Twenty-Ten

Seriously. Where does the time go? It's weird to me that Christmas was almost 4 weeks ago but it seems like it's been forever. I didn't post much around the holidays - not for a lack of events or meaningful, post-worthy items but because I simply could not find the time to sit down in front of our computer and write. Since the beginning of the year, my schedule has dramatically improved and I've had a lot more time to spend at home. I'm enjoying my time not spent at work and I've had a much needed break from the retail world.

Work break has been great, but I wouldn't necessarily use the term "relaxing". We have a new addition in our lives that has been requiring lots of our attention and she doesn't seem to enjoy being pent up in our computer room long enough to let us check our emails, let alone blog.

I have wanted a dog of my own for a while now. Cardy loves dogs too but always felt our schedules were not accomodating for the dog lifestyle. I don't know what changed but he surprised me a couple days before Christmas with Zoe! She's a beagle/border collie mix and she's now 12 weeks old (and doubling in size!). We're in love.

She's a lot of work and demands almost 100% of our attention but she's worth every second!

Here a some cute facts about Miss Zoe:
-She has the cutest white legs with black polka dots
-The tip of her tail looks like a paint brush (black with a white tip)
-She is extremely smart and Cardy comes up with new challenges and tricks for her everyday
-She is almost potty trained and she will go down and entire flight of stairs and wait by the back door
-She LOVES to be outside
-She loves to chew - bark and sticks are her favorite but are usually left outside the back door
-She extremely sweet in the mornings and loves to cuddle. I love how much she yawns
-She loves to sit in my lap while she's playing with her toys
-She gets really excited when the door bell rings or the garage door opens (and is easily tricked by similar noises on the TV). She loves visitors
-Her best friends are Maddie, Sadie, Owen, Mr. Bentley & the nice labradoodle in our neighborhood

Here are some pictures of her from a couple weeks ago. I'll post some new pictures to show the difference in size. It's amazing how much puppies grow in a couple weeks.

Cardy surprised me tonight with an early Christmas present. I couldn't be happier...she's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

Now we just have to pick a name! Any suggestions??? She's a spunky little thing but sweet as can be.

Holiday Parties

I absolutely love the holiday season and I especially love holiday parties. Every other year, Cardy's sisters plan a Godina family Christmas party. It's a huge get together for Cardy's massive extended family. Both sides of the family are invited and friends are always included. If you know Cardy's family or have had the chance to attend a Godina family function you know that they are a riot. This family loves each other and they will jump at the chance to celebrate any event together.

We also recently celebrated Beermas with our friends. Beermas is a holiday party hosted by Marcus in which everyone comes dressed in their most fantastic...or ugliest...Christmas garb and drinks beer to celebrate the holidays. Last year Cardy and I struggled to find actual sweaters with any sort of Christmas motif but we did our best with our last minute planning. This year I was little more prepared and I knew where to shop. Lucky for us, we were able to find matching sweaters (well, they were actually sweatshirts) and I thought we looked adorable. I was actually quite impressed with several of the Christmas sweaters at the party - people really out did themselves this year.

Last week my Bunco group met at Ann's house for some Christmas bunco. I love getting together with friends before the holidays

Stick a fork in me.

So far this holiday season has started out quite marvelously. A few weeks before Thanksgiving we celebrated "Fakesgiving" dinner with several of our friends. Fakesgiving, as it's named, is the precursor to Thanksgiving and is always amongst good friends. We've been lucky enough to attend this event the last 2 years. Marcus organized the evening and we all signed up for our best dish to share.  This year John & Katie were our gracious hosts. Katie did a fabulous job seating 20+ people in her house, beautiful table settings and all. I was impressed to see how many amazing dishes were prepared by everyone. We had everything from a charcoal grilled, bacon wrapped turkey (thanks Mike & Cameron) to homemade macaroni & cheese to a pumpkin trifle. Everybody truly brought it!

Our actual Thanksgiving dinner took place at my mom & dad's (sorry, no pictures). We had fun celebrating in the new house, it makes me excited for Christmas! My mom is a great cook and I always love when she offers Thanksgiving at her house. We had a great dinner (of course) and I brought a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. After dinner, I napped (thankfully!) and then we went home and watched the Broncos...yay for a win (also thankful)!

I will not have a breakdown. I won't, I won't, I won't.

No, I'm not going to go all Britney Spears on everyone. No breakdowns for me, I don't have time. As many of you know, I'm working three jobs right now and am finding myself busier than I've ever been. Why three jobs, you ask? Actually this is the most FAQ I've been getting lately and honestly my best response is, "i don't know?" People think I'm crazy. My friend Alex says I'm the only person in America right now with the dilema of having too many jobs. Very true. While the unemployment rate continues to climb, I'm juggling three work schedules and keeping my hours in check. My other friend, Ashley, says she's just waiting for me to have a breakdown. I know she doesn't mean this rudely but more out of concern for my well being. My mom feels the same way. She keeps asking if I'm okay and what she can do to help me out. I'm fortunate to have so many friends who care about me.

For those of you who don't understand why I work three jobs or just think I'm plain old crazy - I'm going to break it down for you.

Job #1: Rheumatology Research Coordinator. This is job #1 because it's my first priority. It's the big cheese, my career, my "real" job. This is my full time job at the University of Utah and it's where the majority of my income comes from. I love this job and find it so rewarding.

Job #2: Pottery Barn. I call this job #2 because I've worked for PB part time for the last 6 years. It's a great little job & it's my "fun" job. The reason I can actually work 3 jobs is because of my very lenient PB schedule. I typically work only 1-2 days a week (and sometimes not at all). My shifts are short and I have a fun time while I'm there. Plus, let's not forget my incredible discount which at the end of the day, makes it TOTALLY worth it!

Job #3: Givenchy. My newest job. I started fragrence modeling this summer when a friend of mine hooked me up with this sweet little job. I'm a vendor for the line and we are contracted with Dillards and Macys to have our product in their department stores. My job is make sure the store has the products and the tools they need to sell the fragrence. I also spend several hours in the store luring customers to buy my product over others. Yes, I'm the girl spritzing the cards and handing them to you as you walk by. You may be annoyed with me but you may also find a new perfume for your collection. This is a very easy job for the money and who couldn't use extra income these days?

Honestly, I think I'm doing okay. Pottery Barn would like me to increase my hours for the holidays and my boss from Givenchy pulled a fast one on me and scheduled me 40 hours a week during December (which I politely refused). Luckily I know how to take care of myself. I know when enough is enough. I'm having to rely more on Cardy than ever. I don't think he loves his "honey do" lists I leave him but he's pretty good about completing them. Lately he's even been doing a few extras around the house which I appreciate (now if I could only get him to cook).  I find if I do small things for myself and recognize when I need a break - whether it's a one hour nap, a pedicure with a friend, or dinner with Cardy - I think I'll get through this holiday season unscathed.

Home Improvement

We love the newness of our townhouse but even being brand new comes the home improvements that make a house a home.

This week we added cabinets in our laundry room, hung directly over our washer and dryer. We have high ceilings so cabinets were a perfect option to take up some of the crazy wall space. It also helped alleviate a huge storage problem we seem to have in that room. Our laundry room also doubles as a pantry and as fun as it is to have your Bounce sheets and Clorox next to the flour & sugar...well, you get the idea. I'm so excited about the new cabinets and Cardy did a fantastic job building and hanging (thank you Ikea for the millions of tiny parts), I'm pretty sure we can hang from these babies.

Getting close!

Finished product