The Best

Happy Monday lovelies – hopefully it’s a good Monday, and not a Monday where you have a case of the Mondays… make sense? Hope so. Today was the first day it actually sunk in that Christmas is NEXT WEEK. I mean – I realize if I would have thought that last week I would have been wrong, but you know what I mean. It’s crazy how fast this year has gone. And in THREE weeks, I will hopefully be soaking up some rays in Hawaii!! I can’t wait to have a week to relax – not that I won’t miss you all TERRIBLY, but for realz – beach. Sunshine. RELAXATION. It’s going to be AWESOME.

Wanna know something else awesome? And probably a little unbelievable for those of you who know me pretty well? I am almost DONE with my Christmas shopping. Usually by this time of year – I haven’t even STARTED. I spent yesterday running around town doing some Christmas shopping and getting decorations for my tree (it’s so cute) and wrapped them all last night while watching Season 2 of The Office. I’ve even got the wrapping paper coordinated to who it’s going to and where I need to bring the gift. As I re-read that last sentence I’m confused at who wrote it – because it totes doesn’t sound like something I would do. But I’ve got my tree up and decorated (AWESOME deals on everything), presents purchased and wrapped, and I still had some time to finish up some laundry and clean my DISASTER of a kitchen. I guess that’s what happens when lots of cooking happened the past few weeks.

As I told you all last week, the week BEFORE I had baked 4 dozen sugar cookies and frosted them for the Woodward Academy boys. After that I decided I didn’t want to bake anything for the rest of the year. Yes I realize that only gave me a few weeks – but come on now. 4 dozen cookies is a lot. And it’s exhausting. And a lot of clean up. Mostly that part. So last week, we had book club and I volunteered to help bring some snacks. I got to use my new mixer and food processor to make my snacks – pickle dip and Oreo balls. The Oreo balls were AMAZE-BALLS (I hate that saying – but it fit so I had to, my apologies) and I had get rid of them the following day so I didn’t have them in my possession any longer than necessary. I mean – Holiday Oreos, cream cheese frosting and almond bark – why WOULDN’T you devour them in one sitting?? And then after I stuck those in the fridge I started on my pickle dip. Now my mom makes THE BEST pickle wraps – for realz, I could eat those in one sitting too – and mine never turn out quite as pretty as hers. So I decided I would just make those wraps into a dip. I chopped up my baby pickles, tossed them in the food processor to make even smaller, and then threw those, some cream cheese and ham into the mixer. And boom shaka laka – pickle dip! I still have some of that leftover – no way I’m sharing that. Except I need some more crackers… I’ll put that on my list to get tomorrow. Noms. Oh and in case you weren’t already jealous enough of that awesome food – I got to watch Despicable Me 2 AND Fast 6 while all that was happening. Because sometimes it’s fun to be 5 years old and sometimes you need to cry over Paul Walker.

I went in for my 6 month follow up on my brain – still no aliens – and they drew some blood while I was there. (Vampires.) Then I got a call from the office that said I have high cholesterol and triglycerides. Come on now. Thanks for sharing, Dad. Wah wah, so now I’m on medication for that. I’ll definitely do what I can do to help lower that number, but still – meds. Dumb. So I’ve got thick blood and the health of a 60 year old man. Turning 27 blows. Instead of my metabolism stopping (which I sure hope that didn’t happen either) I aged 30 years instead. Lame. Ah well – looks like working out and eating healthy WILL NOT be a choice for me. Sometimes I wish I still had the health I had when I was 17 – or at least that metabolism. I mean – I could eat half a large pizza, nachos, and a 48 oz Mountain Dew and still never fluctuate weight. Working out for two hours a day sure helped that out. Stupid college and drinking. And getting older and wanting to sleep instead of workout. Growing up is stupid.

Saturday night was my office holiday party – I was pretty excited to go considering I’m still fairly “new” to the office, and it would fun to see everyone NOT in work attire. The dress was “cocktail” so clearly I thought it was appropriate to dress like a 1950s housewife – pearls and all. The party was the Embassy Club West and we had one of our co-workers husband’s bands play while we were there. Lots of yummy appetizers and stuff to snack on too. After everyone had had their share of pricey drinks, the party slowed down but a lot of us met up at Blue Moon to close out the night. And people were RIDICULOUS. We had one of our sales girls act as a human pole while a few of the managers danced on her, and then later she fell off the stage. I’ve got a video on my phone as proof. Sometimes it’s fun working in HR. But look how cute we look! And we got to home with some party favors – logo’d stemless wine glasses. Yay swag!

Closing out 2013 and getting ready to head into 2014, I’ve got some ideas. Things I want to do, experience, conquer. I didn’t do nearly as many things on my list for 2013 as I’d planned, but I can always carry them over into next year – and that’s my plan. I want to do something that scares me, improves me and makes me happy. I don’t want to play it safe in 2014. I’ll be coming into something new beginning in January – and that scares me. It also excites me – and I can’t talk about it. Not yet anyway. Stay tuned till late January for more details…

I know January is a time of resolutions and goals – most that people will forget about or quit doing by February. But this year – I’d like to REALLY follow through with them. I’ll be coming up with a new to-do list for 2014, some will carry over from this year, but there will also be some new challenges for me. And I’m ready. Some physical challenges, mental challenges, and personal challenges. I can’t wait to share these with you and to have you follow my journey.

