October 1, 2003Ghetto mini-golfing and ice cream
This was a lazy weekend filled with running, minigolf and of course, eating.
Friday, after kicking Jeff into high gear, we circled Maymont for at least 10 minutes trying to figure how to get in. Downed trees and blocked off roads for the race perplexed us) Brian, Chris & Eric were running the 5K inside, up and down all those hills. We did make it there before they made it to the finish line. Congratulations guys! Dinner with the Sostes (Can we still calll you guys that?) at Outback rounded out the night.
We spent Saturday morning mostly around the house. One trip to Virginia Center gave us a joint bank account (to start saving for the wedding). After a late lunch at Subway, Brian, Chris & Paul met us for some yummy ice cream goodness at Brusters.
We then made the fairly short trek to Bogey's Golf niner for a round of mini-golf. But to our dismay, it was closed. I'm guessing they still didn't have power. (?) So we turned right around and went north, to the golf place towards Ashland (note: it's not actually IN Ashland as Jeff likes to point out to me)
This place is one we may never visit again. The layout of the course was terrible. They left no room to walk around the green, thereby forcing us to wait as each person walked down to the end of the hole. And none of the holes were flat. Sure there were the ones with the obstacles, but the 'grass' around the holes were all bumpy and uneven. Like I said, ghetto mini-golfing. But we still had fun.
Instead of meeting up with Mike & Lauren as we thought was the plan, the 6 of us dined at Casa Grande and then lounged at our place while the boys played Nascar games.
Sunday of course was Talladega. And we weren't going to miss that! I have to admit, it's one of the more exciting tracks out there. Despite only having 4(?) cautions, there were some major happenings. I won't bore those who could care less though :)
So when the race ended we had dinner at Quizno's with the boys, who then headed for home. A quick stop at Barnes & Noble and we did the same.
Posted by Olivia at 1:11 PM | Comments (1)
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October 1, 2003Ahh, the smell of Fall
Don't you just love fall? The crisp air. The turning leaves. Apple cider. Pumpkin candles. Fall is absolutely my favorite season. I always think about being in school, walking around campus with all the trees changing colors.
This is one of the only things that makes me wish I was in school again. All the free daytime to enjoy life. I loved just walking around enjoying the weather.
To celebrate the start of fall (October starts fall in my opinion) I pulled out the fall/Halloween decorations tonight. So many cute pumpkins, ghosts, witches, and cats. Fall rules.
Posted by Olivia at 11:59 PM | Comments (4)
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October 3, 2003Colder than...
Weather.com says it's 50 degrees in our area, but feels like 47.
It's 69 degrees in my office today. The AC is on. My fingers are going numb.
And people wonder why government/state employees are apathetic.
Posted by Olivia at 10:29 AM | Comments (2)
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October 6, 2003"G" Comes To Town meets Bob the Builder
Friday evening Jeff, Eric and I hit the road to NoVA. We were on our way to help Paul & Brian pack up their stuff. But first, we had to have dinner at Baja Fresh. (Why won't they just build one down here already!) After that yummy sustenance we split; Paul to his place to continue packing, the rest of us to Brian's to move his stuff from the basement to the garage.
I guess we worked from about 9:30-11:30 or so. Fairly tired and knowing we had to be up at 5:45, we crashed shortly after midnight. Morning came much too quickly; felt like I had hardly closed my eyes before having to open them again.
At Paul's Jeff, Eric & I moved stuff downstairs while Brian & Paul got the truck. I'd say it only took an hour to load it up. By 8:30 we were back at Brian's to get his stuff. Oh, I forgot to mention it was drizzling and cold all morning. Around 10 or 10:30 we hit the road for Richmond.
Once on 95 traffic wasn't too bad. Not that I remember much of it because I passed out almost immediately. Next thing I knew we were getting on 295, then pulling up to Paul's apartment. We left Paul there to get his keys and cable. The rest of us piled in Jeff's truck and flew to the southside for Kelly & Jon's wedding shower.
The shower started at 1 and I do believe we were only 15 minutes late (not 2 hours, Chris!) Lauren did a great job planning the shower. Bob the Builder was the theme since Kelly & Jon are in the middle of having a house built. The lucky couple even got to wear hard hats (with working lights).
