Red Light Birthday

It's been a while since I have blogged...because I spent the last 10 days in Amsterdam for work.

How was it?

SAZZLERIFIC!!!

Here is a pic of the wonderful time -- Lizette, Karen, Me and Delia

Now, it was a lot of hard work and was tiring. I suffer from jet lag pretty bad and when I finally get used to the time change, it is time to go home. There were lots of training days, meetings, and I was on the go from 6am to midnight or past every single day. BUT, it was fantastic.

Here is everyone from my class. We are from offices in Amsterdam, Singapore, Turkey, New York City, Dubai...and me from Grand Rapids :)

While in Amsterdam, I turned 29. Which will be the last birthday I ever celebrate...as there is no need to ever turn 30. Everyone helped make it one of the best.

Here is the beautiful birthday cake that I was surprised with:

Another training was also going on, so Lizette and Delia were there from San Fancisco and Montreal. Here are the ladies, plus me and Karen from NYC out to dinner for my birthday:

And here's us with trainer, Kevin, before we spent the night in the Red Light District

Not many people get to say that they spent their LAST BIRTHDAY EVER in Amsterdam!!!

Here are some more pics of my FABULOUS birthday:

The Red Light Sazzles!

Mother's Day and My Sister Sazzles

This weekend was great!

Sarah Marie, my "baby" sister is nearing High School graduation. She played Diana Barry in the high school's Anne of Green Gables play. She was amazing!

The most fun? The scene where she had to be drunk. She's a good girl and has never been drunk (or around drunk people) so it was cute seeing her fake it.

Sarah totally Sazzles!!!!

Here's a pic of me, "Diana", my sister Elizabeth and my mom right after the play

Aren't we beautiful?! :)

Here's one of me and my beautiful Grandma

That night I watched a little of SNL at my parent's house. Did any of you catch Betty White? So, so funny!

Mother's Day was great. I saw both Grandmas and Niko baby got to play with Molly and Max.

We went to the "Shack" for lunch with my dad's side of the family.

Funny enough, I ran into Tami and her beautiful family there. I would like to be as beautiful as Tami is for just one day. Check out her blog - it rocks...and don't forget to check her blog about her recent run (her arms are so toned it is sick)

What did I get my mom for Mother's Day?

Well, I bought her this a few weeks ago:

It's her favorite body splash from Bath & Body Works - Country Apple - which has been sold out.

I also had these sent to her on Saturday:

Sorry for the grainy cellphone photo. They are chocolate-covered strawberries. They were huge! I hope she liked them -- it wasn't something she "wanted" but I thought they were fun and festive.

I am very lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive Mom. I hope she had a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope you all did as well!!!

And...to the sweet, little, angelic boy that I had the honor of being a "mother" to for 5 years: Nonie and Niko love you deeply, miss you every day and pray that some day we will see you again! Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives, even if it was only for a little bit of time!

Not Sushi and Naughty School Girls

One of my best friends, Kirsti, just finished her Master's Degree in Accounting from Grand Valley State University. As a celebration, I went out to dinner with her, her husband and her parents. We went to Ichiban. Have you ever been? It is the best Japanese Steakhouse/Sushi in the city...really.

We DID end up going out drinking...which was quite fun and I wish I had photos to show...this is the only one I have...aren't you jealous?

I had posted on my Facebook that I was going to have sushi. I didn't. I had hibachi shrimp.

Now, I did a bit of shopping this weekend and found a great deal on this dress:

Cute, right?

I thought so and have a million dresses with this fit so I thought it would be perfect. Right?

Wrong.

About 20 minutes after I got to work, I felt eyes on me...

Soon I realized (by all the creepers staring at me) that I probably looked a bit like this:

Ok, maybe not...but perhaps a bit like this:

Needless to say, I felt like all eyes were on me.

I even asked someone (in a panicked tone) if I looked like a "naughty school girl".

Her response?

"You look totally hot!"

Awesome - yet I felt a bit out of place. Not the example I would like to set.

I guess it's just another day in my life :)

Oh, and the cost? $5.68. Yep -- thank you coupons :) Tami - are you proud of me?

Sazzle Loves Freebies!!!

Now that Sazzle got her hands on one of these:

I will be able to post photos more regularly.

My baby laptop doesn't have enough USB ports to make it easy.

Any who... I love free stuff. Who doesn't, right?

Now, Tami might be amazing with coupons, but I'm pretty proud of the free stuff I get.

Here are just some of the things I have gotten in the last few weeks:

That is:

Detergent

Coffee

Shampoo/Conditioner

Pen

Lotion

Not so bad just for a couple of weeks!