday for 10 days.  Coming back with just enough time to do laundry and repack for Mexico.  Posts will be almost non existent,  but I will do my best.

SEVEN

My baby turns 7 today.

My mom and I went to see her friend Barb's new little of puppies when they were only 4 weeks old.  I didn't intend to go there to get a puppy, but they were just so darn cute!

I couldn't resist the one that sat in the middle of the box "talking" while all his siblings were trying to sleep around him.  That's Samson in the middle with the white blotch on his back.

See how CUTE they are????  So I told Barb that I wanted one.  The loud one (which she wasn't surprised about).

Five weeks later, in the middle of June, I picked him up with my mom and brought him home. Barb had warned me not to let him sleep in my bed unless I was prepared for him to always want to sleep there.  I didn't care.  He was too cute to resist.

He was definitely a fun addition to the family during that summer.  We always got a laugh out of how big his ears were.

I can't believe he's seven years old already.  It feels like just last year, he was at college with me...where he developed an affinity for beer (thanks Haldi) and another friend (Josh) tried to train him to be the husky dog that ran at football games (major fail).

He can't resist bugging people when they are laying on the floor...

He loves ice cream as much as his mom...

He tears his toys to shreds...

He falls asleep in crazy places...

He's the best damn dog ever....  

Happy birthday Samson!!!  There's a frosty paws with your name on it today.

Amanda

Today is Amanda's birthday.  So today I dedicate this post to her and the 8 years we've known each other.  I miss her every day and can't wait to have fun and celebrate her birthday in Mexico in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS.

Enjoy the photos...  because over the next two weeks, there are MANY birthdays and so there will be many photos.

Hopefully I will be able to get more current photos in Mexico! Love you Amanda!

the family weekend

This weekend was a crazy, crazy weekend...

It started on Friday with a haircut and 6 hour drive to Columbus.  I actually got to Columbus earlier than expected, so I beat the rest of my family to the gathering taking place that evening.  I had a blast.  It was so nice to see everyone.  I laugh because if you really broke down the family tree of everyone (about 40 people) in the room, most of us are barely related!  But everyone treats everyone like cousins.

Saturday morning Lauren and I woke up EARLY and decided to do our 5.5 mile run.  I convinced her to just run on the treadmills because the weather outside was pretty crappy.  I think it went really well and we both finished in a little over an hour.  Then we just hung out with everyone that was at the hotel for the afternoon.  Finally, it was time to get ready and head to the "wedding".  I say "wedding" because it was really just cocktail hour and dinner at a restaurant, for 190 people. :)

As I alluded to in many past posts, I had a really difficult time pulling together an outfit.  I was determined to wear the tulle skirt I won in a contest, and finding a suitable top proved difficult even for my fashionista BF, Amanda.  After an afternoon of ransacking my closet while video chatting, we found a good shirt that I already owned!  Here's the final product.  Don't mind the hair...  I forgot to take a picture before we left, so the best I could do was when I returned home.  Of course, it was raining at night so the hair is damp.

Hey, hotel bathroom! :)

Anyways, then on Sunday, we had a baby shower for Leslie.  She had a TON of presents to open and seemed to like the baby food maker and equipment we bought her.  I also made monogrammed onsies which were a bit hit at the shower.

I left the shower with my family a little bit early so we could head on the road.

It was a fun weekend and I was thrilled to see my family... but it was exhausting to drive that much in the short amount of time.

update later

I'm crazy busy today so I'll have to post my weekend recap this evening.

Sorry.

shoe love

a little shoe envy... to play off my last post.

Kurt Geiger

Oh green suede maryjanes.  I love you.

*P.s. I'm on the road to Columbus today for the family wedding/baby shower weekend.  I'll try to mobile post during the weekend (we'll see how likely that really is).

Inspiration

Found here

Just a little inspiration for the shoe lover in all of us.

make up, shmake up

I don't know what has caused me to develop this new fascination with makeup.  Maybe it's the whole "improving me" kick I'm on right now.  Regardless, it's given me a whole new perspective of myself and my appearance.

When I was planning the wedding, the first recommendation I got from an old high school friend was to go to Sonia Roselli for makeup.  She couldn't rave about them enough.   So, on my dress shopping trip to Chicago, I booked a trial appointment with one of their makeup artists.  There studio is really beautiful and all the girls that worked there were so nice.  The girl who did my makeup, Jessica, did a fantastic job and I booked her right away for the wedding.  I also found out about the additional makeup classes they offer.  If only I lived in Chicago!!

