Day in DSM & Fro-Yo Heaven . . .

It feels so good to be home and in sweats! Today was a long day...but pretty good in general, I'd say. Any day I don't have to go to work is a bonus, right? Well, it's not like I had a personal day or anything, but it's still nice to not go into the office when you know everyone else is there! *grin*

The TomTom my parents got us for Christmas - I should probably name her, eh?

So bright and early (ok, it was only 7am) I set off for Des Moines for an ITI User Group meeting. My supervisor usually goes to these meetings but she's in Florida this week so she sent me in her place. I'm shy. Just putting that out there. So putting me in a situation where my supervisor is on the board of this group and giving me responsibilities makes me nervous. No, the responsibilities weren't anything earth shattering, but I just don't really know anyone there, so it's uncomfortable for me! Luckily, a couple girls I used with at my previous bank employer were there, so I wasn't completely alone. It was nice to be able to talk face to face with Myklyn - I haven't seen her since 2007 or 2008 and had just recently found her on Facebook. The meeting was scheduled for 9am - 4:30pm. Fun! At least it wasn't a beautiful day outside that we were missing. It was sunny and decent out, but still had a chill in the air.

Today's picture word is "window", so on the drive over to DSM I thought of a clever idea. I'd take a picture out the window of the conference room we were in to show everyone the view I would have all day. There was one slight problem with that. As you can see to the left, the room had no windows. That was my view (before anyone else got there to sit next to me, that is). It was a new conference room with some uber comfy chairs, though, so it wasn't all bad.

Also, there was an endless supply of both Pepsi and Coke products along with water. Not too shabby. I have to say I've been doing a really good job cutting out the pop from my diet, but I figured today should be a cheat day. That seems fair, right? At noon they broke for lunch which was delivered to us by The Machine Shed. It consisted of cold meats, cheeses, and toppings or BBQ
pulled pork to make a
sandwhich, cole slaw,
homemade seasoned
potato chips (YES!),
and cookies.

I had to make the picture large - you know I love food!

After lunch, we chugged along and were able to get out of there an hour and a half early!

So I called up my friend, Courtney, that lives in DSM to see if she was free to meet up for a snack. Sure enough, she didn't disappoint. Not only did she have time to hang out with me, but she introduced me to my new favorite sweet eats place! Lemon Tree. OMG. Ridiculously good. I previously was in love with Cold Stone and still stand by their greatness, but Lemon Tree is even better! Hard to believe - but true. Aside from their amazing flavor choices, what makes them even better is that it's frozen yogurt - so you can justify it being better for you. They change out their flavors so you're always getting surprised by their options, plus they let you take a small spoon and cup around to try the flavors before making your decision. The tight wad in me wanted to just keep testing them out and then leave. Ha! How terrible would that be?! In all seriousness, though, I got a 16oz and it was only $5!

Heaven in a bowl.

On the left you'll see Very Very Berry fro-yo topped with fresh strawberries. Obviously I couldn't just pick one flavor, so I made my own bowl into three separate sections. You can't see the rest too well because, well, I piled the goodies on top! Closest to the camera is NY Cheesecake fro-yo topped with graham cracker crumbs. To the far right is Cup Cake fro-yo topped with chocolate peanut butter crumbles. Can you say Heaven?! Wowzas!

Disappointingly, I failed to get a picture of Courtney's, but she got Very Very Berry topped with berries and NY Cheesecake topped with Fruity Pebbles. Mmmm!

After feeding our faces we walked over to Kohl's to browse clothes that were too expensive for us and too fashionable for me. Naturally, we had to go over to the shoe section to make fun of some gooooofy shoes. I even tried on those Skele Toes shoes...no thanks! They are comfy, though - I'll give ya that!

Then I was on my way home! I hope everyone had a great day!

Day 8: Window
On my drive home.

Do you prefer ice cream or fro-yo?
What is your favorite flavor/topping combinations?