where has 2011 gone?!

so my last blog was 10 months ago...where in the world has this year gone?!

so much has happened in the last 10 months that i don't even know where to begin! here is a quick rundown...

enrolled as a consultant with thirty-one in january...jon and i went to jamaica for (my) work in february (it was awesome!)...worked like crazy from january through march (except for the quick trip to jamaica!)...my best friend had a baby boy in april (theodore tobias mappus iv aka tucker)...my brother and his family came to visit in june...another good friend had a baby boy in june (wallace rudolph bowman aka ace)...my sister and her family came to visit in july...jon and i went on vacation with my brother and sister-in-law in july (an amazing cruise to st. thomas, st. maarten, and nassau...good times had by all!)...jon's brother and his family moved to los angeles in july (can't wait to go visit in november!)...we took a last minute trip to south beach miami (with jon's brother (and business partner) and sister-in-law) for his work in august (so much fun and so relaxing!)...i became a senior consultant for thirty-one at the end of august...we traveled every weekend of september (pawley's island, greenville, atlanta, georgia to see my sister)...and now it's freakin' october already! once again, where in the world has this year gone?!

that sums up this year so far...and there are still many good times and events to come! love my life...and those that surround me!

thirty-one...a fun, new opportunity!

so a little less than two weeks ago, i decided to become an independent consultant for thirty-one gifts. they have fun and adorable purses, totes, organizing totes, and kid stuff. so far, i've done pretty well for my first few days. i placed my first "party order" yesterday (which means it had to be at least $200) and i've had a few other orders as well. here are a few of the cute products that i received in my enrollment kit...this is the picnic thermal tote in impressionist dot...i just love this pattern!

this is the all-in-one organizer in circle celebration (accented with the scarf in impressionist dot).

and this is the zipper pouch in chains ahoy...when i saw this in the catalog, i had no idea it was going to be so big. it's perfect for the beach or pool or even makeup!

this is just a few items i received in my enrollment kit, and i was so excited the night my big pink box arrived! i couldn't wait for jon to get home, so i could share everything with him. being the awesome husband that he is, he sat and listened to me talk about each product. his comment was, "wow, these are really durable fabrics they use for the products!" this, of course, coming from my husband who works with pool cover material, so he's all about durable fabrics that will last a long time!



friday night i attended a celebrate & connect bimonthly meeting here in charleston. i had a great time meeting new people that also sell thirty-one products, and it was great to see so many of the new products and patterns from the new catalog. by the time i got home after hearing great tips and stories about selling the products, i was even more excited about this great new opportunity my sister introduced me to! i even received a free product at the meeting...

this is the mini retro metro bag in taupe.

i love doing something that is completely different from my normal job, being able to make money from something that is lots of fun, and getting to enjoy such great products! each time i go out now, i have to make a decision on which bag to take with me!

on another note...(a much needed!!!) vacation is only 10 days away!!!!

ready for a vacation....

this week has been HELL at work. although, it is january so i guess i should expect nothing less! this was my first year preparing the nearly 19,000 w-2's that i must send out in the next couple of weeks. i finally have everything balanced and ready to print after some extremely long days this past week. now it's time to get all of the other monthly work completed.

luckily there is a light at the end of the long (stress filled work) tunnel...jon and i are going to jamaica on february 10th!!! my company puts on an annual conference for all of our franchise owners each year, and this year it's in jamaica! neither jon nor i have ever been there, so we are both really excited about visiting a new tropical place (and of course relaxing and getting away for a few days)!!!

we've been trying to catch up with friends that we haven't seen since before christmas, so last night we had katherine, tee, and amy over to hang out! the boys ended up playing jon's new playstation 3 (he's been wanting it for a couple years now, but i wasn't so sure if i could handle a playstation 3 addicted husband!!!) and having a blast! they were actually kind of cute in the their chairs in front of the tv talking about the game they were playing! of course, the girls chatted and caught up on all the recent happenings while the boys played!

speaking of catching up, katherine is having a baby!!! theodore tobias mappus the 5th aka tucker is due on april 15th! i'm so excited for them and can't wait to meet their baby boy!

