Photo blogging and other updates

Who thought that taking a picture every day and posting it to a blog with a few descriptive words would be so difficult?

To undertake such a task requires few things...
1. Blog
2. Camera
3. Way to transfer photo from camera to blog

And that's where it does indeed get difficult. My camera cord and camera never seem to be at the same place at the same time. So, while I have been taking pictures, I am failing at the transferring-them-to-the-computer portion of this task. And let's not get started with the issues of iPhoto and blogger - wonder if WordPress is better....?

In other news...

This weekend is homecoming for the number 5 ranked UC Bearcats. Jerry and I are attending an Open House Homecoming event for my undergraduate scholarship program. That should be interesting because they want money and we don't have any to give them, but it will be good to see old friends and former classmates.

The "renovations" to the house are slowly coming together. We have removed all the furniture from the dining room and I am going to scrub the walls and floors this weekend, which means we will be ready to begin sanding the floors in that room at any time. My hope is to be able to move the living room furniture to the garage this weekend as well, giving Jerry the ability to start sanding the floors as early as 10/30 - which will be good if we can get most of the work done on the 30th and 31st because we can get away from the house without worrying about where to stay or any work/travel issues.

We are spending the 31st with the Mangus's and celebrating little D's first Halloween - by sitting around their house, eating pizza, watching a scary movie, and answering the door for the hordes of children begging for candy. I'm sure we will be dressing the baby up in his Halloween costume. I don't know what it is, so it will be entertaining I'm sure. Hmmm... this sounds like an excellent opportunity to possibly make gingerbread mummies. I am proceeding with caution on that idea though.

And in my other free time, I am still trying to plan a wedding. I am hoping to drag Jerry and my parents out to look at possible Cincinnati venues the first weekend of November. Ma and Pa Hoell will be in Vegas next week, so I am attempting to send them on a little Vegas scouting trip as well. I'm going to try to make calendars for them when my work and school projects die down a little after this week (yay!).

But in the mean time, work does call... so I'm off! Look for photo blog posts coming soon!

I'm getting married!!!

Did I mention that I was getting married. Well, I'm getting married... in less than 6 months!

Jerry and I are heading off to Vegas to tie the proverbial knot. We (and whenever I say "we" it means "I") have selected the venue (Planet Hollywood Resort) and the date (April 8). We are trying to guess the guest list in order to pick the appropriate package and time. But right now it is looking like a mid-afternoon ceremony with a break to go take some awesome photos (courtesy of an awesome package deal from mikelphoto.com), followed by an hors d'oeuvre reception in a panorama suite at PH.

The hotel pretty much takes care of everything: chapel and suite set up, bouquets, alter flowers and candles, ceremony pictures with an additional hour of photo time as well as an engagement photo session at the LV sign, and so much more that I can't even think of right now! Oh yeah, and the ceremony will be available via webcast!

Woo hoo Planet Hollywood!

Here's a little teaser of what the suite may look like (I think they have a few of them that are decorated slightly differently):

Yes, that's a 180 degree view of the strip.

We will be having a reception in Cincinnati, not long after we return from Vegas. And we are putting off the honeymoon until the fall since we will be taking a week to trip out to LV.

I bought a dress last week - and I'm having a really hard time not showing Jerry a picture of it because I really like it, and I am terrible at keeping secrets from him. It's going to really suck when the dress arrives because they ship it directly to my house. Hopefully, we can get it in for alterations before I have a chance to share. If you're not Jerry and you want to see a picture of the dress, drop me an email or a message on facebook and I'll send you one of a tall, skinny blonde in the white version (mine's ivory because the white just washed me out!).

Jerry and his groomsmen (when he selects them) will just wear black suits, white shirts, and some kind of awesome tie that coordinates with my maid(s) dress(es). Jerry told me that he is going to wear his black and white checkered Vans... and I thought that was an excellent idea ($5 says my mom hates that idea!)

The dress has kind of inspired our theme: Classic Hollywood/Old School Las Vegas style. Hopefully we can translate that into the reception at home - because I know that I will want to wear my dress again!

Stay tuned for more details! I am working on getting a planning website up and running, but I'm so busy with everything else (work x2) that it's a little on hold right now!

Photo Blog Catch-up days 8 - 12

Busy week last week. Super busy week this week. I didn't have/make the time to post all my pictures, but I have been taking them. I am now loading them on my work computer to make them easier to work with until I figured out my issues with uploading to/from iPhoto. I AM going to get better at this! So here's your phto blog update...

Day 8 - 10/14/2009

My sad little confused pumpkin. I didn't enter him in the "contest" at work because he was really just a means to test my collection of permanent markers.

