May Highlights

I know, I'm very behind. I'll try my best to give a summary so you won't have to read a blog novel =)

Saturday, May 9th

Today Mike and I worked out butts off to get the outdoor gardening done around the house. I'm not really much of a gardener yet but I do like a few flowers and weed-free flower beds. We started pretty early and worked the entire day to get things together. I weeded and Mike hauled mulch. By the end of the day we had everything looking pretty good and the flowers were planted! My hands hurt for days afterward from the motion of pulling weeds. I was grateful it wasn't a really warm weekend so we could work hard and not sweat to death.

Sunday, May 10th

Today is Mother's Day and we planned a dinner event for my mother and mother in law. My sister Cam helped a great deal with the food and Mike grilled burgers for us on his new grill (bird free for those of you who remember the Grill Babies story). Overall the day was really fun and everyone had a good time. Cam and I both bought dessert because it was one detail we forgot to discuss and then laughed when we realized we both bought the SAME dessert!! (Strawberry cake).

Saturday & Sunday May 16th & 17th

My college friend Carmen from Indianapolis came up to visit me for the weekend in between her graduate semesters. I felt terrible because I forgot to mention the recent news about a bridge on I-94 closing due to some problems. It caused a huge mess for everyone and she got caught in the middle of it! Thankfully she had a cell phone so I was able to pull up Mapquest and get her out of it over the phone. It took her an additional hour to get here because of my blunder!

The weekend was super fun though. We went out to the bars and did some downtown shopping. Unfortunately it was another colder weekend so we didn't spend as much time downtown as I would have liked. It was just too cold to walk around and have fun. I made Carmen attend a themed girls night in party at Melanie's where we all dressed up. I did have a corset on when I got there but the stupid thing is too tight on me now. I need to cut back on the cookies =) We had a great time though. There was some fun costumes.

The night we hit the bars. At one bar it was pretty cool because it was a piano bar and when the piano player noticed Carmen wasn't singing one of the group songs, he pulled her up on stage to sing with him at the piano. Carmen was mortified but our group that it was the coolest thing to happen all night =)

Unfortunately I did not find any hot guys for Carmen to party with over the weekend but I will continue to keep my eyes open in case someone else pops up!

Tuesday, May 19th

Today I became a star. Well, sort of. I'm still working on miscellaneous projects with Sally our Communication Manager and she asked me to model in one of her photo shoots for our cast cutter product line. I thought it sounded very cool so I accepted. It took up most of my morning but I didn't care. We shot at Borgess Healthcare downtown in their ER. One of the marketing managers and another marketing manager's daughter were also in the shoot. In the final photo the daughter and me at the most prominent people in the shot with just the marketing managers hands in the photo. Sally thinks the brochure will be available in July so I'll have to post it when we get it in.

As for the article update - it is complete and I believe in final stages for publication. I understand it will all be online so I'll post a link once I know where it is. For those of you who are curious, it's an article about our new Sterishield (they look like spacesuits) personal protection line called Flyte. It's a really neat new product.

Saturday, Sunday & Monday - May 23rd, 24th & 25th

This weekend my niece came up from Indiana to visit us. We had a really nice time with her although a bit exhausting =) Tiffani is far easier than J.T. because she's 12 (almost 13) and can take care of herself without supervision. The only down side to her is she hates pictures so I have only a few of Mike and I to post!

On Saturday we went to see Terminator at the movies, shopped at the mall and a few book stores, watched a ton of movies at home and even played some board games.

While Tiff and I were at the mall shopping, Mike was hard at work setting up our new Drip Irrigation System. I'm very excited about this because we will finally have a way to water our hanging baskets consistently. I'm terrible at remembering and we're always so busy and on the go it's one job that is frequently forgotten. Our neighbor set up his and got Mike started on the idea. Thankfully it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be so Mike was able to get it all done by himself. I'm very proud of him =)

On Sunday we went to Grand Rapids so Mike could fix some problems on his parents computer. Tiff and I spent the day at the downtown museum and walked around a bit afterward. The museum was fun but a little too young for Tiff. We did watch a Dinosaur show at their planetarium dome thing. I thought the movie was terrible but Tiff seemed to like it.

Monday we took Tiff back to Indiana and spent the afternoon with Russ, Sandy, J.T., Tiff and my parents. Russ and Sandy planned a really elaborate cookout for us with hot dogs, pork chops, shrimp, chicken and a ton of sides. We ate until we felt like bursting. Mike and I had to leave early, unfortunately, to get back so Mike could mow the lawn. It was a very frustrating trip home because there was construction on I-65 so we waited in traffic almost an hour before getting on to the highway we needed. I called Mom to tell her to avoid the area and she and Dad managed to get home 20 minutes after us! Totally not fair when we left an hour earlier =P

Thursday, May 28th

Today I had a pretty uneventful day at work. Afterwards my coworkers had a party for one of girls who is moving to another position next week. We're all sad to see her go but wish her the best at her new job. I didn't stay too long because I wanted to go shopping for a Bridal Shower I have tomorrow at work. These showers just never end =)

This weekend is pretty busy once again. Tomorrow I have the shower and hopefully we'll be spending some time with Melanie and Bruco. Saturday we have a wedding reception for another couple who just got married in Tennessee two weeks ago. They had a small ceremony down there with a few family members and are now celebrating with their friends. Sunday is open so far but I'm sure something will come up after church =)

I'll do my best to keep you all updated on our lives when I have the time. This summer is so crazy for us I'm not sure how often that will be!

