Life on the Road

2009-01-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!!

Things went well here. I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparent so I was happy about that. They went back to Yuma yesterday. Brady and I actually got to spend Christmas day and New Years Eve together. That was a nice change. Normally one or both of us have to work. But on New Years Eve, we went down to Brackenridge Park in San Antonio and Carolyn took some Pics. I thought it'd be nice to finally have some good pics of us instead of only ones taken inside a bar. So I have attached the link at the bottom of my post for those of you who want to check them out. Some aren't so fabulous, but through no fault of Carolyn's. Most of them are really cute.

Updates on the family: Andy and Kristen are getting excited about their wedding. It's in June and Brady and I are in the Bridal Party. I'm really glad he's happy and they have each other. Austin and Vee are still doing well. Ed and Jenny are expecting another baby. They just found out so we don't know what they are having yet. Little Matt is as onry as ever. Mom and Bill are doing well. Bill should be in line for a permanent route soon. Samantha and Jeremy are getting married in March. Marge is a permanent sub at a school in San Antonio, and with some luck will be moved up to being a full time teacher in the next few months. We're all hopeing anyway. Dad's trying to get back into the restaurant business. All I have to say about that is it's about time! :)

Well I guess that's about it for me. Not really much going on. I start back to work on Monday, and I have my laptop now so I should be able to hit the ground running.

Link to our photos: http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/aggiemac05/New%20Years%20Eve%2008/

Yes... I'm Alive!

2008-12-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Ok... So I know I pretty much just fell of the face of the planet for a while, but now that I'm stationary and have my internet I can keep up with this again! Aren't you just oh so excited:)

So basically what has happened since June is:
1. Mom came to visit us in August and we had an amazing time!
2. I got a recruiting call from RJ Reynolds (Camel in case you are like I was, totally lost!)
3 After a painfully long interview process I got the job and started Nov 3!
4. I moved to Nacogdoches Tx for RJR and LOVE my house. There is currently no furniture in any room other than my bedroom and "office." But that will change in a few months.
5. Brady is currently in San Antonio living with Dad until he can get an apt of his own. He just got a job at The Lion and Rose, as a Manager in Training. He's pretty excited about it, and we're both glad that our lives are finally starting to move FORWARD for once.

That is it in a VERY small nutshell. But I decided that was better than writing a 3959204 page novel on the last 6 months of my life.

So, my job is going well. I'm still officially in training because my computer hasn't arrived for me to be out on my own yet. Although I'm actually glad I'm getting so much training time. That way when I get out on my own I'll have WAY less questions to ask. But this job is exactly what I've been looking for. I just never considered a tobacco company, never thought about it actually. But I'm really very glad that the recruiting agency got a hold of me.

I've already picked out my furnature for the living room:) I know I'm a dork... but this way I have something to save for. I know how much to save and all that. Here's a link if you're interested. It's very "me."
http://www.corinthianfurn.com/Catalog/imageview.aspx?path=2830%2fHI+RES%2fcorinthian_2830g_rc.jpg%2f

Ok. Time for me to hit the hay. I hope all is well, and I'll post again when something exciting happens:)

All my love

Airport Irritations

2008-06-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in the airport in Minneapolis, waiting to be able to check in my luggage. Why you may ask? Alas, no, I am not flying out from an event. I am actually sitting here on my layover from Dallas to Anchorage. So why am I waiting to check in my bag? When I got to the airport in Dallas, after 20 minutes of trying to figure out how to get a luggage ticket for my whole trip, they discover that since I'm technically flying out on a different date from Minneapolis I have to actually claim my luggage and recheck it. Even though it's the same trip and I'm just here on a layover.

So here I sit. Dead tired and unable to go to sleep because I have to keep an eye on my luggage. It wouldn't be so bad I guess, except for the fact that the check-in counters close overnight. So I'm sitting out here in the main terminal waiting until 4am to be able to go back through the security check-point.

Also, since I'm on my rant about how stupid traveling is these days, why have a 7 hour lay-over somewhere if there isn't going to be anything open? There's no place to get coffee, or food or anything. So not only am I sitting here and unable to go to sleep, but I'm also starving and all I have is a 3 Musketeers!!!

And last, but most certainly NOT least, my Internet card is messing up. Half the time it doesn't connect at all, and the other half it kicks me off after like 12 minutes of use. What is going on I have no idea. So after it happens the first time this morning, I call the service to see what's going on, like it says to on the warning message that pops up. Only to find out they don't take calls until 6am.

Ya know, I know this is only bugging the crap out of me because I'm tired, and sleep isn't going to come for a while. But sometimes... I'd actually like for my stuff to work! Especially since I pay a fortune for it, compared to how often I actually use it.

The oddities of being home

2008-03-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

Alas... I am home again. Hence the reason I have not updated in a while. As much as I love being with family and friends, not a lot goes on here. The first week I was back, I was at the Austin Rodeo. It was weird. First of all being back in the heat every day, second being back around the country folk I knew so well growing up. In all reality I haven't been away that long. But it sure feels like another story when I'm back here.

I did make it to Cade's wedding. It was so adorable. She rode up in a horse drawn carriage, the wedding was outside, and everyone looked incredible! And me like a goober forgot my camera, so unfortunately there will be no pictures from this:(

Last week I spent the first half in Waco doing an Office Depot promotion. The first 3 days consisted of driving around and handing out goody bags and information packets to local businesses. Since the new store was opening, they wanted to be sure that people were aware of it. On the second day there were Flash Flood Warnings and Tornado Sightings. And me, being the good little worker that I am, continued to drive around in the awful weather. In fact, I had several people tell me "It really takes dedication for you to be out here in this kind of weather!" So needless to say it was satisfying non-the-less.

