Oh... Hi!

I'm surprised I even remembered my Blogger login. It's been about 8 months since I last blogged and SO much has happened since last January... like I got married, got a new job (thank G), I'm gonna be an auntie soon (like in a few weeks), we're moving, T&K moved to Scottsdale, family stuff... it is amazing to me how much can really happen in this amount of time.

Now that I have a new last name, I'm thinking I should create a whole new blog dedicated to my life as a multi-tasking role player. Being a newlywed, I'm discovering the fine balance between taking care of yourself while being a great wife, a great sister, a great daughter, a great friend and a great employee. It is amazing to me to finally realize just how majestic and divine women really are. Seriously... women are incredible for what we're expected to juggle and balance all while maintaining good skin and no fat. And luckily I don't have children. Could you imagine having to figure this all out with kids in the mix?   SERIOUSLY.

Anyway, no one reads this blog anymore (and Mom was the only one who really did). I'm thinking that if I'm going to start a blog about my new life and everything in it, maybe I should keep it private... this way, I can vent and complain and count my blessings without really giving too much dirt to anyone to judge me. Because, you know, that happens.

TBD... just had to get thoughts down on something.

Should anyone read this, I hope the universe is treating you well in 2012!

Oops, I did it again!!

I have NO idea why I have absolutely ZERO drive to update my blog like I used to. I'm sure my mom has given up on me at this point. Considering that I haven't blogged (on this one) since the Indy 500 in 2011 and it is now 2012.... yikes. My bad, Mom. Forgive me.

Well, speaking of 2012... I hope everyone brought in the New Year safely and wonderfully. Have you made any resolutions yet? I have a few in mind that are outside of the norm. I'll share some of them with you.

My Typical:

- Start next year HEALTHY (I ALWAYS get sick over xmas/new year... every year)

- Lose weight

- Buy myself new clothes instead of take-out, thus preventing me from buying new clothes since it prevents me from losing weight

- Take pride in my appearance more around Andrew; just because we live together and are getting married doesn't mean he gets to see me in my pj's most of the time.

My New Resolutions and why:

- Remember to send birthday cards and "just because" cards to my family and friends. I always LOVE receiving handwritten notes from friends and family. It makes me feel special. Plus, this may sound weird, but writing (not typing) helps me remember simpler times when computers and cell phones didn't rule the world or your social life or your schedule.

- Stay true to my commitments. Once plans are made, keep them and try not to reschedule. 

- Learn not to sweat the small stuff. While people constantly tell me I'm laid back and go with the flow, I feel the complete opposite. I have tried not to be so vocal with my opinions and have just let things blow over for the most part, but I found myself holding it inside more so than not. And unfortunately, I hate to admit, I hold grudges. I have just got to let go.

There are a lot of great things in store for Andrew and I this year and we can't wait to see how it all unfolds. I can't believe 2011 was my last "single" year. And I just had my last "single" xmas and last "single" new year! UNREAL!

Hugs to everyone!

XO,

Lo

We made it to Indy!

A pet-boarding disaster, a delayed flight, almost missing the next flight, severe t-storm warnings and a tornado watch later, we MADE IT. We're so excited to be here! It's going to be such a great weekend with the Ogle fam!! I get to meet Tim's side of the family FINALLY. I get to see my brothers and sisters. I get to go to the Indy 500 for its centennial year. It is SOOOO exciting!!!!

And here's the kicker... Andrew and I get the basement all to ourselves!!!!! Our seniority really pulled through for the basement... our Indy seniority that is. :-)

We'll try to keep this all up to date while we're out here, but with all the festivities, we're not promising anything. (Sorry Mama RiRi)

Newbie

I just completed my second day at the new job... I gotta' say that I am super stoked about this place. The people are great. Super friendly and helpful and welcoming and warm. The property itself is fantastic. I'm pretty much obsessed with it. Lots of meeting and event space. Great upgrades. I want a Heavenly Bed. I'm obsessed with that too. My job responsibilities are pretty basic and exactly what I was expecting. Hopefully I can move up quickly while proving. The property is very well known for little turn around and promoting from within.

