Monday, August 29, 2011

Meet Puppy Noel pt 2

So our new baby is called Tina Turner for now. We will be changing her name to something that fits her personality better. What that name will be, I have no clue. So for now we call her the baby. Since we met baby on a Monday I suggested the name Luna which is Spanish for moon. Lunes is Spanish for Monday, so Luna for short. Other name ideas: Sahara (if she drinks like Loki does- that's her name for sure), Raine (it might rain t/m), Madrid, Dakota, Jubilee, Arizona, Pandora, and Persephone (Perrie for short) - in keeing with the goddess names. Now will we pick one of these names? No clue. Watch we come up with a name not even mentioned. We usually let our animals name themselves as dictated by their personalities.
Ex: Climber-adopted at shelter, cat was climbing the gate to get eye level with us
Sparkle- her eyes sparkled at me when we adopted her
Shadow- silly girl scared herself when she saw her reflection in the dishwasher
Loki- she was/is constantly mischievious.
Hints as to her personality: very curious, loves belly rubs, loves to be craddled like a baby, gives kissies, loves to play hard, was very sleepy/calm when we met her and when Loki met her.
What does that mean? Not sure. However, baby will have a name soon enough. Mom took a lot of pics when she and Loki met, so those will be posted on facebook soon enough. I can't wait until she comes home and joins our family! And now the Noel family is a family of 6!!

Meet Puppy Noel!


It's official! We are adopting another dog! She comes home t/m. About a month or so ago, mom decided she wanted to adopt another dog. Dad finally agreed/ caved (however you want to look at it) So began the great search for a puppy. Mom wanted a chocolate labrador retriever, she didn't care if it was a pure bred or not. Dad still wanted a pure bred. So I began looking on the internet for puppy. Eventually, dad decided that adopting from a shelter was fine. It was decided that we would not get puppy until mid- August. This would be after mom and dad's Canadian vacation and boyscout camp. However, after some discussion, we decided to adopt a black lab puppy instead of a chocolate. As soon as I changed the parameters of our puppy search, I came upon Patti LaBelle on Adoptapet.com. Patti was a black lab mix puppy, solid black and absolutely adorable. I immeadiatly texted mom and told her I had found our dog. Mom e-mailed the shelter, which is located in St. Charles, stating that we wanted to meet Patti. So that afternoon mom picked me up from work and we drove to Five Acres Shelter, formerly the St. Charles Humane Society. We arrived there and saw some black lab puppies hanging out in the back of a truck with some people milling around it and talking. We initially went over to the truck and met Tina Turner, a black lab mix with a splash of white on her chest. When mom picked her up, she grunted...Loki grunts all the time! We learned that Patti LaBelle was inside, however someone had arrived a few minutes before us and had picked Patti. So we went back outside to take another look at Tina. Within a few moments we knew this was our puppy. She was a black lab yes, however unlike our previous Black lab Shadow; Tina had a splash of white on her. Which made her different and we didn't feel like we were replacing Shadow. Tina loves to be held/cuddled like a baby. I held her while mom filled out the application. Then we had to head home not knowing if we would be approved. The next day, mom got a phone call stating that granted our dog, Loki and the puppy got along, Tina was ours!! Unfortunately, Tina didn't have all her puppy shots yet. So we would have to wait two weeks before we could set up a meet and greet between Loki and Tina. Fast forward 2 weeks to August 29th (today), we had an appointment to meet with puppy at 5:30. I was so worried that the two would not like eachother; I was worried that Loki would eat/ attack the baby. However, when mom and dad took Loki to meet Tina, they ignored each other! Tina was more interested in sniffing his foster dad's shoes and Loki was more iterested in the foster dad. Tina and her siblings were fostered at a home instead of staying at the shelter. Loki didn't even react when dad picked up Tina an cuddled her. So that made it official. T/m morning they will spay Tina and she gets to come home at 5pm!!!!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

