Career Moves.

Remember that time I decided to start a blog and then randomly went MIA for days, weeks, months at a time???

Yeah, about that- well in all fairness I have some GREAT news which explains why I've been neglecting not just my blog but family, friends, horses, dogs etc. I got a promotion! 

That's right! I'm officially the new Administrative Officer of my office- meaning I'm officially the 'boss boss' of my office. When anyone has an issue they come to me- for everything. This is exciting, terrifying, gratifying, and overwhelming all at the same time. I've been with my company for 5 years (come September) and have been lucky to receive 4 promotions since then. I love my career but with this new position means ALOT more responsibility and that means a lot of my time and energy is being dedicated to work. Thank god for my understanding family and friends- they've been great as I've been reorganizing my work and life balance.
More to come…..

Wednesday Wishes

I wish work life wasn't so stressful right now- the details are for another night but just know all my energy and thoughts are being left at work.

However there is a good reason I am pouring myself into work- I'm just hoping it works out.

I wish I could balance my life better- especially now. I haven't been riding as much or spending time with Chris and I feel terrible about it.

I've been a pretty bad friend & fiancé (sorry Ash and Chris)

I wish I had a trip planned back East- I miss it.

That's literally all I can muster for now. Sorry Blog.

Yep. Thanks, John Green

Living on two coast.

Where to begin? I think I have a hard time blogging when work is busy. Let's face it; I spend 9 hours staring, typing and sending emails the last thing I want to do when I get home is type for my blog. But it's no excuse.

Well, I can start by saying I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong about my company's national meeting. In my previous post I complained that it would be a glorified pep rally. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was a lot of panels with our CEO, CFO, and COO but all were so down to earth and were available for ALL of us to ask questions or just say hi. They talked about transparency between corporate and branch offices- something that is often unheard of in a nationwide company with over 300 offices. I've been with my company for 4 years and it really gave me a boost to go back to my office, work with me team and kick butt. It made me want to be better at my job, to work harder and to get my team where they want to be. I don't know many people who can say that- and I know I wasn't alone I heard the same thing from almost everyone who attended. Not to mention it was great to catch up with old east coast friends and of course hang out with my west coasties….

Which brings me to my original point of this post.
For the first time in my almost two years of leaving here I feel divided between being an east or west coaster. I no longer cringe when someone calls me a west coaster (sorry!)While the east coast will always be my home, my friends and life here is going to be hard to leave. It's hard to believe I've been her for almost two years and even harder to believe how well things have gone. I've been promoted, got engaged and have met friends I know I'll have for life. Could I be any luckier? All the while keeping my best friend from back home (we talk more now then ever) and I've learned to appricate the time I spend with family and friends or either coast. Sometimes I think you need a little distance for you to realize how much time with them is worth. However for all of the west has given me it's still not the east coast so for now I'll enjoy my time here with my amazing friends, until I find the right time to go back but I'll always take away a little piece of the pacific northwest.  <3

Weddings. Horses. Hockey. Trips

The highlight of my week thus far was getting a new laptop at work.

After a tragic snow globe meets laptop incident last week my keyboard was on the fritz.

However, the new laptop is SO much better so I’ll call this a beautiful case of serendipity.

 

C and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary last Thursday and have started the brutal process of wedding planning. I have a hard time spending so much time, money and energy on one day/ roughly 8 hours, And since our families are from two different coast (Chris AK and Cali, mine from Pennsylvania and CT) our orginal idea was to have everyone fly and have a beautiful destination wedding in Hawaii. I was excited to leave all the planning up to someone else. However as we’ve started to get the details as to what this with cost and how much energy we will have to still be put in I’m slowly losing interest. ALL wedding planners have explained that we’ll need to still visit planned location before the wedding. And while a quick jet set to Maui is always something I’m up for my bank account quickly reminds me I’m not a Vanderbilt. 

I’m slowly trying to convince Chris for an New England wedding. My obvious bias toward Connecticut and Rhode Island is slowly starting to rub off on him as soon as I mentioned three little words- New England Patriots. Once I hinted that I would somehow incorporate a little Patriot shenanigans into the wedding he might as well have been packing his backs for the East Coast. The power of Tom Brady.

However my reasons for having back East as actually pretty logical- my mom and my best friend lives there and can do help with a lot of the planning and I’m back east a least a few times a year which is perfect for tastings, reviewing menus etc.

 

The next two weeks will be CRAZY!

This weekend I’m showing Rocko in our first outing together- I’m pretty nervous especially after last night when I wasn’t able to ride him due to an absess in his hoof. Poor guy. But tomorrow I’m heading out to the show grounds after work to ride and get myself and him ready for the show (i.e try to calm my nerves) And because I couldn’t say no to a hockey game (see previous post) once our office planned an outing to a hockey game Friday night I was in! I’m already tired from Friday and it’s not here yet.

The rest of the weekend will be spent packing and watching football because I need to be able to keep up with the water cooler talk on Monday. Obvi. Go Seahawks, 49ers, Broncos, or Patriots- pick your poison.

Tuesday I leave for business meeting back in Baltimore Maryland- where for a week I will be overly optimist about our company and the direction it is going. Don’t get me wrong I love where I work but lesbihonest we all know these meetings are pure pep rallies.

