a work in progress...

2006-01-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

HOW COULD I FORGET?!?!

The second cutest dog in the world... well tied for second with Josie, I don't want to offend anyone. My nephew Tux (also Catch's cousin, see the family resemblance?)... thanks for that friendly reminder Laura - can't wait to see you and Matt on the 21st!

2006-01-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

I think I'm gonna rename Catch - her new name will be Amelia Bedelia.

I went to take a picture of her with her new bandanna on (thanks for the Xmas presents Ree!) and like most people I said "make love to the camera Catch". This is what I got....

Anyways, reminded me of those Amelia Bedelia* books - next I think I'll tell her to break a leg and see what happens.... later, after the camera had some time to recover from all the love making, I got the money shots - check it out, and note the (totally rocking and way awesome) Christmas bandanna!

*Note: I have no idea how to spell Bedelia

2006-01-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

So I got back from Santa Fe about a week ago but I'm just now getting around to posting this - here's the best pic from the vacation - and the caption goes like this....

"Who knew I could look so good in a helmet? Seriously - I knew I would look good, but this good?"

And this one - "I'm smiling because dang! My wife looks good in a motorcycle helmet!"

I had a great trip - but it was a little short, traveling 1,000 miles to spend 3 1/2 days. That's okay though cause Santa Fe is always awesome....

2005-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot - congratulations Blake and Catherine! Hope you enjoyed your honeymoon!

2005-12-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

Okay as usual I've been super busy, I could go on but I'd put everyone to sleep and then I'd tuck myself in. So I'm avoiding that and I will now discuss my past weekend.

I was supposed to leave on Friday to go to Conway, SC for Webster's brother's wedding, but we got a HUGE snowstorm Friday morning, snow EVERYWHERE (I'm a big fan of the caps LOCK) so my flight got delayed, I missed it anyways cause I'm always late, etc. - point is, unfortunately I missed the rehearsal dinner and didn't get there until about 2 pm on Saturday. So we had to go straight to the wedding, I spend the night in a super nice hotel, then drove back to Atlanta the next day and got on my flight. A short trip but at least I got 6 hours with Webster in the car. And I know what you're all thinking... "6 hours in a car with Webster? What are you? Crazy?" and you're probably holding your hands up and shaking your head back and forth and looking crazy yourself. Well that's what I said too, and that's what I did too, for the first 2 hours. Then I took a nap, woke up and just talked Webster's ear off, so it was a good trip!

I've posted some pics, and I'm making extra sure to post this blurry one because we look like we're at prom. Prom with a Christmas tree in the background. And that's just funny. I also put one up here of Blake getting his face stuffed (that's Webster's brother) - apparently he thinks he's about to go to a football game, thus the icing on his cheeks. I don't think anyone's told him yet that he's about to have a LOT less time for football.... not that I know, but I think sports only get less and less after you're married. I'm just sayin... that because I know Blake now checks this thing and I don't want him to feel left out :)

So enjoy! And comment, please! I love em!

2005-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

My first snow in CT!

Just think, while all of you were fast asleep in your beds with visions of sugar plums and blah blah blah, I was waking up to this!

Actually, let me correct that, Catch and I were waking up to this - and look how excited she is to be here!

Even ol' blue couldn't escape the cold!

2005-12-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

I think this pics says it all (sorry I'm posting them a little late...)

Hope you enjoyed it!

2005-12-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in South Carolina...

this is pretty much what we do the whole time. But we take breaks to eat and feed the dog. That's Josie, Steph's little pup. She had a little too much Thanksgiving dinner...

I had a great turkey day, got up on Thursday and ran a little, then drove to SC to see the family, went climbing on Friday with my little bro and Peter, came back and had a late Thanksgiving dinner, beat everyone in Blokus, and then came back to Atlanta and watched the GA-GA Tech game with Webster, Melissa and Danny. So it was overall good times... oh and in between I snapped this fashionable pic of my little bro Mark, he lives in New York so he's super trendy... can't you tell?
In other news, CT got its first snow on t-day, so I got to miss it, how lucky is that?!

2005-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Everything will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not the end.

I know it's cheesy but there's something about it I like...
sorry it's been a while, I promise there will be an outpour of useless pictures and blabbing soon to come. And if you're having a hard time dealing with my lack of posts, see above. Well either that or check yourself (before you wreck yourself of course).