The rest of the week and first part of the weekend I spent with Dad in San Antonio. Again nothing really major happened, just spending time with family and letting the baby brother get to know me:)

I've been at Mom's since Easter. Pretty much just hung out and didn't do anything yesterday. Today is my first official day as a substitute teacher. Ok... now when your giggles have subsided, I have serious matters to reflect upon:-P

Firstly, it's amazing how just being back in a place can uncover so many memories that you had forgotten. As I see these kids running around in the halls between classes I remember how I used to find any excuse I could to run and see a friend, or my boyfriend. Sitting in the classrooms I sat in not so long ago brings flashes of lessons and chats with friends. I mean it was 7 years ago, but it really doesn't feel that far back.

On the topic of teaching, I have more or less decided that I'm going to take some classes online in preparation for taking the teaching courses. I don't really have enough credits to teach anything, so I'm going to take some Spanish classes. That way I'll be able to get certified in something I'd actually want to teach, and I'll be able to learn the language! I'll be able to take classes online for about a year, then I'll have to be stationary enough to take the upper level courses. Junior/Senior classes are obviously not offered at a Junior College, and are rarely offered online.

Now some of you may ask, "Why in the world would you want to do teaching? Didn't you go to school for Psychology?" To which my answer is quite simple. I can teach anywhere. If Brady and I end up settling in a city that is not all that rich in Event Marketing companies, but is excellent for his career, I will not have to sacrifice mine in the process. See, my dilemma with pursuing my career has always been, which path do I take. Teaching has always been of interest to me. Lately, Marketing has stepped into the forefront. However, I have interest in both, so it has been hard for me to chose which one to follow. What if I chose the wrong one, and therefore was unhappy because of it. I know, "What if." But you know me. So this plan fits perfectly. If I can do EM I will, but if it's not possible, I can fall back on teaching. I eventually want to go to Grad School for Social Psychology and would love to someday be a college professor. Teaching now would prepare me for that future goal. Social Psychology will also do me well in EM. The study of how people react in social situations, and what makes them behave the way they do to in certain situations would be invaluable to a marketer. So while I'm off doing random seasonal jobs, I can be taking classes online, and after that I will be ready to "settle" and take the upper level classes I need.

I guess the only other new thing that has been going on is I have started watching this "I Can Make You Thin" program on TLC. Now before you get all in a tussle, I know I'm not fat. But I also don't want to get to the point to where my weight loss goal is upwards of 100 lbs! So I figure if I can nip it in the bud before it gets to be a problem, that will be so much easier. That and this isn't a diet. It's controlling your urges and how much you eat. You actually focus on what you are eating, and most of the time, you realize that the Big Mac doesn't really taste all that great. You are just so occupied with everything else you are doing while you are eating that the taste of the food is the last thing on your mind. So it teaches you to slow down, focus on the food, and know when you are full. If you are full, stop eating. I know! It's as simple as that:) But so many people don't realize they are full because they just shovel it all down with out thinking. So they eat way too much. Also many people eat because they are emotional. I'm really not one of those people, but I do eat if I'm bored. Or else, "I think I'm hungry but I don't know what I want. So I think I'll go grab a bowl of cereal." There is this technique the host showed us that controls the craving. Well sort of. It focuses on acupuncture points and therefore opens your mind to what's really going on in your body. You start off with a 9 or 10 feeling of how much you want to go eat, and end up at 1 or 0. I know it sounds totally crazy. I scoffed too. But I just tried it, for the first real time and it actually works. Weird huh?

Ok well that's about it for me. I didn't realize so much was going on. Although I guess it was mostly thinking out loud and less informing on what I've been up to:) I hope all is well with everyone! If I haven't seen you yet I will before I leave.

End of the Season

2008-02-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

So we are nearing the end of the season, and with it comes the beginning of Spring. I am uploading new pics as I type, so you'll see how amazingly beautiful it is up here when the sun shines and casts this amazing light effect on the snow and mountains. Just imagine if I actually knew was I was doing when I was taking pics;)

I'm flying back home next Thursday. So I only have 4 days of work left. It's been weird having so many days off. But at least I've gotten to relax some. My days off next week will be full of last minute lunches with friends, going away parties, and somehow I'll find time to pack.

I got my haircut yesterday. It's excruciatingly short. For the first time in my life I can see how people think I look just like my momma. Now it's uncanny. I'm going to have lost of pics over the next few days so I'll make sure I put them up. I'll have plenty of time on the plane and in the airport:P

I guess that's about it for me. I'll post my pics next!

The latest

2008-02-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who don't know yet, I finally have my phone back. It's not the same one, but at this point as long as i have one I'm not real picky.

Things are going well for me here. I"m starting to get ready to head home. I've got 2 weeks left before I get on the plane, so I'm starting to do the normal stuff. Packing, going away parties, etc.

I have a job in Alaska for the summer. Well at least one. I'm working back at the Windsong again. I told the new manager I'd be ok with being a host because I have another job in the morning, and wouldn't be able to do the morning server position. So as long as it's cool for me to be a couple weeks late getting up there I'm all set. Otherwise I'll have to fly home for Austin's graduation.

Last night I saw a total lunar eclipse for the first time. It was really interesting. We didn't know if we were going to be able to see it because of the clouds we'd had earlier in the day, but last night was crystal clear!

Not a whole lot else is happening. I watched "The Dark Knight" trailer this afternoon. The new Batman with Heath Ledger as the Joker. It seriously is creepy! He just might be better than Jack!!

Things just keep getting more and more wierd

2008-02-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

Alright... so here's the update on how bizarre my life is becoming. First, I have not been to work since Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were my days off, and Thursday through tomorrow we're closed because there is too much snow... Let that sink in a bit....... WE'RE AT A SKI RESORT!! I THOUGHT SNOW WAS A GOOD THING?!?!?!?! What they're telling me is that it's snowing too fast for the DOT to keep up with the roads. So that, and factor in the no electricity at the summit (though we have it thank goodness!), and the avalanches on both sides of the mountain, it's just not safe to be having a whole load of people up here.

Now to the homefront... I have officially become miss recourceful. I have started melting snow on the stove in order to fill up the tank on the commode. Now you may ask, "Why don't you just go to the shower house?" And the answer to that is quite simple my friend, there have been cougar sightings, wolf sightings, more cougar sightings mere feet from my door. And when it's dark at night, I don't really fancy walking out of the shower house and spooking one of them. Because it'd be bye bye to me. Granted I'm not sure how much of a meal they'd get off me, but I'm not taking any chances!!!!!

