Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I had a wonderful day today, despite the weather! The ladies that I work with gave me a cute card and a great cake. We actually dove into the cake before I even had time to take a picture of it! Then this afternoon I got this wonderful surprise.

One of my sweet friends and roommates from college sent me these. They are so pretty and the ribbon ended up much matching my card from the work ladies perfectly!

After work, I changed clothes and headed to Bizys where I was supposed to be meeting Hillary and some other friends for dinner. Well, when I got there my family and some other people from my church were there for a semi-surprise party for me!

The group on the left is my friend from church Liz, my grandmother, aunt, uncle and grandpa.

The group on the right is Sarah, Holly, Hillary, me, Jeff, Joe.

While we were waiting on the food, I went ahead and opened gifts and I got some great ones!

**WARNING** The boys had my camera and were taking pictures of the gift opening. These are certainly NOT some of the most flattering pictures of me, but it's the thought that counts and they make me laugh!

Hillary gave me the CUTEST travel coffee mug EVER!!!! She knows me well and , as you can tell, I was really excited about it!

Ok, you can't say I didn't warn you about the pictures! I have no idea what I was saying or why in the world I was making that face!!!! But the gift is a portable radio to take to the baseball games so that I can listen to Chuck call the games. Woohoo! If only the weather hadn't made the game tomorrow get canceled I would be ready to go!

I had the cutest cards given to me! One of them had a gift card to Bath and Body Works in it which I cannot wait to go shopping with!

After we ate dinner and some yummy cobbler, we decided to take some group photos. Sarah, Me, Holly and Hillary

John, Me, Jeff, and Joe

Sarah, John, Me, Jeff, Holly, Joe and Hillary

After the photos and some more laughs, we looked out the windows and decided it was time to call it a night! It was snowing gigantic snowflakes!!! It was really pretty and I'm glad that it held off until the end of the party. I had such a great time! All I can say about today is that I have the BEST friends and family in the world!!! There is no better birthday present than that!

Frustrating Friday

I started my Friday off by having to weigh in at JC and since I haven't been able to work out in FOREVER with this bummed knee, the scales are not moving like I want them too! I tried not to let it ruin my day because I knew that I was going to go to Bizys during my lunch break to watch the first part of the Razorback baseball game. The game was off to a great start but I had to head back to work. I wasn't too worried because I knew it would be on the radio. Well, much to my dismay, it was not on the station it normally is but on one that I can barely pick up in my car and can't at all at work. I finally found some random AM station that was super staticy but I could hear enough to keep up with what was happening and it wasn't going well for the Hogs. I had to leave work before the game was over to go have an MRI done on the previously metioned bummed knee. I wanted to be super cool like Hillary and Kelly and take a picture of myself at the Dr.'s office, but they are kind of picky about what you take in the room since they stick you in a gigantic magnet! So, this will have to do instead...not nearly as cool I know!

I have the great fortune of being one of the people that can feel the MRI. The technician said that some people can, but most can't. Since this is my 4th MRI to have done in my lifetime, I knew what I was getting into and was dreading every minute of it. Basically for 30 minutes my leg is tied down in a basket looking thing and it feels like millions of little hot pokers are sticking my knee over and over. I also can feel things moving around inside my knee. Sooooo strange! After the test was finished, I got the best news ever!!! Not about my knee, unfortunately I won't know anything about that until Thursday. I had a voicemail from my dad that said the HOGS WON with a 2 run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning! I cannot believed I missed that, but so happy for the win. So, to celebrate the victory and the relief that the test and this crazy day was over I treated myself to an early birthday present!

Cinnamoo ice cream with fudge in a waffle cone! Maggie Moos sent me a birthday coupon for a free ice cream cone. I couldn't wait until Monday to use it! Hummm...maybe this is part of why the scales aren't looking so good!

Dinner Theatre

This weekend the youth group at my church put on a dinner theatre and Bizys was asked to cater the event. For Friday night's presentation, we had to have food prepared for 120 people. We had the tables set with salads by the time people arrived for the show. After the first act, we had to clear the tables, plate the food, and get the entrees on the tables as soon as possible. Fortunately, we had some of the youth that were not acting to help us out. In 10 minutes, everyone had an entree! We caught our breath for a minute and then it was time to prepare the desserts which were peach and strawberry cobbler. Once the second act was finished, entree plates were cleared and desserts were delivered. Then it was clean up time. We really had a good system and it didn't take all that long. Saturday night went a little smoother because we knew what to expect and what had worked the night before. There also weren't as many people there that night. We had a ton of compliments on the food and the youth minister said to plan on doing this again next year!

