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November 30, 2010

Five Things to be Happy About: 11/23-11/29

1.  Fantastic Co-workers.  Since there were not many of us here the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we grabbed our laptops, headed down for breakfast and camped out in the cafeteria chatting and getting work done until our batteries died and people began rolling in for lunch.  A nice change of pace from sitting at or desks all day.

2.  I started reading a new book.  Loving Frank... about Frank Lloyd Wright and his love affair.  Fiction, but based on truths.  Pretty great so far, a little over halfway through it.

3.  Matt and I were seriously tested in a very "parental" way.  Without going into too much detail, our niece had a hard time leaving her grannie Annie and grandpa Lenny and was a bit of a challenge on the four hour car ride home.  The good news is, Matt and I were pleased with our composure throughout the entire thing. 

4.  One of my favorite 15 minutes meals: Cover one side of salmon with sesame seeds, cook for 3 minutes in a skillet with olive oil on medium heat then put the skillet right in the oven 10 minutes at 350, done.  Orzo on the stove takes 9 minutes... add cherry tomatoes.  and fresh steamed broccoli.  Yum.

5.  Mama gave me a sewing lesson while we were in TN for Thanksgiving and for my first project I made stockings.  I'm so proud of them, and I finally feel a little more comfortable using the machine.


November 23, 2010

Yikes!

I'm totally fired.  Has it really been 7 weeks.  I should rent this out to other people to post... just so it stays active :p  Oh gosh, and so much has happened!!

Highlights:

1. Matt finished preparing and gave his speech at a clean energy symposium at Rutgers.

2. I threw a surprise birthday dinner party for Matt's 30th birthday.  40 adults, a handful of kids, and he had no clue.  It was at Dos Perros downtown Durham, and it was a fantastic event.

3. My sweet friend Denise was in town for a wedding and we got to spend some serious quality time together <3

4. At work, we filled our boss's office with balloons.  Over 900 balloons to surprise him on boss' day.  At some point during the day one of my co-workers and I decided to walk around in the balloons.  Once the static started to build and the balloons (that were pressed right up against my face) started popping, I freaked... running towards the exit as balloons kept popping, making me scream each time.  I was crying by the time I got out of there.  Meanwhile, there was an interview going on in the room next door... I'm so classy.  I still have "Rachel - Balloon Wimp - Meitl" written on my cube.  :)

5. Matt and I took our parents (yep, both sets!) on a cruise to the Bahamas.  What a fantastic time; we are truly blessed to have 4 parents that love us so much and get along with each other great!

Hey - I think that's about it.  Do you believe me when I say I'll update next Monday?  Probably not... we'll see... I'm definitely going to try.