Day 9 - 10/15/2009

Everyone else's pumpkins - Really, I didn't think anyone would put THIS much effort into this.

Day 10 - 10/16/2009

This was my view at the UC Marketing Summit - I was relegated to the table in the back corner - #30. Good information, but not great seating. I guess that's what I get for signing up later/letting someone else sign me up. But it was free, so it's all good. And there was a lot of great information shared.

Day 11 - 10/17/2009

It was a party day for us. We ended the night at my cousin's birthday bash. Here is my cousin Lori, with her man, Jake. Didn't have a horrible time, but this just wasn't me scene! (We were in Suite at Black Finn downtown - liked it much better as McFaddens)

Day 12 - 10/18/2009

Jerry and I decided to park at the Westin (5th and Vine) and hike it to Lori's party (7th and Vine). As we were walking back to the car around Mid-night, I decided to do something I have never really done... take a touristy photo of our fountain. It's images like this that make me happy that I moved back home! So technically this was taken at just around midnight, but I'm calling it my Sunday photo!

Photo Blog Day 7

It's the 7th day since Jerry proposed, which just happened to fall on the day that I decided to start this blog. I didn't get a picture of the beautiful roses that he placed on the floor in a trail leading me to him in the basement, and until now I also didn't have a picture of the other bouquet of pretty fall colored flowers that he bought me as well. But here it is...

Aren't they pretty?

The goal of adding a photo each day is to get me in a better habit of carrying my camera and using it to capture the moments of my life. I am hoping to develop into the slightly more interesting and artistic photos over time. And maybe I'll get a better camera... who knows?

Photo Blog Day 6

Day 6 found us at the Mt. Lookout Tavern, taking in a little MLTrivia. Unfortunately, we did not win. But the boys still had their fair share of beer. This is pretty much always my point of view:

Sitting at a Red Bull table watching the boys drink Coors Light out of plastic Bud Light cups. Ah, the life.

where are those pictures

Don't worry! I am still taking a picture every day... just having problems with the blogspot interface, iPhoto, and my camera (probably because my camera software isn't compatible with a Mac). 

I have also been terribly busy. Though I have been making an effort on taking the photos, I have not made the effort to figure out how to get around the iPhoto issue without having to save and move files.

To be continued...

Photo Blog Days 4 and 5

I'm combining these 2 days because it has been a busy weekend and this is the first chance I have had to upload photos (yes they were taken on the days indicated) and then to write about them.

Day 4

Jerry cleaned the floors in the living room. We previously pulled up the carpet in here and were waiting to clean the floors because they get so slick! Here is what the living room looks like now...

Hopefully, the floors will be finished really soon and we can redecorate (new tables and new entertainment stand, TV, and surround sound).

Day 5

This morning, I decide it was time that you met the other occupants of the Hoell-McWhorter house. Today, meet Peter Parker...

He's the friendly (read: scary) little spider right outside the front door.

Making Wedding Plans

I can remember making fun of my co-worker Emily for not having her October wedding details set back in January and frantically helping her evaluate a few things. Her wedding is in less than a week and throughout the process, I have watched her sweat out some issues, although it didn't seem that bad.

Now I'm trying to do all that... in 6 months... in another city!

That's right folks, Jerry and I are getting married in Vegas in April, at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. We are currently waiting on the coordinator to let us know what Thursday dates in April are available - yes, you can get married any day and any time in Vegas!

I have NO desire whatsoever to do the big church wedding. Jerry has already done that anyway. I cannot envision myself in a big church full of people that I don't really know that well (like dad's work friends). I don't want everything to be all commercial and to worry about details that won't make a bit of difference in 5 or 10 years. I want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren about how much fun I had at my wedding. 

I am lucky to be the second born. I think that my father had enough of the big wedding planning after my sister got hitched a few years ago. He also says that there are some things that he would change about his wedding. But most importantly, he told me to work all the details out with my mom and he will just write the checks!

I am also lucky to be marrying such a wonderful man. Do you know he actually said something along the lines of it being my day and to do what I want and to just tell him where to be and when? Guess we will have to plan a trip out to Vegas sometime soon to firm up the details... until then, Bridget is under my employ as my Vegas Liaison!

Photo Blog Day 3

We were having an unofficial miniature pumpkin decorating contest at work. I unfortunately forgot to take my pumpkin home, but most of the staff participated. I have declared Guy's creation (actually by Guy's daughter, a.k.a. the Ringer) the winner:

Actually, everyone who actually attempted to participate did an excellent job. Shelly actually carved hers! I don't have pictures of all of them yet though.

Photo Blog Day 2

I wrote this yesterday and managed to delete it :(



Anyway...



