My New Job

So far, all things are going great in my new job. It is a whole new industry that I am learning, and of course, I have to start at the bottom. Lately I have been going out over the weekend doing promotions for my work. I basically go to different events and promote our health plan.

It's always on a Saturday. Usually in the morning....at 8am. Which is not a big deal compared to my 5:00am workout alarm, but still; it's one more day I don't get to sleep in. Anyway.

Here are a few pictures from an event I went to. I've been to a handful, and have a few more scheduled. Needless to say, me weekend will not be that exciting in the next few weeks ;)

Me and our mascot, "Be BEARY Healthy" (a new name is in the works haha)

What my Saturday mornings look like. Those are two of my coworkers, a bunch of marketing giveaways and materials

Our mascot gets all the attention. This little girl tackled him to the ground! The poor intern wearing the mascot ;)

All in all I am getting great experience and learning the ins and outs of my work. It really is interesting to learn, and I get to see a lot of different areas of the city (some of which I will probably never go back haha) and I also get to meet a lot of new people....which is always good :D

Hope the end of summer is treating everyone well!

Boatless

We have a handful of friends down here that have boats. We also have a handful of lakes (man made, of course) around us. What usually happens when you put those two together? Boating. On the water. LAKE FUN.

To our dismay, circumstances have not allowed our friends to take their boats out. Some of them are so crazy you wouldn't believe me. In the meantime, we make the best of what we have (which is no boat, 100º weather, and a rising lake).

We spent Saturday afternoon soaking up the sun and throwing the ball for Tucker at the close boat ramp we have been going to for the past year. We ended up throwing the ball so many times we had to HIDE it so he would stop and take a break. It was a great day, considering, and one of the busiest I have seen at "our" boat ramp so far. The water level has risen considerably, but the boat ramp is still closed. We can still have fun, though!

This is what we looked like. Three chairs in the water. Cooler nearby. Tucker going from person to person waiting for us to throw the ball.

Our wet puppy dog who LOVES to swim.

Kyle and me catching some rays by the water. Sadly, not ON the water. Maybe next time!

Hope everyone is enjoying their July. Can't believe next week is August already! Where did this summer go?!

"What I Got"

This past week the boys (Kyle, Dan, Jason, Luke) and I went to an outdoor concert in Sunken Gardens Theatre in San Antonio. It was kind of last minute, deciding to go to have some fun and shake things up a bit.

Dan, Luke (summer intern from Kansas), Jason, Kyle, and me!

The three bands that played were Pepper, Cypress Hill, and Sublime. If you are anything like me, I just agreed to go thinking I would know some songs and have a good time...which is pretty much what happened. Some of the BEST people-watching, hands down, in a LONG time. Even beats the airport - no questions asked.

Anyway, the most commonly-known song that Sublime sings (in my opinon) is "Love is....Is What I Got..." Can't think of the tune from my typed out lyrics?

Here is the link to You Tube.



Anyway, it was a fun night out. It was a huge change from the normal "cowboy" crowd that we usually see around San Antonio, that is for sure! Hope everyone is enjoying their summers so far!

Our Puppy Dog

Tucker is still 100% the center of our attention down here. He is always happy, always eager to play, and constantly keeps us on the move. We have explored most our neighborhood, parks, and lakes; mostly do to Tucker. I still think it is one of the best things to come home to: a happy puppy with a wagging tail.

Due to the extreme temperatures here in South Texas (which I hear most of you in MN have been experiencing  this summer as well!) we have to find ways to keep him cool  getting him enough exercise.  Thanks to the lovely golf course (and hole 16) in our backyard, we can make that happen. Around 8-9 at night, once the golfers clear off for the evening and the temps finally are in the low 90s, we head out on the course. Kyle and him play fetch. Not just any fetch. CHUCK it fetch. Kyle launches the ball...we usually cannot see where it goes, but Tucker always comes back with ball in mouth, running full sprint towards us. We have found it is one of the best ways to burn off most of his energy.

Due to the fact that it is still in the 90s, Tucker gets HOT after playing fetch. And pants. A lot. Enter our kiddie pool! This is a very common site after we play fetch. Tucker lays in the water and laps up drink after drink.

