Just too tired to post tonight.

I worked and got off at 3 again today. I made it home in time for the baseball game and folded the entire game, which is fantastic because i can go home early again tomorrow! But it has worn me out for the second day in a row. I took extra prednisone tonight to try to curb the inflamation tomorrow. I took quite a lot of pain meds when i got home because of all the folding my hand was getting swollen. I've been drinking more water than usual, but if anyone that knows my water intake, it's probably still not enough. With the prednisone I know i need to keep the water intake high. On this note I think i will drink a glass of water and go to sleep. Gotta rise early and get to work so that i can get home and rest :)

Love anne

Waiting for the pills to kick in so that I can sleep before work tomorrow. I did so much folding at home this week that i think that I want to get back in the habit so that i can skip out of work in the afternoon instead of early evening. I left today at just about 3:00 PM and it felt so good to be driving home and get home with a reasonable time to nap and relax. I hardly knew what to do with myself! I had all of the menu napkins done for the weekend as of yesterday and i had also gotten the replacement napkins for Thursdays dinner done ahead of time, so as soon as i got the dining room set all i had to as far as folding was the wash cloths for the guest restrooms. It was like the good ol days when i had nearly all of the folding done and all i had to do was the actual setting of the dinning room. I didn't get to work until 9:30 this morning and i still felt like i got a LOT done. I had the extra time that i would have spent on folding on organizing and helping out the messy pantry area. Our pantry steward that we recently hired pretty much walked out last Saturday night. She said that she felt "ill" and called the next day and said that she wasn't coming back. I don't think that she was a good fit, personally. She wasn't organized and wasn't very detail oriented, two things that are nearly a must for that position. We are busy this weekend as well, so i don't know who is going to fill in, but i suppose that i can do recieving and try to keep the glass room tidy for a while until we find a new person. Jihoon has been coming in a few times a week, and Carolyn has made a few appearances since she gave notice. It's so hard to keep good pantry people, well at least the backup pantry position. In the time that I've been working in the D.R. we have had two stable pantry people, Jess and Carolyn. Everyone else just seems to fade away or takes the position to try to get their foot in the door either for server or kitchen. I suppose that it would work in some cases, but not in the ones so far. I want my brother Thomas to start serving, i think he would be a great asset to the team, plus i could boss him around once a week on prep days! But seriously, the herbfarm needs a few good servers, seems like we have had a MAJOR dry spell in hiring the past year!! I wish that they could offer Thomas what he needed to come and be happy. Maybe Tom should just go back to school and work nights at the herbfarm?

My review has been set for Thursday at 1 PM. I don't really know what to expect from it. It seems like from June to November i was a rock star employee, then i got another infection and got really tired. I got grumpy, and i think that i got really frustrated at life and every day things. Since December i have been struggling and i don't know how that will effect my review. I should mention that, i suppose. We'll see.

I'm not sleepy, I'm not sleepy. I'm not sleepy. I want to be sleeping again! I picked up Jason from work, we drove Joe home to Northgate and came home so that Jason could play with our roommates on the 360 and the new HDTV. It's so funny how this fighting/boxing game is such a boy game. They are saying that it is the best game ever made and especially with the HD. They are all so into it. I laugh, i don't fully understand it, it looks like a regular game to me, but there is something special about Fight Night Round 3!!

I was watching QVC today and they had a 4 hour Gem Fest show on this afternoon. Most of the jewelry was ok, nothing i felt like i had to have until the last hour! There was a diamond circle pendent with a button white pearl set in the bottom of the circle. It was so pretty! It was also set in white gold, which is my favorite metal. It was a little pricey at about 175 bones, but it was soooo pretty. When i was jewelry shows i don't usually see pieces that i feel that i need to have, but i felt that i wanted that one. I know i can't give in to any of it because it will be all over when i start ordering jewelry from the shows. I'll turn into one of the ladies that call in and say that they have already ordered too much that day... I can't be affording to get myself into that!! And the last time i thought that i HAD to have it, i told Jason, he ordered it for me and when the fed ex package came the jewelry had been stolen out of the box and the empty little boxes left on our porch.... That made me very sad and i haven't been able to even think about getting another order. All i have actually ordered off the TVshows are parcels of loose gems, which are so much fun because you don't really know what you are going to get. The last parcel that i got it was guarenteed that you got a aquamarine, a sapphire, and a ruby. They were small, but i was happy, and I have another 100 carats to add to my collection. It was my Valentines Day present from my honey. I just need to get the case to store them in. I got some really nice stones that i want to make into pieces. Some big ones that would make beautiful pendents. Some matched stones that would be wonderful for ear rings, and some others that would be lovely as rings, i also have lots of little stones that i can use as accent stones. If i only knew where to go to get the castings and things for making it. It will be my newest hobby once my hands get stronger.

My poor little right hand is a little swollen from all of the folding that i have done the past few days. I also did some ironing on Monday for work. I'm nearly caught up with the ironing, but we are busy this weekend, which means i better do some ironing during the game on friday so that i don't get too backed up again. On that note i think i will stop writing about work because it means that i'm thinking too much about work and i don't wanna right now. So good night, gonna go play some sudoku!

Goodnight,

Anne

My Bridal Bouquet

I'm very proud of the bouquet that I made for our wedding reception. The flowers consisted of white and dark red roses, pink tulips, burgundy gerbera daisies, white freesia, wax flower, and babies breath. I put it together myself and wrapped the stems in tulle and ribbon. It was very beautiful and it made me feel beautiful holding it that night. The day of the wedding reception was one of the most fun days i have ever had. I love flowers :) 

Bigger version of the picture below

Here we go, this shows it better in our living room than the last picture 

Photo of the new toy

This is our new tv. If you know of anyone that wants a 32 inch sony, give us a call! We have upgraded to a 50" PLASMA HDTV baby!!

Arthritis sucks.

I have been struggling mightily the past few months with this damn disease. I have been trying and trying but i get so frustrated sometimes. I really do try to keep a positive attitude, but some days i don't want to be positive, i don't want to be weak and i certinly don't want the stresses that come with the stupid disease. I keep thinking about what all of the pain meds are doing to my liver, what they are doing to my stomach, what it is doing to my brain. The last two years have been near torture on my body. It has had too many surgeries, too much pain medication and so much weight put on I just don't know how the damn thing keeps adapting. I hate complaining, yet i keep feeling the need to pour my heart out onto the blog or something like that so that i don't drag actual people into my minds own battle with it's self. Wait, what am i saying, i love complaining, i do it all the time. And it's absolutly wonderful to write it all. It's lovely having an outlet to write at. In fact i love that i can write about how much something sucks and knowing that it's out there in the world somewhere, and someone can read it and take what they want from it and i don't have to respond to it. I think that helps a lot. I like talking to my honey about things that bother me, but i don't always want to bring him down or know how much little things bother me sometimes. I think that is natural. It's almost like having a therapist without actually having the person writing in their notebook about how messed up my mind is. I know that I'm struggling, but I have family there to tell me all of that i don't need to pay for someone to tell me what i already know. And i have my doctor there to prescribe me the crazy pills to help me numb to it all.

I was talking to my cousin last week about depression and it really was comforting knowing that there is someone else out there that has had the same thoughts about "going crazy" as i have had. I think it made her feel better too. Maybe it is something in our family that chemically wrong. We both had nutty thoughts about silly things and knew that we shouldn't be feeling that way and yet couldn't help it. I knew that i had to get on medication for that reason and so did she. It helps to have a support system there, even if you don't talk to them constantly, just knowing that they are there if you need em is comforting.

At the shower someone asked me, i can't remember who, what my feelings and thoughts were about depression. I don't know how many people knew that i was on meds for it, but i told them that i had been on zoloft for about two years and i thought that it worked really well for about a year, and now i don't think it is working as well. I feel like i'm slipping back to where i was before. I think i should contact my doctor or at least the Kerry and see what i should do about the dose, either go higher or switch to another medicine all together. I should also ask what the side effects are long term of this stuff. Some of the depression medication commercials say something about sexual side effects, is that long term or immediate? I really need to ask more questions when i go to the doctor. I always feel rushed to get out of there though... Maybe i need to switch doctors too. Fuck, maybe i should just move out to another state and start all over. I know J is ready to go. I just don't want to go away from my family. I almost can't stand to think of moving too far away and not seeing my family but once or twice a year. It would like be leaving my entire support system. I think Jason realizes this and that's why we havn't gone anywhere and he has lessened talks of going to Las Vegas. Although i think it would be cool to go down to southern california and work with Brunie. But i don't think Jason would be happy down there. He hates how hot it gets down there and there aren't any places that he really Wants to cook at. ANyways i just don't think i want to deal with finding all of the new life things that come with moving to a new city. I wouldn't be happy at all for a while.

