28 Weeks: Third Trimester....Wow

I can hardly believe I am in my third trimester.  I have been so busy working and trying to sleep that I have not been good about writing.  Work has been super crazy with travel, closing a huge million dollar/year account (contracts being signed soon), and training in Miami.  Also J's grandmother got very sick after Thanksgiving with double lung pneumonia.  She was in ICU on a vent for almost a week. We really didn't think that she was going to make it.  God is definitely watching out for her, as she recovered and was just moved to a rehab facility.

Here is my latest pregger update.....

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain: 17 pounds. However, I feel huge.

Maternity clothes? I am in love with my maternity leggings. I can still wear some over sized sweaters and work out clothes. 

Stretch marks?  No new ones, I don't think.

Sleep:  Not so great anymore.  I just can not get comfortable any more and I know it will just get worst.

Best moment this week: last week I was in MIami with my co workers and I had one of the best meals of my life at Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach.  It was amazing.

Miss Anything? The tanning bed....I hate winter and miss my 20 minutes in the warm cocoon.  I really missed having a drink last week in MIami with everyone.

Movement:  This child is a kickboxer...I swear!  But I love it.

Food cravings:  anything and everything.....I am always hungry.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  not at all

Gender prediction: Boy

Labor Signs:   Not yet, thank goodness

Symptoms:  my belly is definitely out......and my boobs are huge 

Belly Button in or out?  In.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy but very easily stressed with work

Looking forward to: Christmas in Texas!!!!

Next appointment:  I have to do the damn glucose test friday and I see my Dr. on Tuesday December, 17.

25 weeks

Thanksgiving day, 26 weeks

28 weeks

21 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — about the size of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

How far along? 21 weeks

Total weight gain: 12 pounds. I am trying hard not to eat everything in site.  But I am not having much luck.

Maternity clothes? I wear matetnity leggings for work pretty much every day.  Wearing maternity dresses and tops more too.  I was asked at a show where I got my cute dress. I happily told them in the maternity section :)

Stretch marks?  No new ones

Sleep:  I sleep quite well in hotels....especially when I surround myself with tons of pillows

Best moment this week: Nolan gets the hiccups now...I think and it feels so weird

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my back and diet coke

Movement:  Nolan is moving more and more. I feel him at least once a day now.

Food cravings:  M and Ms...plain and peanut, hamburgers

Anything making you queasy or sick:  not this week

Gender prediction: Boy

Labor Signs:  Well I did have a little bit of a scare on Saturday.  I was feeling a strong pressure in my lower abdomen, like Nolan was pressing down on me.  It happened a few times as I worked at Ann Taylor and then again at home when I was cleaning up the kitchen. J googled my symptoms and thought I was in premature labor and made me call my exchange.  They called back within 5 minutes and said to drink more water, put my feet up and watch the game.  So far so good now.

Symptoms:  belly starting to pop out.

Belly Button in or out?  In.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy but very easily stressed with work

Looking forward to: BBQ with our church and a work trip to Fayetteville

Next appointment:  October 28

Apple Picking

This post is a week late, but I wanted to blog about it.  Ever since I moved to St. Louis, I have wanted to go apple picking in the fall. For one reason or another, I have never seemed to get it organized to go before the season was over.  This year, I was bound and determined to go to Eckert's and pick apples with my family.  I guess I just want to make some memories for P with our side of the family that doesn't include boating and video games.  With baseball all September, I picked last sunday as the day for apple picking.  It was nearing the end of the season, so if we wanted to take P it was now or never. Luckily, it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.  We took the Grafton ferry across the river into Illinois and had lunch by the river at the Loading Dock.

I thought Eckert's would be a zoo of people, but I was very impressed with how organized it was.  There are 3 Eckert locations in the St. Louis area. I happen to pick this location because it was the only one that day to have 3 different kinds of apples available to be picked, golden delicious, granny smith, and fuji.   You wait in line to hitch a ride into the orchard on a trailer pulled by a tractor.  Our first stop was for golden delicious and my boys wasted no time in sampling the apples.  This was also the stop to pick out our pumpkin. J had P running all over the patch examining different pumpkins for just the right ones.  They picked out 2 huge pumpkins.  We then caught another ride to the next stop for granny smith and fuji apples.  Of course we had to try each of those kinds as well.  They were so good.

