rough day at the office?

this is how i spent mine...



there are a bunch of other photos of me skeet shooting (apparently, i'm a natural), and getting the property tour in a wrangler, but i can't seem to upload them. this one was taken with my co-workers phone.

at any rate, getting sunburned from a 'day at the office' ain't such a bad gig. koh and i went out to the open house at marriott ranch to siaze it up for possible future events, and while it won't work for any of our larger ones, it might work for a department outing. and if not, well, we got to spend the day enjoying good food and good times.

'if the fbi comes, you can let them in...

..but they can't go through anything without a search warrant,' were dad's instructions last night.

while enjoying the beautiful weather with the dog, dad, kate, and kendyl, i looked at kate and said 'sometimes life seems very surreal.'

sexy lexy comes to town

january 2002: i've just arrived in salt lake and head over to the main media center to meet up with sara, so i can get the lay of the land before diving into work on the following day. once through the mag & bag, i head for the administrative offices and see the most beautiful man i've ever seen. 6'4" sandy blonde hair, chiseled jaw. beautiful.

i enjoy the scenery and think to myself, 'what are the odds that i will ever see this guy again? there are 15,000 people working in this building.' so i continue on until i find sara, and she begins giving me the grand tour.

about twenty minutes in, i see this beautiful man again. i couldn't believe my luck. then sara says 'oh good, there's lex. let me introduce you, you'll be working together a lot.'

have you ever had one of those moments where the world just seems to stop? it seems to pause itself so that you have an opportunity to absorb what you've seen or heard before proceeding on with the normal functions of being human (e.g. speaking). that was one of those moments.

but then the world started and i thought, okay, so i'll work with him--what are the odds he's mormon? keep in mind that the media center was filled with journalists and staff from around the world, so just because we were in utah, didn't mean much when it came to that.

but of course, he was. and he happened to live a couple of blocks from my aunt's house where i was staying. and oh yeah, just happened to drive my dream car--a jeep wrangler.

basically, over the course of the next few weeks, i totally fell for this guy. and when you can work with someone for 18 hours a day, every day, for weeks, and still find time to spend time with one another outside of the workplace, you know it's good stuff.

(then)

but, he was quite literally an international playboy. a world traveler, a jack of all trades, a hopeless wanderer. needless to say, the aftermath of our experience did not include a romantic relationship. however, we did manage to develop a comfortable friendship, which involved checking in through email from time to time. when i was in utah, i would pop in and say hello, but our encounters were usually brief.

that did not change the fact however that he was my dream man. every guy got compared to him, and with every failed relationship, the thought 'well, i've still got lex.' would pass through my head. he went from being my future husband (in my mind) to being my safety net.

some of you will understand the irony of this more than others, but on monday night, i got a phone call that i've never before received in the four years since the olympics. it was lex. he was coming to town, did i have any time for him?

those of you who understand the irony of this timing and don't already know may well be picking your jaw up off the floor. i certainly was.

so last night, i picked him up at his hotel and we headed to dinner. it was almost as if no time had passed. it was easy, it was fun. and he was lex. after dinner we headed to the bowling alley where we were joined by a few friends, and where we spent the rest of the evening.

(now)

afterwards, i dropped him at his hotel and we said our farewells. i have loved him from the first moment i saw him. i still love him. he will probably always be my dream man, largely because i never spend enough time with him to see his flaws.

in the end, i realized that the reality of what i have is far better than a dream that would likely collapse under closer inspection.

feelin' lucky? well, are ya?

truth is, i am. lucky and blessed. it's funny how quickly things can change. about a week and a half ago, justin and i scheduled dinner. we use to try and get together once a month or so, just to stay caught up, but with my extended anti-social period we got a bit off track, and this month, we had four months worth of catching up to do.

when we scheduled the dinner i was really looking forward to it, because i needed a friend. i knew he would have a spare shoulder, and i was almost relieved at the opportunity to tell someone all of the icky stuff i have been feeling lately.

