Another Today Show Funny Kid Video

One reason if/when we have kids I want twins.

Traveling and Working

I started my new job last week and this week I am at their central (corporate) office.  I left Northwest Arkansas on Monday morning and arrived later that evening.  It has been a great week, and the Tacoma weather has definitely been in my favor.  It hasn't rained, but it has been a little cool and cloudy most days.  

Wednesday morning I was talking to my Mom on the phone when I opened the curtains in my room to see clear skies and sunshine.  I then told my Mom that I had a view of Mt. Rainier, and it was snow covered.  It was very nice to see the top.  Now this was also on Wednesday, and my Mom says to me, "You just now figured out you have a view of Mt. Rainier from your hotel room, where have you been?"  I just laughed, mainly becuase to see the top of Mt. Rainier is VERY rare.  It is a place almost always covered with clouds.  I actually had not taken the time to look out the window since my arrival on Monday.  Below is the picture I took Wednesday morning.  I haven't seen the top since then.

Mt. Rainier 2011

I like going to the West Coast.  I wake up early here on my own, and I can take my time getting ready.  I have had very informative days.  I have learned a ton of new information and I also learned I retained a lot of information from my readings last week.  I like my team, they are very helpful and very nice.  I feel like my brain is exploding with information, which is a great problem to have.  I am even more excited about working for this company.  I am so ready to be caught up on everything I need to know and start selling.  I thought I would share a little about my new job.  It is a great feeling to be so excited about working for a new company that has so much potential. 

I go home tomorrow and I will be back in Tacoma on Sunday. Should be a short but good weekend with Razorback Baseball.

Something Funny to Share

I thought this was hilarious and I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I am not a big fan of wearing green except once a year in honor of St. Paddy’s Day!  Grab a Guinness and enjoy the day the way the Irish do.   Or grab a green Bud Light and have fun anyway!  Here in Arkansas it is going to be a beautiful day with warm weather, perfect day to go to a bar with an outdoor area for happy hour.  Maybe I will see some of you there!  Sláinte!!!

Green Beer in Honor of the big Day

Chicago 2008 River Dying Green

A friend and I at the Chicago Parade with our good friend Guinness

Busy Weekend

Michael and I had a very busy weekend. It all started on Friday, when Michael got off work early. We decided to go to Hot Springs this weekend to see my friend Peggy, who was in town from NYC. We decided we would go through Little Rock, so that I could meet the newest member of my family. My cousin and his wife had an adorable baby girl about a month ago. I wanted to take the opportunity to meet her since we were already heading that direction. Everyone knows I am always taking pictures, but unfortunately I did not take a single picture of my new baby cousin. My mom was in disbelief when I told her I did not take any pictures. I told her I was too busy adoring her and Michael did not think to pull out the camera. She is very very pretty, definitely taking after her mama. Honestly, I believe the baby is a nice mix of her mom and dad. We tried not to stay over too long, so after about an hour we were off to dinner in Little Rock.

Michael and I had dinner at a sushi restaurant called Papa Sushi. It was really good. I have to say I miss fresh sushi, and to everyone in Northwest Arkansas I am sorry, but there are absolutely no great sushi restaurants. Michael and I agree no more eating sushi in NWA, we will save it for when we are traveling or in a bigger city. Special thanks to the people at Papa Sushi for reminding Michael and me what great sushi taste like.

We stayed the night in Little Rock and got up early Saturday and drove to Hot Springs. I was so excited to see my friend Peggy, since the last time I saw her in person was during my wedding. Michael and I walked around the park near the Arlington for about an hour, enjoying the nice weather. It was a perfect morning. After our walk through the park, we met Peggy and her boyfriend Chris at Oaklawn. I was excited to go to the races here, because I have never gone to Oaklawn. I have only gone to the horse races in Chicago (Arlington Heights).

We had a blast betting and losing. Michael and I are not good horse betters. I always did well at the Arlington Heights Park, but maybe that’s because I had a little help. We always went there with a large group. It was still fun to hang out and watch the horses run their little hearts out. We did not stay until the end, because we had to head back up to Fayetteville for the Skrocki’s Annual St. Paddy’s Day Party. It was a long long day, but it was worth it to get to do everything.

We did not even rest on Sunday. Michael helped me get the mulch to finish our garden. I am already looking forward to this weekend, since the weather is going to be nice and we don’t have anything planned…yet.

Michael and I at the Park

My future horse...so pretty

Winning?

I just liked the way this one looked.