2005-11-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

Wow what a day! And good news for everyone, I have pics! For all of you who hear me talk the talk but never see me walk the walk (or in this case climb the climb) here you go...

This is a picture of me on a climb called CCK at the Gunks (near New Paltz, NY) - that's about 2 hours from my apartment... pretty cool huh? I can make it from downtown Hartford (which let's face it people, is a happenin place...) to the GREAT outdoors and 300 feet off the ground in about 2.5 hours - I love it! So this climb is about a 5.8 trad lead, which I know doesn't mean much to most of you, but as you can see, I'm about 200 feet off the ground at this point, and this is definitely the most scary thing I've done yet in this sport. I love it! See, in trad climbing, you set the pieces yourself (that's what I'm doing there, reaching above me to put a piece in that crack) and you carry all this gear because you have to put the right size piece in each place you find, which takes a while so you're trying piece after piece, meanwhile holding onto the rock and knowing that if you fall you'll be going all the way down to your last piece, times 2 because then you have all that slack in the rope, and just hoping that the piece you put in holds your weight. I don't think I could handle the sport if I was a fat boy :)
So here's the deal, I'm up this high, scared to death (literally) and it pushes me SO much harder - it's amazing what you find you can do when you have to do it. Moves that seem so much harder than my level become doable, cause it's not like I can give up and go back! I'm posting two pics here of me on this climb, unfortunately the leaves are just about finished changing, so they're not as pretty as they were 2 weeks ago when I was there, but it's still an awesome view.
My last picture is of a climb I did 2 weeks ago, here's a picture of someone else on it - I think this was in the Smithsonian magazine, they're obviously much better photagraphers than me. But this is how the area looked 2 weeks ago, and I actually led the climb this girl is on, so just picture my head on her body!

Don't you just love this sport?

2005-11-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea for Shelly and Ree, just because I know how strongly you two feel about pirates - a decorating idea - give that tired old lamp an exciting makeover!

2005-10-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

And now... just because I love my dog Catch so much...

I was checking out www.facebook.com the other day (you should all sign up, I only have like 5 friends on there and I NEED to look more popular) and Melissa posted a pic of my pup - she even labeled her in the pic! Thanks Melissa! So here's the picture:

And now, before I get into copyright trouble, let me just note the "artist" who took this pic - once again it's the Ralph. He didn't bother naming it, so I've taken the liberty of calling it "Workin like a dog" - yes I am aware of how clever I am.

Now you may be asking yourself - can Catch read? No she can't. Can Catch type? Nope. Can she sit upright in a chair long enough to have her picture taken? Apparently. I'd like to point out here her tongue, it's sticking out a little bit, she's just the cutest! See her tongue represents the irony of the picture, we all know dogs don't work hard, they just sit around all day. Dad you really are an artist!

2005-10-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

Head of the Charles 05!
They're Number 7!

Were you there? Don't see yourself in this pic? Solve the problem here, and by the way you're very vain!

2005-10-27T04:21:00.000-07:00

The first frost of the season: October 26th. That's super-early. I woke up this morning and needed a scraper thing for my windshield before I could go to work... so for all you people that were up in Boston last weekend - imagine it 10 degrees colder than that horrible weather we stood outside in all day. There are even reports of snow this weekend! Snow in October! This is a bad sign, I think I might die. And my room is on the corner, so it stays colder than the rest of my apartment, this morning I woke up and it was freezing. Just a sign of things to come.

On the other hand, Killington is opening up the slopes this weekend, since Massachusetts got 10 inches this past weekend (ridiculous - it's October) so I guess there's a positive side to this - I guess...

So for my family that missed the best fall weekend in CT, I took some pictures with Jimbo's camera last weekend of the leaves, here you go!

2005-10-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Celebrity sighting!!!

Not really it's just my mom - but doesn't she look famous? I think it's the shades that do it. In the words of Kristie Sayre "your father is practicing to become paparazzi". That's right folks, this picture was taken by my very own father, Ralph Sayre. No professional photography training! Hard to believe I know! So mom, here's your day in the sun, your picture is officially published (on a website only 10 people look at...max)

2005-10-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

It's a sign!

I can't be sure, but I think someone might be trying to tell me something....