New Look

So I was bored and decided to change things up. Wonder if anyone will notice the changes besides me? Oh well. I think all the littel changes I made are more me. I stuck with the water background and colors; I am obsessed with water.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Highlights from NVC

The drive there:
Cindy and I rocking out to her Disney playlist and chatting about all sorts of things.
We saw a UFO!
The conference:
Learned a lot of new stuff that I can take back to my students
Howl at the Moon!!
The drive home:
Cindy and I rocked out to my Boy Band playlist. Cindy's highlight- O-town! My highlight- Backstreet Boys!
Saw a sign for Churchill museum (this will be a road trip later) in Warrenton, MO...although I don't think the museum is about our beloved Region 8 Director Jenn Churchill :(
"Hot Tasty Butts" very interesting billboard

NVC Day 3 & 4

Saturday, July 30th:
Saturday morning came waaay too early. And the rain continued until mid morning. Unfortunately, Fenton didn't get a lot of rain. The morning at breakfast, it was acknowledged that Section 49 was the section to party with!! Yea! Saturday I was in APO Leads training all day. We got out for lunch and then right back to it. I was able to leave my training session early so I could attend the Region 8 meeting. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to talk about something at the meeting or not so I asked to present first and then get out. It turned out I didn't have to talk, but it was still good that I only missed a few minutes of the meeting. There was a lot of important information discussed. Our meeting actually finished up earlier than our allotted time due to the genious thinking of Katrina and Jenn G (they insisted on typing up an itinerary with time slots- which really helped us move along) Our fabulous Region 8 Director, Jenn Churchill wasn't and still isn't a fan of it, but it worked really well. So we had time to chill before the banquet that night. The banquet food was good; we had steak (thank you Bob London!) and veggies. Our dessert that night was layered chocolate cake. We had been served dessert at our two previous lunches as well (Carrot Cake and Chocolate Cake on Friday and then a Banana Nut Cake on Sat). After the banquet we all treked over to Bdubs yet again. But first I stopped by one of the Board of Directors rooms and got a much needed glass of wine (thank you Bob London again!!). It was really hot and humid on the patio at BDubs. It felt just like St. Louis. Except this night there were no occasional drops of rain like there was on Friday night. I got a loud "Heeey!" when I walked out on the patio...this was the standard greeting to every new brother who came outside. Former president Maggie Katz got the loudest greeting. I got to hang out with a brother from Arizona and talk with Maggie. After BDubs the room to be in (hey Section 49 had a rep to protect) was Cindy and Cindy's room. Cindy, Jenn G, Bill, and myself stayed up till 4 AM that night/morning. I finally collected on the back massage that Bill owed me from Nat Con. It was great to just hang out and talk with everyone.
Sunday, July 31st:
Again morning came too early, even though we didn't have to be at breakfast until 9...staying up until 4 didn't help ;) My alarm on my phone went off and I should have gotten up and been downstairs on time...however I ignored it and slept a little longer. I still managed to walk (or stagger per Bill) in around 9:15 AM. I hadn't missed anything and I wasn't the last one in either. Our last activity before the conference ended was to think of the next big thing for APhiO. We had to come up with ideas of what the fraternity should do; my group had two really good ones. 1) Horton 1- a private jet for the National Board (we didn't present this to the group but it was liked by members of the board) and 2) an alternate APO spring break. The APO spring break would be gathering students from all over to one area to do a big service project all week. Our idea was voted number one and will be looked into!! All too soon it was time to pack up, load up my SUV, and head home :( NVC was a lot of fun and I am really glad I was able to go. I enjoyed my vacation and my time with my brothers. I can't wait until the next time I get to see my alumni brothers! Regionals in Fort Collins, CO? I don't know yet, but we shall see!