So dis-organized. This post has to be one of the worst rants that i have had for a long time. I "almost" feel bad actually posting it, but oh well, sometimes i have to do it. I wanted to punch something so bad tonight but what is the point when it is just pain instead of getting the aggression out. I thought about it and is it really worth damaging my hand for a bad day and knowing how my hand loves getting infected, it would just be begging for it. I don't want another surgery. It's been nearly 5 months since the last procedure and that's been the longest in a while. I just can't seem to get down on the prednisone. I took 17 mg yesterday at work and i could feel the effects that it had and i don't know why it makes me so mad that it actually does what it is suppose to do. I got all the way down to 12 mg and i was very achy with some of the storms that have come through and i just can't seem to stay awake. So of course i think that i should take more pain meds, and that makes me feel guilty and know that my poor liver is going through hell. And i forget that prednisone is there to help too, but it's also so bad for me. And when i start taking more prednisone i get bigger and bigger. So what is better? being fat and very unhappy, but less achy, or the alternative or being achy and taking the pain medication and sleeping all of the time and trying my best not to get too much more overweight? And when i take more prednisone i can't sleep at night and my insurance just doesn't cover enough ambien to make it work so that i can actually make it to my job the next day. They tell me to get out in the sun during the "good" part of the sunny day and the natural daylight will adjust my clock, but hell no, it doesn't work that way with me. When i work i am done when i get home. What am i supposed to do? I have to work to have the insurance, and we need the money, i have to work. I have to have the medications to make it so that i can work, but what are they doing to me? Can i live with the consiquenses in the future? What are they going to be? In ten years what is Jason going to have to take care of? Do i really want to do that to him? Or do i want to drug myself so much that i am like a normal human being and just shorten my lifespan so that i can actually have a wonderful time? These are decisions that i struggle with on an everyday basis. Some days it's worse that others. Tonight is pretty bad, i don't usually think too far into the future and what will happen to my body, but i have been so frustrated with no being able to lose the weight that i am at a loss to what i can ever do. I hate coming to the conclusion that i will gain more weight just to feel like i can put in 35 hours at work. And i feel like i should be working more and helping out my co-workers more, but my body is just about done and it makes me so fucking grumpy. I think i actually made one person quit last week because i just got annoyed and didn't want to be nice anymore. The person was new and was asking dumb questions and i was sick of it so i was giving short answers. Then she got this puppy dog look and started slinking around, the next day i find out that she went home "ill" and called in sick on sunday. Jess talked to her and i guess she asked her to find someone to fill her shift and have Carrie call her, so basically it sounds like she is quitting. Too much for that one i guess. She seemed ok, but didn't like the thought of working too hard or jumping right into a job with both feet. She had a chance to put herself in there and be a rockstar, but she bailed and that's no good in my book. Whatever. Maybe I'll go in tomorrow and do some recieving and take in the ironing and folding that i did today. I'll see what's goin on in the am, i'll call the office and see.

I have been so grumpy and sad lately. I guess i don't like all of the deadlines that were upon me this past few months with the reception and stuff. I feel like i'm letting down all of my friends and family by sleeping all of the time. I still havn't gotten my brother a birthday present. I hardly spend time with Nickki and she lives so much closer than she did a few years ago. She is my best friend and one of the most thoughtful people i know and i just sleep away the time. I want to be awake, i want energy, i want to be thin again. I have Jason and i am so lucky for that but i still sleep away that time that i should be savoring with him. He loves me, he supports me and gives me more than i deserve. He offered to get me a dog so that the doggie could get me better and i could quit my job and get healthy. When we move he said that we are going to get a dog and i could stay home and take care of the puppy and the house and have muffins ready for him everyday when he gets home from work. I could do all the things i love like cleaning and baking and taking care of our pets. I can watch baseball and jewelry televison all day if i want to. But i still need health insurance so I came up with the idea of talking to Carrie and quitting my everyday job there and just continue doing the folding and ironing for the Herbfarm, but at home. It would be about 15 hours a week i would guess. Maybe i could go in two days a week when i drop off the folding and do some office work, like logging and bagging the reservations, or maybe do the prep-days and the folding and ironing? I think i would just have to cut my work load in half. I just don't know what the future holds for this body of mine. I can't get healthy and i don't know what it's going to take to get there. I need to keep moving and that is one thing that i love about my job now, I am walking around the restaurant for about 3 of the hours that i am there. I don't want a desk job because i know that i would just sit there and snack all day long. I know me and that is not something that i can do right now. With all the prednisone a desk job is not something that i should do. I was thinking today about when we get a dog, and i would have a little partner if i wanted to start walking, even though i have always been wary of walking dogs and having other dogs come up and fighting. Must have been the childhood trauma of being attacked by a dog that has led me to be so wary of that.
But i am so excited to have a dog and a pal. I am so happy with being married to Jason and what our relationship is. He is such a good man, he has some learning to do, but of course so do i. I think I am a good wife so far. I sleep too much, i feel bad when i can't pick Jason up from work because i'm sleeping. He says he doesn't care and it doesn't matter, but when his feet have been hurting i want to be able to pick him up and save him from the pain. The new shoes have helped, but the pain is still there.

We have to move in August. I don't think that we have decided if we are going to continue living with our roommates or not. It sounded like Jason thought we were going to find a place on our own, but i don't know if we can afford it, especially if i cut back on my working. I have already told Carrie that I need to cut back to 4 days permanently. Maybe i should cut it back to 3 and have my 4th day at home. I could work prep day, and the first two days of service, then they can find a high school student to work the weekends and i will do the folding for them and it would be grand. That would be absolutly ideal. But who knows what cvd will say. I never know with her, sometimes you think you have her pegged and then she surprises you with something out of left field. I often wonder what Ron thinks of me and the job that i do. He isn't ever at my review, but he has input on the paperwork that is filled out for the actual review... I dunno, it is so strange how the herbfarm is run. I think they hire some great people and they have some great things going on there, it is a good place to work for the family style enviroment, but on the opposite side people that are actually family are treated as employees at times when it seems odd.... I guess that could just be the people or person i'm thinking of.

So this post is completly about all the things that are bugging me and it's all so messy and unorganized. The way my mind has been feeling as of late. I'm glad that the reception is over, it was one of the funnest days of my life, i truely enjoyed the party 110%. I loved that my parents finally met Jason's parents and everyone made it. There were so many people it was a little overwhelming, and they all brought gifts! So many wonderful gifts, now i need to get the Thank You's out. I can hardly wait to get the pictures back from the disposible cameras. I transfered the pictures of the cake that i had on my camera and ordered prints from shutterfly. The party was so much fun, and the food was so yummy from what i heard. The cake was fantastic! I had some of that and when we cut it and ate the first bite, Jason didn't even shove it in my face like i thought that he would! When we talked about that a few days later and i told him that i was surprised that he didn't smear it all over my face and he told me "of course I wouldn't do that, you are my honey, I love you" It was such a sweet response and something that he would say, it makes me feel so good inside that i know that we are good together. He makes me smile.
Speaking of the party last week when we were at Costco for the first time together with our new membership, we pasted the meat section and the beef tenderloin was a pretty good price, so i told him that i only got one slice of the tenderloin from the party, so we bought the smallest package of tenderloin that they had, which was still 5 steaks and over 20.00. Anyway we bought it so that i could have some. It is things that Jason does like that, that make me feel special. I don't know what i would do without him, he really holds me together. I don't think that i could have made it through the past two years without him holding my hand. I am so thankful for him. I can't really even put it into words. Even when i get so frustrated at my life and what's going on, he brings me back to a better level. Now I'm getting all mushy, it always happens when i start to think of what Jason does for me and how he helps me. Now I guess I better stop since i have gone from being so frustrated to just wanting to go give my honey a big hug. He's watching a movie on our new television and i think i will join him. goodnight or goodday, whatever the case may be for you. Sorry about the ranting, sometimes i just gotta have it out there in the world.

Geez, i go back and read what i just typed and i won't realize what i have put down tomorrow. Thoughts run through my mind when i'm grumpy and it fades when i actually record it, like it has to be typed to be erased.

Our new toy!

This past week Jason and I went to Costco and bought something that we have been drooling over for a long time, a HDTV Plasma TV. It is 50 inches of plasma goodness! We both couldn't be happier with it! We don't have the HD tv programing yet, but soon enough. Jason is thrilled with the biggness and beautiful picture that the X-Box 360 has now, so do the roommates. They have been playing Fight Night 3 a lot lately, which those of you who aren't into the gaming world is a boxing game. The graphics are pretty cool and it amazes me how good and real they are all getting. Anyways as I sit and watch it feels like it belongs in our living room and doesn't look out of place at all, in fact I forget that it is so large until I leave the house and come back hours later. You all should come and experience the HDTV sometime! Come meet our newest baby :) Pictures to follow.


(April 25th, 06-- Look up above for the pictures!)

Second post of the new year, I'm on a ROLL, BABY!

Two posts in a matter of a few days must be some sort of record for me on this blog this year! okok so i just feel like playing with my computer and this is just as good as playing a game of spider solitaire. I was thinking on my way to work today that i don't think that i wrote at all about the trip that Jason and I took to Las Vegas this past February. We saw the Blue Man Group, which i must go into detail another time since it was such an amazing show, i recommend it to anyone who goes to Vegas and has a couple hours to spare. They do some very cool visual things and just plain ol silly things, but anyways, i will stir up my memories and jot them down soon.

