Special Events » Mi Vida Ocupada

Party for Bennett’s Baptism :)

Family Gatherings, Special Events 3 Responses »

May 112008

My nephew was baptized yesterday :)

I took a ton of photos at the church, but used Brian and Michelle’s camera, so hopefully Michelle will post photos on her blog when she gets around to it…. she is finding life with three kids taking up all of her time and being the top priority, so we may not see her posting as much on her blog.

I did however, take quite a few pictures at the after-party…..

Can you believe how big Bennett is getting? He is two months old today!

My Gram and Gramp just came back from AZ (They have a summer home here in MN). This was their first time meeting Bennett. You would never know from this picture that just a few hours prior, my Gram was at the funeral of her sister :(

Me and Brian….

Molly and Michelle

Ms. Bianca and then Annika with Erin and Stew

All aboard the Pink Panther Bus……

College Friends, Friend Time, Showers, Special Events 4 Responses »

Mar 012008

Last night was a really fun night…..a personal shower and bachelorette party for Kelly, one of my college girls. Up until Friday night I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it, having been sick earlier in the week and overworked the rest. Laura (brown) told me I better go…it was too long since "party Kristi" had come out with them. Too true…I couldn’t let my girls down and I knew I’d have fun. It was a pretty wild night, very few of the pics Laura and I took will actually make it to this blog!
We started with a personal shower for Kelly. Whoa, nelly! I think the "cleanest" gift that she received was this pink John Deere hat (Kelly will soon be living on a farm after her wedding) I don’t dare show you any of her other gifts, but you do realize this was a bachelorette party….use your imagination!

Here is Laura (blonde) with her 10-day old baby girl, Keira. I’d kill to have a body like hers just days after having a baby! Laura didn’t come out with us on the bus, but we sure missed her…

After the shower 19 of us girls piled into this bad boy: The Pink Panther bus.

We started the night at Shamrock’s, then to Moose Country to shake our booties, then finished the night at Bogart’s to see the Johnny Holm Band. Such a fun time! I still had a ton of fun even though I kept it pretty tame…I tried to drink but they just didn’t want to go down so good. Being there with everyone and seeing the drunken fun was worth it!

Me and Laura. Notice the wavy hair? I used my three-barrell for the first time since this time. I kinda felt like a had a fro! I also bought a new outfit on the way to the party. Gotta love that!

We got back to Kelly’s sister’s house late at night, ate a ton of munchies and then had a giant sleepover. Laura and I stayed up most of the night, looking at all of our pictures and laughing our asses off! Ah, it was almost like the old days when we all lived together in college. I miss those days so much when I hang with these girls. I love them! I will post a group picture when Laura sends me her photos.

Sweet Baby B turns 1!!

Babies & Kids, Birthday Parties, Family Gatherings, Special Events 8 Responses »

Jan 202008

Happy Birthday to my sweet little niece, Bianca, who turns one years old today!
Some of you have even been on this blogging adventure with me for a long time now and may remember when she was born.
How fast this year went!
Today is also Annika’s half-birthday (2 1/2 years old). Remember when Annika was born? It’s really cool that I have been blogging long enough to document it all!

Brian and Michelle had a really nice party at their house yesterday, the girls had a lot of fun opening presents and playing with all the new toys! I tried to get a photo of them in the matching dresses I gave them for Christmas, but you can imagine how easy that was to manage! LOL

Bianca can be so sweet and her smile melts your heart. Isn’t she a doll?!

Baby Shower Photos….

Friend Time, Special Events 3 Responses »

Jan 092008

Boy, I have really gotten lazy about blogging this year so far, haven’t I? Well, I have been crazy busy at work and have had a bunch of other stuff going on. Its kind of nice taking a little break….
Wanted to share some photos from a baby shower for Laura (blonde) last weekend. Its always great to see my old college roommates and friends….we enjoyed catching up and eating yummy appetizers. Laura is likely to have her baby right around my birthday (Feb 11)…that would be fun!

Foosball Tourney XXI Recap….