More snow...

2008-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

So in the last 48 hours we have gotten at least 3 more feet of snow. I'm thinking more like 5, but 3 is a conservative guess. It was so bad, we had to spend another 2 nights with Brady's dad. We'd gone down to see him on Tuesday, and since the entire mountain has been shut down since yesterday morning at 6:30 am we had to stay a little longer than planned. It was ok though. We actually got to rest on our days off. Not just run around and stay busy. Don't get me wrong, we did plenty of running around, but we've been able to veg out too.

The snow up here is just insane. We're getting record snowfall already! And the season still has another 9 weeks left. The only thing that really isn't cool about all of this is the fact that until the mountain opens back up we aren't working. Which means we aren't making money. I don't guess it's so bad. As long as we're back at our cabin we can't spend money:-D Nothing to spend it on!

That's about it for me I guess. I bought several books while I was in the civilized world and I'm really looking forward to getting engrosed into one. Especially since I don't have cable, and therefore Law & Order:)

Phone, Pipes, & Peakyness

2008-02-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Ok so first and foremost, I have lost my phone. I have no idea where it is. I've looked everywhere it can be, so my conclusion is that it's burried under the 8 feet of snow we've gotten in the last 3 days. You may think that's an exhaggeration, but I'm totally serious! So as soon as I either find it or get a new one I'll let everyone know:)

Brady and I have officially moved into a cabin. We actually moved last week, but the two of us came down with the uckiness and I haven't had the energy or the desire to update my blog. I don't have any pics of our new place yet but as soon as I do rest assured I'll make sure I post them:) It's a cute little place. We have a little kitchenettet, but we have to walk across the way to take a shower. Which is none too fun when It's 30 degrees and snowing. Our first night here the temperature dropped to -7, and all of our stinking pipes froze. So now we have to go to the shower house to fill buckets just to wash dished, or to empty into the tank of the comode to be able to use the restroom. Our fridge also freezes anything and everything that is left in there for longer than 36 hours.

I hope to go snowboarding on Tuesday. However, since it's been snowing nonstop for the last 3 days I'm kind of scared the snow's going to be so soft that I'll get stuck in chest deep powder. Which I can assure you would most definately NOT be fun for me.

I guess that's about it for me. I'm going to do some online shopping to see if I can find a new phone I like:( I just am not eligible for a new one until December, so I have to buy a phone full price for a year. I'm kind of irked about it to tell you the truth. But alas, that's the way it goes. Take care everyone and email me if you need me!

Much love

Snowboarding

2008-01-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

I went snowboarding for the first time ever on Tuesday. I'll be completely honest, my first run was abysmally bad. I got stuck for like 30 minutes in this one spot. It was the most frustrating part of the whole day. After I finally got down we went and had lunch. Then hit the slopes again. I made it down in like a third of the time.

So I know ya'll want to hear about my wipeouts. The top 3 are as follows:

#3. First of all, I can't pop up off my butt. So I have to roll over onto my knees and stand up that way. Well that's all fine and good until I got stuck on a flat spot. So I had to face uphill to get up. The drawback of that is I now had to figure out how to turn around to where I could go down the hill the RIGHT way and not backwards. Well I get going, and the I catch my edge on soft snow and totally just fall smack on my butt. Which would have been fine if I had stopped there, but since I was still facing uphill, I hit the ground and my back hit next and I clocked my head. Hard. It was a good thing I was wearing a helmet. Although I'm not entirely sure I didn't fall BECAUSE of the helmet.

#2. I started to get decent on the left turns. They're way easier than the right ones anyway. On the last turn, which is a right turn, I tried to make the turn. I caught the front edge of my board and dove face first into the snow. As if this wasn't bad enough, since I was on the end of the run, and the slope was steep, I rolled. Not just any roll, like major head over heals lots of pain role. I let my body go limp, trying to avoid really getting hurt, and my legs ended up twisting with the snowboard and I seriously thought I broke my knee. I sat there for about 30 seconds carefully moving my left leg making sure everything was still working correctly.

#1. After Brady and I had lunch we hit the run again. To get on the lifts, you have one foot strapped to the board and the other pushes you along like a skateboard. As we're making our way to the lift Brady and my boards get tangled. Then we sit down on the chair, and our boards are still twisted. As the lift keeps going my board gets stuck and it twists my ankle back. I can't get it untwisted and it literally rips me off the chair. To the point that I can just now walk without it hurting me.

I'm alive!

2008-01-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive:) I'll be getting an internet card on Wednesday so I'll be able to use my own computer again! YAY!!

but for now, peace;)

SNOW!!!

2008-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

We are now officially one like our 18 straight day of snow! It's so awesome. I never thought I'd be in a place like this and be able to experience how awesome "real" snow is. I mean we get snow in Texas, but it's icky and sloshy and brown within like 20 minutes from falling. but up here the only snow that's sloshyis on the road. And it's still really not all that bad.

So I bought most of my snowboarding stuff today. I bought my jacket yesterday. Today I bought my pants, goggles, and gloves. I'm hopefully going to go snowboarding next Tuesday and Wednesday. And as soon as I fall totally in love with it, (which I'm sure I will) I plan on buying me some boots. I found some really awesome ones. I'm a big dork and all of my stuff has to match so I have like white, grey, green, and blue stuff. As soon as I go snowboarding I'll have lots of pics up!

For now I'm going to say Ciao! I'm sleepy and I need some rest:) Love to all!

OK my bad...

2007-12-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

OK... So I had every intention of posting another blog when I was on the other day. However, I was about to start uploading my pics for ya'll when the internet blitzed. Since then I've worked every day and have wanted to do nothing more than fall into bed when I got home. Ans since we have no internet at the house I couldn't exactly work on it there.

