out of my element...

So last night I went on a date to this super fancy restaurant called Ruth Chris. Here is how the night went...

First...he had the car valet parked...

Then we got to the restaurant where we gave them our name so they could look up our reservation cause you pretty much have to have a reservation I guess...(even though on the phone they told him they were busy and they would have to see if they had an open spot...the restaurant was more than halfway empty the whole time we were there)

Then the hostess sat us and asked if we'd like a black napkin so we didn't get white lint on any of our black clothes...(I know right...weird)

Then our waitress came and she asked us if we wanted anything to drink and I said water and I was promptly offered...get this...3 types of water. Some fancy name I couldn't understand...another fancy name that was a sparkling water...and then the house water. I got the house water and it was almost too watery for me...(kidding...it was fine).

Then I got to looking at the menu and I had to calculate how many hours of work it would take me to just order and appetizer or salad so I almost refused to pick anything because it was out of control.

Then he ordered us shrimp cocktail for an appetizer (which was SO DELICIOUS...it was 4 of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen and it cost more than most entrees I've ever ordered in my life)...then we both got ...oh crap...I can't remember what sort of steak it was...but let me tell you it was a PARTY IN MY MOUTH...when it came out the waitress says to hold up your napkins so the puddle of spattering butter on the plate doesn't get on your clothes.

So...it was a super good dinner...but I was a little out of my comfort zone to say the least. But I guess I better love it while it last since in a few weeks the fanciest thing I'll have is The Hawkeye if I'm feeling lucky...

17 days till we leave!!!!

is there anyone who doesn't know this already...

I was re-reading through some old blogs from last year and I used to be a really cool blogger. I suck super bad at it lately...

Here is a blog that has been a long time coming. But...I doubt it is anything new to anyone...

About a month or two ago I was on the phone with my sister and she informed me that Marty Hopp was going to retire at the end of the year. Marty owns Hilltop Floral, where I did my internship during school. She then suggested that I move home and open a flower shop...I would have a corner on the market and be able to do something I've always like doing...

To make a really long story short....I'M DOING IT! I am moving home in 4 weeks. I will be working with Marty until the end of the year...and then hopefully sometime shortly after that I will open my own shop...with the help of Marty and family and anyone who would like to be an investor in my little idea!

My friend Stacie is going to move with me! She will be there for at least the summer...and depending on how the job search goes (she is waiting to hear back about a teaching position here in Chandler) she may stay longer!

Here is the cool thing about this plan. Quite a few weeks back when me and Stacie were trying to make a final decision about whether to stay in AZ or go to Illinois...we both came up with our main reasons why we shouldn't go.

Me:

1- My one and only reason for thinking I shouldn't go was my job. I really like my job! I like the people, I like what I do, I have insurance...it just didn't make sense for me to quit.

Stacie:

1-She didn't have a job here and was worried she wouldn't be able to come up with enough money to move and have some to live off of for a while in Illinois.

2-She was really worried about actually finding a job in Nauvoo once we got there.

Since then, Stacie has substitute taught almost every day for about 3 weeks (previously she was only doing once, maybe twice a week). And...she has 3 jobs lined up for when we get home! (can you live in Nauvoo and only have 1 job? I don't think so)

And...come to find out...this big contract my boss had with the City of Phoenix...the one that got put on hold for 6 weeks this winter resulting in me 'losing my job' for 6 weeks...Dave found out early last week that the City of Phoenix is backing out of the contract they had with us...and that project is going to be over at the end of July...so...odds are...I would of lost my job then anyway...or at least been cut back to part time...

I just think it is AMAZING that our 3 really only hesitations with moving to Nauvoo have now become obsolete...in just a matter of weeks!!

So that is the plan! I am SUPER excited and SUPER SUPER nervous about this new adventure...but I feel really good about it and hopefully it will all work out well...

A week of firsts...

Well it has been a long and exciting week...

I finally had my surgery to get my gallbladder out...and it went really well...I guess...since I slept through it all. I have 5 little incisions that hurt A LOT and are bruised and itchy right now...but that is a lot more tolerable than a gallstone attack... The only 'problem' was that the nurse couldn't get my IV to go into my hand...so she had to get the anesthesiologists assistant to come down and do it...and he did and it was fine! (and so was he!)

