Boo Hoo...the hubbies gone!

Well today Alex left for vacation. He is in Lake Tahoe on the annual ski trip with his friends. This year though there was a slight change and they are playing golf as well in San Francisco. I would have to say that I think Alex was more excited to golf than ski! I know this might sound a little sappy, but I really do miss him when he is gone. So much so that since he is gone for seven days, I decided that I need to get away as well. Tomorrow me and a friend of mine are heading up to Duluth for the weekend and Saturday we are going to the spa for the day. Hopefully it will be as relaxing as it sounds! A couple of weeks ago Alex and I found a new small group through our church. The group has about 10 other couples in it, so it has been a great way to meet some otehr couples. I think that has been one of the more difficult things to establish since we have been married, actually finding married couples that we both enjoy spending tiem with. But this group of people are really nice and fun! One other note, I was asked by the head of our women's ministry to be on the planning committee for the women's retreat this spring. Susan Hunt is the speaker, an amazing woman of God. I am so excited for the opportunity to be mroe involved, through the task at hand may seem daunting. I need to have the lunch catered in and plan all the logistics for an estimated 700 women. Pray for me! Hope all is well...I miss Alex!

It's that time...trade show time!

This past weekend we had our work cut out for us. We were scheduled to watch our nieces for the weekend while Alex's brother Jeff and his wife Patty were on vacation in California. No big deal, they are adorable girls! But then a couple of weeks ago we realized that the first trade show of the year was scheduled that weekend as well. Good thing they are only one day. So, could we handle it, of course we could. Were we dead tired by Sunday night, a little:)

So Friday we watched the girls and ended up having a movie night. Saturday Alex headed off early for Richfield to get the booth set up. That's it in the picture. Those panels are heavy. As his usual right hand chick for trade shows I am usually the one that helps carry them in and set the up. But this time the pop-in-law graciously helped out leaving me to the girls. The trade show was a success and some great contacts were made. We have been doing these for the past two years together and they have proved to be a great way to meet prospective clients and get our name out there for very little expense. Plus what could be more fun than hanging out in the school gym for an afternoon:)

Alex constructed the trade show booth himself so we are pretty proud of that beast. Weighing in at 60 pounds a piece, the booth is not light by any means. But attractive, yes that it is and it always seems to be a great conversation piece.

Business is going well and the bathroom project we were working on is now finished. We wrapped it up today and will have photos coming soon. Next up, an entire first level update and redo.

On the family front, Alex leaves this Thursday for the annual ski trip with the boys, this year in Lake Tahoe. Not wanting to be alone for seven whole days, I am heading up to Duluth for a spa weekend with one of the other wives. The thought of relaxing is music to my ears!

Birthday Week

Well Birthday week has begun! Alex turns 29 on Sunday and around our house, we have somehow gotten into the habit of celebrating the person the whole week before their birthday. Yesterday I asked Alex if there was a certain treat he wanted to have around for extra birthday fun for the week and the answer was ice cream cake. With a gift card and coupon in hand I set out to Cold Stone for one large and very rich Peanut Butter Playground cake upon request. This week we are going to have our share of one of Alex's other favorites...Buca. On Thursday we are going there with his family for a 40th wedding anniversary celebration for his parents. Their anniversary is the same day as Alex's birthday! Then on Saturday we are returning for the annual birthday dinner with our friends. It should be a very good week and well, full of food and fun!

Back to reality

Well, we have returned from our trip. We had a blast. Alex enjoyed playing at least 125 holes of golf while Andrea relaxed by the pool and caught up on her reading. We spent the first portion of our trip in Tampa at the Innisbrook resort where Andrea's parents have a condo. It is the most quaint and relaxing resort! We celebrated the new year there with dinner at the Olive Garden.
Towards the end of our stay there and when the temperature began dropping we took a road trip down to Fort Myers to visit Andrea's mom. While there Alex was introduced to local faves and to part of Andrea's history in Naples. Her grandparents spent their winters there and many great memories were made on Round Key Circle. After a tour of Naples, we went out to eat at a great new wine bar/restaurant near Bonita Springs. Puzzle making and the golf channel occupied our night and in the morning we ventured back to Tampa.
Following our time there we went to Orlando and fulfilled the child in us with visits to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Though we are glad to be back, there is still a part of us that would rather be back in vacation mode!
Here are some pics from the trip:

Florida...We love the sun!

