Edmonton

Last weekend I got to go to Edmonton on a business trip. The show was so fabulous--I had such a good time w/the ever fabulous Canadian demonstrators!

We also got to mingle with our Canadian office coworkers--Carrie & Dale. Jaron and I paused for a quick pic w/Carrie....

Other than the event, the most exciting thing we did was visit the mall--which is the largest mall in North America! And indeed...it was massive. Here are a few things that you'll find there....

A wave pool....

Waterfalls and waterslides....

A mini-sized petting zoo (the animals were all minis, not the zoo itself)....

Bumper cars and a huge pirate ship....

Bourbon street w/many delicious restaurants....we went to Mike's Burgers or something like that....truly so delish (espesh the Diet Coke!)....and so we captured the moment (as well as the cheesy vinyl sayings).....me & Linda...

There was also an H&M, an amusement park, a few other stores (tons!), and even an ice skating rink where they played co-ed hockey after hours! So much to do, so little time.

And then maybe the coolest thing about the whole trip was the fact that all 3 of us had walk-out sliding glass doors to what was formerly a pool, or an open-air courtyard but now is a mini-stage in the form of a pagoda. Truly magnificent!! :) Just beyond the pagoda you could see our doors if you knew what to look for. I was hoping for a nightly viewing of the King & I, while Jaron was sure this was a former set for America's Next Top Model....

Alas we were both wrong when we saw a wedding reception here Saturday night (so predictable! :( haha)

Would You Rather Wednesday

Congrats to Leo--who won 2 weeks ago! He totally deserved it!!!

Now on to this week.....as I've mentioned before, an important part of the would you rather game is choosing between two options that you may not necessarily want. :) I really wanted to do something political this week since that is basically the only thing in the news right now....so here you go...

Bill O'Reilly (might I point out that he's is 6'4" and a best-selling author)....
or Wolf Blitzer (might I point out that he's really really nice in person! :)....

Carmindy

Last Thursday, I opened my computer to Word so Carmindy could type....and she was in hog heaven!! Apparently her mommy doesn't let her use the compter much (how rude!). And somewhere along the way she managed to turn the screen....look closely at the pic....Of course you can see by how cute she is that there was no way I could get mad at her. :) I call this look "the Popeye."

So if you ever need your screen rotated, let me know b/c after hours of fiddling, I figured out how to get it back to normal. Not a big deal--I totally wanted to have my neck adjusted anyway!

Hillary's Birthday

Last Saturday, the Wests gathered at Famous Dave's for a little B-day and BBQ!!! Not only does October have the best weather, but there are also so many birthdays that it's like a whole month of partying!! :)

From one end of the table....(Mom, Dad, Pop, Ally, Kyle, Hill's head).

And then from the other end...(Hill, Lance, Jeff, Courtney, moi & Mom)

Famous Dave's is one of my all time faves so the night was just fab!

And happy birthday TODAY to Vanessa & Lacey!! :) I hope you both had an amazing day!!

In other news, I missed Would You Rather Wednesday b/c I had a busy week and I'm outie tomorrow morning for a business trip....so never fear! It will be back next week for sure! In the interim, if you're aching to voice your opinion about something, check out Leah's would you rather--she does one every week too!

My Coworkers

There's never a dull moment at the office w/my coworkers--and being around such amazing people all day is reason #1 why I love my job so much. Last Friday we went to lunch and so I snapped a couple of pictures because it was such a good time and I didn't want to forget it....

Me and Linda....aren't her new glasses cute?

Jaron...deep in thought.....

Shiloh & Carrie....looking quite like a magazine ad....

Would you rather Wednesday

CONGRATS TO CHARLIE!!! He won last week 10 to 8!!!! Yay! I admit I purposefully posted a weird pic of Stabler---but Charlie is my love so how could I help it? And b/c of some of your comments, I realized I should post a better pic of him so here you go....

And if you still aren't tuning into Life.....please repent immediately! It's never too late!

This week I was planning to make ya'll choose between two people you'd rather not have--which is such a fun and important part of the would you rather game!! :) But alas, Body of Lies is coming out this weekend so I have to take this opportunity to pay homage to these two beautiful men:
So do you prefer Leo (I purposefully picked a very vampirey photo--don't you love it?)......
Or Russell (I picked "Are you not entertained" Russell in an effort to equal the playing field)....

Kansas City

1.5 weeks ago I was in Kansas City for my first business trip of the regional season. I didn't take a ton of pics but here are a few highlights...

My long lost roomie (ok she wasn't lost--but I hadn't seen her for 5 years) actually lives in Overland Park--which is where we stayed!! What are the chances? So lucky me....Tammy picked me up and we got to hang out for the evening.

Do you have an Oklahoma Joe's BBQ near you?

I have no idea if it's a chain but it was some of the BEST BBQ I've ever had. mmmmmm....

And my obsession w/self-timer photos continues....

Afterwards we went back to Tammy's and I met her husband Mitch. We watched the debates, chatted and just had a really nice night.Saying goodbye....so sad but so much fun to see Tammy!!!! She is just one more reason why my time in DC will never be equaled!!!

One of the fabulous things about my business trips is being able to wander and explore each evening. So Thursday and Saturday we did just that!! Sat. night, Cindy, Carrie & I wandered out to find some food...and we wandered so long that we nearly passed out. But at long last, we found the Cactus Grill.
Success! We were finally seated.....Diet Coke almost in hand!

Dorky picture but it reminded me just how very tired we were. We took a cab back to the hotel b/c we were just that tired! What I should've taken a pic of was the most delicious tamale that was ever made! Seriously I still cannot believe how good the food was at that place!!!!

Other than that I spent a few hours watching some amazing television....I watched a lot of CNN & Fox News--which is weird b/c I don't even know what channels those are at home.

But for sure the best thing I watched was an episode of True Blood. HELLO! That show is an absolute trainwreck: so shocking that you just can't look away! Not only can I not find any appropriate pics from the show to post, but I highly DO NOT recommend it to the average viewer. It's basically a cross between Interview w/the Vampire and Nip/Tuck (not that I've seen either of those). Try that on for size! :)

And that was Kansas City. p.s. the event was awesome!!! I loved every minute of it!

Miss Photogenic!

My beautiful little cousin has decided to run for Miss Idaho (Jaron can you give her some pointers?) so she needs our votes for Miss Photogenic. Please go here and vote for Megan West (easy to remember--same last name).

Isn't she lovely? Good luck Megan! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Would You Rather Wednesday

Congrats to Maksim who really deserved to win in a landslide (even though once again I thought it might be a difficult decision.....where are all my SYTYCD fans?).

This week is a classic case of Hillary vs. Shannon. And I'm pretty sure I am setting myself up for disappointment....but what's a girl to do?

So who is your favorite HOTTIE COP?

Charlie Crews from Life:

or Elliot Stabler from SVU: