Monday, September 23, 2013

Adventures in Stolen iDevices

With such a great weekend with my cousin and his wife in town, I was feeling pretty good on a Monday morning. I started the day with a good physical therapy session for my strained sacroilic (SI) pain that I've been experiencing in my lower back for the past few months and even was able to get coffee on the way into the office. Meetings went well, and then lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse with my cousin on their way out of town. All in all, good stuff.

I was back in the office for an event debriefing and was feeling pretty good about the productivity level of the day. Had even texted with the husband and confirmed some fun house shopping items for the evening - namely, a programmable thermostat and light switch plates! Awesome stuff, really.

When I got back to my desk, I noticed that my iPhone 3 in its pink silicone case was missing. It wasn't plugged into the headphones that were still lying on the desk where I had dropped them an hour before, pausing my music and headed into my 2 pm meeting.

I thought that was strange and started looking around. It was then that I noticed my iPhone 5 in its green and white polka dot case wasn't on the stand where I had left it. So I called it from my office phone but it rang and rang and went to voicemail, without me hearing the familiar "In the big, blue world!" from Finding Nemo the Musical at Disney World.

Huh. Maybe I left it in my cousin's car? I found his number via Google contacts and gave him a call from the landline. He and his wife looked throughout the car and it wasn't there. I called the smokehouse and no one had a lost phone there either.

I started to panic a bit. I opened every drawer around and enlisted my intern for help. Was it in the board room where I just was? The coffee closet? My car? The downstairs bathroom for some reason? Did anyone turn it into the front desk? No, no, no, no, no.

It was when I was describing to a co-worker what to look for when I realized my iPad in its purple stand up case wasn't on the carnival tickets I had purchased for this weekend's event and dropped on my desk this morning.

Three iDevices were sitting on my desk and all three were GONE. I called my phone number again and now it went straight to voicemail. Someone had taken it and turned it off, tired of the ringing.

Losing your phone is awful. Having it stolen truly is a violation. I feel like my arm has been cut off. I've lost about 500 photos since the last time I backed up and I've been working all afternoon to change every password I can think of.

We suspended the number and went to the AT&T store this evening to get a replacement. The store manager was able to approve a new phone for me, even thought I have a year left from being eligible for an upgrade. I had to sign up for the Next program, but even thought it's more per month, I can get a new phone in 12 months and go back to the 2 year contract if we want. But I have *MY* phone number. That's what I was most worried about. I've had this number for over 10 years and so many friends, family and event planning vendors have that number! When the customer service lady on the phone said I couldn't get it back without the physical phone, I freaked. Thank goodness for the store rep who set me straight and got everything set up.

Now I have to go back it up and reinstall things... so how's your Monday going?

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Adventures in Warming a New Home

My new home is very, very, very warm. :)

We had our housewarming party yesterday and saw so many wonderful friends and co-workers happy smiling faces filling our new home. I feel very loved.

Everyone came bearing gifts - which I totally did not expect! We have a great supply of wines of all colors, little Disney knick-knacks to decorate our mantle and bookshelves, gift cards to the home improvement stores, and a very sweet set of things that might seem incongruous, but with the poem really made me cry.

Blessings for a New Home:

Bread - that this house may never know hunger.
Salt - that life may always have flavor.
Wine - that joy and prosperity may reign forever. 

There of course was bread and salt in the bag, and the biggest magnum of Riesling wine I'd ever seen! Along with those things, there were fall-themed kitchen towels and a pot holder. To add to it, she gave us a fluffy blanket to "warm" our new home. 

The blessing is from It's a Wonderful Life which I guess I should go watch now, huh? What an incredibly sweet present. I think I might end up making this my go-to housewarming gift.

P.S. I promise when my house is cleaned up after the party, I will take pictures and show you the new place!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Adventures in a New (to me) Decade


Today is a very exciting day.

At 10:57 p.m. this evening, I will have been on this earth for exactly thirty years.

30.

That seems like a huge number. It's a new decade. There's a new bigger number at the start of my age. I am no longer in my 20s.

A few weeks ago, I was apprehensive. People kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday (I never know) or what we should do to celebrate (I never have any ideas, even as event planner). The big 3-0 seemed to be looming and I didn't know what to do about it.

Growing up, I think that everyone looks to the ages of their friends parents or cousins or what have you and you imagine where you'll be at their age. 30 seemed very far away. But then again, I feel like I just turned 21 and made some really bad choices by accepting the Humphrey's birthday plunger that evening and then having to make it home up the hill outside the Laclede garage. ;)

I don't quite know where I thought I would be at 30. I always thought I would be married and perhaps I thought we might have kids at this point.

But in 30 years, I have had some amazing adventures. I've met the love of my life, traveled to Europe and Africa and all across the U.S, discovered my absolute obsession in Disney. I've been planning events (the ideal job for me, even if I didn't know it growing up) full time for almost six years. I've been a small business owner planning weddings for a year and a half. I've put a husband through law school and seen the joy in my love's eyes when he comes home happy from his day at the office. I bought a house.

Who knows what the next year, ten years, thirty years, sixty years holds? I know that I want to enjoy it. I want to travel the world with the love of my life. I want to expand our family. I want to end a day and actually complete all my to-do list.

I think I can make that happen.