The clock is ticking…..

I’ve been putting it off and putting it off – mostly because I am a World class champion procrastinator – so much so that I’ve convinced myself that I actually work better when there is a time crunch!

I have vowed today to make a list of EVERYTHING that I need to complete in the next three weeks – and then break it all down and make a plan of attack so I can make sure to get everything done. And I will do it. I promise you. After lunch.

::::::::::::::ACOT CROP::::::::::::::

First, lets talk about this weekend! It was the Scrappin’ In the New Year Crop weekend at A Cherry On Top – and it was my first Crop being on the planning side of things! It was very fun, but definitely stressful – being that it was my first one and I didn’t want to botch anything up!!! I hosted a bingo game, Disney trivia, and another game called song lyric hide and seek. It was very fun, and all in all I doled out about $50 in points and prizes!

Even with being on the Creative Team and not playing any of the games or anything, I still was encouraged to scrap a bit – I did about 10 pages in all! Here are a couple of my favorites:

::::::::::::::ENGAGED::::::::::::::

Papers, elements, alpha - Jen Wilson Nostalgia 5 Kit; Kraft Notebook paper - Shannon Lee Designs Muddle of Pud kit; Tied ribbons (some recolored) - ajsmith, amy teets, Heather Ann, Anita Stergiou, Shannon Lee, brutcher; Sketch - Becky Fleck pagemaps; Tear - Steph Krush; Font - Weltron Urban, My own handrwiting created by september Myles; Drop Shadows by Traci Murphy

::::::::::::::AUNT::::::::::::::
Papers - Jen Wilson; Drop Shadows - Traci Murphy; Stitches – CGGibson; Frame & Tag - Holly McCaig; Fonts - Batik Regular & Jefferson

::::::::::::::CHRISTMAS 2004::::::::::::::
Yeah, I know I put the wrong date in it – I’m gonna fix that today. I’m a huge dork.

Template - Traci Reed Double Trouble2; Papers - Elements - Jen Wilson Merry Days 9; Hand Stamped Alpha - Michelle Coleman; Font - Susie's Hand

::::::::::::::FRIENDS::::::::::::::
Template - Traci Reed Double Trouble (pics added to achieve 4 pics per page); Stamp Alpha, Papers, Tags from New Beginnings kit, available exclusively at ACOT; Font - Gilder Girls

::::::::::::::OTHER WEEKEND FUN::::::::::::::

I also finally cleaned my bathroom, and took down all the Christmas Décor inside. It always makes me a bit sad, because after my house looks so naked. Keith was nice enough to do the outside lights. I also took the opportunity to bring downstairs a bunch of stuff that needs to be donated. I swear, I have another room full. It sure feels good to purge, though! I think I arrived in Mexico with about 300 boxes of stuff – my goal was to purge half……I think I’m well on my way.

::::::::::::::PERSONAL GOALS FOR THIS WEEK::::::::::::::

Now, this week I would also like to scrap a few paper pages, and also shred at least two more boxes of documents. Oh, and I’m also going to start training tomorrow for an 8K in March. I was just going to wait until I got back to the US, but it will be much MUCH better if I start it now. Besides, I need some motivation to get my ass up in the morning. This sleeping in until 8:30AM business is for the birds.

::::::::::::::REPATRIATION UPDATE::::::::::::::

I finally determined my last day of work here in Mexico – it will be January 31, 2007. That means Keith and I will be on the road starting February 1 – and hopefully rolling into Chicago before the Superbowl on Sunday February 4. I’ll take a couple days to rest and relax, and start work sometime later that week.

Right now I’m working with a million different people to get all my stuff set up for my new position. Ordering a new car (Jeep Grand Cherokee), telephone (hot pink Razr, I hope!), email, access to intranet stuffs, reports, customer lists, etc……

I’ve also had contact with the movers and relocation company, so that is all in the works now as well. I’m pretty excited about it all!!!!!

The best thing about this whole process is how easy its going to be compared with other relocations. I already have a place to live, the kitties are already happily relocated, and when I arrive I’ll have a personal guide in Pat O’Brien to help show me around town, help me get my drivers license and city sticker! Half of the stress of moving is not knowing where you’re going to live, having temporary arrangements and living in limbo for 3 months. I’ll already have that taken care of! WHOOO HOOO!

