Birthday Wishes

First, I intended to blog on Sunday, May 6th, strictly to wish my sister Jaime and her best friend, Julia a HAPPY 30th Birthday!! How incredible that they have the same birthday, they were meant to be best friends :)
We celebrated Jaime's 30th on Saturday at my moms house, the whole clan was there, Jenny drove up from Bend and my Dad and Anna walked down (they live right up the street, you may think that's weird, but it's so convenient!!). We had agreat time sitting outside, sipping margaritas, and talking. For a present we all pitched in and got her a mountain bike, she was really excited! I think the kids were excited too now that mommy can ride bikes with them.
We headed out around 7 to Tiff and Eric's housewarming/cinco de mayo party and had a great time. The whole gang was there and it was fun to talk with everyone. Miranda, who lived in Japan for 4 years teaching English, and now resides in Bend, is a very talented artist. She was given about 8 colored sharpies and promptly turned into a tattoo artist for the night :) I had her draw a gerbera daisy on my ankle and it turned out really pretty. Although if I ever get a real tattoo I wouldn't put it on my ankle, I think it would be on my lower back. I know, typical, but that's where I would want it. Nate & Amy, and Travis & Sarah joined us and I think they had a good time as well. We stayed pretty late and got home around 1:30 am, I was soooo tired!

Sunday was very lazy, we watched Band of Brothers, which by the way is soooo good. It was an HBO series about the 101st airbourne in WWII. It is a true story and is so powerful, I highly recommend it.
We decided we should be somewhat productive, so we went grocery shopping and spent an absurd amount as we had not gone for 2 weeks, ouch! When we got home Brian mowed the lawn and I cleaned the kitchen. Then we promptly went back to the couch and watched The Secret Garden, which is a very cute movie. Our couch is just too comfortable not to relax on, plus we need to enjoy this relaxtion time now since I hear once you start a family you don't have much of that!
Then the dreadful hour of bedtime came and I knew the week was about to start, sigh. The weather decided to be gloomy all weekend (except for a few blue skies here and there) and now it is 80, sunny, blue sky, and I had to sit in an office all day. Not to mention the guys in the office think if it's 80 outside it should be 50degress inside, so my summer attire is not fitting. Brrrr.

Lance is still recovering from his wreck. The good news is he doesn't have to have surgery to put a pin in it, yay! But his ankle is broken and since it's an open wound he has to clean it daily, ouch. He is still in a lot of pain and really tired of it, it's hard because I feel so helpless. Poor buddy :(

I am looking forward to Friday, 1) for the obvious reason that its the weekend! 2) I am getting my hair done, nothing special but that is always a good feeling, and 3) we are going to a play, A Mid Sumemr's Nights Dream at a local theatre. Craig's girlfriend Caren is in it which makes even more fun! Plus, I read that play in high school and college and really enjoyed it.
Sunday Brian and I are hosting Mother's Day at our house, I feel so grown up! We are planning on BBQing up some burgers, have a salad, some chips, and drinks in honor of what will hopefully be an 80 degree day!

Well, I think that about covers things with the Holcombs, hope everyone is having a good week and the sun is shining for everyone!

Work Work Work

I do not enjoy month end at all. It lasts at least 4 days and it entails 10-11 hour days, no breaks or lunches. I left for work this morning at 6:30 am and got home at 7:30 pm. I at a piece of toast at 4 pm while still plugging in numbers. I am so tired and as you can tell, grumpy!

Scary news
My brother Lance got in a dirt bike accident yesterday. It was really scary to get a text from my mom saying she was in the ER because Lance had gotten in a wreck. He was on a gravel road and hit a pothole and slide on his right side. The peg from the motorcycle put a hole in his right ankle so deep you could peel the skin back and see the bone. He also has two holes in his elbow that are just as deep. Since there is a high risk of infection they did not stitch him up, so even with all the bandages and wrapping they did yesterday, he was still bleeding through it last night. The right side of his body is all bandaged up from bad road rash. Luckily he was wearing a helmet and he is okay, I hated being an hour away from him because I really wanted to go see him in the hospital. He of course was in great spirits when I did get to see him last night, tough guy my brother is.

Here he is in the hospital, it looks 10 times worse in person too!

WARNING: Graphic picture below!

Here is his ankle, ouch!

We could not be more grateful that he is okay, love you buddy!

Well, I'm tired and I've been on the computer all day so I think I'm gonna relax with my hubby. He's the only thing getting me through these days, just knowing I get to come home to him is inspiration enough for me! Sorry for the grumpy post, work is weighing on me!

Have a great week!

