Wii Wii!

Christmas 2008 has crept on me so fast. By this time, I am usually done and ready to go. I save the wrapping until December to get in the spirit, but shopping with insane crowds last minute in December does not get me "in the spirit" so I try to finish early. This weekend, I started to have a freak-out thinking about how I have NO GIFTS yet. Okay, I take that back, I have a few. Okay, actually everything I am getting for Dakota is in the guest closet, but I digress....

On Saturday, I decide it's time to buy Jared's. He is at work, so it's a perfect opp to get online and find the best deal on what I'm getting him. I realize this gift is impossible to buy online. So I proceed to spend the next 6 hours watching bids on eBay. What??? Yes, I know, it's a little crazy. Nevermind eBay, I can find one myself! Challenge!

I woke up super early on Sunday morning to scour the ads online to find a Wii. From what I had researched, you had to see if stores were advertising them and if you saw them in the ad, it meant they had a few in stock and was instructed to "jump in the car and head to the store". Upon researching the ads, I found no one advertising the Wii except Kmart. Well, there are no Kmarts in Dallas. Darn. But I got in the car anyway, knowing I am a crazy person when it comes to finding some kind of shopping bargain or must-have and head out.

Stop 1: Target. This is my go-to store for everything. It's close to home, they were bound to come through for me. Right? Negative. No Wii. No one even in the store to ask. It's so dang early I can't even find a soul.

Stop 2: Walmart. Super nice Asst. Manager but no super nice Wii. He helped me locate 2 stores with a few in stock "nearby".

Stop 3: Route nuvi to Walmart (Neighborhood Market). What? This was supposed to be a regular Walmart. Pretty sure the grocery store does not carry Wiis.

Stop 4: Route to Walmart in Ghetto Garland. Find an old Hypermart that is now abandoned. Thanks, nuvi.

Call for back-up at this point: my mom is on stand-by ready to head to her local Kmart to find one because they were advertising them in their ad. She looks up said Walmart location and by this time, I am practically in Downtown Dallas. Hop back on to I-30 towards home and stop in at my 4th Walmart. SUCCESS! After the poor sales guy is in the back of Walmart searching for about 30 minutes, I get the bundle and am on my way.

I arrive home and the fam is awake. Jared is curious and has no clue what I was on the hunt for. I think of the exciting game sitting in my car, lonely and sad. Wait - I have to wait for two months to give him this thing? Oh boy...you know how I am with waiting. I say, you want it? He says yes. I say no you don't! He says you are right. I say are you surrrrrreeee? I start getting excited. He starts getting excited. But I'm thinking there is in no way Mr. Christmas is going to go for this. I tell him I'm going to the car to get it. He says he thinks he knows what it is. So that was a done deal. I couldn't wait to play it or to show him my exciting find. Christmas for Jared came a few months early, but it was worth it.

Although, I'm not sure his idea of a Christmas present is me whooping him up on boxing. And yes, I beat him. At boxing. It's true! And now we have two more games on the way: Cooking Mama (for me, of course) and MLB Baseball. Can't wait! Is it sad I have sore pecks from playing this thing?

For those who don't know, the Wii is a gaming console from Nintendo. After being out for over 2 years, they are still in high demand and hard to find. The Wii offers interactive gaming for the whole family, with controllers that are motion-sensored so you are actually "playing" the game. It is really fun and super addictive!

11 Things I Love About Dallas.

1. Ranch dressing on EVERYTHING.
2. Chips, salsa and margaritas.
3. It's fall and still warm outside.
4. The mild winters I'm looking forward to.
5. Unsweetened ice tea.
6. Cool things to do.
7. The diversity.
8. Every restaurant serves Dr. Pepper.
9. All the Dunkin Donuts that are opening.
10. The great shopping.
11. Coach outlet!

Fall festival.

Yesterday, we went to our local nursery's fall festival. It was beautiful outside and we had a lot of fun. I wanted one picture of Dakota in front of a bunch of pumpkins, but as you can see in the photos, that just wasn't happening. She loved the petting zoo and was not scared at all. In fact, she wanted to touch the goats, baby pigs, chickens and even a mean bird. She loved it!

You can view the pictures here:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZtm7Rm1bsmToY

Dakota's first step!

