Recap: One Year Anniversary

So, I am a little late but May 25, 2009 was our one year anniversary. Wow, time FLIES! I can without hesitation say that it has been the best year EVER. Alec is an amazing husband and I am so thankful for all that he does. We have so much fun together regardless if we are sitting at a game of some sort or going on our daily runs. He is my world and I love that I get to go on this journey with him. Alec, thank you for being so kind, loving, supportive, motivating and encouraging. I love you.

Now, here's a quick recap of our fun Anniversary/Memorial Day weekend:

The fun started Friday evening. We headed out to Plano to hang out with Brian and Carrie (I LOVE that y'all live here) and Carrie's parents were actually in town so we got to spend some time with them also. We love them and their new puppy Bailey, she is ADORABLE! We ate and hung out for a while before heading home.

Saturday during the day Alec and I both did our favorite things without each other. Alec played golf and I went shopping. He had fun and I got some cute stuff, so I'd say that worked out great. That night he took me to Pappa's Steakhouse for our Anniversary dinner. One word: AMAZING. It really was very good. We both had steak and it might have been the best steak I've ever had. We ate entirely too much but loved every second of it :)

Sunday we went to the Byron Nelson. We ended up at the 8th green and watched all the leaders come through. We both had a really good time. It is just fun to be there and get to see all the golfers up close. I also decided that I really like the golf clap, however, there are times that I think about yelling out or whooping or being "that" person that yells, "GET IN THE HOLE!" haha. We topped off the day with Uncle Julio's with Molly and Andy, it was good to catch up, we hadn't seen them in a while.

Finally, Monday rolled around. We spent the afternoon at one of my FAVORITE places to be on a sunny day, the Ranger game. The lost, pretty bad actually, but oh well. We were smack dab in the middle of a lot of Yankee fans. It's safe to say that if you like the Yankees, I don't like you. I'm kidding, I'm kidding (sort of). They really were awful. I wanted to say, "Welcome to Texas, a friendly state where we greet each other with smiles and don't use the "F" word in front of small children." haha. We ended up having a lot of fun, it was a great way to spend our Anniversary/Memorial day :)

I hope everyone had a great week, this time last year we were headed home from a week in paradise. (Playa del Carmen, Mexico) I could use another vacation like that right about now. We've had another great weekend, we are headed to the Ranger game again today... I love baseball season!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

This One is for Me.

It has been a while, I know... and really what I am about to blog about is really for me because I am going to want to look back in a couple of years and read this and laugh all over again. 

For those of you that know me, I'm a planner. I love to plan or more so, I love to plan things that  I know will make other people happy. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Well, this past weekend was going to be a busy one, we were MOVING. Ah, the dreaded move, it was going to take place on Saturday. Saturday happened to also be Alec's birthday.... so what did I do? I plan a surprise party for the Friday before. I sent out the evite to all of our best friends and strangely almost everyone could come and on top of that, Alec had NO IDEA that I had planned a party. The plan was to go to his favorite place to eat, Pappasito's and then head back to his parents house and play games for a while. 

Friday came and I told him I was taking him to dinner but we were going to keep it low key since we had to move all day the next day, well, we walk into Pappasito's and tell the girl I had reservations for Chelsea, her response... "oh, table for 14?" Sooo... that is where the surprise ended, haha. Either way, he didn't know up till that point. Jordan, Jenn, Molly, Andy, Allie, Ross, Brian, Carrie, Geoff, Russell, Ashley, Alec and I were all at dinner. We had a great time and around 10pm finally head to his parents house. At this point, we should have just had cupcakes and gone to bed, but instead we stayed up until 3am playing card games..... GREAT IDEA!

We had to be up at 7:30 to get the U-haul, let me tell you, 7:30 was NOT looking good for either one of us. We stayed up too late, we might have had one too many drinks.... great idea Chelsea. The rest of the day sort of went down hill from there. We picked the U-haul up around 9:30 and got to the apartment around 10. Brian and Carrie were going to meet us there at noon so I had plenty of time to get everything ready to go, that is if I were moving faster than a snail. However, we just kept going.

Brian and Carrie got there and we think this is going to be ok. There are 4 of us and we got a dolly and furniture mover, but wait, the U-haul won't fit in the parking garage so we have to go down the hall, down the elevator, down another hall and outside?! Oh, and we aren't all feeling 100%. It started out ok...however, as the day progressed we noticed the sky get darker and darker and that is when the rain started. We were a good 4 hours into the packing process, we weren't about to stop there, so we once again, just kept going. By the end of the loading process we were drenched. Carrie and I looked like we jumped in the pool, that is how wet our hair was, at one point, we were all huddled IN the u-haul because it was raining so hard we couldn't even make a run for it. By the end of it I think we were all a little delirious, this probably isn't all that abnormal but Carrie and I at one point were running down the hall with squeaky feet, singing. I'm sure the residents LOVED US. It's really strange how much fun we were having while being miserable at the same time. haha.