And one more challenge – I challenge YOU to challenge yourself. That’s one of the best ways to make you the best YOU, that you can be.

Love and best wishes,

S

The Cookie Debacle of 2013

Well ladies and gentleman – it’s officially been a year. I’m officially a year older, and my blog is officially a year old. It’s CRAZY how fast time has gone. I look back and think about how much I’ve done over the last year, and realize how much more I get to do in the future. How awesome is that? So far, I’d say 2013 has been pretty great. I tried new things, met new people, got a new job, and found new passions. I may not have hit all my goals, but there’s always the rest of my life to make those happen.

I had a busy pre-birthday week – I mean it was Thanksgiving week, so that makes sense. I worked Monday and Tuesday nights, had Wednesday night off, then Thursday was Thanksgiving. I ate my weight in delicious and amazing food, then had a quick early birthday celebration where I got really exciting gifts from my family. A gift card to the Half Price Bookstore (AWESOME), a food processor, a mixer that can be turned into a HAND MIXER, jeans, and a trip sometime this year to make my own WINE. Seriously – so cool. Turning 27 seemed pretty fantastic so far. After opening those, I headed home for a quick nap so I could get all ready for Black Friday madness. And actually, it was Black Thursday since I went in to work at 7:30 Thanksgiving night. I thought about staying out with the crazies to shop once I got off at 12:30 am, but then I saw the BAZILLIONS of people out at the mall and I thought mmmm betta not. I went home and went straight to bed, only to be awoken by the pitter patter of ass hole children from upstairs at 7 am. Not cool. I helped with the moving around of furniture from our storage unit for a while and then grabbed some yummy Palmer’s chili and an Apple Orchard sandwich (seriously the BEST sandwich there – it has turkey, apple butter, and apple slices on yummy bread – NOMS), cracked open a beer, and relaxed. I had to be back at work at 5:30 so a nap was obviously also in order. That night took FOREVER and I didn’t get home till almost 11. What a long ass day. Saturday morning are woke my butt up to head to Power Life for my trade shift, zen-ed out for an hour, grabbed some lunch and headed to the East Village for Small Business Saturday. Basically – it’s just a great excuse to check out all the awesome little shops down in the East Village that I forget about. It was a really nice day, so I didn’t even bother with a coat for most of the afternoon. To warm up a little bit, we ducked into The Up Down Bar for a little while. Now – this place is pretty new, and totally fantastic. It looks like a 1980s basement (or so I’ve been told) – complete with movie posters and console TVs. But the best part – ARCADE GAMES. Now I’ve never been much of a gamer, but there’s something about an old arcade game that makes me happy. Maybe it was the fact that I was carrying around a Winter Lager with me while I played pinball that made it that much more funner. Or maybe it was playing Ninja Turtles for a straight 30 minutes. Or maybe it was the fact that I totally kicked ASS at Mario Kart on N-64. Not really – I was actually pretty terrible, since SOMEONE stole it and held it hostage in Cedar Falls, I haven’t gotten a chance to practice. But now that it’s back closer to me – I’m on it. The rest of the night was full of adorable Miller High Life bottles and UFC fights. Sunday was a lazy morning and then a Friends-giving celebration that evening. I stuffed myself in 30 minutes and wanted to sleep immediately after. It was nice to see people I hadn’t seen for months and to catch up with them. I slept like a rock that night – pretty sure I didn’t move until my alarm went off. And at that point – it was my birthday!

I woke up to texts and Facebook messages wishing me happy birthday – and calling me an old lady. I didn’t feel any older – but then that usually doesn’t happen THAT DAY. I went about my day as normal, heading into work where I received a couple happy birthdays. And after work was when I got to officially celebrate. I didn’t work that night so I had a full night to celebrate ME. I was definitely surprised by the two “firsts” I received that night – I got some gorgeous red roses (which Toby immediately began chewing on) and some sparkly jewels! Birthstone jewels at that… I LOVE them. I pretty much haven’t taken them off since Monday – except to shower. After I took some pictures with my pretties, we headed out to Tumea’s for dinner – and yum. Raviolis, red wine, Chicken Diablo and cheesecake – that makes for one SUPER happy girl. After dinner, we headed to Wellman’s for a little while – because I could and it was my birthday so I could do whatever I wanted – stopped at Gateway Market and we were in for the night. Watched some HIMYM and went to bed. And that my friends – is how you spend your 27^th birthday.