Dakota took her first steps tonight, and luckily, Daddy, Mommy and Grandma were all there to witness it! It was pretty darn cool. All of a sudden, she was standing and just WENT. The first time, she took about 3 or 4 steps. By the time we got the camera, she was pretty much over it, but I was trying really hard to get her to do and she took 1 step for the camera. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. I can't believe how amazing it is to see your baby walk for the first time. Enjoy!

*I am experiencing technical difficulties at the moment, will try to upload it tomorrow - sorry!*

Jayhawk representation.

Oh yeah, and I'm currently on the hunt for massive amounts of KU gear for my office. That place is chalked full of Aggie/Longhorn crap!

ROCK CHALK!

cold hands, big office and nice people.

I have officially started my job (in the office). Day 2 is complete and it's safe to say I will indeed be returning for my third day. It's been great so far. My office is ridiculously large with a huge window. It's a little overwhelming, but hey, I might as well love it, they aren't moving me anytime soon. Although, the atmosphere is a little like I would imagine the Antartic to be. AKA FREEZING. Luckily, I was able to bring in my space heater and had that thing running on high blast all day. Much better. The people are nice, the environment is laid back and it appears as if I'm going to be keeping very busy writing a lot of copy and coordinating the entire marketing department and all the projects that occur on a daily basis. I feel great about it!

Dakota is doing great with Grandma Schreiner. She has not missed me at all,which I'm thankful for, really. It's great to have someone watch her who loves her and plays with her all the time!

Jared is currently painting Dakota's room. Pictures to come!

before and after comparison.

Before:



After:

new front yard.

So Jared and I decided to be ambitious this weekend and do a little front yard makeover. We planted a crepe myrtle, 3 bright orange lilies, pansies and 5 new mums! We also bought a beautiful orange potted mum. We put down black mulch and also put in a new border around the palm. (Please notice how awesome the palm looks now!) We think it looks pretty darn good, especially with dad's new white paint job on the trim around the house! We also put up some Halloween decor with pumpkin lights, orange bush lights and a fall wreath. Next projects include fertilizing the yard and killing the bad grass and weeds. Then we will start on the back.

starting in style.

In honor of starting work next week, I went for a last minute outing this afternoon while Jared watched Dakota. I don't typically post on here everytime I make a purchase, but I thought I would share these precious gems with my fashionitas who read my blog. Check em out, aren't they cute? And they are comfy, which is also very attractive.

Good thing for coffee.

What a way to start my morning. A reminder email from Ticketmaster informing me my Ben Folds concert is soon! WOOT!

I have become a big fan of coffee these days. Scratch that - more like creamer (with a hint of coffee). I got hooked on the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte and then Amy introduced me to the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino Light (with skim milk, of course). Man, these things are heavenly and I hear the Gingerbread is even more delicious that comes out in November. Great. I really enjoy dropping $3.74 on a tall coffee (aka small).

Also, there is a brand new Dunkin Donuts opening about ohhhh a block from my new work, so that is going to be fabulous. Dunkin coffee is the BEST. And, hello, we can't fail to mention the make a mean chocolate cake donut and strawberry frosted.

In an attempt to save some cash, I bought a really cute pink coffee canister at Target the other day and decided to get started on the right foot by NOT spending my lunch money on a coffee every morning. I can be a barista, too, right? So I bought some Dunkin French Vanilla coffee and my favorite Coffeemate liquid creamer (vanilla caramel) and I must say, it's pretty tasty! And for the price of one Starbucks drink, I can make my own coffee for a good two weeks.

We'll see how long this lasts when I'm running late and pass a convenient Starbucks drive-thru on my way in next week.

Koty!

BEN FOLDS!!!

I know the majority of my audience has no clue who Ben Folds is. And that is okay. But what you need to know about me is, I am a HUGE Ben Folds fan! He is an insanely amazing musical artist who rocks out (and I mean REALLY rocks out) on the piano and is an unbelievably talented musician. I have every song on my iPod he has ever written (yes, he writes his own music) and have been to every concert he has performed in the 90 mile radius of my location.

Well, the highlight of my MONTH most definitely is going to be....
the Ben Folds concert in Dallas on October 23!!!!