Anyway, the rest of my story. I met Brady's dad before I left to go home. He loved me, and all is well:P When I got back I pretty much started right work right away. The first few days were really slow, but since then it'd been utter chaos! Not only is it really busy, but there's always some kind of something going wrong. Bus breaks down, Credit Card machines are down, no-call no-shows. It's been nuts. I'm hoping after next week things will die off. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be the last real busy days for a while. It's the last weekend before school starts back up. So next week should be fairly slow again. Which is cool with me. I figure I'll work a ton until then, then start snowboarding when it becomes less crowded. I wouldn't care too much to get plowed over on my first day on the mountain lol.

Christmas Eve Brady and I went to his boss's house for the F&B supervisor Christmas Party. We had a bunch of fun. Brady and I finally got some pics that weren't taken in a bar or with our huge coats on! And they are way too cute!!

I have officially decided that I'd much rather wade through knee deep snow than on packed down snow. Every time I get rid of a bruise on my knee I slip again and get another one! I think I'm finally going to buy my snowboard gear tomorrow or Tuesday. I plan on getting pants and jacket and goggles obviously, but one of the supervisors here wants to sell his board and he said it'd be the perfect size for me. So I may buy it from him. I figure it'd be easier to learn on a consistent board. Plus I wouldn't have to fight those horrible rental lines!

I got a call from Nick the other day. He's the guy I met at the Balloon Fiesta from AT&T. He was shocked when I told him I wasn't going to be on the Crocs tour anymore. Then he said that he knew of some tours rolling out and he'd see if he could get me on one of them. But they wouldn't really be starting up for another month and a half or so. I told him that'd be perfect. That way I can get some serious snowboarding in and be able to spend some more time with Brady. And by the time it's really getting slow up here I'll be ready to leave!:)

Well I guess that's about it for me. I'm going to add these pics before I get lynched lol!

I hope ya'll have a safe and awesome New Year! I'm off!! I have no idea what that's like... I'll have to let you know:D

2007-12-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

OK. So a bunch as happened since last I posted. So to make it easier on me, I'm going to post two different blogs.

Firstly, I did go home for a few days. I got to see my mom sing in her pagent and it was really well done! The songs were beautiful, she was beautiful, and it just really got me into the Christmas Spirit. I really enjoyed myself.

I really wasn't home very long, so I don't have a lot of pics. But here are a few that were of interest:
Matt's Christmas gift from me;) Gotta start him early!
The lights at the courthouse in Goldthwaite. I just think they're pretty!

I guess that's about it for this post. I do have my pics all uploaded and fixed and stuff so I'll have those up too!

Just how much CAN happen in 4 days?

2007-12-12T15:49:00.001-08:00

Ok. So as most of you know, I'll be working at Steven's Pass this winter. The plan was going to be originally that I'd work here until the tour started back up. However due to many different reasons, I will not be rejoining the Rock with Crocs tour. I won't get into it, but there you have it. So now I'll be in Washingtong the entire winter. I'm assuming anyway. But we all know how quickly my plans can change.

So ok, Saturday Brady decided that since he had Monday off, we could go down to see his dad in Arlington. That night I run into Ryan, whose a neighbor of Brady's. He told me that he and Julie (his wife) are moving out Sunday night and they'd like to have a little get together on their last night there. I told him I was really sorry but we had to catch the bus down to Monroe. He said he understood and we talked some more about how we could meet up again later.

So Sunday after he gets off we make the trip down , and there are only 2 seats left on the bus. I get stuck next to the biggest chatterbox on the freakin planet! I mean if you think I'm bad, she blows me out of the water. She was talking about dentists and gossiping about other people that had gotten fired. I was like holy cow! So I was hoping she'd be one of the first ones off. NOPE! She got off on the stop right before us. It was definately a long trip down.

So I meet Brady's dad and step mom. The night goes pretty well. We had ham and potato salad. It was pretty good. I got mauled (affectionately of course) by Zeek and Jax, Rob's two HUGE labs. And yes I spelled Zeek right. We have some pics of them all over my lap licking every square inch of my face. It was pretty cute to be honest.

So we head back down on Monday. We stopped off at Fred Meyer, which is like Wal-Mart, but sells like name brand clothes and stuff. I finally got me some winter boots. I figured if I was going to be up here I'd need something other than Crocs:) The rest of the night was rather uneventful. We just hung out. I taught some people how to play 42, and I learned how to play 45. It's actually pretty fun. A little complicated at first but once you get the hang of it it's good.

One of the guys in the house, Jeff, works with Brady. He offered to work Brady's shift yesterday so we could go into Leavenworth and spend a day together. Leavenworth is a manufactured German town. Like there's not a drop of German history there at all, it's specifically a tourist trap. Be that as it may, I loved it. I got some Christmas gifts while I was there. I got lost in a shop called Kris Kringle. It's Christmas all year long. As I was talking about the things I love about Christmas, Brady said to me "Ya know, I feel like I know you pretty well. But everytime we go do something new together, I learn something new about you." I had told him I love snow globes. Like if I could have a room full of things I collect it'd be snow globes. Then we found this room full of Christmas villages. Brady said he'd love to have one of them. I came up with the idea that when we get married, we can ask for Village pieces and stuff for our parents to get us for gifts. Like a couple gift type thing. He thought it was a great idea.

So we pretty much just putted around the town until about 5. It was Ryan's birthday, and he and Julie asked if we would like to go to dinner with them. We agreed and we had the best food I've had in a while. Brady even made the comment when they weren't at the table that he was glad we did "couple dates." We'd never really done them, but this was the second time since I got here that we did couple stuff. It was great. But it's awesome because we can still just hang out with all the single people too. So as Brady and I are walking back to the house, I was kind of quiet and he asked me what I was thinking about. I said, "I was just thinking about when I was little, and I used to imagine I'd be walking down a snowy street, hand-in-hand with the man of my dreams, and planning our Christmases together. Which is wierd because I never thought I'd be out of Texas, and it most certainly doesnt look like this in Texas." It was just this very surreal moment. Made me feel all grown up.