Then, we made the trek to Irving, the U-haul, the mini, and the Jeep, packed full. Allie and Ross met us there, it took us 5 hours to load it, 30 mins. to unload it, haha. We literally pulled the truck up and we all just took off getting stuff out of the vehicles. Needless to say, Alec and I were dead asleep by 10....

only to wake up and have to go BACK out to Garland because the TV wouldn't fit in the Jeep and we still had some little stuff. Russell came to the rescue, he met us out there with is parents van and we got it all loaded up. We finally got EVERYTHING into the townhouse by 4 on Sunday. I did some unpacking, but headed back to the Sowards and went to bed, I was sore and exhausted. 

So, here is my shout out portion of the blog. First and most important, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEC! You are without a doubt my best friend and I love that I get to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you. I can't wait to celebrate 100 more birthdays (ok, maybe not 100, maybe 74). There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God that he blessed me with you in my life, as I always say, you are my world :) Hope you enjoyed your party.

Secondly, Carrie and Brian. There isn't a lot of people that would haul all of our stuff down the hall, down the elevator, down another hall, and out through the rain.... I'm pretty sure I tell Carrie this everyday, but I have no idea what I did before y'all moved to Texas. We love y'all and we owe you big time, as you said, I imagine there will be many more moves for both of us, the favor WILL be returned.

I know that probably wasn't as entertaining to read, but I just know I will want to remember it, so sorry! I will post a real one soon. We aren't settled in the new place just yet, have I mentioned I hate moving, there are a lot of boxes still left to be unpacked. I will tackle that this weekend because hopefully my parents will be staying with us :)

Hope everyone is doing great!!! Happy Hump Day!

Whoa, it's been a while!

I can't believe that over a month has passed since my last blog! I don't even know if anyone still reads this thing, but I will try to catch you up!

We've been VERY busy lately but things are really good. Work is going good for both of us, keeping us busy as usual, but once again, we couldn't be more thankful for the jobs we have. Here is what we've been up to:

SETH AND AMY CAME INTO TOWN! Alec and I haven't seen them since our wedding, so we were very excited to see them. We didn't get to spend a lot of time with them because of work, but it was SO good to have all of us back together again. We went out to Uptown one night while we were there to celebrate Molly being done with her COMPS (which she PASSED by the way!!). We had a great time and wish they would move to Texas :) 

Now, if you read Carrie Jo's blog these will look familiar, if not, here is a recap. She found this cake recipe online and we decided we wanted to try it out. Amazing huh?? I've documented it here because it is so pretty! Now, we added one very wonderful ingredient and that is Fruity Pebbles. That's right, we sprinkled fruity pebbles on the outside of the cake. We actually made it for Allie for her birthday party at Kona Grill and even the chef had to come out and get a piece! How cool is that?!

On a side note, this is a Weight Watchers cake. In NO WAY does Allie need a weight watchers cake, we didn't quite realize it till mid-baking. So, the ONLY sugar in the cake is the sugar that comes in the cake mix. There was no eggs or oil and the icing was cool whip (light) mixed with fat free sugar free vanilla pudding mix... and it was delicious. I'm not lying, ask the birthday girl. Nobody would have guessed!

Here are my two wonderful sisters at Black Finn for Allie's bday:

Alec and I recently had a great date night. He took me to Kenichi which is downtown and within walking distance to the House of Blues where the Eli Young Band concert was. The sushi was AMAZING (so was the Kenichi Cosmo) and the concert was probably one of the best I've ever been to. If you don't know who the Eli Young Band is, check them out on itunes, I haven't heard a song of theirs that I don't like. We had so much fun!

FINALLY.... We are moving!!! We have literally spent the last 5 weekends searching for a new place. Once we decided we weren't ready to buy, I got busy looking for places to rent. This place is exactly what we were looking for. It is a townhouse and it is, according to GoogleMaps, 2.8 miles away from work! I've been driving 65 miles round trip and starting May 1st, I'll be driving less than 6. Oh my goodness!! Alec is currently still auditing in the building across the highway from my office, so it will be great for him too. We are excited and can't wait, we will have a guest room so people can visit us! (Mom and Dad, I'm talking to you!)

Welcome to 6839 Verde!

