retirement: day 1

Last Thursday was officially my last day working in an office. I had a great job and will miss my coworkers, but I'm excited for the next chapter. You might ask, what does retirement hold? Well, I'll just tell you.

• Sleeping in until 8:45 (this is a nice treat, because I am generally up for a couple hours in the middle of the night)
• Baking homemade wheat sandwich bread. Heaven.
• Going to one of my favorite stores for cheap produce. Cheap blueberries? Count me in.
• Spending a leisurely hour at the pool with these cute kids to work on not being so pasty.
• Doing a little online shopping for a couple things we had already decided to buy.
  
• Making Matt a tasty dinner since he still goes to work every day.

Other than that, not a whole lot. I mostly took it easy so I didn't get overly tired. I wanted to make sure I had things left to do for the rest of the week, too. I could get used to this 'woman of leisure' (as January calls it) thing. Too bad it's over in about six weeks ...

commute

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It took me 91 minutes to drive 22.2 miles this morning, due in large part to this. I think that hour and a half should count towards my eight-hour workday. What do you think?

Weekend Roundup

Friday: Matt and I went to Six Flags (sorry, Dude!) with our friends Erin & Kyle. Kyle's company rented out the park, so we got in free and had our choice of lots of company-specific snacks placed strategically throughout the park. You can't beat walking off a ride and grabbing a (free) bottle of water out of a huge tub of ice. We also had vouchers for anything in the park. We rode a few rides, ate (free) food, hung out with good friends and ended the night with a funnel cake. Awesome.

Saturday: We were homebound for most of the day, as some of our furniture was delivered. For some reason, Saturday delivery means they won't give you a time windoe, they just expect you to be home from 7am until 10pm. Yikes. Matt and I took advantage of that time to unpack a little, set up our new TV, and relax at home. All our furniture made it safe and sound, and we love what we've gotten so far. We watched the BYU game that afternoon {we got hosed on the officiating, although it took us an entire HALF to decide that we wanted to play!} on our nice new TV and then called it a night.

Sunday: It was a pretty normal Sunday. It was our second time to our new ward, and I think I might SLOWLY be learning a few people's names! I'm so bad at meeting people as it is, but our ward has like 400 people in it, too, which makes it even worse. It's fun having a few good friends in the ward already so I don't have to worry about sitting alone for the most part! After church, we had Travis and family over for dinner. It went well, except for the part where I burned my arm pretty bad while taking dessert out of the oven. Dumb, Mandy.

a case of the mondays

I know Mondays are the cliche bad day of the week. I generally don't have a problem with them, but today was bad. I couldn't drag myself out of bed, so I had to rush around to get ready in order to not make Matt late for work (I drop him off downtown on my way in). I swear the drivers here have gotten infinitely worse in the past month, which didn't help my foul mood. The icing on the cake, though, was walking into my office, seeing my empty desk and realizing I left my laptop at home. After asking myself what I could do all day without my computer (answer: nothing),I decided to bite the bullet and go home. Twenty minutes later, I resisted the (almost overwhelming) urge to lay down on my bed "for just a minute". I count that as my biggest accomplishment of the day. After that, the day got progressively better. The best part of any day or week for me is meeting Matt for lunch. He knew I'd had a bad morning and suggested we meet today. There's not much that sitting outside in Sundance Square with Matt, eating Potbelly, can't make better!

How do you combat a case of the Mondays?

Weekend Roundup

Whew. For some reason, I was so tired this weekend, even though I got to sleep in as late as I wanted both days. It must have been my Friday 'hangover.' I had a work trip to California, which meant I was up at 4am and didn't get home until around midnight. I think I deserve an employee of the month award for that!

Saturday, we (understandably) slept in. We 'brunched' on breakfast burritos and then got ready for our day. We headed out to McKinney to see our friends Erin & Kyle. We saw the cute little place they're living while they're saving for a house and took advantage of Kyle's parent's pool and barbecue. We spent a few hours swimming (and drinking healthy pina coladas!) and then the boys went fishing in their pond while Erin & I chatted and layed out. We had a tasty dinner of chicken kababs and couscous. We all changed and headed out to see Harry Potter 5. I think I was the biggest HP fan of the bunch, and I loved it. I can't wait for the last book to come out this weekend! Matt and I got home late (again!) and fell quickly asleep.

