Photo Friday #12

We arrived in Charlotte around noon yesterday. In time to get our keys and have the cable guy set up our TV, internet and phone (for my home office). We walked around downtown a bit before it got dark. There is a neat green area with tables, benches, art and more near Joe's work building. The coolest part was the distances from Charlotte to other cities across the country. Joe quickly spotted Iowa so we snapped a picture. We're a long ways from home!

Moving Day

We've had so much anticipation for our move and it's finally here. We didn't move many items to San Francisco because we lived in a furnished apartment. Most of our stuff (furniture, lots of clothes, odds and ends) have lived in my in-laws basement for the past 5 months.

Here are some pictures of everything stuffed, stacked and waiting.

Yesterday was actually when the movers came to pick up all of our stuff. Only two guys did the job and they were pretty quick.

Joe and I took off early this morning for North Carolina too. We will beat the moving truck to Charlotte by probably a couple days. We're prepared though and have our TV, blow up matress, clothes and other items ready in the car.

Christmas

Being home for Christmas means so much more now that we live so far away. Plus getting all of the kids together in one weekend is tough, but I love it when we're all home at the same time. We have been so lucky this holiday season to spend almost 2 weeks in Iowa with both families.
For Christmas we were at my parent's house with my brother and Amy. We went to our traditional Christmas Eve church service that we went to every year growing up. Of course after the service we took our Christmas pictures in front of the tree. Here are some of the good ones.

We ate soup after church which is also a tradition we've had for as long as I can remember. We all kind of pitched in and helped make the food or gathered around the kitchen to watch. I also showed off my fun Christmas sock while we drank wine.

Christmas morning was relaxing. We opened presents and sat by the fire.

It was a beautiful day with no snow and lots of sun. We didn't even need to wear winter coats when we went outside to work off the huge lunch we had. We got out the bags game and tossed some frisbees around (and broke all 3 of my dad's frisbees, sorry dad).

We got some action shots too.

We had a family rivalry football game that night. The Bears played the Packers. Joe is a Bears fan and Scott is a Packers fan... they have been looking forward to this game on Christmas for a while once they figured out they'd be able to watch it together. They both had their team's apperal on and they got team coozies to use too.

Now we're off to Joe's parents to have a Christmas with the family. Only a few more days before we take off for North Carolina!!

Photo Friday #11

We've been back in Iowa for a week now and it has been so great to see family and friends. We woke up yesterday morning to snow. Not a lot of it, but it was still snow. I was worried we wouldn't see any over Christmas and before we moved. Not much of it stuck around all day, but I'm glad we've seen it for Christmas. We've enjoyed goodies, drinks and fireplaces. Burley enjoys the fire too.

My Office, New Blog and a Sunrise

With Joe's new job that is taking us all the way to Charlotte my job will change slightly too. My current job with Marriott at the Sales Office will stay the same, but I will have the benefit of working from home. I am so fortunate this has worked out so well. Of course it will be a big change from working in an office with lots of people to working at home by myself. But I'm excited for our new home and new adventures.

For the past couple days we have been at my in-laws house in Okoboji. I have been working from their living room since I need to hook up a hardline for internet. I enjoyed a comfy chair, fireplace and Christmas lights so I can't complain. Although Joe and his brother were around so I had to keep them busy with errands and such to keep out my hair. It worked pretty well.

Have you noticed the new blog design? I have been working with a designer and am so excited to finally reveal it all. There have been some troubles getting it all up at once, but now it's complete!

We were on the road yesterday and saw an amazing sunrise, I had to share.

Christmas Cards

Call me crazy, but I love sending Christmas cards almost as much as I love recieving them. I bought a Groupon back in July for a discount at mixbook.com. When I purchased the Groupon I had the intentions of using it for our Christmas cards.

 Feeling a little behind the game I ordered them a couple weeks ago and patiently waited for them to arrive. With our move and eveything else going on I wanted to make sure to address and mail them before we went home for Christmas. I accomplished my goal and got them all addressed and mailed out before last weekend.

Merry Christmas from San Francisco to Charlotte and Iowa in between.

CMTP Graduation

Joe's Wells Fargo training class (or CMTP) is done. We celebrated his graduation at the penthouse in Wells Fargo's headquarters. I point that part out because I was excited to see the penthouse. In reality, it was really nothing special.

The ceremony was short and sweet. It was formal attire, with an informal program. The room was set with cocktail tables and no chairs. There was a guest speaker, but I can only remember his name, not his title. He gave a nice speech before the graduates were announced one-by-one to receive a certificate.

There were appetizers and a bar afterwards for everyone to mingle. It was a nice opportunity to speak to (and say goodbye to) a lot of the great friends Joe and I have made. Between this group and my co-workers there will be a lot of new friends that we will miss.

Since we had an early flight to catch the next morning we opted to catch dinner just the two of us after the graduation. Joe had suggested House of Nanking, a Chinese restaurant nearby. When he was on the open top tour bus with my cousin the tour guide said this place "had the best Chinese food in the city." We don't have anything to compare it to, but it was pretty darn good.

Since we were both pretty dressed up we had to take precautionary steps to preserve our nice outfits. It just added to the experience. Plus the fact that the restaurant only served one kind of beer. It was Chinese and was delicious.

It was a fun way to end Joe's training class and our time in San Francisco.

