This calls for a celebration!

Today I got the BEST news I have gotten in a long time.

For quite some time my co-workers and I in the Human Resources department have been struggling with our workload. We are constantly taking on more work, and the hospital is growing by leaps and bounds in terms of number of employees. When I started working at the hospital in August of 2006 we had about 800 employees. Now we are almost at 900! My role in the department has evolved, and I have taken on a lot more high level work in addition to my daily tasks such as reviewing applications, checking references, tracking FMLA, etc. Work has become very stressful, and I have been working a lot of overtime just to keep up. We are an excellent group, and I know that we provide excellent service, but we are on the verge of starting to go downhill.

We have been begging for more help for months, and FINALLY today our wish was granted! We were approved to hire another part time person. I could not even believe when my boss told me this morning. We were all jumping for joy!!! This is a HUGE deal for us, and the news totally made my week!

Fiesta!

Adam and I puppy-sat this weekend while Mom was in Rockford. I love having Chloe around because she is such a good puppy and so much fun!

This is me and Chloe trying out my new chips & dip dish! Chloe looks like she's about to dive into the salsa!

Mmm....chips & salsa...

Testing our new margarita glasses...Chloe loves to try anything you have!

Our friends Keith and Katie came over and hung out with us for a few hours. We had a great time talking and hanging out. It's so nice to have a couple to hang out with!

My birthday continued...

So today my co-workers celebrated my birthday! We ordered out for lunch (we always love doing that because the cafeteria food can get a little old). Diane made this FABULOUS chocolate cake with chocolate chunks in it and cream cheese frosting. YUM! Everybody knows how much I love chocolate so I'm sure it was a no-brainer for them on what kind of dessert to make for me. All my co-workers got together and gave me the kind of dish where the chips go on the outside and then there's a bowl in the middle for salsa or the dip. They also gave me the the chips and salsa to go in it! How clever! Every day I think about how lucky I am to work with such a wonderful group of people. They're the best!

Diane insisted I take the rest of the cake home with me so we had Mom, Mark, & Maren over tonight for cake and ice cream. That makes THREE birthday cakes I got this year! I forgot to mention that we also celebrated my birthday Friday night with our Bunco group. Barb, who was hosting Bunco this month got me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen! I totally lucked out this year...what an awesome birthday!

My first slick deal!

Holy cow, this slick deals website is AWESOME! I have been looking to get a new winter coat...something that is warm but nice looking to wear to work. I got on slickdeals.net today and saw that Sears is having a winter outerwear clearance. I got this $250 coat for $30!!! I can't wait to get it in the mail!

Happy Birthday to me!

I had such a great birthday yesterday!!! In the morning Adam went to the Morris bakery and got me donuts for breakfast (they have the best donuts in the entire world). He also made my coffee. Thanks sweetie! I had to go to the DMV first thing in the morning to get my driver's license renewed. I got there super early and was the second in line, woohoo! All went well, minus the mean DMV lady yelling at me because I brought my coffee mug in with me. I really did not see any signs that said no food or drink! Anywho, then I went to Shantel's to get my hair done. I was supposed to have it done Wednesday but the salon called Wednesday and said they had no hot water! Yikes! After getting my hair done Mom, Adam and I drove up to Joliet to shop around a little bit. Adam got me this awesome picture for our bedroom. It goes perfectly with our colors!

Then we came home and I took a nice long nap! I highly recommend taking a nap on your birthday, it's great! Feeling rejuvenated we went out to eat at Amici's, this wonderful Italian restaurant about 20 minutes away. They have THE BEST food. My Mom, brother mark, and Adam's parents Dana & Debbie joined us for dinner.

After we were done eating the waitress brought out this fabulous chocolate cake that Adam had smuggled in! They sang Happy Birthday and then I blew out the candles....or so I thought....they lit right back up! Clearly I underestimated Adam's sneakiness. :) I was actually excited because I had never had trick candles before! They were kinda fun!

Feeling sufficiently stuffed we headed home only to have Keith call us and say that him, Katie, his brother Doug, and his girlfriend were out at the bowling alley and wanted us to join them. We hung out with them for a little while and had a great time. What a wonderful birthday!!!

Here are some other things I got for my birthday:

Mom gave me my KitchenAid mixer!!! I was so excited to open this up. Now I can make my chocolate chip cookies!

Mom also gave me this fabulous lamp! Actually Adam and I each got one (Adam's was an early birthday present since his birthday is the 30th). They look awesome in our bedroom!

Dana & Debbie gave me this super cute shirt with the cami and earrings.

Mark and Maren got me margarita glasses from Pier 1. Now THAT'S a margarita glass!

Slick Deals

A co-worker just told me about this website, and I felt the need to share it with everyone I know! The web address is http://www.slickdeals.net/. Every day they post new "deals" that they've found on other websites and at stores. Some of these deals are amazing! They have deals on just about anything you can think of. I have been checking it every day now because you never know what's going to pop up! So if you're trying to save money, this is a good site to keep an eye on. What a great find, thanks Melissa!

V's Birthday

We went out with Veronica tonight to celebrate her birthday. We started out eating at La Mex (I am still STUFFED!) and then hit Ebbey's to meet up with some friends. Fun times, except I kind of pooped out early! I'm getting too old for this!

Me & the Birthday Girl

V, Me, & Jen

Adam & Me (not really sure what face he is making!)