Cats out of the Bag...

I've been hinting about a trip brewing for Brian and I. Well, on Christmas, Brian finally figured out where we're going in February.

DISNEYLAND!

I know I'm bragging and whatnot, but I made a really cool, really neato hint for Brian to figure out his surprise.

I made a puzzle out of a picture I did in Photoshop.

I used glow in the dark paint to write "we're going to Disneyland" on the pieces and I wrapped up the pieces in Brian's presents.

The first piece he unwrapped was in his stocking in a card I got him. I wrote a riddle that cryptically explained the game. The final part said he had to view his clue in the dark to make sense of it.

So, after he unwrapped his presents, he started to put the puzzle together. It didn't take long... I bought a 15 piece one. Then Brian forgot the last part of his clue, so I told him to reread his card. After doing that he went into the bathroom. The next thing I heard was "Disneylaaaaaaaaaaaaand!" and Brian came out and smooched me.

I'm quite pleased with how that turned out. I've been planning and scheming for a few months and it all paid off... now in a few months time I'll be enjoying California and all of its fun.

In related news: the rest of Christmas was awesome. Corey was staying with us so it was a lot of fun to have him there. We got him some movies that his dad wouldn't approve of and loaded him up with candy. He got me a box of chocolate and he got Brian an Elvis record. We went to my dad's then to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I think we all had a great day... Brian got me some really nice and thoughtful gifts for Christmas. he did a great job picking out stuff I like, which is a first for me (in terms of a significant other that is). He got me The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a really pretty locket, Castle Crashers, an awesome stuft animal, really comfy striped red/white fingerless gloves and a great stocking. ^_^

Anywho, I'm off to bed... or for 15 more minutes of Castle Crashers.

Princess Bride - Rambo - Real Women Have Curves

Brian's putting our movies away... it's kind of funny to see some of the movies that get to sit together. We're both at home today. I couldn't get out of the drive way and he didn't want to try. Right now we're watching Braveheart. I haven't seen it in a long time.

Not too much to report on other than the storm. We have a butt ton of snow. I can't remember the last time we had this much. Brian and I might have a snowball fight later.

I'm kind of excited for Christmas. Well, more than kind of. Corey is spending Christmas Eve with Brian and I. We were going to go to Brian's mom's house and stay there, but she and her husband didn't like the idea of a stranger there. I was (well, am) kind of pissed about that, but I'm more than happy to stay here with Brian and have Corey here.

I'm really excited for Brian to open his presents I want to see if he likes them and if he likes where we're going in February.

Anywho, I gotz to work today.

Career Blues

I've been working on a document since Friday afternoon. It's a very important bit of information for my department - our goals. I was given our 2008 and 2009 goal document to fix. The person who had been updating this has been gone for several months. It hasn't been updated since March. After looking at it, I don't think it's been properly updated since 2006 or 07. Probably 2007. I had to do a lot of reverse engineering. This isn't my document and I wasn't given the liberty to create a new one. First I had to figure out where the formulas came from and how they were being measured. Then I had to go line by line and see where the data was kept for each piece of info. Then I had to make sure it was being look at in a logical/consistent way. I wanted our measures to be meaningful. Some of the lines didn't go anywhere, they were manually put it, which defeats the purpose of having formulas and all that stuff. I had the document up most of the day yesterday. I probably spent a solid 6 or 7 hours on it. I was watching the X-Files at the same time, so what was 10 hours of time on the couch wasn't 10 hours of working. I had some left over to do today, so I've been working on it for the past hour and a half.

I kind of like huge projects like this, I really do. It's neat to have a hand in big things going on. I am a bit down about not getting the bennies for doing all this work. I mean, I get paid over time and everything, but I'm working well out of my job classification. In March they hired me as an Administrative Specialist and since July I've been filling in for a Business Analyst and then for another Business Analyst since August. I was told that I would be made an Analyst, but a month ago I was told that I could only get the gig if the person I'm filling in for gets a job in the department she's working in. That's different than what I was initially told. Meanwhile other people in my group have been promoted to a higher pay grade.

I'm sure it sounds immature or selfish of me, perhaps even egotistic, but I feel like I was left behind. I'm doing a lot of work for the department and going beyond my duties, heck, my boss sends me to meetings in her stead once and a while, but I'm still making Admin pay. Other people (well, one specific person) are getting moved ahead while not working as hard or really working at all.

Part of me tries to remember that it'll all pan out in the end and that at least I'm earning more than a clerk. But it's hard to keep that in mind all the time, especially when it's almost 10 on Sunday night and I'm still working...

So much to tell...

I last posted about my birthday and there's much to tell about the few weeks since then.