Birthday Parties, Family Gatherings, Special Events 4 Responses »

Jan 012008

As I mentioned previously, my family holds a Foosball Tournament every year when we all get together for the big Birthday Party.
This is serious business in my family, folks….. no kidding! For 21 years now we have been having the tourney and my dad is the official "Commissioner" of The Foosball Tournament.
Partners are drawn from a name in the hat and then written into the tournament bracket system….

Winners from past years are recognized in a variety of ways:

The Championship pair must choose between them who will take home the coveted Toilet Bowl Trophy. They are responsible for re-painting it for the next year’s tourney. Check out the 2008 version! Looks pretty good considering there are 20 coats of paint under the current look!

This year I was paired with my cousin’s boyfriend, Tony. He is really good…so good that we went all the way to the Championship Game!!! Unfortunately we lost :(

It was nice having so many of my cousins at the party….this is just a fraction of us!

Wanted to share a few other family pics from that day…..

Erin & Stew, happily married!

Family Gatherings, Special Events, Weddings 7 Responses »

Sep 232007

Friday night was the long-awaited wedding of Michelle‘s little sister Erin and her sweetheart Stew.

What a beautiful wedding and reception! Both were held at The Great Hall downtown St Paul.

Besides having Michelle as her gorgeous Maid-of-Honor, Erin also had several beautiful bridesmaids and Annika was the flower girl.

Ready for a few pics?

The full album is here.

And Annika had the time of her life dancing for nearly two hours straight! I don’t know how she did it without a nap and nothing but a piece of cake to eat all night, but check out this cute video of her dancing and watching the lights!

It was a very special evening and I am glad Erin and Stew included my family on their special day :) Check out Michelle’s blog for more wedding photos :)

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Friend Time, Looking Back, memories, Showers, Special Events 6 Responses »

Aug 152007

I know it may seem silly, but my friend Leslie and I have had these nicknames for each other since we were three years old. She is Peanut Butter and I am Jelly. You see, Les and I went to preschool together at Oak Hill Montessori and our moms carpooled since we lived so close to each other. We would usually go to either my house or hers after preschool and whenever our mom’s would ask us what we wanted for lunch, I would say "peanut butter" and she would finish it by saying "jelly"!

Now my dear old friend is on her way to motherhood…just 6-7 more weeks or so and her little one will arrive :) One of Leslie’s friends threw a baby shower last night at her home in Coon Rapids. All went well (except the fact that I got lost because my exit off the freeway was closed and had to take a 10 mile detour).

I feel very fortunate that I was able to reconnect with one of my oldest (or longest?) friends. It will be fun to see Leslie as a mother!

First wedding of 2007….

Friend Time, Special Events, Weddings 2 Responses »

Aug 122007

I am sure most of you who have been following this blog for the past couple of years are shocked that this past Saturday was just the first wedding I have attended in the 2007 calendar year! I think that I had already attended at least 5 weddings by August every other year for the past eight years now! LOL.

The wedding I attended was for Tina, a former classmate of mine. She married a man named Rusty in a small outdoor ceremony in his parents backyard in New Richmond, WI. Despite it being Hotter than Hades (the humidity was THICK), it was a nice ceremony and gathering.

A couple of our other friends, Miles & Becky, were also in attendance (Becky was actually one of two bridesmaids). It was really nice to see them too!

Becky and me…sweating our you-know-whats-off!

I stayed at the party for a short while, but it was just too darn hot to sit outside. Once the storm clouds started rolling in, we took that as our cue to hit the road! Aye…how many more days until FALL???? As much as I love summer, I am ready for a cool-down :)

Baptism Pics…

Family Gatherings, Special Events 5 Responses »

Jun 062007

My niece Bianca was baptized on Saturday. Here are some pics from the ceremony and from the party afterward.

Bianca was so good…not a peep out of her!

Biance with her parents and Godparents (Nicky E & Steve K)

Michelle and me…

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Gram & Gramp (I have seen them more in the past few weeks than in the past year!)

and how cute is Annika?!