Luckily, Grandma Schreiner will be here watching Dakota so Jared and I can go out and have a date night. I cannot wait for this concert. We went a few years ago when he came to the Lied Center and that venue was so huge, it was hard to really get up close and personal (although still amazing of course!). This time, he is a more intimate venue where we will get to see him rock out on the pearly white keys and I couldn't be more excited.

First day at work.

Well, even though I technically didn't go into my new office, I started work today from home. Even though I only have 3 projects on my plate at the moment, I feel slammed being here with Layla, Addie, Maggie (doggy-sitting) and Dakota. And not to mention a mound of paperwork to fill out. I contributed my first official blog post today for my company.

On a lighter note, I am very excited about Grandma Schreiner coming to be with Dakota for two weeks until her brand new school officially opens. She has agreed to come down and watch her starting this weekend while I start my new job. We feel blessed to have Grandma be here and I have a feeling it's going to be a much easier transition for all of us!

Off to finish a press release...

Getting ready.

I am now obsessed with my newly purchased planner. See here:

http://www.target.com/Franklin-Undated-Compact-3-Color-Organizer/dp/B0011ZTM8E/sr=1-11/qid=1223064773/ref=sr_1_11/601-7968000-7247322?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Afranklin%20covey&page=1

I love it. It's pink and brown most importantly. And yes, I'm old school and enjoy writing things down the old-fashioned way in my planner. I have a phone that does just about everything but walk my dogs, but I just can't get into the technology planning.

In other news, the Schreiners have been preparing for our new transition. Jared and I have been interviewing daycares and we have it narrowed down to three locations. All three we feel very comfortable with and Dakota has even been able to go into her classroom and play to see what she thinks of it. She has immediately began playing and talking and really could care less if we were in there. It's probably going to be harder on mommy....

This weekend, we plan on cleaning and organizing the house. I have made a few* purchases in preparation for my new job and am trying to get my life organized. I am having a little anxiety about trying to be the perfect mom, wife and career woman, but I just have to realize there will be days where I fail and stuff will be left undone. Life goes on as long as I remember what is important in life: my family.

My posts might be sparse in the next few weeks. My company has called me and asked to start on Monday instead of Oct. 13 from home so I will be working on projects starting this weekend. Nothing like jumping right in!

Did you miss me?

No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. No, the birthday cake did not eat me. I am still here, fear not. Barely moving, but still here. I have been going non-stop for over a week now and I'm finally ready to enjoy the next two weeks relaxing and having fun with my family. Before I head back to the real world.

Yep, you read right: I am headed back to work, kids. I am very excited about the future and am excited to see where it takes our family. For those of you who didn't know, I interviewed for two completely different positions for a few weeks: one was the assistant director at a new daycare opening up by our house and the other was a marketing coordinator/copywriter position at a fast growing software company. After many prayers, discussion and sleepless nights going back and forth, I decided to go with the software company. The idea of being in the same building as my daughter during the day seemed nice, but when you factored in the extremely low pay, long 12-hour days and not really being able to be with Dakota, it didn't look so pretty anymore. I start my new job Oct. 13 and the company seems very successful and very fun. I get my own office, incredible benefits for my entire family, 3 weeks of vacation and not to mention, beer stocked in the fridge, catered lunch and breakfast, games and fun people who a lot of kids of their own. We have been looking for a daycare (WHOOPS - scratch that - we are calling it "school") for a few weeks now and have toured a few places. We have it narrowed down to three schools where we feel very comfortable leaving Dakota for the day. The interaction with other children will be great for her and so will the stimulation. The schools we are looking at offer a curriculum based program in which the children learn as well as play to stimulate their little minds! We are very excited about that. The great thing about my new job is my boss is very flexible with my hours. He is pretty much leaving them up to me, so I'm hoping I can get in there fairly early in the morning so I can leave early in the afternoon to pick her up.

Although this was not the original plan when Dakota was born, I am happy with the way things are going and nothing is permanent. I hope that this will be great for everyone - we can have a little money to be able to go to the zoo with Dakota, I can get back into my career field and Dakota can make some new friends and learn new things in a safe, fun environment.

I will be posting pictures from the big party soon!