Vacation!

Josh and I are going on vacation in less than three weeks. It's actually our first "official" vacation, or so I'd like to think. We've driven to Minnesota a couple times for holidays, we've driven to Texas for a wedding, and we've driven to Denver for our first and second anniversaries. Those were all great and meaningful trips, but we're so excited for this one.
We're flying down to San Diego (which happens to be my birthplace but not technically where I'm "from") and staying there for a few days, then we're off to a few stops in Mexico, thanks to a great last-minute deal through Carnival. (If you've never been on a cruise before, head on over to Carnival's website and do some research!) We're so excited to have a week to ourselves.
In the midst of all the excitement is a bit of anxiousness for me. I've been working as an office manager for a real estate company for the past few months, and the previous office manager hardly left for vacation, so . . . overall, the company is not used to functioning without someone there all day, every day, taking every phone call, putting out every fire (while it's still just a spark!). It will be good for me to not only get away, but get away AND try to manage composure as I think about what fires I may have to put out when I get back. That's a little pessimistic, I know! Though so much can happen in an 8-hour day around here, I trust that everything will go smoothly and I won't have to check my cell phone messages too often! :)

Update

Sorry, this is a QUICK update!

The past couple of weeks have involved:
1) Lots of working
2) Lots of fun
3) A visit from my sister Lindsay

4) Meeting our "nephew" Caspian (our friends' new puppy)

5) A dear friend's wedding
6) More working
7) More fun
8) Hiking to the Punch Bowls (Glen Eyrie)


Some highlights:
1) My sister Lindsay encouraged me to start writing more again, and she also inspired me to FINALLY plant some flowers in my front yard. :)
2) I saw August Rush for the first time. Great movie. Rent it.

Work story

A recent (and unfortunate yet valuable) serving experience of mine:

I arrive for my 4:00 PM shift right on time, and a co-worker tells me I already have a table.

The gentlemen order a bottle of red wine which I deliver to the table, complete my wine presentation, watch as one of them tastes the cabernet and approves it, and pour both gentlemen a glass. I place the bottle back on the table and wrap the white serving cloth around the bottle. This is the exact moment I completely regret talking with my hands, because as I ask the men what they'd like for dinner, I swing my left hand precisely enough to hit one of the guest's wine glasses. The red wine projects perfectly from the glass right onto my guest's ivory polo shirt. He tries to scoot away, but the wine finds him like a liquid magnet.

I felt like crawling into a corner and never coming out. I apologized and wiped some of the wine from his side of the booth with the serving cloth. I walked away and found my boss and a couple servers taking a break in the back, and I said, "I just pulled the biggest serving faux pas ever!" When they asked, "What?" my lip quivered. I started CRYING. I just couldn't hold it in! My boss gathered from the tears that he should go visit the table, and some of the other servers took turns visiting the table with washcloths as I calmed down. When I felt more emotionally stable, I went back to the table and apologized again. The gentleman covered in wine told me everything was alright, "mistakes happen," and that I shouldn't worry. For the rest of their visit, they jokingly shielded their wine glasses when I came to the table.

Needless to say, we purchased their dinner and offered to buy my guest a new shirt and pair of pants.

Has anyone else been though a similar experience? :)

(Random thought: How is "server" more gender inclusive than "waiter"?)

Happy Birthday

Happy 27th Birthday to Josh!

Job updates

Go Green Lawn Care (Josh's new business) is growing! Josh comes home stinkier than usual on the weekends, but I know he enjoys it. He is passionate about lawn care, and I love hearing him talk to his clients over the phone. We're still discussing making it an "official" business, but as of now we're still working with a relatively small number of lawns. We'll see!

Earlier this week, our office manager (who I work under) told us that she accepted a job opportunity and will move on. I will take her place as the office manager (an exciting promotion), yet since I heard the news, I've been full of mixed feelings. I'm ready to tackle the new challenge, though, and will keep everyone posted.

Here we are smiling at you! Have a great weekend.

Two years!

Josh and I celebrated our two-year anniversary last week. What a wonderful day!

The day started with a relaxing morning. We got ourselves ready and went to Wade's Cafe for breakfast. Josh tried the pancakes and I had the french toast. Their homemade maple syrup was amazing! Josh and I couldn't get over how good the food was. We felt like we were on vacation, because the weather was so beautiful (we ate on the patio) and the cafe felt far from home.





After that, we ran a couple errands and drove to Denver. We love going to the Cherry Creek mall; it's just so fun for us to walk around, see all the different people, and go into Neiman Marcus and pretend we can afford a $300 belt for Josh! One of my favorite parts was probably when Josh tried on sunglasses at the Diesel store.




We spent a good couple hours at the mall and then decided to go see Indiana Jones. I've never seen the past movies, but I did enjoy this one. After the movie, we went on a little walk along the path by the mall.




We were quite hungry by then, and we drove downtown to see what was for dinner. :) Josh had heard about a Mexican place called Lime, but we weren't quite sure where it was, so we decided to look around for something else. We approached the Brown Palace, which is an upscale hotel in downtown Denver, and went inside (we've been curious about it for a while). After looking around the inside of the hotel, we asked a couple of gentlemen if they knew where Lime was. They told us, and they said they had a courtesy shuttle service for their guests. I promptly told them we weren't guests of the Brown Palace, but one of the gentlemen said, "We also do it for people we like," so we followed our driver out to a Mercedes SUV and rode one mile in style to Lime. After arriving, we anticipated great food, and though we didn't enjoy the food as much as we'd thought, it was great to try it. It was 9:00 PM, and we walked the mile back to where we'd parked. The night weather was beautiful!

It was a fun and beautiful day and reminded me of all the little reasons I fell in love with my Josh. :) Sometimes we all need a day away to restructure our thinking and get back to a place of simplicity.

Updates

Just a few updates!

Josh started some lawn care work around town. He put an ad online, and we had three accounts our first week. We decided to buy a truck in order for him to transport the mower, trimmer, and whatever else he needs to get the job done. We are so thankful for this opportunity, and he enjoys getting outside and working on lawns. (Now we'll just have to save for the winter months!)

I'm going back to work at Ted's Montana Grill for the summer. I still work at the real estate company, but now that school's out, we need to get a jump-start on paying off some debt. We're living comfortably with the money we're making with our main jobs, and we've decided that extra work is a good option for this summer.

Next fall will be my final semester at UCCS, and I finally got into one of the most coveted classes at the university: PILATES! I know, it may not sound too exciting to some of you, but this class fills up within seconds of the first day of registration. It's a two-credit class that meets twice a week. I know I could have chosen something more academically challenging, but this will be a healthy physical challenge to end my college experience. :)