When you are done your apples and pumpkins get weighed. We had over 20 pounds of apples, J's pumpkin as 21 pounds and P's was 19.5 pounds.  I made a delicious apple crisp that night and we are eating apples left and right.  I don't mind however, I was already eating at least one apple a day....love them with peanut butter!

20 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain: 10 pounds. I have not been able to fit in a work out as much as I'd like and I am feeling it. 

Maternity clothes? I had tried on dresses in my closet just a few weeks ago to wear for some vendor shows this week.  I was happy that I had some that still looked great....until I re tried them on this week.  Umm....not so much.  I am just wearing more and more maternity.

Stretch marks?  No new ones

Sleep:  I sleep quite well in hotels....especially when I surround myself with tons of pillows

Best moment this week: `Feeling Nolan move more and more.

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my back and diet coke

Movement:  Nolan is moving more and more...but I do not feel him everyday.

Food cravings:  M and Ms...plain and peanut

Anything making you queasy or sick:   Sauerkraut.....nearly vomited at Oktoberfest show when the smell got super strong.

Gender prediction: Boy

Labor Signs:  None.

Symptoms:  belly starting to pop out.

Belly Button in or out?  In.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy but very easily stressed with work

Looking forward to: Apple picking and Peyton's birthday 

Next appointment:  October 28

19 Weeks....playing catch up

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain: pounds...yet still not much of a baby bump..  

Maternity clothes? I am still able to wear a lot of my normal clothesi, however, I find maternity just plain more comfortable.

Stretch marks?  No new ones

Sleep:  This was a better sleep week.  I think I am just so tired that I am able to sleep through the night, well with the exception of having to use the bathroom at least once in the middle of the night.

Best moment this week: Having my Mama and sister come into town to help decorate the house and work on some baby Blair stuff.  I just love having my family around.  We also had our gender reveal dinner with J's parents and siblings. It was super fun to finally let them in our huge news!

Miss Anything? Diet coke, some of my cuter clothes, shopping at Ann Taylor!

Movement:  I am pretty sure I am feeling the baby move more and more. Nothing major, but more than just bubbles.

Food cravings:  Sweets.  Wings.  Pizza. Food. Cake. Food.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I have been so lucky....nothing.

Gender prediction: Not a prediction anymore.....BOY

Labor Signs:  No, thank you.

Symptoms:  Constantly in the bathroom. Hungry all the time.  .

Belly Button in or out?  In.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy and relieved that baby is healthy and that we announced it was a boy!!!

Looking forward to:  Figuring out a cute boy clothing style....and what Nolan Patrick's going to be like!

Next appointment:  October 28

Wrapped gender specific items

At Calecio's before the reveal with my Mama

It's another brother for Peyton!

Nolan Patrick is going to be styling and profiling

Mama's had this onesie for years

A duck from Aunt Allison

18 weeks

I know I need to do a lot of updating on Baby Blair. J and and I are so excited to welcome this baby into the world at the beginning of March. We were definitely trying to get pregnant.  I just didn't think it would happen so fast on Clomid.  I only had to take 2 months worth and of course I was doing all of the basal body temperature and ovulation testing.  So much to my surprise, come the end of June and I get the positive pregnancy test.  I didn't think I was pregnant, but needed to test in order to start the next round of Clomid.  I didn't want to waste my expensive Clear Blue Easy digital tests, so I took one of the cheap ones I had.  As I was sitting there, I saw a faint second pink line.  I walked out of the bathroom and held the stick up to J and asked him if he saw a second pink line or was I just crazy.  The test kit said any second pink line was a positive.  Well, I needed a second opinion, so I downed a bottle of water and broke out the expensive digital tests and got the "pregnant" result.  I was so excited and yet instantly nervous all at once.

I will do flash backs still but want to update on the now!  I am 18 weeks into my pregnancy.  The Baby Center says my baby from head to rump is about 5 1/2 inches long and weight about 7 oz, about the size of a bell pepper.  Mine at my appointment yesterday is coming in around 8 oz.

How far along? 18 weeks

Total weight gain: 9 pounds.  I was holding steady at 5 pounds until 2 weeks ago and all of a sudden the pounds have started coming on.  My doctor says I am fine and is not concerned.  

