Monday, January 31, 2011

Weekend Recap!

Goooood Monday, friends! How was the weekend?! We were blessed with UH.MAZING weather on Saturday here-74 degrees per my car's thermostat! And it was so sunny...*said with a far-away-longing* It was absolutely beautiful! Today, however, we're bracing for the day-after-tomorrow-type stuff...*nervous cringe* They're predicting 10 inches or more of snow and ice... I know it's definitely nowhere near the proportions the northeast has gotten, but that kind of snow will definitely shut the city down here with our minimal snow plows and inability to handle that kind of weather.

I've got groceries at home.. including a freshly made batch of Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti (YUM!), so I should be good and glutonous if I get stuck inside... ;) One thing I realized I don't have.... WINE. Agh! Not okay. Note to self to stop somewhere after work...

Enough of all that.. How was my weekend? It was great! Really 5 star as far as weekends go...which says a lot b/c I have an aversion to January and February every year..haha.. :) Anyway, Friday, Eric and I had a totally chillax night. We went to see No Strings Attached after having our fav Mexican food. :) Movie was predictable and cheesy, but decent...

Saturday, I had lunch with a friend on the PATIO! It was so pretty! It was quite windy, but we wanted to be outside so badly that we just anchored our napkins and toughed it out to enjoy the sun... :) 

Saturday night, Eric and I headed to a friend and co-worker's wedding. It was held at the beautiful and historical Mayo hotel downtown.  

After the ceremony, we headed up to the 16th floor ballroom for the reception....gorgeous view at sunset on the back side of downtown looking all the way down to the river.. :)

The table assignments were so clever! We were at the Ike and Tina Turner table. Not sure that they really fit into a romantic wedding thing...haha.. But all the table names were certainly quite creative nonetheless. :)
Here's the happy couple and their daughter... well, the little girl is actually her step-daughter, but lookie how adorable the little family is! She wouldn't let go of Angela... so cute. :)
Loved all the centerpieces... They look pink in this pic, but everything was a really pretty purple...
They had a photo booth thing where you could put on costumes and it took your photo for 7 seconds while you did whatever.. It was taking pictures the whole time! :)
...and then at the end, you got a fun flip book of all your photos, making it look like a little motion picture.

Once we made our flip book, we may or may not have stolen some of the props and started taking our own photos. It is what it is.

hahahahahahahahaha
'
"Will you accept this rose, strange taxi driver lady with a green boa?"

"Yes I will, dude-with-pink-and-green-head-boppers!"
We make fun... It's how we roll. ;)

Timberly caught the bouquet...and the bride had affixed a Starbucks gift card to it! haha! Now that's my kind of incentive to catch flowers! Just sayin! :)

Sunday morning, Eric and I headed to breakfast at one of our fav favorite breakfast places, Blue Dome Diner. We get two eggs, bacon, potatoes, annnnd choice of french toast or buscuit and gravy...and it's like 6 bucks. You kinda wanna roll yourself outta there afterwards but oh so good.

It's an eclectic little place...as you can see behind Eric..haha.. I was like "hey, pose!" and this is what he did. haha.. goodness.
Hope you're having a good Monday! I'm actually hoping the snow comes in as they're predicting b/c now I've made official adjustments to work from home tomorrow and spent an HOUR on the phone with our IT dept figuring out how to make that happen...

Stay warm, friends!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

What a boys' weekend looks like.. kinda...

So, I mentioned Eric had gone skiing last weekend with "the guys." Welp, I may have totally hijacked downloaded some of his photos and video to share b/c it looked so gorgeous! He was in Telluride. Sounds like that had a really good time! And sad to say, but the man beard is gone now upon his return... :)

They stayed somewhere that was ski in/ski out which is kinda cool. No loading up in the car necessary. :) And they apparently skiied all day, every day. Men take things so seriously sometimes. You prolly would have found me on the mountain 1/2 the time...and the other 1/2, I'd have a glass of wine while sitting in the hot tub.
Eric looks superimposed.