Sunday was a normal Sunday, except for the fact that Matt surprised me by making me an omelet for breakfast! What a great husband I have! I spent a little time making a mock-up of something for my girls and then headed to church. Matt had a couple meetings after church, so I headed home and lounged until he got home. I tried a new recipe, which we both liked. We watched the ESPY red carpet and then started to watch the show. I was so tired, I ended up going to bed around 9. Luckily we DVRed the show, since I've heard there was some really funny stuff!

I just realized what a lazy weekend I had! It was wonderful! How was your weekend?

Weekend Roundup

Friday night was pretty low-key. Matt and I had a romantic dinner in the temple cafeteria, followed by a session and then a customary McDonald's run.

Saturday morning we ran a few errands and then headed out to Ennis (or the city of Enoch as Matt called it a few times) to check out the Bluebonnet Trails. Before we left town, we drove by the tornado damage from last week and took a few pictures. It's crazy what wind can do ... While we were driving to Ennis, Matt called bluebonnets 'weeds' and seemed pretty unenthusiastic about the trip we were making. After a disappointing stop at A&W in Waxahachie, we made it to Ennis and the first stop on the Trail. There was a huge field (probably 3+ acres) of solid bluebonnets. The man who owned the property was riding around on his yellow four-wheeler greeting his visitors and sharing his bluebonnet knowledge. Matt retracted his previous statement about bluebonnets. We spent a little while taking pictures of the bluebonnets (and Flat Tanner) before heading out. The drive to Ennis and the first field took longer than we expected, so we sadly had to head back home before seeing any of the other Trail stops. I think the drive was worth it. Matt agreed.

When we got back to our grand apartment, my cute husband took my car to the car wash and brought it back all sparkly and shiny. {thanks, babe!} We headed over to Babe's for dinner with friends. Neither of them had ever been before, but they're fans. One of our friends, Cagan, apparently doesn't mess around when it comes to food. His eyes got huge when he saw his meal and he got excited when he saw my method of piling all the sides on top of the chicken-fried steak and quickly went to work. I love that place. After dinner, we went back to their apartment to watch UFC. I have never watched it before and I have to say, it's a little brutal. It's crazy that the only rules are no eye-gouging, no crotch hits, and no punching/kicking the top of the head. One guy was literally rendered unconscious by a sleeper hold and another guy was knocked out by a kick to the head before he crumpled to the ground. I'm not sure if I'll tune in to The Octagon again ...

Sunday was a lazy day. I woke up not feeling well and ended up staying home from church. I mostly slept (interrupted by a phone call that released me from my current calling and gave me a new one -- a first for me) and watched movies. Matt did a great job of taking care of me -- he made his famous beef dip sandwiches for dinner and followed it up with my favorite, a homemade strawberry smoothie. We rounded out the day watching Invincible and The Apprentice. I'm glad Stefani won.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Roundup

This weekend started out with a bang. Matt's camporee was postponed until Saturday morning due to this. We decided to stay home so we didn't get caught out in the storm. One of the tornadoes touched down about two miles from our house, but it luckily didn't get us. We had to settle for baseball-sized hail that a) made us think our third-story apartment roof was going to cave in on us and b) nailed both of our cars. Anticipating a tornado, we ran downstairs (hoping someone would let us in if a tornado actually struck) and joined our congregated neighbors. One of them said, "Man, that black Jeep is getting rocked!" Yes, my black Jeep. Matt's car got a couple big dents, too. We have "Flat Tanner" for Matt's nephew and we decided to take a picture of him with some of the (mostly) melted hail. We should have taken it an hour earlier to prove the size of the hail, but oh well!


Saturday morning Matt had to be up at 5 to get ready for the day at the camporee. Being a good little wifey, I got up and chopped all the potatoes for their lunchtime stew and helped him get everything loaded up. After he left, I luckily got to grab a few more hours of sleep. I went and met a good friend from high school for lunch and then head over to hang with my mom, who is in town to help with my cute new niece. We had a typical afternoon -- Joann's for far too long and 3 grocery store stops (two trips to the same one). The other highlight of the day was being challenged by Travis to a Strawberry Shortcake Puzzle-off. Even with his cheating, I soundly beat him. Twice. Kaytlin was quick to point out the cheating and loved to "judge" the contest. She would announce, "You better hurry. Dad's almost done!" Matt, fresh off the freezing camporee, came and met us for dinner.


