Milestone Day

Well kids - today is a fabulous day in the history of Ang & Jeff. 3 years ago today Jeff and I started dating. It has been a wonderful 3 years and so much has happened since we got together. Obviously we got married last July, we moved to Green Bay from Milwaukee last May, we both have made major career changes since we got together. And now we are busy living happily ever after.

Jeff was a wonderful boyfriend right from the very start. On our first date he took me to the Hi-Hat AND Eddie Martini's. And I have been over the moon and impressed with him ever since. Sometimes I wonder how on earth he can put up with me, his fortitude is obviously off the charts. Then there are the times I wonder how on earth I can put up with him. Somehow I know we will never be able to live without each other, because at the end of the day, he's the only one in the world for me.

To commemorate this special day, we may put in our first offer on our first home. We went to look at it last night and it is SOOOO gorgeous, we would be ecstatic to live there. However, since it is a hot property, there is a good change we will not get it, which is fine with us, it is a little early for us to be closing, but this house could be where we live for MANY years. I would put a link to it up, but I am too paranoid some one might see it and put an offer in.With that being said, I need to hit the ground running today, because I have to call some mortgage brokers, our accountant, workout, and determine what we are going to offer on this home all before Jeff leaves at 2:30pm.Did I mention that I am going to also try and get my laundry done today, while I am working? Yes - things are nuts here. Hope you have a nice Tuesday - love Ang.

More Domination, Less Indulgence

Well friends, I have had an epiphany over the weekend. I need to dominate more and indulge myself less. How did I learn this you ask? Well I was at our Sales Award banquet on Thursday in Milwaukee and it was one of the most Amazing nights of my LIFE!

First, I won a Platinum Award for my sales this year(Last year I received a Bronze award, so I jumped over 2 levels of awards in one year - that was great)

Then I won an award for exceeding budgetary goals - also very good, at our company, 100% is good, however in our little land of over achievers, you're not anyone until you are well over 100%. I finished the year at 130%. Last year I was at 106%.

Third, I won an award for earning the most margin in our division from closing large sales. This one was a shocker for me, to have closed the most large business out of more than 100 people - that was really neat.

Finally, I won an award for being in the top 10 in our division for 2006. I was #2 - can you believe it???? I almost fainted, then I immediately started kicking myself because to be that close to #1 YIKES! I am determined to be #1 someday, I am completely remotivated to work harder.

So - that is where the domination comes in, I dominated at the awards banquet - it was really cool, I feel very proud of my accomplishments and am excited for my career future.

Now let's move onto the indulgence...I think I drank 2 bottles of red wine at the Sales Awards celebration. I am not kidding. I could have filled a kiddy pool with the red wine I drank. I was just so jubilant and everyone was congratulating me and our VP of sales hugged me and our directors all congratulated me and the VP of operations who I used to work for came over and said I had made a great decision when I moved to sales and that he was so proud of me. It was totally surreal. Which may be why I didn't recall how much wine I was drinking.

And after the banquet, Jamie, the fabulous friend on my team who lets me crash at her house after work events, and I decided to go to Trysting Place, the hangout bar for our office. I think it was already midnight when we rolled in. And how nice, everyone wanted to buy us both drinks. Suddenly it was 1:30 and they were turning the lights on. Uh-oh, Jamie and I thought as we drove home. Getting to the office by 7am tomorrow won't be easy.

And it wasn't easy at all, especially since we both overslept. Luckily we have an ultra cool boss who laughed when we showed up at 8:30.

So - I have figured it out, I am great at dominating, I am BAD at celebrating. I plan to reign it in - I promise.

The Weekend Update

WOW - this year is off to a great start! Work has been busy, we leave for Hawaii in 20 days and things are just wonderful.

Last Friday night, I had a fab little girls night with Barb & Angie O. First we went to A-Bravo for dinner. It is this adorable little bistro about 3 minutes from my house. It was such a good time, I can't say enough wonderful things about Angie & Barb, they are hilarious. It was one of the funnest Fridays I have had in a long time.

After dinner, we went back to Angie's where we did some SCRAPPING! Yes, it's official, I am a scrapper. And I have to tell you, although my first attempt is a little elementary, I am HOOKED. I am enthusiastically looking forward to spending hours dressing up my memories. You will see my first attempt here. I promise to show off more of my creations in the weeks to come. And big ups to Barb and Angie for guiding me in my pursuit of scrapping, they are both generous teachers who have HUGE scrapping paper and embellishment collections that make it so much more fun for a beginner like myself. I loved every minute of it. Although I think Angie was getting a little irritated, as Barb and I are both major story tellers and babblers and Ang just wanted to get out brainstorming done.