I felt pretty good in the latter half of the day today. After i got off work i stopped by Rite Aid and got two presciptions filled. I hadn't ever gotten anything filled there before, but it's more convinient than the bartells up on Roosevelt, the Rite Aid is on 35th on my way home from work on 80th or 85th, so not too far no matter if i have to get a refill when i'm not on my way home from work. I like that store, it's nice and bright and they seem to have a lot of gardening stuff, i picked up a bigger watering can that i currently have so that when we have our container garden this summer it will be easier to get them their food. I'm a dork. Such a dork.

I've been enjoying the new HDTV plasma that we bought a lot. I came home from work and instead of going upstairs and falling asleep while laying in bed watching the game, i brought folding from the herbfarm home with the hope that i would stay awake and actually get some work done from home while watching the baseball game. It worked today! I got 3 full bundles of linens folded for the weekend and i think i will save the menu napkins for sunday and do some extra replacements tomorrow so that all of the linens are folded and i can get out of work early! I think i also could use it for tomorrow and bring home more for sunday and that way i am getting paid to watch baseball while folding, i could also do some ironing and try to get caught up with that too.

pills just kicked in, goodnight

love anne

First post of 2006

My bridal shower

(thanks for a great time girls!!)

It is April 18^th and Nickki threw a bridal shower for me today. She invited about 25 people including all the girls in our family, which of course is half the group, but Jessica Ritchie is the ONLY person that wasn't family that came. And only two people called and said that they couldn't make it. HOW EMBARASSING!!! It would have been almost better if Jess hadn't been able to make it so that i wouldn't have to feel so bad that I have no friends. It was a great little party and i had a good time but it was really really embarrassing that no one showed up. Nickki is such a good friend and i love her to death for doing something so special for me. And Jessica is a sweetheart too because she wanted to throw me a party as well and Nickki just started planning before she did. Anyways, Angel, Debra, Emily, Kaylie, Kim, my Mom, Nickki and I were the attendees. Austin came in half way through the party and joined us, as did Cohen when he woke up from his nap. He is such a happy baby, it's so cute to smile at him and have him smile so big that his eyes nearly close.

Nickki had the theme of the party as “Las Vegas” with colors of black and red for the suits of playing cards, and asked the guests to wear something either shinny, sparkley, or simply red or black. I chose to wear black pants with my brown rhinestone v-neck shirt with my sparkley heels that i got for my reception. My mom looked beautiful with her new flowing red shirt and black skirt. It was so much fun helping her shop a few weeks back. She stole the best outfit award looking so nice tonight. Nickki also had a few games prepared for us to play, the first game was a Las Vegas word scramble. She picked out about 10 or 12 words that people would associate with Vegas and had us all try to unscramble them, with the goal of course being the first one to complete wins a prize. Since I have been doing so many word puzzles in the past two years I blasted that game by solving all of the words first! I have to say that she did a very good job at scrambling the words and being inventive with the ones she chose. The next game we all played was “How well do you know Anne?” There were questions the girls had to answer about my favorite food, drink, animal, sport, color, season. Then a few questions that were more factual such as my first car, where i was born and how many times i have moved. Debra won that game with only missing two questions, which we all agreed could have been the correct answers. She guessed that my favorite food was BBQ sauce (i had written down chocolate pudding) and she said that I had moved 4 times and i think that we all decided that i had only moved three times. It's sort of funny how some people don't really know the little things and some people really pick up on that sort of stuff and remember. Actually I don't recall what we decided on with how many times I had moved.... But the important thing is that Debra got the prize for that game!

Nickki had also prepared little gift bags with little bottles of champagne and a few “Vegas” style things like a poker chip key chain, a money cover note pad, and a few loose poker chips. She also put numbers on the bottoms of each bag for a game to be played later, which was sorta fun as well. Nickki had made up additional prize bags and blew up some balloons with numbers on a little sheet of paper inside of each balloon. Then i got to pop a balloon and who ever had the matching number of the popped balloon to the number on the bottom of their gift bag got to pick another bag of goodies! I don't know where she gets all of these ideas for these parties, she is so creative.

OH! Didn't even mention the FOOD yet... or the decorations! She had prepared a seven layer dip with both tortilla chips and nacho cheese flavored chips to go with. There were little beef tortilla wrapped things that were baked, and for the life of me I can't think of what they are called but they were tasty. Jessica brought a fruit kabob plate with creme fresh e, these delightful little dutch cookies that had a gingery taste and they were sandwiched with a yummy filling, i think it was a cream cheese frosting. She also prepared a veggie plate of carrots, cucumber, pita wedges and hummus for dipping. Nickki baked chocolate cupcakes and had Shirley Temples out with little cherries. Later we broke out the champagne and orange juice. Some of us had mimosas and some just had champagne. It was a wonderful spread of food and i didn't eat that much but i was so full! I brought home a cupcake for Jason and i just might have to steal it from him!

The decorations that Nickki had around the house were so cute too. There were these streamers that she hung in various corners that consisted of the four suits of a deck of cards with money signs mixed in. She had little votive candles around set up in little groups. The dining room table was black and red with napkins, forks and spoons to match all set up in a lovely manner. She also found some balloons that were covered in cards and also had a few black ones in the mix as well. There was a vase of red tulips in the kitchen that were a nice touch too. She did such a nice job on everything, especially the invitations! My goodness, she hadn't sent me one because she had originally wanted it to be a surprise party and just figured that since i was the guest of honor that i would be there. Anyways I had talked to her yesterday and we decided that i would like to have one for my scrapbook or wedding album when i put something together. The invitations were hand made with heavy textured card stock of red and black. Red bigger than the black in blocks with a spade, heart, diamond, and club on the outside. They look very professional and nice. And on the inside it is ivory colored paper with all of the info inviting the person to my bridal shower. It had Nickki's address and contact info for additional questions if needed. I was very impressed by her today and her talents. She had become quite the party planner. She even gave me some scrapbook paper to use if I wanted for thank you notes for the reception. What a gal! Sometimes i get overwhelmed by how much Nickki does for everyone, it's like there is nothing that i could do to repay her or even come close to showing my appreciation for all that she does. She had become an amazing person, I'm very lucky to have her in my life and even luckier to have her as my best friend and have her call me the same.

On top of all the games, food, decorations and family that were there, Nickki, Jessica, Kimberly and my mom all got me gifts! Nickki gave me a visa gift card . Jessica gave me a gift card to Cost Plus World Market. Kim said that she didn't have time to go shopping so she gave me cash. My mom said that she is going to take me shopping for dishes! It's so amazing that i have these people in my life. I guess i don't need friends when i have a family like i have. As long as I have Jason and my family and my heart keeps beating, i will be okay.

Love, Anne

Merry Christmas

A sweet picture of my Dad and Mollie. They must have had a tough day wrapping gifts or perhaps they were all tuckered out from trying to sneek peeks at gifts and then re-wrapping?? Hmmmm, i think that's the one! 

It looks like Winter out there

And my goodness it it sure does feel like it too! This morning was SO cold, i had to scrape heavy frost off of the windows of my car. But what a great day for the weather to decide to snow for us. Jessica and I met up with Jodell at The Herbfarm this morning to decorate for the holiday season. It's always so much fun to prep up for Christmas. Jessica tackled the tree decorations and putting the tree together (it's a fake one, of course) and I took on the mantle decorations in the salon. Jodell was helping us and giving us tips on the holiday embellishments and it was such a pleasure to work with someone that has a great eye and communicates so well. I have to say that i would love to spend a day as her student and learn tricks of the trade in floral design and just plain 'ol decorating in general. She gave me a few tips on floral design, which i asked for since i absolutly love (and lose too much time sometimes at work...). She said that i have a great eye and a good opinion of color and placement. I certinley will take that as a great compliment from someone who has a background as her. She recently designed a line of umbrellas which will be delivered to her in about 3 weeks. She said that there are seven different colors with an additional three different handles which of course are mixed and matched. Anyways, Jodell is doing well and i had fun with her and Jessica. I actually got to do a little silk floral arrangement that i got critiqued by Jodell, she said that it was great, since i picked what went it there and all she did was come in and do a little "fluffing" and gave me a few pointers. She also asked why i hadn't taken over the floral arranging for the restaurant, she thought that i should have a LONG time ago. Anyways, i again had a good time this morning with the girls. I made coffee in the big pumper pot and we went through two of em! Carolyn and Misty were also there this morning doing the monthly inventory for the pantry, which i got out of because i was helping with the fun stuff, good trade off? YES, i got lucky this month, and last month because i was off eloping... :)

