Where do I work???

I work for one of the Top 50 "2009 Best Places to Work in Central Texas"!! That's right! We just found out today and we won this award from the Austin Business Journal. We are so excited!!!

It is no wonder I love working here so much!

When you look at the list of the other 49 winners, it is hard to believe that our little 11 person office in Spicewood, Texas is among them. Here is the official list:

Accountability Resources
Adlucent
Administaff, Inc.
Alamo Title Company
Austin Marriott North
BancVue
Bazaarvoice
BuildASign.com
Campbell Stephenson LLP
Campus Advantage
Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Convio
DMX, Inc.
Door Number 3
DPR Construction, Inc.
Farmers Insurance
Greater Texas Landscapes
Heart Hospital of Austin
Hilton Austin
JOSCO Products
LifeSize Communications
Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, PC
Lockart, Atchley & Associates, LLP
Lois Paul & Partner
Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP
McQueary Henry Bowles Troy, LLP
milk + honey spa
NetQoS
Padgett, Stratemann & Co., LLP
PetRelocation.com
Phoenix Management, Inc.
ProfitFuel, Inc.
ReachForce
Resource Financial Group, Inc.
Richard P. Slaughter Associates, Inc.
Seton Family of Hospitals
Shermco Industries, Inc.
SpawGlass
St. Davids HealthCare
State Farm Insurance
Stream Realty Partners
Texas Association of School Boards, Inc.
Texas Medical Liability Trust
The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies
The Steam Team
TicketCity
Transwestern
Vintage IT Services
Watkins Insurance Group
Wells Fargo

"Get in my belly!!"

I was just going through pictures and found this funny video from my Boston trip last year. I couldn't post it in my original blogs about the trip because it would have spilled Kara's Baby Beans!! Well, since her happy news is out, I can finally share it!

I took this video to share with Jason. I wanted him to see the cool waterfall we had hiked up to see. It was so awesome. Thanks again Kara!

Enjoy!

Old friends & cute kids...

Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that I have been in my current job for almost 1.5 years. I love my job and really only a few people can understand WHY I love it so much. Besides the obvious (great bosses, awesome co-workers, bring the dogs to work everyday, etc.), what is the biggest reason I love this job??? It isn't SAMSUNG. :o) The folks I hung out with last night all have that common bond. (Even the very few that are still there hate it!)

From what I hear, everything I hated about Samsung has only gotten worse. Plus, they are also dealing with the poor economy and the overall morale sounds awful. They also don't hold the massive events anymore- which was what I enjoyed most. THANK YOU PETRELOCATION for getting me out when you did!!

Every few months or so, we get together for dinner or drinks. It is nice to touch base with everyone and catch up on their lives. (Kasi- how did I manage to miss getting a picture of you!?!)

(Raqui- still hangin' in at Samsung. Peggy- my former supervisor at Samsung.)

(Michelle- still at Samsung. Leigh- former Samsung. Arann- still at Samsung.)

(Jason with Sara, a former Samsung-er. Her family- Frank, Colton & Paige. When we took this picture, Colton turned his hat to the side and said, "Yo, yo, yo!!")

The stars of the show were two ladies that are new to the group. They didn't work at Samsung... but their mothers did! They entertained us with smiles, waves and just being darn cute.

(Miss Troy- just chillin' out with Raqui's sunglasses.)

(Miss Ava- smiling through some yummy baby food.)

It was nice to meet Ava and I was excited that she brought her Mom too. I hadn't seen Dee Dee since her shower last year. She and her husband Steve recently moved back to Austin from NYC and I am so happy!

For you ladies that weren't able to make it... we really missed you. Next time you will want to come because you will want to see Troy bust a move for you... (For you email folks- go to my blog for the following video.)

SNAKE!!

We had some excitement at work this morning. Our office is out in the Texas Hill Country, so I have always known this was a possibility but today it happened... there was a HUGE snake!!

My boss, Kevin, and I both have exterior doors in our offices. He walked outside and passed by my window and then stopped. He quickly turned around and went back into his office. Very loudly, he says, "Uh, Amy- don't walk outside your office." I laughed and said, "Why?" He responded with, "There is a huge snake by your door." Uhhhh.... I am not really sure what I said in return, I was too busy scrambling up into my desk chair!

My office consists of four women and six guys. ALL of the guys immediately went outside the other door and went around to see it. I am still in my chair with my feet high above the ground. The snake starts getting nervous with its increasing audience and starts slithering around and HISSING. Yes, hissing. UGH. If you haven't figure it out by now- I do not do snakes. Or any creepy crawly of any kind. It also started flattening out its head so now I am convinced it is a Cobra.

The guys got a couple of brooms and tried to move it and it struck at the brooms. I was DONE at that point. Anyway, they got an ice chest and managed to get in there. The hauled it off into the woods somewhere and released it. So now, my skin is crawling and every movement outside freaks me out. Thank GOODNESS the dogs were in their play area and not running around.

Scotty got pictures on his iPhone- they are clear pictures but it doesn't really do the size of the snake justice since he had already coiled up. (The doormats are those that are in front of my office door. )


We found it online. It is a "Eastern Hognose Snake". Apparently, it flattens its head to resemble a Cobra as a defense mechanism. The subtitle under its name is "a shy, harmless, beneficial snake." WHATEVER. A snake is a snake and I KNOW it would have attacked and killed me if given the chance!!