Google Lenoir Christmas Party 2012

AKA- Awesome birthday party


Google had their annual Christmas Party this past Friday Night. It also happened to be my birthday. It was one of the best birthdays I have ever had.

ok- it begins with a trip to Charlotte (1.5 hours away) where we get put up in a hotel less than a block from the restaurant.

An awesome friend (hi Kendra) hooks us up with a babysitter who came to our hotel room for us so we were able to actually go and stay overnight. Its one of the drawbacks to a nursing baby who doesnt take a bottle. It turned out great and I was able to feed her and put her to bed before we left. Zeke had a blast with the babysitter as well and they both slept in past 8am!

Dave and I get semi- gussied up and head over to the restaurant, Chima Brazilian Steakhouse.

Gauchos roam the dining room continuously offering exquisite churrasco of over 15 rotisserie meats including top sirloin, filet, ribs, lamb, pork, chicken, sausage and fish.

Chima's sumptuous salad bar blends Brazilian and American favorites from salads, cold cuts, cheeses, soup and traditional Brazilian hot dishes.

sounds good, eh?

It was a blast.






After dinner they had some gambling tables set up and they gave us $50 000 to start with.

We were to have fun with it.

I had never played any of the games offered so it was a fun learning experience. The people were very helpful.






You were then able to cash in $10 000 for a raffle ticket for some lovely prizes.

My friend Christina won the grand prize of a brand new TV!!

Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.... I almost forgot to mention another awesome thing.... Dave won the door prize of a $100 gift card to Chimas!!! whoohoo!!
that was a great Birthday Party/Present for me!!!

hey look- its a Kendra and Eric with us!

I really recommend you to click though and see the rest of these photos and tag people you know in them 

Google Christmas Party 2011

So my husbands work has an annual Christmas Party.

Each year it has been in a different location and I think this was the best one by far.

We went to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC where we had dinner followed by a dueling piano bar, a stay overnight and a wonderful breakfast.

The Grove Park Inn hosts a gingerbread competition every year. Some of the requirements are that there must be gingerbread and everything must be editable. There was tons of gingerbread sculptures! even the youth ones were pretty amazing :) I dont think we got to see them all.

After breakfast we headed into Asheville and took a trolley tour and grabbed a couple geocaches (ask dave who found them!)

This was the very first time BOTH Dave and I have been away overnight away from Zeke. We had a good friend come and stay over with him and they had a blast together. Although I hear he was a little put off by us not coming to get him in the morning :)
Thank You very much Courtney!! We wouldnt have been able to go without you!


I hope you enjoy these photos our our mini vacation.

First Paid Babysitter aka- New Years Eve dinner out

Well Let me just say before I go on about my topic today - that Zeke weaning himself isnt so bad. I left him during the day with his Daddy while my family who was visiting and I went shopping for 6 hours.


Ok- We have had babysitters before and have left them milk in a bottle etc. But they were friends and adults. They just loved spending time with Zeke and didnt want to be paid.

This time we got a girl from our church to watch Zeke while we went out to dinner on New Years Eve.

This brought back SO many memories for me. I kept reminiscing about when I got picked up for babysitting jobs- the smell (he was a smoker), the anticipation, the tad bit of worry, what kind of snacks did they leave out? - you know all that stuff!

I got over the worry thing pretty quick. I babysat almost every week (some times a bit less sometimes more) for one family in particular. I did this from the time I was 12 (i think) until I left for college at almost 18 when my sisters took over.)
This is a long time. When I started they only had 2 children so I saw 2 more born into the family. The youngest I babysat was at 6 weeks old.
We have agreed on a trade off- I can claim that I raised their kids and they get to say they bought me my first car and some of college!

So back to our sitter. I think she enjoyed herself. She brought along a movie and homework and a book. I think that she even got to do all 3!
BUT she didnt touch the snacks!
I barely remember a time for that family that I didnt eat the snacks- I mean common! I was a teenager!
But I remember that feeling of going to new peoples houses. It didnt feel quite right.

Dave and I very much enjoyed our dinner with the Joyners. We didnt even talk about our kids (much) and just had a good night out! We need to do that again.

I hope to get this sitter again and again- Now I just need to convince Dave to go out!