Thanksgiving

Ah, once again, long time no post! :)

My new job is great! I just started at the Office of General Counsel at the University of Wyoming last week. I've been learning a lot about the legal process and my coworkers are all really fun and good at teaching me all sorts of things. In fact, I'm not really sure I can talk much about it! Lawyer-client privileges and all. :)

here's the building I work in, Old Main.


the entrance to my office


my desk! come visit!


For Thanksgiving Johnny and I drove down to Pueblo, CO to see Meghan and Nick and stay with Nick's family! OH gosh it was SO fun! We had a blast. We stayed Wednesday night, then Thanksgiving and Friday. Saturday we met up with Aunt Sherry and Connor for lunch! I have a few pictures from our Thanksgiving adventure. We decorated Nick's family's Christmas tree, too, which really reminded me of decorating our tree, with all sorts of 25+ year old ornaments, elementary school projects, etc. :) We played lots of Wii, watched lots of Project Runway, knit a lot, and ate a lot! And shopped a lot! haha. :) It was definitely a fun time, Nick's family is GREAT! And they even invited us back! :P

On the way there, about in Loveland, CO, literally THOUSANDS of birds flew across the sky. It was like a never ending stream of birds!




the sunset




Johnny, me, Becky, Meghan and Nick. Becky is Nick's younger sister. Missing are their parents, Becky's twin brother (twins are the best!) and their oldest sister.


Johnny and I.


On the way home, Pike's Peak (I think)


Castle Rock


when we were almost home, the moon came up over the mountains. It was HUGE and AMAZING!




almost home




my friend Lauren and one of her dogs, Tess. Lauren and her fiance Matt watched kitty while we were gone, so we bought them little matching sweaters for their doggies to say thanks. Cute huh?!?



Today I went shopping for Christmas ornaments and while we were planning on doing a multi-colored tree, I found all these great green and gold ornaments at the dollar store, so I decided to go with a new theme. I ended up finding a few finishing touches at WalMart and Kmart, but almost all of the ornaments are from the dollar store. I'm so proud, haha. :) I think it looks *really* great!











well, that's about it. We're watching a movie tonight, gotta go!

Nothing too eventful has been going on around here. Calm weather and nothing crazy happening, I guess that's a good thing.

The gala at work is over, and now they are gearing up for their Festival of Trees event. I am helping to design and decorate the governor's tree, which is pretty exciting! I won't be working at the museum anymore when it comes time to actually decorate the trees and hold the event, but I'm going back to volunteer, so I'll post a picture of "my tree", as I'm calling it, later on! (it's not until November 29th!)

Yesterday Johnny had a day off work (his first weekend-day off work since we moved here!!! aka the first day we could hang out together!!!) and so we drove to Fort Collins and Loveland, CO. We met up with the guy who sold us the Honda Accord, and he gave us snow tires for the car, horray! We wandered around some outlet stores and I bought a few clothes for my new job. I got a pair of Nine West heels, retail $75, for $15! sweet!


I've been cracking down on studying for the GRE this past week, too. I've become more motivated since I have finally received confirmation from 3 people that they will write me letters of recommendation for graduate school. :) A lot of the studying for the GRE is brushing up on middle school math skills and memorizing some very abstract vocabulary, and but the bulk of the studying revolves around learning HOW to take the GRE, and what to look for in questions and in possible answers. I've bought a study book that is very enlightening in this area. I am a bit worried I'll be thrown off because it is a computer test, you only get scratch paper to work out problems, and once you have submitted an answer you cannot go back and change it. Also, you don't get to use a calculator! oh, the horrors!! At any rate, the test is Thursday so we'll see how it goes!