Well I guess that's about it for me. Things are going splendidly with Brady. We have really never been happier. It's going the way it's supposed to for once, and not us struggling to make it work. Incase I don't get to see you guys over the 3 days I'll be in Texas I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

p.s. My brother's coach, who happens to be his girlfriend's dad, had a heart attack this morning. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Life since Thanksgiving

2007-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I finally got all of my pics edited and posted to Photobucket. This was made more difficult seeing as how I am now in Washington with Brady and I literally had like 60 pics from the first 5 days alone. Look I'm a Texas, in a place that has snowed 3 times since I've been here. I'm going a little picture crazy. So just let me go with it:P

Since I've been here, here are some things I have learned:
1. NEVER walk on smooth ground. It's either ice and your be on your hiny faster than you can blink, or fresh snow and you'll sink to about your knees.
2. If it looks foggy outside, it's probably snow. Not fog.
3. The Mammoth Crocs are awesome for this weather, as long as there isn't fresh powder. Then it gets all in the soles and your feet freeze!
4. I am going to have way to many pics of this place before I leave:)

Speaking of leaving, I think I might have a job up here. I mean I would love to stay on with Crocs, but I can't just wait around until March when my tour starts back up again. So I may work here through the busy part and start back up with Crocs in March or whenever. I'm still pretty much playing it by ear.

It's been good here so far. I pretty much just catch the bus up to the lodge and play around on the internet all day. I've already found the snow shoes I want (see #3 above). I'm flying home on Friday night. If I stay I have to go home and get some warmer clothes. There's no way I am going to make it with 3 pairs of jeans and a few long sleeve t-shirts. Plus I want to be able to see Mom and everyone before Christmas. Maybe see one more of Austin's basketball games.

I'm not going to put any pics in my post because there are WAY to many to choose from. So if you want to see them you have to look at my albums;)

p.s. If you're wondering why I didn't post anything from my last trip to Tampa, it's because the entire week and a half was a waste of time and energy. Every one knows it. It's no secret. The demographic that was at that concert were just not "Crocs people." For example. I was trying to give out koozies as people left the stage. This one girl spits at me and tells me to f*** off. So I'm like screw it I'm done. Rob's still outside trying to engage this totally unresponsive crowd. He's asking like how the concert was and stuff. This one guy walks up to him, gets within 3 inches from his face and barks, like rabid Doberman barking. To which Rob replies "that was rude." It was a very long day. But I did get to spend some time with Lyndsay and Jimmy so it wasn't all bad:) Dan Marino's restaurant was pretty good:)

Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! I know I did. It was so good to be able to go and actually spend some time with my family! I got to spend a few days with my newest baby brother. He's only about the most precious thing on the planet! Here's just a few of the adorable pics I have:

He's just so cute! It's funny 'cause all of the kids in my family are sooo McCulloch. And all of the kids in Brady's family are so Kowalski. So as long as the right features match up our kids are going to be pretty adorable:P

Home was good. I finally got to see Mindy's baby. I felt so bad that it took me so long to see her. I won all kinds of stuff at Bingo:) I was pretty excited to get to spend time with my cousins. Wade played in a playoff football game Friday night. So Austin and I left dad's in San Antonio to be able to make it to Stephenville to watch Wade's game. On the way we listened to the A&M vs t.u. game. Oh yeah baby! Two in a row. AND Fran's gone on top of it!! Yes it was a good weekend in Aggieland;)

The rest of the weekend was rather uneventful. Which was perfectly fine by me! When I'm working, every second is hectic. I don't mind a bit of downtime at all. I did take my Grandma to lunch yesterday. She tried to pay for it and I snatched the bill away and told her "I didn't come to see you for free food, I came to spend time with my grandma." I think she was shocked that I said that. Most people don't go see her unless they want something, if at all. After lunch we went to Wal-Mart, then watched Hairspray at her house. It was awesome to be able to just sit and talk to her. She told me all kinds of stories about when her and my great aunts were little. It incredible how much has changed since then.

After I left Grandma's, I went to Mullin for Austin's basketball game. I was really happy I got to go watch him play. I do feel really bad that I can't make it to as much of his stuff as I want to. He told me that as long as I make it to what I can that's all that matters to him. They did really well! They only had 6 players, and the won! My little brother has turned out to be quite the athlete. I mean Andy was good in football, and I was good in cheerleading, but Austin's pretty good at all of it. Lol well not cheerleading:P I've got some pics of him too. He's number 25:

I was so proud of him!

Well I guess that's about it for me. I need to do some major editing on my NASCAR pics before I can post them. But as far as I know I won't have anything to do for the next few days so I should have them up and another post shortly. I'm back in Tampa and just waiting on my ride at the airport. Then I'm going to go back to the hotel, shower, and pass out! Flying always wears me out.

Love to all!

Updates coming soon!

2007-11-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm going to have plenty of time this weekend to work on updates. I do have pics from NASCAR (though none of the interesting people I saw unfortunately:P) and I'll have them up when I post next. I just need to fix them and all that stuff.

Well that's if for me now I just wanted to make sure no one felt forgotten:)

I hope everyone had an AWESOME Thanksgiving!!

Florida Update

2007-11-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

OK. So The ribfest was awesome! It really was. Friday was inexplicably slow. We had Washington Mutual next to us. They had a DJ so for the first half of the day Nicole and I made song requests. There was a comotion by the water so I go check it out. This is what I saw:

It was a freakin manatee! I tried to get another pic of it coming up out of the water, but it never resurfaced. So I go back to work, and like 2 hours later I take a break. I'm standing there talking to one of the WaMu guys and all of the sudden everyone starts freaking out and pointing.

It was a dolphin. So in a matter of like 3 hours I get these amazing pics! I was pretty excited:)

The rest of the event was pretty uneventful wildlife wise. There were some pretty funny birds. Rob and I were throwing bread at them and before it even left our hands they took flight to catch it.

Saturday was insane. It was by far the best day we've had so far. We barely had time to breathe it was so hectic. Sunday was pretty slow though. It was pretty chill. We ended up closing a tad early since it was dark. Then we all went to celebrate our awesome weekend at Outback! It was pretty good, but I'll know not to order that dish again. The meat wasnt all that fab. But the mash potatoes made up for it.