All is good. I leave for Denver tomorrow night, in which case, I am super excited. And then it's off to Vegas with the boys. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

That's just about it for now. Not that you care or anything, but I won't be updating until we get all moved and settled and after we've had some time to relax and take a breather. Plus, my Nana's house doesn't have internet, soooo either I'm going to have to feed off of my neighbors, or I'm going to have to go to Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or McDonald's or something. Funnnn.

Well wishes to you for the rest of the week!
Love & Hugs,
Lo

Yeahhhh I'm not good at this

I've been busy. I can't remember to blog everyday. I shouldn't have said I was going to do it everyday. Sorry, folks. Friday night was dinner at Grammy's to hang out with the entire fam, Saturday I was at Nana's with Dad planning out my move and stuff. Saturday night was Aunt Monica's for pizza night with the family. And today, Lyss and I went shopping (unsuccessful trip) after having lunch at Paul's Pantry with Dad. So that's that.

I start my new job tomorrow. Pretty excited. I will work tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Wednesday night, I will be flying out to Denver for a short night and then Drew, Leroi and I leave on Thursday morning to start the drive from Denver to Vegas. Then from Vegas, we will drive to OC. It's going to be a crazy weekend and quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I've been on "vacation" for two weeks and with all of the decisions Drew and I had to make and still have left to make... I just feel restless. I haven't been sleeping well and I HATE feeling like my life is up in the air. I just need my man and my dog and things will feel much better. And then all the other stuff can come.

I can't believe I've survived almost three weeks without my boys!! At least it's ALMOST over and I can be reunited with them in just a few days!

Anyway, I'm going to bed early so that I can hopefully get a good night's sleep in before my work day tomorrow.

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday!

Ooopsies.

My bad. Here I am saying I am going to post something new everyday... and I kinda skipped yesterday. Awesome. At least I remembered today, right? Gimme some credit.

Nothing too exciting to add. Tomorrow night, the whole fambam, minus my cousin Anastasia, will be heading over to Grammy's house for a big family dinner. Ari is bringing her new boyfriend! We all can't wait to meet him! Not to mention, I'm super stoked to be eating Grammy's food. I sure did miss it while in Denver.

Only 6 more days until I get to see my loves, Andrew and Leroi. I can't believe I haven't seen them in what feels like forever. Andrew and I always get frustrated with each other when we're apart for so long. We argue or tease about the stupidest things, but what it comes down to is this: we just miss each other and miss being able to sit in the privacy of our little home together to talk face to face and give each other our undivided attention. Whenever we're away from each other for this long, we always get super annoyed about it and just get frustrated. It's pretty funny actually. Now that we have our move and everything planned out, I just can't wait to get through the weekend and the 3 weekdays I have before flying back to Denver on Wednesday night. Yyaaaayyy!!!

Anyway, that's about it for now. I think I just realized that if I'm going to be blogging everyday, I need to have good stuff to blog about for your entertainment purposes. Hmmm... how about this?

I want to make this. How fabulous does that look? They look like real roses, don't they? Nope, they're not. They're made of butter cream frosting. And I'm obsessed. Who wants to spend a ton of money on a wedding cake when you can make it yourself and have it look this wonderful? IN LOVE.

Aaaaand I love this vintage soda pop bar. Gotta have it. 

Anyway, that's about it for now. I am beginning to realize how obsessed with "vintage" I am. Seriously, I'm super obsessed. Once I have enough money saved up, I want to buy myself a super nice camera. And then after I do that, I want to start collecting old cameras. Like oooold cameras. How cool would it be? Or like... collecting old telephones? Fabulous.

Love & Hugs,

Lo

Why is a man-hole round?