One of the fun things Angie and Barb are up to this year is this fun little journaling project this year. Check out this link: http://fancysimple.blogspot.com/. My first scrapping project involves their Trendy Tuesday project, which I know I am posting early, but...I am super busy this week.

What you do is journal your favorites/trends and either post them on Angie & Barb's journaling site, or just put them on your own blog, or feel free to make your own list and comment on my blog.
Here is my list:
A-Aphrodisiac - Whiskey
B-Best Friend - Angie O., Kim & Christine
C-Celebrity - Beyonce
D-Drink of Choice - 7 & 7 with cherries and cherry juice
E-Essential Items - Lip Gloss & Nail File
F- Favorite Color - Green
G-Groove Tunes - "Mo Money/Mo Problems" -Notorious BIG& Diddy
H-Hot? - Bright Colors are hip for spring
I-Indulgence?-Chocolate & Shoes
J-Job of Dreams?-Real Estate Mogul
K- Kitchen Companion?-SpoonRest & Cookbook Holder
L-Life is incomplete without? Good Food, Good Friends, & Good Shoes
M- Mc? - McJeffy(he's better than Mc Dreamy or McSteamy)
N-Natural or Dyed? - Dyed, I have no idea what my real hair color really is anymore.
O-Outrageous Outfit?-It is definitely the outfit I wore to the headbanger's ball last year, orange babydoll dress, black leggings, side ponytail, large cross necklace. YIKES!
P-Pet Peeve?-Slow Movers, drivers or walkers
Q-Quote?-"Each of us has the opportunity to change and grow until our very last breath. Happy Creating!"-M.J. Ryan
R-Restaurant?-Elsa's on The Park
S-Starbucks order?-Carmel Macchiato skim no whip
T-T.V.?-I still miss Sex and the City
U-Ultimate Vacation?-Hawaii(at least we're hoping it is)
V-Virtual Name?-lauxang
W-Wonder Woman?-Oprah
X-EX? For some reason I just think of the Gwen Stefani song, "kinda always knew I would end up your ex girlfriend."
Y-Youth in a bottle? Lambrusco
Z-Zodiac?-Virgo

I think filling out this list as the start of every year is the perfect way to take inventory of what the trends are and what we are into.

The holidays are OVER!!!!!!

Well, December was a blur. Of course, no excuse for not blogging, but I just came up with so many better things to do with my time, like work. I was so busy with year end projects for my customers that I felt like I lived at my desk for most of December, which I will say was worth it. I finished the month at 160% to budget. Woo-Hoo. Hopefully 2007 will be a successful year also. You never know when you are in sales.

We had an action packed holiday visiting schedule. On the 23rd we went to both Jeff's mom and dad's houses. It was the usual mix of boredom and guilt trips from them. I am still hopeful that eventually we won't have to go at all. I am pretty sure that will never happen, but do me a favor and cross your fingers. I did comment that the only way to avoid a visit next year would be to have food poisoning or be knocked up. And don't worry friends I will poison myself!

Our holiday trip did have some highlights...

The first would be meeting the adorable Connor Creighton Petkovich who was born on 12/23. Connor's mom is my best friend from college, Kim(Czarnecki) Petkovich. Kim had some complications with high blood pressure and was on bed rest for a few weeks, then hospitalized for about a week and then they had to induce her and Ta-DAH! We had a little tiny 2# Connor. Jeff and I lucked out and got to see the whole family about 4 hours after Connor was born. It was amazing to see Connor and think that someday he will be all grown up. He is still on a ventilator, however getting a little stronger everyday. Please keep Creighton, Kim & Connor in your prayers and I promise to take pictures as soon as Connor is up to making a blog debut!

The second would be getting to see our adorable pals Christine and Kevin. It ended up that all of us were staying at the Washington House Inn on 12/23. (www.washingtonhouseinn.com) So we got to meet them for a drink to celebrate Kevin's birthday which is 12/24 and it made both Jeff and I miss getting to see them as often as we used to when we were in Milwaukee. There is just something about these two that is so wonderful! They are fun, trendy, and great friends, Kevin was the photographer at our wedding and made our entire wedding weekend so special by capturing each moment. I can't say enough about them. I will say that I will be devoting an entire blog to them in the VERY near future.

The third highlight of our trip was spending Christmas Eve at the Caytano Club(aka Uncle Kenny and Auntie Jeanne's basement martini bar). We had such a wonderful time. Aunt Jeanne gives many of her homemade creations as gifts, which the whole family looks forward too. This year she & Kenny even made homemade BBQ sauce, which I am just dying to try, we received that with some salsa and red pepper jelly. As well as a fresh rosemary tree. SCRUMPTIOUS! If you would like to try Aunt Jeanne's home made products, she is currently selling them for $4 per jar:) Just say the word and we can ship some to you:)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish you a very Happy New Year!