See what I mean.. ski in and ski out! That's the door to their casa for the weekend.
The village.

Okay, so I should have downloaded this in high def. I suck. But it still looks really cool. And yes, I was thinking the same thing-"he was skiing holding a camera?" Yeah, he was. haha.. Glad he made it back in one piece. He's a lot less clumsy than I am and this proves it. :)

 

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Weekend Recap!

Okay, this whole "winter" thing has been great and all, but seriously... I'd be totally okay with spring arriving say....now...

But since Mother Nature doesn't read my blog, I'll just go ahead and talk about my weekend..

So, while Eric was here on a boys weekend... 
(seriously, this is his photo from his phone...gorgeous, right?)....
....I was in T town holdin down the fort! :) 

Friday, I was supposed to play matchmaker for a couple of friends...and was rather excited! Buuuut then, the guy bailed b/c he "met someone" and didn't think it would be fair to meet this girl friend of mine when he's interested in someone else and thinks it is likely going somewhere. Blah blah. hahaha! I rolled my eyes and gave him a hard time, but I respect him for being honest....which is exactly why he's a good dude that I try to fix up with people. :)  

So, the two masterminds behind the match up-Carrie and myself- decided to go ahead and get a group together for dinner anyway....even without a love connection. (Obviously we didn't invite the guy who bailed). We didn't take any photos but we had a fantastic time enjoying Mexican food, margaritas, and more random girl talk than the two dudes at the table preferred. I think they went down to the bar while we were talking about Gossip Girl...or Ke$ha...or something...hahaha. No one noticed til they'd been gone for about 15 minutes. Comedy. :)

Saturday, I had a hair appointment (*happy sigh*), ran some errands, and then had a friend's bachelorette party! Well, she's already had a bachelorette party out of town, but not everyone could make it...so she opted to have a little low key shin dig here, too. Here's the group at dinner! 

Dinner was a blast! I sat right across from the girl I'm next to in the photo and we not only realized we work the same place, but have SO much in common! Excited to have met a new friend and another lunch buddy in my office building. :)  And she had on some gorgeous yurman earrings that I feel compelled to discuss....

Do you like yurman? I know a lot of people do, but I didn't think I did...at least originally. But lately....I really find myself kinda digging some of their stuff. I've been yurman-brainwashed or something! :) haha I do think their stuff is wildly a little overpriced, but that doesn't mean I can't like it. Sorry for the sidebar and now we're moving on....
So, my new friend with the cute jewelry, the rest of the group, and I headed to our next location. After sharing a bottle of vino with my new friend, I opted for agua. From there, the bride really wanted to go dancing.

Wait, dancing....??

I mean, I like dancing. *I just did a little white-girl-dance-move on my sofa* I just wasn't really prepared to go dancing... As you get older, I think it requires more alcohol mental preparation to shake my @ss anywhere that's not a wedding reception...

But whatever, it was a girls night and it was what the bride wanted to do, so I was in! :) Off we went... to a mecca of mohawks (seriously, the dj had one), rap videos playing on flat screens and dudes that look like this lining the bar....

haha.. I'm being overdramatic... not really. We had a really good time though! When I was ready to go (by midnight...or maybe 11:30), I waved at the nice police officer guarding the entrance (yikes!) and headed home. :)

Today, I hit the grocery store (such an exciting life I lead... getting to the blueberries before the Sun afternoon crowds...haha)... :) I pretty much chilled the rest of the day. :) Good weekend for sure! Today was one of those "I should really clean...in 10 minutes...or maybe 10 more minutes..." days. :) Hope you all had a good weekend! You know what starts back tomorrow, friends?! That's right- GOSSIP GIRL!! How is this the last week in January?!

Friday, January 21, 2011

I ungrounded myself...