When I came back to Cali to find a job, I got in late on a Thursday night, hung out with family on Friday and after the weekend, I applied to multiple jobs on Monday. By the end of Monday, I had 3 interviews set up. Awesome! So the first two were on Tuesday, which were great and they went really well. And then my third one was on Thursday of last week for the event coordinator position. When the interview was scheduled, it was scheduled through email by a basic thing saying "Dear Applicant..." blah blah blah. I was given a date and time to be there and was told to confirm. Along with the date and time, I was told to not arrive more than 5 minutes early and "dress business casually like you would in a social yet professional atmosphere (office attire is not always the best attire for this position)." I was also told that this was a "Step One" interview that will last 15 minutes to get to know my social skills and how I interact with other people, since "this is a very important aspect of event coordinating."

So I get to this interview and walk in 4 minutes early and this guy jumps out from behind a wall and scares the crap outta' me. He invited me into his office, asked me to sit down, and then slid a piece of paper across his desk my way and said "please fill out as necessary." It was sheet of paper, printed landscape style, that said "Print Name: __________________________" and underneath "Sign Name: _______________________." So I printed and I signed and slid the paper back across the desk. This is where it gets REALLY weird.

"So a client has an open bar tab of $100. He would like to close that tab. Sales tax is 8.75%. How much will you charge his credit card without gratuity?"

Now, I'm not the best at math. I can't run numbers in my head. If I can't have a calculator, I need a piece of paper and pencil so I can see the math problem and work it out. I'm a creative, social person. Not a math and science wiz. Anyway, I confirmed "Am I allowed a calculator or piece of paper to assist me?" His response, "no." So I answered the problem because it was easy, but the other ones weren't. He asked me the total for a $129 tab with 21% gratuity and 8.75% sales tax. So before I knew it, I was spitting out numbers like a stock broker. All incorrect, I'm sure. So after 15 minutes of being questioned mathematic equations, which may I say, has NOTHING to do with the position of event coordinator, he said "Ok, I have one final question for you." And I said, "wonderful." When the all-mighty stumping question of all stumping questions came out.

"Why is a man-hole round?"

I cocked my head just like a dog would when they're confused. And I said, "Do you prefer I let you answer that or should I guess?" He said "just take a stab at it." My response? "Because it has no corners."

He so intelligently let me know that Microsoft asks these types of questions in their interviews. What I wanted to say was "I'm sorry, I applied for an event coordinator position with a charter yacht company, not for Microsoft." But I didn't, sadly. He asked me if I have any questions for him. I asked him the basic questions like "what makes your company stand out compared to your competitors?" His answer: "because we're the best." So I said, "ok then."

I wanted to ask him, how much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? But I didn't do that either, sadly.

Anyway, it was the WORST interview I've ever been on. And I think I'm pretty good interviewer. But NEVER have I been through an interview like that. Not even for a minimum wage paying job. Like... really? Really pal?

And he was SOOOOO douchey. Super egotistical and ALL about himself.

That's my interview story. I hope you enjoyed.

Love and hugs,
Lo

I've revamped.

So I need to kick this really bad habit where I don't blog for a whole 72 weeks and then I have to play catch up. I mean, really, it just creates more work for myself and who needs more work? Yeah, not me.

I'm going to start this new post by saying this: I hope you like the new blog decor. I figured that if I'm going to start blogging like I used to, then I need to be able to enjoy what I'm looking at. So there, I hope you dig. I will also add that I have, in my opinion, appropriately retitled my blog. I have recently kicked "today's music" (well, most of it) because I have come to truly appreciate musical talent. I want to hear instrumentals and un-mechanical voices. Lately, I've been listening to The Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, etc. Loooove it. I found a great radio station in Denver, 101.5, and they play oldies to disco to 80's and 90's. Cha-ching in my musical taste. Anyway, the song Lowrider came on sooo many times when it hit me... "Hey, I dig this song" and "hey, I have a blog idea." Hence, the Lo Writer.