Now about that weather again! As of this moment it is mixed rain and snow at my house here in North Seattle. It was plain old raining for quite a while when the storm system started through, but i don't think we will get anything that amounts to much out this way, we are just too low. When i was leaving this evening to go to dinner it felt pretty warm out there. Too warm to snow, but it smelled of snow. And when i left The Jones there were a few little flakes that were falling and melting as soon as they hit my windshield. I always get so excited when there is a possibility of snow in the city. There is just something about snow that is so pure and serene. I love when it has snowed and you go outside to walk around and it is so quiet and the sound of steps in the freshly fallen snow is so wonderful. Another great thing about the snow coming to Western Washington tonight and tomorrow is that i don't have to try to be anywhere! That is the best when you know that you don't have to brave the roads with all of the other people out there. Especially when you live in an area that is very hilly. Even if we don't get any measurable snow here in the city, it's fun to watch the news and see the kids out there sledding and all of the pictures of the area covered.
Joe, Jessica and Sally all reported snow at their homes on Sunday morning. They live in the Monroe and Mill Creek areas. I learned that they are part of the convergence zone in Puget Sound and usually get snow when the rest of us see nothing, i think they also get more rain when the rest of us just get clouds. Lucky ducks, they have already gotten snow!!
On my sad note of the weather, i believe that it has thrown me into another arthritis flare. For the past two or three days i have been very worn out and yesterday i noticed twards the end of my work day that my hand started turning red and was getting a little swollen. This morning it was worse, and the redness was still there. Pain is getting worse and i'm affraid that it could be the return of an infection. It hurts to use my right hand for pretty much anything. I could feel it throbbing when i was trying to nap after i got home from work today. The pain killers aren't really doing anything. I think i have to put a call into Dr G tomorrow and see what she says. The oxy's are hardly touching the pain, it mildly dulls it, but does nothing of the sort of taking it away. The thought of that scares me. I was driving into work this morning and listening to a morning radio show and they were saying something about how something was as fun as taking vicodin and hot cocoa, I nearly laughed out loud because vicodin does nothing to me anymore. I think i would have to take 6 for them to make me feel any effect. Tonight i took my usual one oxycotin that i take (one in the AM, one in the PM is the schedule they have me on) and two percoset and didn't touch the pain and i wasn't all loopy as most people would be. Most people it would knock em out, but nope, not me, I just sit here and type away about decorating for the holidays and the potential for snow. It really scares me on the tolerance that i have gained over the past 23 months. And when i saw Jason tonight for dinner and showed him my hand, he said "it's christmas time, that means it's time for another surgery" Past two christmas days i have had painful times that led to trips to the emergency room and eventually to surgery. I don't know what they could possibly do this time. I'm thinking that when i get blood work done and if it shows infection that they will just put me back on the zyvox. Nothing too major, but i don't like being on these antibiotics all of the time. That thought scares me more than the pain killers... almost...
I have been doing so well with the tapering too! This sucks. I'm all the way down to 13 mg. I had to take an additional 5 mg today to try to stop the swelling in the hand, but i feel like my attitude is getting better from finally getting off the high dose. I was even doing a trial taper of the zoloft, but i don't think that this is the time now since the flare is in action. I found myself being on edge this past week. I thought that it was just because i was mad that the restaurant was open for Thanksgiving, but started to realize that even when i wasn't thinking about that, i was still grumpy. So i decided that i will keep the same dose of zoloft until my prednisone level is stable and i have gone down as far as i think i can go. That will probably be next summer. We'll see. I just don't want to be sad or grumpy this holiday season. There are so many good things going on right now and i really need to enjoy them. Jason and I just got married, Andy is getting married in February. Sarah is coming to visit soon with her family. Nickki and i are hanging out more. I WILL get a raise at work and i still do enjoy my job for the most part. J and I get to have a party to celebrate our marriage!! Just too many wonderful things are going on that i hate being so tired all of the time. I don't want to be the person that just can do one thing a day and then go to sleep. And that's all it has been for the past 6 weeks it seems. I get so exhasted from work that all i want to do is crawl into bed and lay there. I have gotten so far behind in my ironing for work that it's wearing me out just thinking about starting that project. I've been just able to keep up with the lace doily ironing, havent had the energy to tackle the table cloths.... Damn that's what i should be doing right now, especially since this week at work is so busy and weird. We are going to be serving 5 days in a row. We have a lunch on the 30th, 2 small groups for dinner on Thursday and regular service for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I stayed at work for about 2 extra hours tried to get a head start on all of the folding. The shipment of linen that i got in this week was wonderful and just the right amount of starch so folding has been a breeze this week. I'm such a dork when it comes to my work, i get excited about the smallest things. The small things are really the things that matter right?? I think so. I have been trying so hard lately to do my very very best a work. I made a updated my prep sheet for work about, oh goodness, 6 weeks ago, maybe 2 months ago, and it's very detailed and it covers all of the tasks that i do that i would do on a VERY thourough day, but it's everyday thing now. I was wondering and not realizing why it was taking me so long to do set-up a few days back. Then i realized that it's because i am doing all of these little things that make the restaurant tighter and tidy. And the dining room has been looking so good. The new chargers are not chipping like the last ones and that makes SUCH a HUGE difference. The goblets that we FINALLY got in make things sparkle again and Carolyn does a wonderful job on polishing the stemware and flatware. I have to say that we are a good team. An eye for detail and caring about what you do really comes through when you put in the effort. I've been having so much fun in my own little world setting up, i just need to stop stessing myself out about things at work that are out of my control and just relax. When i learn how to do that.... Wait, i don't know if that is a possiblity, but i can try!

Alright, enough for tonight. I did my ranting and raving about work, depressed myself all over again for my one day off this week. Talked about the weather and how i love weather. Discussed the wonderful things that are going on in my family. And revisited days with Jodell and decor and floral arranging. Good night and have sparkling snowy dreams.

