a relaxing day after a cold week

Last week I was Training at our new Detroit office. Our office there is deifnitely a work in progress, but the feeling all over Detroit is fairly somber. This is the third class of people I have trained there, so I should be used to it by now. To discribe it a little better- the three major auto companies are located there and most of the sub-prime loan companies were based there. What this leaves is almost 10% unemployment and empty office buildings everywhere you turn. Many people ask why our company decided to open up an office there and the answer is simple. The space (in the office buildings) is cheap because the companies that folded need people to take over their leases. The people are cheap because there are extremely experienced sales people that are unemployed and don't want to leave. So our company took over a lease and offered employment to over 30 people in the last 3 months. We're growing slowly in order to maintain our culture and ensure the quality of our employees.

Although we are somewhat of a ray of light in a city full of clouds, our hiring is slower than orginally anticipated because of the current state of the economy. Going to Detroit really brings me to the gravity of the current economic state- sad and gray. (It's easy to forget about the economic woes living in San Antonio- a sunny city that is dominated by military employed people) I work hard while I'm there, extremely grateful to have a job that I thoroughly enjoy. Through the cold weather and the longer hours of work, I came down with some sort of flu by Friday night- and Saturday was miserable.

It's the first time I've gotten sick in a few years, so Stefan wasn't really sure how to react. He took great care of me with OJ, green tea, sprite, decongestant medications, chicken noodle soup, and lots and lots of Kleenex. After lots of rest and fluids, I was feeling much better by Sunday morning. On Sunday, we woke up and made some breakfast. (Borrowing the idea from my friend Gabby) I decided to post the recipe here:

1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt

1-2 tbsp. honey (to desired sweetness)

raspberries

Kashi Crunch- Honey Almond Flax

a sprinkle of cinnamon

Stefan made his famous Breakfast Sandwich for us, too!

Then we headed down to the Riverwalk where the MudFestival was going on. This is the annual weekend that they drain the Riverwalk, clean it, and refill it. When we got there though, nothing was going on, so we walked around a bit and headed home because Stefan had a lot of studying and preparing to do for his Checkride. I decided to let him study in peace and go see a girly movie on my own. I wanted to see Bride Wars anyways and there was no way I would even ask him to go with. So, I walked across the street to the theater and really enjoyed it.

A quote from the movie dedicated to my girlfriends...

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what; maybe you’ll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there is also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you, sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who's been standing beside you all along."

and sometimes, a girl gets extremely lucky and finds that man, has that dream wedding, and has many loved ones with her on that journey...