Ok, so now for life stuff. So I quit my job in Denver and moved back to Cali. Yep. I did it. I decided that enough is enough. I looooved Denver, especially Downtown. It has so much to offer and there is so much to do there and it is soooo historical, but there was this minor little detail about it. Oh yeah, my family doesn't live there. Hmm, what a shame that was. With recent events that took place at work, I decided to put in my notice and go to California. I already had a round trip flight booked to go home and look at wedding venues... oh yeah, did you know I'm engaged? ;-) Anyway, I quit without having another job to go to - which I have NEVER done in my entire professional life, but I felt like this was worth the risk. I had applied to quite a few jobs in Cali, but truth is, if you don't live where you want to work, you're not going to be a likely candidate for the job. Companies don't want to have to worry about relocation and moving and scheduling issues, etc. I've been in California for a little over a week now and good news, I got a job today! Super excited about this new opportunity and there's a bonus... I'm staying with Starwood which is fabulous! You may be wondering what happened to my fiance and dog.... they're still in Denver. But after I got my job offer today, Andrew put in his notice at work and we'll be moving everything out to Cali next weekend! I am SO excited because not only do I finally get to see my boys (it's been over a week and I'm missing them soooo terribly much), but now we get to live super close to family and really enjoy the reasons we love Cali so much... weather, beach (both for humans and dogs), and as previously disclosed, family. Do you know how much I missed being able to go to a big family dinner at Grammy and Pop Pop's? Or knowing that there's a family birthday party to go to? Or how about all of the baseball and football and basketball games for my cousins, Mikey and Nicky? They grow 6" every time I see them next... and they're starting to like girls now... so obvi cousin LoLo needs to be home for them.

After Andrew and Leroi and I relocate all of our stuff, we'll be focused on my new job and getting Andrew a job. And then after we successfully complete that step, we'll be focusing on finding a place to live (we'll be staying at Nana's vacant home until then... rent free - don't be jeal). And then after that comes all the fun stuff of being back in Cali and getting our lives together. It has been SUCH an adventure for Andrew and I. I'm really going to miss Denver a lot, but I know that we can always go back and visit. It will always hold great sentiment for us and I am very glad that we lived there. It made me realize not only how much I miss and need my family, but it also helped me learned that I really, truly, sincerely hate driving in the snow. And now that I know that, I won't have to toss and turn about where to live if we ever decide to leave California. Know what I mean?

Lets see... what else? Oh, wedding plans are non-existant. I have the most wonderful venue in mind with the most wonderful caterer and the most wonderful ideas... but there more important things to be focused on before Andrew and I decide to get married. Besides, do you even know how expensive a wedding is? Just the thought of it is making my tummy hurt. I am just super excited to put my creativity to good use!

Lately, I've been craving all things vintage and antique. There is something so charming and romantic about history that I just can't shake. My Aunt Karen has her own antique business, of which I have offered to help her with. Secretly, I just want to buy antiques at the auctions with her and then just keep it for myself. But don't tell her that. ;-)

What I think I should do is create a new blog post everyday. Whether it's an interesting fact I learned, a new recipe, Mom's PB&J brownies, Chester farted and it smelled, Leroi farted and it smelled, etc. I mean, lots of funny/interesting things happen in my days. Well, at least I think they're interesting and funny and that's all that matters, right?

So that's what I'll do then. Make sure you hold me to it so that I don't slack like I've become accustomed to. I also have some pictures to post. Oh, and I'll need to remind myself to blog about my interviews. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

That's all for now... it's almost 1am and I should probably go to sleep. It's amazing how much of a night owl I become when I don't have a job. I was going to bed at like 9 or 10pm in Denver. Even on the weekends!

Love & Hugs,
Lo

Andrew and Lauren

We have some AWESOME, GREAT, INCREDIBLE, EXCELLENT, EXCITING, WONDERFUL, ECSTATIC news to share... but you need to go here to find out!