Love Anne Jones

The "Wedding" day, November 1st

The day we got married, November 1st, 2005 Clark County, Las Vegas Nevada

After we got back to the room from the show and relaxed a little, i discovered how tired i was from all of the travel and exciting Ween show that we had just been too, not to mention all of the walking on the strip that we had done. I was well on my way to dream land, and Jason needed to satisfy his gambling hunger, so i took my medicines and promptly fell asleep as Jason went back to the Hard Rock to play paigow poker for a few hours. J tells me this is a kind of poker that you can ante in for not a whole lot and play for a long time, you also push a lot, which actually means.... okay, i'm not even going to claim to know what kind of poker this is because i have no clue and have never seen it played, but he likes it and played for quite some time and had the drinks keep coming for free for those few hours that he was back at the Hard Rock Casino. I fell asleep until about 3 or 3:30 and decided that some crosswords needed to be solved and I also had to catch up on the news so i flipped on ESPN and was content. Knowing that Jason was having his last night of "freedom" I wasn't concerned that he wasn't back yet. It really wasn't long before he came back in all happy with his piagow stories from across the street. He was wondering what i was doing awake though, since i was so sleepy when he left and now i was awake and doing crosswords and puzzles. Since i take so many naps it seems that i just sleep in shifts and need only a few hours every 8-10 hours to survive and strive. So he came to bed and told me his stories of the game tables and softly difted off to dream land. I did a few puzzles and then followed him happily. I set the alarm for 9:30 so that i could pack all our junk and get some breakfast down stairs.
I woke up before the alarm and got dressed and put on my make up. I had trouble sleeping, it felt like i didn't get good sleep at all. Ya know those nights when you wake up every hour or so, by the time it's "acceptable" to wake up it's almost worse than when you went to sleep. That is the kind of time i had sleeping. Jason was out like a light though, he was a TIRED man.
I thought that the breakfast at the hotel was served until 10 am, so i went down at a little before 9:30 thinking i had plenty of time to spare only to find the staff clearing all of the food when i got there. I found the yogurt and a serving of waffle mix left, so i hurried to get the waffle started.... then i couldn't find the plates, so i asked the lady that was clearing some of the dirty dishes where the plates were and she informed me that they had "closed" at 9:30... But she took pity on me and got me a plate. I also got a glass of milk not seeing that there was coffee available at the other end of the dining room. I waited the 2 minutes 45 seconds it took for my waffle to cook on the waffle irons they provided and seasoned it with the syrup they had in a pump type dispenser. I got another glass of milk and settled down to read the sports section in the sunniest part of the dining room i could find. How often is it that i will be in 75 degree weather in November again? Then i saw the coffee service they provided and helped myself to a cup of that as well. I had a funny feeling that the lady that had given me the plate a few minutes earlier hadn't really wanted me to sit down and have breakfast in the dining room since it was impending her from doing her work, but what was i to do now? So i ate as fast as i thought was healthy and got out of her way. It was nearly 10 am anyways and check out was 11.
I got back upstairs to our room and Jason was still sawing logs as i expected. I did my best to arise him, but he was just too sleepy. I got him to agree to get out of bed and get into the shower if i went to Starbucks and get him a quad carmel latte.
I had a feeling that he would still be in the same exact position as when i left him, when i returned with the coffee... I was correct... Now it being after 10:30 and Jason not wanting any part of the getting out of bed and getting out to show his sweetheart Las Vegas, i was in a precicament in what to do since we had less than a half hour to check out of the hotel. I could hear the maids working their way to our room as the moments ticked by. I tried to bribe him with keeping the coffee across the room to get him out of bed, but that didn't work... So i gave him a little to try to get the caffeine in his blood, and that got him to at least be a little more concious. Then I tried to threaten him by telling him he didn't have time to take a shower if he didn't get out of bed. He didn't like that at all, and there was no way that i was going to keep him from showering on our wedding day. I was even jumping on the bed and turned the air way up to try to force him out of bed. It ended up that he convienced me to call the front desk and ask for a late check out. I called down with a sleepy voice and acted as though we both had just woken up with ten minutes to check out and just had to get our stuff together and then we would be out... They were kind enough to give us until noon to checkout without charging us, i was thankful, but i think Jason was even more thankful so that he could actually have a little nap (without me BUGGING him to death) so get his mind together. At about 11:30 he finally put his feet on the ground and got in the shower. After that we moved at a good pace on getting out of the hotel. We checked out and started walking around outside not really knowing where we wanted to go. Jason was hungry and then we decided that we could go to FatBurger on the strip, and the hotel we stayed at offered a shuttle ever hour at the top of the hour to the Aladdin, so we jetted back to the hotel and caught the shuttle. We got dropped off and started walking, and walking... It turns out we went the wrong direction and so J bagged the Fatburger idea. We sorta wandered around and stopped in a few of the Casinos that I hadn't been to yet and wanted to see. We went into the Billagio and it was pretty inside, but we entered at the shopping part and it was so gaudy that we turned around and left about three minutes after we came in. Shops like Armani, Gucci, Tiffany's, Chanel, etc. were just too much for my blood. It was a very beautiful hotel/casino though, i would like to go back next time and see more than just the shops. We also visited Cesars Palace. Amazing sports book, beautiful shopping center. The mall section has very high ceilings that are painted like the sky on a beautiful summers day with fluffy clouds. The shops they have in there are "whatever" I didn't really find the need to go into any of them, but the entire atmosphere of Ceasers was so cool. My favorite part was at the end of the shopping center where there is a HUGE fish tank. I have no idea how many gallons it is, but it wraps around with benches along the entire thing so you can sit and watch all of the different salt water creatures. There were a few sting rays, sharks, box fish, triggers, clown fish, puffers, fox fish and so many other varities it was just so beautiful and amazing. There was also a video system that transmitted the fish to TV's surrounding the base of the ceiling of the fishes swimming around on a live feed. I was so taken with that fish display, i can't do it justice by the words i type, i will have to see if any of the pictures i took are ok and post those. After we walked around Cesars Palace and saw the sites of that casino we went and finally found some food for Jason in one of the little food courts beyond the gaming tables. He had a bacon burger and i got a beer to try to curb my nerves a little. I had gone to the bathroom when he was ordering and i had asked him to get me a beer, when i got back he thought it was funny that he had to pay for his sparkling water but my beer was free. Las Vegas can be so backwards sometimes. After we finished our lunch we decided that it was time to go get things done, so we headed out of the casino and were going to start our trek to downtown Las Vegas. As we were walking and talking about the fish tank in Ceasers, Jason mentioned that The Mirage also had a big salt water tank and it was very cool with sharks and the whole 9 yards as well. I wanted to see that one so we stopped by that casino as well. We saw the white tigers that nearly killed Sigfreed and Roy act a while back... well we saw a couple of exotic kitties, don't know if they are the same ones that were in the preformance or not. Anyways the mirage also has a large display of orchids as well, which i took a little stroll through. A few of the ones they had on display were pretty impressive, but not any that i hadn't seen in books. The fish tank behind the service counter was large, about 20,000 gallons i think they claim, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as the one at C.P. Jason had thought that it was much larger in the past and now it just didn't seem as big, funny how memories change through the years! We left after staying and identifing a few fishes and orchids along our walk.
It was getting pretty warm outside in the desert sun, i think that it was near 80 degrees on the first day of November and we were doing a LOT of walking. Good thing i had drank all of those liquids in the morning to stay hydrated! We kept on walking and Jason kept mentioning that we better go just get the whole married thing over with so that i would stop acting funny, but i think he was the one acting funny. Or maybe it was both of us being slightly nervous about the entire thing. I thought that i was pretty excited at the time, but looking back i suppose that i was a little nervous of what the reaction would be of both of our families. But over everything else i knew that i wanted more than anything to be married to my sweetheart Jason. I wanted him to be as sure, so there was a few times throughout the day that i stopped him and asked him to answer me honestly if it was what he wanted to do. I didn't want him to feel rushed, pressured or anything of a negitive way about marrying me. He said he wanted to marry me still and so we walked on in search of a taxi to take us to the court house. I guess it can be looked on as acting funny if i keep asking if he is sure that he wants to go through with it all of the time... Funny how you can see a day so differently when you step back two steps and see it from anothers eyes.... I thought that i was doing it that day, but i guess i was a little caught up in myself.... Stupid Bride! We walked a little further until we got tired of all the cabs passing us by, so we decided to go to the taxi stand at the Wynn Hotel/Casino. Good choice! We got a cab there within minutes and were finally on our way downtown.
Downtown LV was a lot further than i thought it was. And the feel of it is so different than the strip too! The groups of people that hang on the strip are so much younger than in old vegas. I saw so many seniors and families in downtown than compared to the partying people of the strip. Not saying that there weren't any families or seniors on the strip in the casinos, but the amount of younger people in downtown was far less than on the strip.
As we got closer to the court house we kept seeing more and more chapels, a couple drive-thru ones, just like on TV. A few of the classics like the little white chapel that it seems the celebrities do their elopments at, but that place can be a little more pricey than the other smaller places. It was just like going downtown in anyother city when you get close to the court house you usually see bail bond places in abundance, but in Vegas you see wedding chapels. Just something funny that we noticed.
We got dropped off at 3rd and Main and found our way to the court house of clark county. I think we went in the wrong enterance because we had to go through the heavy security where you had to take off your belt if you were wearing one, the two guys behind me, but in front of Jason, were wearing belts and their pants were so baggy that they literally had to scruntch their pants as they walked so they wouldn't fall around their ankles! I thought that it was funny. Jason always has lots of stuff in his pockets and wears a belt so it took him longer to go through the metal detector than it did for me. In my waiting time i asked one of the people at the help desk where we go for the marriage licenses since i didn't see it as one of the options in the direct area we were in. The way she answered was so funny, she said to me "If that is sure what you want and you still want to get a marriage license go to the end of this building, go out the door and take the first door to the left" She said like she had seen so many other couples come through the same door and ask the same question. Being in her position i would probably do the same thing. So many people get married in Las Vegas and have to do the same thing that we did i think that i may throw that little extra flag out there as well. Once Jason got his belt back on and all of his stuff back in his pockets we headed down the hall to that first door on the left.