Tuesday morning I spent four hours ringing bells for the Salvation Army at Dahl’s. Each year, we get 8 hours of volunteer time where we can volunteer somewhere (usually our Community Involvement Committee organizes these events) – and still basically get paid for our work day. Awesome deal right? We got a free trip to Bang Bang Mongolian Grill too that day, which was awesome since I needed some heat to warm me up from ringing the bell! Tuesday night was the annual Scarf Exchange and I ended up with yet another super cute scarf. I’ve gotten lots of compliments so far and I’ve only had it a week! Prior to the party, I mixed up some sugar cookie dough to make FOUR DOZEN cookies later that night. I volunteered to make these for the Woodward Academy boys – they were needing 256 dozen total cookies, so I thought I could handle making 4 dozen. Or so I thought. So the recipe was easy enough, and I thought I’d use my new mixer. Easy peasy. So here’s all the debacles. First off – baking powder and baking soda are NOT the same thing, so I had to hurry my happy little ass to the store to pick up some baking powder. I put my butter in the mixing bowl and was getting ready to scoop in some sugar when OH SNAP – my measuring cup handle breaks off. Awesome. I keep mixing and adding stuff together, and realize that as I’m adding in my flour that this dough seems pretty sticky. It wouldn’t be so bad, but I forgot to add the eggs. Son of a bitch. So I added the eggs and was getting ready to add in the last bit of flour, when I realized that I had been using the half cup WITH the handle, instead of the whole cup WITHOUT the handle. Blerg. After it was all mixed up I went to put it in the saran wrap to stick in the fridge for a couple hours – and turns out, I didn’t have any. Wax paper had to work because I needed a margarita RIGHT MEOW. Gah. They turned out well and tasted good, they weren’t the prettiest – but when you get 2.5 dozen cookies to yourself like these boys did, I wouldn’t be picky at all.

The next few weeks are going to FLY BY and before we know it, BAM – 2014 will be here. I plan to enjoy these next few weeks to its highest potential. Book club is Wednesday night, I don’t work ALL WEEKEND, and I have some holiday decorating to do. Plus – I have a growler full of Rauchbier sitting in my fridge that I’d love to have a glass of while decorating a Christmas tree.

Remember that. Just because your day wasn’t AWESOME, doesn’t mean that something awesome didn’t happen or won’t happen. I got to work today, a Monday morning that everyone dreads – and I had an email from the woman organizing the cookie gift for the boys. She told us that there were 8000 cookies for the boys and this was their biggest turnout yet. How great is that? Starting off your blah Monday with such awesome news like that. It really set the precedent for my day. Remember that. Something as simple as a happy email can completely turn your day around.

Eskimo kisses,

S





Happy and Thankful - Tis the Season

Hello my lovelies and happy hump day! Wait… that’s not right. It’s really Monday… and just FEELS like hump day since it’s a three day week WOOP WOOP! So TECHNICALLY it’s Wednesday… right? Sure – we’ll go with that. Whatever gets you through the week. And then Thursday is TURKEY DAY! The day where you hang out with family, eat four times as much as you normally would, and then shop till you drop the following day. Or that night – because now the malls are open on Thanksgiving night. How ridiculous is that? Ridiculous enough that I will be at the mall at 7:30 pm to work until 12:30 am. That’s how ridiculous. I’m not super impressed – except for the fact that I get paid time and a half. So that part isn’t too bad. And I have all day Friday to do whatever I want – until I go back to work at 5:30 that night. Someday I’ll learn that it’s OKAY not to be crazy. Someday. I feel like my mom when we were growing up. She always had a sit down with us around this time to say it’s “mom’s crazy hours.” Basically – that meant she was working through the ice show, state drill team, state basketball, state wrestling… etc. (Did I miss anything?) And that also meant dad was in charge so we had to be on our BEST behavior.

Wednesday was the first night I didn’t have to work – so I decided to steal a recipe from Iowa Girl Eats and make some Baked Popcorn Chicken, Asparagus and Cajun Style Rice. I am TOTALLY making that again. Especially because of the homemade Maple Honey Mustard dipping sauce. NOMS. It’s been kindly suggested that the next time I need to put MORE HONEY in it… noted. Because seriously – you can’t go wrong with too much honey. It’s a natural, delicious sweetener – and tastes AWESOME with peanut butter. Check out how DELISH this looks! Pretty proud of myself. Took a little longer to actually make my own popcorn chicken – but it tastes WAY mo’ betta than the frozen stuff. Again – noted.

 

Thursday I tried my hand at crockpot potato soup. BIG FAIL. I mean it tasted okay… but not what I expected. It ended up kind of being a “garbage soup” – a little of this, a little of that, mix it all together and BAM – delicious. Wrong. I have another recipe I want to try, more work – but still is supposed to be amazing. Next time.

Friday night was a mutual consensus to skip yoga (there was a guest teacher in town so I really SHOULD HAVE gone… but I was having a fat day and didn’t want to put on yoga pants) and go see Catching Fire instead. I know I know, I was going to reread Catching Fire before I saw it in theaters, but when propositioned with Bordenaro’s Pizza and beer, I really can’t say no. (Except that the pizza had goobers on it… mushrooms and olives… it was still yummy.) And the movie – HOLY CRAP IT WAS SO GOOD! I totally want to go see it again. I can’t wait till the next book is made into a movie… I love it! And I started reading Catching Fire today while on my ellipticalling lunch – so before I see it AGAIN… I’ll make sure I’ve read the book, again. The books are ALWAYS better than the movie – but these movies are hella good. And Katniss – damn. I need to wear my Katniss braid some more just to remember how awesome she is.

Saturday was a LONG day. A four hour shift at the yoga studio, an hour of sweating it out with 30 of my closest yogi friends, and then another 4 hour shift at the mall. I needed to relax a little bit after that – but then met up with the newly graduated yogis from the completion of their teacher training. CONGRATS NEW YOGIS! I can’t wait to take your classes J We started the night at Exile – drinking some Rauchbier and Gigi and INHALING their dunk-dunk sauce. After leaving, we continued on to the Locust Tap (sensory OVERLOAD) and finished the night at The Saddle. More sensory overload. Those yogis sure know how to have fun.