BBQ Party…

Family Gatherings, Special Events, Video Blogs, Videos 4 Responses »

May 192007

It was a lot of fun over at Jeff’s place Friday night for his BBQ party!! With a little help from his good friend Hucky, the two of them made 12 racks of ribs, a 16 lb Beef Brisket, and a couple dozen brats. Delish! I made fresh pico de gallo and also a couple of trays of layered taco bean dip with tortilla chips and my mom made her broccoli salad and several strawberry cheesecake pies (with graham cracker crust) for dessert. Hucky’s wife Toya made potato salad and Coleslaw. Everything was so good it vanished pretty fast, especially the brisket!! There were about 40-50 of Jeff’s friends/family at the party, including my Gram and Gramp! It was nice to see them now that they are in MN for the summer (I hadn’t seen them since last October).

I also invited Sonja and her daughter Angelina to the BBQ….. Angelina and Annika got to know each other and played for quite awhile. So, so, cute! They were taking turns getting a ride” in this vintage 60′s chair (made by a well-known artist, Herman Miller)

The fam all left Jeff’s BBQ at around 9pm, but that is when the fun partying was just beginning! I ended up staying until around midnight :) Here is the the album of my pics. Glad you had a nice birthday, Jeff!

Looking forward to more BBQ’s at Jeff’s house in the future!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Hard to stay away…

Friend Time, Great Outdoors & Weather, Scrapbook Pages, Special Events 8 Responses »

Feb 252007

Its only been a week since I last had a meaningful post and I thought I would be fine to let it go for awhile, but what can I say? I love blogging too much to stay away too long.

Does that make you happy to hear?!

Thanks to all of you who were concerned about my apparent hiatus. Nothing to worry about! There was some concern over how much time I spend on my computer…..TOO MUCH time. Time that I should be spending on other priorities when I actually have time to spare. Its hard though…. there is just so much to do on my computer….checking e-mails, IMing, blogging, reading all the blogs in my blogroll (I have about a gazillion), keeping up with Scrappjazz message boards & gallery, online shopping, MySpace, Facebook, tracking my finances & paying bills, photo editing and uploading, scanning and stitching layouts…..I could go on & on. How have I let myself get so wrapped up in all this stuff??? Is there a way I can balance all of this and continue to lead a busy life? To maintain a healthy relationship with those who mean the most to me?

I’ve had all sorts of stuff to blog about this week, try to make this short and sweet :)

We had a BLIZZARD last night. Like12 inches of snow. Whoa!

Instead of staying home all safe and warm and snug, I went to a party in honor of Lanee’s 30th birthday…good thing we live so close or I would not have gone. The roads were treacherous because the plows couldn’t possibly keep up with the blowing snowfall. Only half the guests were able to make it because of the weather, but we still had a lot of fun drinking, playing cards and eating a ton of good food. Me duele el estomago hoy!

Lanee had several beautiful flower arrangements and while I was trying to get a shot of these pretty lilies that were in her bathroom, I attempted a self-portrait in the mirror.

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Earlier on Saturday I went to Bri & Mich’s to scrap with Michelle. We both got some really cute pages done :)

Ms. B is getting big! It was fairly easy to scrap with her around because she was content sleeping/laying in her little chair. Annika, however, couldn’t resist all the beautiful supplies we had strewn all over the dining room. Can you blame her? Too much new, fun stuff to look at and touch. It’ll be great when she is old enough to do some scrappies with us!

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Here is one other funny picture of my cat Phoenix. He sleeps like this all the time….he is part dog, ya know.

Have a great week :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Banners & Schemes, Birthday Shout-outs, Friend Time, Special Events 20 Responses »

Feb 112007

Here I am, 30 years old! That sounds ancient to anyone 28 and under, but really, it doesn’t feel any older than 29, or 28. I don’t even have any wrinkles, and maybe just a few gray hairs (which I attribute more to teaching than old age!). LOL!

Had my voice back and felt good enough to keep my birthday plans last night…dinner at Boca Chica on the West Siiiiiiiiiiiiiide. This place is fantabulous!!!!!! Authentic Mexican. My new favorite :) I was feeling good enough to actually eat a couple of tacos and have a few drinks.

It was a nice dinner with some of my best friends (and our guys too!)…..

There were musicians that serenaded our table and sang to me…..

If you would like to see the rest of the pics from our dinner, check out this album.

One last thing, new banner!