Sunday was a typical day. We woke up and had breakfast {dutch babies, yum!!} and did a few church-related things. After church, we headed back to Flower Mound for a delicious dinner. The most surprising part was that Travis actually liked it! Whenever I cook for the TM's, I always try to come up with something the Pickiest Man Alive will like. This is the first time I've been successful. Hallelujah. After our dessert of Blue Bell {Caramel Turtle Fudge} and Ben & Jerry's {Phish Food}, Matt and I headed home. It was a fun, tiring weekend.

She works hard for her money...

Today at work, I ventured to the other end of the office to take a social break from my out-of-the-way cave. While I was talking to one of my coworkers, another coworker presented me with two, uh, thoughtful presents. Here is one of them, utilizing an Official Company Thank You Card. I'm sure this is exactly what they had in mind when they printed these bad boys up:

The other gift, a limited edition (1/1) drawing that was personalized ("To Mandy: Get the MI, Big Guy) and signed by the artist is, unfortunately, not January-friendly and will therefore not be posted on the interweb. Trust me, though. It's pretty funny.

Weekend Roundup

We had a great weekend. First, the best news: Aimee had her baby! Macee Ruth was born at exactly midnight on Friday morning. She was probably the first baby born that day! Matt and I went and watched Kaytlin & Ady Friday night so Trav could be at the hospital with Aimee.



Saturday morning, we did the Race for the Cure in Sundance Square with our friends Beth & Heather. The 5K itself wasn't a big deal, but the weather was -- it was 35 degrees! I bundled up as well as I could, but my fingers still froze. By the time we made it back to the car after, it was snowing. In Texas. In April. Ridiculous. Matt and I headed over to the hospital after that to meet Macee (aren't you guys jealous?) and then we took the other two stir-crazy girls home. We had a blast decorating Easter eggs with them. For those of you who don't know, Kaytlin is definitely a Stratton girl. She has very strong opinions on how things should be done, and she's always right. Does that remind you of any other Stratton girls?



Sunday morning, Matt and I spent a few hours driving around looking at houses we had seen online to narrow down our search. It was really good because we were able to figure out what neighborhoods were good and what area we wanted to concentrate on, but it's going to be a loooong search. It's a good thing we have five months before our lease is up! After church, we just had a simple dinner of barley soup (Matt's favorite) and watched The Apprentice. Another great weekend!

Weekend Roundup

First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped out with the Family Feud survey. Between comments on the post below and those who emailed me their answers, I collected well over 100 responses. When I have everything compiled, I'll post a recap for those of you who requested it. Matt has rigged up an awesome Power Point version of the game so we can project it onto a screen, too, so the night will be perfect! Thanks again for your help!


Now for the weekend roundup ...

Friday night, Matt and I were given tickets to go see The Secret Garden at Artisan. We've been to lots of shows there and they've gotten better and better. The talent in this show was great, but I was less-than-impressed with the actual music. I had heard it was great, but there were only a few songs we really liked.

Saturday, after running a few errands, Matt and I drove out to Fort Worth to meet his cousins, Ali and Andrew, and Andrew's girlfriend, Keisha. We rode the Trinity River Trail by downtown, about 20 miles in all. I'm not going to make excuses for my wussiness, but let's just say I walked like an 85-year-old man for the rest of the day. I've never been that tired before! I rounded out the day by going to a transition dinner and then the YW Broadcast. It was a good day.

Sunday was a lazy day. We each spent the morning doing various things for our callings, went to church and then had a relaxed dinner and watched The Apprentice. I don't know why we watch that show, but we're both hooked this season. Oh, I forgot to mention the new toy we bought on Saturday! We tried it out on Sunday for the first time by making Berry Frozen Yogurt. It will take a few more tries to get the hang of it, but we still enjoyed our first experiment!

You're hired

So, I had to come up with a short bio for my new job. They want to send out an organizational announcement about me and I had to write a short blurb. Amazo and I had fun coming up with our best-ever attributes. Our companies are so lucky to have us!

"Megan enjoys getting her groove on and staying up until 2am most nights."

"Mandy enjoys passing off all undesirable chores & responsibilities to her husband."

"Megan wakes up so late she has to shower on her lunch hour."

"In her spare time, Mandy enjoys stalking people online. But don't worry, she's not as crazy as that astronaut lady. She wouldn't dream of wearing adult diapers."

And my personal favorite:

"Megan believes blog stalking is the new dating and is currently 'dating' four boys and twelve girls."

What would you put in your bio?