Brian and I spent Thanksgiving together. He's been living here since that week. It's been really, really nice with him here. I like spending my free time with him and having someone home waiting for me. I find myself making him lunch a few times a week and leaving him cutesy love notes from time to time.

Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Uncle Tracy's house and the house was packed. Most Thanksgivings with my family are. I felt a bit bad that Brian's mom didn't get to see him, but she's had him for a lot of Thanksgivings. He and I got two gift cards. One to Olive Garden and one that's a general type gift card. Food was excellent as it always is. We had to head out a bit earlier than I wanted because Brian had to work at the crack of dawn the next morning.

I was able to sleep in on Black Friday and really enjoyed the lazy time. I had arranged to go shopping with Brian's mom. She came by around 10 and we set out to Target. I wanted to look at Xbox 360's. Brian and I wanted to go half in on one. I made a B-line to the video game section and picked on out. They were the same price, but it came with a $60 gift card. I also picked up a few other odds and ends, nothing too noteworthy at that store.

We waited for Brian to get off and then headed to the Wild Side. It's a really cool pet store in Puyallup. I've had Frances since July and thought she could do with a little sister. There are a few reasons I like going to the Wild Side and not to the pound. Well, the Wild Side takes kittens from people, once they're sure they're healthy and sells them. They include a vet visit with the purchase of a new pet and give the parent free cat food. They take good care of the little ones in their care. I had a hunch that they'd have sales that day and I wasn't dissapointed. They had tons of kittens and they were $30.00 off. Brian and I picked out a little black and white kitten. We decided to get another girl so we wouldn't have any awkward humping situations.

I named our new kitten Samantha. Brian usually calls her Sammy. She's a sweetheart. She and Frances were at odds for all of a day and a half but they soon started being really good friends. Frances has been in heat for about 4 days so she's a bit more docile than usual (yes, we're getting her spayed next week). She's been playing with Sammy quite a bit when she's not humping walls and everything.

Things are really coming together in the Becerra-Smith household. We're doing our best to get settled in. Brian's mom has been a huge help. She's really good at getting things put away. I was a bit surprised that I was ok with that. I've always been a bit weird about people coming and cleaning my shit. She's been a lifesaver though.

Anywho, here are some pictures of the two cutest kitties in the world:

The Man with the Golden Gun

I had my 23rd birthday last Thursday... it was fantabular! I spent most of the morning with my dad who snuck off work to come see me. We had a pretty good time. Then Brian came over and we spent the evening together. Luckily, Brian was going to give me my birthday present and take me out Friday... so I was spoiled for two days.

I took Thursday and Friday off work, so I had ample time to not do anything. It felt great.

Brian told me that we were going out to Ipanema Grill (this really nice and expensive Brazilian restaurant). I took time and got all prettied up for him. Brian came over after work and gave me my birthday present. He gave me this really cute earing and necklace set (the earings don't irritate my earlobes, which is rare!) and he gave me Brain Age 2 for my DS. It's a really, really fun game. I'm trying to get my brain age lower... I initially got a 60. I think part of it was being unfamiliar with the software and the game.

So, back to Ipanema. We drove to Seattle and Brian got us parking in a garage. We ended up not being stuck in traffic for as long as we had anticipated, so we walked down Pike's Street and I got a latte at Tully's. Then we headed back to the restaurant. Brian made reservations (which is a very sexy thing to do) and we got to sit down right away. I had a Strawberry Lemonade and Brian had passion fruit juice (or something exotic). The way the restaurant works is you get to get your salad and everything buffett style. You can go and get as much as you want, but as soon as you're ready, you flip over a card on your table and they bring meat by on a skewer and you can say if you want it or not. They have all sorts of meats there. They had turkey wrapped in bacon, chicken, tons of different steak cuts, cheese steak, grilled pineapple, oooh, and they had shrimp and bison. We ate till we were stuffed. Then we had some more... We finished up the night with dessert. They had really good and rich tasty dessert balls.

It was a really wonderful night and I feel really lucky to have a great boyfriend.

Oh, and Brian finally moved in! Yay!

plotting.... always plotting

I'm planning a trip to California with Brian. He and I are going to do something fun there. I won't say what because it's a surprise. He'll find out on Christmas... For his birthday he found out what state we're visiting. I'm super excited for this and hope it goes well.

the space between

I decided a while back that it was a good idea to keep my car key off my large mess of keys. In the back of my mind I thought that I could eventually be somewhere without the keys I need. Today was that a day.

I had my keys out at work and add some keys to a few company vehicles. Then I left my keys at work.

Wouldn't have been that bad if I lived close to work, but I live 25+ miles from work!!!

Thankfully Brian has a spare and is bringing me a key.