Monday was awesome! I spent most of the morning laying out on the beach. I now have the beginning of a nice tan on my legs lol. Afterwards we decide to go to the mall. I was still in desperate need of some gray or silver crocs, so we hit up the Crocs kiosk there. As we were about to leave we get a call from one of the girls that temp staffed for us this weekend. She invited us to go to a shooting range, and since none of us had ever been before we decided to go. I'm not going to lie, I felt stupid when the guy was telling us what all we'd need to do when transporting it and stuff. I've never even held a gun before and I was scared out of my wits!

So Rob goes first and does pretty well. Then Lyndsay goes and does a little better. So I'm thinking "Watch me be the putz to not even hit the stupid paper, much less the target." So I get up there, and my hands are freakin shaking. I'm so nervous it's ridiculous. Then I take my first shot and I'm like "HOLY CRAP!" Rob keeps saying he wished he'd got a pic of my face 'cause it was priceless. So I shoot off my 16 shots. I get 13 body shots (2 in the heart) and a head shot. When I saw body I mean like torso. One was like on the tip of the paper, and I missed the sheet entirely on the other. I was pretty excited needless to say. I think Rob was mad that Lyndsay and I did better than he did lol. It was so much fun! I seriously want to go back.

So that night we find out that we are no longer going to be staying in Tampa for the weekend. We're now going to Miami to help out with the NASCAR event, since it's the last one and it's going to insane. So Tuesday we get up and make our way down. It's definately a huge city. I mean I've been to Houston, New York and all of that, but there are so many skyrises here it's crazy. We're actually staying on Miami Beach. So we're where all of the beautiful people are.

After checking in we decided to go find some food. Well I'm thinking we're going to be eating at like a surf-n-turf type place so I'm still in my skirt and tank top. We end up going to this Italian place that was delicious. I had Gnocci and both Lyndsay and Rob wish they had gotten mine. It was the best food I'd had in a while. About half way through, this band starts to play. A Santana song comes on, and it's pretty good. So I look up and this is who I see on the guitar:

This kid was awesome! He was singing Suzy Q, playing Santana like he'd been doing it for 30 years. He couldn't have been older than 6 or 7.

After that we go decide to go to this Irish pub. I'm not planning on drinking, but when I start playing pool I have to have something to do. Well I play Rob, and he beats me on a technicallity:P Then he plays Lyndsay. So I play him again, and I beat him on a technicallity lol. Then Lyndsay and I play doubles with this shady guy and his friend. And he's obviously better than us, so he should have just wiped the floor with us. Well Lynds and I end up getting all but the 8 ball in and the guys still have 4 balls on the table. So he'd been talking all this crap to us and then barely beats us. And by that I mean I scratched on the 8. So he gets all pissed and they leave.

So these Brittish guys come up and we start playing doubles with them now. They get a kick out of me and my best Monty Python accent. They thought I was from England until I slet one of my "Last Night"s slip. Then they were like "Ok where are you really from." It was pretty funny. I had a lot of fun.

So next we decide to party it up Miami style. Naturally this means we had to go back to our rooms and change into "beautiful people clothes." Then we end up at this club called Santos. Freakin costs $20 cover! I'm totally spoiled with College Station and Alaska. I've definately gotten used to the no covers:( So anyway, I have one drink. Then I resort back to my college party mentality, "If a guy's not buyin', I'm not drinkin'."

There was this band there, that wasn't really a band. Like they had all the pieces, and 3 singers, but they were playing bits and pieces of popular songs. It was pretty cool actually.

I had so much fun. I definately don't need to party like that all the time. But it was an experience I'm glad I had. I can't wait to get back here with Brady and expose him to all of this stuff. I know he could put little bits of it into his personal cooking.

Anyway, I guess that was about it. I know it was a really long blog, but there was so much stuff I wanted to get in! I also wanted to make sure I got my pics and videos up that went along with the story. I will still have the albums posted, I just wanted to make sure ya'll saw these.

Ok, I'm going to bed. I have to help set up for NASCAR tomorrow and I have a feeling I'm going to need all the rest I can get!

Brady

2007-11-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

OK. I just have to share how amazingly wonderful my boyfriend is.

Brady (at 2:30am): I love you more than words can say. You will be my wife one day.

Me: God I miss you so much.

Brady: I miss you too. I love you, don't ever think twice about that.

Me: I haven't. Not for a long time anyway.

Brady: Good. You are the most important person in my life. I don't know what I would do with out you.

Me: Luckily you will never have to know what that feels like.

Ok So I know that was overly sappy. But it was so sweet I just had to share it. It really made me miss him even more than I already do. So for those of you that get to see your significant other more often that once every 2 months, just know you are truely blessed. Never take it for granted. You never really know how much someone means to you until you can't see them every day.

Ok. I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll have sweet dreams now that I've made you all sick to your stomachs:)

Ribfest

2007-11-08T18:19:00.001-08:00

So I'm finally in Tampa, well St. Petersburg anyway. That's not fair. I've been here since Tuesday. I've just actually been able to rest and relax for a few days so I didn't want to be inside:) Yesterday I went to the Salvador Dali museum. I totally fell in love with this painting:

It's one of those that has two different images. Can you see them? There's the obvious ones of the statues, but can you see the Matador and the Bull? That's why I love Dali. There is so much to every single one of his pieces. I love it!

Today I laid out on the PRIVATE BEACH at my hotel. Oh yeah baby, be jealous;) It was awesome. I finally got some tan lines!! We set up our event site after that. It's possibly the most beautiful one yet. Actually, it's absolutely the most beautiful one. 10 feet on the other side of our trailer is the bay. It's really incredible. I'll have a ton of pics from this event. Hopefully with out any bbq sauce on my shirt;)

So that's about it I guess. OH! I had the best Mexican food I've had in a long time tonight. The whole take-my-time-while-eating thing was totally blown out the window. I gorged myself. It was gross honestly. But it was soo yummy.

Ok, I'm really done this time. I hope all is well with you guys!