Okay, so I ungrounded myself  from my self -imposed kibosh on shopping to buy something yesterday. I bought this wallet!! And I can't freaking wait for it to arrive! Well worth the un-grounding I think! :)
You see, I havent purchased a wallet in um...*furrows brows in thought and tilts head* Yeah, I can't remember when, but I got the one I currently have....maybe while I was in law school...or just after law school...or something. It's been like 4 years. (Whoa. Just realized it's been over 4 years since I was in law school and almost choked. Me=getting old. haha). Anyway, it's a nice wallet, but really, it's seen better days. 
I'm kinda picky about wallets though. I wanted one that has a clear pocket for my id as soon as you flip it open. I dont like having to unzip and dig for my drivers license. That sounds utterly annoying in my mind. (Read: I'm lazy). I have a lot of other criteria, but it doesnt matter. What matters is that after my friend showed me her Hobo International wallet and all the many pockets it has while still looking so slim...and having a clear license holder... I was SOLD.

I shopped online and found this one. I was in love. You know the feeling... The *browsing...browsing...browsing...annoyed...exhasperated...browsing...OHMYGAWD I LOVE THAT ONE* But it was $$. At least more $$ than I wanted to spend post-Christmas during my self imposed grounding.

So, I did what any grounded girl needing a new wallet would do. I stalked it, hoping to find it on some weird totally abnormal 75% off clearance...haha..  And um.. yesterday, I checked...and I got lucky! It was 50% off! And only on the Hobo site directly! Not any dept stores, not amazon...nope. Just Hobo!
So that was a rant, but I was obviously very excited b/c I'm sure I randomly looked it up the same day it went on sale or something. That NEVER happens, right?! Woohoo!

Other things this week:
  • Gracie dog got a long overdue haircut! :)
...and it wore her out... :)
...but she sure looks cute, right?! (those bows lasted abooooout 3 minutes b/c I could tell she hated them). 
  • It snowed here. And sleeted. And was basically gross, but definitely not as bad as a lot of other areas up north are experiencing. That said, they still closed schools here so my mom was thankful and pretty pumped (she's a teacher). 
  • I fixed my roomie up on a date last night. TBD, but I think it went well... Jury's still out on my matchmaking skills... :)
  • Made it to bed at TOTALLY reasonable hours this week as a goal. *patting self on back* I miss reading before bed. Any good recs for books, friends? I loved the Twilight series (duh), the Dragon Tat series, etc. Has anyone read any of Ken Follet's books? I think I'd really like them.
Excited for a relaxing weekend to play catch up on the DVR, hang with friends, have a hair appt (woohoo!), run some errands, and stay warm in this weather! Brrrr! Cheers to the weekend, friends!

Monday, January 17, 2011

I mean...zombies are stressful dangit!

Maybe it's the cold weather. Maybe it's b/c I haven't been getting enough sleep (as I sit here blogging instead of going to bed...haha). Maybe I'm trying to explain something that doesn't have an explanation (per usual). But, I've noticed I've been a little short lately and more inclined to have raised blood pressure over something stupid. Mind you. I'm not in a bad mood...or a sad mood....or really anything. I'm actually in a GOOD mood most of the time. :)

I think I'm maybe wound a little tight or something... Eh? *shrugs* I mean seriously... Eric and I were playing some video game thing on his PS3 and trying to kill zombies (Yes, I know. Whatever. Don't ask.) and I couldn't figure out the weapon/controller I had and the zombies kept eating me so I got all pouty and cranky... haha...
I mean really... that's stupid. And that's just one instance. haha... Sheesh. 
I think Eric might be afraid of me with my slight unpredictability..haha... Maybe it's the man beard. It brings out my crazy? That's kinda our inside joke. ;) Anyway, like I said, it could be a little bit due to weather. I imagine it looks like this outside. I know it doesn't. I'm overdramatic. Duh. You've been reading awhile. You know that... ;)
So anyway, today, I heard an add for a spa and I thought "wow. I really want a massage. Like REALLY want a massage." It was all I could think about all the rest of the day....Maybe I'll just go get myself a massage in the next couple weeks or something... Even saying that makes me smile. Ahhh, the aromatic oils, the dim lights, the soothing music, the weird face cushion thing that isn't really all that comfortable....(haha).. Yes, I want one.
Let's have a blogger meet up and all go get massages. Deal? :) I vote for tomorrow. Until then, no zombie video games for me.... ;) Lata, friends!