I was sad to have to cancel on them, but I know at some point in my future I will be able to work with them again.

They are opening up a new cosmetics website which I am super excited about.  Anyways, I write this because between her site and the youtube videos I've been watching it's makeup overload!!

Happy Thought #2

Getting to decorate my next place of residence ANY WAY I WANT TO.

Including this headboard....

Found here

I better start working on my carpentry skills now.

For my grandpa

My grandpa (on my father's side) is having a pacemaker put in today.

I've been so fortunate to be able to have all four grandparents in my life for as long as I have, but this is a reality check that they are getting older.

I'm thinking of him today.

Papa and Grammy (Markowski) - Melissa and Justin's wedding 2009

*Update (9:45am ET): The surgery went well and my aunt said he looks good.  They are hoping he will get to go home tomorrow.

So Productive

This weekend was a weekend of productivity for me.

Friday night I did laundry.  :)

Saturday, I ran 5 miles (and it wasn't terrible). I created, printed and cut all 200 place cards for the wedding next weekend.  I went to the mall to find the last few things for my outfit for the wedding and ran a few other errands along the way.  I wrapped baby shower gifts and worked on a little special project for the soon-to-be mom that I can't talk about right now since she reads the blog. (Hi Leslie!) :)  And then I was asleep shortly after 10.

Sunday was much slower since I did so much on Saturday.  I got up really early (thank you 10pm bedtime) to walk Samson.  I folded all the place cards and organized them for my transfer on Friday and then I did a bit of cleaning.  Probably not as much as needed, but I can walk around my house without feeling disgusted.  The rug in the living room looks new again... it's amazing what a vacuum can do!

I watched my netflix movie, Wild Target.  It was mildly entertaining, a British flick.  And then I took a nap.

That about sums up my weekend.  Oh, and I watched makeup tutorials on YouTube for a good portion of the weekend.  I'm totally obsessed, but I feel like I'm a lot smarter about makeup and how to apply it.  I'm going to need a second job to fund my new obsession.  We'll see how it pans out next week at the wedding.  I'm going to bust out some of my new skills. :)

It's oh so quiet....

shhhh, shhhhh, shhh....

ok sorry.  Got that out of my system now.

Last night was my first night home alone again.  It's weird that although I was living along for over 6 months, it was completely foreign last night.  And Justin and Melissa haven't really even been there that long.

At one point, I was actually bored.  So I went to bed.  And was asleep before 9pm.  Dad, I apologize for all the times we made fun of you for falling asleep on the couch at 8:30.

*ps.  anyone know the song referenced in the title of the blog? 

Running....

So last night I had to email my friend Kelly for words of encouragement.  I hit a stumbling block this week with the training.  I was feeling crappy while running and it was discouraging that still at fairly short distances I was starting to struggle.

It's so great to have someone to talk to about it that has experience and a great reminder that everything is not always easy. (why I can't remember this sometimes is beyond me)

Tonight will be run #3 for the week and I'm hoping it goes better than the last two.

Also, my roommates are leaving today for a week.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself.

Happy Thought #1

In the car on the way home listening to my ipod (this will make sense soon), I thought of a great addition to my blog.... HAPPY THOUGHTS. So today is happy thought #1. I'll be adding these as I think of them and will have a quick link in the header in the future.
I no longer have to have endless discussions on which is the better Canadian band: the Barenaked Ladies or the Tragically Hip.

It's totally these guys...

The Barenaked Ladies

*Still sad that Steven Page left the group.

I was introduced to BNL while I was a freshman in high school by a friend.  I loved them instantly.  Then as a freshman in college, I got to see them perform at the Bradley center with a group of teammates while I was at Marquette.  For years, it was hands down my all-time favorite concert (only recently tied for first with Michael Buble).

I couldn't possibly pick a favorite song, so I tried to pick a song that I really liked and felt exemplifies their "playfulness". 

*Sidenote:  this acoustic version ROCKS!

Ok, one final one. I love this song. (the guy in the glasses is Steven Page, the lead singer that left.)

*Trivia tidbit: BNL sings the theme song for The Big Bang Theory, for those of you that watch that show.

my big baby

When Samson was a puppy, he was never afraid of anything... storms, loud noises, fireworks.  You name it, it didn't bother him.

