Luna de Miel en Mexico (Honeymoon in Mexico)

Here we are at the Lubbock airport before getting on the plane to go to our honeymoon. We ate a snack and had drinks to relax. Tony has a sweet, romantic face while I look crazy!!

My favorite honeymoon picture is of Tony on our balcony hammock at our resort in Mexico. We both love hammocks!! If the summer was more bearable in Louisiana, we might have one in our backyard. He looks so happy!

I look less happy on our balcony hammock. It is only because I was SOOOO tired. Here you can see the tiredness in my eyes, exacerbated by the pina colada I was drinking.

Here is the view of the private pool available to us for the first night in Mexico. Our first night in Mexico, we upgraded to a huge suite. The following pictures are of the upgraded suite. This pool was a private pool for those with ritzy suites. I took this picture looking out of our balcony.

Bedroom.

After we told our concierge that we were on our honeymoon, the next time we walked in our room, the housekeepers had laid out rose petals in the shape of a heart with towels folded in the shape of kissing swans. Cute. Messy though.....when we turned on the ceiling fan the petals flew everywhere!

Our honeymoon gift from the hotel was a little white chocolate cake with a bottle of champagne. This arrived on our second afternoon in Mexico.

Here is a picture of our upgraded balcony.

Here is the living room and dining room in our upgraded suite.

Here is the kitchen in our upgraded suite.

Here is another picture of the bedroom, including our private hot tub!

Here is a picture of Tony and I after dinner one night. Most nights, if we didn't order room service, we dressed for dinner and went to a restaurant. The dress for dinner was no swim suits and pants for men. This picture is after we went to the restaurant named Asiana. The lobby is behind us.

Asiana served Chinese, Japanese, and Thai cuisine, and it was my favorite!!! At Asiana we shared fried seafood dumplings and a California Roll (type of sushi roll stuffed with crab, avocado, and cucumber). I ordered Thai beef (beef fillet with spicy thai sauce) and Tony ordered Beef Tepanyake (ribeye steak). We ate the entire meal with chopsticks. It felt very exotic.

Tony's favorite restaurant was Maria's. He got a ribeye there that he really enjoyed. At Maria's, I ate big cold shrimp (like shrimp cocktail). Maria's also had really great Creme Brulee.

Another night we ate at Pelicano's (seafood) and for lunch we ate at Tapas (Spanish appetizers liker tacos, shrimp, fried things, etc.) and at Spice (the buffet). For breakfast, we ate at Mediterrano's. Mediterrano's was suppose to be Mediterranean food, but for breakfast, they just had a traditional breakfast buffet. I didn't really want to eat there for dinner because I didn't think that I would like Mediterranean food. I don't like olives, and I think Mediterranean food has lots of olives.

On the last day of our honeymoon, we woke up sad because we didn't want to leave our magical vacation. I am so thankful that Tony took me on such a beautiful trip!!!

The Wedding!!!

On June 26, 2010 I married Tony at 2 PM at First Christian Church!!! The best day ever!!!

My favorite part of the wedding was walking out with Tony after the ceremony. We were all alone and so excited to be married!!!

Tony's favorite part was seeing me for the first time walk into the chapel.

For friends getting married in the future, I suggest getting a lighter bouquet. Mine got too heavy during the ceremony to hold with one hand. Tony suggests placing large fans at the front of the church because he got very hot.

Bridal Brunch Photos

Beautiful mom!


Me and Grandma Ethel.

Me and Amy, Maid of Honor.

Me and Clare, Bridesmaid.

Me and Tara, Bridesmaid.

Me and Haley, House Party & Scripture Reader.

Me and Rayla, House Party.

The girls at the table with beautiful flowers!

All the bridal party! So lucky to have such beautiful, kind, and loving friends!!!

Bachelorette Party Photos!!!

My bachelorette party was held the Thursday before my wedding on June 24th at my maid of honor's house!!!


Here is the amazing HOMEADE lingerie cake made by Janelle!!! It was red velvet on the inside, delicious!!!