Yesterday I was WORTHLESS. Well – except for dress shopping for yet another wedding. It was good to see all the girls and try on some pretty dresses – and we found the dress! We said yes to the dress! (That’s a direct quote from last Monday’s blog.) And now again, onto the fun stuff of shoes and jewels. I’m really excited to see how these wedding pictures turn out – they’re going to be so pretty! Yay for friends getting married! After dress shopping, I picked up some Taco Johns, came home and crashed. I watched a couple episodes of Hoarders, crawled in bed and slept for an hour. I lazed around the rest of the day and it was AWESOME. I watched Love, Actually (one of my FAVORITE movies), more Hoarders, and then decided I should be a grown up and make some dinner. I saw a recipe for Bacon Mac and Cheese, so I thought I’d just whip that up real quick. On that note – I baked my bacon again and that is seriously the BEST way to cook bacon. It’s crispy, tasty, and the clean up is SO EASY. Anyway – if you haven’t tried baking your bacon – try it sometime. Just put it in the oven unheated, turn it on to 375 and it cooks as it warms up. I LOVE that way of doing it. Back to the mac – it was also AWESOME. I have a ton leftover, which is fine because I’ll definitely eat it all week. Or at least for the next two days. Plus I threw in some dried peppers all crushed up so it had a little bite to it. Check out the yumminess!!

I finished off my lazy Sunday with James and the Giant Peach on Netflix. I forgot just how bad that movie is… but I still watched it anyway. Sometimes you just need to get back to your childhood. Speaking of childhood, I just found out that it has been 20 YEARS since Mrs. Doubtfire came out. How crazy is that?! I still love that movie – even when I watch it now. Robin Williams and Sally Field – how can you really go wrong there?! But that totally makes me feel old. 20 years?! Gah.

Next week I’ll be reflecting on the past year – my 26^th year – and what I accomplished. I made my official LIST for 2013 of what I wanted to accomplish, so we can see how exactly I did. I know there are a lot I didn’t do – mostly because I ran out of time and got busy. There was still plenty I did take care of, and then ideas for more. I like that I’ve got goals. Some are monthly, weekly, and yearly. I mean the “goals” I had when I was 16 are SO MUCH DIFFERENT than when I turned 26. And that’s okay. People grow and change and your ideals grow and change. And that’s okay. And people grow and change at different rates. When I was 16 I always thought I’d meet my future husband in college, and get married by 25. Well – as I turn 27 one week from today, that didn’t quite happen. And I’m fine with that. I also thought I’d have my shit together by now – but I’m not actually sure if I’ll ever have my shit together. Maybe never COMPLETELY together, I don’t think anyone ever knows exactly what they’re doing.

Coming into my birthday month, Thanksgiving, and the upcoming new year – I am thankful and happy. I’m thankful for my awesome friends and family, I’m happy I found such a great place to work, and I’m both happy AND thankful for the passion, love and helpfulness I’m surrounded by. I’ve got a pretty kick ass life – and I love that I’m living it to the fullest.

What are you thankful for? I urge you to ask yourself this question. REALLY think about it. What makes YOUR world go round?

Be thankful,

S

BIG News Inside... Not that big... Only like 10k worth...

I’ve got goals, goals and goals galore! Great words for a Monday, am I right? After a bad decision last week of stepping on the scale post-workout (those things should be BANNED) it pretty much ruined my day. I mean I know I’ve been eating a lot of delicious food and drinking delicious beer, BUT I’ve also been working out pretty consistently. Apparently – not consistently enough. I grouched through the rest of the day and sent whiney texts to some friends to make me feel better – but it didn’t help. It’s all my own fault for being unhappy with the number I saw (devil machine) so I knew that I was the only one who could truly make a change. After apologizing for sending those whiny texts, I set out to make a change. It’s not about the number on the scale, it’s about how you feel. After a workout, I feel like I’m dying, but then I feel better. I have more energy and I’m in a better mood – why wouldn’t I want that to continue? And from there – I set some goals. And for your entertainment… here they are:

DRINK MORE WATER. More Cardio. Cut carbs (not COMPLETELY because carbs are my favorite food and I would HATE LIFE if I had zero carbs in my life). More fruits and veggies. Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored. And last but not least – I HAVE TO BE IN A BIKINI IN JANUARY.

Gah. That last one is killer. Usually “bikini season” isn’t till summer… nope. Hawaii in January makes me push through the holidays without missing workouts and eating like a cow. It will be tough – but so worth it. Not that it REALLY matters because I won’t know ANYONE there – but still. There will be pictures and I want to look semi-decent in a bikini. But carbs… noms. That will be tough. Like I said – not cutting them out COMPLETELY – but maybe don’t eat a giant bowl of pasta at 11 pm. Makes sense.