Maternity clothes? I am still able to wear a lot of my normal clothes, especially since I don't like dress pants any ways. My jeans are tight, and even my fat jeans which seem fine standing up, hurt when I sit.  I do have some maternity clothes...the leggings are fabulous!

Stretch marks?  No new ones

Sleep:  I have trouble getting comfortable. I also seem to wake up multiple times in the night to go to the bathroom.  And it seems that once I am up, I have a hard time falling back asleep.

Best moment this week: Besides finding out the sex of Baby Blair and seeing the baby move on the ultrasound all healthy, seeing my great friends in Fayetteville, ,AR and a fun time at the football game.

Miss Anything? Sleeping through the night.  Beer. More diet coke

Movement:  I am pretty sure I am starting to feel the "bubbles" so hopefully more and more will come.  If the movement on my ultrasound is any indication, this baby is going to beat me up from the inside out.

Food cravings:  Sweets.  Wings.  Pizza

Anything making you queasy or sick: 

Gender prediction: Not a prediction anymore.....

Labor Signs:  No, thank you.

Symptoms:  Constantly in the bathroom. Hungry all the time.  .

Belly Button in or out?  In.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy and relieved that baby is healthy

Looking forward to:  Mom and Sister are coming to help with the Baby's room next week.

Next appointment:  October 28

It is hard to describe just how in love I am with this Baby.  I can not wait to meet them.  I am in love with this little nose and profile.  

I

So I have been MIA

I was called out on my lack of blogging, so here I go.  This summer, which sadly is officially over, was a crazy hectic exciting time in our household.  I did not travel quite as much because we had P every other week.  When we have P, I am the one who stays home with him while J is at work. Thank goodness I have such a flexible job and can do office days at home.  It rained a lot, so we did not get many pool days :(  We did pick strawberries and raspberries, run lot of errands, got our library cards, and had some fun.

P's baseball team played in an uber amount of baseball tournaments and baseball games.  I do not think we ever won a tournament, except one, by playing the entire thing.  It seemed that the championship game was always canceled due to thunderstorms.

We had some fun visitors come in town.  My parents came in for a weekend to see P play baseball. P and I took them to Crown Candy, which is not in the best part of town, but is celebrating it's 100th year this year. You wait in a long line to get a table, no matter what time you arrive.  They have the most delicious malts and shakes as well as the biggest bacon sandwich you have ever seen.  The next week the Watson's came to visit via train and we saw the Rangers beat the Cardinals, did a little boating, and I finally did the Budweiser tour after 11 years of living in St. Louis.

At the beginning of August we took a Blair family vacation to Gulf Shores, AL for a week.  What a fun time!  It was so nice to just sit on the beach in my beach chair and not worry about my job or really anything.  The waves were not big until the last day.  P had to have a skim board and wore himself out learning how to skim the waves. It was very fun to watch. J is like a kid in the water, all he wants to do is jump waves. My little family had pictures made on the beach.  I am very pleased with how they turned out and look for one around Christmas time in your mailbox!

But the biggest excitement of the summer was........WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!

June Challenge: Day 2

What do you drive? What is your dream car?

My very first car was a 1988 Eddie Bauer Bronco with gun racks and a whench on the front. It was my dad's hunting vehicle. In the case that it was a weekend during deer season, I was stuck driving the dreaded cadillac,  I loved that beast.  I was the girl called to pull the guys out of the mud.  Everyone knew what I drove and I liked it that way.

For graduation, my parents gave me a 1998 silver mustang sport.  They even went all out and had the huge red bow made and put on the car and surprised me.  I was so excited....the only downside was they would not really let me drive it because I had mono and they were worried I'd fall asleep.  Nothing like getting a brand new car and told look but don't drive.  We had a custom sun roof installed.  I absolutely loved driving my mustang and it served me well for 4 years in Fayetteville and almost a year in St. Louis.  My first winter in ST. Louis was interesting.  Put someone who has never driven in snow in a rear wheel drive car.....you are smart to stay the heck away from that car with Texas plates!  Sadly the mustang's time here ended too soon. My car was stolen 4th of July weekend from the parking lot of my apartment complex and found the next morning totaled. I was going to get a new car soon but that was not the way I wanted to mustang to go out.