getting pregnant seems to be the thing to do right now!!! our friends rachel and aaron are also pregnant and are expecting their bundle of joy in june! they are going to wait for the surprise on the day baby bowman is born, and i can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl!

babies, babies everywhere! i must say, i think we might be getting a little baby fever but not enough to go all in yet!!! it will happen soon enough! :)

hello 2011 and goodbye 2010

2011 has arrived in full swing! i must say i was kind of happy to see the end of 2010. it had been one hell of a year! there were ups and downs, some good and some bad, but overall i'm just ready for a new year to begin!

we rang in 2011 with kris and anne (jon's brother and his future wife!) and had a low key night at their house with some great food and drinks, champagne, and rock band!

today is a working day for me thanks to the end of the year. it's time to prepare the w-2's for the almost 20,000 employees that we have throughout the country. this year is my first time doing it, so i've been a little nervous about it. so far it's going well though! i'm camped out at the kitchen table with my computer and work stuff spread out and jon is relaxing on the couch watching batman on his new playstation 3 and new television!

here's to a prosperous, fun filled, exciting, adventuresome, and productive 2011! happy new year!

it's been a really long time...

so i realized the other day that i haven't posted a blog since april....life has been absolutely CRAZY!!! for the most part it's been a good crazy, but just so busy!

my last post mentioned that i found out my boss was going to be leaving the company on medical disability and i would be taking over as corporate controller. that change happened in august, and my work life has been quite a ride since then! i'm learning new things everyday and each month it's getting easier, but i think january will bring a whole new version of CRAZY to my life thanks to my first end of the year close out!

all of my parents have gone through their own struggles since april including layoffs, big moves, and new jobs! thankfully they are all settled in now and much closer to me! my dad and stepmom are now living an hour and a half away in columbia (much closer than the 5 1/2 hours for the last 10 years!) and my mom is about 20 minutes away in summerville! it's nice to know that my parents will all be closer in the coming years as jon and i think (only thinking right now, not trying!) about having children!

over the summer, my family lost an amazing man...my uncle thomas (my dad's brother) passed away in july. although it was a very sad time, we all know that he is in a much better place and he lived an amazing life as a quadriplegic for over 40 years. one thing that hit me hard in the last month was removing his name from my christmas card list when i went to send them out this year. uncle thomas, i wish you were going to be here for my children to meet one day, but i know you will be looking down (along with the other special ones in heaven - aunt 'laine, papa, and grandmama!) as you are each day!

on a happy note, jon and i are heading to fayetteville, nc to celebrate christmas with the entire windmueller clan and my mom this weekend! we are so excited about watching our nieces and nephew on christmas morning! i'm also excited about some other surprises to come over this fun christmas weekend! hopefully the work day will go by very quickly today...'cause i'm ready to celebrate and share the christmas cheer with family!

crazy happenings + new endeavors = life

life...where do i begin?!

i got the news last week that my boss will be leaving on medical disability as of august 1st. so this means i will be taking over as controller of the company and hiring an assistant to take the position i'm in now. this is great news for me in regards to my career and something i knew would eventually happen, but i just didn't know it was going to happen so soon! i will be spending the next 3 1/2 months soaking up as much of her knowledge as possible and learning every possible thing i can learn about her job!

since jon and i got a new car several weeks ago, it finally came time for us to sell my altima. we put it on ebay last monday and it was sold when the auction ended this monday. jon handled everything with the buyer yesterday and i met them to sign the title over to her and say goodbye (after 6 years) to my very dependable altima! it was a bittersweet moment! (i'm definitely loving the bmw though!)

jon's business has picked up (thanks to summer being just around the corner and their only employee in north carolina resigning a few weeks ago!) and is working like crazy! he's been working 6 days a week, not getting home until at least 10 every night and spending the night out of town on others. it's definitely great that business has picked up, but he will definitely be ready for a short vacation when we head to vegas the beginning of june!

yes, that's right...we are going to las vegas! i finally booked the trip, and we will be celebrating jon's 30th birthday there on june 5th and staying for a few nights! i've never been to vegas, so i'm super excited to see all the sights! only 6 weeks from friday until we board the plane!

that sums up the last 2 weeks of my life...i think! now it's time to see what the next 2 weeks brings my way!

