April 27, 2010
Calling All Canners
I would like to start canning. I remember many summers watching my Mom can jam for the family and would like to start the tradition with Nate and I. Personally I think homemade jam is the very best there is. Plus, I'd like to make and can salsa, pickled asparagus, beans, fruits, etc just to have on hand for yummy eating. The problem is that I'm not sure what type of canner to get. I've been doing a little research and it seems that the main ones on the market are pressure canners, boiling water canners, or combination pressure canner/cookers. For those of you out there who do canning, what type of canner do you like best and why? Thanks!
April 18, 2010
Vegas, Baby!
Work sent me to the COLLABORATE 10 Quest Conference in Las Vegas, so I'm currently writing this blog from the 31st floor of Thehotel at Mandalay Bay. I don't know why it's called Thehotel instead of The Hotel or even The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, but there you go. It's probably a cool and modern way of distinguishing this part of the hotel from the rest of the Mandalay Bay buildings, but I don't think I'm cool enough to get it. Every time I look at the way it's worded I keep thinking that someone made a spelling mistake. :-)
I'm really looking forward to this trip. Since I'm here for PeopleSoft Payroll 9.1 information, and there just isn't a lot to to be, I have quite a bit of free time on this conference. A lot, actually. Monday is a pretty full day with five or so conference sessions, but Tuesday only has two sessions, and Wednesday only one session. That leaves a lot of hours open and needing to be filled. Since I'm a good wife (hee, I'm a wife now!) I originally asked Nate if he wanted to join me for the conference and we could hang out during my off hours. Since we just got back from the honeymoon a month ago Nate didn't want to take the extra time off of work since he's a little short on vacation hours. So I asked him if it would be okay if I asked my Mom to join me since she's never been to Vegas and has mentioned going a few times. He thought this was a great compromise as I got my buddy to hang out with and he didn't have to take time off of work. I then called my Mom and gave her the official invite to join me. She screeched and said she'd call me right back. 30 minutes later she'd talked to my Dad to get his buy-in, called the airline to see about getting cheap tickets, made her airline reservation, found a few Vegas shows that she wanted to see, and asked her boss (and got his approval) for the time off. She was so excited! I don't think she'd ever made as big of trip plans as this in such a short amount of time. :-)
At this point I've checked into the hotel, checked into the conference, had dinner with the co-workers at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay, and am now waiting for my Mom's plane to arrive. I'm not sure what the rest of the night will entail. Going out or staying in? Normally I'd say going out as it's her first night in the city, but we had a whirlwind weekend. My cousin, Mindy, had her wedding shower this past Saturday in Seattle that my Mom and I helped host. Friday morning we drove over to Seattle and stayed up until midnight chatting with my Auntie Sue and Grandma and getting everything ready for the shower. Saturday we woke up early, continued chatting and getting ready for the shower, had the shower, chatted more, and then drove home to the Tri-Cities getting in around 10:30pm. So with two late nights and two early mornings I'm not sure if she's going to want to head out tonight or get to bed early and sleep in and go out with a bang tomorrow night instead of a potential slow night tonight. Hmm, still not sure. Either way I'm goint to do whatever she wants. I remember my first time here and wanting to take in as many of the sites as possible right away. I certainly don't want to take any of that away from her simply because I'm tired and have been here before. I can sleep later!
I'm really looking forward to this trip. Since I'm here for PeopleSoft Payroll 9.1 information, and there just isn't a lot to to be, I have quite a bit of free time on this conference. A lot, actually. Monday is a pretty full day with five or so conference sessions, but Tuesday only has two sessions, and Wednesday only one session. That leaves a lot of hours open and needing to be filled. Since I'm a good wife (hee, I'm a wife now!) I originally asked Nate if he wanted to join me for the conference and we could hang out during my off hours. Since we just got back from the honeymoon a month ago Nate didn't want to take the extra time off of work since he's a little short on vacation hours. So I asked him if it would be okay if I asked my Mom to join me since she's never been to Vegas and has mentioned going a few times. He thought this was a great compromise as I got my buddy to hang out with and he didn't have to take time off of work. I then called my Mom and gave her the official invite to join me. She screeched and said she'd call me right back. 30 minutes later she'd talked to my Dad to get his buy-in, called the airline to see about getting cheap tickets, made her airline reservation, found a few Vegas shows that she wanted to see, and asked her boss (and got his approval) for the time off. She was so excited! I don't think she'd ever made as big of trip plans as this in such a short amount of time. :-)
At this point I've checked into the hotel, checked into the conference, had dinner with the co-workers at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay, and am now waiting for my Mom's plane to arrive. I'm not sure what the rest of the night will entail. Going out or staying in? Normally I'd say going out as it's her first night in the city, but we had a whirlwind weekend. My cousin, Mindy, had her wedding shower this past Saturday in Seattle that my Mom and I helped host. Friday morning we drove over to Seattle and stayed up until midnight chatting with my Auntie Sue and Grandma and getting everything ready for the shower. Saturday we woke up early, continued chatting and getting ready for the shower, had the shower, chatted more, and then drove home to the Tri-Cities getting in around 10:30pm. So with two late nights and two early mornings I'm not sure if she's going to want to head out tonight or get to bed early and sleep in and go out with a bang tomorrow night instead of a potential slow night tonight. Hmm, still not sure. Either way I'm goint to do whatever she wants. I remember my first time here and wanting to take in as many of the sites as possible right away. I certainly don't want to take any of that away from her simply because I'm tired and have been here before. I can sleep later!
