Wow... hard to believe we've been at this for 3 years already. 3 years and almost 500 posts later, we have moved from Jackson, MS through Boston, MA to Denver, CO, changed jobs, traveled on many new adventures, completed a bunch of highpoints and more. I'm thankful for a chronicle of all our adventures - helps the aging memory. :)
This weekend we took a quick trip to Oklahoma City to help celebrate some birthdays and such. Long drive, short visit but great times!
We left early on Friday morning. The goal was a 4:30 am departure but we kind of failed on that count - as we woke up when the sun was starting to rise (granted, I had been up until 2 am trying to finish some stuff to bring to Oklahoma for Teri's wedding). We were still on the road a little after 7 am. We headed south into New Mexico and then out through the wild blue yonder towards the middle of nowhere Oklahoma highpoint, Black Mesa. We ended up on several dirt roads and literally went hundreds of miles without seeing anyone.
After conquering Black Mesa, we dropped down into Amarillo, Texas and then across into Oklahoma. We didn't arrive to my parents until midnight, where there was a surprise 22nd birthday party for Christy and Teri in full swing. Many late nights on this trip...
On Saturday morning, we celebrated birthdays (the guys even cooked breakfast!) and did some wedding stuff. We then trekked down to Norman for the annual slaughter of the A&M football team. Too bad...
After the game, we hung out at my OU sister's house and played this hilarious game called "Nelson" until waaaaay too late (perhaps part of what made it gut-busting hilarious). Let's just say "Mom Drinking Starbucks" turned into "Britney Spears blowing up her cell phone" turned into "Hawaiian girl with grass skirt and coconut bra riding horse." HILAROUS! This is a game that will definitely be passed on to friends!
On Sunday morning, two very sleep deprived Coloradans propped their eyes open with toothpicks and started the twelve hour drive back home. We had a little adventure at a gas station in the middle of Kansas (WaKeeney, Kansas = the absolute middle of nowhere), which Michael will have recount. Otherwise, the trip was uneventful. However, we were very glad finally fall into bed last night!
We woke up to temperatures in the 40s this morning. The high today will probably be in the 50s. I am glad for colder weather.
Also, happy birthday to Beth and Davide today. Lots of birthdays this week. Luaan's birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday all! Lots of fun people to celebrate...
Better late than never... August 25th, theGoodieBlog was officially two years old. Fun, fun!
We were able to enjoy a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at home for the first time ever. This is actually the first Memorial Day that I have had off in 5 years. Normally, our annual meeting for work is the week following Memorial Day so I am in Houston at work, helping with last minute preparations and preparing to fly to D.C. This year, our annual meeting had to be scheduled a little later and we will be working over July 4th instead.
The three day weekend couldn't have come at a better time. We have been so busy lately and needed a little extra time to catch up. We finally got our mammoth pile of leftover landscaping dirt moved out of the driveway on Saturday. We ended up renting a Uhaul (evil!) pickup truck for the afternoon and filled it with several loads of dirt. We drove the dirt across the neighborhood and added it to a pile of dirt the size of a two story house that the builders have created. It was funny - what was such a huge pile of dirt in our driveway was like a drop in a bucket in the builders' dirt pile.
On Saturday evening, we hung out with our neighbors and watched a movie - Deja Vu. There were a couple holes in the storyline but it was nice to relax and watch a no-brainer action movie after a hard days work. :)
On Sunday we celebrated Michael's birthday! He got some fun new Chacos for his birthday. However, he spoiled the surprise by finding their hiding place about a week early. We met some people at the church we visited that took us out to lunch at Beau Jo's - the renown Colorado pizza place. We then, at Michael's request, spent the afternoon cleaning out the garage and washing cars. It sure is nice to have a clean and more organized garage again.
Monday morning we woke up with the intent of going on a birthday hike. We intended to leave early and be back before noon (and afternoon thunderstorms). One thing leads to another and suddenly you are several hours behind in getting out of the house. It was quite the bizarre morning.