I decided on a black 2003 4Runner sport.  I loved that truck....and still do.  Up until a month ago I was still cruising in the 4Runner.  I just think it is the best car out there.  It has over 140k miles and has not had any major mechanical issues.  It drives and rides really well too. Toyota just simply makes a great car.   A month ago, J added lawn care to BlairCo services and needed my 4Runner to pull his trailer.  We needed another car.  I need the SUV for all my products to demo, so we went up to the Toyota dealership to look at used cars.  I would have been happy with another 2003 4Runner, but J was not going to let me get the exact same thing (year and all!). So now I am sporting a 2006 goldish tan (not my favorite) Sequoia.  I do really like it, however I am still getting used to parking it.  It will be nice to drive to Gulf Shores this summer!

 

Day 1

1. Family story – how did your parents meet, how many brothers/sisters, tell us what you want.

My mother and father meet in Dallas on a blind date.   I find this rather fitting as my sister and I both met our husbands on match.com.  My mom is from Arkansas and my dad is from Louisiana. Both were at Louisiana Tech for a year at the same time. They even knew some of the same people.  However, my mama transferred to good ole Arkansas to be closer to her fiance or boyfriend (not sure if they were engaged yet). After that engagement failed (he was caught out with another girl a few weeks before the wedding, my Mama and a friend decided to move to Dallas.  My dad graduated LA Tech and moved to Dallas.  Enter a blind date and now 41 years later they are still married.

I have a younger sister, Allison.  She has been married for almost 5 years (shy a few weeks) and lives with her husband Mike in Wylie, TX. The have a dog, Ranger, and a cat, Tinkerbell.  She is a graphic designer and loves everything I hate doing...ie decorating, painting, being overall crafty.  She just has the eye for that kind of thing and I am a numbers person.

I live in St. Louis with my husband, J.  We have been married a year and seven months   I have a stepson, Peyton, who is 9 and just finished the 3rd grade.  He is super athletic and plays baseball, basketball, and soccer.  We have an Old English Sheepdog, Charlie, who is like our other child.  Hopefully at some point in the near future we will start prepping for another addition.

June Challenge...a little late

Yay, for Mrs Watson and Mrs. Hott (someone should tell me how to link my blog to others).  A June Challenge, I like!  Now I just need to catch up.

1. Family story – how did your parents meet, how many brothers/sisters, tell us what you want.
2. What do you drive? What is your dream car? 
3. Biggest indulgence 
4. Favorite snack? 
5. Do you have any pets? 
6. Name you picked out for your kids when you were younger. Bonus: share any name ideas you have now 
7. You’re in labor: drugs or no drugs. Why? 
8. If you had a choice – SAHM? 
9. What did you first notice about your spouse?
10. Tell me about your best friend. 
11. Describe your wedding. 
12. Perfect anniversary – describe it. 
13. What’s the most interesting vacation you have been on? 
14. First job 
15. First love 
16. What did you have for breakfast today? What do you normally have? 
17. Do you drink coffee? Cream/sugar/how do you drink your coffee? 
18. Describe your job
19. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? Why?
20. Favorite movie and why 
21. Any horrific events happen to you when you were young? 
22. What’s your favorite children’s book? 
23. If you had 100,000 that had to be donated to charity what would you do with it? 
24. What’s your biggest fear? 
25. Describe the contents of your purse. What kind of purse do you have?
26. Your house is on fire. What are your first 5 thoughts?
27. When you were younger, what job(s) did you want to have? 
28. Do you speak any other languages? When do you think a child should learn a new language?
29. Tell me the highlights of your college years. 
30. What’s one thing in your closet you wear when you have a nice occasion? Interpret that as a date night or important job event.

I don't think we are in Kansas Toto...

For those of you who may not have heard.....Missouri gets it's fair share of tornadoes.  There have been some major ones in the 11 years I have lived here.  2 years ago, one pretty much took out an entire terminal at the St Louis airport.  Friday night, one came a little to close to home for us...literally.

I was working my normal Friday night shift at Ann Taylor at West County Mall. Around 8:15 the security guards came by our store and told us we needed to get to the first floor.  We closed up, grabbed our phones and headed down.  The hall way by the bathrooms was way too crowded so we sat up against another store, as far as we could get out from under the glass sky lights.  I could see major lightning. I tried calling J to tell him we had to close the store but he didn't answer. A little while later, he texted me telling me he and our dog were in the basement and were having a hard time making a phone call.   He did say he thought our house was ok.  I knew things must have gotten bad for J to go to the basement.  He is always the guy standing out on the porch or in the garage watching the storms roll in. When I finally was able to talk to him, I found out he was ok first off, our house was ok, but we had no power.

