Back in the Saddle Again

This is how I feel right now. Like a baby that's up way past her bedtime! Today was great! BUT...boy oh boy, did I ever forget what it feels like to work full time! I am working very closely right now with one of the MAP program coordinators who I will be taking over for...it's a lot of information and I am so glad to be hearing it from her versus figuring it all out on my own!

I just yawned for the third time since starting this post. It's officially bedtime. Thank you for all of your well wishes these past few days...

Early to Bed

So it's early to bed for me tonight. Tomorrow I start my new job. I haven't posted about it yet because I didn't want to jinx it! I am going to be working at The University of Michigan. My role? I will be helping coordinate the orientation for incoming MBA students as well as their MAP projects. I am SO excited for this opportunity! I definitely have my work cut out for me...

Here is a photo of the new Ross School Business which is still under construction. We will move into the building soon...in fact, I'll be in there before Nathan! Our office will hopefully be moving there permanently sometime this fall...classes will begin meeting in the new building starting in January...

Wish me luck!

Goodbye Sara...Hello Sadie!

Nathan bought a new car yesterday. It's beautiful, comfortable, safe and SUPER fast! Sara was a great car, but it was time for an upgrade, at least that's what Nathan says. So we said goodbye to the A4 and brought home an S4! Holla! Sadie is navy blue (perfect color for Ann Arbor!) and the inside leather is this pretty cream color. I have had a blast playing riding along, especially on the highway! This baby really flies...feel free to visit and take a spin! In case you haven't noticed, we like to name our cars! Ha!

Our last day with Sara



Welcome home Sadie!

Eva Bear

I babysat my girlfriend Andrina's baby girl this morning. What a doll baby. She just turned one in February. Anyway, I had to post a couple photos of her from today.

Does this pose say "Entertain me!" or what?



She has the cutest and most random facial expressions!



This picture shows off Nathan's favorite part of Eva. Her beer belly. That's what he calls it. Don't worry, Andrina and Mike know what we call their little girls cute and pudgy belly. Speaking of Mike, if you want to know what Eva's dad looks like, look at Eva. She's a photocopy...sorry Andrina!



This is one of the many things I love about Andrina. She made this bean dip for Eva's First Birthday Party and I have been dying to make it ever since. I finally made it this afternoon and Nathan and I can't stop munching on it. Whether you eat it with chips, warmed up on a tortilla or just off a spoon it's amazing! Recipe to follow the photos.





Andrina's Amazing Black Bean Dip

2 cans of Black Beans, drained
1 can of yellow sweet corn, drained (I actually used our leftover corn from dinner)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 red onion chopped
1 Tablespoon cumin
dash of lime juice
dash of Tabasco
dash of red pepper flakes

(add more or less of whatever you like...)

Sampson

I actually haven't had a Sampson post lately. He's still growing! We have been leaving him out in the house by himself lately. On Saturday he was alone in the house for almost eight hours! No accidents. No messes. Nothing but perfection from this puppy...ha ha ha! His reward? A nice big bone!

Easter Lunch

Nathan and I were able to meet his entire family in Perrysburg today...thank goodness the seven inches of snow that fell last night were cleared off the highway for us! Here are a few snapshots from after our delicious lunch! Followed by the best chocolate malt ever from Mr. Freeze! It was so nice to have everyone together for Easter...two years running! Look how big Baby Roo is getting!





Rick and Bev got Frankie bunny ears. How cute. I'm sorry about the ugly sweatshirt in the photo, we're trying to work with Aaron on it. :)



Happy Easter everyone!

For Mrs. Doll

This post is for Anne Doll. She is a regular here at Table for Two and we certainly appreciate that!

So, Anne, Sampson heard about your Grandma passing away and he just wanted to tell you something. Don't mind the drool all over his note to you. Ha!





Love, Sampson

I'm Sorry...I'm a Runner

Last night my buddy Beth scheduled appointments for us to have pedicures. She is heading to Florida for her Spring Break (that lucky girl got a teaching job here...well, actually, in the ghetto of Detroit...but nonetheless, a job!) so she wanted to have prettier toes. What was my excuse? I don't have one.

From the minute we walked into the salon we were already having a blast. Beth took minus ten seconds to pick out her color. I on the other hand took ten minutes, after consulting three Aveda employees. And people wonder why it's going to take two years to plan a wedding.

Anyway, Beth kept saying, "I'm sorry, I'm a runner...don't look at my toes." What a silly girl. I had to promise not to tell whose toes were whose from the photos below. (Hint...I am NOT a runner...no matter how hard I try.)

