Be Amazing

Happy 2014 friends and family and loves! Hopefully you celebrated the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 in style. I know I sure did. After an early dinner at Zombie Burger with Buffalo Bacon, Loaded Fries, half a Raygun burger, and double flights of craft beers we headed to a little southside dive for a couple beers and to watch some bowl games. After leaving the bar (at 9:30) we stopped by HyVee to grab some champagne to celebrate the new year and watch the pre-ball dropping festivities. I’m not even mad about how the night ended up. I got a midnight kiss and went to bed. Lame? Probably a little. Awesome? Absolutely. I slept in and was lazy all day and it was awesome. I woke up to snow on the ground which was beautiful – and such a pain to drive through since NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE IN THE SNOW. I mean it’s one thing if you have a license plate from Texas or Arizona and you’ve literally NEVER seen snow, but come on. If you’re from Iowa and you’ve lived here forever, you should remember how to drive in the snow. End rant.

So I went through my officially, official list that I made last year and realized I didn’t quite finish MOST of the things on it. Some of them I didn’t get a chance to do because they just didn’t come up – like Norwegian holiday baking traditions and buying a car (hopefully Little Red will make it through the winter!) I may not have done everything – or most things – on my list, but I still felt like I had a GREAT year. So let’s check out the (lack of) damage to this list:

1.       Get my spin certification (finally) – maybe in 2014… I did get back into going to classes though!

2.       Carve a pumpkin – I tried to buy one ON Halloween… turns out they were sold out. Fail.

3.       Build a snowman – with all this new snow I can do it soon!

4.       Go ice skating – I need to either go to a Bucs game and skate after that, OR head downtown to Brenton!

5.       Read 40 books in a year (start there and read more if I can) – I read roughly 20. Book club helped J

6.       Do a wine tasting – or five – I went to Wine Fest… does that count?

7.       Start a new tradition

8.       Learn to play tennis – all right tennis friends… make this happen come summertime!

9.       Learn to golf – samesies to my golf buddies, and my dad.

10.    Skydive – I’ll be ziplining next week in Hawaii… that’s pretty damn close to awesomeness.

11.    Send out birthday and Christmas cards – I sent out some… but not enough.

12.    Send out handwritten “thank you” cards – again – next year. I can do it.

13.    Become a yoga enthusiast

14.    Shop local

15.    Take a cooking class – I watched a lot of Chopped… does that count? J

16.    Learn to bake. Period. Cookies, cakes, pies, etc.

17.    Cook a Thanksgiving meal – turkey and all – I baked a casserole for Friendsgiving… maybe next year I can host!

18.    Attend a book banning rally/meeting and voice my opinion – I read a lot of book banning articles… no rallies

19.    Do the splits – after a couple more months of yoga I’ll get there

20.    Find my favorites – food, song, artist, restaurant – I definitely found a lot of awesome things… no favorites yet

21.    Attend an art exhibit

22.    Go camping and hiking – definitely hiking in Hawaii!

23.    Learn how to sew – I’ve got plans for sewing… maybe I need to get the sewing machine in my possession first

24.    Get a tattoo – I’ve got an idea… or a couple of them…

25.    Road trip to see friends

26.    Write fan mail

27.    Learn how to grill more than hotdogs – I can’t have a grill at my apartment… but I ate steak… samesies?

28.    Reconnect with old friends

29.    See Chelsea Handler – I watched many an episode and follow her on social media sites. Nothing in person.

30.    Assist in the adoption process at the ARL – nope. I’ll be starting back at that soon!

31.    Complete DIY projects

32.    Daily random acts of kindness

33.    Smile, laugh and learn something new everyday

34.    Become a cook

35.    Go to the State Fair – how did I NOT go to the fair?!?! Big fail. I’ll have family in town for the 2014 fair. No excuses.