I think today is going to be a great day!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

A few pics from Mary’s bday…

Friend Time, Special Events 2 Responses »

Feb 032007

We had a really great time on Wed night when our little group went out to dinner at Rudy’s Red Eye to celebrate Mary’s bday. Here we are (minus our men) ….not a great picture, and some of the group couldn’t make it, but it was us in the moment…

Mary and Troy…

and how about this birthday dessert??

After several hours at the restaurant, we all went back to L&R’s to hang out some more. Good times!

Is it Wed. already??!! Time flies…

Cats, Family Gatherings, Special Events 7 Responses »

Jan 312007

Wow, this week has flown by so far! I guess the expression is true, that "time flies when you’re having fun". Lots of fun so far this week. Had company over on Sunday afternoon and then later we went out for pizza with Lanee & Rog. Had dinner with them again on Monday night….homemade spaghetti…yummmm! I know I’ve said it before, but it is great that they live so close and like to get together so often (usually last-minute).

Last night Brian & Michelle had our families over for homemade pizza. This date had been scheduled for about a month now…originally it was a "night before baby party" since Bianca was scheduled to be born by C-sect today. Since she came 11 days early, this was a "welcome home, Bianca party" instead! Also a chance for us to see my parents before they leave this Thursday for Florida (gone for 5 weeks). The guest of honor was one sleepy baby….

Unlike her baby sister, Ms. Annika was wide awake. I just can’t believe how cute and sweet she is!!! And funny too….I totally need to take some video of her talking gibberish. She has a lot to say, you just can’t understand any of it!!

Got home and found all four of my cats chillin together on the bed…

Don’t I have a good looking family of felines??!!

Had to change my banner again. Can you see it up there? Sometimes I have to republish my site a couple of times before the changes take effect. Loved this photo I found on Flickr of the snow in Tucson last week. I like to use the "print screen" function to capture the image…that way I will have a record of what banners and schemes I used in the history of this blog. I wish I had learned how to do that two years ago when i started blogging! I love having a widescreen monitor too, you can see so much more :)

Looking forward to a couple of new features I am adding to my blog. I will tell you more about it when I do what I want to do :)

Looking forward to dinner with my girls tonight to celebrate Mary’s birthday.

Ciao!

Pics from the Bachelorette Party….

Friend Time, Special Events 5 Responses »

Jan 222007

Another bachelorette party!! Another friend getting married :)

This time the guest of honor was Mandy G, a friend of mine from high school who will be getting married in mexico in a few weeks. At around 4pm Bradie, Jessie and I took a cab from Bradie’s house to downtown St Paul where we met the rest of the party at Pazzaluna for a few drinks before heading across the street to the Lowry Theater to see We Gotta Bingo, an interactive dinner theater. The show was alright….not as good as I had hoped it would be. We played four games of bingo and were served Simek’s-quality lasagna for dinner. We all agreed that the dining experience was a disappointment, but it was a nice, different idea than the typical bachelorette party. The show was done by 7:30!

We went to Great Waters Brewing Company after the show for a few drinks and to hold a personal shower for Mandy. She got some really great lingerie! Later we went to Fhima’s for a few more drinks. This place was cool but VERY laid back….those of us who were still left wanted to go somewhere in St Paul that we could shake our booties….so about 7-8 of us found a ride and headed to the Wild Onion on Grand Ave around midnight. We definitely did some booty shakin’ up in there! All was well until bar-close when Bradie realized that someone had stolen her purse. Her gorgeous purse she bought in Rome with all her credit cards, ID, check book, car keys and Jessie’s brand-new celly. Effin bummer, it was!!! The bouncers at that place were pretty big A-holes about it too. Effers!!! We took a cab back to Bradie’s and finally went to bed at around 4:30 am. Woke up the next morning at 9am. Not enough sleep at all!

***ETA: I removed the slideshow because it was slowing things down a bit. If you would like to see the rest of the pics from the bachelorette party, check out this album!

So that’s a brief review of the party. Congrats to Mandy on her upcoming tropical wedding, wish I could be there!!

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Other stuff:

**I wanted to point out a fabulous new feature that I have added to my blog. If you run your mouse over any link that is highlighted, you will see a preview of that site. Try it out…pretty cool, huh?? My fellow bloggers can install this feature by going to Snap.com and getting an html code. I love it!