We got to hear the proposal story, mad libs version and the real thing. We mingled, ate cake and watched them open gifts. I'd say they made out pretty well. :) If you believe in superstitions, Kelly & Jon will be having quite a few children. (The number of ribbons/bows on the packages that are broken while opening is the number of kids you will have) Good luck guys!
After a while we had to jet to get the truck unpacked. Since Brian's stuff was at the back we unloaded that first, into a storage facility. We became quite good at stacking items and passing boxes. Once at Paul's we had the extra bonus of running up and down stairs. At least it was only to the second floor.
With the empty truck we ran over to our place to pick up the sofa. Since we have a new one on the way, we decided to donate ours to Paul. Eventually he'll get the chair too, but we have to have something to sit on! The sofa was the last of the moving. Dinner at Arby's was much needed and deserved.
But of course that wasn't the end of our night. Someone had the bright idea to start putting togther the 9-in-1 gaming table. And of course we couldn't just leave it half finished even though Jeff and Brian were both falling asleep. But that definitely ended our night.
Sunday we slept in then watched the race. The only work I did was a couple loads of laundry. Dinner at Olive Garden with (almost) the whole gang was a tasty treat. Mmm..salad. Everyone headed back to Paul's for some cake (thanks Kelly H!)
Somehow I got stuck putting in shelf paper while everyone else lounged around. But that's ok. And I'll come finish it this week Paul, I promise!
Brian will be down here next weekend to move all his stuff from storage to his new place. And then we won't have anyone to bother about coming to Richmond!
Posted by Olivia at 11:13 AM | Comments (4)
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October 8, 2003Say hi to Smevo
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October 9, 2003Smevo's first test
After a little shopping (only me) & some Quizno's (both), Jeff and I spent much, ok all, of last night playing with the Tivo, setting up season passes, listening to music, and figuring out how to record CSI & ER.
Tonight will be the big test. Not a huge deal since we'll be there to watch it anyway, but I'm curious to see if Jeff's work-around actually works. For those of your who don't know what I'm talking about, NBC has ER starting at 9:58. This conflicts with CSI which runs until 10. You can't have overlapping times because Tivo will only record one. So anywayz, we'll see.
We played around with pausing and replaying while watching 'live' TV. That's gonna be a pretty cool feature. Another thing we had to figure out is how to watch an actual live show while recording another. We just have to be very careful to not change the channel on the cable box!
So overall it's a little confusing at first, but it's gonna be a lot of fun. People say this will change the way you watch TV, but I'm still watching my Must See TV Thursday, on Thursday! Yay! Must See TV! Yay!!
Posted by Olivia at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
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October 13, 2003Maggie & Quentin's Wedding
5 o'clock in Nag's Head, October 12, Maggie & Quentin were married. After a few hurdles in the planning, things finally came together for the big day.
Jeff and I travelled down Saturday night, arriving near midnight. Due to poor planning we had all day Sunday to do...nothing. After checking out at 11, we drove around checking out the damage from Isabel. There were several houses that were no more or had been lowered. Sand and debris was still piled everywhere.
We were lucky enough to spot a Sonic hiding behind the trees, so lunch was covered. Afterwards, despite another near-empty tank mishap, we finally made it out to 2 of the 3 lighthouses. Not that we actually got out to look at them, we just drove by.
Jeff even took his truck out on the beach. It was so weird to be driving out on the sand. A few store stops left us empty handed and needing to get dressed for the wedding. Now don't laugh. We ended up changing clothes in the Sonic parking lot. I'm sure the employees thought we were strange, but it worked.
The ceremony itself was held in a church on Maneo. Brief, but to the point. It's always so strange to see someone you know get married. I couldn't help but tear up; it looked like most of the bridesmaids were too.
The reception was held a few miles down the street it what appeared to be an old house. I'm not sure if it ever was, it looked like a building used specifically for functions such as this.
The candlelight and very well thought out details created a very elegant, yet casual atmosphere. From the cake, with inside joke-type phrases around the sides to the bride and groom soap, there wasn't anything overlooked.
After announcing the wedding party and the bride and groom, they had their first dance. Dinner and more dancing followed. The cake was cut, the garter and bouquet were tossed. Due to the large number of Hokie alumni/students in attendance, the Hokie Pokie was played espcially for them.