New Project-Garden

Michael is already making fun of my newest project. This is mainly because last summer I tried to have a veggie garden in the backyard, which didn’t work out for me. It was not my fault that everything I tried to plant, my dog ate. I tried everything to keep her out of the garden, but she is SMART. She couldn’t resist the fresh dirt or the fact that we wouldn’t let her in that area. She definitely had the, “I will show them” mentality. Oh well, he told me it wouldn’t work and it didn’t. This year is another day and another story.

We have a front garden area, which the builder setup at our house. They didn’t know what to plant or something because most everything died. I blame it on the fact that the front of our house is a direct sunlight area, and the plants burned up and died. The few that survived are going to be dug up and thrown out; survival is not in their favor.

So, I have a plan of action. Step one is to clear all dead plants and mulch out of the garden. I spent a lot of time raking and shoveling the mulch. The garden is not huge, but is big enough that I spent 4 hours working on clearing the mulch. I had to have Michael come help me. It was hard work and I am very happy Michael helped. Once all the mulch and dead/alive plants were removed, I sat on the ground and pulled weeds and grass. I want this garden to be nice and I knew if I didn’t pull up as much of the weeds and grass that it would become a bigger problem. Grass was probably the worst. We have Bermuda grass and it runs wild. At that point there was no mulch, no weeds, no grass, and basically no plants. I remembered my parents putting this black stuff down in their gardens to help with the weeds, Weed Control. So, I then proceeded to lay out the Weed Control stuff and it was by far the easiest job. Spread and cut to size, making room for the few plants we had left in the garden. In order to keep the weed control from blowing out of the garden we used a little mulch to cover it. The garden, at this point is ready for some planting.

When picking the plants to put in the garden I had two important wants. First, I wanted something that would come back every year, so that this project would not be a yearly event. The second thing I wanted was to have flowering plants. I love plants with color. Every time I see a colorful garden I think, WOW, that’s so pretty. I picked three different plants. One is called, Freesia. It is of course a flowering plant that has a wonderful scent. It will be at the front of the garden. Another plant I picked was the Gladiola. Hopefully they will become my favorite flowering plant in my garden. The last, but definitely not least, plant I chose was a Dahlias. I saw these beautiful flowers one visit to Seattle. It is a gorgeous flowering plant that was in every single bouquet at the market. I was so in love I couldn’t resist when I saw them at the store. During the first day of my gardening project, we were able to plant the Freesias.

On the second day of my gardening project, I planted the rest of my bulbs and laid the mulch on top. I didn’t forget the most important part, WATER. The garden got a good soak. I can’t wait until summer, when I should begin to see my flowers. Hopefully I will be proving to Michael that I can garden, when my beautiful flowers sprout. Below you will see pictures of my progression.

The Beginning:

After the mulch and Plants were removed:

Weed Control Black Lining Laid out:

The End Result Minus the New Plants, which will come this summer:

What makes a dog happy?

I don’t know about everyone else’s dog, but my dog is probably the easiest to please. There are a few things in this world that will bring a smile to her face. Yes, dogs smile. Sometimes they wag their tail to let us know they are happy and sometimes they truly smile. For instance, the above picture is one of my dog, Gabby, smiling. She loves the snow and she loves the water. Gabby loves our daily walk to the mailbox to get our mail. She knows when I ask her if she wants to go get the mail, which means she should go sit by the front door, which she does in the most impatient way running from the door to me and back. She also knows we only go out the front door for things she loves, walks and mail. What dog doesn’t like a good swift walk around the neighborhood? Exercise is the key to any happy dog. There is just one other thing Gabby truly loves, FRISBEE. She likes her ball but she loves the Frisbee. She isn’t the best at catching it mid air but she loves to try. I thought today I would share a few things Gabby loves to do.

Don’t worry people there are plenty of things she hates to do, as well. Gabby is probably the only dog in the world who hates going bye bye in the car. She loves her best friend, Callie (my parents’ dog) but she hates the car ride to get to Callie. We have been working on this fear for awhile now trying to fix it. Newest product, ThunderShirt. Google it. It has been helping. I refuse to drug my dog, unless it is absolutely the last resort. So, ThunderShirt is working for now, for the most part.

Well enjoy the pictures of happy Gabby.

Jumping into the pool

Swimming in the pool with her Daddy

Playing Frisbee with her Daddy

Hating the car ride

Back in December

I wanted to wait awhile to write this blog. In December I was laid off from my job. I really wasn’t upset about the whole thing, mainly because I had been looking for a new job since November. I was unhappy in my position, so were a lot of my co-workers. In fact, two quit right before the lay off, and myself and one other were putting our feelers out for new positions. So, when I got the call it was almost a relief. One might say it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me time to really job hunt.