After we were released back up to our store around 8:45 (and some lady was waiting for us to do a return...seriously)  We rushed to get the store looking decent, since we close at 9.  I was heading home by 10pm and had a hard time getting home.  The road I take of the page extension was pitch black because of the power outage.  Half way down, I had to turn around because a fallen tree was blocking my way.  Once I got home, J met me in the garage (he had to manually open it) with a flashlight.  

We were woken up around 2am with bright lights on....yay the power was back! That morning we went out and surveyed the damage.  We are lucky, only a leak in our new roof. I contacted the owner and let him know.  We did have other peoples siding and gutters in our trees.  I also think lightning struck the bush out front because of the way it fanned out.

Please keep the other people in the area in your prayers....there were a lot of houses destroyed.

J took this from our garage right before the wind started hissing

bush out front that I believe was struck by lightning

Too much in my head

I will start this post off by saying, I am finding it so hard to blog lately.  I guess sometimes I just feel like I do not have much to say in general, so that makes it even harder to type. By all means, I am doing well and for the most part happy with how busy life is right now, but I have this strange sense that something is missing.  I am not sure what is missing, but it has to be something.  Maybe it is all the rain we have been having.  I swear, it can be sunny all week (like it is right now as I look out my office window) and as soon as the weekend hits...BAM....thunderstorms both days.

Yes, I am thankful that with all this rain, J's new addition to his business, the lawn care, is booming, However, it is really taking a toll on my tanning activities, like pool time, boating, and talking the dog for walks/runs.


Work has been so busy with all the product shows, one after another.  This week, I am just finding it hard to get motivated to work. I had so much structure the past 2 months with set times for shows that now I am having a hard time focusing.  But I have been somewhat busy and my April numbers looked way better than any month in Q1.

My marriage is in a good place. J is super busy with work and that makes him a much more happy person.  Things are really doing well for BlairCo. Please continue to keep my family in your prayers for strength for him to continue growing.

Summer is almost here, which means......Summers with Peyton!!!!  I am looking forward to doing some fun things with him this summer when we have him every other week.  I am sure my posts will pick up!

My new ride

Well, things came to a head last week.  J has now opened the third and final (at least for now) branch of BlairCo Services, the lawn care side.  We bought a huge mower and trailer.  The problem with this is his Ford Fusion can not pull the trailer.  We were switching cars so he could used my 4Runner when I did not have product shows, but of course that finally caused problems last week.  He scheduled 10 lawns on wednesday and I had 2 product shows, needing my 4Runner.

Our quick solution was for me to drive my MIL's Durango.  When I got done with my shows we went over to Pappa Toyota to see J's buddy Mike, who is a sales man there.  I would have been perfectly happy in another 2003 4Runner. I just have loved my truck so much.  J says, only his wife would pick the exact same car for her new car. I say, don't rock the boat when you love something.  I was talked into a 2006 Sequoia. It is quite a bit larger than the 4Runner, but doesn't drive that way.  However, I really notice the difference when it comes to parking.  I have to back up and straighten myself out multiple times in each parking space. I am sure the people around me are thinking, that woman can't drive something that big.  I also didn't love the color, a goldish tan...hey I am a black or white gal, but it is starting to grow on me.  J tells me that in 2 years this will become a work vehicle for him too and will finally get a brand new car!

For now, just stay out of my way in parking lots.

Prayers needed

Like I said in my previous post, I am super proud of my husband for his 2 year sobriety. I say this again because I received a horrible call from my work BFF tonight.  She found her estranged husband dead this afternoon at his office.  Please pray for her and her 2 teenage children.  Pray that they are comforted in this awful time.

