Happy Fall Ya'll

My FAVORITE season is finally here. I enjoy the summer, but after 90 degree weather I enjoy a little bit of a cool down and living here in NC, I must say that we have one of the best Fall Seasons around. Get ready for everything FALL............

Halloween

WCU Homecoming

Catamount Football

The North Carolina State Fair

What a Trooper!

So, for any of you that know me or my family you would know that we are HUGE animal lovers!!! I grew up with both cats and dogs and NEVER remember a time where we didn't have one to greet us when we came home. For example, Our very first Christmas (Me and Daniel's) we were given our dog, CiCi! Then, I couldn't stand not having someone for CiCi to play with so we rescued a cat, sometimes I would like to reconsider the cat decision, but he's too cute and spunky to giveaway or not have. Why am I telling you this?

Well, I called my sister on Monday night to ask how her test when. She was taking her board exam for her Liscense in Social Work. She said that she didn't pass and that she missed it by 5 questions and also that she ran over Macie. I felt so bad for her, there was no way she was going to pass after that, but she tried. Of course she felt so guilty, but Macie loves her some Ashley. Plus, it helps that she took her to PetSmart last night to buy her some new toys! Macie is CiCi's sister (littermate). She had to be taken to an emergency vet in Cary. They checked her out, did x-rays, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc. Luckily the only thing they found was a broken right paw. She broke it in two spots right at her elbow. They had to operate on her and put in 8 screws and 1 metal plate. We call her the BIONIC Dog now!

She came over to our house last night and was in a lot better shape. Almost back to normal, but groggy from her pain medicine. She even has a pink cast with a heart. Here are a few pictures for you to see. We missed her silly self and glad she's going to be A-OK!

Macie and her Cast

We love you Macie! Get well soon.

San Diego Recap

I must say, that San Diego was incredible and I do miss it. The weather is awesome in southern California. Low 65- High 85 degrees ever day and NO HUMIDITY. San Francisco really had some amazing views and great culture, but San Diego was clean, not too big of a city, and nice weather year around.

I flew out early Sunday morning (8am Flight) after a 30th birthday party for our friend Justin. I was a little bit tired, but not too bad. I landed at 12pm pacific time and had a chance to do a little bit of sightseeing just to make sure I knew where I was going all week. I grabbed lunch and then headed back to the hotel to catch a quick nap before the Partner's Reception at the conference. Needless to say, I didn't do anything that night but go to bed because it was 12am on the east coast.

Downtown San Diego

Monday - was a fairly low key day. I did some work from the hotel and had a chance to do some sightseeing and some shopping. I went to dinner at a GREAT mexican place. Shrimp Taco's anyone? Delicious! Oh, and a couple corona's because nothing goes with mexican like a mexican brew :)

Downtown San Diego at night from my room

Top of the Hyatt

Tuesday/Wednesday were mainly all work days. Tuesday night we were treated to dinner by one of our vendors; Information Management. We enjoyed the SAS Hospitality event before dinner. They had a great Beatles cover band; Silver Beatles. Dinner was at a "fancy" mexican rest. with the very best Mojitos. 2 of those and a couple vodka sodas....Good times.

I picked up my rental car on Wednesday night, a Jeep Wrangler (because if you are in SO CAL, you must have a convertible of some type). Note to self for my next trip to San Diego - the rental car companies aren't as close as they look. It was a rather long walk. I was also able to meet up with one of my highschool friends, Mike Walsh. We went and grabbed a bite to eat and a few drinks and then headed to hear one of his friends bands, Ben Sollee. Very good band, very different as well, but we enjoyed it along with enjoying our Pabst Beers. Check out their website, they are doing a tour by bicycle - http://www.bensollee.com/. It was great catching up with an old friend and seeing what "real" San Diego is all about.

My ride for the week

Mike and me and Dinner

Thursday I went to Los Angeles. I heard nightmares about getting there with all the traffic, but it wasn't bad at all. Took me about 2.5 hours to get there. The last 20min was where the traffic got really bad, but it was only 20min so it wasn't bad. Of course I did the things that only girls like to do.......Rodeo Drive, Robertson Blvd, Pinkberry, Melrose, etc. I did lots of shopping and got lots of great things. I stayed there until about 9:30pm in hopes of missing all the traffic and was successful. I made it back quick and even stopped for an In and Out Burger, YUM!

LA!!!!

Beverly Hills

Robertson BLVD

Hollywood Blvd

Pinkberry - YUM

Friday was filled with all things San Diego. I shopped, watched the Navy Ships, held a bird or two, ate sushi, had dessert and relaxed before my flight early Saturday morning. I can't wait to go back and do some of the things I wasn't able to do this trip.

The Bay
Navy Shipyard

Sunny The Bird

Not sure of his name - but he was mean

Balancing Rocks

Sourthern California Coast

Must Have Post 2

Soooooooooo - Our dryer has been on the fritz for the past month. First we noticed water coming out from underneath the dryer (You would think the washer would have that issue not the dryer). We had our vents cleaned out and it still wasn't working so Daniel decided to research the problem and found an article about having your laundry room too cold and that causing condensation around the dryer. We shut off the vent and it seemed to fix the condensation, however because of all the water it seemed to have messed up either the heating element or something that wasn't suppose to get wet did. It would start and then shut off. Since its hard to just buy a dryer and wanting a new washer to match later we decided that buying both the washer and dryer made more sense. Thank goodness it was Labor Day and they were having sales. We haven't done laundry in about 2 weeks so we needed it fast. Luckily they were having a sale on the Samsung Front Load Washer and Dryer. My parents have them and they are AWESOME. Who knew that washing cloths could be fun and did I mention take about a quarter of the time than a regular washer and dryer does. I did 3 loads last night in 1.5 hours. I don't think Daniel had as much fun though - he had to hall them in and put them on their pedestals so that they are high enough. Poor Daniel had to Labor on Labor Day!




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Washer

Dryer