Bad News

Bad News Kids... My card reader that downloads my digital files onto the computer is acting up. Sammy-dear was supposed to try and fix it last night and "forgot". I will check it out in a couple hours and if it doesn't work, not to worry... I will run to the store and buy a new one so that by the end of the day my cute little princess will be known to the world! (Still no-name...Sam picked out about 20+ cute names before he met her, and now once he has met her he says none of them are "her". Let's hope he figures out which name is "her" soon...)

Today

The Announcement is on the way... Hopefully Sam will choose a beautiful name for our new little girl.

For anyone who is curious...Mykah (Big Doobs) and Little Doobs are getting along just fine. Mykah scared (literally) the pee out of Little Doobs, but Mykah is very curious about the little ball of fun. The wee one doesn't mind Mykah, but ignores her a lot! She will charge at Mykah, which ends up scaring Mykah, but all is going well.

Photo's and name release to come...

I Have Myself A New Pup...

Now, these pic's of a several dogs and one looks a lot like the baby I got...but none are photos of my baby. Now, you might be wondering about a name- well, Sam will be naming this little ball of energy so any advice is welcomed! So here is the poll- which baby am I bringing home on Tuesday and what should her name be??? (Yes- a girl.) If you happen to be one of the few who know what the dog is- don't tell!

The puppy I almost had...

This is the puppy I almost called mine. It just didn't work out- I got a bad vibe from the dude selling her. So, I decided it would be best to part ways. I was heartbroken and thought all was lost. Luckily this pup- a Maltipoo- I found on day 1 of my trip in Sacramento. We will see what comes of this trip...

Kim's Birthday Celebration!

These are a couple pic's from our girls night the night I got back from my trip. It was good to catch-up with everyone...time was too short as usual, but it was great. Glad we coupld celebrate Kim's birthday in style!!

Friends in the East

Sam and I met up with Chris and Liz and their beautiful son, Austin, while we were in D.C. They live close by, so it was awesome that we could all get together. We all walked around together for a while, then were to meet up with Gene and his wife Mia for a big festive dinner.




This is Chris, Sam and Gene outside Gene and Mia's house. We were really sad, Mia couldn't meet up with us at the last minute. She is a busy. busy lady and got called into work for some special projects and wasn't able to have dinner with us. (It's okay Mia, we understand and missed you!)


The next day Sam and I putzed around Annapolis. It was awesome! We saw the Navy Academy and housing- the housing is so similar to F.E. Warren's big historic bricks, although theirs are a white washed brick. We also just floated around the old downtown area going into the art stores and random restaurants. It was great. Later that night, we got together with Chris, Liz and Austin again and stayed with them the rest of the weekend. For dinner we ate at a fabulous seafood restaurant right off the coast. Dave met up with us for dinner and the guys were able to catch up while Liz and I chatted away.

The last day of our trip, Chris, Liz, Austin, Sam and I went for a drive to the East Coast Shore. We stopped at the GREAT little town and walked around, had lunch and just enjoyed the beautiful sunny day. Then, since we were so close to Deleware, and it was one of few states Sam had never been to, we decided to make the trip to the border. Sam flipped me over, then he ran all around the sign to make sure he could say he had been IN Deleware.

Ice Skating on the Mall

Sam and I were walking around the Mall in D.C. and stopped to watch everyone ice skating on the BEAUTIFUL 60 degree day. The "Ice Staff" came over to us struk up a conversation. He insisted we come ice skating for a while! We had a great time ice skating...unbeliveably, it was the first time Sam and I have ever ice skated together! The photo on the right is Eric ("Ice Staff") and I doing a Hockey pose.

Aquarirm and Zoo

Can you guess what this is?





Sam and I went to the Baltimore Aquarium. It was pretty cool. There were tons of sharks, mantaray's sting rays and fish. These two turtles were pretty chill. I love the one on the left that just lightly dips his hand into the H2O.

Blotchy Beth

This is what happens to you when you try to save your skin from the harmful rays by using Mystic tan and you don't listen to the guru of Mystic tan...yea, Keelee, that's you. Somehow I missed some advise I was given. (shocker...) I think I might scrub my hand raw because scabs and blood tell a better story.

Happy St. Urho's Day!

So right now you are saying- who the heck is St. Urho?! Well, friends, he is the Finnish Saint that drove the giant grasshoppers out of the Finnish Vineyards and saved the day. So, put on your purple (representing the grape color) and go out and have a drink for St. Urho!

Why St. Urho is important to me:

1. I am Finnish. I am a lot of things, a REALLY lot of things, but Finnish probably comprises a bit more then anything else, and my maiden name, Mutkala, is of Finnish descent- thus I am a proud Finn.

2. I love wine, and although the finn's don't produce wine anymore it is said that they did once upon a time, long long ago. Not only did they produce wine, but they would inject vodka into the grapes to make them plumb and juicy. Wow! If St. Urho hadn't scared away all those nasty grasshoppers, who know what would have happened to the wine world? I hear Finn's were instrumental in the development of wine as we know it! (Ha!)

Riding for Pediatric Brain Tumor Research

Hi! I know- I still haven't posted from out trip- I will! In the meantime, I got a message from a freind of Sam and I's that he and his wife (Charlie and Liza) are riding their Harley to raise money for Pediatric Brain Tumor Research and thought it would be a great source for anyone to dump off a little bit of that tax money you might have gotten back- hey- you can just write it off again next year! Check it out!

Updates On The Way

but in the meantime, since we are all gearing up for Friday, I need to entertain you with something...

How Irish are you??

You're 45% Irish

You're probably less Irish than you think you are... But you're still more Irish than most.

How Irish Are You?

Ka-put!

I am done. It was a great conference. Much better then last year. I am already looking forward to next year! It was a great networking experience, and I have TONS of work to do once I get back, but I am excited about it!

Now, I am just awaiting my dear Sammy-Sam. He is on his way now! Then off to a GREAT dinner somewhere at Fell's Point!

I think I will be on a bloggin' hyatus, so check y'all later!

Center for Business Intelligence

Hola everyone... I am whiped out! Had a long, long day. The presentations have gone well today- got another round tomorrow. Thought I would show off my little table. This isn't a very good pic, but you know- I do what I can without the actual camera! I will NOT complain about the camera phone- what a life saver! I love my job. What more can I say?!

Happy Birthday Kim!!

One day late...sorry girlfriend! I thought it was yesterday, then I thought it wasn't, then I realized IT WAS!!! Hope you have an awesome b-day week!!! Yee-Haw!!!

Uh-oh!!!

Way too funny...as I get more aquainted with MySpace, I find people that I am friends with. Well, my friend Melissa...one of my oldeset friends...we met when we were 6 or something- lived in Cali AND Hawaii together...found ME on MySpace! She is talented! She had this quiz on her site. Y'all know I get addicted to these things! Oh, for the record, not quite sure my acronym suits me...

B=Boisterous

E=Elitist

T=Technological

H=Hot

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Baltimore Zoo = Bust

I knew I had a lot of the day to kill, so I worked out this morning, then went to the Baltimore Zoo. I happened to see that it was free today, so I spent $30 on a cab ride there and back "to get in free"! It was a beautiful day- a perfect one to go to the zoo. I think most of Baltimore thought that as well! The sad thing is- I was in a line of hundreds of people- literally- and I went through it in 20 minutes whereas at the local Post Office where I reside, I spent 60 minutes with a meer 7 people in front of me. Hmmmm... Well, to be brief about the zoo itself- I just wasn't very impressed. It is too boring to talk about more, but it was a pretty poor display of a Zoo...the Green Bay, WI Zoo almost has them beat! Whoa!

Hey- how do you like the self portrait? Ha! I got bored as I waited for the cabbie...

Lonely

Check back often- I am posting a lot since I am all alone! ;) LUCKY READERS!!! Oh yeah, you might want to keep your phones off because I am ONE hour ahead on Wisco (not bad), TWO hours ahead of y'all in Chey-town and THREE hours ahead of the Cali folks- you wouldn't want me calling at 5 am would you? I WILL REFRAIN THE BEST I CAN! (Keep in mind, all the posts I am making aren't happening at the time the post says, they are occuring two hours later...)

Seafood Fest Begins!

So! I am here in Baltimore, MD and have been super excited about all the great food I will be able to eat. Clean, fresh, pure, SEAFOOD!!!

I know I will have a hard time with the time change because my conferences start bright poppin' early, and I do my presenting right off the bat both Monday and Tuesday morning. But anyhow, last night after I got here I decided I would work out, then go to the Whitecap Tavern which is in my hotel, but due to the time change I didn't realize it was so late and I missed dinner. Thus, I ordered room service of 5 jumbo delicious shrimp and H2O. Sounds boring, I know, but it was awesome.

Then I ordered Brokeback Mountain from my room because I decided I needed to watch it before the Oscars tonight. I just need to level with you all- I really wasn't that impressed! I am proud that we have a country that will celebrate diversity, but the movie itself I didn't think was all that spectacular! It was sooooo slooooow! Then again, maybe it was just the mood I was in and I wasn't prepared for such a slow moving movie. There were a lot of times I couldn't even understand what those boy's were saying! I guess I need to spend a little mor time around the local cowboys?!?! I had really hyped myself up that it would be this great movie but, Nah.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom, I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! We will celebrate your birthday by doing something wild, like getting matching tatoo's and dying our hair fuschia! Yeah Baby!

Samuel Updates

Hey y'all! Just thought I would drop a little line since I am asked quite frequently about how my dear spouse is doing in his recovery. Well- Great! He had a lot going on after the second surgery that wasn't great- fluid in his lungs, his lymph system wasn't working exactly right, etc... but they have him on a bunch more meds and he is going to be alright! Actually, he is going to be just great! The FANTASTIC surgeon he had said hi thinks Sam will have a full recovery, which is something most people in his situation don't have. He is still going to Occupational Therapy and will continue with that on a weekly basis for the next several months. He gets all kinds of cool "toys" from there! He has even been given the approval to go skiing this year! (Yea, thanks a lot...) Thank-you all so much for your care and concern. We are truly blessed to have such loving people in our lives!

Gavin

My dear friend Jill and her husband Jay have a new edition to their family- Gavin! Now Lauren has a new little brother! Gavin has a lot going on right now, so keep them all your thoughts and prayers. I love you Jill.

Hudson Turn's One!

Happy Birthday Hudson!!!

One year old! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for your arrival! We love you Hudson.