SNOW

Well, I drove in my first REAL snow... you know, the kind that sticks to the ground and makes you slide and skid and have to drive really slow... Oh yeah. I did it. It took me 2 hours to get to work that morning, but oh well. I've learned that it's pretty to look at, but awful to drive in. Not my thing, really. We got 7" of snow in one night and because the temps were still freezing the following days, the snow was just frozen on the ground for like a week!

I took some pics with my phone.

Ok, so I enlarged the photo a bit so you could see the snow flakes. This was when the snow had just started... by the time it ended, the rocks in the creek bed were completed covered. 

This was on another snowy night... my car was covered at 6:15am. And by the way, it's not fun brushing off your car and scraping off ice for 15 minutes while your car is running to get it warm and defrosted. Yuck.

Christmas

I don't have any pictures from Christmas. I don't know how I did this, but I forgot my camera in Colorado! What a dumbie. Mom, Dad, Lyss, Kathe and Ele and Michelle took pics, so hopefully I can get some from them...

Anyway, a few weeks before Christmas, Andrew and I noticed some white things inside Leroi's mouth... wart-like things. After doing some simple internet research, we discovered he had gotten "Oral Papillomas." Quite common in dogs younger than 2 years, it is spread dog-to-dog from coming in contact with an infected dog's mouth/saliva. It's obviously contagious to other dogs... which posed MASSIVE concern because Leroi was supposed to be boarded while Andrew and I were away for Christmas. Long story short, we monitored Leroi, had him vaccinated with his latest boosters, took him to the vet to see if there was anything we could give him (but of course not because it's a virus). Good thing is that these things go away on their own, but we needed to speed up this process. Since I'm very familiar with cold sores on my lip, I decided to start giving Leroi Lysine... an amino acid that helps in tissue maintenance. The vet said it wouldn't hurt. We also started giving him multivitamins once a day and then a Vitamin C tablet once or twice a week (VC gives Leroi diarrhea). Within a few weeks, the papillomas were GONE! We were saved for boarding him!

So we spent 2.5 days in Cali with my family... which was awesome but short-lived. And then on Christmas afternoon, we flew to Indianapolis to be with Andrew's family. While in Cali, I started coming down with a cough... which I was crossing my fingers wouldn't fully hit until after our Xmas travels... but when I got to Indy, it got worse. Real worse. Long story short, I got really sick in Indy. Andrew made a doctor's appointment for me for the same day we got back to Denver. I went to the doc and had a 102 fever, bronchitis (which I knew I had), sinus infection, ear infection, and my asthma made a turn for the worst and was called "severe." My doc wanted me on 3 different inhalers, an antibiotic for the sinuses, antibiotic for the bronchitis, and an antibiotic to make sure I didn't get any other infection. It was real bad. So instead of spreading holiday cheer, I spread germs. All the Ogles pretty much got sick except for Andrew and Tim... immune systems of steel!

Christmas was still a great time though. To be honest, I don't think I can travel like I did going from DEN to OC to INDY and then back to DEN. It was a little strenuous on my health, especially when I get sick every year over Christmas/New Year. We'll see what happens next year!

My new title

So, in the middle of all this blogging, I realized that I haven't told you about my new position. 

I was obviously working the front desk for 6 months when we first moved here and then I applied for a new position at my hotel... the Business Travel Sales Manager...

A few interviews/weeks later, I was offered the position and I gladly accepted. I've got my own little office in the sales office and I have business cards and everything!

I've been working as the BTSM for almost 3 months now and so far, it's awesome. I'm responsible for maintaining and gaining local prospect accounts who would be interested in setting up an annual corporate rate agreement. 

This was the "foot in the door" I had been looking for! I'm very thankful to have been given this opportunity and look forward to everything I've been learning or have learned so far. It's a great step in a great direction for me!