Weekend Recap!

Hiya peeps! How was the weekend? I was pretty thrilled to have the day off today... Got a few things done... got a little relaxing in. I may have driven to the gym, decided I didn't feel like it and turned around, but whatever... Don't judge me...It was my day off. :) And I don't have much of a voice, so I felt like working out might not be smart. I feel totally fine, but my voice is wacky. Blah. Weird! 

Anyhoo, the long weekend was pretty good if I do say so myself! Friday evening kicked off the weekend with a happy hour with some of my favorite peeps from the Un!ted Way (from when I worked as a loaned executive back on the 2009 campaign). :) Below is the whole group- some other loaned execs from my class and some of the staff :) 
After that, it was time to celebrate Sara's birthday (middle in patterned dress) :). Her actual birthday is new years eve, but she was out of town...so we all just opted to meet up a couple weeks after the event and extend the celebrations! 


Sooooo every time the camera flashed, I realized my ahem... brazier... was visible through my shirt with the bright flash...haha.. Goodness. So, this awkward hiding-behind-Eric pose is in response to that. Random.
I felt totally old b/c I was soooooooo ready to call it a night by like 10pm....and was annoyed at the crowdedness of the bar and all the random people... <--Yup, even re-reading that makes me go "I'm old."
Saturday was full of errands, but good. And Saturday night, Eric's mom, sister and me headed to see Burn the Floor. It was freaking a.mazing! My fav couple ended up being from SYTYCD...well at least the girl was. But, it was the one season I didn't watch, Season 5. I'm talking about Janette if you watch SYTYCD. :) Kinda cool!

Anyhoo, those dancers in the show have so.much.energy. I mean, it was nonstop for 2 hours, with a decently small cast. They each danced more in two hours than I think I've moved in like a year. haha.. Definitely held our attention. Highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance....and I also highly recommend sitting in row 2 b/c um... that's where we sat and we kept saying we were in "the sweat zone" haha :) It was pretty cool. :) Obviously we didn't get sweat on us. That's be gross. Duh.
Sunday, I actually went in to work for a couple hours... It was my first time to go in on the weekend since I started there in May, so it's definitely not a frequent thing or really that bigofa deal. And I didn't really HAVE to, but I had some random busy work that I just wanted to get out of the way. Have to say...well worth the couple hours I spent there b/c I'm much more relaxed heading into tomorrow than I woulda been...just b/c tomorrow is meeting-heavy so I prolly wouldn't get any real work done til Wednesday. Meetings can get annoying when they're stacked on top of each other....Just sayin.

Sunday night, Eric and I headed to try a new place instead of our always go-to Mexican restaurant. :) Piatto Cucina is owned and operated by a man who is actually from Italy...and the food definitely reflects it....fabulous! At one point, someone came in and started speaking Italian. We both nodded at each other like "yeah, this is legit." ;) Totally somewhere I want to go again. Just realized we're sitting almost the exact same....haha...

From there, we headed to see Green Hornet. The reviews online were mixed, but I thought it was pretty good... funny...didn't take itself too seriously... It was a little long, but I feel like most movies are a little long these days... or maybe my patience isn't as long...haha.. Whatever. Either way, good, casual, comedic flick.

I cooked today, grocery shopped, booked a hair cut for G dawg (way overdue. She's shagtastic right now...woof), and overall just chilled out.

I saw my DVR caught that new medical drama that came on last week. I thought I was getting ready to watch Private Practice and saw that show. Hmph. I haven't watched it yet. Worth it?