Pics are finally here

2007-11-06T20:09:00.001-08:00

Ok, So I finally got my pics up! How awesome is that?! I've got up until Orlando, but there wasn't much taken last weekend since I couldn't see anything lol. I'll just combine Orlando and Tampa:) So take a look at my pics! It took me forever to get it done!!

I'M BLIND!!!

2007-11-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ok... so Thursday I woke up with this ucky gunk in my right eye. So I went Thursday-Saturday with out a right contact. Then this morning I wake up with gunk in my left eye. So today, I go without EITHER contact in. And any of you that know me, know how dangerous that is:P All day people kept saying "hey Des can you see _______" and I was like "No... actually I can't!" It was sad. I have never felt so helpless in my life.

So anyway, this weekend was good. I'm still waiting on my individual call, but that should come this week sometime. With any luck I'll be home in a few weeks! If nothing else I'll be back the week of Thanksgiving.

I miss ya'll!

I miss home

2007-11-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today I got a major case of homesickness. I'm sure it doesn't help that I've been sick for the last week and a half. And to top it all off I think I have pink eye. Which I haven't had in forever. It totally sucks.

Things on this tour or so disorganized it's ridiculous. Our manager is incompitent. He wasn't around the entire night while we were doing all of the manual labor. And when I confront him about it his response is "It's not like I wasn't working." He was messing with the stupid ID scanners. Which would have taking all of like 5 minutes to do if he had any freaking clue of what he was doing. On our "days off" he kept coming over to our room and stressing us out about either the confrence call we'd had or about something we needed to get done before set up. Well guess what. We're set up and half of the stuff he was stressing about didn't get done and it doesn't matter! It's not a big deal! He's going to give me a heart attack before Thanksgiving!

Ugh so anyway. The fact that he's stressing me out to no end only amplifies how much I miss my family and Brady. I mean I haven't hardly seen my mom or anyone else for that matter, in like 9 months. My last semester in school I hardly saw anyone. Then I was gone for 4 months, then home for 3 days before I left to come on this tour. I think if I was having the kind of time on this tour that I know I could it wouldn't be so bad. But I'm not really having any fun. I was just at Voodoo Fest and I didn't get to see any bands. Because I had to sit at the trailer while my manager went and watched the bands. And if *I* ever wanted to go see someone he'd say it was too busy or some crap. I'm just tired of dealing with it. Our manager over him is supposed to be following up with us in the next few days and I'm basically going to let her know what it's really like on this tour. Because she has no idea. I'm not the only one that's fed up either. My co-workers see the same things I do. I'm not the only one it infuriates.

OK. So my rant is over. I'm going to go take a shower then pass out. Hope everyone has a better weekend that I'm about to. Standing on my feet for the second weekend in a row while I'm sick isn't sounding too appealing to me:(

Voodoo Music Experience, and the rest of the New Orleans Experience!

2007-10-31T19:53:00.001-07:00

I MISS HIM ALREADY!!!!!

Ok sorry... I had to get that out before I went on my rant about how much I want to strangle some people. I've gotten to the point to where I can't hardly stand being around Person X anymore. They're driving me crazy. No matter what I do I still feel like my voice isn't being heard. Don't sit there and ask for us all to put our input in, if you aren't going to freaking listen. Seriously it's aggravating.

But anyway, other than that my week last week was pretty good. Brady few in on Tuesday. We went shopping and had lunch and all that good stuff. That night we went out with Rob to Bourbon St. (oh yeah baby be jealous). We had a ton of fun. It was seriously the best time I'd had in a long time. Wednesday we pretty much just stayed in and relaxed. Thursday we set up for the event and Friday the event started. Brady came with us on Friday and watched the bands. He had a blast. Saturday he decided not to go to the concert because he wouldn't have a ride back to the hotel. So I said goodbye to him a full 8 hours before I had to. It was sad I'm not going to lie.

So the event itself was ok. I about killed on of the temp staff on Friday, but we got new ones for Saturday and Sunday so it was all good. There's getting to be a lot of tension between certain co-workers. (for more details send me an email).

So Monday Jimmy (the retail manager for Crocs that travels with us for those of you who don't know) comes up to us and says that he'll buy us dinner for having such a great weekend. Numbers wise we did phenomenal. It's just the moral around the trailer was a little stressed. So anyway, we go to eat at Pat O'Briens. and 3 Hurricanes, 4 Miller Lites, a Vodka Soda, triple shot Vodka 7 and 3 tube shots later Lyndsay and I pour ourselves into bed. I remember walking in the room and the next thing I remember was waking up in the bathtub with toes and fingers so pruny it hurt to touch anything. It's been a loooong time since I've had that much to drink. I felt pretty crappy yesterday. So we finally get up, finish our reports, and head out on the road. Lyndsay drives until we hit Biloxi or something like that, then she starts to get tired so I start driving. As we cross into Florida, (like an hour and a half later) we pass a weigh station. I was never told that I had to pull into weigh stations, and I was also told that I didn't have to fill out log books because I "don't have a CDL." Which I guess was my own stupid fault for listening. So anyway, we pass the weigh station and a cop pulls us over. Long story short, we get fined for not having registration, ID on the truck is too small, not pulling in to a weigh station, and not having log books. It sounds worse than it is, it really wasn't that high of a fine. But the cop gave me a break and gave me a warning on the passing a weigh station so it doesn't show on my driving record. And instead of putting me as the primary driver and Lyndsay as the secondary, he just put me down so she could drive after that. Because apparently if you aren't keeping up with your log books you can't drive for 10 hours. I think he felt bad for us because we didn't know a lot of the stuff that he was telling us. So after like a freaking hour we are finally on the road again. We hit Lake City Florida or something and are just so tired we can't go any more. So we pull over and get a hotel. I'm so tired that I barely get the covers down before passing out.

So this morning we get up and head to Orlando. Don't worry, as far as I know Hurricane Noel isn't going to come anywhere near me. Although it wouldn't surprise me if it did. We've had some kind of catastrophe at every other event, why not this one. But it's really pretty here. It's kind of strange because there's like palm trees and evergreens right next to each other. I mean that may be very common, I just thought it was funny.

