A Blizzard

So let me just make this a public announcement - I am finally going to be starting a new job {cheering is acceptable}. I applied at Southwest Airlines for the same job that Scott's doing right now and I got it! His department is on a big hiring kick right now and they loved me!

I don't start until March 4th, so I decided to make the most of my very open days and go see Audrey, Toren and the little monkey again. And we had a blast. I went out there Sunday the 17th and it took over 12 hours to get there. But I was finally there and enjoyed a few wonderful days chasing Austin around and making pancake dots (of course).

I hate to sum up a really fun few days, but I'm sure Audrey would agree that running errands and watching Super Hero Squad does not a blog post make.

Oh although when I was there, Audrey and I went to this new jewelry store in the area called Charming Charlie. The store started in Houston (I live in Texas now, why haven't I heard of this?) and it's amazing. An entire store dedicated to accessories. You want shoes? They're there.  You want purses or wallets? Also there. You want all of the jewelry in all the trends? Oh yeah, also there. I was in love and also overwhelmed the second I walked into the store. And I already found where the closest one to me in Dallas is!

Anyway. This post is about the journey home. Now if any of you follow me on Instagram, you probably heard a little bit of this.

I left Thursday and took the first flight out of Seattle, which left at 6 in the morning. I know, that's gross and really early, but those flights are usually wide open and this was no exception. Every flight I was supposed to take had over 50 seats available and even though I was flying standby, it was going to be an easy trip home. The longest layover was 45 minutes, so not a bad trip at all.

Unfortunately when we were coming into St. Louis, the pilot came on saying that there was going to be some turbulence because it just started snowing. I looked out of the window and I couldn't see the ground until a few minutes before we hit the runway. We landed and pulled into our gate and I rushed down to my connecting flight because they were boarding.

And then a gate agent announced that the flight was going to be delayed.

Thirty minutes later, the gate agent said that no standby passengers tickets would be honored because so many flights were being canceled that the flight was probably going to fill up.

Thirty minutes later, the gate agent said that our flight was canceled. By this time all ticketing agents' lines were backed up with people trying to switch their tickets and get on the next flight they could. I checked the booking status online and most of the flights for the day were already full, so I was prepared to just wait it out and see if I can get on some flight - any flight - out of St. Louis.

An hour later, they announced terminal wide that all Southwest flights were canceled for the rest of the day. Awesome.

I called all the hotels in the area and managed to book one of the last available hotel rooms for the night. It was so snowy and miserable out there. The shuttle van took a very long time coming to pick me up because of the traffic and the roads.

Anyway I made it to the hotel and was able to sleep in a bed instead of an airport chair.

The next morning, I woke up and went to the airport first thing. I checked the booking status and all the flights except the very last one at 9pm were full, so I was just going in hopes that someone wouldn't show up and I would get a ticket.

I watched flight after flight take off. I waited 9 hours in the airport with no wifi, no laptop, no book, nothin'. I just sat and watched airplanes.

When I heard my name called for the 5pm flight to Dallas, I jumped and screamed because I was so happy to finally get a ticket. Two hours later, I was home and I was so happy to be there.

Silhouette'n in Seattle

Because Scott works full time for Southwest Airlines, we get flight benefits! So last week I decided to take a last minute trip to see Audrey and Austin in Seattle. And I really mean last minute - I looked at flights Monday night, and left Tuesday morning.

It was so much fun. Audrey and I chatted it up, started watching Downton Abby (only made it through 1 1/2 episodes) and just enjoyed our time. For Christmas Audrey got a Silhouette Cameo, so of course we had to try it out and make some cute little crafty-craft.

Audrey had some left over pieces of wood so we tried our hand at sanding them, priming and painting them, and then attaching a vinyl quote or phrase. It was so much fun. My green block has a line from our wedding song, Hold On by Michael Bublé. I also made some vinyl attachments for my flour, sugar, and brown sugar containers that I attached when I got back to Dallas.

And because I love this little guy so much, here is a picture of Austin dressed in a scuba BCD with a snorkel in his mouth! I took back an old microwave Audrey and Toren weren't using and the best packaging we could find was a scuba duffle bag, so while Toren and I were packing up the microwave in the bag, Austin donned on the gear.

Hello 2013

Oh my goodness gracious. It's almost February. I haven't blogged since the Birthday Extravaganza in Chicago. Because so much happened, and painfully long blog posts are not my thing, you guys will get the extra short Readers' Digest version.

In mid-December, Scott officially "graduated" as an intern. The intern graduation was nice. The coordinators read bios of all of the interns as they walked ceremoniously across stage, stood in the spotlight and received their diplomas.

He also landed a full time position (fist pump in the air) in the Customer Relations department. There were no openings in the Marketing dept., so hopefully by staying with the company, he will be able to move back to his marketing team.

After graduation and my lovely last day at work, we packed up and flew standby back to Salt Lake for Christmas to spend it with Scott's family. Crazy I know to try and fly standby during the holidays but we took the first flight out and got lucky.

Going from Dallas to Salt Lake was a bit of a climate shock for me. I almost refused to leave the airport because it looked so icy out there. I was convinced I would slip and fall to my death the second I stepped outside. But I lived!

Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we decided to share a family experience and we took a cooking class! It was so much fun and I learned a lot. I think Scott and I may take several more cooking classes in the future because of how much we enjoyed it.

For Christmas I got a new little camera and a basic camera class (hopefully new blog post photos will reflect the skills I learn) and Scott got...wait for it... his own scuba gear! He got the entire regulator system - so regulator, octopus and computer. He was so excited. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of him opening his gift and checking out his new gear, but don't worry, there will be future diving adventures and blog posts.

We also went and saw Les Mis with Scott's parents and his cousin Nathan. Scott and I both LOVED it and this time around I felt like I knew the story pretty well and feel less of a newbie.

After Christmas, our time was spent packing up and preparing to drive back out to Dallas. We rented a 16' Penske truck and loaded 'er all up and left January 3rd. It took two days, five states, and about 23 total hours of driving time to make it to Dallas. But we did and got everything moved into our new apartment semi set up (it's still a process I am working on)

Other than the Christmas adventures, life's been good. Scott started his new job and I am looking and trying to make this apartment look homey.