I was sort of excited for my surgery...I was my first time as a real live patient in a hospital and I was pretty pumped about it. Right before they wheel you away to go to the operating room they give you a dose of 'happy juice' that the nurse said would take the nerves off and just relax me a bit. I told her that I was feeling pretty relaxed and not nervous at all...then she dumped the stuff in my IV and my mom said it was only a matter of seconds before I was laughing really hard. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the recovery room.

Here is my IV...and my only hospital bracelet I've had since I was born!

So since Tuesday we haven't really done much...just been lazy. Of course I couldn't do much if I wanted to because anytime I would twitch for the first couple of days either my mom or Stacie would be right next to me with 'what do you need'...'what can I get you'...'what is wrong'...but I tell you what it's been very much appreciated. I FOR SURE would of never made it through my week without them!! I got flowers from a few people which were so nice...my office, Daron and Joe and Jennifer Smith!!

So today we decided to get pedicures...another first for me this week...and as many of you know my huge phobia of feet...this was quite the accomplishment for me. And even just having this nasty picture of our feet on my blog is a big deal! But...I had to show off the cute little flowers!!

a saturday in pictures...

I took this...

turned it into this...

then I did this...

(and it may be in the 90's outside...but the water is no where near ready for swimming...it was FREEZING!!)

Get comfy...this is a long one...

Almost every day on my drive home from work I drive by a cutie old lady who is walking a basset hound that I can only assume is older than the lady herself!

I didn't see them at all last week...or at all earlier this week...and I was starting to actually get really nervous that one or the other...or both...had died!

I saw them yesterday...and I can neither confirm or deny that I may of started crying a little...

This little lady and her basset hound got me thinking about all of these people in our lives that we see on a regular basis that we have really no actual relationship with whatsoever.

I wonder if people who 'see' me all the time start to get a little worried if I 'go missing' for a while.
Like...do the people at the McDonalds drive through on the corner of I-10 and 7th st. start to wonder if I'm alright when I've gone more than 2 or 3 days inbetween visits. Or...the girl that dresses up as Lady Liberty and walks outside the tax office on Mill and the 60...does she wonder if everything's ok when she doesn't see my orange Ford Escape coming down the road around 5:00 every day? Or maybe the guy who is always taking his offices mail to the mail box at the same time I am every day...does he think I've been fired (or maybe quit) if I haven't been there for a while?

Probably not..........

But...that brings me to another thought: the influence and effect we can have on people we only meet once or twice. I can think of quite a few instances where I came across someone only once...and I can still remember how they acted or what they did and how that influenced me.

Like the other day I left the office to get lunch at Panda Express and I grabbed by debit card and left and I got through the drive through and went to pay and realized that I had grabbed my credit card (which doesn't work anymore) and I had no way to pay! I looked around my car...I don't know why though...I guess hoping a miraculous $5 bill would appear...but it didnt and so I turned to the guy and said "I'm so sorry...I don't have anything else" and took my card back and was just going to drive away and he says "Oh...don't worry...you can just have it! We're just going to throw it away anyway" and I said I couldn't do that and I felt really bad, but he insisted and so I took it, thanked him, drove off (and probably cried then too!).

Another time I was in the line at the post office...I think it was mid July or August last year...I guess I just remember that it was REALLY REALLY hot and the line was long and people were grumpy and short to the workers (and I'm sure the workers weren't thrilled either) and it didn't seem like a very posative situation. For some reason that I cannot remember now, the lady next to me struck up a conversation......OH I REMEMBER NOW...Sarah Harward called me and talked to her for a minute, but then asked if I could call her back in a few minutes. The lady next to me says "You must be pretty optomistic thinking you're only going to be a few minutes" and from there we just started talking about who knows what...gardening I think...and she made what could of been a miserable visit to the post office something rather enjoyable.

I know neither of those are really great examples...but those people could of easily turned those situations into something completely different. The Panda Express guy could of (and had a right to) be really upset and said rude things...or the lady at the post office could of been crochety and said some rude thing about me being on my phone in a public place or just completely ignored me in the first place, which is sort of the 'socially acceptable' thing to do when you're in a public setting now (elevators, lines, city transportation) ...

In closing (since this is turning out to be longer than any formal talk I've had to give) I'd like to share a quote with you that I have framed on my desk at home:

"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."