Table 1, full of food: vegetable pizza, pigs in blankets, veggie tray, heart shaped cookies with icing that said "L & T"

Tabe 2 full of food: amazing cake, chocolate fountain with marshmallows, pretzels, graham crackers, and fruit, chips & quacamole with queso.

Me and Amy!!

Me and Tara.

Me and Rayla.

Me and Janelle.

Me opening the gift basket provided by all the guests.

First Week of Work at Coca Cola

My first week of work (not counting training at Atlanta) for Coca Cola was June 7th - June 11th.


This is what I wore for the first day of work on Monday! Tony got up early with me and took my picture! My first day of work I left around 6:45 AM and arrived at work around 7:30 AM. Since I had taken a tour, I knew where to go and who to ask for. When I arrived I met with Ron and the new summer intern at Coke, Justin. We looked through our manuals to go over the structure of the program. Next, Justin and I did a lot of orientation paperwork.

After orientation videos and paperwork, Tricia (my coach) took Justin and I out to eat at Cafe Rani, located on Magazine Street in Uptown. Uptown, and Magazine Street specificially, is a hip area in New Orleans. It has been gentrified and many young people live there. People who live there ride bikes, drink Chai tea, and are environmentally conscious. We all ate sandwiches at the cafe. Eddie (Justin's coach) met us there to talk with Justin and go over the program. While Tricia is an Account Manager (takes care of Coke customers), Eddie is a Business Development Manager (gets new Coke customers). So eventually, I hope to work with him too so that I can learn his work.


At the end of the work day on Monday, Tricia took me to a part of the Coca Cola plant to get my car. The Coca Cola plant has its own mechanic shop to work on all the cars and trucks used by Coca Cola employees. Here is my company car! It is a Ford Fusion, not sure what year. But it has everything I need! I'm very thankful for it. I've turned in my application for a gas card, and I hope to receive it soon.

On Tuesday, Tricia and I spent time in the office. She did some paperwork while I watched training videos and worked in my manual. In the afternoon, I attended the annual Summer Kick-Off Sales Rally. All Sales employees headed across Lake Pontchatrain to the Northshore into Covington (the town north of Mandeville). The sales rally was held in an indoor soccer facility that was decorated with Coca Cola signs and banners. Awkward middle school cheerleaders opened the rally with "Coke cheers!" If you will notice the man in the black polo, his name is Charlie, and he is the boss of the entire Southern Louisiana region (New Orleans, Mandeville, Metairie, Kenner, Thibadeax, Iberville, etc). He ran most of the meeting.

During the meeting, receptionists and other administrative employees danced with flags and threw stuffed soccer balls into the crowd.

Here is me, sitting at the back of the sales rally. I was a little late because I got lost.

After the sales rally, we were served a fish fry buffet outside the soccer arena. We ate at big tables under tents. Here is a picture of Tricia and I. Best friends already!!! In the background on the left is Ron. He is my rotational manager (my manager for this year while I am working in restaurants). He is a DSM, the position I will earn after my program.

At Coke, for sales employees, Mondays and Fridays are usually office days. The other work days are spent visiting clients. Our plant recently absorbed another plant in Louisiana, and we gained MANY new employees. So there are no cubicles available for me. However, next to Tricia's desk is a small counter with cabinets used to hold office supplies. So I took it over and made it my workspace. Here is a picture:

Here is a picture of me at my makeshift cubicle. I am wearing my first Coca Cola polo. On Friday, I arrived early at 7 AM to work in my manual and finish up some training before everyone else got there.

Overall, it was a beautiful first week of work!! The most important thing that I learned was: I have so much to learn!!!! This will definitely be a challenging and fascinating program!!!

