Earlier this week I was in New York City for work.  My boss and I attended a digital asset management conference at the Hilton.  The conference itself was ok.  I did learn a few new things and met some people that worked for companies like Nickelodeon, Harley-Davidson, and Universal Studios.  We had dinner at a restaurant called Blue Fin near the W Hotel in Times Square.  I even tried some sushi.

I've been to NYC a few times, but being in Times Square always amazes me.  Even if you don't like people watching, you find yourself standing there, just looking and watching.  It also amazed me that they had blocked off a portion of Times Square from traffic to allow people to congregate.  A very cool idea in my opinion.  On my walk back to the hotel, as I walked past the M&Ms World store, I felt compelled to stop in and buy some goodies for my nieces and nephews!  I'm hoping one day Mary will be able to travel with me!

It's been a quick week since we've been back from Florida.  And although I am relieved that it is Friday, I head out first thing tomorrow morning to New Orleans to work with my dad for most of the week.  I am glad that we'll be together as I love working with him, but having just gotten home from Jen & Ken's wedding in Florida, I don't feel quite ready to be away again.  And once I come home, it's non-stop still as the night I fly home is the rehearsal dinner for Kristen and Jay before their wedding, then back to work on Friday and mani/pedis with the ladies on Friday for the wedding and then the big celebration of their wedding on Saturday!  It's going to be a fun couple of days, but I am also looking forward to next Sunday when I'll get to be with Jack again after all the non-stop action of the coming week.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Last week, I was in Los Angeles for work Sunday through Wednesday.  The trip was very productive, although, my work trips always seem to generate more work.  I flew home Wednesday afternoon from LA.  Coming back always seems to take longer because of the two hours lost in changing time zones.  My flight left at 9:30am, but when I landed in Chicago it was 3:30pm.  By the time I got my bag and took a cab home, it was already 5:00pm.  Blah.

Anyway, the next day, I went into the office as I had some meetings first thing in the morning, then I left around 12:30pm to go home, finish packing, and drop off Bentley at the Kennel before heading back to the airport to fly to Florida.  Mary and I made it there with plenty of time to spare.  Steve and Kati, made it just in time!  Kati had been in New York for work at the same time I was in Los Angeles.  Her flight was canceled, delayed, and canceled some more.  Fortunately, they made it.

The trip to Florida was for Jen and Ken's wedding.  The whole weekend was great!  All the events and accomodations were at a resort near Panama City called Carillon Beach, which is on the Gulf of Mexico side.  Friday we spent most of the day on the beach.  This was a great way to relax, until that night when the sunburn kicked in.  One day I'll learn.

The ceremony was on the beach the next day.  Although it was VERY hot and VERY humid, it was a great ceremony.  Afterwards, we went right to the reception for cocktail hour.  Everything went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I'm just glad Mary and I are both home again (for now at least)!  Pictures to follow...

We didn't want to blog about the fact that we were leaving for our honeymoon since we are both very cautious as to what info we post online (just for security reasons), so I apologize for the long delay in our blog postings, but let me tell you, it was a FABULOUS trip!  We left exactly two weeks ago and were in Maui for 7 glorious nights.  We did a couple activities, drove and explored the island, slept, spent some time on the beach and ate and drank our way through Maui.  It was wonderful!  I could probably blog about all kinds of different things from our trip for a month (and I just might). :)

My parents let us borrow their really nice camera, so we found that we enjoyed taking pictures together, almost as a possible new hobby.  Because of this new found interest, we took over 800 pictures.  We know there are a bunch that are duplicates or some that did not come out that great, so it'll get widdled down a bit, but we'll be sure to share some photos on here soon.

I can honestly say now that there is really something to be said for a RELAXING vacation.  I have gone on plenty of wonderful trips in my life, but none with just the intention of relaxing and enjoying whatever came our way quite like this one.  I truly felt refreshed and refocused when we came back.  And it was funny, we seemed to find a great pace to our days while we were there and really just enjoyed spending time together.  We never listened to the radio even when we were in the car - we just enjoyed the fresh air blowing and all the scenery around us.

To say the least, I am ready to go back anytime!  And mahalo (thank you) to all those that patiently waited for new posts while we were gone. 

Jack and I have been busy with all kinds of little things these days.  I was out this past weekend with my good friend, Kristen, to help her shop for her wedding shoes.  Can I just say it was so fun to be on the bridesmaid side of things!  Don't get me wrong, I loved being a bride and all, but it was just so nice to be in a supporting role for such a wonderful friend as she prepares for her big day.  We certainly did make a day of it and hit a couple wedding boutiques (where she at found a couple pairs she liked, so she has some options), stopped by her favorite cupcake shop (YUM!), and then picked up her maid of honor in the afternoon to continue our shopping activities. Now if I could just find some gold shoes for my bridesmaid dress, I'd be good!

Jack and I also went shopping recently to get some "honeymoon" clothes - like shorts, flip flops and a new pair of khakis for Jack, and some shorts and capris for me.  And since I found a pair of cute sandals too, how could I put them back with our fun trip coming up? ;)  It took a little coaxing to get Jack ready for our shopping trip, but he knew he needed these things, so it was just a matter of making sure I didn't spring it on him since he doesn't love to shop.  After picking a date a week in advance and giving him a couple reminders during the week, he seemed ready when we finally did go.  When we got to the outlet mall though, you'd thing the economy was just booming for the amount of people that were there and shopping!!

Jack's car broke down a couple weeks ago and after a few phone calls and a bunch of work done, both the radiator had to be replaced and the transmission pretty much had to be rebuilt.  Ouch!  Thankfully, it is all fixed now and the owner of the shop to which he had taken it was very nice and told him to bring it back sometime soon (I forget all the details) to make sure all was still working ok. 

We booked our airline tickets for our friends Jen & Ken's wedding in Florida this May, so that is another something fun to look forward to.  May seems a ways a way, but then I remember that this Saturday is the end of February and suddenly, May doesn't seem so far off!  We have also been trying to plan a time to have our immediate families over to our condo (as many of them have not seen it yet) and to give our parents and siblings (along with their families) the chance to get to know each other better.  We tried to plan something last fall before the rehearsal dinner and wedding, but it just didn't work, so we thought this would be a nice way to do it.  I am hoping that we are getting close to finding a good date for all.

Sorry if this was kind of a boring blog. I'll try to come up with some more interesting stuff soon!