April 10, 2010
Wedding Pictures
I finally got to see our wedding pictures! I'm absolutely amazed at the cute shots he got as well as the beautiful angles, so I thought I'd share them with everyone for their viewing pleasure.
Click the link below and enter in the password: 030610 (wedding date)
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbAccess.aspx?e=6471909
If anyone that was at the wedding and/or reception took pictures, I would LOVE to see them. As many know I'm a big scrapbooker and am greatly looking forward to scrapping my wedding album. Additionally, if you're got some great shots that should be included in my scrapbook send them to Costco.com and let me know about it. I'll pay for the shots when I pick them up so you aren't put out any money.
Many thanks to everyone that has shown me their shots so far. I love seeing the moments throughout our day that I either didn't get to witness first-hand or that I was there for but it's a blur!
Click the link below and enter in the password: 030610 (wedding date)
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbAccess.aspx?e=6471909
If anyone that was at the wedding and/or reception took pictures, I would LOVE to see them. As many know I'm a big scrapbooker and am greatly looking forward to scrapping my wedding album. Additionally, if you're got some great shots that should be included in my scrapbook send them to Costco.com and let me know about it. I'll pay for the shots when I pick them up so you aren't put out any money.
Many thanks to everyone that has shown me their shots so far. I love seeing the moments throughout our day that I either didn't get to witness first-hand or that I was there for but it's a blur!
April 7, 2010
A Guys Night Out
Had to comment! I'm sitting at the kitchen table being as quiet as a churchmouse while Nate is having a guy's night. It's almost like being that fly on the wall that everyone wants to be at some time or another. It's funny to hear men in their 'man environment'. There's beer drinking, random silent moments when an explosion happens on TV, and then lots of talk about movies, beer, moments of stupidity, and what they're watching. I really do feel like a scientist observing my specimen, or like Captain Picard making sure his crew doesn't disobey the Prime Directive (don't interfere with the natives!). Have you ever been the lone female at guy night? How did you feel? Well, back to observing in silence!
April 4, 2010
Happy 30th Birthday to Me!
On April 1, 2010 I turned 30 years old. Woo Hoo! Years ago the though of turning 30 made me think of old, boring people. Now, I realize that turning 30 is just hitting my stride of life. I snuck in the getting married part, and just under the wire, too! I've got a great house that we just moved in to. Finally, not to get too personal, we're working on starting a family. :-)
To celebrate my 'big' day I first hung out with Nate's family during a three-part birthday celebration for Nate's dad, Nate's grandma, and myself. There, amongst family and friends, we went out to dinner, had yummy German Chocolate cake (made my Nate's grandma) and I got to open my fabulous gift from Nate. A new laptop!!! It was such an exciting present because I was totally surprised! I knew a laptop was in our future but I figured it would be months to a year or so down the road. Never did I expect it would be just a few days away from looking at one. The sneaky guy that Nate is, he got me to pick out my favorite one of the trip and then went back to the store later and bought it. I'm having so much fun with it that I forget I still have a desktop!
After the Carstens' family celebration Nate and I had a few friends over for dinner and one of them surprised me with another great homemade cake. Jessica knew of my love of Diet Pepsi and then made me a cake to remind me of that love. A pepsi logo! I loved it!
Next week, when my family has Haylee, we'll celebrate a third time! Three birthdays to celebrate my 30th is pretty darn cool. I guess the only downside to having our wedding so close to my 30th birthday is that I didn't really have enough time to plan a huge celebration for all my friends. Plus, with all the gifts people so generously gave us for the wedding celebration, I didn't feel right turning around and having another gift potential event. So we'll just have to throw a big party for my 40th!!!
To celebrate my 'big' day I first hung out with Nate's family during a three-part birthday celebration for Nate's dad, Nate's grandma, and myself. There, amongst family and friends, we went out to dinner, had yummy German Chocolate cake (made my Nate's grandma) and I got to open my fabulous gift from Nate. A new laptop!!! It was such an exciting present because I was totally surprised! I knew a laptop was in our future but I figured it would be months to a year or so down the road. Never did I expect it would be just a few days away from looking at one. The sneaky guy that Nate is, he got me to pick out my favorite one of the trip and then went back to the store later and bought it. I'm having so much fun with it that I forget I still have a desktop!
After the Carstens' family celebration Nate and I had a few friends over for dinner and one of them surprised me with another great homemade cake. Jessica knew of my love of Diet Pepsi and then made me a cake to remind me of that love. A pepsi logo! I loved it!
Next week, when my family has Haylee, we'll celebrate a third time! Three birthdays to celebrate my 30th is pretty darn cool. I guess the only downside to having our wedding so close to my 30th birthday is that I didn't really have enough time to plan a huge celebration for all my friends. Plus, with all the gifts people so generously gave us for the wedding celebration, I didn't feel right turning around and having another gift potential event. So we'll just have to throw a big party for my 40th!!!
Me with my cake full of 30 candles!
A view of the Diet Pepsi logo cake that Jessica made for me!
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