Case of the Monday's

It has been a classic Monday today and as my friend Sarah told me, I need to press the restart button! My wonderful husband does not deserve to come home to a crabby wife, so in interest of pressing the restart button I thought I should list all the blessings in my life and focus on all the good:

1. My husband. I could make a list dedicated to just him and how amazing he is, I could not live without his love.
2. Our amazingly supportive family who are the most generous people we know.
3. Both Brian and I being done with school, yay!
4. Brian's career and the fact that he loves it.
5. Our adorable dog who, for now, completes our little family. :)
6. Our house that is perfect for US, we love it and everything about it.
7. Our friends who stick by us and are always willing to lend a hand.
8. The Dave Ramsey book Brian reads and we live by, ie the debt diet. We are living like no one else now, so later we can LIVE like no one else. Some may laugh or not understand, but it's important to us.
9. Our health, and our friends and families health.
10. Where we are in our life, the start of our careers and our whole lives ahead of us.

I think it's already helping. Plus, the sun is shining today, which I can only enjoy through the small window in the next office, but hey, you take what you can get!

I also never dedicated a blog to my brother, Lance, who turned 18 on Saturday! Luckily I remembered to tell him, just forgot to blog about it. We had a get together at my mom's to celebrate. Brian and I got him a camera case for the new camera he got. We didn't go all out but we are saving it for his graduation in June, I can't believe my baby brother is going to be a college student soon, where has time gone?!?!?

Love you bud, Happy 18th Birthday!!

We booked our tickets for my sister Jenny and her fiancé, Kyle's wedding in Hawaii :) It will be fun to be there with the family and celebrate with Jenny and Kyle. She's really busy working, going to school for dental hygiene (she is working on her pre-requisites down in Bend), and planning a wedding. Man do I know what she is going through, I was there exactly one year ago and although it's all exciting and good, it's sooo much work! Love you Sis!

I guess that is all for now, hopefully I start out good the rest of the week so I don't have to press the restart button everyday :)

Rain Rain Go Away

Yesterday (Friday) was absolutely gorgeous out, the wind was a little chilly, but still it was sunny and beautiful. It got me really excited for the weekend and how much time we could spend outside, then I woke up this morning to gray skies and rain, boo. I suppose I can get some housework done like vacuuming and getting the office in ship shape. I am also hoping to get our bedroom more put together, we haven't hung any pictures or painted so it feels kind of plain. I wish it was sunny :(

We went to Woodstocks last night with Sarah and Travis and their friends Kaleb and Erika, the company was fun but they kind of burned our pizza which was a bummer since we normally love that place. Afterwards we went to Tiff and Eric's, this is their last night in their duplex, they will be renters no more!!

Embarrassing Moment:
Okay, so I'm not going to tell you my most embarrassing moment, I am going to tell you our friend, Travis's, most embarrassing moment. He told Brian and I last weekend and we could not stop laughing, ever since then we tell everybody about it (good thing Travis is a good sport about it!).
So Travis is 15 years old and his parents have family and friends over for a BBQ. Now, he is at the age where he is trying to impress the ladies so he wears those big pants called Jinko's (I have no idea how to spell that) that are large enough on the bottom to cover your whole entire shoe. Well he is hanging out trying to look cool and walks onto a yellow jacket nest. Obviously, these yellow jackets are not happy so they start flying up his pants and biting him. This takes Travis a second to realize what is going on before he starts running around slapping himself, people begin to stare. His Dad comes to his sons aid and rips his pants off so that Travis is standing in front of 30+ people with just boxers on. It doesn't end here. The yellow jackets are swirming him and they are everywhere, they start going up his boxers, sooooooo his Dad yanks his boxers off and there is Travis, 15 years old, buck naked, because his Dad ripped his pants off. They drag him inside where he treats the bites and then goes to his bedroom since his attempts to "mack" on the ladies would probably not go over so well.
Oh man, that story kills me everytime.

Kind of a short post but I want to be productive today, even without the sun :( Have a wonderful Saturday!

Portland City Grill

This last weekend was fun and productive, the best kind really :)

Friday night we had The Clark's and the soon-to-be Beaver's (Shane and Cheurisya, and yes his last name is really Beaver) over. We went out to dinner first and then came back to our place. We had a lot of fun, but I am pretty sure someone put something in my drink because I only had a few and woke up with a migraine of a headache, ouch! So Saturday we relaxed for awhile, did some shopping for the yard, and returned some bottles.

Cheurisya and Shane

Sarah and Travis
Me and Brian

Saturday night we celebrated Travis' birthday by going to Portland City Grill with Sarah and Travis. It was delicious food! We started with lobster potstickers which were to die for. I went out on a limb and got the dungeness crab butterfish, I say that I went out on a limb because I'm not a huge fan of seafood, but I am glad I did because it was so yummy! Brian got pork tenderloins which were so juicy they practically melted in your mouth, soooo good. We had a good time and called it a night when we got home around midnight.