sorry blog...i've been ignoring you

i've totally been ignoring you, blog...for good reason though! i've been crazy busy the last couple of weeks and just haven't found the time to write! where do i begin....

my brother and his family were in town for a week...my mom came too, so we had a house FULL!...work (full-time job)....work (preparing tax returns for friends)...work (at my previous employer preparing tax returns...work (at PCS)...jon and i got a new car which he flew to dallas to get and then drove it home....my dad and stepmom came to visit...more work...my mom came to vist for easter weekend....easter...work, work, work...third eye blind concert on tuesday night....more work....

that about sums up my life in the last 3 weeks! no more tax returns after next wednesday though, so life will be back to normal...hopefully!

new car, short work week, movie night with the girls...

this week is full excitement! jon arrived home friday night around 7 with our new car...and wow is it awesome! the features it has are crazy! i'm still a little nervous driving it (it's definitely bigger than the altima!), but each day i'm getting more comfortable with it! will post pictures soon....

there's only one more day in the work week...good friday is a paid holiday for my office, so friday will be play/errand day for me! i'm looking forward to sleeping in, meeting amy for lunch, getting a pedicure, and just enjoying the day! the weather is supposed to be great here all weekend, so that makes it even better!

tonight i'm joining the girls for a trip to the movies! we are going to see the last song (adapted from the book by nicholas sparks!), and i'm really looking forward to it. i read the book around christmas (my parents got me a signed copy as a christmas present - they actually live in the same town as nicholas sparks!) and thought it was great...i hope the movie is just as good as the book! now i just have to make it through the rest of the work day and a couple of hours of preparing tax returns...then it's on to the movie theater!

go away sickness...exciting things await tomorrow

unfortunately i had to use my last pto day until may and spend the day at home...sick! i haven't been feeling well all week, but last night it got the best of me. i woke up at 2 am coughing and not able to sleep, and then finally fell back to sleep around 4. i was just biding my time until i could call the doctor this morning to get some meds. i called in sick to work because a) i don't think i could have gotten ready and made it to work without coughing up a lung and b) i know that nobody at work wants to get sick just because i didn't want to use my last day off until may!

i slept on and off all morning and the doctor finally got my medicine called in around 2. i got out of bed long enough to go get my meds and do a few things around the house...and the highlight of my day was going to dinner with the girls tonight. i did not want to miss out on that because i'd been looking forward to it all week, and i didn't think i could survive if i stayed in the house by myself all day and night! i finally started feeling a little better around the time i headed to dinner, and i think i'm on the mend and will be able to make it to work tomorrow....thank goodness because i definitely didn't want to take a day off without pay!

i'm super excited about tomorrow because a) jon will be pulling up in our driveway (after a long trip from dallas!) with our new car (it's a 2004, but it's new to us!) - a bmw 745 (jon's dream car and one that i certainly won't mind getting to drive)!!!! and b) my dad and stepmom are coming to visit for the weekend! we haven't seen them since christmas (and that was only for one night), so it will be really nice having them here with us for the weekend!

now it's time for me to say night night and get some rest so i can continue feeling better and enjoy all the excitement of tomorrow...

recovering from the weekend...let the good times roll!

it's monday afternoon around 4:30, and i'm so tired i can barely keep my eyes open at my desk! i would love to blame my lack of energy/sleepiness to the time change, but i think the majority of it has to do with the fact that i stayed out with the girls entirely too late on saturday night and was too wound up to go to bed early last night!

katherine, liza, amy, and i had a blast in hilton head...it was relaxing with plenty of fun! we chilled out in our room after dinner and caught up on the happenings in everyone's life friday night, hit the gym saturday morning, did a little shopping on saturday afternoon, relaxed in our hotel room until we decided it was time for dinner, had a great dinner at wild wings (with lots of good people watching!), headed to a fun bar/dance club, made friends from charleston at the bar, sat by the indoor pool at our hotel room (after changing into our pj's and the girls dragging me out of the room at 3:30 - actually it was 1 hour earlier than that, but the time jumped ahead at 2 in the morning!) and hung out with our new friends, then we got up and hit the road to come home after about 4 hours of sleep! it was an awesome girls weekend away in hilton head...i just wish it had been about 10 degrees warmer!

