Picture Post!

Charlie at the Austin Pets Alive Valentine's day fundraiser on South Congress :)

Someone stole G's wallet and had credit cards flung on the apartment floor.
Charlie and cousin Lexie taking a nap on the couch.
Fun at the greenbelt...
Sitting pretty in the snow...with a cold butt.
Running at me to play...you can see the snow around his lips where he was biting and eating it!Sweet puppy getting snowed on!The snowman stalking pictures begin....

And he's down!
Muddy day at the dog park!
Charlie and best bud Bailey wrestling!

All going for the same stick...
My sweet muddy puppy :)

Realization...

So, you know the store HEB? Well their slogan is "Here, Everything's Better." Guess who realized the acronym today in that phrase? Me! Makes me love HEB even that much more because I have a thing for acronyms.

So last weekend I had my meeting in Fort Worth. Went really well, had it at the new Omni up there and it was gorgeous. Our attendance was the highest it's ever been since I started managing the group. There was still snow on the ground outside on their reception area. Guess it was a tease for the couple of inches that we got yesterday IN AUSTIN! Yes, that's right. We got a couple of inches of snow in Austin and it actually stuck to the ground which is unheard of here. Monday night I went to bed, set my alarm and passed out. I woke up at 5:50 a.m. and went to go pee (this is necessary to know because I looked at my phone at that time to see how much longer I had to sleep.) So I went back to sleep knowing that I had about an hour more to go. I woke up a while later, felt really really rested and just laid there for a little while as Charlie started to wake up and began going ape-shit on the bed. I rolled over, picked up my phone and tried to look at the time and it was completely off and dead. This has happened before - where my phone just shuts down completely. Not because of battery death or anything at all. Just random. So I looked at G and said, "UM, did you set an alarm last night G?" He groggily said, "Nooo." Then he reached over, picked up his phone and informed me that it was 8:45 a.m.! OK. I think the first thing I did was let the F-word fly outta my mouth. I then looked outside praying that it was snowing, which to my dismay it was just raining like a mother. So then I ran, got into the shower, started getting ready and looked out the back patio to see the BIGGEST SNOW FLAKES I had ever seen in Austin. Seriously, they were HUGE and it was coming down fast. This was probably around 9:15. So I checked TMA email (about 12 times in 5 minutes) and there was no cancellation message at all.... I finally got completely ready after taking pictures and videos (because that's what people do when it snows here) and then went down and got into my snow covered car. Yes, I opted to take my own car instead of the new one with heated seats and a great defrost system...won't get into that. So I'm in my closed car, letting the windows heat up with the heater blasting as I fill my lungs with carbon dioxide. I decided to call Sylvia, my best work bud to see if they had *hopefully* cancelled work within the last 4 minutes since I'd checked my email. Well Sylvia's driveway is a huge hill so she couldn't get her car out to go to work yesterday so she was happily sitting at home. I explained my predicament and she advised me to just go back inside and skip work. She said that I KNEW that if I went to work and made that effort TMA would definitely cancel and it would be an entire waste for me. Being the great employee I am (with a huge guilty conscience) I decided to drive to work while it was snowing for the first time in my life. I asked G to put the chains on my tires for me but he declined :) So, off to work I went.

I got to work around 10 a.m. and to make a long story short, received an email from the HR department at TMA around 11 a.m. letting us know that we could go home for a snow day. Sigh. Point: TMA should thank me for going to work yesterday because I'm the reason we closed down, at least that's what I'm thinking.

Texas weather is so odd though. Sunday G and I put on shorts, t-shirts and took Charlie down the greenbelt again behind our complex. I just LOVE it back there. It's a nice hike and once you get down to the water it's so relaxing and just sooo pretty. It was in the high 70's if not 80 on Sunday, G even got a red-neck sunburn. And then yesterday it SNOWS? And today it's sunny and there's not trace of snow or ice anywhere. Saturday we took Charlie along with 6 other dog-friends (and some human friends) to the dog park in my sister's neighborhood. It was awesome because all of the dogs ran around together and got into the muddy pond and swam. I think it really helps Charlie to have other dogs around that like swimming, makes him get into the water easier.

Pictures coming soon...

Busy busy....

I have not been good about updating this thing lately. I have a meeting that I'm leaving for in about, oh, 30 minutes and just realized I have done nothing in the past 2 weeks besides nurse a really bad viral infection, go to work, work late hours, come home, cook dinner or go pick something up because I'm too exhausted to cook, watch the olympics and sleep. Which I've been horrible about getting enough sleep throughout these weeks as well.

Anyways, last weekend was a ton of FUN. After leaving work on Saturday G, Charlie and I went to an Austin Pets Alive Valentine's fundraiser on Congress last weekend and took Charlie. It was so much fun, live music, opportunities to donate to the organization where we got Charlie and free beer. Yes, free beer :) So we hung out there for a couple of hours, met lots of dogs and got to spend some great quality time outside in the beautiful Austin weather we've had lately.

After the APA fundraiser we headed over to Freddies, where dogs are allowed! G and I sat outside and had margaritas, split some nachos and gave Charie a bone to chew on while we relaxed outside. We're trying to teach him to not beg...it's not going so well.