Of course, there are other issues – I will be getting a bonus from Apasco sometime in June, so I have to figure out how that is going to work…not sure if I’m just going to keep my account open and close it after that, or if I’m going to have them send me a check, or what…..but I’ll have to figure that all out later this week or early next. I’m trying not to stress too much about it.

OK – that’s all for now. Hope you all have a great day!!!

I'm back!

I should be back to my regularly scheduled surfing today at work :) I just got back from Chicago - my minds a whirlwind - I'm so proud of myself because I didn't cry one stinkin bit yesterday! Not when we said goodbye, not in the terminal, not the night before (OK, maybe a few tears the night before). WOOOoOOoO HoHOOOO! It’s a big achievement for me! I think its because I know we're on the downward slope, only four more months and we'll be together for real!

OK, so good things that happened this weekend.....this post might be a bit long, because there’s a lot to cover. On my flight in – it was just a long long day. About 13 hours of travel. But, I did meet the ArchBishop for Mexico and Latin America for the Greek Orthodox Church. We had some nice conversation. And its always a good sign if you have a super Holy guy on the plane, right? The flight was nice – I had a whole row to myself so I did get some sleeping in. I also read the book “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s a book about Ancient Toltec Wisdom on how to achieve inner peace and stuff like that. I purchased it a long long time ago when I was trying to get more into Mexican Cultural stuffs – I remember reading it then, but not really getting it. Its tough to read, but there are a lot of life lessons to be learned, and I think if I can follow some of those teachings I will be in a much better place for it.

Anyway, my flight got in late Thursday night, and we got home about 1:30AM...once we got up to the condo Pat O’Brien told me to "give him a couple minutes" - I figured he had to take a big poop or something - it didn't really matter because I had a lot of packages to open that I had sent there, so I busied myself. When he said it was OK to come in, I walked in to this:



I was so impressed! I thought - WOW! All this for me? Just because I came home to visit? I am a SUPER lucky girl! 50 candles - 5 dozen roses - rosepetals everywhere - it smelled so wonderful, and it was soooo romantic.

I gave him a big giant smooch and hug, but realized he was only hugging me with one arm. So I pulled away, and then, I saw this in his had:



My heart leaped into my throat, and I thought - ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhmygod. He dropped to one knee - and proposed!



I tried to get a good pic of it on my hand, but they came out all blurry and poopy, so these images will have to do until later :) I had my head in my hands and when he actually said “Will You Marry Me?” I shook my head “no” – not because I didn’t want to marry him, but because I couldn’t believe it. This is SOOO not my life, know what I mean? Who actually does something that incredibly romantic NOT on TV or in the movies? It just didn’t seem real…..and just to clarify, I did say YES!

He completely caught me off guard! I mean, we already bought a condo, we know we're moving in together in February, and we have pretty much 90% of the plans ready for the wedding in March - we initially decided that we weren't going to have a ring to make it "official"…..and at one point over the past few months I dragged it out of him that yes, I probably was going to get one, but I never expected it like this, and definitely did not expect it with THAT ring. HOLY COWPOKES! Its incredibly distracting, I keep on staring at all the flippin sparklies in it. Its just BEAUTIFUL!

Anyway, It was a great start to a wonderful weekend *although we didn't go to sleep Thursday night until like, 3:30AM - too much adrenaline running!* We went to the Chicago Art Institute, walked about town, ate at a couple choice restaurants, and we went to my FAVORITE joint, BW3 (buffalo wild wings) and ate some fabulous wings, watched some terrible Lions football and lamented over the Tigers loss of the AL Central Title......it was great to watch the other games with him after we got home - all cuddled on the couch!

*sigh* He's so dreamy.

I also was supposed to fly back on Monday, but a huge mix up at UPS (started by my inability to correctly write my own address) delayed a package that I was waiting for to bring back to work, so I changed my flight and went home on Tuesday instead. I know, how terrible, an extra day with my honeybuns…..Woe is me ;) I had so much crap crammed into my luggage – bottles of NyQuil, Airborne to ward off illness, Old El Paso taco seasoning (hey, I can’t find it here!), other vitamins and fiber, facial care from Origins, and scrapbook stuff. My luggage was seriously overweight, but they didn’t charge me an extra dime so I didn’t say anything!

The flight back was uneventful, abliet a litte delayed. So now, I’m sad to be back, and glad to be back at the same time.....the kitties were happy to see me and sleep with me. They are so fuzzy and warm! And, I realize how short my time is here, I really need to get my butt moving so I can finish all my reports for work.....and I can't wait to start scrapping again!