We went in and found that we both needed to fill out a form about ourselves and our parents. Each bride and groom needed to fill out the form and had to have the information of where we were born, where and when our parents were born and where we lived currently. You would think that this kind of form would be filled out in ink.... not so, they provided pencils, but not just any pencils, GOLF PENCILS! I thought that was weird, no erasers on these small pencils. Oh well, just another detail i remember that doesn't make any difference... We filled out our forms and waited to be called upon from the next available clerk. The room remided me of a steiral bank office or building. There was plexi glass in front of the clerks and they spoke into these little mircophones that cut out twice during each word. The lady that helped us was very sweet and happy. She would have been a great kindergarden or first grade teacher i think, just had that demenor that seemed to me that she would read stories so soothing that it would make me sleepy and happy. Our "transaction" with her was very pleasent and quick. There wern't many people in the place applying marriage licenses which they said was rare, which was a good thing for us. We got our license and i asked her where we could get married, if there was a place in the court house and she directed us to the Marriage Commisioners Office across the street and told us that it was $50 exact change or to go to any of the chapels and present them with the three peices of paper she gave us (can't tell ya what they were cause i was just caught up with everything at the moment). We didn't need a big production, hell we were already eloping! So the Marriage Commisioner was the place for us! After a little work we found it but then discovered that we didn't have the exact change.... So then we went in search of a place to break a $100 bill. We stopped into a little deli and grabbed a soda, but they couldn't break the large bill.... so off we went to find another place. At this point i must have been much more nervous than i led on to believe because i sorta broke down and freaked out a little.... I cried thinking maybe it was a sign or something that there were hurdles that we had to go through, or something was trying to keep us from getting married today... But Jason made me feel better and we went to a casino to break the 100. Then off we went again. We arrived to the place to find out that.... well.... you must have a WITNESS.... oppsie, we didn't bring one of those with us..... So we asked what were we to do and the M.C. told us that we had three options. number 1 was to wait until the security guard came back from his break. Number 2 was to find a witness of our own, or number 3 was to wait until 5 pm until they provide a witness daily. We took option one and took a seat in the lobby waiting for the security guard to get back. As we sat there and watched the people walk by on the street all i could think is that there were so many witnesses walking us by! Why couldn't they just stop by and ask if they could help us out? After MAYBE 5 minutes the security guard walked in the door and checked in with his office and soon came and got us and informed us that he was infact our witness if we still wanted to get married.
We both got up and proceeded to the little office that was two rooms basically. In the front office was the desk with the computer that types out the official marriage licences, and there were other classic office type things in there, lots of filing cabinets and such. The second room was more of a private office looking room. There was a desk that the Commisioner stood behind as she led us through our vows. Also in the room was a few decorations to make it seem a little "festive" I suppose. There were these little white pillars with fake ivy in two of the corners, and on the desk was a little ring bering pillow (for those people that thought ahead and actually had rings when they exchanged vows.) I think that there were some sort of official papers hung on the wall too, but i can't remember too clearly. After we handed her our papers that we got from the court house across the street she told us to wait in the "Ceremony Room" So we sat down in a row of chairs along one of the walls and waited. It was a little strange knowing that i would be getting married in a little room with a security guard as our witness, but it didn't really matter to me, i just wanted to marry Jason. When she came in to marry us, she asked us to stand before her and state our names, then asked us if we were going to be exchanging rings, but we wern't. So she then asked us to turn and face one another and take eachothers hand. I was a little more nervous now, and i knew i was gonna cry and i just didn't want to do that.... but i couldn't help it. She started with Jason first asking if he takes me as his lawfully wedded wife, he said yes, she then asked all of the classical vows about rich and poor, sickness and health, blah blah. When Jason was repeating it to me and looking in my eyes is when i broke down and tears started flowing. I didn't let it get out of hand but there was a stream of tears coming down, it was very emotional for me to have him vow all of these things to me. And FOR REAL, i think he actually likes me! Once he was done with his vows it was my turn. She asked me if i took Jason to be my lawfully wedded husband and i said "absolutly" Jason let out a little laugh, i think cause i said it so confidently, but i know what i want and i wanted to marry this man. Then off she went with my vows to Jason. After i got through repeating all of them she pronounced us Husband and Wife and asked Jason to kiss his bride. She handed us the official Marriage License and asked us to make sure it was all correct and wished us the best of luck and many happy years together. She was nice, she had a comforting look to her as well. To me she looked so much like the pastor that Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman saw and was at their services. I don't remember what her name was, but i could have sworn that they were related at least if not the same person. I'll have to look on our Marriage License to see what her name was. Anyway, after we were married, we put the papers in the backpack and headed back out to the Las Vegas evening to spend our last few hours of the wonderful ween/wedding weekend having fun. I think we both felt a little dazed about what happened, cause we were both quiet for a few minutes, tried to have a normal conversation, then went into talking about when we were going to tell people and why and all the little details. I knew that i wouldn't be able to talk too much or too long with my family or i would let it slip somehow, i just can't keep a secret. We decided that we wern't to tell anyone that we had just gotten married until February 2006 when we were back down in Vegas for Superbowl weekend. The Jones side of the family would be there and we could say that we were going to get married then and then suprise them that way. That is what we agreed on. Oh and i would have told my family that we were going to get married down there and invite them if they wanted to be there as well. We walked and talked about how hard it was going to be for my blabber mouth to keep this one a secret, but i thought it was going to be fun to have my own huge secret. He agreed to let me tell Nickki though, i had to be able to tell my bestest friend.
We wound up on Fremont Street, which is old Las Vegas. They closed down the street and have nightly laser shows i think, and nighttime displays of different things. Anyway, we wanted a place that had video poker at a bar so that i could do my little bit of gambling and Jason could keep an eye on ESPN and have a beer or two and maybe play a little video poker too. I really enjoy playing video poker, i don't think that i have ever come away with any money, but it certinly is entertaining, plus they give you drinks as you play. I knocked back 4 strawberry daquris while i lost my 35 dollars. Jason played along side me and every few minutes he would say "we just got married" " how weird is that" I would agree and then say "we just got married, in Las Vegas". Jason even told the bartender in the same astonished voice that we had just tied the knot. I was thinking later that he probably gets that a lot with the court house so near by. It was getting near the time to get to the airport and i wanted a little something to commemorate our little getaway so i told Jason that i was going to go roam around the gift shop a few doors down for some goodies. I found a little shop and got a new magnet for the collection at work (a 100 dollar black vegas chip) i got a pretty little bracelet for me as well as a 4 leaf clover key chain, and i got Jason a cool lighter, it's in the shape of two $25 chips, and you twist one of the chips to lite it, it is pretty cool. Now i was officially ready to go home, now a married woman with little souvineers (plus a HUSBAND). We crossed the street and caught a cab to the airport, the cabby complained that we were going to the airport at the middle of rush hour, i think it was about 5:30 but he decided to take our fare anyway. Jason fell asleep fairly quickly in the ride and left me to try to make conversation with this man who was telling me about how he was counting his day until he left Las Vegas because it was so corrupt with mobsters and the entire city is run by the mob. I didn't know how to respond to a lot of it, but we finally got to the airport around 6. We paid the cab driver and gave him a nice tip for baring rush hour for us. We checked in at the SW Airlines kiosk for ticketless and checkless passengers. It took about a minute and a half before we were off to our gate and looking for a place to get a little food and kill time before boarding. We ate at a little mexican place inside the concorse. The food came out so fast it was almost unbelieveable. We got simple foods, but it was litterally about 4 minutes from the time we ordered to the time it was on our table. I got chicken nachos and Jason got a wrap of somesort that was delisious. We started talking about all of the advatages and disadvantages of being married were throughout our dinner. Jason appoligized to me for getting the short end of the stick, but i disagree, he got a broken bride, i got a wonderfully talented man who loves me and is so sweetly nice! He got the short end in my opinion. We ate and ate and talked and half way watched the first NBA game of the season that was broadcast on the TV in the little restaurant. We then moseied on down to our gate and waited to board the plane. The only picture i got of us together the entire weekend was a BEGGED camera phone shot of the two of us at the airport leaving Las Vegas. The batteries on my camera were dying quickly at Ceasers Palace. anyways the flight home was very fast, we arrived in Seattle 20 minutes early, we both slept a majority of the flight. We went and picked up our car from AJAX and drove home to a house with sleeping roommates. It was a few days before they found out that we had gotten married... The sunday after we got married Jason had me call his mom and tell her and we had dinner with my mom and dad, plus thomas and colin on monday evening to tell them the news. Turns out that we both couldn't wait to tell people. Now just about everyone knows and it's only the 19th of November. I have a beautiful band that we went and picked out on the 8th or 9th of Nov. Jason is wearing a silver ring that we bought at the mall to see if he can actually stand to wear a wedding band before we spend some actual cash on a more precious metal for him. He's also thinking of getting a ring tattooed on his finger instead of actually having a ring ring. I also went to the bank and got my accounts changed to my new name and along with the DOL. It's official, I'm now Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Jones