It has been a hectic time at work lately and that is why my desk/office (yes I enjoy the luxury of having my own office) looks like this:


Carla McWhorter Meyer would probably go into shock at seeing this! Next week I hope to post a picture of the cleaned up version!

How it went down

People keep asking me how exactly Jerry proposed. So...read on...

I arrived home from work a little after 4:30 - it was a terribly frustrating drive home thanks to a mild accident on North 71 that hadn't made the traffic report yet. I was not in the best mood, but Jerry and I had plans to go to dinner at El Pueblo kind of in celebration of our 2 year anniversary. So, I perked up a bit as I got out of the car thinking about delicious Mexican food!

I perked up a lot more as I opened the front door to find roses laying on the floor, creating a path through the living room. I started picking up the roses as I followed them around the corner into the kitchen. Then I gave up the picking up part, dropped the roses, and followed the rest of the path through the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement. By the way, it had to be entertaining for Jerry to watch me attempt to tip toe (in heels mind you!) past the roses on the stairs without tripping.

And there was Jerry standing in the middle of the basement family room - still dressed in his shirt and tie from work, holding his hands behind his back. I should mention that there was another beautiful fall bouquet of floweres (pictures to come later) sitting on the table, and the sweet sounds of "Easy like Sunday morning" on the iTunes (long story).

Jerry asked me to sit in front of him. This is the point where I thought that this was going to be more of a romantic gesture of some kind, but not quite a proposal. He proceeded to tell me how happy he has been for the last 2 years (yada, yada, yada - in all the excitement, whatever words came out of his mouth are all a blur of my memory right now, sorry).

As he started to get down on one knee, I had this moment of disbelief. When others might have said something along the lines of "No Way!" or possibly "Shut Up!" - the only word that managed to come out of my mouth was "Don't!" I have no idea why people. But Jerry, midway to kneeling and the box now visible from behind his back, stopped and said, "Did you just say 'don't'?"

To which I responded, "No...go ahead. Do."

And then he showed me the beautiful ring set (he bought the full wedding set), pulled the engagement ring out of the box, and handed it to me. We hugged. We kissed. I handed him back the ring... so that he could properly place it on my finger. And we hugged again.

As we were hugging, he ever so sweetly whispered in my ear, "Uh...you haven't actually said yes yet." I think I may have screamed yes.

He then told me that he told my dad that it was his intention to end the issue of us living in sin.

Um... When did he talk to my dad?

Ah, the truth comes out...

Earlier in the week, Jerry commandeered my cell phone and used it to search my address book for my father's cell phone number. He then texted Dad to see when he was working from home this week. THEN, on Tuesday, when Dad was working from home, Jerry drove to my parents' house to meet my father and ask his permission.

Too cute!

So there you have it... the engagement story. And we do not have a date yet, but I will be sure to share when we do have a date!

Photo Blog Day 1

It was a toss up on what to photograph tonight. Unfortunately for the Mariachi band at El Pueblo, they lost to this: 

That's my pretty new engagement ring from my pretty new fiance. Yay!

Day 1

It's technically Day 1 of my intended photo blog... maybe I'm waiting for inspiration to strike. Maybe I'm just waiting for this day to end so that I can go home, grab the camera, and head out to a nice low-key anniversary dinner with Jerry. (Mmmmmm....El Pueblo!)

Work has been crazy-busy this week. As in, I arrive at the office at 7:30 am and start right in to responding to emails and making changes to documents, read some website copy, write some website copy, and then I look at my clock and it's already 4:00. I love these days and I hate them with just as much passion. I like being so busy that I'm not constantly watching the clock. I hate that these days are the result of others not being able to properly spread out their work.

I also LOVE my easy clients... the ones who take one day to review a document and propose changes. The ones who only require one round of changes. The ones who tell my boss how delightful it is to work with me. Yeah I like them! I'm talking to you Pharmacy Recruitment!

Other things I don't like: 3:30 meetings when I leave the office at 4, constantly broken Kyocera printers, co-workers who yell down the hall rather than walking to your office, and the inability of the thermostat to maintain a comfortable temperature.

Highlight of my day today... a general curiosity to see what ever happened to the co-workers that I left back in Texas four years ago. Turns out Vernon went on to become an 8th grade math teacher. I found the blog that his wife keeps - and that one of his family members updates EVERY DAY! Crazy!

Look For that Day 1 picture...Coming soon!

October is Anniversary Awareness Month...

Today is my one year anniversary at work. I honestly thought that the combination of the economy and the merger would put me out of a job before I reached this point. I still fear a "last in - first out" policy should we have to make cuts. In any case, yay for one year.

Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of my first date with Jerry. We are having a mild celebration with dinner at El Pueblo tomorrow, and continuing to recognize the event with a much larger dinner at Boi na Braza on Saturday. Do you find it odd that I am getting slightly geeked about going to a Brazillian Steakhouse? I mean, I barely eat meat to begin with, and I am excited about going to a restaurant where they put out some salads and sides but expect you to just eat a lot of meat? Something feels so very wrong with that.

On that note, I am launching a new idea... that will probably take a lot of work on my part. I am going to incorporate a 365 photo blog into this here blog... a photo each day of something going on in my life. I have a feeling this means a lot of photos of my house as it undergoes some reconstructive surgery! But look forward to that - starting tomorrow!

Ah...kids

On Saturday, Jerry and I met up with his sister and some of her family for lunch. They were in Cincinnati for their oldest son's soccer tournament. After lunch, and before we headed to the soccer fields to watch the afternoon game, Jerry and I made a trip to Wal-Mart. I don't want to admit why we were there. And yes, it is true that I had to go to the bathroom THAT badly that I was willing to use a public restroom...at Wal-Mart.

In the restroom, I can hear a little girl (4 or 5 years old) who is in the large stall with her grandmother. I walked into the restroom half-way through the conversation, but the little girl was talking about when she is a parent. And the portion that I heard went something like this...

Little Girl: And after I have kids, then one day I'll be a grandma. And then after I'm a grandma, you know what I'll be?

(Honestly, I expected her to say that she would be dead and then things would really turn awkward - because such a discussion while people are trying to do their business isn't awkward enough - but it's even better than that)

Little Girl: Then, after I'm a grandma, I'm gonna be a pony. Then a doggy. Then maybe a cat.

Grandma: That's wild.

The grandmother's reaction might actually be my favorite part of the story. no emotion. Just "That's wild."

Lesson learned - maybe using the restroom at Wal-Mart isn't all that bad. I mean they do have toilet seat covers as well.

Driving Lessons

Yesterday was another long day for me as I taught my weekly night class after working at the 9-5 job. In class last night, I decided to do an activity to help the students to become better acquainted as they choose teams for their project. In order to organize them a little more for this activity, I decided to buy a mixed bag of candy, allow them to pick a piece of candy, and organize them into groups, based on what candy they chose.

So, I needed candy.

I decided to stop at Kroger in order to pick up a bag of candy. Of course I was stopping there at 5:00-ish in the evening. There was a lot of traffic in the parking lot and I decided to just park in the first row that I came to. I happened to follow another car down this row. He passed the closest spot on the right and turned to his left. So I immediately pulled into the vacant spot, only to realize that his intention was to back into the spot (I don't know if this was his original intention or if he realized that a spot wasn't open on the left and was going to then back into the available spot) I realized what was happening and I was going to back out of the spot and let him have it (even though there were plenty of spaces to choose from a mere 3 cars down).

I put my car in reverse and began to check for clearance to back out. At that point a 3rd car pulled down the same aisle. I had nowhere to go, so I thought "Screw it! I'm not responsible for him being an idiot and attempting this maneuver during Kroger Rush Hour." I put my car in park and proceeded to gather my bag to walk into the store when the first guy gets out of his car and approaches me. I told him that I would gladly move but that I couldn't get out of the spot - really, I was happy to move for him (he scared me!) To which he just gave me the evil eye and then hopped back in his car and parked in the previously mentioned space just a few cars down.

I jumped out of my car and power-walked into Kroger (which was another adventure of white-trashiness and the most disgusting female mustache I have ever seen, but that's a story for another time).

Anyway, this experience got me thinking that there are certain rules that you should follow when parking ANYWHERE...

1. You have to move quickly
2. If it's a crowded parking lot and there are multiple cars lining up behind you, don't waste your time or mine trying to back in to a parking space.
3. If you do wish to park in a particular space, indicate so - turn signals are good, or possibly a maneuver that prevents someone else from taking the space (seriously, the way he passed the space made me believe he was PASSING THE SPACE!)
4. Don't you probably need access to your trunk - and isn't that difficult if it's not facing out?
5. Don't waste your time getting out of the car to approach the person who took your space - just park your land yacht and do your thing

B2B Class 2

Tonight is my second B2B class and I have never felt less ready! Ok, by never, I guess I can only possibly compare it to last week, which means I will probably be saying this again next week.

We have a lot going on in class tonight and I need to get more organized. I had forgotten that I had two small tasks that were not yet complete and now I am scrambling to not only get my LARGE amount of 9-5 work done, but I have to get my school work done as well. Just thought of a third task! Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Why am I still talking to you?