Shake it Off

After the key situation was all sorted out, I had the freedom (and the wheels) to do whatever I wanted with my Christmas break. This was my first year with MaxPoint, so it was the first time I got to experience an actual “winter break” since college! Our offices were closed from Christmas Eve through New Years Day, and with some extra days, I had a 2-week vacay.

I couldn’t wait! There were so many great things I planned to do – lots of shopping, take the Nuggies to see Santa, attend Christmas Eve service with my family, cook up some apps, and bring in the new year with great friends.

However, that weekend, I came down with some sort of nasty virus. You guys know which one I am talking about, because every person I have talked to has apparently had this too. Everyday was a new terrible sensation – running nose, chest pain, fever and congestion. I was out of commission for the next 2 weeks, missing precious family time, but spending plenty of QT with the couch.

This was only some of our wrapping…we went a tad overboard

The one benefit of the couch time (besides being on my amazing couch) was staring at my Christmas tree. I just love the twinkle lights, and nothing beats a real tree. In between binge watching shows (this season of Homeland was AMAZE) and taking lots of naps, I started to wrap Christmas presents and place them under the tree.

I take my Christmas wrapping pretty seriously. I am definitely not a Pinterest wrapper (ugh) but I love bows, ribbons, and I’m sorry, but our nieces are not getting StarWars wrapping paper (enter gender stereotype convo with Chad). With all of the bows were tied and the sparkly name tags attached, the presents were placed under the tree where I could admire my work. 

As I added and rearranged the gifts (to get ready for Insta pics), I noticed the gifts were a little wet. Then there were others that were very wet. I pulled the presents out and realized that the tree skirt and towel we set down were VERY wet. So soaked, actually.

Almost as fun as a real tree

We are still unsure the exact cause, but we definitely know the effect. Our beautiful wood floors were warped, the gifts needed to be re-wrapped, but equally as devastating – the tree needed to come down. So a few days BEFORE Christmas, feeling miserably ill, I took down all the ornaments and lights, and Chad took the tree to the dumpster. 

For a happy ending – we used a fan on the floors for a few days, and they slowly went back to normal. We lit up a cute little fake tree that we have so I could still enjoy my twinkle lights, and I slowly started to feel normal again after a few weeks. It was definitely not the way I planned to spend 2 weeks away from work, but I can say that I was VERY relaxed upon returning to the office.

The good news is that we had plenty of Frozen wrapping paper that all the girls, including me, had Anna and Elsa wrapped around their presents. And when your present is a Taylor Swift record…well that’s just the best thing in the world. #thanksChad

You can tell me when it's over if the high was worth the pain

Get out of my dreams, Get into my car.

Y’all, I am a mess.

First of all, I just started a sentence with y’all. Not sure what happened there. But really, I feel like the last month of my life I has been a bit of a disaster.

The next few posts will help to illustrate this point, starting with my key fiasco.

My last day “in the office” was the annual MaxPoint holiday party on 12/18, although we were barely in the office. The party starts with Bloody’s in the office at 9am, followed by bowling, bar hopping, and ultimately a fancy dinner until 10pm. We went to Gibson’s, where I naturally ordered Steak Tartare and Lobster Salad, because what else would you order after a 12-hour booze binge? Nothing says “drunk food” like raw meat.

Text convo between Chad and Jersey
from when I lost my keys

Stumbling home that night, I realized that my keys had not made it home with me. Not only was I locked out of the house, but I lost the only set of keys that I owned to the Rogue. Chad was out of town that night, but feeling panicked (and drunk), I called him and begged him to come back and let me in. Luckily, I have whored my condo out to enough friends that my keys are scattered around Chicago. After waking up my old roommate, Jersey, I flagged down a cab to her house and grabbed the spare keys. 

The next day, the keys were still nowhere to be found, so I had to figure out how to get a new set of car keys.

“You don’t have a spare set of keys?” asked Chad.

“No, I lost those in a drunken night in Atlanta, shortly after getting my new car.”

I called up the car dealership to find out how to get a new set of keys, where they asked me, “You don’t have a spare set of keys?” If I did, would we be having this conversation?

For those of you that don’t know, for a car with a key-less start pre-fab, you actually need to reprogram the entire car to get new keys. So somehow, I had to get the car to the dealership, which is kind of tough to do without keys. I called my insurance company for some roadside assistance to get the car towed. “You don’t have a spare set of keys?” Um, no. I don't. 

When the tow company showed up, they first asked me to get into my car, put it in neutral, and help guide it up the ramp. “You don’t have a spare set of keys?”

YOU GUYS – I know I am a blonde, but trust me, if I had another set of keys, I would not be dealing with this right now.

So the Rogue gets towed to the dealer, and $500 later, I had a shiny new set of keys. AND a set of spare keys, good God.

This was definitely one of my more expensive drunken mistakes, but I don’t think losing 2 sets of keys in 5 years is that bad. The Rogue deserved something new this Christmas, plus they gave me 10% off for singing a Christmas carol to the cashier.

In typing in this, I am waiting for my flight to leave and enjoying an Argo Tea (caffeine-free, obvs, because it is afternoon and otherwise I will get the shakes). When I bought the tea, I almost grabbed some napkins, and then I thought “it’s tea – I don’t need napkins.” Well, I just spilled the tea all over the seat next to me. My left hand and leggings are now serving as a napkin. Whoops.  

The Blog is Back, Alright!

In 2012, I wrote 14 blog posts. 

In 2013, I wrote 11 blog posts. 

In 2014, I wrote 6 blog posts. 

And I haven't blogged since July. 

