Shutterfly House Party

I was lucky enough to be chosen to host a HouseParty for...

 

I LOVE SHUTTERFLY.

For the party, Shutterfly sent codes for each guest to make a free 8x8 book PLUS 10 Christmas cards.



Our display of photobooks we've made



Demos



The party started with some fun games. Boys vs. Girls are always interesting... especially when you're all married! Everyone brought a yummy treat to share (thanks guy!) and Jeff made his family's traditional AMAZING cookies.

Several of my guests hadn't use Shutterfly before so I did a demo for them and then we jumped in creating accounts, uploading pictures, and starting our books.

Here are just a few pictures from our party (some people left before wasd able to take any pictures!)

The Nays thought using Shutterfly was much easier than other sites they've used to make photobooks

 Heather made a Shutterfly book of her wedding pictures

 

 The Coopers were really excited about new idea...or maybe they had just a bit too much sugar at the party? :)

I made my book about our San Fran trip.

Thanks Shutterfly! It was such a fun party and we all loved the free gifts!

Anna's Visit (And my 50th post)

Anna came to AZ to visit me!
Like usual, we played lots of games like Skip-Bo, Sets and Runs, and the Wii.

We celebrated the 4th of July with lots of food and fireworks

We took the Light Rail to Phoenix to a Diamondbacks game...

...where they actually won!


We also went to the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum. I wouldn't recommend anyone paying money to go see it. I liked maybe 2 pieces in the entire museum.
But! It inspired us to create our own contemporary art outside! Here are the pics:








We also saw Wicked!! Woohoo! One of my favorite musicals of all time! I could see this play a million times and still love it.




Thanks for coming Anna!! It was so fun :)

PS This was my 50th post on this blog. That's kinda cool :)

Client Pitch

Today I made my first ever client pitch. Wow.
Background: my mom is friends with Mary, one of the founders of "My Medical Memory" (M3). When Mary found out I did marketing she asked if I would be willing to meet with her to discuss the possibility of me doing work for M3. After that initial meeting with her, she asked if I would make a pitch to her 2 partners. Eek! A real client pitch!

I put together a presentation of what I could do for M3 and delivered it today. I was so nervous!! But I don't think it didn't hinder my presenting abilities because from what they told me afterwards, it was a dang good presentation :)

Anyways, they got back to me within a couple hours and drum roll please! .........................................................................................................................................................
I got the client! Woohoo!! Oh yeah, happy dance! work it, uh huh. Yay!! Ha ha. I officially have my first client of my very own. It is exciting and slightly, ok really, nerve-wrecking at the same time.

I really appreciate what a friend told me this week. Essentially he said, "Don't worry. You'll do great. You'll rise to the occasion--You always do". I love friends like that! Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm sure there will be updates as to how it is going later on.

WooHOOOO!!! (sorry, I couldn't resist one more. I'm just a little excited)

I Had the Time of My Life :)

Ashley and John and Brenton came to visit me over Memorial day weekend. It was a blast! I have missed them all so much and to have them come see me pretty much made my life ;) Highlights of the weekend: We went and saw the hilarious play, "Charley's Aunt" at Hale Theatre (which we all laughed so hard throughout the entire thing).

Ashley and John outside the Hale Theatre



Me and Brenton outside the Theatre



The next day we went to the Phoenix Zoo. It would have cost a total of $64 but thanks to the Culture Pass we got in for free! Brenton and I were sunburned and a bird pooped on John. Haha. (Sorry, John. ;) ) AND! We saw an escaped snake! And the guy behind us get’s the award for the dumbest comment of the day when he said, “It must not be poisonous if they’re letting it roam about like this!” The sun must have gotten to his head or something.

We ate Mexican food in an all pink restaurant; went swimming (getting a little more burnt); had a BBQ; watched movies; played games; stayed up late. Great day! But boy were we tired!



Our last day was Sunday so of course we went to church, but we also played games, and made music around the piano, and visited the Mesa Temple.

Ashley and John are so cute!!


We're cute too, just a little...different, haha ;)


Sadly, they had to leave really early the next morning. We did a lot in one weekend but it was over waaaaaaay too soon. I love my friends so much! Thanks for coming guys!

The Russians are coming!...Or just my friends :)

They're coming! They're coming!! I found out on Monday that it is a for sure thing that 3 of my friends are coming to visit me this weekend. I am estatic! For the past few days I've just been going around doing happy dances that they are actually going to come.

The only things standing between me and this amazing weekend are 2 more days, 8 hours of work, 1 dance class, and a little more cleaning.

WooHoO!!!

AND!

I found out that a couple more friends are visiting me in a few weeks! Woot!

This is looking to be an awesome summer :D

Kickin' it in Gear

This week, one of my dear friends told me she and her fiancé might come visit me over the holiday weekend! I am so excited!! It isn't for sure yet though. Regardless, my family has been kickin' it in gear getting our house ready for visitors. So many projects that were only half-way finished are getting done, like painting rooms, organizing, and decorating; everything, and I mean everything, is getting a thorough deep cleaning; we might even be getting new furniture--finally! (We decided we'd get new couches a while ago so we put our old ones in a yard sale and only one sold! So we've just had one couch in our family room for over a month now. Haha, It looks ridiculous.)

I really, really hope and pray my friends can come; but if they can't, at least we got alot accomplished! Our house is looking great :) My friends should suggest coming to visit more often! Better yet, they should actually come ;)

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Wow, so my last post was about how excited I was for my new job (which I have absolutely loved, by the way) but sadly this post is about the opposite. I found out last week that due to the struggling economy, R[E]D is shutting down it's office and as of this up-coming Friday all of us are getting laid off. That totally sucks. I was so shocked when I found out. I didn't even get to work there long enough for my benefits to kick in!

I don't think anyone expects that at their first real job out of college. I mean, who would ever think that within a month of starting their job they would be laid off? I've decided that maybe since I'm planning on being a "stay at home mom" later on in my life that all of these experiences are being crammed into a short period of time, just to make sure I don't miss out on anything. How kind. So I don't know what I am going to do, but I have got to find a job fast. Not just for the money but because if I have that much time on my hands I will go nuts!

But don't worry. Even though this really bad thing is happening, I am in good spirits. I have faith that Heavenly Father will bless me and things will work out. I know He has something amazing prepared for me, I just have to have faith in His timetable because sometimes I grow impatient waiting. In the end, everything always works out. It always has. And I have faith that it always will.

As my friend told me, "Liz, if you were a gambling person I'd say hold onto your cards because somehow you always come out the winner." Thanks :) Don't you just love friends like that? Yep. He's pretty wonderful and I appreciate the vote of confidence.