Easter Weekend

We had a lovely yet simple Easter weekend. On Saturday Dave and Charity came up to visit and we all went to lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant (if you're in Tempe you have to try Tipps 88 Thai). We had a nice chat and wonderful lunch plus, we all got sparkled by Ellie's princess wand! It's nice to live close to family so we can see each other more often. But the word is that they might not be in Tucson for much longer. We wish them well wherever they end up.

Easter Sunday wasn't a huge deal for us since we don't have little kids to do an Easter egg hunt or anything. I have to admit, I kind of miss hiding the eggs and then watching the kids find them all. We weren't sure what to expect from this holiday here in AZ since we were so surprised by the huge celebration in St. Louis. Easter is a big holiday out there - they close school on Good Friday and the kids get serious presents from the Easter bunny. It's almost like Christmas all over again. I thought it was kind of neat how much they celebrated this holiday, but it was a little unexpected. It is also kind of a big deal here in Arizona, but not so much as in Missouri.

So we went to the Larsen's for Easter dinner. It was awesome - Jen went all out with a ham, potatoes, rolls, and Danielle brought a fantastic multi-layered strawberry shortcake. It was so fun to hang out with friends and I don't think we should wait for another big holiday to do it again! Thanks again, Jen!

Overall, it was a nice and relaxing weekend, which we really needed after so much work and school stress. And now we only have few more weeks of school to go before John moves out to California. It goes by so fast...

Just Keep Breathing

The craziness is over at work for a while. Our event last Saturday went well but it was a long time to be at work on a Saturday. Since this was the first time I had experienced this particular event I learned a lot about how my work group handles these big events. It was a good experience overall but I am glad it's over now. We all felt a little thrashed on Monday but there was more work to do so we took a deep breath and got back to our jobs. I feel exhausted and I'm really looking forward to having my weekend to myself.

Meanwhile, John is struggling through classes. His Real Estate class is taking a lot of time and we've been spending a lot of time on campus because we drive together. I'll go home for a couple of hours after work until he gets hungry then I'll take him dinner and hang out until he's ready to go home. I'm starting to feel like the business building is my home and my apartment is just somewhere I sleep occasionally. But we knew it was going to be busy and tough. And I'm just glad I get to see him at all these days no matter where we're seeing each other.

Upcoming news: We'll get to see Dave and Charity and Ellie this week because they're coming up to attend the temple. It will be fun to see them again and catch up. Also, Mom and Dad Zincke are coming down to visit at the end of this month so we'll also get to spend some time with them since I still have some furcation days.

That's about it for us this week.

More of the Same and then Something Totally Different

So I went to get the car registered again yesterday. After an hour and a half wait I got to the counter only to learn that I couldn't register the car because my name isn't on the title. I had several other errands to run and my frustration just kept growing. I picked up John at school along with a friend and we were headed to meet some other friends but got stuck in rush hour traffic. Then the person in front of me was suddenly stopping way faster than I thought. I stopped in time but the two people behind me did not. My first fender bender... not sure that I'm all that proud of it, of course. We were stuck on the side of the road for two hours waiting for the police to show up and then waiting for them to fill out all the paperwork. It was awful. But no one was hurt and the damage to the car wasn't really that bad, so there is definitely a bright side.

Today was better, though. John had time to go get the car registered and stop by the insurance office to get things straightened out with all the claims for the accident. I was busy at work getting ready for another big event we have tomorrow and then John stopped by to tell me that my new laptop had arrived while he was at home!! YAY!! So I had something to look forward to. The day passed fairly quickly and now I'm home getting to know 'my new best friend.' It's so cute and I know I'm going to love it!

So while one day may seem like the worst ever, the next day will inevitably be better. Cheer up - the sun really will come out tomorrow.

Car Registration Frustration & Life

So since I had most of the day off from work today because I've been working to much on the weekends I thought it would be a good time to get the car registered. Ok, honestly, John asked me to go get it registered - I didn't really want to. But I just have to wonder if there is a better way to accomplish this task.