Travis and Sarah before we headed to the restaurant

Brian and I at the start of the night

Sunday we were so productive it wasn't even funny! We got up and went to Home Depot to get some stuff for the lawn, then we came home and mowed the lawn, thatched it, and sprayed the weeds and landscape. Then we came inside and cleaned the wood floor, did some laundry and cleaned every sink in the house. By this time it was only 1:30, so we rewarded ourselves and took a little nap, it felt really good. We decided to do some grocery shopping which is a big endeavor in itself since we do it in Corvallis, which is 15 minutes away from Albany (where we live). We got home and made some dinner and watched Friends (we have all 10 seasons!!). It was a good weekend, but now it's Monday and the work week has officially started :(

My work told me on Friday that I would no longer have an office space at the Landfill, so I am permanently based out of Woodburn. Ugh.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. I wanted to post more but we are going over to my moms house to watch 24 and Brian is giving me the, "Let's go" sigh.

Also, I am working on a how to for the hemming of the jeans, don't worry Jules I didn't forget, it's on the way!

Hope everyone has a great start of their week!

Typical Oregon Weather

Things are pretty boring here in the Holcomb Home, which I am thankful for. The weather last Thursday and Friday was absolutely gorgeous, it was in the seventies and the sun was shining....looking good for the Easter weekend, right?! Wrong, like true Oregon weather Saturday and Sunday were gloomy and rainy, so depressing. It's amazing how ambitious I am when it's beautiful weather outside, I work in the yard, workout, clean the house, wash the cars :)

Friday night we hosted a poker party at our house, Brian was the first out :( He has won the last 3 in a row so I guess it was bound to happen. I ended up going to bed at 12:30 even though the poker game was still going on, I was so tired!
Saturday night we went to Brian's mom's house for Easter dinner and my mom and Randy (stepdad) came. We had delicious food and played Armed Forces pictionary. Brian's twin sister, Sara, was in the Navy and so if you weren't on her team, you didn't do so well. We played until 10 and then went home and crashed.
Sunday we headed up to Salem to Brian's dad's house for Easter dinner (2 Easter dinner's in 1 weekend!), the food was of course yummy there as well, and Brian's Dad makes some good cocktails!

This week will hopefully be relaxing and chill as there is not a lot going on. We spent Monday at my mom's house and I hemmed Brian's pants, I'm getting pretty good which I need to since I have to hem every pair of pants I buy, darn short legs! I'll post a picture, sounds cheezy, but my mom taught me the coolest technique that makes the hem look exactly the same :)

Saturday we are going to Portland City Grill and I am really excited. I have never been there but I hear it is really nice. I love getting all dressed up and this is a great excuse for it! My co-worker, Sarah's husband, Travis is turning 25 so this is how we are celebrating his birthday.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Enjoy your week!

Me oh my

Well things are continuing to change, life is never boring here! Things at work at still changing and I never know where I'm going to be, that's always fun.

But moving on...I wanted to post pictures of our completed paint job downstairs, yay!! We could not be happier with how it turned out, it just feels nice and homey :)

Me taping the ceiling

Brian being his cute self and painting like a good hubby ;)
The finished product, complete with pictures on the wall! (Notice Friends is on TV, what else would we be watching!)

I took some pictures of our beautiful bark mulch from when we did yard work the other weekend, we still have a lot to do to get the grass nice and green but it's a work in progress:

Man, now that I own a house I am a boring blogger! We are still in the excited phase where all we want to do is work on the house, gotta get as much done while we WANT to do it. We are really excited to have our housewarming party, but we will probably wait until it's closer to summer so we can do a BBQ, plus we can get the house even more completed.

Brian has been really sweet since last week was the roughest one since the time I had 6 tests in one week! This job stuff has been really stressful and Monday was overkill, completely overwhelming. The gal who is training me has been doing 2 jobs: Accounts Receivable (AR) and Customer Service Rep (CSR) stuff. She found out in the meeting Monday morning in front of everyone that she would be training me on the AR stuff and she would be doing the CSR stuff full time. I think she was a little shocked, understandably so. Everyday last week my schedule changed as well as my responsibilites. Now I will be doing about 3 jobs so I'm a little stressed. I came home Monday from work exhausted and about ready to cry, Brian had a really sweet card and in it he wrote: "I love you and support you in whatever you want to do, whether it's leave, stay, or buy a new pair of shoes." (The leave stay was in regards to my job!) It made me laugh and that is just what I needed, man I love him! He also surprised me with a picture I have been eyeing at Target, it is pictured above and it is hanging behind the TV, it's so pretty!!

Random note: Brian brought home the cutest little helmet from work and we put it on MJ, I don't think she liked it! Man we are mean parents!
Yesterday we went over to Jaime's house and helped her paint the girls' room along with my Dad and Anna. Anna and Jaime spent the whole weekend doing it and stayed up late both Friday and Saturday to get it finished in time, what troopers! My mom and Randy took the girls for the weekend so we could paint and decorate their rooms for their birthdays. It turned out sooo cute and I am so mad I didn't take my camera, hopefully my sister will post pictures soon on her blog: jensenfive.blogspot.com. It's a green and pink theme with adorable princess canopies over their bed and pink letters that spell their name. They were really excited when they came in and absolutely loved it.

We did some yardwork today since it was nice out and took a long nap, I love naps! We should have gone grocery shopping but we'll stretch out the food as long as we can.

Well, that's all for now, have a great Monday!