March is almost over! A lot has happened since I last blogged, so I'll do my best to summarize everything in a few posts.
First, my new job update. I LOVE it. Seriously, it's one of the best decisions I could have made. Do I miss certain coworkers at my old job? Of course. However, I have seen most all of them since leaving and feel like our relationship will continue on, despite me not being there every day. My new job is so refreshing, challenging, professional and exciting. My immediate team is so great. We have five people total, but will soon be adding one or two more. I feel like I've known these people for so much longer than a few months. I love going to work every day and knowing that I get to hang out with people who I enjoy, who share the same enthusiasm as I, who are equally excited to learn and grow and who I'll have fun with. How lucky am I? Pretty darn lucky. I've decorated my desk/cubicle {I should add a picture of that later} and it's starting to feel like home. At my old job, I had an office. It's an adjustment moving to a cube setting, but our office is brand spanking new and the 'cubes' are extremely nice. Also, with a fun team...it's nice having it more open to chit chat back and forth! Silver lining. It's also been fun getting to know other departments. The nice thing about a newer company {we branched off from a parent company last August} is that there are a lot of new faces, everywhere. Everyone is looking to meet one another and it's almost a first day of school mentality. We have a Friday Breakfast Treats club going on where each Friday, two people bring treats {donuts, muffins, someone even did a build-your-own-pancake bar}. It's a fun social setting that allows the departments to mix and meet. I also filled out my first March Madness bracket at this new job. Most all of the guys {and some women} are really into sports. I've never created a bracket before, but figured if it's all the office will be buzzing about for a month, I may as well join! I have Duke taking it all the way. We'll see!
Backing up a bit. Remember when I said I still see coworkers from my old job? Well, we've done a few fun things with them that I'd like to remember. First, we met up with two of the guys I worked with, Brian and Ben, for a Valentine's Dinner hosted by their church. On the Friday before Valentine's Day, we met them and their wives at All Nations Baptist Church in NE Minneapolis for a night of wonderful food, great company and a comedy show. The church was decorating so beautifully, with string lights draping from wood beams on the ceiling and candles everywhere. The show was inspired by the Newlyweds Game and involved the audience on funny topics relating to marriage. Backing up even more, this Valentine's Dinner was specifically a 'date night' for married couples. We loved getting to hang out with them and had a delicious Mexican themed dinner. We were dying from laughing as the M.C. asked people questions and compared the answers to those written down by their spouses. One of the questions, for example, was 'what is your husband a self-proclaimed expert at?'. He asked the husbands to first write down what they thought and then he asked the wives to say out loud what they thought. It was hilarious to see what each of us had to say!
A few weeks after Valentine's weekend, we met up with Brian and his wife Maria at the Nicollet Island Inn for a five-course brunch. It was simply amazing. My parents had their prom dinner at the Inn and both Adam and I's sisters got married at the Nicollet Island Pavilion right across the parking lot! For how many fun connections we have to this area, we'd never tried this award-winning brunch! So glad we did. The food was really unique and to be honest, we even had to Google a few of the items! All in all, I would highly recommend it! We loved everything we ate {even my meat and potatoes husband} and had such wonderful company to share it with.
On Valentine's Day, Adam had a few tricks up his sleeve. We usually don't do much {always homemade cards and typically make dinner in}, but he wanted to take control and plan a surprise day for me this year. He is the sweetest guy I know and the day could not have been better. He started off my waking up early and making my favorite breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Gosh, he's the best. When he brought the food to me, there was a small jewelry bag with it. We never ever do gifts of this caliber, so I was totally surprised. Tears quickly followed when I realized that he had gotten me a gold bar necklace with our wedding date {in Roman numerals} engraved. I've been secretly wanting something with out wedding date on it and he totally nailed it. It's beautiful and something I've quite literally worn every day since. After our relaxing morning and a low-key afternoon, we left for dinner. I had no idea where he was taking me and we ended up at a Italian restaurant in St. Paul called DeGidio's. It is officially my new favorite restaurant. One, because it's Italian and this girl cannot get enough carbs in her life. Two, it wasn't incredibly expensive, but the food was unreal and service was fantastic. They had a few special Valentine's Day options and I was looooving it. Lobster ravioli for me and chicken alfredo for him. We ended the day driving around St. Paul and daydreaming through rows and rows of fancy houses. He set the bar high with this Valentine's Day. Not because of what we did or my necklace, but by how much fun we had spending the day together. I am beyond blessed to be Adam's wife and a day focused on nothing but that is a day that's okay in my book.