Got Married In Vegas Baby!

Married in Vegas. Here is what i wrote on myspace.com. I had written the entire day of November 1st out tonight only to have it not post and disappear... So I'm very irritated at the moment. I will repost on here... when I'm in a better mood. I can't believe that happened. Oh well, life goes on and i still have the story in my head... It just took so LONG to write cause it was such a fun day! But here is the start of our trip and how it came to be. I hope you enjoy reading it. I had to write it down so that in a few years i can remember all of the little details that i know my brain can't hold. Read on!

Jason and I had wanted to go see his favorite band Ween down in Las Vegas for Halloween ever since we found out they were playing on Halloween. Knowing it was just going to be a drop kick ass good show, we tried to get tickets weeks in advance and set up a little mini vacation. But.... the show had sold nearly immediatly when they were offered a while back. So we were bummed about that and the trip idea sort of died. So instead of going to the show in vegas on halloween, we bought a bunch of Ween stuff from their web site. Jason and I got hoodies that have the little ween dude. They are both black and with Jason being a weirdo and insisting that we never match, i said that i would be the one that wouldn't wear the hoodie if we were together. He also got a few t-shirts, a zippo, a pint glass, and i think something else but i can't remember at this time, please forgive me.Anyways back to the story. As the weeks past and we are still loving weens latest release Quebec in the car and at our work enviroments, we still dream of how cool it would be to see the weirdos on Halloween in VEGAS! Jason has mentioned this to one of the bartenders at the jones and finds out that Malcom is actually going to go to the show, turns out that Malcom has a buddy that lives in vegas and bought 15 tickets! Now we were just being taunted by knowing that Malcom is going to be there and we have to stay home and pass out candy to greedy teenagers and cute little kids on Halloween. So the night of the 30th happens to be Jasons pool night at Pipers Creek Pub, so he is out late. When he comes home i'm messing around on bebo or something. Jason has been thinking about going to the show and how cool it still would be to go. So we go to the ween site and start listening to songs that we haven't heard in a while. Then i decided to see if ticketmaster has released any more passes (day of tickets) I tried and guess what?! I could get buy tickets to the general admission standing only area. The best place to be anyway! So we starting talking about ACTUALLY getting on a plane and going to see the show. After about ten (felt like about 2 hours) we decided that we could make it a fun Halloween weekend. Jason dared me to click the botton to buy the plane tickets. bad idea if you were just joking about the whole trip. Anne clicked and bought the plane tickets. Then anne went back and bought the recently released Ween tickets. We were ready to go now, i printed out the confirmations for the show and the ride down there and hopped in the show to get ready to be at the airport in a mere 3 hours from when we first started listening to Ween for good times. Off we went! We packed a backpack with a change of clothes and a few travel necessities and popped in the car to get to the airport. Dropped the car off at one of those shuttle places, pre-paid for the parking and went to the airport. I hadn't been to the airport since they opened the Pacific Market part, it's really nice! It didn't look like the seattle airport at all!! We went and had breakfast at Anthony's and had a coffee before getting onto the plane. I had to call Carolyn from the airport because when we booked the flight, i forgot that i was supposed to do inventory on the 1st with her, i called and told her to leave me a page or two to count, but she informed me that we are going to start a new inventory where everyother month we just count the glasses and it happened to be the perfect opportunity to start that! Sweet, now anne and jason are free to enjoy eachother on the halloween adventour they were about to embark upon. The flight was pretty short, i was a smarty and booked both flights non-stop. we got to vegas at about 1 in the after noon and grabbed the backback and headed tward the taxi stand outside. Once we got to the signs directing us, i was blown away on how many people needed taxis and the line for them was crazy! Organized, but insane on how many people were using the tazi stand. Anyway, it took a while for us to finally get to the front of the line and get moving. The cab driver informed us that there was some huge convention of car lovers in town the next day and vegas was going to be very full. He asked where were staying and we said we HOPED to stay somewhere cheaper near the HardRock. Luckily for us we only needed the hotel for one night, but they were charging nearly double what they usually would because the demand for rooms was so incredibly high. But it was a nice room, it was pretty close (about 2 blocks) to a 24 hour starbucks and a cold stone creamery. Once we checked in Jason took to the bed for the sleep that surpassed him with the ween listening, ticket buying, and traveling. Since i had slept a good 14 hours the night before and was now in Vegas for the second time, i was ready to walk around and be a visitor!! So i took off and left my honey to rest while i got a little las vegas sunshine. I walked over to the Hard Rock and looked around a bit. It's a pretty small casino, unless i missed a part of it somewhere, maybe there were more levels? anyways i scoped out where we needed to go for the show that evening and where the will call was so we could actually get our tickets. After that i wanted coffee, so i walked across the street to the little strip mall and got a big iced mocha then walked over the the cold stone creamery and got a waffle cone with coffee ice cream and cookie dough bits in it, it hit the spot! i LOVE ice cream, and it's so much more special when it's in a waffle cone, can someone explain to me why that is? After i savored my treat i went back to the room to wake my sweetheart from his slumber. He woke up slowly and then we decided that we should go get the tickets from ticketmaster will call and scope out the bar there for a Malcom sighting, we didn't see Malcom but we did now in fact have two ween tickets in hand for the show that evening, the show that we were drooling over since we found out it was on. Very good feeling, that was. Next we decided to go to the strip. It looks so close! It looks like maybe 1/2 mile tops............ It took us nearly an hour to walk there.... Damn hotels on the strip are so big it makes them look like they are just right there. So we got our exercise in for that day. We stopped in a couple of casinos, but did no gambling, just a walk through to see what it was all about. We continued down the strip walking with the other tourist. I was taking pictures of the things that you usually take shots of in Las Vegas. I actually haven't seen them yet, so i hope they aren't all blurry as i had the flash off to get the night pictures of the hotels... we'll see soon i suppose. Next we got a cab back to the hard rock so we were close enough to grab a bit to eat and relax a little before the show. We got pizza from Joe's New York Pizza. Jason also went to the convience store and got beers for us so that we could start the party a little early and just buy a few drinks at the bar in the Joint. Good thinkin Honey! Pizza was delious and so was my shmirnof ice. Over our lovely dinner of pizza and malt beverages we talked about the impeding marriage between the two of us. His main concern was that none of our family members were there and he thought that make some people mad. But personally i think the ceromony is very personal, when i'm saying my vows i don't need everyone around staring at me when i feel that it's a very private moment between the two of us. I reminded him that the ceromony is for us to make our vows and pleadge our love for one another in front of the person who signs the paper and makes it legal. The party afterwards is where everyone should be to celebrate with us and be happy that we didn't make them sit through a boring ass ceromony. (( I must stop here because i am falling asleep and have to wake up in the morning fresh for work, i will finish the story on Friday the 11th.)) sorry for the break in action. got married in Vegas on Nov. 1st 2005, PART 2 So i think where i left off is where we had gone to the strip and walked and walked and taken some night-time pictures of tourist type vegas at night. We also got pizza from the little place from across the street from the hotel and got a drink and were discussing the impending "wedding" the next day. Once i convienced Jason that the ceromony was okay to have with just the two of us, he was excited and we decided that we would go downtown before we took off for Seattle the next evening. It was so exciting to know that the next day i would be forever together with the man that makes me laugh and smile and feel like everything will work out as long as we both are still breathing and are together. If Jason has taught me anything it is that no matter how bad things seem to get, it can get worse and it really isn't that bad if you are still breathing and your heart is beating, it WILL always get better. And since i found him life has just been getting better and better. I have made it through surgeries and a whole lotta pain in the past two years and he has been there holding my hand and helping me remember that it is getting better. He helped me survive and keep a good attitude most days. If i mean half as much to him as he means to me I am a lucky lucky girl. So now we go off to the Ween show across the show. The doors opened at 8 and with no opening act the show started at 9. I think it must have been a 21 and over show because there was a bar in The Joint and come to think of it I didn't see anyone that even looked too young to be in the bar area. I hadn't really drank that much in a very long time, so i thought that i should stick to beer instead of cocktails so that i could enjoy the show. I drank bud lights for the rest of the evening and Jason had Buds. It seems like in Vegas that no matter how much you drink your buzz takes so much longer to arrive, like it's having a good time somewhere else and has to find you! Needless to say i had three beers and usually would be three sheets to the wind, but i was not really even feeling the alcohol, but i was too full to drink anymore! The show finally started and we all started rockin out to Ween dressed up as peas and carrots. There were some pretty cool costumes there (it being halloween and all) Some of the ones that stood out to me were Rainbow Bright, A Keg, a Bumblebee, a ladybug, a plethra of nurses and doctors (weird how many of these costumes there were), there was also a couple that dressed up as people floating and waiting to get rescued from hurricane katrina- they had little signs on their backs that said something to the matter of asking for FEMA help. Ween is a very high energy, lyricly genious band. I know two of their cd's very well, but i'm not the die hard fan that knows every song like Jason. But they are a band that no matter if you know the song or not, they are very enjoyable to watch and jam out to. They played my song, or at least the one that Jason calls my song, Zoloft! It was so cool to hear that one live! My favorite song in the universe at the moment wasn't preformed, Transdermal Celebration. TC has an amazing video if anyone cares to watch it, i think you go to chocodog.com or just do a google search for transdermal celebration video. It is a animated video and i swear it throws you into all of the human emotions, i just smile thinking of it. The show was very cool, seeing Ween on Halloween in Las Vegas was just a one of a kind experience that i'm so glad that we decided to go. Silly band in costumes and just being in Las Vegas was amazing. It was so hot in there though, soo soo hot. I had to leave at one point to cool down cause i didn't want to pass out like one chick that i saw being carried out in the first half of the show. The first time i left to go to the bathroom and tried to get back into the show they wern't going to let me back in because THEY took the wrong part of the ticket. Luckily they let me back in and the next time i had to go outside The Joint i talked to the dudes at the door, they double stamped my arm and i was a-ok. After the show we walked around The Hard Rock trying to find Malcom, but there were so many people and they just seemed to be walking around with no direction. We didn't find Malcom in any of the bars and decided that they probably didn't stick around the Hard Rock too long if there was a large group of them. ---- Here is where i was falling asleep again and had to stop for the night, now here is the rest of the story and the completion of our getaway! Damn myspace.com! I had spent over 2 and a half hours typing out the entire day of the first of November and the post never posted, and so now it is lost. I'm so irritated by that damn site i don't think i will ever post there again. IT SUCKS ASSES, not just normal asses either, it sucks POOPY ASSES! MYSPACE.COM SUCKS POOPY HEMROIDAL ASSES!!!

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies everywhere!

I think that I'm getting back to who i used to be again! It's only been 22 months. I made two batches of cookies tonight. Of course it wasn't issue free, life never is, but the wonderful thing is that i'm getting to do the things that make me happy again. I was watching baseball playoffs and getting nervous because it was a close game and it was also a deciding game 5. So if anyone knows me when i'm watching sports and it's a close game with something on the line, i need to keep myself busy either with baking or cleaning. Tonight it happened to be baking cookies! I've been wanting to make snickerdoodles for awhile now, so i made a batch of those. And one of Jason's co-workers birthday was last week and no one made him a cake or really do anything to celebrate his birthday (he didn't tell anyone that it was his day...) So today when i was dropping Jason off at work i wished him a happy birthday and asked him what was his favorite kind of cookie. He said he likes chocolate chip cookies so i made a batch of those as well. I baked the chocolate chip cookies first and since i'm a little out of practice i didn't catch that the dough didn't have enough flour, so they were a little flat and turned out a little crispy on the edges. So i added more flour to the batter and the next batch was perfect. They look picture perfect. The snickerdoodles turned out pretty well. I've only made one other batch of these kind before so i didn't really have a lot of experience of how the dough is supposed to feel. Although i like to have a more cake like cookie with the snickerdoodle than a crisper one. They look almost like puffball mushrooms they are so pillowy. Anyways it feels good to be baking again. I bought a kitchen aid hand mixer a few weeks back and it is a wonder of a little machine. Not as good as the traditional bowl mixer that Jason had to take to work for pasta making, but for a hand mixer it does me just great. It handled creamed my sugar and butter like a dream.... I'm such a dork. I can't believe that i just wrote a big ol paragraph on cookie baking and a chunk of that paragraph was about how wonderful my new hand mixer is...
I finally got my Thanksgiving pictures downloaded and uploaded on bebo and a few here on my little blog. I took my favorite pictures of Jason from the trip here and a amazing sunset and a great pic of the Lake. It was such a beautiful trip, I'm so glad that i have pictures to remind me. I think that we will be sticking around home this holiday season since Jason most likely won't want to take the time off work. I don't blame the man, when it's got your name on it you want to make sure it's up to your standards. Maybe we will be able to take a trip after the holidays when we see how much we ended up spending on the presents this year. I think that the HF takes the annual spring break in March this year. Brunie has also mentioned a Super Bowl weekend in Vegas for this Winter as well, that is an option maybe. Geez, speaking of all this money spending makes me want to work more so that i can afford it all! Too bad i love the time off.