I don't know when the change occurred but now he is the BIGGEST BABY EVER when it storms.  I'm always telling people about what its like to try to sleep with an 80 lbs dog that wants to lay on top of you.  I don't think anyone really ever believes me.  So this morning, .5 seconds after the first bolt of lightning struck, Samson was up on my bed faster than I could roll over and say "come on up buddy".

I spent the last 45 minutes before my alarm went off trying to get him to lay anywhere that didn't involve suffocation or a pointy joint in my ribs.  I was not so successful.

I took photos as proof that this is really what he is like in the middle of the night.  (Sorry about the terrible face... that flash was SUPER bright in the middle of the night)

 This is him LITERALLY laying on my face.  He stayed like that for 5 minutes before I pushed him off.

See that paw under there?  Yeah... pointy dog joint in my ribcage.

Also, here's an outfit post for the heck of it.  Even though it was storming like crazy for a while last night, it was fairly warm this morning.

*Skirt & Shirt - JCrew, belt - Express, shoes - Nine west

woo hoo... April

It is officially April.  And do you know what that means???

My conference at the end of the month (which I actually am looking forward to) AND one month until our girls' trip to Cabo!

This entire month is going to fly by.

This weekend I ran my longest training run so far, 4 miles.  It was rough.  I didn't have a good night's sleep the night before and because of the weather, I was running in sweats and a sweatshirt.  I'm going to contribute both of these things to how difficult the run was.  I finished, still at a good pace, but it was tough.  I told Melissa that if I'm going to continue this running thing after the summer, I'm going to need to invest in legitimate running attire.  Also, I need to purchase something that lets me carry water with me.

I sent an email to "he who shall not be named" on Saturday.  I was irritated that he still had not given me any response to what he wanted to do with the house.  I think I was very diplomatic in the email.  I told him that I was frustrated that in 3 months, the only response I continue to get from him is that he's still looking into talking to people about options.  I told him that he needed to make this a priority and that I have been very respectful in not bringing up lawyers again, but I will if I have to.

He finally wrote back late last night saying that I was right and he would make a priority this week and that he was sorry it took him all weekend to respond.  We'll see how that goes.  I hope he understand that this exact scenario is exactly why I do not want to own a rental property with him.  How can he say he will assume the responsibilities when he isn't capable of following up promptly? 

It amazes me that I let things like this go during our relationship, considering them "personality quirks".

This weekend will be my first weekend home alone in a while.  The Hales clan is driving out to the midwest for a week to introduce Kayla to everyone.  She will be able to meet her great-grandparents on her mother's side for the first time as well as numerous Aunts and Uncles and second cousins, etc. etc.  I know she will be spoiled rotten by the time she comes back.  As for me, I have big plans... Cleaning, laundry, errands.  YEAH!  :)

I'm still working out my outfit for my cousin's wedding (two weeks) and it's becoming increasingly stressful as it gets closer.  This weekend is my "do or die" weekend.  I have to find something to wear with my skirt or go with my back up outfit.  Stay tuned!

On a related note, the dress I am wearing today has been hiding in my closet for quite a while.  This dress has escaped multiple donation days because I was determined to wear it again.  Thankfully, I put it on today and it fits the way it's supposed to!  I typically wear it with bright colored shoes, but the weather still doesn't seem appropriate for that just yet - even though it's supposed to be 75 today.

*Dress - BGBG, necklace - gift, shoes - Nine west

Also, getting a haircut next week.  It's about time, it's been close to five months.  I've missed you Nina, get ready!

April Fools Day

I hate April Fool's day.

Don't get me wrong, I love a funny little prank.  But I'm talking about harmless pranks, like the one that's been going on in my office for years.  Where we swap out this hideous painting of George Washington and put it in someone's office while they are gone on vacation.  Harmless AND hilarious!!!

It just always seems to me that the pranks people play on April Fool's are just mean.  Telling people your relationship has ended, or someone is seriously hurt... Mean, mean, mean. 

I can't wait until today is over. 

Here's my outfit for casual Friday.  It's been dreary weather here, so I was trying to inject a little spring into my mood. 

*Sweater -JCrew, Scarf - Limited, Jeans - Nordstrom, shoes - KEDS

This is probably the most "matchy" I will ever be.  I prefer to mix colors and not match too much, but it's hard to find things to go with this sweater.  It is YELLOW.  Don't get me wrong, I like it... I just don't wear it often because it is so YELLOW.

Also, KEDS are awesome.  Everytime I wear these to work people make fun of me.  But I love them.