Monday, August 08, 2011

NVC Day 2

Day 2, August 29th:
Day 2 had the convention in full swing. Breakfast was served b/t 7-7:45. After that we had open houses for the different programs: Scouting, Risk Management, Membership Development, Leadership/ Service, Alumni/ International Relations, and 2 others. We were encouraged to attend 4 and get an idea of what each one was doing. I got some great ideas from each one. I also learned what each one program was working on. After the open house we had our solo workshop for the day (the program directors and their staff had a lot to do that day and needed the time) and then the rest of the day was free time! Translation: (for me at least) Pool Time :) I attended a Risk Management workshop, and really got a lot out of it. It was a really good workshop and I'm very glad I chose to attend it. The National Office also had an open house 3-5.
I got about an hour in the pool (which felt wonderful) and the hot tub (awesome). Cindy and I hung out and talked. After pool time we went to the Open House at the National Office. This was my second time visiting the office, and yes I signed the wall once again :) I also got to tour the office, which is awesome. It was Cindy and Erin's (my roomie) first time there. I did pick up souvenirs. They were having a sale so I got a Volunteer Staff polo, a fitted t-shirt, and something for my dad. I love visiting that office! Maggie Katz the former National President was there. I left my camera at the hotel, but Cindy and Erin brought theirs so I have proof that I was there.
After visiting the National Office we headed back to the hotel to change and then I headed off to Howl at the Moon with Jenn G, Emily, and Scott. Howl at the Moon is a dueling piano bar in Kansas City, MO. We were only 15 min or so from KC. Jenn G won a free happy hour for 100 of her closest friends, and she decided to redeem it while all of her alumni brehtren were in town :) It was awesome to go into a bar and be able to breathe! It was smoke free!!!! The smokers had to go outside! We got two one dollar drinks, and free snack bar. It was really crowded at the bar, but it was worth it. The piano players were all very talented, all of them could sing, play the piano, drums, and guitar! Other brothers joined us later on. I got to sit at at table w/ some really awesome brothers (Cindy, Jenn G, and Bill) for a coupla hours. You wish you had friends cool as me :) We left Howl around 11ish, and headed back to the hotel. After a brief stop at Bdubs (yes we went here every night), the hang out place that night was mine and Erin's room. Oh and that night, it rained!! It was the first rain I had seen in 2 weeks, so I was excited.

National Volunteer Conference 2011- Day 1

A week ago I had the hgreat opportunity of attending Alpha Phi Omega's 7th Bi-annual National Volunteer Conference. This was my second NVC and I had an absolute blast. It was also my first vacation since Nat Con in December. It was only 4 days but it was great! I took Thursday and Friday off from work so I essentially had a 4 day weekend. I got to hang out with some really awesome brothers I haven't seen since Nat Con. I also got the opportunity to gain new skills and learn new information to bring back to my section. So here is what went down:
Day 1: August 28th
Got up finished packing/ doing laundry. Got my nails done with mom. While I got a pedicure mom did some final grocery shopping. Mom and Dad left for a 2 week road trip to Canada and the 5 great lakes on Friday. Cindy was my carpool mate and got to my house about 3ish. We hit the road and enjoyed Disney music all the way down :) Independence, MO was our destination. The funny part about the drive was that Chad and Katrina (who was supposed to ride down with me, but there was a change in plans) actually left my house a half hour before Cindy and I took off and we still beat them there! We made really good time and got there about 6:30 PM. We checked into the hotel, checked into the conference and then met up with some other brothers, Jenn G, Bill, and Abigayle. We went over to Buffalo Wild Wings (Bdubs) for dinner. Good thing too: I was starving! After dinner we returned to the hotel and went to the main conference room for our opening speaker and a networking activity. Our speaker was a former FBI agent and spoke to us about Cyber security. It was very interesting and I learned some new things. Our networking activity split us up in groups based on our professions. Well my profession (Receptionist/Admin Asst.) wasn't mentioned, so I went to the group that was closest: Construction ( as my company builds modular buildings). Our first activity was to make hats out of construction paper. Ours were Construction Cones, thankfully we had some crafty people who made them. The challenge was which ever group got done first, got ice cream first from our ice cream social. We were third. It was entertaining and fun. After the activity we retreated to Cindy and Chad's room and hung out for a few hours. All in all Day 1 was pretty good :)