Lately...

Oh my(!). I did everything I mentioned in my last post...and then some. And because I've barely written since Wednesday, this post will inevitably be (too) long. I'll try to do little highlights to keep it short(er), but if you've been reading along, you know I have a hard time shutting up.

Thursday:
The only thing that stands out from Thursday is when I developed a huge blister on the inside of my ankle from a pair of grey high heels. Remember how comfortable I said I was on Wednesday in a pair of black peep toe pumps? Well, heels aren't comfortable when you walk back and forth between the hotel and convention center literally 100 times. Rookie mistake.

Friday:
Little sister's graduation party #1 at dad's. We visited with relatives (and played with our new baby cousin, Emerie), ate cookie cake, and I enviously watched my sister open envelopes of money. After the graduation party, I met up with ADP, her husband GP, and most of their siblings/siblings' spouses/friends for dessert-y drinks. So good to see ADP after not seeing her since late December!

Saturday:
Had morning coffee with mom and little sister - super rainy and lazy morning. I spent the afternoon and evening working a gala; the theme was carnival midway and the event was gorgeous! As the intern, I helped the servers, walked around and ensured the clients were pleased, and transitioned the room where the silent auction was held to a room with a dessert bar and carnival games. This was my first big event with the hotel/convention center; I've worked several events before, but this was by far the biggest - there were 800 people! Let's just talk about the dessert bar. (Sidenote: I am the girl that can be full after dinner but still have some room in my stomach for dessert. I call it the dessert compartment. I am also the girl that can and will eat dessert for breakfast.) The dessert bar included: cotton candy, popcorn, pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate, candy, nuts, strawberry shortcake, "shots" of flavored mousses, ice cream truffles, and funnel cakes. Exactly.

Sunday:
Homemade breakfast with mom and step-dad. Then ADP invited me to her parent's house for lunch. We chatted and she gave me the coolest (early) birthday gift ever - The Cheese Bible. (You're amazing, ADP!) Later we had lunch with ADP's entire family. Their family is really sweet and always makes you feel welcome - everyone is friends with everyone and the conversation never gets stale. ADP's parents prepared a feast of chips and salsa, strawberries, asiago cheese bread, asparagus, meat with wasabi sauce, and on and on. And for dessert (because obviously after I had eaten an entire plate of their delicious lunch, I still had room), we enjoyed butterfinger ice cream in cones. Who does that? It was the best way to end the festive lunch. Dessert was bittersweet, too, because it meant ADP and GP were headed back to Houston, but I'm excited to go and visit them this summer! Later I went and saw "Date Night" with my mom, step-dad, and one of my step-sisters, HP. I laughed until I cried. If the movie hadn't cast Tina Fey and Steve Carell, it would have been too cheesy - but it was perfect. Then we made tacos and worked in the garden.

Today: Got out of bed at 6:15am. Showered, drove the 30+ minute commute to the hotel, grabbed a quick breakfast, and clocked in. Woke up at 8:30am. (Or I think 11am was when I finally stopped yawning.) All morning I worked with a woman, G, who is going to be my supervisor for the next few weeks. She's so helpful and I can tell she wants me to learn as much as I want her to teach me. We worked on reports all morning and then I took lunch. At lunch she left until Wednesday morning, which means tomorrow I will be doing her job. (I'm super excited! Like I mentioned last week, I'm the eager-beaver type.) After lunch I worked on becoming certified for a sales/banquet program; I am excited because I will be using the program post-graduation as an event coordinator and I think getting hands-on experience already is thrilling. (See: eager-beaver.) Around 2 the chef brought in left over ice cream truffles. Did I just have lunch 2 hours ago? Yep. Was there room in my stomach for a truffle? Duh.

After work I worked in the garden with my step-dad, went to dinner, took a bike ride, and picked strawberries at my grandmother's house. I feel like I am 30 instead of 20 for working and then coming home and playing in a garden, but it was relaxing. (Tomorrow I will post pictures of our garden progress!)

And because I want to do Shred before I go to bed - and because I have to be up at 6:15am - I'll stop here. (I'm sorry for not keeping my promise about making this shorter.)

Can't wait to catch up on blogs! Hope y'all have a good Tuesday!