beer hunting

so, i just had coldstone with my darling friend jaclyn england, mother of twin girls.  good little mormon girl, that i worked with at the salt palace oh, so many years ago...when she was JUST getting married.  good friend!  she, being the good, frugal mormon mother-slash-wife that she is, shared with me her secret to grocery savings.  beer hunting.  she gave me coupons.  she said she's saved $2,000.00 this year doing this!!!  here's the deal.  hit the stores.  look for the beer displays (prevalent during the summer months). they have coupons for $25 rebate when you spend $$$ on things like charcoal, ice, bottled water, pizza, deli meats, etc.  NO BEER PURCHASE REQUIRED!  which is good for me, since jeff yells @ me when i buy grocery store beer (3.2% alcohol).  just kidding he doesn't ever yell at me.  but anyway.  after we hit coldstone, we drove over to Smith's and she showed me just how this works.  amazing.  and so freakin' funny that my cute mo-mo friend is makin' money off the beer companies!  heineken paid for her girls outfits.  coors bought deli platters they took to a family gathering. love it.  

Cash is comin'!

so, janell is due sept. 16th.  actually, i mean she's having her baby sept. 16th via c-section.  we've had a few showers for her...one last month @ thrown by her friend jen & the other on sat. @ mom's for the cousins and aunts.  it was fun.  linda, aunt nanette, stacey, aunt judy, robin, angie, her sister camille, mom, me and of the course the reason for the event, janell.  it was fun!  see attached photos!!

vegas, baby, VEGAS!

so, i just got back from mpi in vegas (meeting professionals international).  i'm beat.  i can do vegas for about 3-4 days tops, then i need to get outta there.  i was there for 5 1/2 days.  i woke up DONE yesterday.  it probably didn't help that i had wine for dinner the night before. i know, i know, rough life; i eat and drink for a living.  i  know how to work a room.  but i still make rookie mistakes, and i'm not 29 anymore you know; i get tired & it catches up with me.  anyway.  it was fun, jeff came down with me for the weekend portion, we've never done vegas together.  we saw julian marley @ the hard rock hotel pool-side friday night when we got in.  it was cool, and i wasn't excited that it was G/A poolside, aka hot as crap.  but, we inadvertently ended up in the vip cabana area.  jeff instantly thought we were 'not in the right place'.  he was right.  he went to go get drinks a bit later, and was gone for quite awhile....i wondered where he was.  when he finally came back, he said, 'babe, we're not supposed to be here; a security guard wouldn't let me back up here!'.  oh well.  we hung out there, right above the stage, enjoyed ourselves, and then left.

the conference was good.  tradeshow was good.  salt lake is hosting this conference next year, and it's a BIG deal.  i'm stoked!  we had a large contingency from slc in vegas to promote'09 @ the luncheon yesterday.  it rocked.  the presentation was awesome, the food was amazing (made with local ingredients) and the after buzz was cool......

the final event last night was at mandalay bay beach.  STYX.  yes, STYX. from the 80's.  a few of the young 'uns in our crowd didn't even know who they were....it was a cool event.  let's be honest, vegas should do it bigger & better than everyone else.  and they did last night.  what a great event.  4,000+pp.  food, scantily-clad dancers (male & female), ambiance, bars, music, prince impersonator, sand and wave pool, STYX & fireworks!  it seriously rocked!  i'm not sure what my deal was this conference, but i waxed philosophical all week; i ran into so many old school mpi buddies, from my chapter president days, and old industry friends from utah/wyoming that i found myself reminiscing about the good 'ole days a lot.  feeling old.  maybe the fact my birthday is in 2 days had something to do with it.  seeing STYX didn't help, either.  i was right back into 1983 again.  anyway.  turning 40 a year ago really rocked my world.  how did i get here?  was i really single & dating for like, 20 years?? where does the time go?  it blew me away.  now i'm home for a day and a half, and back on the road friday (my b-day) headed to san diego for asae.  jeff is coming with me again, so i don't spend my birthday alone.  great guy, huh?  i just have a reception to attend for hilton, then we'll hit an outdoor concert to celebrate the big day.  tower of power!  should rock.  we saw tower of power in park city the weekend we got engaged.  

so, i had a killer time in vegas, but i have no photos to share.  i'm new to the blog thing, and i suck at picture-taking.  or, remembering to take pictures.  jeff even left me the camera.  hopefully i'll get better and as i blog, i'll have pix to post.  

xo

ok. start of blog.

so i made the mistake of announcing my blog on facebook.  everyone wants the blog site.  i didn't dare tell them that 'i started a blog' translates to 'i snagged a url for a blog'.  geez.  i felt the pressure of friends with kids and their damn blogs.  so i started a blog.  but i'm a DINK (double income, no kids).  i don't have kids.  not because i haven't been trying to have kids...don't get me started.  so. i started a blog without kids to brag about. what's a girl to do?  or talk about?  i guess i could share why i don't have kids yet.  and, chat about the kids i DO have in my life....my nieces and nephews.  they're the best.  i may not be a mother yet, but i'm a damn good aunt!

let's start with today's events.  so, i went to work.  i worked until 1:15 or so until i went to a lasik eval appt. in sandy.  i'm sick of wearing glasses.  it's been since 8th grade. i'm done!!  so, anyway...  i was at Hoopes Vision Center in sandy for 2 1/2 hrs.  before i was graced with the presence of 'A' dr. hoopes.  initially, dr. richard yardley (a.k.a. dick) did all my initial prep-work.  he was most inquisitive when he found out i worked at the hilton downtown.  at first i thought it was great 'customer service'.  then, it got kind of uncomfortable.  towards the end of the appt. he was whispering about an additional discount and shoving prescription eye drops in my purse.  'don't let the drug rep see', he said.  'they retail for $100 a bottle'.  i just said 'ok', since he seemed so nervous about it.  little did he know it wasn't that big a deal to hook him up with a friends & family rate at my hotel....as long as there is availability.  anyhow.  it was interesting.  so despite all this weirdness, i have a lasik surgery scheduled for aug. 28th.  i'm stoked!  i'm so SICK of wearing glasses!

i think this is good for an initial post, right?  besides, i'm tired and the local news is almost over.  boa noite!

xo