Swine Flu... ? No, Just Allergies...

Monday April 21st - Thursday April 23rd

I have no idea what I did this week.

Friday, April 24th

The only notable thing on this day is I finished my article! I wasn't completely satisfied with it early on in the day so I emailed it to Sally, the project manager, to ask her to read it over and let me know what she thought. I asked her to be brutal... I could take it. (Not really, but I told her that anyways). I wrote a nice email and attached my rough draft. I hit send and wanted to throw up. I felt like there was no turning back now... it was sent.

Thankfully, Sally loved it. With a few edits the document was done. I felt a huge rush of relief the project was complete and Sally was happy with it. The article is currently in the editing wheel - meaning it's on its way to be published but I'm sure it's going through many more editorial eyes and changes before it actually makes it to any publication. I'll try to remember to post it when it's available.

Sunday -April 26th

Today is my boss/friend Kim's baby shower for her family. We had the work shower but this was a more personal party. Kim's sisters hosted the event and did a great job. The party was at Kim's grandmother's retirement community lounge area. It was pretty big and had everything you needed for a large party. Phil and Kim got a lot of gifts (Phil did very well displaying them all for the crowd) and we played some neat games. Phil got a "baby changing outfit" which was really a gag gift of scrubs and other protective gear for when babies have "blown outs". One of the games I actually won a very neat serving dish because I was good at the "Old Wives Tales" of babies. I.E. If you carry high, you're having a _____ (girl). Etc.

After the party Mike and I decided to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day by driving to South Haven to check out the beach. It wasn't as warm at the beach as we hoped but I was still able to walk down the pier without needing a coat. It's so refreshing to have warm weather again... the winter was really bringing me down.

Monday, April 27th

Today I showed up at work on time, as usual, but today when I walked by Kim's office, she wasn't there. I didn't think much of at at the time because Kim has a million doctors appointments at this point in her pregnancy. I was worried however when I got back to my desk and Erin said my other boss wanted to talk to us both. At that point I thought Kim was exhausted from the party and took the day off.

So we get into my bosses office and he reveals Kim's water broke early Monday morning (3 a.m.) and she would not be returning to the office. So... three weeks early, Natalie Claire Amsterburg made her way into the world around 5 p.m. Monday night. Mom and baby are both healthy. The rest of the Distributor Relations team is crying she couldn't make it the additional month =)

Tuesday, April 28th - Friday May 1st

Most of this week I'm catching up on stuff and trying to make sure we're set for the 12 weeks Kim will be gone. My team is great and very helpful. I actually feel like we'll be fine without her for the three months. However, I am counting down the days until she is back. The crap she deals with on a regular basis is exhausting... I truly appreciate her patience with the many people who call. I had no idea I was so sheltered from the numerous requests and questions she gets in a normal day. Thankfully nothing I can't handle yet but, I'm really only on week one. I do have her phone number though =)

Saturday, May 2nd

Today is my friend Lee's Shower/Bachelorette party. Our day started out with lunch at Food Dance Cafe and then on to the Radisson for games and drinks. We were at the Radisson quite awhile before we took off for dinner. I actually took off to meet up with Mike, Melanie and Bruco for dinner before the parties met back up again for partying/dancing/etc.

I was greatly disappointed with myself and the evening. My thyroid problems are finally fixed so my weight is coming off more easily (not fast... just finally coming off). I've been trying to eat really healthful to speed up the process the last few weeks. Well my diet of 40% protein and 30/30 of carbs/fat did not take well to my appetizer of nachos and dinner of spicy Thai roll ups. I was dreadfully sick the rest of the night. I managed to make it through the bars with everyone but I was restricted to diet cokes just to stay functioning. I will not make this mistake again. Junk food in stages... not all at once.

Otherwise, the night was a good time. All our friends had fun and we were out pretty late. As a result, Sunday was pretty lazy.

Sunday, May 3rd

As I said, our night out late (thankfully without a cab since I was a sick and couldn't drink) resulted in sleeping in the next day. Mike and I got up rather late and got ready enough for breakfast out. I had waffles which were wonderful (also not part of the diet but I couldn't imagine any grease like eggs or bacon at that point). After breakfast Mike and I had an exciting afternoon of yard work, grocery shopping and laundry.

Monday, May 4th

Nothing exciting to report today. Back to the old schedule of work, gym, misc. house chores and bed. Right now I'm sick or have allergies or something. I can't breathe but I feel fine otherwise. I suspect allergies over a cold since I don't have any other symptoms. I joked on my Facebook I may have swine flu but apparently my sarcasm wasn't thick enough. Several people replied I probably don't. Doh. I may make another allergist appointment though. I'm not sure if it's the dry weather or my allergy medicine, but I'm getting bloody noses a lot. Mike just happened to see on TV today an ad for Nasonex, my medicine, and it said a common side effect is bloody nose. Maybe I should switch medications =) It's bad enough not being able to breathe without having to worry about a bloody nose on top of that!