Good Stuff

 Guess who else got a promotion?!  ME!!!    YAY!  I am now a "Project Manager II" instead of a "Project Manager I".  Basically, I do the exact same thing, but they pay me more!  That is the best promotion EVER!  LoL

Also, my uncle Clay, Dad and Joe all worked on our landscaping last weekend and it looks GREAT!  They got asked 3 times for their card by neighbors...LoL.  Here are pictures:

Quick Update

So much has been going on lately!!!!  Joe got a promotion (and a very nice raise) which is great because he has been working really hard and deserves it.  They haven't finalized his title yet (even though his raise is already effective) but I imagine it will be Manager of Cost Accounting.  He gets a chance at a really nice bonus now that he is manager level too, which is AWESOME! 

My mom, dad and uncle (who is a landscaper in Houston) are coming in this weekend to help with our landscaping.  We donated our 2 trees in the front yard to a couple with 2 kids who can't afford landscaping.  They came by and got them on Saturday.  We are going to put Bradford Pear trees in their place.  I am excited!  We will have the prettiest house on the block!  And I LOVE gardening.  Not to mention, I could use some SUN!  LoL 

Other than that, it is just work, work work.  Joe has decided that he wants to get a 2008 Nissan Altima Coupe for his car.  (The SUV he is driving now is technically MY car).  We will probably get it later this year.  We could afford it now, but with the house and the other new car, I hate spending so much money at once!  YIKES!  

Back to work I go....

Second Love

It's true...I have a second love (next to Joe).  Photography.  I love photography.  There, I said it!  Last weekend I photographed my friend Jacqie's wedding (this weekend I will be photographing at a co-workers wedding for fun).  It has been a while since I have gotten my camera out (due to moving and rain), but it felt so liberating to be a photographer again.  (No, I wasn't their ACTUAL photographer...I was just the amateur!)  In fact, their photographer asked for my number and told me she would give me a call when she does a wedding up near Allen because she would love to have me as her assistant photographer.  Now, I did inform her that I was VERY much an amateur, but she didn't seem to mind.  How cool would that be?! 

Unfortunately, (as it is with all of my hobbies) photography is pretty expensive when you get into it.  I already have over $1500 of things I want (which is a pretty short list, I have to say).  But, most of all, I want my $450 external flash.  Someday, I will get it.  But for now, I will just have to wish it was mine.  After all, I have spent enough money lately on massages and a maid.  Not to mention we will have a patio cover built probably this coming weekend (cedar posts, shingles to match our house...the whole 9 yards).  So, I guess my photography accessories can wait another few months....    (I'm already spoiled enough for now!)

Here are a few of my (unedited) photos.  I still need to learn how to master photoshop so my photography will look more like I am a professional.

From ALX to DDD

Well, for those who don't know already...the local sorority I helped found on UTD campus back in February of 2003 is now colonizing into a chapter of Tri-Delta!  I am so thrilled to soon be an official alumnus of DDD, and also so proud of my sisters for working hard on going national! 

ALX will always be a part of me, and I am so excited that DDD will be in my future! 

http://www.deltadeltadelta.org/news/TriDelta_inNews/UTD_Extension.asp

One Month Later...

Well, time to bring all of my (2) avid readers up to speed!     A LOT has been going on lately, so we have been keeping busy.  Shortly after we moved into our house, we got our new doggie!  We love her so much!  She is seriously the best dog EVER!  She rarely barks or whines.  She likes to play, but if you want to relax she will lay down beside you instead.  She loves EVERYONE...and everyone seems to love her as well.  My mother-in-law is trying to get us to switch dogs with her!    Mimi and the cats are now out in the house together.  The situation is getting better day-by-day.  Mimi just wants to play with them SO BADLY, but I think she is learning that they don't want to play with her.  There is still the occasional hissing, but overall I have been really pleased with all of their behavior.  They even all slept in the same room with Joe and I while we watched TV the other day!!!!  (I was excited!)

I have stumbled along probably the 5th best deal EVER recently.  I organized a massage discount program for my work through a local massage place I go to.  For $212 each, all of the participants are getting 1 YEAR of UNLIMITED 1 hour MASSAGES!!!!  That's right!  I am going every Tuesday night now, and it is heaven.  Lisa, my massage therapist, is the best thing that has happened to me since Joe!   

Speaking of being spoiled, I am getting a maid too!!!  It is HARD work keeping an almost 2700 sq. ft. house clean.  I worked out a cost analysis for Joe (my cost accountant husband).  It showed that even if I ONLY spent 2 hours a week cleaning (though it is more like 7 hours!), it is MUCH more cost effective to hire a maid every other week.  So, he relented (after much persuading) and I get a maid every other week now!!!  I am hoping to have my house cleaned for the first time next week.  It will be nice to only have to do "maintenance cleaning" myself.  No bathtubs, showers, toilets, mopping or dusting for me!!!  (Well, unless we are having company over.)  WOOHOOO!!!

Joe, me, my sister and my brother-in-law just got back from a WONDERFUL 5 night cruise to the Caribbean last week.  It was nice to be able to relax after a tough 2 weeks of moving in and unpacking!  We went to Cozumel and Progresso, Yucatan.  We all got a little sunburnt but it relieved so much stress.  It was Joe & I's Happy Early Anniversary Cruise!  Yes, that's right, we will have been married for a YEAR in 1 month and 2 days!  I can hardly believe it has already been a year.  What a whirlwind of a year it has been too!  From new jobs to a new apartment and then a new house.  A new dog, new maid....!  WOW!  We are really blessed!

My Uncle Clay is coming into town with my mom in about a month to help with our landscaping.  He is a landscaper in Houston and can get wholesale prices on everything.  Look out "Yard of the Month"...here I come!!!  Haha

Well, back to work I go...