And since last week… I don’t have much for you. Other than I’m clearly a relative of Picasso. Friday night I headed to Glazed Expressions with my mama for some wine and painting. I think the last time I painted anything was middle school – so that’s always fun. I mean it wasn’t hard – they walk you through each step and it’s just up to you to make it YOUR’S. It was actually really fun, and kind of relaxing. I’d for sure do it again – especially now that I have a punch card. Only four more classes and I get one FO FREE!! Check out the awesomeness of the eggs we painted. (Also when I look at mine all I want to do is sing “Colors of the Wind” because it makes me think of Pocahontas. You’re welcome for that being in your head now.)

 

I got to participate in some shopping for bridesmaid dresses this weekend too – tis the season! Well not yet anyway – but it will be come 2014! Three weddings in three months – two that I’m a part of. Better pick up some extra shifts EVERYWHERE to make sure I’ve got some extra cash moneys rolling in. After a quick try-on sesh with the lovely bridesmaids and bride-to-be, we headed to Mi Mexico for shaker margaritas and lunch. And since we had time to kill after lunch, we hit up Mickey’s for a couple drinks before heading to try on more dresses. And in the finale – we found a dress! We said yes to the dress! Now we can start shopping for the shoes and accessories… the funner part. And yet another reason for these goals – fitting into a dress 6 months from now. Being a girl is hard work.

So after all this positivity, I’m going to turn into a real Grinch. For those of you who know me well, I am ADAMENT about not putting up Christmas decorations until after my birthday (December 2 – for those of you who forgot. My wishlist is on Amazon in case you’re interested…) and I get super Scrooge-esque when November 1^st comes and BAM – Christmas shit everywhere. On the radio, in the malls, online. It’s terrible. I hate it. At least wait until after Thanksgiving. Don’t celebrate one holiday until the one prior is finished. At work I received an invite on my Outlook calendar to set up the Christmas tree and I responded with “this goes against everything I believe in.” I just got laughed at. But seriously. So the fact that I work at the mall and it’s nearing holiday, just makes me even more Grinch/Scrooge-like. HOWEVER. This is probably the first year where I’ve already started my Christmas shopping. I usually wait till like – the week OF Christmas to start my shopping. I’ve actually got shopping DONE for a few people… which is so weird to me. Plus I’ve got a list going of what I want to get for other people, and even some decorations I want to get. Don’t get me wrong – I will NOT put the decorations up until AFTER the big 2-7 (and the one year anniversary of this blog – yikes) – but I can start prepping.

Now I need all of you to go back into your minds, read back through my past blog posts and remember the line “I will never run again.” And then think about this next line – I will be running the Drake 10K come April. Are you rolling your eyes yet? I did a little bit. But – a 10K is my MAX… it’s only 6.2 miles… and I’ll be aiming for an hour. If I get it done in less than an hour – bomb diggity. Looks like training will commence after the first of the year. And after I get back from beaching it for a week. God I hate running. What am I thinking? It’s good for me? Absolutely not. I’m going to hurt so bad it won’t be funny. But at least it’s running for an hour and not two and a half. Or five. God that would suck. But an hour – why not? What do I really have to lose?

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” – Paulo Coelho

So seriously – what do I have to lose? It’s only 6 miles. It’s only an hour of my life. Plus – it gets me in shape. It’s a good way to clear your head. Much like yoga. Someday I’ll learn to love to run – maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll forever be the type of workout person who does EBR (Everything But Run – I just made that up right now… tell your friends) and is fine with it. Maybe I’ll have an epiphany and running will be awesome. You just never know.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to see what I can do about getting a copy of Catching Fire so I can read it this week and go see the movie this weekend. Katniss is my girl. And so is J. Law – let’s be real though… she’s EVERYONE’S girl. I want to be friends with her.

Get out there and take a risk. Be brave. Experience is key.

Experiment for Experience,

S

First Snowfall and No Socks

I’d hoped today that by wearing flats without socks and a ¾ sleeve blazer that Mother Nature would think it was still gorgeous fall weather and we would miss out on the pre-winter blues. Sadly though – it didn’t work. I ended up being cold all day while I looked out the windows watching the snow fall. It would have been much more enjoyable had I been at home snuggled up under a blanket with sweats on and a hot cup of coffee in my hand, but we can’t always have everything we want. Sad day.

Once again I’ve been a terrible blogger. No posts since before Halloween?? For shame. And so much has happened since then! Yuck. I need to write more. Since starting my new job two and a half months ago, I’ve learned a lot and gotten to do a lot of fun things. I’ve set travel arrangements for managers, become a master at setting up Friday lunch menus, and to add to my list of awesome things I get to do at work – I get to play with puppies at work. A few weeks ago, we had Dog Day at work. Anyone who had a dog could bring them in for the day and then we went to Three Dog Bakery to get them some treats. That was one of the best days ever. I got ZERO things done that day. It was awesome. We had around 20 dogs there that day – anywhere from a Lassie dog to a Great Dane puppy AND full grown monster. There was a fat bulldog that had the face only a mother could love – and the softest little Australian Sheepdog with the biggest feet ever. I love dogs. So much. That day was fantastic and I cannot WAIT for next year.

