We’ve been tagged by Lauren and Brian! I just loved being tagged, so thank you! :) Sorry it's taken me a few days to get to this...

What were you doing five years ago?
Memorial Day weekend 2003...hmmm. This was the summer between my sophomore and junior year at Manchester, so I was back in Kendallville and working at Peoples Federal. I miss my banking ladies!



What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1. Workout - check.
2. Do homework for Quantitative Methods - it's only 8:30...so of course no chheeck yet.
3. Clean counter-cheeck cheeck (this was not really on my list, but I added it to give myself the sense of accomplishment)
4. Schedule a hair appt
5. Do Financial Lecture #2


What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Chips & salsa
2. Pretzel sticks with peanut butter
3. Chips
4. Wheat Thins and Diet Coke
5. Stacy's Pita Chips



What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?(in no particular order)
1. Start a philanthropic foundation - you know, like Bill and Melinda Gates
2. Give yearly scholarships at Manchester, Ball State, and Purdue
3. Take a month-long European trip and a month-long Australian/New Zealand trip
4. Sell house and buy land somewhere outside the city
5. Do work abroad for Heifer International


What are five of your bad habits?
1. Not picking up after myself and then getting stressed out about our messy house. Duh.
2. Talking on the phone too much
3. Procrastinating
4. Not finishing projects I start - they are numerous.
5. Getting fired up about things that are small


What are five places you have lived?
1. Richview, Illinois
2. Mt. Vernon, Illinois
3. Kendallville, Indiana
4. North Manchester, Indiana
5. Indianapolis, Indiana



What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Banquet server at a catering company
2. Bank teller
3. Admissions assistant (by far the most fun, Lauren!)
4. Auditor
5. Travel Pay Supervisor for our service members


What five people do you want to tag?
1. Big Lou
2. Megan
3. Rachel
4. Ashley
5. Jill

"It's Just a Spring Clean for the May Queen..."

This is a lyric from "Stairway to Heaven." I kind of like to think of myself as the May Queen, since it's my birthday month and all. Feel free to call me this next time you see me, and if your birthday is in May, too, then I guess you can be called the May Queen if you want. Other reasons why May is the most fabulous month include: school is getting out (which doesn't apply to me anymore...waaa-waaa), the weather is usually pretty good or is at least showing promise, and we have a three-day weekend filled with grilled meat to officially welcome summer. Honestly, things could not get much better!

The last two weekends have been fun-filled. Brent and I visited Bob and Big Lou last weekend. Before we left on Friday we met Brent's parents for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and had a fun time catching up on their Hilton Head vacation highlights. On Saturday Mom and I went to the Lovely Lucy's bridal shower at the farm, which reminds me of the trips I used to make to stay with Lucy and her family during the summer. The shower was as lovely as the bride herself and had lots of cute details. Our favor was a cloth napkin with pansies on it, since the pansy has always been Lucy's favorite flower. We ate on china and had cheesecake similar to the cheesecake that will be on each table at the reception. Lucy and Jaer are getting married over Labor Day weekend in Houston and I am already getting excited for the week-long roadtrip for the wedding.

Lucy and I last July

After the shower we met Stormy at Casa Grille, our favorite, and then headed off to see Blind Melon at Piere's. This is our second time seeing them in two months, so you can say we must really like them. This time we were on the band's guest list, which seemed fair since we just paid for their tickets in March. It was pretty exciting to go right to the door and say, "We're on the list", but the bouncers didn't seem impressed. Hey, it's the first and probably only time that will happen to us, so they could have at least humored me and acted like we were the 1-millionth concert-goer or something.

We stayed in town for Memorial Day weekend and enjoyed dinner with the Wrights at another favorite of ours, Chile Verde, on Friday. We celebrated because Brent and Eric earned their Green Belt certification this week...and I'm not referring to karate. This is a Lean 6 designation for a project management tool they developed that saved the agency money. They've worked on this project for about the last 6 months, so the boys were pretty happy it is complete.

I treated myself to a mani and pedi on Saturday afternoon, just because. My last pedi was a year ago, so this was a wonderful treat. We attended the Sinders' Annual Memorial Day cookout yesterday evening and had a great time eating and playing Uno. I brought the Hot Bacon Dip for an appetizer and Pavlova for dessert...both recipes are on Big Lou's blog, and both are tasty. In fact, some may say that the dip is good enough that you can eat it on cardboard circles and not really even notice. We dipped with Wheat Thins and Ritz, so I wouldn't know about that.

We really enjoyed the dip.

Love that Corgi!

Brent and I grilled out ourselves tonight after wussing out on going to the race. We went to church and Panera instead, which I'm sure was a much less draining day than going to the infield at 6:00 a.m. We'll gear up for next year. By the way, how much do I love Danica Patrick??? A whole lot. I listened to the race on the radio and really enjoyed when the announcers said she was "making a beeline for Ryan Briscoe's car." Hilarious. The point where she really won me over was the race where she kicked her helmet on the ground and then stomped off, looking ridiculous. I can relate because that's something I might do and then regret later. Similar to when I take the CPA Exam and get so mad about all the stupid questions they ask me that I end up doing a lot of huffing and throwing my pencils around for awhile before I realize I'm being a baby.

