A wedding and mini vaycay

At the beginning of the month, we went to Vegas to celebrate my cousin Joy's wedding!  It was a lovely occasion, and I was finally able to meet her (now) husband.  He is a great guy and I think he will be able to handle our crazy family well.

After a few days in Vegas, Wolfgang and I decided to spend a few short days in Phoenix! We had a great time relaxing in the perfect, perfect weather {think 70s, people!}. I even wore shorts and sandals one day. I could have cried.

Wolfgang's old "Marriott family" at the Camelback Inn took very good care of us for two nights, then the last night we stayed with some friends. We were both able to visit with old friends and co-workers, and quickly realized how much we missed them, and how much we miss our desert livin'. We really did have it good in Phoenix in many ways. 

Also, I was finally able to take a picture of my favorite sign!  

Isn't that great?  It's on the drive between Vegas to Phoenix. And literally, there is nothing around. There are some interesting podunk towns outside of Phoenix, and now Wolfgang and I decided that when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we are now just going to say, "It could be worse, we could be living in Wikieup."

A good start

Call me pessimistic, but I'm actually quite glad that 2011 is done and gone for good. The year wasn't exactly down right horrible, it just wasn't one of the better ones that I have experienced. With that said, I'm glad to say that this new year of 2012 has been a good one so far. One notable happening, is that Wolfgang just got his first promotion, and today I started a new {and better paying} job! We are both working at our same hotels, just a promotion and I transfered departments. This is a very good change for the both of us, and we look forward to seeing what happens in the future.

Yesterday we also got back from a quick trip to Vegas. We were able to enjoy the brief company of family and friends of whom I hadn't seen (and in Wolfgang's case, never met) in several years. Reuniting with people I love has got to be one of my favorite things to do. It reminds me of the great people I am blessed with in my life.

I hope that 2012 brings many great things to you all!

The city that never sleeps.

Stage two of the trip with the in-laws: Vegas! Good ol' Vegas.

Got in yesterday afternoon, and spent some short but good time with grandpa, aunt, uncle, and cousin n' boyfriend.

Being a Marriott employee, benefit #234 is that you can get employee discount rates for hotels that aren't really Marriott hotels, like The Cosmopolitan. Therefore, that's where we stayed at for two nights.

Wolfgang has been wanting to stay here ever since it opened last year, but they are pretty (understandably) stingy about giving employee discounts, so needless to say, he was really excited to find some rates for when his parents were coming here.

So, would you like a cheesy video tour of our hotel room? Ok, if you insist.


(sorry, after two long tries, my video wouldn't upload...maybe I'll put it on youtube and share the link)

The weather here has been great, rainy but enjoyable. I think fall is finally here? I'll be the judge when we are in Phoenix.

Family Weekend

This weekend we took at quick trip to Vegas to meet up with the fam and go to a family reunion for my mom's side. Usually reunions are thought of as painful and boring, but ours was enjoyable. Unfortunately pictures of the weekend were not taken with our camera, so no pictures of relatives and headstones for you.

A few thoughts and observations from the weekend:

-This was (I believe) the first time I had done this route to Vegas. For the first hour or so, I felt like we were heading to Mexico instead of Vegas.

-Peoria is the saddest town. Ugly, and it has more vacant buildings than my hometown. It also has a lot of random elderly people driving golf carts on public roads. Is that legal? weird.

-I forget how artistic graffiti can be

-INSIDE a hotel wall is no place for a cricket to live and to make his nightly music

-My mom's family doesn't mess around when it comes to potlucks (it was delicious)

-My talented aunt who was unable to attend made and sent several types of earrings to be used at the silent auction and for us to enjoy. They are little pomegranates; aren't they so cute? Pomegranates have historic and sentimental value in our family. -These baby booties were in the silent auction, made by a relative. I thought they were adorable and so did my mom, so she bought them for me. (who's the favorite now, Jess?) I think she might be hinting at something. Aren't they just the cutest thing?? We were glad that we were able to spend time with our family, it never gets old!