I think we are caught up. I have today off (thank goodness) and I get to spend it CLEANING. Alec and I are waking up and driving to Abilene tomorrow. I am so excited. For starters I haven't seen my mom and dad in too long, I miss them :( We are also going to watch ACU play baseball. They are having a great season and we want to go cheer on the few that we still know that are playing. And finally, we are going to the Beehive for dinner. When we lived in Abilene we would dream about living in Dallas because there are SO MANY places to eat in Dallas, now, we CRAVE the Beehive, Perini's, La Pop, The Homeplace, and Copper Creek. I just miss Abilene and it is going to be nice to get away for the weekend.

Hope everyone is doing well! I'd say I am going to try and blog more, but there isn't a whole lot going on right now, haha! Oh also, I can't believe I didn't post a picture of Tucker. He is getting SO big. He is excited to move too. He needs more space to run around and our new community has a running/walking trail that he will love. He is doing great, we love him! (Just in case you were wondering :) )

Time flies when you spend no time at home....

I feel like Alec and I have been on the go non-stop for the past month! I won't lie though, it has all been fun and exciting stuff!

I'll start with the most exciting. Alec and I FINALLY said good-bye to his truck! We had been waiting patiently to find exactly what we were looking for and finally took the plunge and bought our first new car. It is a 2009 SRT8 Grand Jeep Cherokee. If you've never seen what it looks like, google it, I couldn't figure out how to put a link in and haven't taken any pictures. If you are into cars you will get why it rocks! This is another time in my life where I have to go back and tell my parents they were right. They were awesome enough to buy me two cars growing up and yet I can still remember asking for a new car and they always told me that it would feel so good to buy our first new car on our own. They couldn't have been more right. Alec and I have been working so hard since we graduated from college and it feels good to know that nobody gave us this car, it is OURS! I couldn't be more proud. :) Don't ask whose it is, we still don't know... we share :)

For more exciting news we have our plane tickets to Italy!!!! The only place outside of the US I have traveled to is Mexico, while I do love it there, I CANNOT wait to get to Italy. We are going September 16 - 23rd. I am looking forward to getting to go with Alec, the FOOD and of course the WINE! We are still in the planning stages for where we are going to stay while we are there but I know without a doubt we can't go wrong. If you have ever been and have some suggestions for places to stay, eat, see, etc. let me know!!

Other than that we've been enjoying Brian and Carrie living here and meeting them for dinner whenever we want, spending time with Molly and Andy and hanging out with Russell and Geoff now that Geoff moved back to Texas. All in all, things are good. Busy season is so close to being over (THANK GOODNESS) and I am starting to feel like I've got things under control at work.

Here are a few pictures from the last week:

We've got some fun stuff going on right now, I'm counting down the days till this Saturday though because.......

I GET TO SEE MY PARENTS!!! I miss my mom and dad :( I'm looking forward to getting big hugs from both of them and getting to talk to them without a phone up to my ear. I also get to see Brandi and Andrew, Alec and I don't get to see them enough either. So, I am beyond excited!

I hope everyone has a good week, at least Monday is behind us!!!

Busy Season and the New Job

Let me just start by saying April cannot get here fast enough. Busy season is every bit as "busy" as I thought it would be and then some. Alec and I are both so thankful to both have jobs right now, so I don't want anyone to think I'm complaining, but it's kind of rough right now. I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and Alec isn't getting home until around 11pm... so, you can easily see that doesn't leave much time during the day to spend with each other. It is a strange feeling to really only spend time with each other on Saturday and Sunday and those days FLY by, but there is an end in sight and we both know it is worth it. He couldn't possibly know how thankful I am for all of his hard work, it is definitely appreciated. 

As far as my new job is going, it's going great. I'm learning a lot. I am the one and only internal recruiter, we currently have 19 open positions.... so if anyone has healthcare experience, email me your resume, haha. It's a little overwhelming right now just because it stresses me out to have all of those open positions, but I'm working with a lot of great physicians and meeting a lot of great people, it's going to be a good experience and who knows where it will take me. I'm not going to lie, I'm EXHAUSTED! Last week it was all exciting and so I didn't really feel how tired I was, this week, it set in a little. However, if you read this regularly, before I lost my previous job my New Year's resolution was to workout in the morning, and I'd like to proudly say I hopped right back on it! My goal is to workout 3 mornings during the week and do the other two workouts on the weekend and so far so good. I'm proud of myself :)

As if work isn't enough right now, we are also starting our search to move. I HATE MOVING. I don't like anything about it, packing, unpacking, hauling stuff... I don't like it. However, it is ridiculous that both of us are driving so far away every single day. We are meeting with our realtor on Saturday and she has some places in the Valley Ranch/Las Colinas area to look at. We're really excited to find something new and MUCH closer to work. Our lease isn't up until June, so we have plenty of time to find something we really like.... I will try to keep you updated.