Welcome Back Dinner

On Friday, to celebrate my return from Atlanta, Tony cooked dinner. He made Crab Au Gratin (cheesy crab casserole), green beans, and wild rice. Tony got a recipe from Paula Dean on the food network and bought fresh lump crab meat from the grocery store's sea food market. Even though seafood is cheap here, crab is still a little expensive. There is a local mom-and-pop seafood market that sells fresh seafood. It might be cheaper, so we might check there next time. We went there once to buy shrimp, but it was like WHOLE shrimp with the heads and legs and everything. It was really good! Tasted very crabby. Kind of tasted like macaroni and cheese (has cheese, milk, and butter sauce). However, it is really rich so we couldn't eat very much. We have LOTS of leftovers.

Thursday in Atlanta - Last Day of Training!!!

7 AM - 8 AM - Breakfast

8 AM - 9 AM - Overview of Sales & Marketing given by Steve Vande Loo, Vice President of Commercialization Strategy

9 AM - 12:15 PM - Market Tour - This was my favorite part of the entire week!!! In our teams, we visited a convenience store, a restaurant, a Target, a mall, a grocery store, and a Home Depot. At the convenience store, we saw how to market soda fountains, soda coolers, and bottles of coke. We learned how many signs, where to put the signs, etc. At the restaurant, we learned that we need the owner to have both a soda fountain and a cooler of bottles. If they have that, then they need combo meals, signs out front, signs on the menus, a trash can shaped like a Coca Cola bottle, a Coca Cola clock, etc. At Target we focused on getting all coke products at eye level, and on sale.

12:15 - 1 PM - Stuck in an elevator. After each event, all of us use the elevators at the same time, so there is usually a long line. My team decided to reduce the line by cramming our entire team (17 people) into the elevator. As the elevator went up, one guy said "have you guys ever heard to jump on an elevator?" He jumped, and the elevator got stuck between 2 floors. Many people were scared, and it was really hot in there. But we got out!

1 PM - 1:15 PM - Quick Lunch!!!

1 PM - 3:15 PM - Presentations - Our team was named "Team SmartWater." SmartWater is a bottled water, enhanced with electrolytes, made by Glaceau (recently acquired by Coca Cola). My team presented on the Operating Framework of the company. The Operating Framework is comprised of:

1. Coca Cola Values - accountability, team-driven, customer focused

2. Commitment to Excellence - Execute Excellence Everday by putting the Right product, in the Right Size, in the Right packaging, with the Right marketing, in the Right place, at the Right time, at the Right price

3. World Class Capabilities - Supply chain, sales & marketing, finance (specifically revenue growth)

4. CRS - Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

5. Relationship with Coca Cola Company

6. Vision Statement: Be the best beverage sales and customer service company (#1 brands, diverse & inclusive culture, long term profitability, and #1 customer supplier)

Our presentation went really well!! We had a little funny skit to illustrate each point. My part involved communicating the value of "customer focused." In my part, I stalked and professed my love to a customer.

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM - Closing given by Pam Kimmet, VP of HR - we received 8 x 10 framed pictures of the group pictures that we took on Monday.

4:30 PM - 6 PM - Dress for dinner

6 PM - 11 PM - World of Coke Party - we went to the World of Coke, Coca Cola Museum. When we arrived, we had drinks and appetizers in the lobby for a while. Then Steve Cahilane, President of North American Coca Cola Enterprises, spoke with us. He talked about work-life balancing and keys to success. He was VERY inspiring. I almost cried. He talked about how jerks never succeed, and the importance of being kind to all people. After his speech, we went to the dinner reception. This was a global dinner buffet. There was a sushi buffet (all kinds of sushi including crab & lobster) , a mexican food buffet (quesadillas, tacos, quacamoles), an American burger buffet (burgers), a Spanish buffet (varios meats, polenta, vegetables), and a Dessert buffet (French crepes and creme brulee). This is the reception room where we ate:

After dinner we could go through the museum. In the tasting room, we sampled Coca Cola flavors from all over the world (different countries have different types of coke). There was a room that showed Coke commercials on a big screen, and a room that displayed all kinds of Coca Cola art. It was an amazing place!! Here is a picture of the Latin American soda fountain:

When I got back to the hotel, there was a little glass full of chocolates from the hotel. They left an apology note saying they were sorry that I got stuck in the elevator. Haha!!