**My deepest sympathies to my friend Lori who buried her mother today. So, so sad. Lori, I am so sorry I wasn’t at the funeral…if I had known I would’ve been there in a heartbeat. Love you. Call me if you need anything.

**A layout I did awhile back but forgot to post. The background paper has a scallopped edge, but you totally can’t see it with the white background of the blog :(

** I discovered how to use Photoshop Actions after finding this site. Way cool!!!! Check this out:

Have a nice week everyone!!

Pizza & A Movie….

Family Gatherings, Special Events 9 Responses »

Dec 312006

On Saturday afternoon I went to see Night at the Museum (Ben Stiller) with my family, in honor of my dad’s birthday. We do something special every year on his birthday, usually pizza and a movie. The movie was pretty cute and enjoyable (unless you have people behind you who have an obnoxious laugh and tend to laugh at everything). Julie, I totally forgot about the mini-donuts! Maybe next time :)

Afterward we went to Davanni’s for deep-dish pizza. They are the best local place for deep-dish…I highly recommend the "pink" sauce which is just an extra garlic sauce that goes under the cheese. Next come all the ingredients. The chunky red sauce goes on top of the pizza so not to make the crust soggy, of course. Totally delish!

Only took two pics this time. First the guest of honor. You may remember this post a year ago about his famous birthday.

And here is the other. Sorry Bri & Mich, don’t know why I didn’t take one of you guys? Probably ‘cuz I took so many at Christmas! LOL

What do you think about me with my wavy hair? I bought a 3-barrel curling iron so I could do my hair the way that Sonja sometimes does hers. (Its totally cute on her!) Just wanted to give it a try, not sure if it is a good look for me or not? I had perms most of my life so this isn’t that big of a shock to see myself with big hair. I don’t think its that bad (just different), but E thought it looked kind of crazy. Men are so weird about change sometimes! I had to take another picture once I got home because I am not sure if/when I will ever do this again! If you think its a nice change, please do me a favor and let me know :)

Today is New Year’s Eve and I am not sure what (if anything) we are going to do tonight. Nobody has anything planned and I really don’t want to go to a bar or be out on the road with all the losers who will be drinking and driving. I’ve had terrible headaches all week, so I kind of want to see how I feel.

Hope everyone else has fun tonight…please be safe!

Steak & Lobster

Friend Time, Special Events 7 Responses »

Nov 152006

Had a special birthday dinner planned at Morton’s The Steakhouse, downtown Mpls. We invited Lanee & Rog to come with us (last-minute thing) and despite the crazy expense of the place, they happily agreed to join us.

Morton’s was definitely the nicest and most expensive restaurant any of us had ever eaten at! From the valet parking to the complimentary coat-check to the dim-lit atmosphere, this place was a class-act. We started our meal with a lovely white wine…..they had so many nice expensive varieties, I cannot remember exactly what we ordered, but it was really good! Instead of just giving you a normal menu to choose from, the server brought a cart to our table to show us all of the cuts of meat, live lobsters and whole vegetables that would be used to make our meal. Everything on the menu was ala carte and they were not shy at all about their prices!!

I ordered a Ribeye steak. Rog got the New York Strip and Lanee had crab cakes. This was the "small" ribeye I ordered and it was the best steak I have ever had in my life!!!!! We also had sauteed mushrooms and potatoes on the side.

As if the steak wouldn’t be enough, I ordered a jumbo lobster tail to share. Why not over-indulge at that point????

Did I mention yet the second bottle of wine that we ordered with our steaks? A fabulous Pinot Noir.

We had a wonderful time :) Extra glad we had the giftcard when we saw the bill. With tip included, it was $434 for the four of us!!

Lanee & Roger: Wedding Recap

BFF, Friend Time, Special Events, Weddings 6 Responses »

Oct 162006

Saturday turned out to be much nicer (weather-wise) than many of us had expected, given the cold dreary weather we had all of last week. It was only about 50 degrees, but the sun was shining and the wind was mild….not too bad for an outdoor wedding! The wedding was short and sweet….Lanee & Sonja’s brother Matt played his guitar and sang them a couple of love songs. It was so sweet!!! I also had a job during the ceremony…leading the guests in The Lord’s Prayer :)

Of course I have pictures to share, although I didn’t take nearly as many as I usually do….. (Kim, have you looked at yours yet?? Please send them to me!)