We both decided on an OPI nailpolish called "Oh to be 25 again." Beth giggled because she just turned 25. I giggled because I'm not even 25 yet. We're seriously the youngest MBA Partners EVER!!! But we love it...

The pedicure took 2 1/2 hours!!!!!!!! Beth's pedicurist was three things: a man, gay and a new-never done it before-pedicurist! On the other hand, the girl that did mine took the 90 minutes we scheduled for and waxed my eyebrows in the salon above while Beth was still getting her toes painted. Disclaimer: when Beth made the appointments for us, she didn't realize she booked the 90 minute pedi...yikes! Good thing she had a sense of humor about it, because it was a LONG not so relaxing pedi for her. But her toes look great! Oh, worst part for me? I missed Idol. Dang.

Here are our before and afters...





I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I cut off all of my long nails and painted them with the new color. Oh, that's the best part of the 2 1/2 hour long experience...we each got to have a new bottle of our toenail color. Almost makes it worth the...nope...nevermind. :)

This is work?

Just had to add that Nathan is in SanFrancisco from Monday until Saturday. How could you possibly call traveling there for "work", "work"? What a lucky duck. He is working on a project for the company Intel with four other people. They actually make a final presentation in Portland, OR at the end of April. I have my fingers crossed that he falls in love with Oregon so that we can move there after graduation. We'll see...

By the way, still no news on a summer internship...keeps YOUR fingers crossed!

Sorry for the absence...

Nathan and I joined a bunch of other Ross students and partners for a fun night of whirlyball. Now, I'd never heard of it before, yet alone played it! But, after a quick lesson in how to maneuver the electric scooter you ride in team red managed to win time and time again. You literally ride around in a scooter driving with one hand while trying to catch the ball with a plastic lacrosse-like-stick. Similar to basketball, you have to then ride down to your teams board, similary to a basket in bball, and shoot the ball perfectly into the hole in the middle of the board. It was actually a lot of fun for everyone...in fact, I don't think anyone wanted to leave! I even managed to score 2 pts! Nathan on the other hand scored about 20 pts! Great team effort...ha ha ha.



We were so thirsty after all that whirly ball. The natural choice of course was to get frozen margaritas and fishbowls. We were so thirsty, in fact, that we couldn't even stop drinking to smile for the picture. :)



In honor of St. Patrick's Day our Ross Partners Club meeting has a green theme for tonight. On Sunday I made a double batch of sugar cookie dough and started baking shamrocks cut outs. Thank goodness for the eight friends that showed up to frost them...otherwise I'd still be doing it right now! Here are some photos of the beautiful shamrock creations. Katie was especially good at decorating when she used items from my Wilton cake decorating kit.

Just so you know...I've dyed milk, orange juice and 7up green for everyone to share. Ha!



Aren't Katie's cookies great? She has a hidden talent, I swear!

Spring Break "Vacation"

Nathan and I traveled the exciting and not-so-sunny city of Evansville, IN for his Spring Break this year. After my dad's accident and surgery my parents realized they needed a bit of help with their house in Indiana. As many of you already know, they have been trying to sell the darn thing since June of 2006! Let me just say that the market in Evansville is not a "hopping" one these days! So, in an attempt to sell the house this year (keep those fingers crossed!) we offered up our help over Spring Break so they did not have to do all of the work themselves. Nathan and I arrived on Wednesday and spent the next two days doing our best to get it "open house ready" so that my parents could put it back on the market later in March. Here are the before and after photos of Nathan's project: the garage.

Before...


...and after




Here is our "We're Finished!" celebratory meal at Charlie's. Charlie's is a Mongolian Barbeque restaurant that my family just loves to visit in Evansville. Nathan got quite a kick out of it...especially after a long day of unpacking, repacking and stacking! Check out the heat coming off his plate!



Now for some exciting news. My mom called me today and told me that they are having a showing tomorrow evening! The house isn't even on the market yet!! Apparently their new realtor, that they were already planning to sign with later this month, had a coworker ask if she knew of any properties in Newburgh (the suburb the house is in) in the subdivision Old Hickory (where the house is) that has a pool (THEY HAVE A POOL!)...AHH!!!! So, please keep your fingers crossed that this is the lucky couple that buy my parents house!!!!

By the way, if you're looking for help with the organization of your own garage, Nathan isn't available until his Summer Vacation. Ha!