L and I hit it off immediately when I met her in Aruba at my first Sartorius sales meeting.  We bonded on the beautiful beach sipping cocktails and gossiping.  The surface work friendship really went deeper than that. I found out that our home lives were very similar.  Both of us have alcoholics for husbands, and both of our husbands own their own businesses.  I really felt a bond with her that I can not really explain.  She got me and I got her and to us things made sense.  I know that I am really blessed that once J decided to quit drinking, he was done.  L's husband on the other hand was not as lucky. I know he was in and our of rehab. I know L just had no idea how to even help him anymore.  L decided it was in her best interest to finally end their marriage just recently.  I know things were going to get rough before they got better.

However, I was not expecting the phone call I received tonight.  She had not heard from him in a few days, so she decided to go by his office.  She found him dead there.  He was cold, so she has no idea when he died or how he did. We guess he drank himself to death.  I feel helpless and I had not idea what to say to comfort her in her time of need.  Please pray for her and her family. I know this is not going to be an easy road ahead for her and her children.

Lots to Celebrate

J celebrated another few milestones last week.  Wednesday marked his 2 year sobriety anniversary and Friday was his 32 birthday.  I absolutely can not believe how far he has come in just 2 years and I am super super proud of him.  I am constantly amazed by his will power.  He just quit drinking cold turkey...same with smoking.  Hell, I just think about quitting diet coke, and I drink 2 cause they are on my mind.

BlairCo Services is doing awesome.  I know that all his hard work is starting to pay off...and we would not be where we are now, had he kept drinking.  I look back on a lot of my life and how things would have been completely different had he not made that choice 2 years ago.  For starters, I would  not be married to him and living in St. Charles. I doubt I'd have money in savings in the bank and I wouldn't know what it is like to have a part time child.

I know that is has not been easy and I am sure he still fights the urge to drink now and again, but I can honestly say that I do not worry about him going off drinking.  It has made my life traveling so much easier. I don't worry that he is passed out in a ditch on the side of the road., or worse even dead.  I go to bed each night knowing that he is where he says he is and that I won't come home to a broke husband hiding natty light cans from me.

J continues to inspire me.  I know that if I want to achieve something, I will.

Habitat for Humanity

Saturday was our church's Serve Day.  There were various organized activities to volunteer to help serve our community that day. J and I signed up for Habitat for Humanity.  I have always wanted to get involved in Habitat, and knew J would be a great asset to any group with all his experience rehabbing and building houses.  The problem was time.  The church group volunteers on Saturdays and that is my Ann Taylor day.  But I asked off for Serve day and J and I signed up to help.  I loved our youth mission trips when I was in high school so I thought I would enjoy Habitat, and I did!

However, I was not prepared for mud.  It has been raining constantly here, and I just assumed that we would be inside working on the house.  That was not the case.  The house our group was assigned to had basically just been started and the roof literally put on the day before (in the pouring down rain).  We were going to building the front porch.  Not a problem for me, since it seems every mission trip before involved me building a porch!  I must be an expert by now, right?  We wore old clothes, and layers, just like the info packet said to. However, I did not prepare for mud. I am not just talking about a little dirty yard. I mean the entire yard was mud.  The kind of mud that if you did not keep moving your feet, you'd lose your shoes from being stuck.  My poor feet were wet from the start.  I just hadn't planned on worrying about my knee doing habitat, but I had to worry about slipping and falling.

J was amazing. It is so nice to see him in an element he is just naturally good at.  I don't think we would have gotten as far as we did with out him.  Our group leader would have had to do all the measuring and cutting on everything, but trusted jay to measure and mark the support beams and go to town with out hovering around.  I was good at holding and retrieving tools from the trailer.  I also got to start all the nails for J to nail 2 2X4s together.  J was not impressed with my hammering ability.  He said he'd never seen anyone sit down to hammer.  I thought I was cute.....  I did much better with the joyce nails to hold in the support brackets.  A kept thinking to myself...I hope Jesus was a better carpenter than I am.  We had a great day together and hopefully we can volunteer again.

Shows and more shows

This week marks my third week out of nine for product shows. I am exhausted already.  Let me back up....I sell laboratory products and services to mainly academic, biotech, and pharma.  I am what they call a manufacture's rep, meaning we make product and I can either sell it direct or through a distribution channel.  Around this time of year, either my distribuition channels or the universities put on vendor product shows which basically calls for me to haul in my balances and other products, set them up and then wait for people to come by and hopefully want to learn more about my products.  In previous jobs, this just involved a tablecloth and a lot of product literature. Now, I haul in mulitiple tupperware containers filled with equipment and such. I am now one of the first to arrive and the last to leave.