My number one goal in finding a new job was to find a growing company and a company with positive revenue. When you get out of school, I think you feel the need to just find a job. After I quit my first job, it was to move to Chicago and be with Michael. So, in the search for my second job, I asked more questions. In my first job, they glorified the position and the company and then once I got into the company reality wasn’t the same. It gave me great experience and helped me to decide how much I loved being in sales. As I interviewed for my second job, I definitely asked more questions about day to day life and responsibilities. When I started my second job the company had great vision and definitely could go somewhere. After about a year and a half things started to change and the futuristic visions started to fade. The reality set in for me that it might not be the best fit for me and my career ambitions. So, that’s why I started to look in November and why I wasn’t too bothered to be laid off. I saw it as an opportunity to find a company and a position I could grow with my career and spend a lot of time investing myself and my life.

There aren’t very many people who knew I was laid off, but now I think it is time to share about the time I spent looking. I am very lucky, Michael and I are super smart with our money, so first and foremost we didn’t stress about that portion. Michael was great, and told me not to take any position just to take a job. I started looking for a new job the same day I was let go. I knew two things, I wanted to stay in sales and I wanted to stay in the Healthcare industry. I love selling to people and I am pretty good at it. The reason for staying in the Healthcare industry is simple. It is constantly changing and growing and reality is it will never go away. So, with that I had a lot of companies to look into. Number one thing when looking for a job, don’t apply for a job just because. I always read tons of information about companies before I even got to the career section on the website. I only applied for jobs with companies that caught my interest in one way or another. I believe I have been very lucky, because I have had 1-2 interviews a week. Lots of diverse companies and definitely several, after the first conversation, I knew I would not like to work for them. I have received offers and rejected them, for one reason or another, but I have been looking for a company that could get me excited about selling for them. In the sales world I think that it is very important to one believe in the product or service you are selling and two believe in the company.

During the week of Valentine’s Day, I was sent to Seattle to interview with a company. The company had been the top of my list from the first time I spoke to them on the phone. I had a good feeling about them, and each time I spoke with someone their excitement and enthusiasm was infectious. I love people like that, mainly because I can definitely get excited over the littlest items. My first discussions started in December, and I wanted to meet everyone in their main office the next day. I wasn’t interested in moving Michael or I again, so I would be working as a remote employee. The company wanted to try and find people local, darn…but then they called me and had changed their minds. Reality is finding a person with specific skills and abilities can be a struggle for any company and then also looking for that person in a certain area definitely adds to the struggle. I was lucky yet again. So, they flew me out to meet everyone. I must say I was impressed with each individual for different reasons, and felt like they were definitely still at the top of my list. So, I quickly learned everyone liked me and they were going to be sending me an offer.

I received and accepted an offer to work for this Seattle based company last week. I am very excited and will be beginning my new adventure next week. I will be traveling between Arkansas and Washington several times over the next few months. I am truly excited about this position. It was exactly what I was looking for in a company and for my career. Even though, I turned offers down for whatever reason, I knew there was something out there for me, and I didn’t want to settle. Everyone, especially Michael, has been super supportive of me finding a good job no matter how long it took. I find job hunting to be very interesting, mainly because of the things people say and the types of companies out in the world. I hope if you are unemployed or unhappy in your current position, that you will take the time and find something wonderful that will make you happy.

February 1st

Gabby turned “1” on February 1^st and it is actually getting close to the time we got her. I wanted to do something fun for her birthday. Yes, I am one of those people who thinks my dog is my kid. There is nothing wrong with treating your pets well. Michael and I went to Sugarbear, in Fayetteville, to pick up her birthday cookie and a new toy. We always name her toys so when we want her to bring a specific toy she knows which toy we are talking about. Her new toy’s name is Crabby. It is a tough toy, which is great. If you haven’t ever gotten a tough toy they are completely worth the $20. This is Gabby’s second toy, we got her a stingray named Ray, on our honeymoon. Check out this website mydogtoy.com for more details on the toys or head over to Sugarbears where I bet if you love your dog you will buy something. The birthday cookie we got Gabby was big and she was pretty unsure about eating it. Gabby’s a really good dog and doesn’t mess with things that aren’t hers, but sometimes we have to convince her it is okay. Here are some photos from her birthday:

Gabby with her Birthday Cookie and Present

Wasn't sure how to eat it

Who doesn't love to lick all the icing off first?

Gabby Loves Snow

I just wanted to share this video today from the week we got 20" of snow. Gabby was the happiest dog that day.