but this weekend that all changed, and instead of being excited to see him so i could whine and complain, i was excited to tell him how happy i was, and how things just seemed to be falling into place.

a week and a half ago, i was convinced that nothing good was ever going to happen to me again, and suddenly, i've come out of that dark tunnel, and found a beautiful sunshiny day.

on top of my new sunshinyness, i got a call from my friend lex last night. lex and i met and worked together during the salt lake olympics, and he immediately became one of my favorite people on the planet. i try and see him when i get out to utah, but for the first time since i moved back here, his work is bringing him to my neck of the woods. yay!!

happy easter!

this weekend turned out to be a really good one.

i took friday afternoon off to do some pampering (and some cleaning), and went to meet corey for his make-up dinner at la madeleine. i had my favorite salad of all time--the steak au bleu, and he had some mushroom concoction.

i say 'make-up dinner', and i will elaborate, so that all my readers will know what a truly great guy corey is.

some time ago, i was hanging out at his place watching a movie. in his apartment complex you have to have a visitor parking pass, so when i arrived, he came out and gave me the pass. what he and i did not notice was that i managed to park in the one 'reserved' parking spot in the whole back row of parking, and after finishing up the movie, my car was nowhere to be found. towing is such a racket, but corey unnecessarily assumed responsibility, since he was aware of the trap spot, and would not let me pay the $125 fee to get my car out. yes ladies, he is that kind of guy, for further information, inquire within. (oh, he is so gonna kill me when he reads this!!)

at any rate, i figured the very least i could do to say thank you was to take him to dinner. after dinner we headed to the jungle where we were met by katie and anne. the four of us embarked on a perilous journey that involved komodo dragons, killer bees, crocodiles, and head hunters. it also involved one hole in one, made by anne. katie and i tied for high score (high score wins in mini-golf, right?) actually, it was worth noting that, while the holes themselves were pretty simple, the course was by far the best mini-golf course i have seen, and i can't wait to go back!

we called it a night a bit early, since i knew i had to be up on saturday morning to meet jeremy, who was coming up to visit me from richmond. i was a bit relieved when i learned that he had gotten a late start, which meant i could sleep for another hour! but eventually i rolled out of bed and got ready to start the day. i was a bit nervous, as this was a first meeting for jeremy and i (having originally met online), but when he arrived, all my anxiety was put to rest.

i've met people through various sites online before, and with mixed results. i've had my heart broken, broken hearts, and made some good friends. but if i've learned anything, it is that meeting sooner rather than later is better for everyone. as much as you can learn about a person through emails, ims, and phone calls, there is still much that cannot be determined until you are standing face to face with someone sharing the same space. and only then can you decide what sort of time and emotional investment is warranted.

jeremy was a good sport and after a week of interaction, when i suggested one of us needed to make a road trip, he didn't hesitate. when he got here, i was especially happy that we hadn't put it off any longer.

we decided to deviate from the original plan of going into dc, and stuck a bit closer to home. we headed to lunch, after which we stopped by the langley eggstravaganza, where we were amused by all things egg. after leaving from there, we opted to take advantage of the beautiful day, and spent a couple of hours at great falls park. i really could not have ordered more perfect weather, more perfect scenery, or more perfect company. we had an amazing time.

finally, it was time for dinner, so we headed to olive garden, where we, in the most random of coincidences, ran into kathryn and her roommate kara. the four of us decided to dine together, and had a great time. jeremy withstood kathryn's firing line like a true pro! since kathryn has known me for some 12 odd years, nobody gets a place in my life without passing her tests, and he passed with flying colors.

after dinner we headed back home where we spent some time getting to know eachother better, and eventually i sent him home with an invitation to check out his neck of the woods next weekend--which i'm really looking forward to!

basically, it was just one of those all around great weekends...hopefully this is the start of nothing but an upward trend!

for more jungle pics, click here.
for more great falls pics, click here.