I have already been in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Columbia, MO.  I have shows in St Louis next week, then Kansas, then St. Louis again. I used to love doing product shows and now I am already burnt out. You do not want to miss them because you do not want your competition to get all of the leads if there are any.
This is an idea of what I am up to day after day for the next month and a half.

Keeping my head above water

There have been numerous times in the last month that I have opened up my blog wanting to post, and just simply find that the words escape me.  At one time, I would have called this writers block, today, I just call it stressed and not very sure how to structure my thoughts.  Work has my head spinning....and not in the good kind of way.  I told my manager last week that I needed "Firefighter" added to my title on my business card.  All I seemed to do last week was put out fire after fire, or at least try to.  What should take a mere phone call turns into a 2-3 hour ordeal and I then do not have time to take care of other important stuff. My numbers were dismal for January and February and I am not sure how March is shaping up.  I don't know where to start to get things on track. 

More and more it seems that I sit and stare at my laptop or my huge list of things I need to do.  This is so counter productive because I actually get nothing done, but a good stare into space.  Maybe it is the cold weather....I do not know.  I just seem very over whelmed lately. This leads to not sleeping well, neck and back pain, and my favorite...headaches.  When I get stressed or over whelmed I seem to withdraw and spend more and more time in my own head...which is not always the best place to be.  I guess it would be nice if I had a big "win" or sale come through....or even a good break through with some of the accounts I have been working on.

Sorry for being down in the dumps....I am super ready for warm weather.

A Ground Hog Day Wedding

I was a very responsible person, which in my company speaks volumes.  Maybe responsible is not the right word because I think most all people I work with are responsible.  Maybe the right word is self restraint or self control.  I made sure not to get overly drunk or wasted for my last night in PR.  People were doing shot after shot of tequilla and I said no.  I did stay out late but I was good to go with my 6am shuttle to the airport. I was tired, but 2 movies later, I was in Dallas for BFF's wedding weekend!  You could not ask for better Dallas weather for the first week of February. It was warm and sunny! 

I landed at DFW. My wonderful mother picked me up and we drove straight to Love Field airport to pick up my husband.  It was nice to see both of them and we had a nice lunch,  We got ready and headed to McKinney for rehersal dinner.  I had not seen Sara's parents since high school so that was nice to see everyone again.  Sara was very composed and I thought was handling everything just perfectly.  Their singer was going through his songs and I just kept telling J, he looks so much like David Jones from my parents church.  I am sure J was ready to kill me because I kept saying it over and over...he would have no earthly idea who I was talking about.  Sure enough, it was David Jones. His wife is family to Randall.  Small world. I tell this story because I ALWAYS wanted David Jones to sing at my wedding, O Holy night, is my favorite. He has a fabulous voice, but my mother told me there would be no "O Holy Night" at a wedding (side note, I'd like to think my wedding night was a holy one :)

Dinner was at Rick's Chophouse. It was a neat place and I love the room the dinner was held in. Randall's family is just as nice as can be and you can really see the love they all have for each other and how welcoming they were to Sara and her family. I love them even more because they are Razorbacks. The food was so good too!  I wish I had a better picture but damn string was in the way.

Their wedding was beautiful and I think I did a pretty damn good job making sure everyone signed her guest book pages.  Sara was a gorgeous bride and I know she was so ready to marry Randall.  They had a lot of people come to support them and share in their joy.  I must say the DJ was pretty freaking amazing.  It was an older man who played the key board and sang all the songs. He did Usher, Frank Sinatra, Sir Mix A Lot, Journey, and everything in between.  They had flown him in from San Francisco.  I wish I had more time to hang with the bride and groom, but they did a great job working the crowd and speaking with everyone.

Sara and Randall got married on Ground Hog's day.  We had talked with them at Christmas on how they wanted to get anounced multiple times to the same music to play on the movie Ground Hogs Day. I thought it was hilarious.  In the spirit of the day, I bought the same card 3 times and signed it the same way on each. On the last card I wrote Happy Ground Hog's day as well.  I am not usually creative but I thought I did pretty good on this one.  Also I am not one that usually likes to give a check for a present, but with all the travel that was just easier.  J's sister and her husband gave us a check with an amount indicative of our wedding date, so I did the same for them. I hope they understood the weird amount :) I have some pictures to share from the night.

