Happy 76th Birthday Grandaddy!!

Today my blog is dedicated to Grandaddy & his birthday :)

I love you so much Grandaddy! You're an amazing man who has always loved your grand kids unconditionally, and supported everything we've done. I have so many wonderful memories of growing up with you & I will cherish these forever! I am looking forward to celebrating this Sunday with the family!

Happy Friday!

xoxo

What Happened to February?!

WOW, I can't believe it is almost March! This means so many things to me & I thought I could create a nice list to document these 'things' (I love lists!!)...

• I have only 8 weeks left in my training for the Nashville Rock 'n Roll half marathon. Not going to lie, I am getting a tad anxious about my first half.
• I am working long hours planning for March Madness events across the country...with my job March really is Madness!!
• In just over a month I will celebrate my THREE year anniversary with my little man, Guster G. Brown Town, or Gus for short. Who knew a dog would have such an impact on my life?!
• Also in just over a month I will celebrate my one year anniversary with BL. Time sure does fly when you're having fun!
• Next month I will be back on the road & can't wait to see friends/colleagues in San Francisco.
• It will warm up soooooon :))) (it better, at least!)

So that's really it. Sorry for the boring post, just don't have a crazy fun life right now.

xoxo

how to combat rudeness

As Stephanie Tanner once said, "How RUUUDE"

I had a very 'rude' situation happen today when asking someone to be courteous of the fact that I work from home. I don't need to get into the details of the situation, but it made me wonder how other people handle rudeness?


Emily Post says these are the 5 Ways to Combat Rudeness:
1. Don’t take it personally. Perhaps the offender is having a bad day.
2. Size up your annoyances. Is it worth it to make a fuss over something small, or is it a waste of your emotional time?
3. Set a good example. Rudeness begets rudeness. If you speak sharply to the bank teller, don’t be surprised if you get the same treatment in return.
4. Count to ten. When someone’s behavior makes you angry, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself, “Is it really worth blowing my stack over this?”
5. Laugh it off. If you can’t come up with a friendly joke, just chuckle and change the subject.

I am not sure the person who was rude to me today really intended it to be rude towards me, or if they were just dealing with some pent up frustration about their (now old) home. I do know, however, that I remained polite and did all I could to not be rude in return.

...what would you do??


Photo from ParentDish.com

nice, long weekend...in pictures!

This weekend was longer than usual, but as usual, still not long enough! Here are some pictures to show what went on......

FRIDAY: I got my hair cut & colored (wow, did I need it!). I tricked my sister with the picture below & found out she would not be honest if I had a horrible cut, because she claimed those bangs to be 'cute'. HAHA :) She was just trying to be sweet...I do love the way my hair looks when styled for real! I also did some other non-work related things (not always the case on an official day off...). Then the snow fell, and fell, and fell. Gus loved it, and I wish I had used my FLIP to take some video. Oh well, at least I took some pictures... We were supposed to have had game night at my parents, but we cancelled and I went to Lori's for wine & Scrabble. It was fun...even though I lost.

SATURDAY: I was lazy Saturday morning and took some beautiful photos of the blue sky behind the snow-covered trees. My favorite is below... Saturday afternoon I met Bobby to go to a friend's kiddo's first birthday. Little PJ was so cute eating his cake! I didn't have my camera, but my blackberry came in handy! After the party we went to AMC by Town Center & were thrilled to find out they now had an IMAX screen. We saw Avatar after hearing how amazing it was. The glasses were hilarious & left me with a mark, or two, and blood-shot eyes, as pictured below. The movie was really good, and I am glad we saw it on IMAX. We had a great date night :)

SUNDAY: Valentine's Day has always been my least favorite holiday. Not because I've been bitter on V-Day (I have) but because it's just a way for retail to get more $$ from consumers. And in all honesty, if my Valentine hasn't made me feel loved the other 364 days, what good is one day going to do? Regardless, I do like to make treats so I made a plate of goodies for my Valentine and we went to dinner at FIGO and went to church. It was a good message on expectations. If you have time, go listen here. I also accomplished a big feat when I ran a full 4.5miles for my training...woohoo!! I earned some V-Day goodies with that one :)))

Funny note, Bobby saw these and said "that was so sweet...it's like Chrissi, Bobby, Chrissi, Bobby, Chrissi, Bobby....." hahaha, oh, my relationship makes me laugh :)



MONDAY: Another 'day off' that wasn't entirely such. It was still a good day, as I got to see & catch up with an old friend, which was very exciting! Lori & I went to walk down by the river, & I met Beckster at the gym for an ab class before heading to Grandma & Grandaddy's for dinner. When I got home I watched the Bachelor...so glad my favorite gal is still in...yay Vienna!! SIKE, I am on team-Tinley 110%!!

In closing, It was a good few days, and now I am full steam ahead as we get ready for March Madness....it is, indeed, madness.

xoxo,

cg

Fun Weekend

This weekend was very fun, and I was sad to see it leave....

Friday night Bobby was a great boyfriend and went to see Dear John with me. I read stats that 84% of the attendees at this movie over the weekend (that knocked Avatar off the top spot) were female. Our theater was probably more like 95%....hahaha. Bobby was a trouper & sat through all of the romance, and the sniffles :) I loved that book but was slightly disappointed in the movie (doesn't it always happen that way?!).

Saturday I joined some other women to throw a baby shower for one of my best girlfriends Sara. Her & her husband are not finding out what they are having, so we used green, yellow and white for the decor. I must say, it was all very cute. We did a gift card tree and every brought their favorite children's book.

Fun ducky decor
children's books & giftcard tree

Saturday night I hung out with Bobby and his brother who was in town. I meant to take a picture but forgot my camera...they look so much alike!

Super Bowl Sunday was a lot of fun over at Andres & Tonya's. Andrew cooked some yummy ribs & every brought some side dishes. I tried out Bakerella's recipe for Oreo truffles and they were a hit! Some of them cracked on the way over but they all tasted yummy :))) It was a lot of fun to watch the Super Bowl with family & listen to the kiddos laugh in the playroom. I just love that!

this is Bobby's 'what is Manning doing' face...

Here it is....Tuesday morning, raining outside, blah....time for work!

xoxo

my simple pleasures

Several other bloggers are sharing theirs, so I figured I would too.

Here are a few simple pleasures of mine

....funny how even thinking about them makes me relax a bit....

1- a good cup of coffee, especially if you're on a porch overlooking mountains

2- a long chat with an old friend

3- hearing children laugh

4- playing with my nephews & niece

5- the sound of a fire crackling in the fireplace

6- being in love

7- being at the beach, soaking up the sun, listening to the waves

8- beautiful flowers

9- snuggling with Gus (his ears are like Egyptian cotton!)

10- being with family

11- the sound of rain

12- finding the perfect greeting card for someone you love (strange perhaps, but i LOVE it)

13- having a glass of wine with my parents & talking for hours

(and because I can't stop at 13....)

14- being with my girlfriends

.......just to name a few.

It's True....

....I love Beyonce. Did you catch her Grammy performance? LOVED it....hair flips and all. I also love her all girl band.



It's safe to say I won't miss her next performance in Atlanta!

Back to work now....Happy Monday!!

xoxo