I hope your Memorial Day weekend has been as relaxing as ours!

Cabo Wabo!

Time to catch up...here's a vacation wrap-up that I wrote awhile ago...
Author's Disclaimer: You're about to see more vacation pictures than you're probably wanting to see...but the fact that you're even at this site tells me you're interested enough to look at a few of them. Another note - I got tired of rearranging the pictures, so please don't mind this disjointed post. :) Enjoy.

The open-air lobby

The search for the perfect dessert

We made it back into the country unscathed Saturday night after a relaxing vacay in Mexico. We stayed at Dreams Los Cabos Resort and we highly recommend it! As the hotel greeter handed me a cool towel upon arrival to place on my neck after our ride across the desert by mule (or Taxi Van), I knew I was in the right place.

We went with Rachel and Justin and our main activites were lying by the pool and waiting for our next meal. It was an all-inclusive resort, which Brent and I had never done before, and I imagine the food situation is similar to how people describe the endless buffets of a cruise (which is also something I've never done before). Seriously, if I went 5 minutes without shoving something in my face it felt like too long. Honestly, by the last day I felt like it was best that we leave so we could leave behind our gluttonous ways. The food was wonderful and the Miami Vices from the swim-up bar were delicious. I could never think of "Miami Vice" when it was time to order, and I always wanted to say, "I'll take a Miles Davis..." nooo, that's not right...."How about a Mint Condition, please..." All I could think of were these musicians of the past. I wonder what drink I would have gotten if I had ordered a Miles Davis? Probably something with tequilla in it.

This one is for you, Las Vegas travelers. I call it..."Ode to Walter Matthau"

Brent and I spent a lot of time under the umbrellas. Neither of us got burnt really thanks to our diligent sun protection efforts, but I did get sun poisioning. I think it's just something my skin does now. As Mom suggested, our next vacation should maybe be somewhere northern...maybe a nice ski trip?

There was a water slide in the "Cool Pool" where all the chairs were reserved by 9:00. We always went to the not-as-cool pool because who wants to fight over a pool lounge at 9:00 a.m.? Not this girl! On the last day, we moved our towels to the Cool Pool later in the day so we could experience the fun. We found out that not all that glitters is gold, because as it turns out what we had was better all along, anyway. You have to go off the beaten path sometimes...

Views of A-List Pool:

ANYWAY, the Cool Pool had a water slide. I believe this may have been intended for children only, but on the last day I couldn't stand it any longer and hurled myself down the slide. Now I was a bit concerned about the width of the slide since I had just witnessed a larger man get stuck there the day before and have to scoot himself down. I threw caution to the wind and hoped to not be embarrassed. I ended up flying down the slide, which was so surprising to me that I let out a hair-splitting scream, which is NOT how you want to behave at your one visit to the Cool Pool as you take a turn on a kid's water slide. We all took a few turns and I have to say that I wish I had had enough Miami Vices to try the slide on Day #1.

Miami Vice in hand...not the best idea I've ever had. Sorry for dumping it in the pool, Dreams!

He knows he rocks it at his pool.

It was a wonderful vacation and it was sad to come back to reality...but the show must go on. There are dandelions to kill in the yard and bug carcasses to sweep up off the floor! (Thank you, Terminix!!)

Our wonderful travel companions who we can't wait to vacation with again soon!

One of those is our room.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines....

...because the month of May in Indianapolis has officially begun! This Saturday we enjoyed the 500 Festival Mini Marathon with 30,000+ other runners (or "runners" if we're referring to yours truly). Okay, and when I say enjoyed...well I mean that we participated. I think that punishment is a term that best describes a 13.1 mile race. Seriously, why do that to yourself? The running bug? Mental illness?

Brent decided to join in on the punishment on Friday and ended up with a very good time (2:13) for a man with a bum knee and about 3 weeks of training under his belt. I came in about 40 minutes after Brent and friends Laura and Kirby per the usual...which always works out perfectly because they are usually recovered enough to carry me back to the car. Laura ran it in 2:09 which I believe is her best time yet. She also ran the Nashville Mini the week before, so she is pretty much amazing. Kirby ran as herself this year and not as 42 year-old Gordon Lightfoot (okay, so it's not Lightfoot but we can't remember his last name) and had another good time of around 2:15. And another kudos to Rachel, who ran it in 2:32 and beat last year's time considerably.

Maybe I should consider sports writing as a career change? (Since right now I'm "studying" for the Financial section of the CPA and I wil surely toss my laptop out the living room window if I have to answer ONE MORE question and foreign currency translation or other comprehensive income. Good thing I have this blog to work through that laptop-throwing sensation.)

I'll post a pre-race picture as soon as Laura and Kirby give the approval. The race isn't something to get all gussied-up for...in fact, I'm not sure if I give my approval to post, either.

Okay, a few more hours of studying left...then it's off to buy swimming suits, suncreen, and a wide-brimmed hat, because tomorrow morning we are off to Cabo!!!!! :)