Mr. and Mrs. Randall Watson

Mr and Mrs Randall Watson.....again

First Dance

PSHS 98 reunion

J had a great time....no seriously

Love them and can't wait for our 2013 adventures

Puerto Rico

I must say, I was quite excited to go to our National Sales meeting.  First, I love  *most of the people that I work with, and I always love seeing them. Second, I actually enjoy a limited amount of product training.  And thirdly, we were going to Puerto Rico.  I ported in Puerto Rico when I was on a cruise my senior year of high school, but we only had limited time. J and I have talked about vacationing in PR also.  (He likes the idea of going "out of the country" but staying in a United States territory.  However, I was not as impressed with PR as I had hoped;

Getting there was fairly easy.  I took a 6am flight out of St. Louis and connected in Miami.  I had a very interesting flight to Miami. I had thrown on my Blues hat and probably should have worn my Cardinals hat.  There was a huge group of people on my flight to Miami that were going on a Cardinals cruise.  I was even on the plane with the manager of the Cardinals Mike Matheny.  He is a very good looking man...side note. I arrived in PR and took the shuttle 30 minutes to Rio Grande, PR where our Westin hotel was located.  I arrived a day early to meet up with another co worker friend of mine.  Quite a few other people had the same plan.  I love warm weather and I love the beach.  I was disappointed in the sand not being white sand, but really...that sounds quite snobby of me. 

Lee Ann and I did very well....we worked out every morning but one morning that we were there.  This is a good thing because I know that I ate and drank more calories than I was burning. I was also proud that we ate cereal and fruit for breakfast and skipped the yummy omlets.  The food was just ok, so that helped also.  The PR beer did go down quite easy, just like some very yummy Puerto Rician Falls rum drink.  The meeting was fun, however, I did miss the fact that there was nothing around us.  In Aruba, we were in a highly populated tourist area with other bars and night life.  Here we had a lobby bar and that was it.  I missed dancing this year.  I thought I'd post a few pics of our time.. 

Rest in Peace

I have had an amazing last few weeks, with Puerto Rico, and BFF's wedding.  I will blog about that later.

Last night, I was doing some catching up on Facebook since I had not really read much due to being super busy in PR and in Texas.  I know that if you don't see something pretty soon after it is posted you may miss something. And I did.  Last night I learned that Terry Cobb passed away thursday due to complications from the spinal cord injury he suffered when he was thrown from his car at age 16.  I had not kept up with him 100% in the past years, but was friends with him and his sister (who was in my class) on facebook and before facebook on myspace.  My heart dropped into my stomach last night when I read the news and I started to cry.  Terry was an exteremely funny person and was super cute.  He was also pretty much my first "love" and boyfriend.  He took me to my senior prom and always had a way of making me laugh. 

He was a grade older than me in high school (even though I was 2 weeks older).  And BFF and I would swoon over him as he walked down the hallways of Shepton High School. I even think I still have the notebook we wrote back and forth in about him and the transitive property, and inside joke.  He was on the wrestling team and we went to some matches.  He was tall and was just super cute.  He was thrown from his car during his junior year, January and around superbowl, if I remember correctly.  He survived but was paralyzed from the waist down. I ran into him my senior year one weekend night on the patio of Friday's (image that!)  He asked for my number and that was that. I even wore his high school ring.  I would go to his house for lunch (we had an open campus).  I guess we may have made out more than ate lunch......  We were on and off most of senior year. He came to some of my dance performances, PDF and clogging.  I remember he loved David Lee Roth and was a pretty spectacular kisser.  He took me to prom.  He didn't seem to let his handicap get in his way.

I guess it was hard to read that you first 'love" had died.  It put a lot of life into perspective. We are getting older. He is not the first person my age to have died and he won't be the last, but he was my first love.  I hope he is running in the clouds, driving fast stick shift cars, and listing to Van Halan (the DLR years).  I pray he found peace and is not hurting any longer. 

I did find some good pictures of us last night and I am sure I have even more at my parents house.

Lunch on homecoming day...not my date, but met up with me afterwards

Prom....not a good quality picture

This was at one of my clogging performances....I think the picture got wet at some point in the last 15 years