Vegas Baby

I hope everyone had a wonderful week/weekend tis Monday again.  Thankfully this is a short week as I will be leaving Thursday night for home, YAY for Christmas Vacation. This last week was busy, but uneventful. I don't remember much of what I did, just running around on last minute errands.  I did have to get a meningitis shot since I will be taking a business finance class at U of H this spring.  I miss school and I am eager to get my MBA started.  I would like to have that completed before I am 30, which is totally doable.  Until then I will be taking a few courses to get a better understanding of Accounting and Finance. 

This weekend was quite an epic one with my girls trip to Vegas! A good college friend of mine is getting married so we decided to have her bachlorette party in Vegas. Friday after work I sprinted to the airport and headed to Vegas. Once I got there I checked in and decorated the room.  Since the girls didn't get there until later I decided to try my hand at some gambling.  Now I am not a gambler because I feel like there are so many other things I can do than give my money to a casino..heck I haven't even bought a lotto ticket.  I prefer poker or black jack because you're not playing against a machine, but since I have never played I decided to hit the roulette table.  Being that I am not a gambler I don't make outrageous bets, so after about an hour I was up 70.00 dollars and decided to walk away.  It was fun, but I get too bored sitting there so its not really my cup of tea.

Soon after I finished the girls arrived and it was time to get the party started.  We all were pretty hungry so we headed to Kahunaville the bar/restaurant in our hotel.  After dinner it was time for some dancing, we decided to walk across the street to Tao, an night club in the Venetian hotel.  Now normally there is a long line and a 30-50 dollar cover charge to get into these night clubs.  Some how since we were a group of girls we were ushered to the VIP area so no cover charge, no waiting in lines, and free drinks.  We had a blast dancing the night away.  Around 2:30 we decided to head back to the hotel and crash out for the night and the better part of the next day!

VIP at TAO!

The girls!

Around noon we got up, grabed some lunch and head out to check out the strip.  We walked around and looked at all the sights and sounds.  For dinner that night we headed to Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffets restaurant.  Its a pretty ornate restaurant with a working volcano in the middle, lots of boats as seating area and tons of other entertainment going on.  After dinner we walked over to the Bank nightclub in the Belligao.  It was another fun evening of dancing and meeting new people.  We met a fun group of Canadians and Australians!  Now I want to go visit Australia...I see a trip next year, better save my pennies.  That evening we got home around 3:30 a.m.  Needless to say we were all exhausted, unfortunately a bunch of the girls had to leave early so most of us were up at 7:00 a.m.  My flight wasn't until 4:00 so I rested until lunch, had some Pho, did a little shopping and then headed to the airport.  I got home around 9:30 and was ready for bed.  Pretty soon I will be back on a plane to El Paso!

Enjoying a tasty beverage at the Bank.

Surprise look who we ran into in Vegas!

Just a few shots from around Vegas.

The Forum shops

Until next time...
 

Counting down the days until Christmas!

Only 13 days until Christmas!!  Are you all excited yet?  I know I am, I will be heading back to good ol West Texas in approximately 9 days to enjoy the festivities.  The last few weeks have been busy, fun, and exciting so I will try to fill you in on all the details.

  Work has been crazy I spent the last few weeks putting the final touches on the 4th quarter employee meeting for my boss.  The quarterly employee meetings are where all of the Houston employees come to hear how Plains is doing in the business.  Most of the presentations are created by the CEO, CFO and higher ups, this meeting the employees requested to hear from Operations.  That's how I got involved in the project, we decided to create a video and power point presentation on "A day in the life of a field operator."  I helped my boss put this together and she and two our our field guys from Louisiana gave the presentation.  Thankfully it turned out great and the employees really enjoyed it.  In fact it was liked so much they have asked us to do a series of other presentations.       

   Enough of work on to the good stuff; that Friday we met up with some friends for dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant, after dinner we went back to the casa to relax and hang out.  The next morning I was up bright and early to start preparing for the Christmas party I was hosting that evening.  For dinner I made brisket, spiral honey ham, beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cookies, puppy chow, and rolls.  All of the food turned out well, it was just a tedious process getting there.  I spent most of my day watching football and cooking.  Everyone started arriving around 7 and we had a good turn out,  after dinner we watched the OU vs OSU game and played some Kinect games. 

Sunday turned into the most epic relaxing, lazy day I have had in a while.  After church Chris, Caleb, and I ate some left overs and watched movies all day.  It was rainy and miserable so it was a perfect day to stay inside and be lazy.  This last week was another busy week at work, catching up on all the stuff we missed while preparing for the meeting.  Thankfully I got everything caught up and ready for the Christmas parties that were to ensue that weekend.

