The Great Switcheroo!

My first day of work at the greatest financial institution (seriously) began Monday! After spending the day getting "oriented" with the values and culture of the bank- I was eager to get to work. My manager appeared to have changed some time from last week to this Monday- and it appeared I would actually be reporting to someone different on Tuesday morning. Hmmm... what would Tuesday- Day Two- hold in store for me?

So Day Two arrived and I met with my "new" reportaing senior- so, here is where it gets interesting! Now, what do you think of when you think of NASCAR? Well, if you think it is some geniuses spreading paint on a wall- ahem, canvas- or if you think MLB consists of a variety of individuals "on show" for many to come and see- then- there you have it I will be working in those arenas!

But really I have been tapped to head the Arts and Culture Sponsorship initiative at the Bank (anything you see here under Arts and Culture- I will probably have some hand in- and will be rolling up the larger programs into a National Platform for the Bank). So, while I will actually be working hand in hand with many of the sports reps due to relationships in our local markets- I will not actually be doing what I originally thought! At the end of the day, I think I have been given a great responsibility/opportunity- and am looking forward to it. Our sponsorship team works very closely so we all kind of help each other out- and I have already volunteered for the Super Bowl and next year's All-Star Game (I am not sure how serious they took me)- but I will be leading a new national effort to show our customers and clients that we do indeed care about something other than sports- blasphemy- I know! But, it looks like it will be very cool. So instead of figuring out how we can leverage Pujols' amazing HR pace this year- it looks like I will be leveraging Matisse as a Sculptor- in Dallas, SF and Baltimore. And it also looks like I will be focusing on a lot of Museum work- and I am sure I will soon be visiting Boston and NYC to see the work they have already started up there. It looks like it is going to be an amazing experience! Plus I am just across the hall from the MLB and NASCAR VPs so I am the first in their path for some good tickets!

Alright- that is it for now- I am sure it will change as the next few days pass- it gets more involved each day- obviosuly- but for now, at least, it seems pretty cool- and I am excited baout it. And to feed my sports habit, Nate and I will be working the Bank of America Criterium the first weekend of August. So, this is still very much the right place for me.

Some pictures of the new house!

The front of our new place!

The kitchen

The left side of the living room!

From the living room heading up the stairs --

These are a just a few- we didn't think we would bore you with the upstairs- bedrooms, or the downstairs- flex space which is now our gym/spare living room/spare bedroom!

We would love to have you visit so give us a call or shoot us an email!

New Arrivals!!

Baby Watch has ended!! Kevin and Bryn welcomed the arrival of their three beautiful babies on Friday at 5:58pm! Mom and babies are all healthy! Nate and I drove to DC on Friday and spent the weekend visiting Bryn, Kevin and the babies in the Georgetown hospital!

Brendan Richard arrived first at 3lbs 5oz. He is doing great!

Next came Katherine Elizabeth at 4lbs 6oz! She has a CPAP on here- she is breathing on her own, this is just to make sure everything is fine. She is off of this already!

Last, but definitely not least, came Ryan Richard at 4lbs 5oz! Ryan seemed to be doing the best of all when they were born, but the other two have caught up quickly- and all are figuring out this eating thing pretty quickly!

Nate and I had a quick, but great trip to see them and look forward to our next visit to see the babies when they are all home (which will be soon!)

Fly Fishing on the 4th

Maybe this could be our cabin?!!

We decided to take a 4th of July trip to celebrate everything- so on July 3rd after a weekend of setting up house, we headed to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is only 2 hours away and is beautiful! There is a lot of hiking and the mountains are actual mountains- not just the hills I was expecting! So we plan on visiting here quite often- well, maybe not Biltmore every time, but definietly the local moutains and streams!

We spent the 4th learning how to fly fish- and had a blast!

Trust me, this fish is much bigger than it looks! Look out Montana and Wyoming, here we come!! Gaelyn, our guide, was great, and managed not to look too scared as a fly came zipping by his head! (His own doing- not ours!)

We highly recommend NLWilson's guide services- at least in Asheville they were great! We hope to visit a few of their other shops (Jackson Hole New Zealand) soon!

After a great day of fishing- we went back to the Inn (above with Nate saying hi) and enjoyed dinner and an amazing fireworks display for the 4th.

The following day we toured our future cabin- ahem- the Biltmore House- then headed back to Charlotte.

The last month or so

Until I get some pictures of the house up- I will give you a quick summary of the past month's happenings.

I graduated from Kellogg with my MBA (woohoo) June 17th with my parents, brother Kevin and Nate's parents all in attendance (Mom has some pictures I will be sure to add one or two once we have them). Then Nate flew back to Charlotte (where he had already started work) and I began to pack up the house and make the most of my last days in Evanston- mostly by eating at all of my favorite eateries (Orange, Walker Bros Pancake House, Wild Oats, Bluestone, M Henry-- just a few if you are in or near there any time soon) and seeing off Kellogg friends. After what was left of the apartment after selling off a good amount of furniture was packed up I hit the road for Lynchburg. As we both yelled "Good-bye Chicago" at the top of our lungs as we reached the skyway at 0420 on June 23rd, Akula and I settled in for our 12 hour drive- accompanied by a few good books on tape! Once I got to Lynchburg and had a good night of catching up with my parents, my Mom and I again hit the road- this time bound for DC for Bryn's baby shower. Bryn and Kevin are expecting their first children any time now (though we are all hoping for the end of July)- yes, that's right- plural! I will be the proud Aunt (and Nate the proud Uncle) of triplets!! We are so excited!!

After a few days in DC I again headed to Lynchburg and finally made it to Charlotte! After one night in Nate's apartment we finally closed on our new home on June 28th!! (I promise to have photos up soon). The place is great and we hope to have many visitors (hint, hint!)

The movers dropped everything from Evanston off on the 29th, as did GE (fridge, washer, dryer), an unnamed electronics store (bad service- no need to give them free advertising) brought our new TV, and finally deliveries from High Point over the following two days left us with our new couch, great leather chair and new barstools. (pictures will be helpful). That weekend my parents arrived and we went to town. We mounted the tv, got the grill upstairs onto the deck, installed ceiling fans, and an elfa system, and the list goes on... Thank goodness! What a huge help they were! So now, except for paintings on the wall, we are pretty much set!

I promise I will not be so long winded in future posts- just had a lot to share!!

Ode to John

Well, here we are-- Charlotte, NC. After two years in Evanston, IL- Megan graduated from Kellogg and we have found ourselves in beautiful Charlotte. To keep everyone up to date we have decided to follow our friends' leads and start our very own blog. Because we enjoy John and Kamie's blog- I Wish I Had A Boat - and because our creative juices are just not flowing- we have decided to go with Wish I Had a Cabin- because- well, we do!! Charlotte is beautiful and we are very happy to be back on the east coast, but there still exists for us a huge desire to be near the mountains and get to them as often as possible. (Luckily we have some great mountain ranges only 2 hours away- they may not be the Rockies- but we plan to enjoy them just the same) So, until we find our own cabin, here in NC or out west- we hope this blog keeps everyone in the loop on our doings!