I have a strong feeling we’ll either 1. Miss our layover in Denver, we only have 30 minutes or 2. We get stranded somewhere due to snow. However either way there are always airport bars <3

After our meeting I’m heading to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents for a few days with my mom. Pennsylvania family time is always good for me. Not to mention my grandmother is the best baker I know and always makes me delicious treats. Then it’s a quick trip to CT to visit my bestie then it’s back to Seattle It’s going to be a blur but in a good way.

 

 

 

 

Playoff Football

It's the playoffs for football and you know what that means?!?

……

Only a month left till this horrendous sport is over.

I should have been Canadian for my love is for hockey not football. To be frank,it always puzzles me as to why Americans don't like hockey- you literally can start a fight with just about anyone when they piss you off and your punishment? You sit in a box for 2 minutes, kinda like adult time out. Passive aggressive doesn't exist in this sport- there's no crazy ego's (well maybe not as many),IT'S IN THE OLYMPICS! Not to mention have you ever tried skating? Hardest thing ever.

However regardless of my feelings towards the sport I am surrounded by those who disagree with me and preach the sport. I grew up watching football and due to a dedicated fiancé I know more about players, stats and odd ball facts then I ever care to. Each week I am peppered with facts, quotes or the odds of his team winning/loosing and each week I nod and listen intently as I've done my whole life. My mom loves the Dallas Cowboys, my dad's side are Pittsburgh Steeler season ticket holders and to round out the football fans in my life Chris loves the New England Patriots (which is strange, considering he's from Alaska)Needless to say football is a popular Sunday activity at our place. Most Sundays I cook, bake, ride Rocko or watch Netflicks for hours.
Since living in Seattle we are surrounded by the '12 man'. To be honest, Chris and I both could really care less about the Seahawks however their fan base in impressive. Even if it is partly due to lack of better options. New England, or Boston to be more specific, is full of winning teams. Patriots, Bruins (yay hockey!) Red Sox and Celtics so while their fans are dedicated there is no one sport they favor to the other- as long as they're winning of course. Chris and I went to Gillette stadium where the Pats play and it is no where as loud as 'The Clink'. But when the other teams you have to cheer for are the Mariners or the Sounders (soccer- yes Seattleites love themselves some soccer, how European of them!) its' easy to get behind the only winning team the city has. The city has been trying to get a hockey and basketball team to replace the Seattle Sonics that left circa 2008. I, for one, am hoping it happens and if it does I will be the first to buy season tickets to their hockey team, after all I won't be on the Seahawks bandwagon anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong there is one game I love, and that is of course the Super Bowl, for the commercials of course. Nothing makes me tear up faster then the Budweiser horses.
Good luck to all of those who have a team in the playoffs and for those of you who will not make it , or your team didn't make the playoffs at all, just know that Hockey is waiting for you- come to the (Canadian) dark side.

Life update and the post full of links!

If you viewed my previous post you can tell that life has been amazing lately.
Chris proposed via flash mob at the SeaTac airport- needless to say I didn't see it coming and ugly cried half way to Disney world.I won't pepper you with tons of pictures but it was like a pre honeymoon- we had amazing food, weather and crowds were almost non existent. We cannot wait to go back.
Then we came crashing back into reality when we landed in Seattle.
Can't I just live in Disneyworld?


But on to the next big event in our lives, no not wedding planning (that will happen after the new year) I was referring to Christmas. While we're not going back to Connecticut this Christmas and I'm still pretty sad about it, we are making the best of things here. This weekend was no different.

Friday it snowed meaning everything in the PACNW shut down. No I'm not kidding- schools were closed for about 1 inch of snow which turned to rain by noon. The New Englander in me was slightly embarrassed I didn't brave the roads but after our work also called a snow day for all of us I wasn't about to fight it. Perfect excuse to play with the puppy in the snow- she loves it. I also completed ALL christmas shopping on Friday- win win.

SNOW!

Saturday was filled with riding and heading to Jumpernite with a friend from the barn. Jumpernite is a schooling show for those of us who would need/like some additional pratice before our 'real' shows start in the spring. We didn't participate in the show but it was cool to check out, they have another in February so we are hoping to head to that one. Saturday night we went to see the Nutcracker in Seattle. We had such a good time with our friends Noelle and Russell (same couple who helped plan and video our engagement) We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant named Crow- and it was delicious. The ballet was also really enjoyable but to be completely honest I'm glad I know the story of the Nutcracker due to the lack of vocals/dialogue it can be challenging to follow the plot. Maybe its also because I'm used to Broadway, either way I'm glad we went. It put us in the Christmas spirit.

Noelle and I after walking in the rain.
The Space Needle is ready for Xmas
Stage for the Nutcracker.

I had planned on Sunday being used for sleep but I was surprisingly productive. I made my grandmothers recipe for sugar cookies, Chris calls them sugar biscuits (ugh). I also made amazing pork tacos in our slow cooker- seriously best I've ever had! Even better is they make so much we'll have left overs till Christmas!

And thats life right now. We now have a wedding to plan but to be honest we're in no rush we know its going to be a destination wedding because our families are from two coast but other then that we have no idea and I'm ok with that. However advise is always appreciated- have you done a destination wedding? Do you have advise on where to go or what to do? Shoot em my way!!

Merry Christmas Bloggers!

I never saw it coming

Not a lot of words are needed for this particular blog post I'll let the video do the talking :)