Sunday we slept in and then Courtney and Justin came over to pick up Lexie (we had watched her Saturday night) and all of us hiked down to the greenbelt behind our complex. It was the prettiest walk through the woods. Once we were almost down we could hear the water running and all of us got really excited. We found a secluded spot on the creek (which was pretty deep, running and was crystal clear) and hung out there for a couple of hours. We attempted to throw Charlie in the water hoping he would love it but instead he decided to follow in Lexie's footsteps and be hesitant of the water. We're all going camping in March out at Garner State Park and we're hoping to uncover a love of water in Charlie at that time! I think we'll do it... Anyways, so yeah. We loved hiking down there, being outside, getting some good exercise and spending quality time with the family.

Long story short, I'll upload pictures later. We got some cute ones of Lexie and Charlie sleeping together (on the couch) and then also got some good pictures down by the creek. I'm sure there are other random ones floating around that I'll post as well but that'll have to wait until either Sunday or Monday when I get back from Fort Worth.

Wish me luck on my meeting, this one's rough...it's all business and all about financials, budgets, numbers and membership questions. I'm ready for it to be over :) At least I talked the husband into letting me drive the new car up there!!!!!!

Beans, beans the musical fruit...

Charlie has kept me company this entire week while I've been sick & working from home. He CRACKS me up all the time, puppies are just so random and hilarious.

So whenever Charlie farts he jumps up and immediately looks at his butt and gets all hyper. So yesterday while on the couch working I let out a toot of my own. Charlie was sound asleep next to me at the time but as soon as he heard the toot he hopped up, looked at his own butt, looked at me and cocked his head, then looked back at his butt and ran away. Haaaahahaha. One of the funniest things I've seen in a while! Apparently he thinks that only his little butt makes noises like that :)

Doppelganger...

So, everyone has started putting up pictures of who they, or others, think that they look like on facebook. G and I were cracking up last night going through people's pictures. Really?? Do you really think you are a spitting image of Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Giselle, Amy Adams, etc? I would find pictures and show G the celebrity and then show him the real person. We're horrible but it was honestly one of the funniest things.

So. Yesterday I went into work, left with a ton of work to bring home at about 3:30 p.m. because I was feeling like crap, came home, took my temp which revealed I had a temperature last night and then eventually headed off to bed. I woke up this morning and called the Dr. and decided to go in to just check things out. I didn't know if it was strep or what...I just know that I've had it for almost 4 days and I need something to get rid of it.

So I get to the Drs. office this morning and the guy next to me has a huge knife tucked into his tennis shoe..odd. Then there is an old couple to my right. The guy has on grey pants and a plaid shirt. The little old lady was sitting there with an oxygen tank on. So I'm sitting there and start eavesdropping on their conversation.

Old Man: "Hey, are these pants I have on grey or brown?"
Old woman: "They're grey."
Old Man: "No, I really think they're brown, see they match the plaid in my shirt."
Laura: (Looks at old man. He is wearing grey pants and a grey plaid shirt.) I start to laugh.
Old woman: Laughing says "They're grey, and well sometimes I think my blue pants are black."
Old Man: "Yeah, I've seen you with those on before thinking they were black too."

So after that thrilling conversation I got called back, had my temp taken and sat there and waited in what was obviously the kid's room, with the 7 dwarfs all over the walls and stickers all over the shelves. The PA walked in after about 5 minutes and looked at my chart, asked me a couple of questions, looked at my throat and ears and nose and said, "So, what did you want us to do for you? You have a bad viral infection and there's nothing we can really give you. Did you just want to MAKE SURE you didn't have strep or something????????" I have been sick for 4 days and I'm on the rag - not really the person you want to piss off right now. I looked at her and said, "Well, I've been sick for 4 days, have been running a fever and feel like absolute crap. So I thought I would come in and see the doctor to make sure it wasn't something serious and also to see if I could get something that would make me feel a little bit BETTER even if it didn't cure anything." I think she caught on that I was pissed off and on the verge of tears so she said, "Well sweetie, I could call in a cough syrup with codeine in it that would help you sleep better at night." I looked at her and said, "Yeah, that would be GREAT." She then told me that I was highly contagious and shouldn't go into work until Monday. Bitch.

I went to WalGreens to pick up the cough syrup, where of course, it wasn't ready. The girl at the window said, "Well, I don't have anything here for you." I said, "well the dr. was calling it in." She goes, "Oh, well I see we have about 4 messages on the line here." I sat there for a silent 20-30 seconds and said, "Well...could you CHECK them??" Good GOD. She did and said it would be ready in 15 min. So then I went and parked my car in the parking lot while it was pouring and sat there crying for about 10 minutes before pulling myself together to go back through the prescription line. Gena called me about 9 minutes into my pity party and got me out of my funk. Blah.

Anyways, then I went home, took some of the awesome cough syrup and got a ton of work done. Seriously, I got so much work done today while being on that cough syrup, I think it's the new adderall.