once i got home jon and i got things done around the house and then were focused on a possible new purchase on ebay for entirely too many hours of the day (don't want to share details yet though - at least not until we find out for sure if it's our's - fingers are crossed)! we were both wound up after all of it and didn't go to bed until after 11.

my brother and his family arrived in charleston today from indiana, so i am super excited about hanging out with them this week! they are staying at the isle of palms, so i'm hoping for some beach time (definitely no bathing suit yet!!!) tomorrow and lots of time with my niece and nephew! i can't wait to see the little munchkins!

i'm loving life right now (except for the fact that i'm so sleepy and still have to head to my other job for the evening!) and enjoying every minute of this amazing journey it involves! let the good times continue to roll...

preferred customer card...

as of about two weeks ago, i am the proud owner of a hancock's fabric preferred customer card. i never thought i would want to learn to sew after watching my mom do it growing up (much less hold a preferred customer card from a fabric store!), but i decided in october to buy a sewing machine. my goal was to teach myself to sew over the winter when it was cold outside and we were home over the weekends. so i finally got the sewing machine out of the box and set it up in february.

it was actually jon's suggestion to set it up and start practicing, so he helped me get it going and within a few hours i had made him a small pillow case from one of his pool cover specialists' t-shirts! unfortunately i haven't had time (or i guess made time!) to attempt another small sewing project, but i have been to the fabric store two times and purchased several different pieces of fabric and ribbon for baby blankets! my sister-in-law will be in town next week (and she's an excellent seamstress), so she is going to help me with some sewing skills! in the end, i just want to be able to hem new pants for myself (because they are always too long and i have to pay someone to make them shorter!), and make pillows, baby blankets, and other items for our house or to give as gifts.

i never thought i would enjoy sewing...as a child i just knew that wasn't for me and totally took my mom's sewing skills for granted! i'm sure she is very proud that i'm learning to sew and finally expressing and interest in it! i'm slowly becoming more domesticized (not sure if that's a word!)...baking, then cooking, now sewing! wow, i wonder what's next...learning to enjoy cleaning? learning to enjoy doing laundry? learning to enjoy washing dishes? (notice i wrote "learning to enjoy" because i do all of these things now - some not as much as others thanks to my awesome husband! - but i do not enjoy doing them!) probably not, but who knows what the future will bring! :)

where did i get this idea that i should work three jobs?

i've been contemplating over the last few weeks why i feel the need to work three jobs...my full-time job at hire quest, accounting work for jon's company, and tax preparation for my former employer. this all came about when i decided to do the tax preparation work when they offered it to me in january. my two jobs (hire quest and jon's company) are just enough to keep me busy (yet still have time for the gym in the afternoons!) and i don't mind the work at all, but then i toss in roughly 10 more hours a week preparing tax returns for the next 7 weeks and it's cutting into my personal (family, play, social, fun, etc.) time!

i've determined, after really thinking about it a lot recently, that this need (more like a want because it's not needed!) for extra money originates from growing up in a single parent home where finances were a struggle. i grew up with the things i needed but not a lot of extras, and i watched my mom struggle to pay the bills and make the monthly income stretch most months. i think that now that i'm married and plan to have a family in the next several years, i have a fear of struggling financially.

jon and i have a comfortable amount of money coming in each month...enough to have the things we want (within reason of course...the 2010 bmw 7-series is definitely out our reach and probably will be for several years!!!), take nice vacations and travel when we want to, and put money in savings each month. i still feel like if there is an option to make some money on the side, i'm definitely going to take it though; however, once we both finally get home at night (usually around 7 or 8 on an early night!), i wonder why in the hell we are working so hard! i must push the fear of financial struggles to the back of my mind at some point to keep my sanity and enjoy life while i'm young, employeed, married, and don't have children (yet!)...there has to be enough time to let go, relax, and enjoy this amazing thing called life!

i guess hard working is definitely a great quality to have, but should it cut into your personal time (if it doesn't necessarily have to) after a certain point? just a thought to comtemplate...

i know it sounds crazy, but it actually snowed in charleston!

