I made it to SLC but my luggage didn't.

I took a travel day today. I got to my little place late last night, mostly because I waited at the luggage carousel until it came to a halt with none of my luggage in sight. I was secretly a little happy because my suitcases were extremely heavy with all of the training materials I received in Louisville and I didn't have to deal with them by myself. A nice delivery man dropped them off at my house a little after 3pm today. He thought the bags were heavy too - he asked me if I had rocks in them.

I also almost have my car registered. I went to Jiffy Lube to get a safety inspection and emissions test. Little Red passed both. Unfortunately, I can't find my Kansas Title. It might be in Colorado. I have a temporary registration until I can put my hands on it.

I am at the public library right now. No internet until Monday. Of course I have pictures to post but I forgot my camera at home.

Tomorrow is my first day at the office. Chris flies in tomorrow night for our first real weekend in SLC.

At Beerfest with the Zingo Guy

The man in Orange works for Zingo, which is a company that drives you home in your car. Each driver brings a collapsible scooter with them so they can scoot to the next drunken patron who wants a ride home but doesn't want to have to look for their car in the morning. We took a taxi home on this fine night.

Weekend in Nashville

We spent the weekend in Nashville visiting our friends Angela and Alan. We went to the Music City Brewer's Festival and some honkey tonks for a "holler and a swaller". These pictures were taken at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge

Beer, Bands, and Boots

Robert's Western World is a good old fashioned honky tonk.

Opryland Hotel

Out to Dinner with my Team

4 of my co workers from the Salt Lake City market office are in town this week to attend the same training sessions I am. Tonight we are going out to dinner together. It should be fun.

Bats 5, Bulls 4

Last night our class went to the Louisville Bats game at Slugger Field. The Bats were taking on the Durham Bulls. The stadium is REALLY nice for a minor league team. This team feeds the Cincinatti Reds. We were in the Humana Suite and the seats were much closer than the pictures let on. A fly ball actually flew right into one of the neighboring suites during the game. There were fireworks after the game too. This stadium also has $1 beers which is unheard of!

One of the Bats running the bases (he is between 1st & 2nd in the dark jersey).

The Bat mascot is standing on top of the dug out.

So Far, So Good

Everything is going well here in Louisville. I have met LOTS of people and keep meeting more every day. The first 2.5 days were basic on-boarding. Today was the second day reporting to my department which is National Network Operations.

My Infusion class got to meet with CEO Mike McAllister for a Q&A session. We did the same with Raja Rajamannar, who is the new Chief Marketing Officer. We also spent 3 hours with Bonnie Hathcock who is Executive Vice President of HR. She spoke to us about business and social protocol.

Tonight I am preparing for an all day presentation skills class that I have tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we will be attending a Louisville Bats game at Slugger Field.

Eat A Peach

Erica has a peach tree in her backyard. Right now they are green, but the fuzz is coming in nicely. We'll keep you posted on their progress. Who knows...we might just have to set up shop at the farmer's market :)

Residence Inn

This is where I am staying while I am in Louisville. I am giving a grocery shopping list to the front desk in the morning so I will have groceries when I am done with my first day of work.

Downtown Farmer's Market

We went to the downtown farmer's market yesterday and we really liked it. Lots of food stands, produce, meats, seafood, cheeses. Really good people watching (which we are finding characteristic of the entire city). It seemed much larger than the River Market farmers market in Kansas City.

The place was packed.


We grabbed lunch at the market. Erica picked this Patacones from a Venezuelan vendor. It is a plantain sandwich: beef, coleslaw and a plantain "bun" composed of plantain strips fried together. It was yummy.

Chris enjoyed a burrito. We stood in line a long time for this, a sure sign of good eats. It had coleslaw, carne asada, rice, with smoked jalapenos on the side. The jalapenos were a little too much for Chris.

New Apartment

The apartment is small, but we like it and it is all we need. I think we are going to call it the Ski Lodge from now on. We rented it sight unseen and were not really sure what to expect, but in retrospect it is the nicest apartment that we have looked at out here.

New bamboo floors were installed before we moved in and all of the fixtures are nice and modern. Stainless steel appliances, decent closet space, and a huge bedroom are some of the highlights.

We made friends with the neighboring house which is good since we needed to borrow some tools from them to get the bed together.

I will post pictures of the new pad soon...no internet yet, we are at a coffee shop at the moment and will be heading to the farmers market as soon as we are done here. Then off to the house for more unpacking and then packing for Erica's 3 week trip to Louisville, KY. We both fly out tomorrow morning.

Safe & Sound in SLC

We made it to Salt Lake yesterday around 3pm. It was another uneventful drive which is just the way we like it. Chris drove the U-Haul and Erica followed in the car. The picture is Erica's view for most of the trip. We were in Wyoming somewhere when the picture was taken.

We started unpacking and didn't break for dinner until after 8. At the end of the day, we were beat and slept really well last night.

Colorado Reception

Chris' fun Pictures

Here are some fun pictures that Chris took at Amanda and Scott's wedding at the Uptown Theater. Long exposure times, lights, and moving the camera kept him entertained for most of the night.

Leaving Kansas

Here are some pictures from our drive from Kansas to Colorado.

Say goodbye to Mr. Jayhawk.

Leaving Kansas and entering Colorado.

Less than one week until our next big drive...

Chilled Melon Soup

We picked up a NEW blender yesterday! It is a blender and food processor in one. It is also shiny and beautiful. The one we had saw its demise when a frozen strawberry blew right through the plastic pitcher and hit a nearby wall.

To try it out, I wanted to make a chilled strawberry soup. But, it's a case of the missing berries...we could have sworn we bought 3 pounds of strawberries this week. The first pound was cleaned and sugared for strawberry shortcake. This sounds odd, but we can't find the other 2 pound container of strawberries that we are certain we bought. ???

This led us to make a chilled cantaloupe soup on the fly instead. I took half a melon, a 6 oz. container of plain non fat yogurt, the juice of one lime, and some honey. Threw it all into the blender and voila! We chilled it over night in the fridge and will be having it with lunch today.

Chilled melon soup with blueberry garnish.

Nancy's Salmon Burgers

Chris's aunt Nancy gave us this recipe and we made it last night. They were really easy to throw together and Chris says they were delicious. We skipped buns and served them naked, sauce on the side, along with mustard and dill potato salad that I made the night before. Thank you Nancy!

2 - six oz. packages Chicken of the Sea salmon packages
1 eg slightly beaten
3 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup mayo
Chopped fresh parsley - about 2 tablespoons
1/2 tsp dried dill
20 Club crackers, crushed
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp pepper

Crush crackers in a large mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Form into 4-6 patties and fry in large pan with butter and olive oil.

Serve with the following sauce:
1/2 cup mayo
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 T sweet relish

Day off.

This morning after Chris made coffee and waffles, we went to our pool to do a little outdoor lap swimming. It felt good to get back in the water. We are hoping to do it more. At the end of our workout, it started getting dark with thunder and lightning in the distance. We got to the house just in time for the rain to start. It is supposed to be rainy and stormy here for the next few days.