Around 9:45 or so, we started hearing a funny noise. It started faint and grew louder. I was running around the house trying to figure where on earth it was coming from - if it was even coming from our house. I checked the sump pump in the basement - thinking it might be a failure alarm, I checked our burglar alarm, I went outside (where all our neighbors and a local police officer were standing in the street wondering what was going on). The noise was really loud outside and I finally suspected that it must be coming from the car - the Saturn. I ran and grabbed the keys. Michael came out and disconnected the battery and it stopped. So weird. It was like the horn got stuck - except it wasn't honking like an alarm or anything. It was like someone was just laying on the horn. Really weird. Expecially given that no one was around it when it started. Mind of its own. I guess that's the beauty of old cars. Over the weekend I was puzzling over the fact that we now have three vehicles and not one of them is fully operational. Last Tuesday, on the way home from the airport (Portland trip), the check engine light came on in the Prism (aka "PC"), the Jeep won't pass emissions testing and now the Saturn is doing bizarre things. Gotta love it! But I guess our newest car is almost 10 years old and has 120,000 miles. That might have something to do with it...
Anyway, we finally got situated and almost ready to go and our neighbors across the street came out to invite us over to lunch. We had lent them a few landscaping items and they decided to thank us by making us a really yummy lunch. Luisa, our neighbor, is Peruvian and made us a native dish called aji de gallina. We had it in Lima when we were there last summer. Yummm.... It was definitely worth postponing the hike for lunch (although I was so full by the end of lunch that I was in pain - it was that good)!
We finally left on our hike about 2pm. I was a bit worried about weather, but it was fine. A few raindrops here and there, which were actually a nice relief from the "heat" (we are quickly becoming wimps - 75-80 is so hot now). We hiked Waterton Canyon which is only about a 15 minute drive from us. Waterton Canyon follows the South Platte River and is known for sightings of bighorn sheep. It is also the beginning of the Colorado Trail (which runs from Denver to Durango). We intended to do about an 8 mile round trip hike to the Marston Diversion Dam. However, the Marston Diversion Dam was so uneventful that we unknowingly hiked right by it and all the way out to the Strontia Springs Dam - which was much more impressive. We even saw some bighorn sheep and their babies alongside the dam. In all the hike ended up being about a 13 mile trek and we were pretty exhausted that evening. However, it was definitely nice to get out and do something fun after weeks of hard work. Hopefully there is much more fun to come. There's definitely plenty of fun stuff to do around here.
Some pictures from the hike to come...
Again, sorry that we've been so terrible about updating lately. We have lots of updates to post - we just haven't had any time to post them. Work, for me, has been brutal lately and I was also traveling all last week. We realized last night that we have traveled or had visitors every weekend since January. So life has been crazy busy but overall quite good. It is going to have to slow down soon, though, so we can get some important things taken care of - like doctors visits, taxes, landscaping our yard (to avoid the wrath of the homeowners association), etc.
Last night, we were so worn out by all the events of late that we were actually in bed by 9:00. When we woke up this morning, we had about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground. And it's still coming down pretty hard. By the end of the day, we may have a foot of snow or more. Evidently, I've been quite out of touch with what's going on in the world around me, including the weather forecast (which is saying quite a bit for me). March is supposed to be the snowiest month in Denver, but so far it had been mostly sunny, clear and warm. Not today. Looks like I will get to pull out my snowboots at least one more time this season.
Michael made me laugh about weather contrasts last week when I was in Houston. On Saturday, I traveled from Houston, where I was working all week, to College Station (home of the Texas Aggies, whoop!) to see my college roommate and one of my best friends, Jessica. Jess is actually pregnant with a little boy right now. So exciting! She is so adorable! Anyway, on my drive to College Station, I called Michael to check in. It was a beautiful day - sunny, breezy, and 80 degrees. I was driving along through a bunch of backroads (following my friend and coworker, Susanne - another adorable pregnant friend- who actually knows her way around out there). I was thoroughly enjoying the beautiful scenery and the wildflowers (bluebonnets are everywhere right now... and I miss them). Michael asked me what the weather was like. I told him. He then told me it was 50 and snowing like crazy (he told me there were plate sized snowflakes coming down) in Denver. You just never know what you're in for around here. Yesterday, it was 60 degrees with 70 mph winds. Today, it's 20 and snowing.
We're also overdue on a couple birthday shout outs. Happy birthday to Mom G on Tuesday. Happy birthday to Dad B a week ago on Monday. Jennifer Goodrum (sister-type) has a birthday this weekend, and she'll be here for it. So fun!
More to come, I promise... I'll try to make it soon.
So I'm a major slacker of late. Between lots of company (yay!), internet failures, sickness and ridiculous hours at work, I have become a very bad blogger. I owe lots of stories and pictures. I have them. Just not enough hours in the day. We are still alive over here in Colorado though! Updates to come soon...
For now, a big birthday shout out to my little sis, Kelly. It's the big 25 today. She joins the club with all the cool people who have been around for a quarter of a century and more! She's celebrating in Peru - a birthday to remember!
"Indian Chief Cowie" was one of the crazy nicknames we used when we were kids. That was one of hers. I'm sure my sisters will reveal all my dark and dirty secrets via the comments since I'm airing theirs in broad daylight. :)
In the picture: Kelly, Teri, Christy & me at the Cheesecake Factory, Christmas 2006
Happy birthday to Mom B! She had a fun celebration in Oklahoma City with Michael, my little sisters, Wes and my dad. There's probably nothing she likes more than having everybody together. What a fun birthday gift!
It's a busy couple weeks of birthdays. Michael's sister, Stephanie, celebrates her birthday on Sunday. My little sisters turn 21 next Saturday. Yikes!! How did that happen??
My little Saturn celebrated its 150th birthday today - 150,000 miles and still going strong (and hopefully it will keep plugging away for quite a bit longer).
For the moment, I am at home - attempting to recover from several weeks of non-stop activity.
I left home on May 22nd for a three week on-the-road stint. I spent the week of May 22nd in our Houston office, helping to prepare for the conference that our company hosts every June. I made a weekend trip home on Friday the 26th. With all the things that went wrong that afternoon, you would have thought it was Friday the 13th. I left the office late due to an "urgent" project that just could not wait, then forgot to account for Memorial Day traffic (2 1/2 hours to the airport). Let's just say that I have never cut a flight that close and actually made it. For those that know the Houston airport, I was at the rental car facility turning in my car less than 15 minutes before my flight (still had to board a bus, travel to the airport, clear security, etc.). They were closing the door to the gate as I ran into the hub 5 minutes before my flight. Talk about stressful!
Thankfully I made the flight and made it home in time to celebrate the graduation of several of our friends here. John Cross and Jeremy Jackson both graduated from medical school. Fleetwood Loustalot received his Ph.D. in nursing. Friday evening, we attended parties celebrating their accomplishments!
Saturday, May 27th was Michael's 25th birthday. He celebrated by spending most of the day waiting around for work to call him into the office to sign off on a document. Yay fun! I traveled down to Laurel/Ellisville, Mississippi (exploring new territory) to help our friends Eric and Amanda unpack. Eric & Amanda just moved back to Ellisville (their hometown) from Jackson. We miss them a ton - but are happy that they are taking advantage of this opportunity. It was fun to see where they will be living - and to get the grand tour of Laurel and Ellisville (which I can't seem to keep straight - much to Eric's dismay!). Michael joined us in Ellisville that evening. We left Ellisville late on Saturday evening. By the time we got back to Jackson, we were so tired that we didn't even open presents or eat cake. Poor Michael...
On Sunday, we officially celebrated Michael's birthday. When I was in Houston, I picked up a cake for him (an authentic Tres Leches cake made by one of my coworker's aunts - yummmm....). I was so amazed that it survived the flight fiasco. With all the running and craziness, I thought it would for sure be smashed by the time I got home. However, the lady that made the cake is a master. She taped the cake to the bottom of the box! What genius!! We definitely enjoyed the cake. Michael is also enjoying his new weed eater (pictures of our beautifully landscaped yard to come) and miscellaneous other gifts.