Just as the party was starting to get rowdy Jeff and I had to head out. It was 10pm and we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. We said our goodbyes, posed for the traditional 200 B Robey St picture, then hit the road.
One down, three to go, I wonder who will be next.
Posted by Olivia at 11:11 AM | Comments (3)
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October 16, 2003Heading to Florida
In about 8 hours I'll be sitting on a plane, headed for Florida (with a brief stop in Dulles, the opposite direction of course). Melissa, one of my high school friends will be getting married. It's been about 3 years I think, since I've seen her. From what I understand, our entire group of high school girlfriends will be traveling to Florida for the wedding. It'll be a lot of fun to see everyone again. And on that note, I've got to finish packing and get to bed!
Posted by Olivia at 10:58 PM | Comments (2)
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October 22, 2003Melissa & Jamie's Wedding
Melissa and Jamie's wedding was not just a celebration of marriage, but a reunion for the high school crowd.
Christina and I arrived in Orland Friday morning where we were met at the airport by Andrea and her boyfriend Steve. After finally finding the car (a cute little Daewoo) in the parking deck, we headed for our hotels.
Located on International Dr, our hotels were within walking distance of each other. Christina and I got checked in then we all headed out for some shopping. None of us had purchased wedding gifts (not really good to travel with), so we did a little gift shopping.
Afterwards we returned to the hotels and prepared ourselves for the night's activities (Pleasure Island) since we didn't plan to return before going out. An early dinner at Friday's didn't get us any faster service, but we were in no rush. Some slight confusion with the evening's plans left us driving in circles and knocking on random doors before finding Marlee and her husband Vick in their resort. Marlee decided to not to join us for the evening, so we went on our merry way.
We only got a little turned around finding Pleasure Island, but we made it with plenty of time to spare since Melissa and her crowd were running late. Christina made the mistake of asking the lone creepy guy standing nearby about taxi services in the area. He hung around and talked to us the entire time we were waiting for Melissa. Luckily he did not follow us into the clubs.
I think 9 was a little early to be there since the parties didn't really get started until almost 11. But that gave us some time to hang out and have Melissa open her gifts. After 4 hours, 3 clubs, and much dancing, Melissa T, Melissa L and April called it a night. Christina, Andrea and I stayed for another hour before leaving. By then it was 1:30am and were exhausted. It had been a really long day.
Saturday morning/afternoon Christina and I were on our own. Andrea was at the rehearsal so we entertained ourselves by exploring the shopping on International Drive. I guess window shopping is more appropriate since neither one of use bought anything. Andrea and Steve picked us up around 1 and we headed for Downtown Disney.
With the rehearsal dinner that night the two of us were on our own once again. Some fine dining at Golden Corral really hit the spot. Later that night we met up with Marlee and Vick to make the long trek to Melissa and Jamie's house. Eventually we all parted ways to get some sleep. Or in our case, stay up until 4am talking. :)
Sunday we got to hang out with Stacy since she had flown in the previous night. Once again we walked International Dr, ending up at Pointe of Orlando shopping area (with the FAO Schwarz) where we waited for Andrea and Steve to pick us up (she was getting her hair done). By then it was time to start getting ready for the wedding so we went back to our respective hotels.
Steve played chauffer and escort by taking Christina, Stacy and me to the wedding location. We arrived a little too early but it gave us a chance to take pictures of the bride and her ladies as they posed for some pre-ceremony shots.
The wedding itself was beautiful. It was held outside in a lakefront gazebo (the wedding party was under there) at 5:30. By the time the ceremony was over the sun was setting. I bet they took some really nice pictures. Despite the wind blowing the candles out, the ceremony went great. Justin, one of Melissa's bothers played a solo on his trumpet during the ceremony. Very well done. Melissa and Jamie released butterflies before walking back down the aisle. It was funny to see them all clinging to her dress.
The reception was equally elegant though a bit formal for me. And in spite of the huge mosquitos we all had a great time. We ate, we danced, we blew bubbles on the bride and groom.
It was so much fun to hang out and catch up that we all hated to leave. I loved the fact that even though we had not been togther as a group for 7 years there was no awkwardsness among us. It was like we'd never been apart. That's what I call friendship.
Pictures from my trip.