And to follow up with the cuteness of dogs, was the awkwardness of an office Halloween party. Our theme at the office was Saturday Night Live. There was plenty of creativity – mostly the Ambiguously Gay Duo (so inappropriate and so awesome all at once) and some not so creative – like myself. I decided on being Tina Fey during Weekend Update – which basically involved me putting a black blazer on and wearing my glasses. I didn’t win any prizes for that one. Oh well – it was fun seeing everyone take the stuff so seriously. Definitely a fun environment.

One more fun thing at work – was a volunteering day. Each year we get 8 hours of volunteer time where we can go with some of our coworkers and volunteer somewhere. I hadn’t had any accrued yet so I went over to Animal Lifeline to play with kittens for the afternoon. It put me in such a good mood. Playing with 6 week old kittens is one of the best things EVER. They’re so cute and cuddly and playful and their claws don’t hurt yet. And then I got to see some of the older cats who were special need animals. Those made me SO SAD and I wanted to take each one home with me. However I don’t think Toby would have appreciated that so much. He was already mad at me when I came home smelling like dogs, I’m sure he would have just FLIPPED if I brought home a baby kitten for him to play with.

Other fun things since November started… let’s see. More yoga – and lots of it. More lunchtime sculpt classes where I can die in 45 minutes – but such a good workout I just can’t stop going. Such a great way to detoxify your body – I love the way I feel when I’m done, even if during the class I feel like crying and throwing up (not necessarily in that order.) Since I’m taking a hiatus from Kosama for a few months (save some money and utilize my free gym and yoga memberships) I’m taking some time to explore some fitness classes and do lots of yoga. I really want to better my practice so going multiple times a week is really helpful. Plus I have an undercover yogi giving me tips whenever he can. And for that – I thank you J

October’s book club was a little different than normal. Rather than having a Wednesday night meeting (per usual) we decided to have it on a Friday night. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about getting home at a decent time for work in the morning – even though the small group of us that went out all had to be up early the next day. We started out with dinner and drinks at Zimm’s and discussed the book – a little bit, mostly it was just chatter – and then headed to Vaudeville Mews for a show. Which was AWESOME. I love live bands – especially bands of friends. These shows were FANTASTIC and I’ll totally go back and see them again. November/December’s book club will be back to normal – with a little something extra. First off – we’ll be reading Orange is the New Black, which I’m SUPER excited about. It’s a true story made into a series on Netflix and I love EVERYTHING about it. The characters, the premise – everything. So if you haven’t watched it yet, DO IT. You won’t regret it. But then on top of the awesome book choice, we’ll also be doing a White Elephant book exchange type thing. It will be fun to see what everyone’s favorite book is – and why they decided to share it with everyone. Hooray for book club fun! And actually – I think this will be the one year anniversary of book club. SO FUN! I love it.

I got to help celebrate some love this weekend – my cousin married his awesome wife on Saturday. Everything about it was perfect – especially the 11 minute ceremony. People were gorgous, the food was wonderful, and the scenery was fantastic. I hadn’t seen a true “first look” before, but seeing my cousin lock eyes with his soon-to-be-wife for the first time as she walked down the aisle made me nearly burst into tears. I LOVE love like that. It’s gorgeous. It was a family filled weekend too – it’s nice to see family more often than just at holidays. A surprisingly fun, exhausting weekend with family was something I needed.

While strengthening my practice, I’ve learned a lot during all this yoga. I feel setting an intention is important and I’m glad we do that at the beginning of each practice. It helps clear your mind of all the miniscule, unimportant details and gets you out of your own head. Sometimes I’ll have a bad day or I won’t be feeling well, but then once I get into class and get concentrating and bettering myself – I feel a million times better. Per my undercover yogi, he says “the things that don’t serve you should not capture your attention.” Basically – don’t waste your moments worrying about those things, instead focus your attention to those that do.

“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.”

As I grow my practice, this is my mantra. Not only in yoga, but I life as well. Don’t worry about what other people are doing, just worry about yourself. If you’re not happy – change something. Don’t dwell, don’t meddle. Be happy. Do what you need to do to ensure you are happy.

In other happiness notes – I found a list of nice sounds. And to go along with these nice sounds, I made my own list of nice smells.

Nice Sounds: turning book pages, keys of a type writer, skate blades on ice, sleepy voices, crackling fire, train whistles, when you hear a smile in someone’s voice.

Nice Smells: new book smell, a freshly blown out candle, fall, winter, sleep, someone’s scent mixed with a shower, freshly washed laundry.

There’s some happy thoughts for your senses – enjoy the rest of your Monday night!

Love love,

Me.

HashtagDanceBreak

Happy Monday my loves! I hope you’ve made it through the worst day of the week. And I hope now that you’re off work you’re at home cuddled up on the couch, snuggling a glass (or bottle) of wine and watching either crappy TV or something awesome on Netflix. Either way – I’m jealous of you. Here I sit, for another 4.5 hours at the gym, checking people in, taking their money (not really – but I’ll collect it for the club) and tweeting about the shenanigans I hear/see. And trust me – there’s PLENTY. I’m sure if any of you follow me on Twitter, you’ll see plenty of #gymtweets floating about. I can already feel people dropping their weights in the other room. Yay meat heads!