Charlie has definitely kept my spirits up while feeling like crap this week. He just makes me laugh all the time, and never left my side this afternoon when I got home from Walgreens. He took about a 2 hour nap on top of me while I was doing some work this afternoon, and snored louder than I've head most humans snore. Tonight I was sitting on the couch getting some more work done and I looked up and he had his head completely through a hanger, as those are his favorite toys. He would put his head through the hanger on purpose, then run around like a nut with it on while shaking his entire body...then the hanger would go flying off in a random direction and he'd run up to it again. Just makes me laugh...I tried to get a picture of him doing this but my efforts obviously didn't pay off.

So anyways, after another crappy feeling day today I guess at least tomorrow's Friday! G has to go to Dallas so it looks like I'll be working from home and will be completely by myself with Charlie dog. Hopefully by Monday I'll be feeling 100% again and will be ready to finish everything I need to wrap up before my meeting in 2 weeks. silent panic is setting in as I type this....

Back to getting some more work done...Oh, and just so I can play along-I've been told I look like Jenna Bush...

Shawshank redemtion...Chicaaagooooo...you're outta there...

Quote? Anyone. Ace Ventura....one of the best movies of all time. Anyways-this was said several times this past weekend as we surprised one of our best friends up in Chicago for his birthday. Our good friend's girlfriend got a ton of Austin/Chicago/elsewhere friends of Brandon's to fly to Chicago last weekend and surprise him Friday night. Chicago was awesome...and cold! It hurt to breathe. We made a trip to the northface store within the first 30 minutes of getting into the city. Anyways, Brandon's girlfriend hosted an open bar that evening for the big SURPRISE and then we went to a couple of bars that night. Saturday we walked around town, went ice skating at Millenium Park, went to the top of the Hancock building and just hung out. That night we went to get some Chicago style pizza at Giordanos (awesome!) and then went to this bar to see a Dave Matthews Tribute band. In fact, I think that was their name. It was awesome, had a great time with everyone! Sunday we woke up, had brunch, went to the top of the Willis building (formerly known as the Sears Tower) and then went to check out the Shedd Aquarium. Willis building was really cool - they have the see through glass floors now you can walk out on which was pretty trippy. The Shedd was a must-see as well. I love me a good aquarium! I've told G that I want to start the first Austin aquarium and be in charge of the sea otters. We'll see if that happens.

Anyways, had a wonderful time in Chicago. Then got on the plane Sunday night to head home and didn't feel that great. I figured I was just exhausted from the trip but I think I caught strep or some sort of nastyness from someone we were around this weekend or on the plane because I have felt like absolute, dying crap since Sunday night. Monday I woke up with a low fever and sore throat so I stayed home from work. I went to bed last night feeling decent (probably just the 4 advil I'd taken) and then woke up at 3am wishing someone would just come cut my head off. My throat literally felt like someone had taken a blade and just cut the back of it...I didn't want to breathe, swallow and most of all cough. So - I took some more pills and went back to bed. 7a.m. rolled around, got out of bed and had almost a 101 degree fever. So I didn't move all day today either. It really sucks, I have a meeting in 2 weeks and really need to be at work getting some crap done this week. I just took my temp 5 min ago and it's still pretty high, I guess I should've gone to the Dr. this morning :( Hopefully I'll wake up feeling 100% tomorrow morning.

Charlie has been sooo sweet the past 2 days when I've felt like crap though. I've slept in bed til mid-morning and then moved out to the couch. Charlie has pretty much not left my side the entire time I've been sick, it's been really cute. Although he does get a little warm when he lays up on my neck and falls asleep. Today I was trying to watch something really important (either Anthony Bourdain or Diners, drive-ins, & dives...) and couldn't even hear the TV over Charlie's snoring :)

Tonight G and I were sitting here just talking about him and he kept saying, "I'm so happy we got him" and "He has such a great personality." Just now as I was typing this, G was playing his XBOX and he just goes, "Awww...he's so cuddly..." I looked over to see Charlie just sprawled across G's lap happily asleep. We are very lucky to have such a loving little puppy in our lives right now!

Anyways, I'll end with some pictures of Chicago and of Charlie laying on the couch with me today to keep me warm/keep me company. Keep your fingers crossed that the fever/headaches/sore throat are gone in the morning. I unfortunately really need to go to work!

Me and all the Austin boys - including Brandon, the birthday boy!
The group of us in front of the bean!
Ice skating at Millenium Park!
Chicago style pizza at Giordanos.
Top of the Willis (sears) Tower

Glass floor!

Had to take a picture of the seahorses at the Shedd Aquarium..the seahorses, they're so beautiful and cute. I love em...seahorses, forever!
Last picture of the trip. Did I mention that Chicago was cold??? It was freakin freezing!
Where I found Charlie yesterday afternoon...
Pretty much where Charlie's been the past 2 days while I've been home sick.
My sweet baby kept me warm and kept me company while I haven't been feeling well.
He also decided he really likes sitting on top of the coffee table. Notice all of his toys in the background...I think he's pulled out every single toy in the past 2 days and thrown them around the apartment!

OK - off to bed....as much as I love lounging with my puppy, I really hope I feel better in the morning. Night!