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Their reception was at the White Bear Country Inn. Yummy dinner, the 617 House Band was jammin, lots of dancing and drinking. Great being able to celebrate this joyous event with my best friends!!

Here are a few others…….

Matt & Jacquie……..Lanee, Kim and Mary

Me and E (who HATES having his picture taken and refused to smile. Grrrr!)

and Taylor, Mary’s daughter.

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Mary & Roger……Lanee and I

Lanee & Sonja’s dad plays the harmonica and played a few songs with the band….he was awesome!!!

We stayed at the reception until it was over at midnight. I had a lot of fun and I paid for it most of Sunday! L & R are leaving today for their honeymoon on Madeline Island :)

Have a great week!

Surprise shower!

BFF, Family Gatherings, Friend Time, Showers, Special Events 5 Responses »

Sep 182006

On Sunday afternoon, my best friends and I threw a surprise bridal shower luncheon for Lanee (which is pronounced Lah-nay, not Lan-nee) at Mary's house. Only it turned out not to be a surprise because Lanee figured out that we were up to something. Or Sonja spilled the beans!? Oh well, it was still a great time! We had a taco salad bar (thanks to Decoy's in WBL for making us the yummy shells) and spent most of the time chatting and eating. I realize I should have taken this picture before I mixed everything up in the salad…it looks kind of gross, but it was very good!

Check out the full album of bridal shower pics. I am really looking forward to our girls retreat (me, Lanee, Sonja, Kim and Mary..plus Lanee's cousin Olga) this coming weekend at Madeline, Island (Lake Superior). Going to be a great bonding experience….I hope!!!! Aye, we have all been BFF since Jr. High and we have been through everything together. As much as we all love each other, we don't always get along. The five of us haven't all been together to spend time like this in a very long time, so this is going to be very special:)

After the shower, I drove up to my parents house for Sunday Dinner with Gram and Gramp. They had all come at noon to watch the Vikes game on my dad's new big screen HD TV. (The Vikings ended up winning in OT 16-13….E was at the game with a buddy, but I of course, did not see any of it being at the shower).

Look at how big and adorable Annika is getting! And Michelle looks wonderful for 20 weeks! We will hopefully know by the end of the week if the baby is a boy or a girl. She and Brian leave for Maui on Friday morning…omg, how fun would it be to buy some baby Hawaiian clothes?! Annika would be so stinkin cute in a little hula outfit!

Me and Jeffrey with Gram and Gramp. They head back to Scotsdale in just a few weeks. I hope I can go down there to visit this coming year!

Kara and Jesse Wedding

Friend Time, Special Events, Weddings 11 Responses »

Sep 102006

Kara and Jesse…….Happily married as husband and wife.

So much in love!

And I couldn’t be happier for them :)

They got married at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis. Gorgeous! The bells chimed for a good 15-20 minutes after the ceremony. Such a pretty sound!

Their reception immediately followed at Windows, on the 50th floor of the IDS Center. What a cool place, especially at night! They had cocktails and Hors d’ Oeuvres in one big room for an hour or so until dinner was called, then they shifted us all to the dining room.

Dinner was excellent! The choices had been walleye, chicken or filet mignon. Filet all the way for me, baby! I was so full from dinner but I had to try the cake…amazing! There was one of these on every table.

We ate the cake while watching Kara & Jesse’s wedding video….pics of each of them growing up and then pics of them together. Very cute! The

After dinner we shifted back to the room we had been in earlier where the bars and dance floor were set up. Dancing and drinking all night long! Fun times.

I took too many pictures to put them all in this post, but they can all be viewed here: Kara and Jesse wedding pictures.

Two of the coolest features of the night were the chocolate fountain

and the Photo Booth. Mary and I were lucky enough to catch Kara when it was our turn so that she was able to jump in with us!

Not only did they have a fairy-tale wedding, they are also leaving tomorrow for a fairy-tale honeymoon. Two weeks in Italy and then two weeks in Fiji.

Congratulations, guys! xoxoxoxo