Thursday night was our Operations Christmas party.  It was held at a New Orleans style jazz club downtown.  It turned out to be a great party, we rented out the top floor of the club and had a catered dinner.  It was a great setting to be able to talk to all the guys in the field that you don't see very often.  Friday my boss gave us the day off so I was able to run a bunch of errands that I needed to finish up.  That night was our work Christmas Party, this is where all the Houston employees get together and celebrate.  Its a large function with lots of food, dancing, music, and casino activities.  After the party ended we met some friends up in Midtown for some drinks.

The live Jazz band at the Ops Christmas Party

Chris and I before the Christmas party

Saturday I was up early getting ready for my girls to come into town.  We normally try to have a girls weekend once a month, but with everyone's busy schedules its been impossible to do.  We were final able to set a date when everyone could make it.  The girls each arrived at different times and we just hung out at the house, ate, talked and played games.  For dinner we went down the street to get some pizza and wine.  That evening we stayed up playing dance central on the kinect and taboo.  Its been a while since I have laughed that hard, needless to say it was a much needed an awesome girls weekend.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week....and remember its only a few more weeks until Christmas!

A few of the girls Liz, Darleen, Ashleigh

Myself and Mrs Ashton!

Until next time...

Thanksgiving

Hello out there!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their respective family and friends.  I cant seem to express my love for the holidays enough, I think its mainly due to being able to spend time with the ones you love.  Sunday morning bright and early Chris, Caleb, and I drove back from yet another disappointing Aggie game.  Once we got back into Houston I headed to the airport to pick up my parents, for our Thanksgiving week! Since we were all starving we headed to Goode BBQ Company and had some delicious food.  Since the weather was so nice we sat outside and enjoyed our food.  After lunch we ran a few errands and checked out a few open houses (just to show the rents what is available in the Houston area).  After a little rest we all headed to the grocery store to get my weekly groceries.  For dinner that evening I made a Chili recipe out of the Abs diet book and some Pumpkin bread (not in the abs diet book).  Unfortunately I did not have the week off so while I was at work my wonderful parents finished hanging stuff up and decorating my new place, they are so handy to have around.  

That week at work was extremely busy preparing for the 4th quarter employee meeting, so I was exhausted when I got home and we didn't get to do very many fun things.  Monday night Chris and I grilled Steaks and baked potatoes for dinner, they turned out pretty delicious and we all ate way too much.  Tuesday night we went to our favorite Italian spot, its a little restaurant in the heights area that makes authentic delicious food.  The place is byow (bring your own wine) so we took a bottle with us and enjoyed some Italian food as a family!  Wednesday was a short day at work so after lunch the rents and I packed up our stuff and head up to A&M to spend the rest of the week with Christy and Tommy.  Its been a while since the whole family has been together so it was good weekend. 

Wednesday night Christy, mom, and myself made a pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate pie for Thanksgiving.  The next morning we were up early watching the parades and cooking Thanksgiving lunch.  Since the Aggie game was that day we had our traditional meal at lunch.  We had tons of food and everything was extra delicious.  Our menu consisted of Turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, gravy, rolls, and pies galore!  After dinner Christy, Tommy, his girlfriend, Justin, my cousin James and I headed to the traditional A&M vs Texas game.  Sadly it was another disappointing loss for the Ag's, the good news is we will be moving to a different conference the SEC and we will be getting a new head coach.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Most important part of dinner!

Friday I got up and did a little holiday shopping, since everything was on sale I wanted to get lots of Christmas decorations!  I went to Michael's and bought lots of stuff to make wreaths and Garland for the handrail of the staircase.  Thankfully no one was at the stores I went to so I got in and our in a matter of an hour.  Friday we didn't do much just hung out as a family, relaxed, and ate more food.   Saturday morning we were up early to head back to Houston to get the rents on a plane back to El Paso.  Thankfully everything went smoothly and they made it home safe.  That afternoon I cleaned the house, made and put up lots of decorations, and did some reading.

My first baby tree!

Garland for the stairs.

The wreath I made for the door...I think I need a few more.

Sunday morning I was up early so I hit the gym for a pre-church work out.  After my work out and church I headed to home depot to pick up a Christmas tree!!!  I miss our old family tradition of picking a tree, coming home decorating it, and eating Unlce James famous toasted cheese.  I was able to get it up and decorated so now the house looks like Christmas!   Well I have tons planned for this weekend so its time to "hurry every chance I get" Have a wonderful weekend!

Until next time...