We Made It!

Our flight home might have included waking up at 3:00 AM, finding out our luggage is over weight and throwing items in a different bag, running through the Denver airport and almost missing our connecting flight, but we made it. it's great to be back home in Iowa!

Photo Friday #10

We're on our way... mostly likely we're either on a plane right now or with family in Iowa. This past week we got everything boxed up and shipped out. Of course we packed up about twice as many boxes as we sent here in the first place. Amazing what two people can accumulate in about 5 months.

So many memories to take with us. Goodbye San Francisco!!

These Boots Were Made For Walking

As if my post title could get any more creative. Sorry for the lack of creativitiy today, there's a lot going on right now.

I have been craving and searching high and low for the perfect pair of boots for a while now. Living in San Francisco has made me feel very out of touch with any sense of fashion. I kept seeing girls wearing boots and finally decided I needed to buy myself a pair.

When my parents were in town we showed and I found a pair at Aldo. I've worn them to work a couple times now and I love them. They're pretty warm (my feet felt sweaty the first day I wore them) and are comfortable enough to walk to work in (which is saying something).

What do you think? Was I right for choosing brown? I was deciding between brown and black for a while. I figured brown would look good with more outfits (black pants included).

Sorry for the blury pictures and for the fact that they were taken in a bathroom.

Joe's graduation from the CMTP program is tonight. I bought a great dress and blazer to wear and I'm very excited to finally wear it. Mom and I put together the outfit when she was visiting and we bought agreed it would be perfect for this occasion. Clearly with this outfit and the boots we hit the plastic hard around town.

Tomorrow morning we take off early to head back to Iowa!! We're both excited to see family and friends and maybe some snow. As long as the snow doesn't affect our traveling while home.

Triple D: Tommy's Joynt

I was able to take a long lunch while my parents were in town and after watching a lot of Triple D clips (we watched a lot of clips from Charlotte locations) we thought it would be fun to try Tommy's Joynt before we moved.

It is a pretty funky place with pretty funky decorations.

We took a bus from just outside my office building all the way to the restaurant. It worked out perfectly and gave my parents a chance to try out the bus system.

It's almost like cafeteria serving. You order what you want and they literally slice the meat right in front of you. They had a huge turkey and beef round and the guy serving us was almost putting on a show the way he sliced the meat and put it on the bun.

We all got sandwiches, mine was the turkey. They served each one with some good au jus and we also ordered some delicious potato salad.

It was a lot of food, but we all ate a lot and were very satisfied. We were all still pretty full when dinner rolled around!

Day Off With Mom And Dad

Joe and I were both able to take last Wednesday off to enjoy one last day with my parents. Our plan for the day was to ride every inch of the cable car lines (there are four different lines), eat good food (of course you can't roam the city without finding this) and shop at Union Square for something to wear to Joe's graduation.

We started our day at a bakery my parents have enjoyed during their time in the city. While Joe and I worked on Monday and Tuesday my parents were on their own and found this great place to eat breakfast leisurely. The bakery had great pastries and coffee and was a great spot to sit by the window and people watch. San Francisco has some of the best people watching! We made my parents take a picture in front of their bakery when we left for memories.

We hopped on the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. Although we didn't use the cable cars nearly as much as we planned, we still had fun even though we froze. They don't go very fast, but they go fast enough to turn a chill in the air to freezing your fingers.

I stood on the outside step just to get a picture. It was a bit scary when cars, buses or other cable cars went by. We were headed down Hyde Street towards Fisherman's Wharf and I snapped the picture down the hill. I quickly put the phone back in my pocket to hold on. It felt similar to a roller coaster and let's just say, I do not like roller coasters!

Ghirardelli Square was calling our name and even though it was still morning we needed some chocolate. Surprisingly no one bought any chocolate at the store!

It was a perfect day for some clam chowder thanks to the slight chill. What better place than Fisherman's Wharf to get some, huh? We sat on a bench and ate our chowder while people walked by and stared at our food while licking their lips.

We did some shopping around Fisherman's Wharf. Mom had spotted some scarves so we both bought a couple and put them on to wear the rest of the day. You can see our scarves in these pictures taken at the very end of Pier 39. Yes, that's Alcatraz in the background. And yes, it was very bright out.

We jumped back on the cable cars and rode to the top of Nob Hill. Well, I guess we jumped off the cable car a block away from the top and hiked up. We had some fun with pictures and the incline of the streets. These pictures don't do it justice though!

We wanted to take my parents to the Top of the Mark just like we did with Tina. We had a drink and enjoyed the views of the city. Mom had a pisco martini. Have you ever had pisco? It's not very popular here in the states, but it's from Chile and is very popular there. The most common way to drink it is with Coke... they call is piscola.

It was fun to point out buildings or locations to my parents. These pictures are really nothing new to this blog, but I still love taking them and posting them anyways.

After shopping successfully in Union Square we ended our long day with a nice meal at Rocco's Cafe. Remember when Joe and I went to this Triple D location a while back? This go-around I tried the chicken piccata and it was delicious. Unfortunately I left my box of leftover at the table... isn't that just the pits. Oh well, not the first time I've done that!

We had such a great time with my parents. Of course it was hard to see them leave, but we all agreed it was much easier knowing we'd see them again in less than two weeks.