September Birthday Celebrations...part I...

The beginning of September is always a whirlwind of special meals, cakes, balloons, gifts, and celebration after celebration - and that's a-ok with me. We kicked the week of celebrations off with a pre-birthday dinner for me (try and keep September 3rd as much about Adam as possible, he's not super fond of having to share his day with me, sigh.) 

Before dinner we did a fun Labor Day crab feast lunch. Poppy and Uncle Mark came over - and sweet puppy Coda as well! 

Dinner was a delicious prime rib which my butcher hooked me up with at a crazy good price once he heard it was my birthday - gotta love that. We cooked it up in the sous vide and it came out perfectly, as per usual. 

It was a fun start to September birthdaypalooza!

West Coast Greeley Cousin Reunion...

Since I was already on the West Coast and since our meetings ended on Labor Day weekend I decided to extend my time in California by a day and visit my cousin Sean at his home in Santa Monica. I was really excited that I could make this visit work as it meant I got to meet his wife Myka and best of all their baby boy Bo! 

Their home is absolutely adorable and their view overlooking Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean was breathtaking! I would live on that back patio all year long if I could. Amazing! 

I also quickly fell in love with both Myka (she's fantastic) and that sweet baby Bo. I think I held him for a solid 2+ hours straight - I didn't want to put him down. The only thing that could get me to give him up was the offer to go hiking in the canyons with Sean. The whole time leading up to the visit I as hoping we'd get to do that. It did not disappoint! 

I can't believe they have these hiking opportunities so close to their home - I think we drove maybe 15 minutes before we got to the parking lot. Their awesome pup Logan led the way - he loves getting to do these hikes and all I could think was how much Sadie would have loved it as well. I couldn't get over the views - they got better with every step. Sean did have to teach me a thing or two about hiking - most importantly to SLOW DOWN! LOL - I'm so used to my normal pace that I didn't think about pulling back a bit to accommodate for the elevation changes - and boy did we do some climbing. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon and a great chance to catch up with Sean - wish we lived closer! 

That evening we had some delicious vegan Chinese food - yes, vegan - and yes, delicious! I got to then spend some good time sipping wine and getting to know Myka better. A short but perfect visit and I look forward to heading out West again - hopefully with family in tow! 

Maureen Goes West...Again...

Our annual sales meeting was in Palm Springs, CA last August - yeah - that's right, I said August. I'm not so sure the desert was quite where you want to be in August but alas it's where we all gathered for a few days of meetings, education, amazing food, and yes - a dry heat that felt, well, hot. 

Our resort was beautiful and after seeing those desert mountains earlier in the summer in Phoenix I was actually thrilled to be back surrounded by them. It really is a beautiful landscape out there and the sunrise and sunset skies were magnificent. I found that getting my walks in at 6:00 am (thank you jet lag) made for cooler temps and those amazing sunrises. There was beauty all around and it honestly reminded me quite a bit of Hawaii - shorter flight too. 

Of course the highlight is always being with my team. I just really love this group and I'm thankful everyday I get to work for this company and with these people. We had productive days and fun nights - it's kind of what we're known for. Work hard - play harder. 

One of the nights we had a private 7 course meal that we got to watch the chefs prepare. It was right up my alley and totally delicious. 

To wrap up our meetings we played a fun (& educational!) game of Jeopardy and then we got to spend the rest of our day doing whatever we wanted - that meant the pool for a bunch of us. Kind of the only way to survive the afternoon heat. 

So while the desert in August wouldn't exactly be my first choice - it was a great trip and I look forward to getting together with my team again soon!