This is the next best thing to our cool tile floor in the house!

Another new purchase for us is an outdoor bed for this guy. Since it is so incredibly hot during the day, and I can only imagine how comfortable that rock-sidewalk is, we decided to give this a try. It is an outdoor-mesh-breathable bed. So far, Tucker LOVES it. The indent on the bed is quite noticable when we get home at the end of the day. (I think it's safe to say he likes it, too!)

Biggest puppy eyes ever. Watch out, he's a professional!

As you can see, this little guy still gets most of our undivided attention. He has perfected cuddle time with me and fetch with Kyle. He listens so well and always finds a ball to play with - no matter where we are or what time of day. What can I say, I love this little guy!

Twins Game!

Finally, after two years, Kyle and I managed to get to Dallas to watch the Twins play the Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. I wanted to go ever since I saw the move The Rookie. I thought it looked like an awesome ballpark at the time (of course at the time the new Target Field was not yet built).

Anyway, they were playing the Rangers on a weekend (one that we had NO plans) and they were all 3 night games. SCORE. Dan, Kyle, and I planned to go to this game way back in February when I first looked at the schedule. In the end, the total combined 9 hours of driving were totally worth it. TOTALLY.

We got to Dallas around noon the day of the game, and after wasting a little time and checking into the hotel, we ventured to the stadium to buy tickets and watch warm-ups.

Kyle and I in front of the stadium.

There was a threat of a thunderstorm, but it ended up working in our favor. It never rained, but the sun was behind clouds and the temperature fell to around 80º. It was a beautiful night for an outdoor baseball game.

Here are some shots around the stadium. Recognize any from the movie? I remember those arches!

Dan is a seasoned Twins away-game traveler. He used to work for the airline so he would hop on a plane and travel to wherever the Twins were playing. He took us down to where the Twins were warming up and having batting practice. I stood right by the Twins dugout, hoping to catch some up-close glimpse of my favorite players. It just so happened that Joe Mauer was going into the dugout with a ball in his hand. He stopped, looked at the mob of Twins fans screaming at him, and for some reason, picked me. He threw me his ball! Not wanting to spill my beer, I caught it LEFT HANDED. If any of you know me at all, I have issues when it comes to catching things. Major issues. I was so happy I caught it, and the boys were so stunned that I actually caught it, they were more in shock than I was! I didn't let go of that ball for probably 5 minutes.

See the death grip I am giving the ball!? The ball is an official MLB ball and will be going in a ball case. ;)

We ended up with Club Seats, so we never had to leave our seats (unless nature called). The waitress came around and took our order whenever we wanted something and it always showed up with in minutes. It was super handy (and slightly dangerous to our CC). It was totally worth it.

View from our seats.

Even in the midst of all 47,000 people at the game, we managed to run into the only other person from NDSU that was at the game. One of Kyle's friends he had graduated with is now working in Lubbock, TX and was at the game. We literally ran into him finding our seats. After the game we had a great time hanging out and catching up.

The trip to Dallas was a success. Next year the Houston Astros will be joining the American League so I think a trip to Houston will be in the works....

A Week In Pictures

I vote to never have a holiday in the middle of the week again. Unless I have a ton of vacation time to use up at work, which, let's face it; that's not going to happen anytime soon.

But, a day off is better than none at all. So with this week being an odd one, I will let the pictures do the talking.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Kyle and I have been looking at replacing my ol' '99 Monte for some time now. I found this car online about 30 min from San Antonio and called Kyle right away. I wanted to test drive it. I did more than test drive. I drove it HOME. I have a new love in my life :)

One of our friends went to his home state for some time away from Texas and we get to watch his dog, Koda. There is always double the trouble when these two get together. Just like toddlers. If it is quiet...I expect the worst!

I totally went to this movie. It was well worth the $7 admission.

I have no idea what this plant is, but it is blooming like crazy and I am loving the color. It did not bloom last year, so we must have had enough rain! It's something pretty to look at, anyway!

For the 4th I made my good old fruit pizza. It has been ages since I made it and it has not changed one bit. Still delicious as ever. 

 I hear the temps are just as hot up there as they are down here! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer and staying cool :)