January recap

January came & went quickly for Ansley & I. One of the highlights of the month included the Forsythe annual kick-off meeting in snowy/freezing Itasca, IL. Before the kick-off meeting, I worked with my 2 sales reps (1 of which is the singer in the picture of the Forsythe band (ya, we're a dorky company)) to create a movie for the Forsythe Film festavil (like I said, dorky company)... the movie was the 3 of us & Marvin the Martien with a lot of not-so-HR-friendly humor... needless to say, our film was the only one NOT to air during the film festavil! We did manage to "borrow" one of the Oscar awards, which we display proudly at the Raleigh office.

Though my film career was short-lived, I was able to catch up with old friends during the kick-off meeting, including my Skokie & Nebraska co-workers and finally meet some of my newer co-workers... it's strange to talk to people on a daily basis via phone/email but never seeing them, so it was nice to finally be able to put a face to the names! Another memorable moment was my icy drive from the corporate office to the hotel (about 20 or 30 miles away) in a rental car (full of co-workers) that was rear-wheel drive.... I decided at that moment that I would never, ever again be the car-pool driver for the regional folks... it's someone else's turn! I've attached some of the group pics of me & co-workers from all over the nation.

January also brought around a freak Raleigh snow storm... since I never watch the news/weather, I had no idea it was coming. I woke up one morning to find about 5 inches of snow on the ground! I thought I was dreaming! Being the mid-western girl I am, I not only drove to work, but even got there early.... only to find out that the office was closed! I stayed until noon & then worked the rest of the day from home... the roads were not bad to me (all that practice I got during my 5 Chicago winters paid off!), but no one can drive around here in snow! It's hilarious, yet a little scary, to be on the road with them! I had honestly thought I had left the snow & cold weather behind me this time, but I guess not! Of course, Ms. Ansley was completely thrilled by the snow and could not get enough of it.... to her great sadness (and to my great excitement) the snow was completely gone within 3 days & we had a warm front of 70 come thru! You can see Ansley enjoying the snow in the pics.

January, of course, brings around New Year's Resolutions. This year, I decided that I would do 2 resolutions:

• My first is actually a re-attempt at last year's... to send out b'day cards to all my family & friends. January was successful, so we'll see how the next 11 months go.

• My 2nd resolution has already given me not 1, but 2, new addictions... I decided that I would finally give all those things that I thought everyone was giving too much hype to a try. This included watching Lost, reading the Twilight & Harry Potter books, watching all the Batman movies that were ever on the big screen (so that I could then watch the Dark Knight), & watching the Harry Potter movies (after I read the books of course). I drew the line at American Idol & Survior (and all reality shows actually).
  

As I've already mentioned, this resolution has given me addictions....

• I first became addicted to the TV series Lost... of course I'm way behind everyone else in the world, since I was so late in discovering the show (thank you Kat, for showing me what I was missing!!!!), but still, I love it & had season 1 done in no time at all.
  

• My 2nd addiction, which is actually even stronger than my Lost addiction, is the Twilight book series. I can not get enough of it!!! I read all four books (plus the spoiler of the 5th book - Edward's side of Twilight - can not wait for it to come out!) in less than 2 weeks! I've also purchased the entire audio book collection of the series, which is what I am going to listen to on my trips to IN & AL. I'm very obsessed & can't help it!
  

I also attended a Jaycees meeting during January & think I'm going to join. I went with a client from Lulu (Bill, my fave client)'s wife, Kris (who is now my fave client's wife... course I don't know any other client spouses, but even if I did, I'm sure Kris would still top the list). Bill & Kris give me tips/ideas of where to take visitors and things to do in the Raleigh area. I still need to get myself transferred from the Indy Junior League to the Raleigh league.

During January, I continued to write to my adopted soldier (Mark)... I also got involved in the Ladies of Liberty (I'm on team 8!) and the letter writing team to support our troops even more. I've thought about fostering a soldier's dog while they are away, but too nervous that I'd get one that didn't get along with Ansley Jane.

Well, I believe that is January in a nutshell. It was a whirlwind, but it went well.