The last week has been kind of crazy – which I’m not too mad about. I’ve done lots of working – nothing new there – and lots of yoga. Except for this past week – which could explain why I was so testy and angry on Saturday – but let’s save that for later on this evening. I tried out a couple new recipes this last week – both delicious. One turned out a little better than the other – but practice makes perfect right? I’ll be the next Suzy Homemaker before you know it! (Side note: I think it should be spelled like Suzie not Suzy, but it’s too late to change it now.) Recipe number one was Turkey and Rice Stuffed Peppers and Baked Sweet Potato Fries – yum. Could have cooked the fries a little less and the peppers a little more, so now we know for next time. The following night I stole a recipe from Iowa Girl Eats (her blog is AMAZING – check it out: www.iowagirleats.com) and made Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage Pasta. This was FANTASTIC. Toss a Honey Crisp apple into ANYTHING and it makes it like a MILLION times better. Write that down. I’ve been reading a lot of food blogs lately – does that make me weird? – and it just makes me want to cook more and more. Food porn may be one of my favorite things. Again – is that weird? Looking at cookbooks, watching the Food Network, reading food blogs – it’s almost as good as reading those trashy romance novels. A little bit different part of the brain for each of those – but you get what I’m saying. I’m currently searching for a couple new recipes to make this week – healthy, easy, delicious. Send some ideas my way – please and thank you!

I like to think of myself as a pretty athletic person – I mean I’ve played sports, run a 20K, kick box, lift weights – all that fun stuff. So when I decided to hit up a Bosu class at the gym, I thought I’d be good to go. I figured it would be a lot of core work (we can always use more core work) with a bosu ball and some weights. I was so wrong it’s not even funny. Actually I’m sure it was really funny – considering I was walking into a STEP CLASS while using a BOSU BALL. Have you ever been to a step class? That shit is hard. Plus – instead of using an actual step, you’re stepping onto a bosu ball. I was pretty positive I was going to snap my ankle in half. I was so sore the next day I have no idea how I made it to spin. And then I got done with spin and my legs were jello. I took Friday off because I felt like I deserved it. So what did I do to reward myself? I wore heels all day and night. 13 hours on heels makes for SUPER sore feet. I was damn near in tears by 10 pm. Beauty is pain, pain is beauty. Blah blah blah. Whatever – it hurt.

Speaking of working out – CONGRATS to all my runner buddies on completing the half or full marathon this weekend. Y’all are crazy – and I apologize for yelling “YOU’RE ALMOST DONE” when you still had some time to run. I know that if I heard that, I’d probably run over and punch whoever said that in the face. Especially if you hear it like halfway through. Not cool. But for realz though – you guys rule. Mentally AND physically I don’t think I could do it. I cannot wrap my mind around running for FIVE HOURS. Running for two and a half hours for the D2D was too much for me. I would rather ride my bike HUNDREDS of miles during RAGBRAI than I would to RUN 26 of them. Run that through your mind and see if it makes sense. I understand it totally doesn’t – but whatevs. You guys are all an inspiration to those of us who can’t or won’t run like you do. Maybe something I do will be an inspiration to you – it’s a fair trade I think.

As I halfway mentioned earlier, I was not a happy camper on Saturday. It all started with my smoke detector beginning to beep at 6:30 am because of a low battery. And then I took out the battery thinking that would shut it up – wrong. Instead, I set off the actual detector – still at 6:30 am. I’m sure my neighbors were real happy with me. To follow that, the devil children who live above me decided to run sprints across the floor, drop a med ball (or each other – I have no clue) and that all began at 7:00. I was grouchy at that point so I left to go do my trade at the yoga studio, and then another 5 hours at the mall. I came home and it was still beeping. After a reassuring phone call that I’d done all I could (apparently it was hard wired so the battery didn’t even MATTER) I relaxed with an Oktoberfest and left for the night. After a conversation about how I hadn’t done any yoga that week – I was “nicely” told that that was probably the reason I was so high strung during my phone conversation the day before. I knew that yoga zen’d me out, but I didn’t realize how it would affect me when I DIDN’T go and get that 45 minutes or an hour to get out of my own head. Even if I just give myself a 15-20 minute practice, it will lift my spirits and get me in the right mind set for where I need to be.

I stumbled across this while surfing Pinterest, and thought about how much I should have done these things while I was stressed out this weekend.

Just think about how much better of a mood I would be in if I took a deep breath and danced it out. Next time. Next time I start to freak out about something I literally CANNOT control – a dance break may help. Or just a smile. These top 10 things will be on my to-do list for whenever I’ve got an off day. Can’t go wrong with a walk or a hug.

And a quick thought before I go – there’s some tweeting that needs to happen – “if the simple things in life don’t put a smile on your face, then you will never be truly happy.” Ain’t that the truth? A little girl walked into the gym tonight with her mom wearing her dress up heels – ladies you know what I’m talking about, the Barbie heels that cut into your feet but clicked around to make you feel like a beautiful grown up – and she looked so sassy, I had to smile at her. Her mom rolled her eyes and laughed a little, but if we all acted with such happiness the way kids do – this place would be SO MUCH BETTER and not full of ass holes. Smile at the simple things – be happy.

Love and memories,

Me.