First, I have to get the car inspected, which I did today. But I had to sit in a line at the emissions place for an hour and a half. By the time I was out it was too late to go next door to the DMV to actually register the car because they stop doing visual inspections 2 hours before the office actually closes. So I have to go again later this week and get that inspection done. Then I'm going to have to wait in another line and when I finally do get to the window it's likely that I won't have all the right paperwork... I've done this a few times in the last couple of years.

In this world of technology and instant knowledge, there has just got to be a better way to register your car in a new state. I'm just venting here - I know many of you have had similar experiences. Some day, hopefully, it will change.

In the meantime I will spend another couple of hours at the DMV later this week to pay them a lot of money in exchange for a piece of paper that shows I own the car and have let the government know about it.

In other news: my first work event went really smoothly. We had a reception and dinner last Friday night and then our guests visited campus on Saturday for sample classes. It went great and I am so pleased. Even if I am exhausted, too.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Yep, it's John's birthday today and he's hanging out at home on Spring Break. Spring break so far hasn't been great; he spent a full day yesterday working on a project for one of his classes that is going to take him forever to finish. But today is his 28th birthday so I'm taking a half day of work so we can play and celebrate. And as much as he claims he's not a dessert person, I'm making brownies!

Happy Birthday, John - I love you, no matter how old you're getting!

Furcation

I've just been reading blogs and realized that I haven't posted on my own for quite a while. This is probably because there isn't much going on with us right now. John finished his second trimester and had a week break last week. I figured I would take some of my mandatory furlough days while he was off so we could hang out - thus the term 'furcation' which I snagged from my coworker Jen.

It is early March and the weather here in AZ already feels like summer. Since I had last Thursday and Friday off, we spent some time outside and actually got sunburned. We went to a spring training game with friends last Friday and sat on the lawn in the sunshine for over 3 hours. I think I'll be buying some sunscreen on the next trip to the store... and some aloe vera gel!

The down side of having so much time off is that John totally messed up his sleep schedule and then I got sucked into the craziness, too. So we've had a hard time adjusting to normal hours this week and we've both been really tired the last couple of days. It's probably not going to get much better, though, because John has Spring Break next week. And I'll have more furcation on Monday and Tuesday, too! Woot!

Other news:
My laptop died for good a few weeks ago and since it takes an emergency to pry John's from his lap I haven't had much computer time at home recently. Thus the lack of blogging, but I know it's no excuse.

I sang in a Relief Society program last Tuesday - I was really nervous for my solo, but it went ok and everyone was really impressed.

John won a competition and got a cash reward that finally showed up in our bank account last week. But it will probably just go to pay taxes since it looks like we owe quite a bit this year... boo taxes! And we won't even get into the horrible things that are going to happen on that front in the next few years...

We finally made it through all the seasons of Frasier we got for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad Zincke!) so we'll be starting over on those in a few weeks, I'm sure. I finished watching the second season of 24 and started on Heroes yesterday. It's a nice way to unwind after work and now I know what everyone's been talking about.

So that's life for now. Just chuggin' away and hangin' in there.

Crazy Happenings in Tempe

It has been a long week and it started off kind of rocky.

We went to bed at a decent time on Sunday night but I woke up to strange noises at about 2am. There was someone yelling outside our window. I wasn't worried at first - we live on the second floor and it was Super Bowl weekend so I figured it was just some late-night party people wrapping things up. So I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Then I heard gunfire.

I started listening closer and it was a guy yelling to someone to let him in. He was pounding on a door pretty hard but I couldn't tell which apartment he was harassing. He shot his gun again and by this time John was awake, too. I'm so glad he was there because I was pretty scared. We laid in bed listening to what was going on and hoping that he wouldn't feel inclined to come upstairs and knock on our door. He shot his gun a couple more times and kept yelling at someone to 'answer the door.' Then we heard the police sirens and the guy got really upset. He yelled some threats about hunting someone down then we heard him take off running.

The police showed up a couple of minutes later and we heard our downstairs neighbors filing the report. An officer knocked on our door a little while later to make sure we were okay and then everything quieted down. Except my stomach which was still in knots.

There hasn't been any follow up incidents this week so we're hoping the problem was resolved. It's strange how just a few minutes can strip you of your feeling of safety for days afterward. But I'm so grateful that the police showed up.

So that was the most exciting part of our week. We have a pretty open weekend with not too many plans and it will be nice to relax.