I'm a [Cowgirl], Baby

Okay, so I was never a fan of this song. But, it's what popped into my head as I was preparing to write this post :). And this is only a clip. Because the whole song is not really worth listening to, in my humble opinion ;). (Actually, it's a really bad song...).

So, I have been so remiss in my blogging duties. I have been staying amazingly busy and on the go. I walk usually 4 times a week. Last week I think I walked all 5 days. I think I'm finally beginning to see some difference on the scale. Several people have told me I look like I've lost weight. So, that's always nice to hear :). This post will include pictures, so you can judge for yourself. Either way, I'm happy and enjoying myself these days.

Monday was a Rewards and Recognition Banquet with a rodeo theme for work. I always sign up to go to things like this, because it's something different to do. They always are held in Seattle, so it's nice to get out and go somewhere and be social. So those of us who went (Pam, Mary, John, my mom, and me) left work at 3:30 so we could catch the ferry. And because it was such a beautiful (though very windy) day, we went out on the deck of the ferry and took pictures :).


Here are me and Mary.


And then we started playing around. And thought it would be funny to do the monkey pose... See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. But, there were four of us. So John got smell no evil. It was great stuff.

Actually, it kind of looks like I'm embarassed that John is smelling something. Hahahaha... And Mary is laughing about it. Have I mentioned that these people are awesome to work with!?! Anyway, so then we got a mostly normal shot. But Mary wasn't ready for it, I don't think ;).


We got to Seattle and I navigated us to the place where we were headed while John drove. I'm not exactly sure why I ended up being navigator, since my mom seemed to have a better idea where she was going than I did. We only had written directions without a visual aide. I need the visuals... But anyway, after one turnaround, we got there without incident. Oh, since it was a rodeo theme, we were allowed to come in our rodeo gear. Which I do not own. But I am always up for an excuse to wear my new favorite jeans ;). Hahahaha... Plus they had bandanas for us too. Check out Mary and John, the bandits:


And since Mary didn't have her boots on, John embellished her crocs with little boot stickers so she did.


And here are my mom and Pam. Pam is our receptionist.


And finally... Though I didn't get much more dressed up than jeans for the rodeo, I did get to be a cowgirl for a couple of minutes while I posed with John's hat.


So anyway, they catered in BBQ that was mediocre at best. Robin was there too, and while he was eating the chicken, he said out of the corner of his mouth, "This chicken sucks." And I busted out laughing. It was hilarious. And everyone else was like, "Thanks for speaking the truth." I've had some good BBQ in my life. I'm not talking about grilled food here. I'm talking about barbeque. And this was sub-par. But, we made hilarious memories.... Always a good day when that happens. They also made the managers (which included my mom and Robin) go up and line dance. That was hilarious. I got it on video. Priceless. And my mom even got an award, which she was totally surprised by. She got Office Manager of the Quarter. It was awesome. Oh, and we all sung "I Got Friends in Low Places" -- led by Mr. Obnoxious and his wife (from the Canada trip), and let's just say we're all sorry they had the microphone. Hahahaha... It wasn't pretty. We drove all the way back, since the next ferry after the event was over wasn't going to leave Seattle until 9:05. Instead, we made it back to the funeral home by 9:00 and got into our cars and headed home.

And that's when we learned the sad news. Socks, our cat, had died. We knew it was coming. She was almost 18 years old. But for the past 2 weeks, we've been waiting for this. Doesn't make it any less sad, though. So, I helped my mom bury her by the tulips that have sprung up in the backyard.

As for the rest, it's been life as usual :). Just laughing, working, walking, and living... The Nilla Life.