It's so great waking up on a monday morning and know that I have that day off, the next day and even the following day after!! It's so relaxing to just have that in my mind. I was thinking of work today, but it was a little exciting because i'm thinkng of developing a detailed prep-list for what i do day to day. It would make my job a little easier for anyone that filled in for me. It's not that my job is hard at all, but it just seems like there are so many little things that i do that as a whole make my day full. People look at my little to do list on the prep sheet for the dining room and it doesn't look at all detailed, but if i actually make my own list of what it entails, maybe people can see what goes into keeping the dining room sparkling. I was trying to think of what i do as i walk in the door and as my day flows. There aren't too many days that go by that there isn't something that always needs to be looked after and needs to be on a list so we don't forget to do it. A few weeks ago i got a scrap of paper and started jotting down the little things that i do but aren't on any list, but if i'm taking a day off and i have a fill in, it would be nice to know that it is done. Not that i don't think that my co-workers don't notice these things, but sometimes it seems they can overlook it because someone else always does it. I'm being a dork about my job again, anal i know, but i like my job. I like lists too. I just wish i had word or excel on this computer so that i could work on it at home instead of at work where i don't want to be sitting because i get so sleepy when i sit down there! I had the idea that i could make my little list and have 4 identical lists per page, or basically a week of service on one page so i could save some paper as well. The servers prep-list could be more detailed as well with all of my items off the page. I could add all of my picky nagging things that don't always need to be done, but would be so nice if someone took responsibilty for on some days. These are the things i think about as my day at work goes by, LISTS. I seriously think i must have some sort or some degree of OCD.
Last week was good everyday though. Prep-day was good because i had a new guy as my helper and he seems like a good worker, takes direction well and has been in the industry long enough to know some of the things to look for. So anyways, i got to focus on projects that i've been needing to do. I put bowling alley wax on the coffee cup hutch, which it needed so bad. I don't know why Ron and Carrie don't want a finish put on it or some sort of stain, but they like the natural wood. It gets looking so dry and splinters. It was sanded down over the spring break months ago, which helped so much, but it still looks better when there is polish on it. It turns out that the stuff they had me using before was just soaking into the wood and ruining it, so Bob started having me use the bowling alley wax, which he said will put a protective coating on and a little shine, but won't soak in like the other stuff. I put two coats on this past week and buffed it pretty well and so it looks snazzy now. Another project that i took on (i don't think i will do this again for maybe a year or two) is dusting the chairs. They were getting a little gross, but since i had already polished the founders room table, the coffee hutch, the silverware cabinet and the flower arrangement table, my hands were feeling a little tired. It has effected my right hand all weekend long. I really need to be more careful and know my limits on prep-days. That day was also weird because we had service for 26 people, but it was two parties, one in the founders (14) and 12 people in the main, on one long table. So basically the entire main room needed to be set to some degree for just the twelve people. And since it was my prep-day with a new employee i didn't really have time to do much of the setting by the time the servers that were working that evening arrived. So at 4 when Jessica showed up I had nothing set and Carrie hadn't really let anyone know who was doing what. So i started doing the menu napkins and replacments and let Jess know that i didn't really know what the plan was and I would help out but i was already over the hours that i was schedueld for that day. I helped her set out glasses in the founders room and some little things until they were caught up and Dani was done with the wine work for the week and on for his shift. It just seemed so unorganized... big surprise for that place, huh? That one day slowed the rest of my week down, but overall it was a good week. I had a good attitude and tried to be agreeable with the powers that be. On sunday i think i was a little on edge because i got there so late. Carrie asked me if i had renewed my food handlers permit yet, and no i havn't because the only reason i got one two years ago is because i wanted to get a job at a coffee shop and thought i should have one in hand if i decided to leave my set-up job. But all the stuff with my right wrist/hand happened and never really developed. So i sorta told her that i didn't really need one because i don't work with food, and she reminded me that i package teas and well apparently that counts.... So i said in a very unhappy tone "okay" like a little bitch. And when she was going out to train the pigs she told me that she was going and i could come observe if i wanted to, but she didn't notice that i was rushing trying to get the dining room set before the servers came and i started holding them up by not being done. The little things she doesn't notice sometimes amazes me.... Like hmmm, dining room needs to be set so that the guests have something to enjoy their evenings with. Since she asked me to be her partner in pig care and training it's been something i consider a big commitment, i don't think she thinks it is. I'm not sure what to think of that. I think that if i do agree to this that it would be a pay increase because it means a long term commitment to the company and a commitment to these precious little babies that i'm trying so hard not to get attached to. On Saturday she also asked me to add even more things to my dining room shopping list. Normally wouldn't be a issue and who knows maybe it won't be, but i don't really want to add a costco trip to my job duties. Seems like Costco always gets a LIST of things for lots of people. It's a fucking hastle to go to costco, i'd rather not go, yet she makes it seem like i get to go out for a treat by going for the HF. I guess that if i could get everything that i normally shop for at costco and it would save time overall i would be all for it, but it's for ONE thing. I don't know, i'm just making drama out of nothing really. I like to complain, it makes me feel like i have more of a life or something. I just like to have someone to pick on. I was asking Jason today why i make the money that i make. Is it a difference in pay from the servers because i don't actually interact with each guest personally? He told me that is the reason given for the pay difference between front of the house and back of the house. Servers bitch that they have to "deal" with the customers and they DESERVE more. But it hurts to hear them cry poor and that they have to get a second job because they don't make enough. Well, baby, I make DOLLARS less than you do and somehow i am making it. Barely, but somehow i survive. It is pretty funny that just about all of the people that aren't on salary at the HF have to have some sort of second job to suplement their income. The people that are on salary either don't have the time to have a second job because they are there for 70-80 hours a week already or are work on their days off or just don't sleep much. So here is my argument for wanting more money from the herbfarm, i've worked many YEARS for the herbfarm, i'm a utility player knowing MANY departments of the herbfarm, and damn, I'm just over all good. Does it not matter that i'm family too? Should i take less or expect less because i share the last name with one of the owners? I do a good job, i'm loyal, i'm stable, why? why? why? Why should i accept more responsibilty if i'm still not getting a equal output from the other end? I can only take it for so long before I'm just a dope for taking it? Right? And usually i would be really angry as I talk about this, but honestly right now i'm not. I would just like to know why. Is it something holding me back still? Since my last review i've missed only one day for my wrist hurting and the infection. But I take care of my things the best i can to make it as easy as possible for who ever may be doing my job. What more do they want from me? I find out that people that are just hired are making 5 dollars more than me TO START! they haven't showed her anything but they have a donger, and i really hoped they haven't "showed" her and ron, but gender is still an issue. Damn GLASS CEILING! (hehe, i just used a phrase that i learned in college) So this is the way that i'm seeing it as of right now. I'm being held back from a better income because 1. I'm disabled 2. I'm female 3. I don't "deal" with guests on a personal basis daily 4. I'm family 5. I try to get all of the departments of the company to communicate and work together "be on the same page" 6. I have a bad attitude. These are the things that jump to my mind off hand. I don't know if my supervisor realizes it, but those 6 reasons i just stated are very true. Number one on my list was the reason why i didn't get the raise i deserved 6 months ago. number 2, i seriously think she doesn't realize that she counts this in at all. number 4, why the hell does it matter, i do a great job, above and beyond. They take me for granted! Number 5 just plain pisses her off because it makes the greed card so visible to everyone. Number 6, yes, some days i do have a bad attitude, i'm stubborn and think that i need to fight back, i'm still young and i'm still learning. Maybe if i was compensated well enough i would feel better about adding the additional 6 people at the end of my day when i'm nearly ready to head out the door. But do i see anything as far as a thank you for making changes or a bonus in my paycheck when things get stressful? No, but the servers do, because when they get overworked they need to be babied because the guests can see when the smiles disappear. They don't ever see my smile or frustration. I want these people to have a night they will never forget, i want the guests to tell their friends of what a wonderful place it is to spend an evening and how good the food is. But i also know that they think that all of the employees are well taken care of. I want them to know that when we are at work that it is a great place with a great crew taking care of them that night. We are, but if you want that great crew to stick around, show us that you care as well mr and mrs boss people. There is a reason why people come back, give us a reason to stay.

Annie