I was just driving down the road and BAM! Eternal damnation! Not good - check out where I was here

2005-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

So actually, that last post was a lie, I didn't go skydiving last week, it was more like a week and a half ago - I just take forever to get around to everything. Last weekend I actually went to Purdue (that's in Indiana, for those of you who don't know much about the midwest, i.e. normal people). Purdue is in West Lafayette, IN, about 1 hour from Indianapolis. There's not much to do there except party with college kids, so that's what I did! Actually I should say, that's what my sis and I did... this is a picture of us dressed up for breakfast club - let me please explain breakfast club at Purdue to you, for those of you who are even still reading at this point.

Whenever Purdue has a home game, they pretty much see it as a reason to spend the entire weekend partying (nothing at all wrong with that). So what they do is, they go out on Friday night, and then on Saturday morning, they get up really early, like 6 am, and dress up like it's Halloween, go to the bars and get drunk.
Steph and I went, I even wore a cowgirl costume - if you can even call that a costume, I just call it plain old fashionable- and people were there drinking these really nasty screwdrivers. I put a picture in here as actual proof that we were there, even though everyone asked us why we weren't there all weekend. Everyone was drinking screwdrivers, that's vodka at 6 in the morning people. I guess because it's orange juice they thought that made it normal. It was not normal. Steph and I looked around for about 5 minutes, got this picture taken so it looked like we were having tons o' fun, and went back to bed. Now that's more like normal. Normal people do not dress up like it's Halloween every football weekend of the year. That's just weird. So here's what I took away from Purdue - it's weird.

And then, the afternoon rolls around, and everybody's all passed out! Half of them don't even make it to the game! Which I can't say I blame them for, because they pretty much got stomped by Notre Dame, 49-28. We went to the game but left halfway through the 2nd quarter, when the score was 21-0 (Notre Dame). When I say we, I mean me and my roommate, everyone else was still passed out...

The weekend was really fun though, Steph came down from Chicago so I got to see her. Now I'm gonna post more pictures just so you can see how crazy this weekend really was...

2005-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of the people we hung out with all weekend at Breakfast Club - wondering where Steph and I are? Happily asleep in comfy beds with pajamas on, like normal people!

2005-10-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Here's Pete and one of his good friends Nick (this is for you Steph)

2005-10-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here's how Purdue people feel about Notre Dame, and apparently Ireland in general...

2005-10-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

Okay I've been waiting to get this for a whole week, and it finally came.... my skydiving DVD!!! That's right, I went skydiving last weekend - it was the most spontaneous thing ever, I was supposed to go climbing. Then the guy I was supposed to go with was like "hey, wanna go skydiving instead?" Some of his friends were going and they asked him if he wanted to go with them. And then I was like, "Totally! I can go climbing anytime! How often do I get the chance to go skydiving?" Okay I'll stop writing the word like now.

Here's the thing about skydiving - if you decide to go and then go, right away, don't give yourself any time to think about it, it's not that scary! There's no time to be scared! It wasn't until I was actually on the plane, about to jump out, that I started to get scared. But then I looked down and the ground didn't even look real, it looked like one of those architecture models with the little cars and fake trees. I wasn't even scared, I was just trying to find my apartment building down there, and then I got pushed out. It was a 60 second free fall but it didn't even feel like I was falling, it just felt like a whole lot of wind in my face. Anyways, I'm glad I went, it's definitely an adrenaline rush! Now I can say I've jumped out of a plane moving 150 miles an hour (that's a total estimation, I have no idea how fast planes go) at 14,000 feet. How many people can say that!

So here's some pictures, for you doubtful people out there thinking "Suzanna? Skydiving? No never!"

Okay I just went to post the pictures and it won't work, something about freezing a frame from a DVD and trying to save it to a different format - the computer doesn't like it. That's the technical explanation. So if anyone who reads this thing (all 5 of you) knows how to save a picture from a DVD that's more than just a 16-bit format, please let me know!

2005-09-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics of my sister's new dog Josie - half beagle, half boston terrier, all cool...
but you're wrong, she's definitely not cooler than Catch - Maddie possibly, but not Catch!

2005-09-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

Summit, NJ - A Great Place to Be

Yes, that's the slogan here in NJ aka armpit of America... the place I stayed was actually pretty nice, I posted a pic just because I know you New Jersey haters out there won't believe me, so here's proof!

