I'm back!

First, I'd like to say I am sorry my blog has been bare and boring for so long.  I got super busy with the holidays this year.  I had an entire week of Christmas parties.  Then, I had an insanely busy work week catching up and dealing with some big legal matters.  Then, suddenly it was Christmas.  Then, we had Trina.  Then, I had to play catch up at work again because I took a week off while Trina was here.  And, now I finally have some breathing room.  So, I am back and plan to have much more regular blog posts from now on.

What has been going on while I've been gone?

Work Christmas Parties:  The 15th and 17th were our annual work Christmas parties.  Wednesday was up in Port Huron and Friday was at our Livonia branch.  This is the first time I can remember ever having a holiday party on a Friday, which as the corporate attorney I was not happy with.  My company still provides alcohol to the party-goers, so I was concerned about our party kicking off the weekend.  Turns out, I worried unnecessarily and our customers were very responsible.  This was also the first year I remember having a party at Porn Huron.  That store is quite a distance from the Metro area, so it generally does not make it into the party rotation.  I was surprised by the number of people we had show up to that party, and while it was definitely a smaller party that I am used to, it was quite successful.  My company gave out some amazing prizes for their raffles.  There are two different give aways.  First, the chest.  All customers are mailed a key with the flyer advertising the party.  They bring the key to the party and try it on the lock of the chest.  If their key opens the chest, they pick a number out of the chest and win the prize on the table with that number.  We had a table FULL of goodies including GPS units, fishing poles, Cabela's gift certificates, power saws, tool kits, etc.  Second, we have a raffle.  Everyone that attends the party receives a ticket, and we raffled off two different things:  Red Wings tickets and a 55" flat screen TV (Port Huron had the tickets and a 40" flat screen TV).  The guy in Port Huron that won the TV was hilarious, he completely freaked out he was so excited.  All in all, the parties were a huge success.  A lot of good food, good conversation, and good times.

Family Christmas Party:  As always, this is one of my favorite events of the year.  Almost all of our family was able to attend.  Santa, as always, was hilariously crazy.  The kids absolutely LOVED it!  We ate a lot of food and talked the night away.  I forgot my camera, so we used my mom's camera for all of the pictures.  I haven't stolen them yet from her.  Once I do, I'll post some on here for your viewing pleasure.

Christmas:  It was definitely nice and low key.  Ryan and I hung out at home together on Christmas Eve.  I opened my presents from him, which were absolutely fantastic.  My husband knows me so well :)  It was really nice to just cuddle up on the couch and relax with him.  Christmas Day we slept in and then headed over to my parents' house to open our presents together.  We had a great time there and even had some Chinese take-out for dinner a la Christmas Story!

Trina:  The day after Christmas started bright at early.  We were on the road and on our way to Marquette at 5 a.m.  The trip was slow going at the beginning because we hit some pretty nasty weather near home.  We got there around 12:30, picked up Trina, had lunch and then headed home.  Trina couldn't wait to open her presents, so when we got home around 9:15 p.m., we allowed her to open them.  She was pretty excited about the stuff she got and immediately tore into it.  Once I get the pictures uploaded to my computer, I'll post some here.  Monday was quite the hectic day as it started out with all of the warning lights going off on my grandpa's car and Trina vomiting every where.  I ended up having a sick kid for a few days, so we spent a lot of time hanging out in bed playing games and watching the boob-tube.  By Wednesday, Trina was feeling better, so we hit up the Rainforest Cafe for dinner:

I was surprised at how much she remembered from the last time we went in Arizona (3 years ago).  She was super excited about EVERYTHING.  She made wishes in the alligator pond, and made a keepsake penny, she got a snake and bag of rocks, and was totally pumped over being able to order their volcano dessert.  The kids love the dessert because it comes with a sparkler in the top.  She was disappointed that the frog didn't come out in costume this time, but she did have a lot of fun pointing out the different animals hiding around the restaurant.  Then, since we were at Great Lakes Crossing, we decided to wander around the mall for a while.  Trina ended up convincing us to shop at the Disney and Sanrio stores.  She'd never seen an entire store dedicated to Hello Kitty before and was completely in awe.  She discovered the "bad" Hello Kitty there, Kuromi, and loved it so we got her a new Kuromi pencil case for school.  Then, on Thursday we hung out with Savana all day.  The three of us girls headed up to 12 Oaks for the annual Build-a-Bear Workshop visit.  We ate some delicious cupcakes from Just Baked (the red velvet is amazing), did some shopping at Justice and Claire's and then it was time to head home to get ready for dinner.  The girls changed into their new matching outfits from Justice and we headed up to Chuck E Cheese to meet Eddie, Ashley, and Ryan.  The girls had a blast, as always, and loved their ribs from Texas Roadhouse:

After dinner, the girls wanted to have a sleep over with Aunt Ashley, so they convinced grandpa to give her Friday off.  So, we went home and played some Disney Sing It and Pop Singstar.  Friday afternoon we headed to my parents' house for Trina's absolute favorite New Year's Eve party.  She loves it so much that if we even suggest doing something different she gets all upset.  Ashley, Eddie, and Savana all came over and we rang in the New Year together.  Again, I'll put some NYE photos up once I upload them onto my computer.  Saturday was a nice lazy day hanging out together.  And, finally, Sunday was the trip back to Marquette to drop Trina off. 

What's New:

• Vegas is finally booked and we'll be out there for my birthday.  I was super excited to get my early birthday present last night -- front row tickets to The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil!!!  I am completely and totally excite for this!  I remember going to Mystere when I was a freshman in high school and it was one of the best shows I have ever been to.  How could this get any better?  The Beatles PLUS Cirque du Soleil!
• Florida is booked for April.  We're staying in a villa in Lake Buena Vista and I am super excited because we have absolutely NOTHING (except my cousin's wedding) planned for our 6 day trip.
• This coming weekend we're heading to the Auto Show and dinner in the D with Jill & Aaron.  We haven't seen them in a couple months so we're really excited to get together!
• Next weekend Ben will be in town visiting.  He's making his second annual I'm Bad Tour of the US and will be heading on thru to visit us on his way up on Minnesota.  I'm excited his coming the 21st because the International Ice Festival in Plymouth is that weekend and I think he'll get a real kick out of seeing all of the ice sculptures!

And, I think that's all I have for now!