36.    Participate in Norwegian baking traditions during the holidays – these didn’t happen this year as far as I knew

37.    Volunteer

38.    Make my bed every day – I started out so strong. But a messy bed is so comfy

39.    Do 12 races – yeah I did one. But it was the Dam to Dam sooooo that counts like 5 races right?

40.    Buy a car – stay alive Little Red!

41.    Enjoy a spa day – I got a massage after the D2D… but no full on spa day.

42.    Get organized (in all aspects of life) – meh. Organization is so overrated. Woops.

43.    Buy myself something sparkly – I bought glitter things… does that count?

44.    Read and watch the classics (list to come)

45.    Host a dinner party or two – do book clubs and OITNB/Daria date night meals count? If so – I owned this.

46.    Attend showers, weddings, parties for my friends

47.    Keep a plant alive – I didn’t purchase one… but I did get flowers that I kept alive as long as I could!

48.    Be spontaneous

49.    Go to shows and sporting events – locally famous or a little more famous

50.    Go to the Fleur Cinema by myself – with wine, cheesecake, and an Indie film – I’ll make it happen this year. Great movies coming out!

So as you can see, I didn’t quite finish all 50 – but I had a lot of fun. I ate lots of really good food, saw some hilarious movies, read some great books, spent time with amazing friends, and I was happy. 2013 started off a little so-so, and ended in a pretty kick ass way. I’m so excited for 2014 to be here and to dominate every year prior.

Next week I’ll be in Hawaii – and I’m SO excited to see the beautiful views, eat the amazing food, and check Maui off my bucket list. If I love it as much as I’m sure I will, I’ll have to put it back on my bucket list to go back. While I’m gone, I’ll be coming up with my NEW list for 2014.  And I’m super excited. Leading up to my trip to paradise, I came across this on Pinterest. I don’t think it could be any more perfect for a) a vacation, and b) a brand new year.

Life is pretty amazing. Take a minute each day and remind yourself how amazing life really can be. Have an amazing start to 2014 and the rest of the year. Make some lists yourself. See how well you can stack up against yourself. Make some goals, and reach them. If you don’t – it’s not the end of the world. But if you worked hard and enjoyed yourself, isn’t that still pretty amazing?

My number one goal for 2014: be amazing. At whatever I do. Don’t just go through life, pay attention to the little things. Do amazing things, meet amazing people, eat amazing food, just BE amazing.

Be amazing.

S

De-Clutter

Merry Christmas Eve Eve today lovelies – I hope you’ve already eaten your share of sweets and gotten a tummy ache before the actual holiday arrives. That may have been me the last couple days at work. I can’t help it! When someone brings in snacks, why WOULDN’T I eat it all? I’ve been nicknamed the Candy Monster, because I love candy (duh – who doesn’t?) and any kind of sweets. I just can’t stop. Can’t stop, won’t stop. Blood in, blood out homie. Totally off topic – my bad.

Wait wait WAIT. I forgot about the AWESOME news I heard this afternoon… there’s a new yoga instructor in town WOOP WOOP! Nope – not me… maybe someday… but it’s officially official TODAY… Shayne is a brand new yoga instructor!! The audition was last week and it obviously went well since they want him to come teach. I’m SO proud of all the hard work he put in – mentally and physically – to get to where he is now. And now I have more classes to go to… and I’ll pass along the schedule as soon as I get it so you all can join in to the yoga community!

This past week was actually not THAT busy. I worked my normal Monday night (last week’s blog was brought to you during my front desk shift, as is this one) and Tuesday I had zero plans. Fighting Burrito got in my belly – it’s almost as good as it was in Ames – and then I watched a few episodes of The Office (my latest Netflix conquest… more on that later.) After the audition, we watched Elysium (SO good) and other crappy TV. Wednesday night was twin date night (long story short – one of my friends since kindergarten and I “look alike” per our dads – basically we both had blondish hair and wore a hat so we clearly were identical) at the Gramercy Tap. A yummy chicken burger with jalapeno cranberry mayo (sounds weird but it was delish) and a couple Tank 7’s later I was home watching a little bit more of The Office. Okay – so here’s my deal with The Office. I didn’t watch it when it was on, I just always heard people talk about how good it was. The first few episodes I wasn’t that impressed – until I got hooked on the Jim and Pam relationship. And now – I love it. I just finished up season 3 last night (I pretty much watched the entire season yesterday) and they are FINALLY going on a date. HOORAY! Is it weird how invested in their relationship that I am? I mean – it’s like me being invested in Lily and Marshall’s relationship from HIMYM or Blair and Chuck from Gossip Girl. Does that mean I watch too much TV? Nah probably not. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

Thursday night’s festivities consisted of lazing around watching Cops – that show is just INSANE. I was enjoying the lazy night because I knew the rest of the weekend wouldn’t allow for it. Friday was a crazy day – our president’s last day – and we were having a roast for him at the end of the day. Around 2:30 we headed to HyVee to pick up a man bouquet (a little plant in a basket with a 6 pack of Iowa beers) and enough beer for everyone to have a couple during the roast. The afternoon flew by and the roast was pretty hilarious. I haven’t been with the company long enough to really have developed a relationship with him, but it’s amazing to see the impact he’s had on people who have worked with him from the beginning. And who knows what the future will hold – maybe I will end up working for him again!