Thanksgiving

I was pretty depressed over Thanksgiving because I wanted to be home with my family. I really miss them and had been feeling homesick for a while... Andrew and I ended up being invited to Marshal and Helene's house for Thanksgiving... his extended extended extended cousins who live fabulously in Cherry Creek out here in Colorado. It was lovely time at their house and it was so nice meeting them.

I had been wanting to cook my own Thanksgiving dinner for a while and Andrew had gotten 2 free turkeys from his job at Loveland, so even though we had Thanksgiving dinner on that Thursday, we went ahead and had our own little family dinner the following Sunday. I made green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, the turkey and pumpkin cheesecake!

Here are pictures supporting evidence of my turkey and the pumpkin cheesecake, which by the way, was DELICIOUS!

I rubbed butter on the outside of the turkey and underneath the skin and then generously applied kosher salt and black pepper on top... we cooked the turkey in chicken stock with cut celery and carrots and basil leaves and put celery sticks and carrots inside the turkey and basted it every 30 minutes.

The delicious outcome!

The grand finale... the pumpkin cheesecake!

I want to cook Thanksgiving dinner every year now!

Dad and Lyss Came to Visit!

Lyss came out a few days before Dad did, which was nice because I got to spend some quality time with my sissy!! My Yissa!! We went to On the Border to celebrate, drink, and eat dinner. Andrew bought Yissa a tequila shot and then we all shared a pitcher of delicious margaritas! Not to mention, I manhandled the tortillas like it was my job. I LOVE their tortillas!

It was soooooo awesome having Dad and Lyss out there... even though I wish Mom could've come out, it was nice to have the two dweebs to myself... and I mean that in a very loving way. :)

Things we did:

New Belgium Brewery
Red Rocks Amphitheater
Dinosaur Ridge
Stanley Hotel Ghost Tour
Rocky Mountain National Park
Downtown

Here are some awesome pics!

Goofballs @ New Belgium

I just think this picture is funny

Bottling the beeeerrrrr

Dad going down the New Belgium slide hahahah

Stanley Hotel

An extra shadow hand... do you see it?

Dad and Lyss in front of Stanley

Dad and I in front of Stanley

ELK! I was this close to the guy... didn't zoom in on my camera

Andrew and Leroi... Leroi wants to make new friends!

Oh hey

And then he stood up and we realized how HUGE he was

Dad and Yissa being scaredy cats!

My executive self with the Elk

Are you not entertained?!?!

Mommy's Yittle Mushykiss!

Dad and Lyss @ RMNP

Our little family... on our Christmas card

Who's that bump on the log??

Love these two

Das my buddy!

Seriously, look at how perrrttyyy he is!

Another bump added to the log

Oh jesus.

Nice nice

Dad and I with the yellow tree

God's Creations

Sunlight

This was on my desktop since the day I took this pic

At the top of Red Rocks Amp

Daddy and his girlies

DINOSAURS were here.

Dad and the water ripple fossils

I miss you guys!! Mom, you're coming next, right?!

Halloween!

You would think that Andrew and I would be adamant about celebrating Halloween, since it marks the anniversary of when we first met. But nope, no need. We did attempt to carve pumpkins this year, but failed. Miserably. I'm not a good carver.

Anyway, I got home and Andrew had this waiting for me...

What a cute guy, huh?

At work, Halloween is really the only holiday we "celebrate" because it has nothing to do with religion.Every year, they have a pumpkin carving contest between departments. Since I don't carve, I wanted to still be able to contribute to the contest... so I suggest Pirates of the Caribbean theme and I can make the treasure chest. My friend Jessica took the liberty in carving our pumpkin since she LOVES it. Here is our end result... pretty dang amazing!

Our pumpkin with our treasure chest with candy inside

Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones

Pretty insane, huh? The stupid thing is that no one even voted this year... so technically, it wasn't a contest. Whatever, I know we would've won!