Work Update

It has been a relatively calm week. I had to go to Waco on Monday night for recruiting. I had to drive and we didn't get back until almost midnight. I hate doing that but I guess I have to if we are going to get the best recruits!

I am getting realigned here at work. I am currently on national payroll and work mostly on incentives in the SALT group. My main manager is Leigh. She is switching roles and is now going to be the Southwest area incentives leader. As a result, it was a perfect time for me to evaluate where I am headed. I have been trying to get some more diversified experience but it hasn't been working out in my current role. So, I am going to be switching to southwest area payroll and working on a wide range of tax projects. This could include federal, international, real estate, and compliance. I was a little torn because this means I will be working more typical accountant hours (busy season) and I won't get to work with all the great national folks I've met over the last year. Plus, I won't get to work very much with the call center or Ali anymore. But it will let me work with people my own age and level and let me meet more people over at this office. Plus, my counselor and others have indicated that this route will give me the best opportunities in the future. Leigh and I discussed our time on national and both feel it was a great experience. I've learned and done so much that a person at my level would not usually get to do. But with Leigh's move, it puts me with little choice. So, we'll see how it goes.

Yep, that's my life. Almost all work until the weekend :) Sorry to be so boring but I am a tax accountant. What do you expect?

Balcony Visitor

I have a plant that was looking very sad so I sat it out on our balcony to get some sun. We now live on the third floor and our balcony is barely big enough to walk out on. I left the plant out there for about a day. Then Justin went to get it and a bird flew off, we thought out of the plant. When the bird flew off, we saw her nest between an empty pot and the wall with a little egg in it. She had built the nest in one day! We checked back later that night and it turns out it is a cute little dove. She has since laid another egg!

I read that it takes about two to three weeks for the eggs to hatch so I guess we'll let her live there until then. She has gotten comfortable with us and lets us walk out onto the balcony without flying away.

In other news....I got a table for our kitchen this weekend at Ikea. The picture below is just where I got the idea. I'll post real ones at some point. It looks cute plus we no longer have to eat every meal on the couch. We also put some shelves up in the laundry room. I am going to store food on them since we don't have a true pantry.

My First Race (Updated with pictures)

We had a very exciting Saturday this weekend. First, I ran in the Dash Down Greenville 5K while Justin watched. It was my first race and I had a lot of fun! My New Year's resolution was to run a 5K, so I've been training and finally did it! After the race, we watched the St. Paddy's Day parade which went right past where the race started. Then we went home, cleaned up and went to watch the Baylor Lady Bears play OU in the Big XII championship game at reunion arena. E&Y bought us tickets and my friend said she would leave them at will call under my name. Turns out they could not find my tickets. They even tried to give me another E&Y lady's tickets. Finally, the manager person came out and gave us different tickets.It turned out good because the E&Y tickets were upper level and we ended up on the third row. Unfortunately, we lost the game. We spent Sunday recovering from our exciting day. The rest of this week has just been work.

We have started watching Amazing Race (not sure what season) on the Game Show Network. It is hard to keep up with two races at the same time! Plus, the GSN race comes on everyday from Wednesday to Sunday so it takes up a lot of time. But I'm sure all you 24 addicts understand the need to keep watching :)

Oh, just for grins...Justin and I had been wanting some bar stools for our apartment. One day we saw 4 stools sitting outside the trash receptacle in the courtyard. We looked around, grabbed two, and took them home! Moral of the story... One man's trash may also look pretty tempting to 2 dudes who happen to stroll past on the way to the car! Let me finish by saying, the stools were not old, smelly, or broken. Only slightly wobbly.

Me and Lindsay during the parade

Justin and Paul during the parade

A green dog just seems wrong!

I'm a Star

I was on the NBC 5 10 o'clock news. We were sitting out on the patio of Campisi's downtown after work. The interviewer and video man walked up and set up their equipment. Then they ask to interview us and said they would start with the lady in the stripes. That was me! I did a little interview on using debit cards for a story they were doing on debit card fraud. I didn't get to see it because we were on our way to the Lady Bears basketball game. But my mom saw it and one of my managers from work and they both said I looked cute (most important) and that I sounded intelligent (also important). My friend's mom taped it for me so hopefully I will get to see it soon. Reality TV, here I come!

Race Delay

I was all set to run the Cowtown 5K last Saturday. The race is in downtown Fort Worth near the stockyards. I was excited because there was also a marathon, 1/2 marathon, and 10K going on so the atmosphere would've been really fun. However, it decided to break the very long drought and rained all day Friday and Saturday. I decided I couldn't brave the storm for a run. So I've decided to run in the Dash Down Greenville next weekend. It is for St. Patrick's day and there is a parade afterwards. The atmosphere won't be as fun since there is only a 5K but it is alot closer to home. This will be my first race to run in so I am excited.

Our new apartment has a huge master bath with a garden tub and a giant closet. I am really looking forward to some nice baths and have already enjoyed the tub for spacious showers! We also found the sky terrace yesterday. The sky terrace is a rooftop balcony and it looks over downtown. There is a grill, fireplace, and tables up there as well. I can't wait to have a cookout! Justin was excited that you can walk right from the parking garage so you don't have to climb the five stories! Our new apartment also has a really cool pool. It is bigger than the other one and has cushioned lounge chairs for laying out and steps all the way around. The steps always get very crowded in apartment pools because girls are trying to stay cool while still getting sun. Which of course is my goal too so more step space will be great! I'll post some pictures eventually. I haven't busted the camera out in a while.

Finally

I know what everyone is thinking....Why should I read this if she is going to be so lax on updating? Let me give you a reason.

After speaking with our apartment, they informed us that there was quite extensive damage and it would take a while to repair. They found us another apartment in the complex. We went to see this apartment and it made me cry. I tried not to but I couldn't hold it in. Our complex is four buildings next to the highway. Our old building was away from the highway. The one they wanted us to move into was on the third level, next to and level with the highway. On top of that, there were three windows (kitchen, 2 living room) facing the highway. It felt like you were living on the highway. So, they found us another apartment on a different property that they own. They own about 9 properties in the area. Our new apartment is a few blocks from the other one and most importantly not on the highway. Plus it is even closer to WalMart :)

So we finally got all settled and moved in. It was a real whirl wind. Now if that isn't a good enough reason, remember how often the other Dallas members WBI update. In comparison, I'm not that bad.

I haven't started on the work project yet. In fact, it doesn't look like I will get to at all. They over staffed to ensure they had enough people and now they have too many. It seems a waste after I went through training and everything. Plus, I was really looking forward to it.