After the roast, I headed to the mall for a 6-11 shift. I HATE the malls during the holidays and the mall was nuts that night. Plus – holiday hours. Which means the mall didn’t CLOSE until 10, rather than 9. Lame for sure. I made it home around 10:45 and crawled straight into bed – only to be awoken at 7 am by the devil children upstairs. Before I move out of that place I WILL be leaving a passive-aggressive note on their door that says something along the lines of “control your children please” or “don’t give them a bowling ball at 7 am to drop through the ceiling on a Saturday morning.” One of those two. We’ll see. After my rude wake up call, I made some coffee and trekked across the parking lot to PLY. I put in my three hour cleaning shift and brought a newbie into the 11:30 freebie class. After the great sweat/stretch session, we headed to Palmer’s for an Apple Orchard sandwich (noms) and some chats. After lunch I headed home because I needed to prep for the Ugly Sweater Birthday Bar Crawl that would be happening later that night. Plus I was going to be playing “college girl” and pre-game and get ready at the same time. I needed a little time to decompress before shenanigans. And let me tell you – shenanigans were had. Who says turning 27 is lame? That shit was fun. I got to catch up with some people I haven’t talked to in forever, met some new people, and realized that I am WAY too old to be doing that. But it was so so fun! Plus – any chance you have to dress up is something you should ALWAYS do. Yay theme parties! (Sigh… I miss college.)

Sunday I was WORTHLESS. After waking up at 8 am with a nasty headache, I took some ibuprofen and headed outside to brush all the snow off my car. By the time I had to leave for work 3 hours later, the property management team still hadn’t cleaned off the sidewalks. After an hour at work, and plenty of people in the parking lot I wanted to punch, I got to go home. The store was SO DEAD and there were way too many people working. So I came home, sat my ass on the couch and DID NOT MOVE until it was time to go to bed. After season 3 finished. Rough life eh? Sometimes you need a day to do zero thinking. It’s healthy.

While I was working today, I tried to do a little organizing and de-cluttering. I’ll soon be taking on new responsibilities and felt I needed to be a little more organized at my desk. And that got me thinking about de-cluttering more than just my desk. I needed to clean out the clutter in other areas of my life as well. My apartment, my email, my social media – all could use a good cleanse. I’ve found myself becoming annoyed with a lot of things lately – mostly involving stuff I see on Facebook. It used to be such a great “networking” tool – aka finding people who lived on the floor of your dorm and creeping on them – and now it just seems like a sounding board for people to either brag or bitch. And those who bitch are the ones who annoy me. It’s usually petty crap that doesn’t really matter in the long run, maybe something that made you mad and then you forget about two weeks later. In hopes I don’t sound like a dick (although I’m sure I will) – stop complaining. Your life really isn’t THAT bad. Most people DON’T care and you’re really only writing it to vent. Just a thought – Facebook is NOT your diary. If you want to vent about something that made YOU mad and affects ZERO other people, write it in your diary. Stop bitching. [End Rant] And back to the clutter – or the process of de-cluttering. Think about that. Do it in your own life. What can you get rid of that doesn’t serve you in some way? Something else I’m slowly doing – unsubscribing. I wake up in the morning with 15 emails about literally NOTHING and I get them periodically through the day. They’re eating up battery on my phone each time I check them, and they’re all so unnecessary. UNSUBSCRIBE. I have a feeling there is going to be a mental de-cluttering coming up soon in my life – we’ll see how this turns out. I bet I makes me happier. And if you get more happy than you already are, why not do something to supplement that?

Spend time with your friends and family this week, next week, the rest of 2013. Let’s go into 2014 with a bang and kick some ass.

Take some names while you’re at it,

S

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.