On Monday the 29th at 6am (yes we work Memorial Day!), I boarded yet another plane to head back to Houston. After sitting on the runway for over an hour and a half, we finally took off and landed in Houston around 10am. So much for making it to work on time that morning… Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (May 29-31) we worked long, hard days trying to get everything prepped for our trip to D.C. In the process, we put in several 14+ hour days.
On Thursday (June 1), we spent the day traveling to D.C. Our flight left at 11am and arrived around 3pm. We briefly unpacked at the hotel and then went to dinner at the Rooftop Terrace restaurant at the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is D.C.’s major performing arts center – and a memorial for JFK. It is right along the Potomac between the Mall and Georgetown. It has a great view of the river and most of D.C.’s monuments.
Friday (June 2) was our big prep day for the slew of activities that were about to begin. We assembled the binders for the meeting, stuffed nametags, organized all our stuff, etc., etc. On Friday night, I was able to sneak away and spend some time with Mom & Dad Goodrum – who moved to D.C. in late November and will be living there for the next two years. They are currently living in a little one bedroom apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. I got to see where they are living and we then went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant nearby. After dinner, we went to a little club/café at the top of the Doubletree hotel. It has a rotating dance floor that allows you to look out over D.C. We only stayed for a few minutes – but I enjoyed finding a fun new place that I hadn’t been before.
On Saturday (June 3), our meeting activities started. We had two Board of Directors meetings on Saturday, as well as a committee meeting. We continued our prep activities too.
Sunday (June 4) was over a 20 hour day. We met downstairs at 6:30am to start registration (thus up before 5:30am). During the day, the convention part of the meeting started. We had educational sessions for our pharmacists - about 300 pharmacists and guests attended. The education sessions ran from 9am until 5pm. Sunday evening we host a benefit party for the association’s research and education Foundation. The pre-party for that started at 5:30pm. The event itself runs until 10pm. Staff helped work the silent auction, live action and big board portions of the event and then helped with check out. Check out doesn’t end until around 11pm. Afterwards we helped clean up until around 1:30am. At that point, since few of us had managed to make time for food that evening, we headed upstairs to the lobby to see if we could find some food. We finally headed to bed around 2:30 that morning.
Monday morning (June 5) sure came early – with a 6am wakeup call. Monday was another day of educational sessions. I was actually a speaker on an afternoon panel – and somehow managed to stay awake through it. On Monday evening there were several fundraising and recognition dinners. I spent Monday evening trying to finish prep for Tuesday’s activities.
On Tuesday (June 6), our meeting participants spend the day lobbying on Capitol Hill. The staff (our great intern Mimi and I) made all the appointments with the House and Senate offices – around 200 appointments total. There is a ton of work that goes into the back end of the appointments. However, thankfully on Tuesday – once the participants leave for Capitol Hill – the day usually runs itself. On Tuesday morning, we have a breakfast where participants meet with the others from their states and get ready for their meetings. The breakfast runs from 7am until 9am. Once we finished the launch breakfast, our staff spent the day packing up. We ended up having to ship a whole pallet of stuff back to Houston (a pallet is something like 4 feet wide x 4 feet deep x 6 feet tall). That’s a lot of junk! It took several hours to pack up all the stuff. In the afternoon, we have a “debriefing” session – where our meeting participants come back and tell us how their Hill visits went. After the debriefing, we had a Closing Dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill. The food was great – and as much fun as the meeting is, it’s always a relief to be done.
Also on Tuesday, I received a call from Mom Goodrum. It turned out that Uncle Ricky (her brother) was going to be in D.C. from Tuesday to Thursday. He was receiving an award and attending a convention. It turned out that Uncle Ricky’s convention was at the same hotel I was staying at! What a small world! So we arranged to meet Wednesday morning for breakfast. It was so fun to see Uncle Ricky (and Mom Goodrum again) and to have a chance to catch up over breakfast. What a lift to my spirit after such a long week! Mom Goodrum and Uncle Ricky spent most of Wednesday touring D.C. – and we boarded our flights home. I returned home about 5:30pm. Status: vegetable… After a few weeks of 16+ hour workdays, recovery is going to take a little while. :)
Feliz Cupleanos to Mom Goodrum!