Last week I went down to Newark (now THAT's the armpit of America) for a Successful Associates dinner. This is a picture of the place I stayed, it's about 20 minutes away from Newark (with no traffic... that never happens). Dinner was a mystery theater thing, and they asked for volunteers beforehand. Knowing that no other actuaries would do it, I volunteered - I had a whole line - and I couldn't stop laughing the whole time, because I'm soooo bad at acting. I know what you're thinking, "how do you screw up one line?" But it's possible believe me. Even the main guy running the show said, "wow, such emotion" but in that way that you know he meant "yeah you sucked at reading your one line".

Anyways, it was fun, mostly cause it was free and every time I looked down my wine glass was full again - oh yeah, I've taken to drinking wine. I know Melissa, Ree and Steph would be so proud... I just couldn't take missing out on all that free wine, at weddings, yuppy parties, successful associate mystery theater dinners, etc. That's a lot of free alcohol!

Then this past weekend I went to Indianapolis - but don't be fooled, just because I took a vacation day to travel to Indiana, there are not too many reasons to go there. I thought maybe, hence the vacation day, but I was wrong. It was as boring as I'd always imagined it would be. I was my roommate's date for a wedding (another chance for free wine - yes!). I figured since I didn't get a workout in all weekend, I'd just dance it up on the dance floor. What do I care, I don't know anyone... you should've seen me do the funky chicken - or maybe it's best no one did... why is it that every couple feels the need to play the funky chicken dance at their wedding? Or maybe the better question is - why is it that I feel the need to dance to it? I just wanna dance! Get in a circle with all the other girls, around our shoes and our pocketbooks, and just dance! (that's for you Ree)

Now I just have a few notes for those people I never talk to, because I hate the phone and it's illegal to talk on the phone while you're driving here in CT, which is the only time I ever manage to make phone calls - that must be why I'm such a bad driver... oh who am I kidding, the only person I have to blame for that is my mom - bad genes.

Melissa - I'm VERY excited about you coming! I told Webster about the half and he might run it, you should give him a call sometime soon. And Jim is flying into Hartford too, he just sent me his flight times. I'm sorry I never call you, I keep meaning to - one of these days, I promise!

Mom and Dad - sorry I didn't call tonight, I know I sent you an email saying I would but I didn't get home until 9 and then I just ate dinner and wasted time on this thing (look how long this post is, that's a lot of time!)

Steph - love the new dog, I'm gonna post a picture of her on here just for you!

Ree - hope the training's going well, can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Baker - this is just a test to see if you actually read this thing...

2005-09-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

Just kidding, it looked like this!

2005-09-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

And then when I got to work today my desk looked like this!

2005-09-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

My Weekend by Suzanna Grace Sayre

Wow what a bad weekend... I went to Boston on Friday, all excited, planning on having a good weekend. Little did I know.... my wallet would be stolen! And my credit cards got used - that's not good.

So I guess technically it was my fault for accidentally forgetting to take my wallet with me when I got out of the cab, but I still think there could have been a chance to get it back, if the cabbie had been nice and turned it in to lost and found. But the cabbie was not nice, he just let somebody else take it and use it at Marshall's, Target and Toys R Us. The only thing that makes me feel better is thinking that maybe the person was too poor to buy their kids any toys, so they took the wallet and bought some toys at Toys R Us, then some clothes for their kids at Marshall's. And then their kids were so happy and finally had some joy in their life. Well, that made me feel better until Jim said they were probably just buying an X Box, thanks a lot Jim. Maybe the X Box was for their kids who don't have any toys to play with and no nice clothes to wear....

And here's the kicker - they could've used my debit card or my Visa but no, they used my corporate card. Imagine how embarassing that was, having to tell my company that they'll be getting a $400 bill in the mail next month, cause I lost my wallet - oops.

AND on Friday night I fell down, for no alcohol related reason, and now my nose is all bruised. I thought maybe nobody would notice, that lasted until this morning when the first person I saw at work asked 'what's wrong with your nose?' I'd post a picture of it looking all black and blue but I don't want to.

2005-09-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Webster and I had a fantastic weekend, here's a picture of us from a while ago but again, I don't have a camera so I went scrounging through the pictures on my computer - here we are!

2005-09-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Okay so I don't have any pictures from last weekend but here's one from a few months ago,and I like it so I'm putting it up!

2005-09-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay adoring fans, I'm back!! Quit hassling me!