Guys – this makes me sad. It certainly isn't that I haven't had anything to write about. 2014 was an amazing year of engagements, weddings, vacations, friends, family, a big move, and a new job! It was fun – and you'll have to trust me, because 6 blogs hardly did the year justice. 

This year, I am going to try and document all of the things that happen to me in 2015: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (because sometimes selfies are not my best angle). I can feel the excitement from you readers growing as I type this. "OMG she is back!!" Look out blogger community! 

So what will my first blog be about? Such suspense! Well, no need to anticipate the content – you are reading it right now. This is my first blog back. Get with it. 

But soon there will be new, wonderful, witty blogs for you to enjoy. In the meantime, I will leave you with a few pics from 2014…enjoy! 

Give Me a Shot at the Night

Hello friends of #notinmod! As most of you probably know, a lot has changed for Chad and me over the last few weeks. I have had many requests for story details, so I thought I would share with everyone across the World Wide Web. #goviral

To start off, Chad and I have been talking for some time about moving in together and finally seeing each other more than 2 days/week. We have been in a bit of a holding pattern because we both own our condos and selling was going to be difficult. So we have just been doing our usual commute back and forth, hoping we could figure out something out soon. 

Our friends, Katie and Chris, got married last month and they asked Chad if he would be willing to rent his place to them. Chad and Katie had a few conversations about it, and they decided they would move forward with renting, pending a walk-through of the place. Chad had asked me to join the walk-through, which I thought nothing of and agreed to.

That night, I went over to Chad's house and Katie and Chris came over to see the condo. We did a walk-through, and then I suggested we all go downstairs to see his garage (side note: Chad has a 1-car detached garage). Apparently, unknown to me, I wasn't supposed to do that….

So Chad quickly jumped in and said, "I mean, it is a garage…why don't the boys just go look and you girls can stay up here." And since I am lazy, I clearly thought that was a lovely idea. Plus, putting shoes on sounded like a lot of work. So the boys went downstairs, and Katie and I sat upstairs talking bout their wedding, and then suddenly there was a knock at the door…

My first reaction was saying, "ugh, what?!" but then I realized that Chad must have forgotten his keys. I didn't want to look like a brat to Katie and Chris, so I decided to get up and get the door despite the fact that I was quite comfy on the couch. 

When I opened it, Chad was standing there with a sign that read, "SAY IT'S CAROL SINGERS" and that is where the roller coaster of excitement and emotions kicked in. With the Killer's song, "Shot at the Night" playing in the background, Chad reenacted HIS version of my favorite scene from my favorite movie, "Love Actually." One by one, he went through each sign. They read:

SAY IT'S CAROL SINGERS

WITH ANY LUCK BY NEXT YEAR

WE WILL BE LIVING TOGETHER

BUT FOR NOW LET ME SAY

WILL ALL MY HOPE AND ALL MY LOVE

JUST BECAUSE IT’S WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25^TH

(AND ON RANDOM WEDNESDAYS IN JUNE YOU TELL THE TRUTH)

TO ME YOU ARE PERFECT

AND MY WASTED HEART WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

CARRIE WILL YOU GIVE ME A SHOT AT THE NIGHT

CARRIE WILL YOU GIVE ME A SHOT AT YOUR LIFE

CARRIE WILL YOU

And then he got down on one knee, opened a little blue box, and asked me to marry him!

With every sign that he dropped, I became more and more hysterical. I was laughing, and smiling, and was DEF doing the ugly cry. When he was down on one knee, I just started jumping up and down, crying and screaming YES as many times as I possibly could! As we continued hugging and jumping (me) he looked at me and held up the ring and said, “Did you want to see this??” In the madness of it all, I never even looked at the gorgeous ring he had in his hands!

As he put it on my finger, I honestly couldn’t even really look at it because I was shaking so much. But when I calmed down (awhile later), I realized what an amazing job he did. It is GORGGGG. And even better, he went to Carreen’s uncle (a diamond seller on Jewelers Row) to get the ring, so it is from "family"!

After the proposal, I was in so much shock that I remember hugging Katie and Chris and awkwardly kicking them out (sorry!). I didn’t know what I was doing, all I knew is that my heart was racing and I had never been more excited in all my life. We popped the bubbly, toasted to our future, and of course started all the family calls.

I honestly had NO IDEA this coming – we had just decided to move in together, I didn’t want to overwhelm the guy too much! But apparently he was planning to propose even before the move-in started rolling. I always said I wanted to be surprised, and since I am super nosy, that is hard to do. But of course, Chad found a way! The whole “walk-through” was just a rouse, but obvi we are still moving in together and they are still taking Chad's place. Also, with Katie and Chris there, we have the whole thing on video!

I could not be more excited to get to spend my life with Chad. He has made me laugh and smile every day since we first met. I don’t really believe in soul mates, but I believe in finding the person that you want to be with every day, whether happy or sad, in good and tough times, and that for me is Chad. He makes me feel loved every day, and I just hope I can show him the same in return.

We have not started any wedding planning (although I have been a bit more active on Pinterest) but we are just getting ready for the big move! Look out, Chicago – Lovegren is moving in!

Be prepared for the hysteria you are about to witness: Click HERE for the proposal video

What's My Age Again?

This weekend I celebrated by 30th birthday. That's 3-0. And it was amazing. 

With all the Facebook posts and text messages, I realized how lucky and #blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life. Year after year, I bring in my birthday with some of my favorite people - near and far. Most of us have been friends with for over 10 years, and we somehow made it through our 20's together. 

This video is dedicated to all of you.

I was having issues posting this video (I don't think it will play from phones/tablets) so let me know if it does not work!!

 If you cannot play the video, try clicking HERE from an actual computer.