last friday night jon and i were sitting at home watching the news as they continued to talk about charleston getting snow....and finally around 7:00, snowflakes began falling from the sky! it was pretty crazy! the meteorologists had been predicting snow for about a week, but i think most people (including me!) just blew it off and thought "i'll believe it when i see it!" up until friday night, there had not been a recorded snow fall since 1989...21 years! within 30 minutes our yard was covered with snow and it just continued coming down! we watched it from the front door/porch in amazement and took lots of pictures! our cable went out around 7:45, so we decided to play scrabble! the lights flickered most of the night, and we thought for sure that we would end up losing power but it never went off for more than a minute! we woke up to a yard, trees, and house covered in snow! we got around 3 inches, but unfortunately it didn't last long on saturday! here are some pictures to prove IT SNOWED IN CHARLESTON!!!

waking up to another day of this amazing thing called life...

each day i wake up, i'm extremely thankful for all of the gifts god has given me! i think back on my life, and there has definitely been some rough times; i realize that i wouldn't be the person i am today without those rough times though.

i have an amazing husband...i love falling asleep next to him every night and waking up to him every morning...i love the fact that he makes me laugh every single day...i love traveling with him and seeing new sights that neither one of us has seen...i am madly in love with him and everything that he is...thank you, jon, for just being you...i love you, baby!

i have a wonderful family...parents (in laws included), siblings (in laws included) and their husbands/wives, adorable nieces and nephew (only 1 nephew as of right now!), and my extended family (aunts - including aunt 'laine (the one that left this life too early!), uncles, and cousins)! they are all the best family that anyone could ask for! to those that i've grown apart from over time...hopefully one day the fences will be mended! to those that live far away...i'm trying hard to stay in touch with each of you (through facebook, email, etc.) and please know that i think of you often and hope to see each of you at least once this year and each year going forward!

i have the best friends in the world...my college roommates (wow, what great memories we shared during our four years at cofc (the good and the bad!) and continue to share during our girls' weekends!)...i love you girls like crazy and think of you every day! the friends i met after college...i look forward to hanging out with you guys every chance we get! thanks for the great memories we've made so far, and here's to many, many more memories in the future!

much love to my awesome husband, amazing family, and great friends...thank you for all that you bring to my life! :)

one of those days...

so yesterday ended up being "one of those days!" to begin the day, i woke up at 8 (way too early for a weekend!) and couldn't go back to sleep! once jon got up, he and i started making breakfast and i made a big mess with the apple juice...i was shaking it before i poured it and the lid was not on it properly! after cleaning up the mess on the floor and the counter, i ended up leaving the kitchen and jon finished our awesome breakfast of sausage, pancakes, and eggs!

around 12 i decided it was time to get off the couch and head to jon's office to do some work. the toilet ended up getting clogged up while i was there (alone!), and once i tracked down the plunger i couldn't make it work!

after i finished working, jon and i headed to costco and the grocery store. when we got home and got everything unloaded, i managed to knock over the plant next to the sink....luckily i caught it before it hit the ground, but not before potting soil fell all over the floor! jon helped me clean up that mess too (what an awesome husband...of course he was making fun of me the whole time)!

after dinner i was baking chocolate chip cookies (maybe this was a sign i didn't need to be baking cookies!), and i managed to drop the spatula (that i had just used to put the cookies on a plate) on the floor...so chocolate chip remnants hit the floor! in the midst of this i put the hot cookie sheet on the counter and then grabbed it with my bare hand to move it....how dumb is that?!

what a day...at least my husband can make me laugh about it all! i must say it was nice to crawl in bed last night and leave yesterday behind!

24...the new season

jon and i are settling in for night one of the two night season premiere of 24...our favorite show! we've been waiting for weeks, and it's only an hour away! it's the important (fun) things in life that make the world go round!

now it's time to enjoy the rest of this sunday evening with my husband...and watch 24!

end of 2009 and beginning of 2010...crazy happenings

so the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 has brought some crazy happenings and exciting news! where to begin...

...while in new york, jon and I received the news that we were going to be aunt heidi and uncle jon again thanks to jon's brother, kirk and his wife, laura...surprise! the oldest (kate) will be 2 in february, the youngest (reese) will be 1 in july, and the new baby is due in august! they are amazing parents and i'm sure they will make life with 3 kids under 3 seem easy!