Here is what the plated food looked like. We served Hawaiian chicken on rice, grilled veggies, and a garlic and cheese biscuit. It's one of my favorite things to order! And the cobblers are to die for!

Media Day

It is no secret that I LOVE Razorback baseball! I am beyond excited that the first game is this week!!! Saturday was the media day at the mall where all the players and coaches are there giving away posters and autographs. Last year, I took my oldest nephew Jackson with me. My sister and her family recently moved away, so I was a little bummed that I wasn't going to have anyone to take with me. I was prepared to go alone and get a poster for Bizys, but I really wanted someone to enjoy the day with me. I'm pretty good about going and doing things by myself. But sometimes it's just not enjoyable. Fortunately, my sister came to town for a visit this weekend. So, my step-mom met me at the mall with my nephew Keegon and we grabbed our posters and were ready to go!

He had just put a sweet-tart in his mouth right when the picture was taken. The boy has his priorities and candy is always number 1! We were making our way through the line of players and Keegon wanted to give each one a high five. He also insisted on telling them how old he is and how to spell his name. One of them asked him how he was doing. Appearently, that question triggered a memory of when he sick last week and he responded with "I was sick and I puked and puked and puked!" Ha! Needless to say, the players thought that was hillarious and my step-mom and I couldn't believe he said that! We finished making the rounds and ended the day with a photo-op with Ribby the Razorback. Keegon is normally scared to death of mascots, but he liked this one. He kept telling the cheerleaders that "this is a nice razorback and isn't mean and won't eat me." Where does he come up with this stuff!?!

I am so glad that I got to spend the morning with this little guy. One thing I love more than baseball is being an aunt!

Movin' Out

Tonight, I went to see the Broadway production of Movin' Out. I absolutely love Broadway shows! Everytime I see one, I am sure that I could jump up on stage and sing and dance right with them! Fortunately, reality quickly sets in and instead I just sit in my seat and enjoy the show. This show is unlike any I have ever seen. At first, I was thinking it wasn't going to be one of my favorites. But by the end, I loved it! It is like you are seeing two shows in one! There is a great concert going on while at the same time, some of the best dancing I have ever seen is telling the story and making the songs come together. It was really different! My explanation doesn't do it justice, so here is a clip of one of the songs. Now, if you have seen the video of Kelly dancing on her blog, I know that these dancers seam like mere amatures! But they were entertaining none the less!

10 days and counting!

It is 10:00 pm and I am just now getting home from work!!!!! The hospital I work for is required to have an annual audit. That always takes place in February and March. So for the past month we have been working like crazy to get the 2007 books closed out and audit schedules done. It is also now time to be doing the financial statements for January. Talk about multi-tasking! I have no idea what year, month, or day I'm in! The only good thing is that the auditors will be here in 10 days, so the end is in sight. The bad thing is that means I am 10 days closer to having auditors in my office for 4 weeks!!!! Not fun!

Wooooo Pig Sooie!

The No. 20 Florida Gators came to Bud Walton to play the Hogs today and I had the privilege of going to the game with my friend Jeff. We had really good seats, but the lighting wasn't very good, so none of my pictures turned out very well! I was pretty sad about that! I couldn't let that get me down though. I needed to be focused on the game and ready to cheer my heart out. The game was so exciting from the very beginning! The Hogs took on early lead with some high flying offense and pressure defense. The 19,881 people at the game were on their feet early when Steven Hill hit this alley-oop dunk. The new coach is as fun to watch as the game itself. There were several questionable calls made by the officials and I was sure he was going to get a technical foul! At one point, one of the players had to hold the coach back to keep him from running onto the court. I loved it!!! At half-time, the Hogs had a 46-21 lead and I couldn't have been more pleased with how things were going. Then, there was an unexpected joy during the half-time festivities! As the student athletes that were being recognized began filing onto the court, I spotted them...seven members of the Razorback baseball team, one of which is my favorite player! I really was in Hog heaven!!! At that point, I knew nothing could go wrong to spoil the fantastic day I was having. Sure enough, the Hogs came back out in the second half and cruised to an 80-61 victory! GO HOGS!!!