Well, we have officially made it to Florida.  After a very rushed day on Friday we actually were granted seats on a direct flight.  We had been receiving changes to our flights for about the past two months but after checking a couple of weeks back we erred and did not check the night before.  Morning of arrives, Alex checks at around 10am and our flight changed to 10:20am.  Well no way we were going to make it but we sucked up our pride and headed to the airport to try and see what could be done.  Well, a very nice and good Samaritan, well actually ticket agent, decided to extend Christmas kindness upon us and issued us tickets for the next outgoing flight.  We were ecstatic.

After arriving I hate to say it but we haven't really done anything.  I have laid by the pool, Alex has played 72 holes of golf.  Very relaxing vacation.  In fact, we were asleep by 11 on New Years!

Tomorrow we head down to my mom's condo in Fort Myers for a few days.  We will be visiting Naples so I can show Alex around to where I grew up coming for Christmas.  My grandparents lived down there.  

Actually the funniest thing just happened while watching the news.  Apparently we are supposed to be getting some cooler weather in Florida for a couple of days, low 50's to be exact.  The news anchor was just giving cold weather tips on the television and one of them included that homeowners should not use their oven to heat their house.  I never thought of that one, but it was enough to get us rolling in fits of laughter.

Happy New Year~

Motivation...how does one do it?

Christmas has come and gone and it was so special to spend some really good quality time with family and delve into some great conversations. But the after affect of Christmas, especially when it lands in the middle of the week, is well quite difficult. Alex and I have been trying to get back into the swing of working this week...though I must say he is doing a much better job:) We have been busy trying to get everything put away, cleaned up and cleared out. but if you looked in our family room, well the tree is still there. Oh well. But we were really blessed with what we received, much more than we had even anticipated. I am really excited to begin using the new food processor I received and find some great finds at William Sonoma with my gift card. Also I am excited to use the new red toiletry bag for trips. Alex is excited for his golf galaxy gift card to be used, so much in fact i was given a list to go and buy things today for our trip:) He also received a great rain suit top for our Europe trip and some new clothes. On another note, we have gotten so much snow in the past couple of days that the remodeling project is beginning to seem like a nightmare. Now the problem exists is that it can be quite difficult to make it up the walkway without slipping...we are really thankful for boots. But we are really excited to see what the end product will result in! Hopefully someone else will fall in love with it as much as we have! I am hoping once we return from our trip to begin posting some of the adventures in the kitchen as well as pictures from trips and of the house. I am really looking forward to this new year and am so thankful for where the Lord has us this year. We have really been blessed!

Merry Christmas!

Well this marks our first blog post and we are really excited to get started, while maybe I am more than Alex:) Lately we have been busy getting ready for Christmas...last minute gift shopping, baking, getting the house decked out, and visiting with friends and family. Today we spent the day relaxing as the show came down. Currently, I believe we are in a winter storm warning for blustering winds and blowing snow. It was quite cruddy out this morning...so we stayed in and watched football and other random shows... I ventured out of my realm to bake a special Christmas dessert for tomorrow night. We are having Alex's parents over for Christmas eve dinner and I am excited to show off my first ever buche de noel. Our dinner menu consists of family favorites: -Honey baked ham -Sour beans (a German tradition) -Parmesan potatoes -Garlic Parmesan pull aparts -and of course, buche de noel for dessert:) We will be getting back from our church service a little later so dinner will be simpler, but amazing! We are also trying to get ready for our trip. We are going to Florida for a 12 day vacation. We are really looking forward to a vacation to relax. We will be in Tampa for 6 days and then in Orlando for the final part of out trip. I am really excited because we made reservations today for a great restaurant the California Grille in the Contemporary Resort. Well have a great night!