...jon's brother, kris and his fiancee, anne have started making wedding plans and hope to be married in october of this year! i'm so excited for them...anne is so cute and so much fun and kris is so happy...what a great couple!

...while in boston, i received a text message from my college roommate, emily, with a picture of a beautiful engagement ring! the one roommate that we knew would eventually find a guy who would knock her off her feet has met her prince charming! i'm super excited for them!

...more baby news...another friend of mine (i used to work with her mom at mbw) found out she is pregnant and is due in august, and the operations manager at our company just told everyone today that she is pregnant and due in july!

...one of jon's college classmates had an adorable baby (Emily Reese - love that name!) on january 5th...congrats josh and stacie!

...my brother just found out his dad has a cancerous tumor on his kidney. he's having surgery on wednesday in the hopes of removing the entire tumor, so please keep him in your prayers!

lots of stuff going on in 2010...and what a way to close out 2009 with some very exciting news! here's to another great year!

a weekend of relaxation

jon and i have had a wonderful weekend of relaxation! we celebrated one of our friend's 30th birthday last night, but other than that we have stayed on the couch and watched movies all weekend! i finally got my suitcase unpacked, did some much needed organizing in our office/back bedroom, and started organizing our tax information...then joined jon on the couch with a blanket for the rest of the day! it's been nice to catch up after being on vacation, spending the night in the airport last weekend, and then going back to a busy work week last week! it looks like this week will be even busier for both of us, but at least we will be well rested and ready to face it...i think!

nyc & boston...awesome vacation part 3

part 3 of our trip was not much fun...it involved delayed and missed flights and sleeping in the airport! our flight from boston to washington, dc was continuously delayed until about 10:30 saturday night...over 3 hours after we were supposed to take off. we missed our connecting flight to charleston, and were booked on separate flights (me at 7:55 and jon at 12:25) the next morning to charleston. once we got to dc, they were able to confirm jon on the flight with me...thank goodness because we'd both had enough of airports at that point! we got a couple of hours of sleep in the airport that night and couldn't wait to get home and go to bed!

when we finally arrived home around 10:30 am, we headed to bed and didn't wake up until 7 when we woke up and made dinner. we stayed up for a few hours and then went back to sleep until it was time to wake up for work this morning. not quite the ending to our vacation that we expected, but at least we made it home yesterday morning and didn't get stuck in boston because of the weather!

nyc and boston were amazing! what an awesome vacation...christmas and new year's were the perfect time to experience these cities! i love traveling!

nyc & boston...awesome vacation part 2

on wednesday we said goodbye to tee and katherine in nyc and loaded onto a packed bus for boston! it was a long and pretty miserable trip...more than 5 hours with no stops and not very much space. but we finally made it to boston and met up with brittany, jay, and pat at our hotel...and this is where part 2 -boston began...

thursday morning pat, jon, and i walked to breakfast at a diner down the street, and while we were eating it began snowing like crazy! snow is definitely not something i see often, so i must say i was pretty excited about it...at least for the first few hours of it! here is the view from our hotel room...the snow had covered the ground within a couple of hours!we walked through boston commons (a huge park) and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding....which we missed...and the reception on new year's eve! yes, we missed the wedding (ceremony only though!) thanks to the snow and traffic trying to get out of the city! the reception was lots of fun and we had a great time ringing in the new year and celebrating mike and toni's special day!

friday brought lots of fun and an interesting experience...we went to a real chinese restaurant in the chinatown section of boston! pat, jon, and i were the only americans (and english speaking people) in the restaurant, but i must say, the food was awesome! we also took the subway to the prudential center and went up to the observatory...what a spectacular view of the city! jon took tons of pictures and it was really neat to see everything in boston from a distance since we didn't have time to see many places in person! here is just one of the awesome photos of the city...

we ended the day with dinner at an authentic italian restaurant in the littly italy section of boston and grabbed some canolis to take back to the hotel for dessert! jon and i slept in saturday morning and then visited the bar that they used for the tv show cheers. we also watched sherlock holmes before heading back to the hotel and catching a taxi to the airport!

once we got to the airport, another adventure began....that's part 3 of our awesome vacation!