Ok, I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to work on my pics some and go to bed. I'll post all of the pics I have tomorrow. So expect to see a ton of pics from previous events:P

New Orleans!

2007-10-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm finally out of Tulsa! We left yesterday afternoon. It was really wierd being in Texas for a few hours and still being so far from home. But it was fine because we weren't there for very long.

The drive down was rather uneventful, except for the whole tornado warning in New Orleans 5 hours before we got here. I guess I'm so used to driving in sketchy weather that it really doesn't bother me, but it really freaks Rob out! Silly Portlanders:P

Brady's flight was delayed in Seattle then cancelled in Houston, so he will finally be here at 1240. I'm pretty excited, not going to lie. Continental is leaving a bad taste in his mouth though. And the thing is, you can't even really complain while you are in the airport or they might arrest you! And if you call them later they still really don't care because they know if you are going to fly, you are going to have no choice but to put up with all the stupid crap that goes along with it.

Ok well I'm off to go pick up Brady at the airport. I'll post again around Sunday when he's back in Seattle.

oh p.s. I had to buy a new camera because I seriously can't find mine. So I'll have tons of pics from Voodoo Fest!!

Tulsa

2007-10-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Ok... So here's the deal with the pics. I can't find my stupid camera. I've looked everywhere I can think of but alas, 'twas all in vain. So my balloon ride pics won't come until I can find it.

Other than that, we finally arived in Tulsa on Tuesday morning at like 3am. It is most definately NOT my fav city. There's construction everywhere!

Tuesday was pretty much our chill and catch up on rest day. When we finally got to the event on Wednesday, the lady helping us wasn't even remotely friendly, and every single person we spoke to had something different in mind on where we needed to set up. We ended up not setting up our tent because the weather was supposed to get really bad. So that night at corporate night, this huge tent ended up getting ripped to shreds due to the 60+ mph winds. So with the winds and rain, the fair grounds were a total wreck when we got there Thursday. We finished setting up, then opened up for the first night. It wasn't quite the success we had in Albuquerque, but we made it work.

Today was a long day. We were setting up at 1015am, and shut down a little early around 930pm. It was really slow. I think if we were located around the other vendors it would be a bit more of a hit. We're just around all the rides so we don't really fit in.

Tonight was our first encounter with people drunk as skunks coming in. We had one guy try to moon the camera, one almost spill his whole beer on the keyboard. It was crazy. Never a dull moment!

An awesome thing that happened was I got on a ride for a koozie:) It was awesome! The only drawback was the carny guy that was like hitting on Brooke and me once we got on. Eeek:

Well I guess that's about it for me right now. I'm really looking forward to New Orleans. Not only is there going to be amazing artists there but Brady flies in Tuesday morning! I'm so excited. It's only been like 4 weeks but it feels like forever.

Ok I know you don't want to read about how much I miss my boyfriend:P so I will go to bed. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

I'm beat:)

2007-10-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm exhausted that's why this is going to be short. The last few days in Albuquerque have been crazy! I've been up at 430 every morning and it's killin me! It wouldn't really be a big deal except for the fact that I can't get to bed before 1130 because we have to close up at night and stuff. So I'm getting next to no sleep for me. But it's cool, I'll be alright. We don't have to be up until like 9 or so in Tulsa.

I have a ton of pics coming. I have to adjust the size and stuff before I can upload them on photobucket. Then I'll post them on here and every one can check them out!

For now I'm off to bed. I'll get pics and another post up around Sunday:)

Finally in Albuquerque!

2007-10-03T23:33:00.001-07:00

Ok... So today I take the shuttle to the airport in Denver, arriving a good 8 hours before my flight leaves. I didn't realize that you could only check your bags in 4 hours before your scheduled departure. So I sit around the food court for what feels like forever, not daring to even blink away from my luggage. So then I can finally check my luggage and go back to my terminal. As I'm walking down terminal A I walk through what seems like 3 seperate sections of the terminal. Finally I end up having to decend a level. By this time the terminal hallways are starting to look like they've been around for a while. Not the nice new digital monitors and stuff in the front part. When I at last reach my gate, and look outside, I realize I am at ground level! I had to walk out on to the tarmac to board my plane. I had no idea they still did that! So I'm on this tiny little plane, that is only 4 seats across and has all of 16 rows to it. When we are in the air, and the pilot makes a turn to head south, it literally feels like the plane is about to tumble sideways through the air. It was the wierdest thing ever. I think I most definately like the bigger planes better!

So now that I'm in Albuquerque, I've checked into my hotel, and it's incredible. Huge suite, spectacular view from 2 different windows. I mean this place is nice! I'll take pictures and post them to my photobucket. We start our set up tomorrow for the Balloon Festival bright and early so this is all I'm going to write tonight.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods:)

Let's see how this goes:)

2007-10-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

OK. So I'm going to give this whole blog thing a try. For those of you that don't know, I'm going on the road for a promotional tour for Crocs. I'm really excited. I'm in Denver, finishing up the training, and I'm flying out to Albuquerque tomorrow night for our first event at the Balloon Festival. I can't wait. We get to go up in one of the balloons! How awesome is that?!?! After that we are going to Oktoberfest in Tulsa, Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans, and Rib Fest in Tampa. I'm so excited. I can't believe my first tour is going to be doing all of these awesome events. And for those of you that are all skeptical about Crocs I want you to know that they have over 50 different styles, and they are doing this program that if you bring in your old Crocs, they will recycle the material and make new ones to send to third world countries for the kids. So yes they do have the ugly ones that normally pop into heads, but they also have like heals and stuff. I know crazy right?

So anyway that's the basic gist of what's going on right now. I'll update when I get to the airport tomorrow. I'll be there for several hours before my plane leaves that I'll really have nothing else to do. So add me to your favorites, subscribe to my posts, leave comments. It makes me happy to see people reading my blogs! I figure this will be a thousand times easier than trying to keep everyone in touch.

Until next time!!