Life is pretty crazy right now, but God is good, I know that we'll make it through our first busy season and find somewhere to live... no need to stress out about it. A few random things:

a. I MISS MY MOM AND DAD! I think Christmas was the last time I saw them, that is terrible. We do have plans to head that direction after busy season to see them, eat at the Beehive, and catch some ACU Baseball. (I still get sad thinking about baseball season)

b. Brian and Carrie living here is every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be! It is seriously AWESOME! Last weekend we met them for drinks and stayed out until almost 2am! We just don't do that. I can't believe we lived in different states for so long, that will never happen again!

c. We might be doing something fun this weekend, I'll let you know next week if we did or not. :)

d. Alec and I are planning a trip to celebrate him being done with busy season, initially we were going to Boston... however, I can't take the day off we had originally planned on, so if anyone has a good weekend trip, let me know, I love suggestions.

Ok, I think I am done. I hope everyone is having a WONDERFUL week.... I can't tell you how excited I am that tomorrow is Friday. Have an AWESOME weekend everyone!!

Time for the Good News!

After hours of praying and more praying, I accepted a job offer today!

It is sort of strange how it all worked out, I did my summer internship for school with them and now I am back. The company is MedSynergies and great things are happening with them. It is going to be a learning experience and I'm looking forward to what God has in store for me there.

This job also changes things for Alec and I. He spends most of his time working in Las Colinas and now, I will also be working in Las Colinas. We live a good 30 miles away, so needless to say, a move will also take place. Our lease is up in May, so we've got to get busy looking for something in that area. We'll see what happens!

I hope everyone is having a great week, it is FRIDAY THE 13TH! Be afraid, if you believe in that kind of stuff. 

Exciting Times!

When I was initially laid off I was really upset. Because I loved that job so much?? Absolutely not, because it was part of my routine, I was comfortable there, and to be honest with you I said I was going to leave after a year, but I'm not sure I would have. I'm not one that adjusts to change quickly and easily, I like being in my comfort zone, even if it means being unhappy every day at work. 

Alec said all along that me being laid off was the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to get out of my comfort zone and go find something that I could actually enjoy doing. He couldn't have been more right. I'm not going to elaborate too much, but I am interviewing at a couple of places and I'm pretty excited about the opportunities that are out there. I don't like interviewing, it is awkward and uncomfortable, but I've realized that I worked really hard to get my degree, and I worked really hard at Professional Alternatives, and that I am a good employee. I spent the first couple of weeks networking and getting my resume out there, and now that interviews are being scheduled I'm getting really excited. So... I will keep you updated as soon as I feel comfortable or know something more about the jobs I am talking about.

On top of job searching I have also been doing a lot of reading. I am a book nerd, proud of it! I've read three books in the last month and have a list a mile long of books that I'd like to read. 

The last book I read was:

I have to tell you why I bought this book. I remember my dad saying he was reading this or had read it, and I think he and I like the same types of books. I'm not about to give a book review or anything, but I'm glad I read it.... it was sort of depressing, but I feel smarter for reading it. hahaha. 

My next book was:

I heard soooo much about this book, so I decided to finally read it. It's a great story and definitely worth reading. 

My favorite book so far:

I LOVE this book. Seriously, I've thought about just reading it again. It is a true story and it is so amazing how God works in our lives. If you haven't read it, go buy it and read it. It isn't long, but get your tissues, I found myself curled up on the couch bawling my eyes out. It is an awesome story!

If you have any suggestions for books to add to the list, please tell me!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Alec didn't have to work this weekend, so we had an entire weekend to spend with each other! It was great! Spent a lot of time with friends and nothing beats that!

I have to include this, I got a little grief for rooting for the Steelers yesterday. Most of the grief came from the fact that if the Steelers won, they would beat the Cowboys in the most won. Well, lets get one thing out of the way, the Cowboys didn't deserve that anyway, maybe, just maybe this will motivate them to play as a team and win another one. They need something to whip them into shape and make them play like grown professionals. So, here is why I am happy the Steelers won:

1. I had Hines Ward and Willie Parker on my fantasy team, Alec had Ben R. so we spent the season watching all of their games anyway. (If you don't play Fantasy football, you wont get it)

2. Mike Tomlin, he is an awesome coach and seems like an awesome guy. I think it is pretty cool that he won a SuperBowl.

3. As Coach Tomlin said last night, they may not earn "Style Points" but they get the job done... that is exactly how it should be!

4. Who likes Arizona anyway?? Maybe this will make Kurt Warner hang up his XXXXL jersey. 

Ok, I'm off of my sports soap box, but I had to get that off my chest!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!