Aca Believe I Can't Spell "A Cappella"

I'm having a difficult time concentrating tonight. Maybe it's because I just ate a delicious meal and put myself into a carb coma (the best kind of coma... not that there's really a GOOD kind of coma...) or maybe because I'm not in my element to write. Whatever it is - I'm feeling a little ADD. All day I've been debating on whether I should spend tonight with my nose buried in The Scarlet Letter, or whether I should bust out my blog post since it's a little overdue. My Nook is sitting next to me, staring enviously at my laptop while I type away trying to get my concentration back. My laptop is getting a little warm on my lap, but since I started writing I can't stop now! It's like Miley says - we can't stop, we won't stop. Okay - that was pretty awful. Something that isn't awful though - the video that Jimmy Fallon put up from when Miley was at his show. Miley, Jimmy and The Roots sang "We Can't Stop" acapela (a capela, aca pela, aca pella - I have no idea how to spell this word. Aca believe it!) and it's actually really amazing. It's like every part of your body wants you to HATE this song, but then it's still pretty good. Take a look and judge for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2mjvfnUAfyo Oh - and btw - it's a cappella. (Thanks Jimmy Fallon.)

Okay - back to my ADD. The past week or so I've celebrated a birthday (twice), watched the Cyclones lose (still mad about that one), had a grown-up play date, and made up for lost time over some drinks with an old friend. I tried out some sushi at a new sushi/hibachi place in Ankeny - I'll for SURE be going back - and found a new birthday song that's really hard to get out of your head. I'll be honest though - I have no idea what I ordered, so I can't even rate it with an OH EM GEE rating. All I remember is that it was not the best, but way above the worst. Downside - it's all the way in Ankeny, and if they do sake bombs as freely as Sakari does, I'll be needing a place to crash. The grown-up play date was AWESOME - and long overdue. We spent the first hour and a half of the morning at Starbucks (duh) and discussed everything from weddings to babies to budgets to the "good ol' days." I realize that we are 26 but sometimes the good ol' days are fun to reminisce. After acting all adult-esque (NOT to be confused with adulteROUS - very different things) we headed off to the mall to window shop. That is so hard to do, especially when window shopping with another compulsive shopper like myself. After hitting up Target, that's where we spent the real money. On snacks. A one dolla no holla box of Whales (cheaper version of Goldfish) and a bag of AnimalCrackers, we headed back to my house for some homemade crockpot chili (noms) and It's Always Sunny. Good times.

An impromptu get together on Tuesday night made Wednesday DRAG, but it was totes worth it. (Totes is one of the top 10 words people find most annoying on the internet. In case you were wondering.) After sharing a bottle of wine and cracking open a couple beers, I told stories and heard stories that were cracking me up. So much fun to catch up and laugh at each other's shenanigans. I think my favorite part of the discussion was the lunch menu. After a sad attempt and poor planning on my part, my lunch the other day was cubed cheese, shredded chicken, and hard boiled eggs - covered in French dressing, with a spoon full of peanut butter on the side. Not to be compared with tuna and carrots with hummus. Sometimes it's hard to be an adult.

Speaking of hard to be an adult - what happens after you finish a show on Netflix? It feels like the rest of my life is just - blah. Like I have nothing to look forward to. Does that mean I have far too much time invested in someone else's "life?" I mean - Nip/Tuck is obviously super legit and "real life" but after I watched the series finale yesterday, I was so let down. Now what do I do? Start a new show, only to be let down in another 100 episodes?? Netflix is mean. And don't even get me started on Glee. I'm clearly too wrapped up in these characters lives that it affects me WAY more than it should. Tonight's episode is called "The Quarterback" and is a tribute episode to Cory Monteith (RIP). Well, stupid me - I watched the preview to the episode (twice) and listened to the songs that would be sang in the episode. I barely made it through those things without bawling my eyes out - how am I supposed to get through the entire episode?! The answer to that: watching it alone the day after it's on so you can sit in the dark and cry your face off without anyone (except your cat) to judge you. That's my plan for tomorrow night. Please don't get offended if I don't respond to texts/emails/phone calls/Facebook messages/tweets for a little while because I will probably be either a) gearing myself up for my own impending meltdown, or b) currently in the process of losing my shit. So be prepared.

Real fast before I close out for the night and week - I've hit up two spin classes in the last week. I haven't taken a spin class for MONTHS and my vagina knows it. TMI? Sorry about that. Let me rephrase. My pelvic bones know that. I love spin but I hate how sore you are for like three days after your 45 minute class. Ouchie wa wa. Since I'll be freezing my Kosama membership for a few months (a grown up decision) I'll be spending my time participating in regular workouts I write up myself, group fitness classes, and plenty of yoga. I think that will put me in a good place to be in a bikini in January. Hopefully. Hawaii - here I come! (More on vacations to come - not today. But keep your eyes peeled kids.)

Before each yoga practice, our instructor always tells us to set an intention. That could be something as simple as making sure you're present in class, going deeper in a pose, or maybe something much more meaningful to you. Maybe you could be nailing that crow pose for someone else, or maybe it's not about yoga at all. Maybe it's about your presence in your practice. I think setting an intention is something that shouldn't just be reserved for your yoga practice. I think it can definitely be brought out into real life, YOUR life.

All good things to remember - set an intention for the day and go with it. Be thankful. And ask someone you love - "what are YOU thankful for today?"

 

Regret nothing, and take chances. "Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery."

 

Namaste.