Posted by Olivia at 2:37 PM | Comments (0)
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October 24, 2003Super busy week
Work has been so incredibly busy this week. I can't remember the last time, oh wait, yes I can. So anyway, missing Friday and Monday kinda put me behind. That, combined with the extra issues that I've been dealing with for a few weeks has made for a busy time. Oh, and did I mention we're having carpet installed in the office today?
So here's the breakdown:
Monday: off
Tuesday: work my ass off
Wednesday: work my ass off
Thursday: work my ass off in the morning, move stuff out for carpet install, 2pm meeting, leave at 4pm to get my hair cut
Friday: work in fast forward in the morning, move the rest of my stuff out
So here I sit. It's 11:30, my office is pretty much empty. They said we can leave our machines here. Were actually getting carpet squares, so they can move stuff one cube at a time. But I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do now.
If I go home I have to use vacation time. If I stay I'll be bored. Let's take a poll, what should I do?
Posted by Olivia at 11:27 AM | Comments (2)
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October 29, 2003Kelly's Bachelorette Party
Another weekend of partying and celebration occurred this weekend as the girls convened in NoVA for Kelly's bachelorette party. Lauren and I headed up early (but still 2 hours behind;) ) on Saturday to pick up Natalie and get the party setting ready.
Jamie, one of Kelly & Lauren's childhood friends was kind enough to let us take over her place for the weekend. When Kelly and the rest of the girls (Branda, Katy, Tonya, Jess, & Pemma) arrived we dove into the food and games Lauren had prepared.
After Kelly opened her gifts, we all got ready to go out. The same Girls Night Out service was used, and Anthony was requested as our driver/bouncer. He arrived about 9:30 and the 10 of us piled into the van and off we went.
Sticking pretty much to the same route as last time we bombarded The Mad Hatter first. After the tables were moved out, the dancing began. But of course everyone stopped to watch the end of the World Series. We partied our way through another bar before ending up at a karaoke place. Jess got up and sang a song about red balloons. (I don't know what it's called, sorry).
By the time we left there it was 1:30 (ST?). We headed to Rumors, but I guess they weren't following the time roll back, so they were closing. LuLu's was our last stop instead. By 2:30 we were all exhausted and ready to head for bed.
We met up with the guys (who were also partying in DC) on Sunday for brunch. I know I had a great time, and Kelly seemed to as well. It's always so much fun going out with those girls.
Posted by Olivia at 10:10 AM | Comments (2)
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October 29, 2003New carpet, finally!
I ended up leaving early last Friday. I couldn't stand just waiting around. We had no idea when the carpet people were going to arrive and my stuff was already packed up. So I left. And did I make good use of my Friday? Sure, I took a nap! I didn't mean to, it just happened. I did get some stuff done afterwards though.
I arrived at work Monday morning expecting to see beautiful, completed carpet throughout the room. Not quite. From what my boss said, the 2 guys that were subcontracted through the company we purchased the carpet from, came in late and left early over the weekend. Needless to say, the job was not complete. Some offices (like mine) had one strip of bare floor, others had no carpet at all. And practically one third of the offce still had the old stuff.
Since we unfortunately had to remove our stuff from the conference room that day, we piled it in the hallways and office that were finished. The carpet guys arrived about 4pm and got to work. By the time I came in Tuesday, it was complete.
So we now have clean, colorful, brand new carpet. And a lot of dust and carpet fibers evreywhere. Hopefully all the vacuuming that occurred yesterday got it. It took me about 3 hours to get my office back together. And that's including moving all of Collections boxes into and office.
I've been playing catchup since then and have made a pretty good dent in things. Guess I better keep on working.
Posted by Olivia at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
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October 30, 2003Celebrate!
Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
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October 31, 2003Haaaappy Halloweeeen!!
I finally got a chance to carve my pumpkin last night. I think it turned out pretty well. The pattern was considered medium in difficulty level. Maybe next year I'll graduate and try something harder. :)
I've decided pumpkin really isn't a pleasant smell unless it's the Yankee Candle version. Gizmo wasn't even trying to get in my way last night so it must have been bad!
Tonight Eric and Kelly are having a party at their place so I found a Tinkerbell costume that's kind of cute. Cheesey, but cute. Hopefully I'll have pictures up this weekend.
And then of course Saturday is the big day for Jon & Kelly. Time sure has flown!
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Posted by Olivia at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)
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