Meghan and Nick arrive in Denver this week, and we are going to see them, meet Nick's family, and see Aunt Sherry & co. (haha) for Thanksgiving!!! I'm so excited! It had BETTER not snow!!!

some photos from the past week.....

here's my little wild child


me yeseterday


a going-away present my boss at the art museum gave me (it's from the art museum's store!)


some fabrics that were used for the gala that the art museum gave me. Johnny, the expert of the two of us, says I have enough to make a quilt, so he is going to help me with that.


and........*drumroll* the inspiration for our Christmas tree. We figured, 1.) Christmas trees in Laramie are apparently very sad and defeated looking, and 2.) we have low ceilings with hot pipes running around = fire, so we've decided to do something sort of funky this year, and get a white tree and decorate it with some colorful balls. Should be fun....


well...until next time!

Long time, no update! :)

This week has been very busy, as the Art Museum prepared for the annual fundraising gala. Friday night my friend Lauren and I worked at the VIP Reception selling raffle tickets for a diamond necklace, and then last night we worked the actual gala! It was really fun, and very hectic, with over 400 people attending. The theme was "Safari".

Here's Lauren and I before the craziness began. (we worked the check-in table and later worked the check-out table, which was even more hectic!!)


the ballroom


tables


Johnny and I (he stopped by for a bit after he got off work)


I bought a raffle ticket for the diamond necklace (but didn't win! :( ) but for each raffle ticket you get a wine glass. I bought one but someone at checkout didn't want his and gave them to me, so now I have four! They were each wrapped in animal print tissue paper, and Atari has claimed them as her hiding places.

I spy a little kitty!




Today I worked some more for the gala, as many people wanted to pick their items up today. There were extra favors, so I was given one! It's a little basket woven with telephone wire by Zulu weavers!

So, if you didn't know, I was offered a permanent position at the University of Wyoming. The position at the Art Museum is temporary through nearly the end of November (which is sad because I really like it there), and I will then move to the Office of General Counsel at the University of Wyoming. I'm going to be the Senior Office Assistant for the two attorneys and the office in general, occasionally helping with the VP and his assistant. I'm excited because the people are all very nice and welcoming and I'm going to be exposed to a very interesting work environment. I definitely think I'm going to be kept busy and enjoy the position. I hope I can still help out at the Art Museum still, as a volunteer maybe.

Yesterday I made this type of apple pie called Rustic Caramel Apple Tart.

here you go:

It was SO GOOD. I decided I am going to make them for Thanksgiving.





Prep: 20 min + 30+ min chilling
Bake: 25 min

DOUGH
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter
6 1/2 teaspoons cold water
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled tart applies (one large apple does the trick)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

TOPPING
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping, warmed

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water and vanilla, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10 inch circle. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (I didn't do this, just put it on a non stick baking pan). Combine the filling ingredients;, spoon over pastry to within 2 inches of edges. Fold up edges of pastry over filling, leaving center uncovered. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Using parchment paper, slide tart onto a wire rack (I just used a spatula since I didn't use the parchment paper). Drizzle with caramel topping. Serve warm.

Yield: 4 servings.

nutrition facts: 1 slice equals 286 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated fat), 31mg cholesterol, 226mg sodium, 44g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g protein.

SO GOOD


Speaking of Thanksgiving, we'll be going to visit Aunt Sherry! yay! AND, Meghan and Nick are flying in from Seattle and we're going to have another Thanksgiving with them! WOO!

The best thing about Wyoming: blue skies nearly everyday. LOVE IT!

SNOW! It started around 5ish yesterday I think and stopped for a bit overnight and started up again. It's supposed to snow another 5-8 inches tonight!! then clear M-W I believe and more snow???

We got up at 7 to go to the park and take a few pictures. I need to figure out what to do to keep my camera dry. I just put a plastic bag over it and ripped a hole for the lens. haha.


























I bought myself some flowers last week for getting a job. haha. :P They sure are pretty though! And they've lasted the whole week, which is a record for me.



this is done by turning the lens while clicking the shutter (Katie (Johnny's cousin for those of you who don't know) taught me that wayyyyyy long ago.


Speaking of the job, it's going pretty well. I'm helping in the museum's administrative department but mostly with the development department with planning the Art Museum's fundraising gala. It's a black tie event and over 400 people are going to be coming! I'm pretty excited for it.

well, I think I'll go take some more pictures outside, stay tuned!