By adoring fans, I mean you people behind the scenes, pay no attention to the number of comments on these blogs (total number = 1), they're out there! Since I'm such a busy woman, I can't write about everything that happens in my hectic daily schedule, there's just no time for that - so I have arranged the most important things in bullet point fashion, for the busy person who, like me, just wants to skim but doesn't want to be out of the loop on the oh so important life of Suzanna Grace Sayre!

1. I have no adoring fans
2. My life is not important
3. It's not hectic either, I only have one friend here, and he's my roommate (roommate = has to be my friend, has no choice)
4. Connecticut weather is FABULOUS in September

I just threw that last one on cause 3 just didn't seem like enough.

But here's what I've been up to lately, for real - last weekend I went climbing in New Hampshire, at Rumney, and it was awesome, as in totally ROCKin. I'd put a picture up but I don't have any because I'm irresponsible and forgot my camera - I mean really forgot it, as in it's still in Georgia and I haven't gotten it back yet - oops.

This weekend I'm going to Boston on Saturday to pick up Webster from the airport. We're gonna rush back to Hartford so he can watch the UGA football game, and then maybe go to the Vermont Brewers Festival on Sunday. I'm determined to learn to like beer and I figure this has got to be the best way to do it - just dive in head first!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Labor Day weekend! Hopefully I'll have some pics to post next week!

2005-08-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the U S of A Mark!!!!

Here's an update on all things family:
Mark just got back from Paris, where he was living for the summer and avoiding the use of deodorant. Now he's back at NYU, living in the dorms as an RA and taking some night classes at Julliard (I think?)

Steph's starting classes at Loyola Chicago and looking at getting a dog. Yesterday she called me all excited about the dogs on Petfinder.com, and made me look with her over the phone at all the ones she wanted. I'm trying to convince her to get a beagle, cause they're the coolest dogs ever - but she's set on a boston terrier. The loudest, most energetic dog ever - with the exception of Molly. Thanks a lot Meredith!

Matt & Laura just sent me the most thoughtful bday present. Okay they sent it a while ago but I just got around to sending the thank you note. So I'm pretending it was the post office's fault.

My parents, as usual, fell off the face of the earth for about a week and a half. I had to call their secretary to find out they were in Europe. It's sad when your own parents lead a more excited life than you - they're the ones who are supposed to have a hard time finding me!

This weekend I went to Boston on Saturday night, I love that city. I can't wait for the Head of the Charles, when all of my good friends are there with me!

Well, that's all I have for now, I don't do much but work and study lately, and I don't think anyone really wants me to go into describing those.

2005-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Connecticut, hello...world?

I've been here for a month now, and I'm just finally getting around to starting this blog thing - it's so unlike me to put things off! (that was a total lie) Anyways, as soon as I knew I'd be moving I knew I'd want to start a blog, just to let people from home know what I was up to. I hate to admit it, but I find myself reading all of these blogs for people I never see or talk to any more, and I feel like I still know them, just because I get to read about their lives. So I thought I'd let people read about mine. And I won't be offended if nobody wants to read about mine - hell, I'm not that interested in it myself!

So here I am in this whole new world, working for the man and living in a nice new apartment and making money, real money not that part-time-money-on-the-side kind. And I never realized this before - independence is nice! I mean i miss my friends and family like hell, but I'm so glad I decided to do this. Before I left, I thought it would just be for a few years, and then I'd head back to the south, cause I couldn't ever end up anywhere else. But New England is gorgeous! And Boston is awesome! And New York is dirty! But at least it's close! And all this is starting to make me wonder "what was is about the south that I loved so much?" I loved the people I knew there, my family is there, and it's definitely nice to know a city so well that you never get lost. But it takes forever to get out of Atlanta, you can drive for an hour in any direction and you're still in a suburb of Atlanta! And going climbing takes a whole day there, if not more, so you can only really go on the weekends. Here I can go to a really pretty lake in the mountains and it takes 10 minutes from my apartment. And it only takes me 20 minutes to get to work with "bad" traffic (people's version of bad traffic around here is better than Christmas day in Atlanta). There are some definite drawbacks to this whole loving-my-relocation feeling though...
1. I haven't been through a winter yet - I'm a little worried about that one
2. Hartford nightlife SUCKS big time
3. People here have really ugly accents
4. Most sweaters aren't cute - and I'm about to be wearing a lot of them
5. There is no Urban Outfitters (that's a big negative!)

ooh, I gotta go back to looking busy