Long and short=It was a good weekend. :) I ordered some moroccan oil today (from a below post) so TBD, but I'm excited to get it! I couldn't find anywhere that had the small bottles in the "light" version, so amazon and I did an exchange tonight.

Whether you had a day off today or not, I hope your weekend was great and your week has started off o the right foot, friends! :)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Weekend Recap!

So, I finally got around to downloading pics from the weekend. (Cold makes me kinda lazy once I put on sweats at home). I'm happy that we didn't get the kind of snow or ice we COULD have gotten, but today's low was 8 degrees when I was leaving for work. 

EIGHT.

DEGREES. 

So happy to have a warm home, warm clothes, a warm car....very thankful.  

I'm currently addicted to the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive" (on Animal Planet). If there's ever someone stuck in a situation involving bitter cold, I seriously wonder if I could do it. It's almost comical.. I see people faced with lions and stuff in Africa on the show and I think "Oh, I could SO handle that." But the cold? I think "No way jose." haha... The ep tonight featured an climber who fell like 80 feet in a snowy crevasse where the temps get to negative forty...and he had to climb out to survive. Holy moly. 

Okay enough of my obsession with a random show and on to the overdue weekend recap!

Last weekend was good! 

Friday night, Eric and I went to a surprise party for a friend of his.... 

We're so covert (hiding before he arrived)
He was shocked! This may or may not have been him re-enacting his reaction for a photo...haha..

The group. Note Eric's mountain man beard! I honestly don't mind it, despite everyone seemingly thinking that I should...haha.. :) That said, I do think it's comical that it's become quite the subject of conversation and a few guys at work definitely have some beard-envy. Men are so weird. 
The group went glow bowling after the surprise. :)

Saturday night, had dinner with some girl friends and then met up with a group after the TU basketball game for some adult beverages at a local Irish bar/restaurant. Sunday, Eric and I bundled up and went to a yummy (and indulgent) breakfast, then I had to fight the masses at the grocery store. Why were there masses? Oh b/c we were expected to get three inches of snow. Yes, just three inches. People here go BANANAS about that kind of thing.. It's funny, but I guess we really have had a LOT of snow and ice before when we only thought we were getting a few inches, so I guess I can't blame everyone too much for stocking up...but it was just insanity....

Oh and thanks so much for the comments about the moroccan oil! I think I'm going to try some for sure and will report back! I'm trying this new thing where I wait at least 24 hours before buying something I think I want. If I still want it in 24 hours, then it might be worth buying. (the oil has well passed the 24 hr mark so I'm totally gonna try it). If something isn't there in 24 hours, then I didn't need it anyway. It's part of grounding myself from buying things for myself and ties in with that whole "saving money" thing in my NY resolutions. I definitely never go hog wild, but I think there are some things I buy just b/c "it's on sale" or whatever. Anyway, if I wasn't grounded, wanna know what else I'd buy? These. (fleece lined leggings). I want some. But I'm grounded, so I'm being good....for now. I realize I likely want them b/c it's 5 degrees outside...haha.. I'd wear a paper bag as a dress right now if it was lined with warm fleece... :)

Hope you're week is rocking along and you're staying warm and toasty!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Okay, so it's not that bad, but it's definitely icky. (Hence why I'm blogging a little at lunch instead of venturing out too far in the cold). A little snow, freezing temps, slight wind. You should have seen me hiking in from the (far) parking lot today. I couldn't find my snow boots, so I went with my tennis shoes + dress pants, carrying my heels. I couldnt find my matching hat, so I wore my Forever21 hat with little hearts on it. Yeah, I did. It was COLD. I looked like a mismatched mess, but I was warm!

Anyway, my friend told me about this fabulous stuff for hair, mor0ccan oil... Have you used it? I think I want to try it! I went this weekend to get some, but the place I went was sold out of the "light" version for fine and/or blonde hair. Anyway, the more I mentioned it to people, the more rave reviews I got like "Ohmygosh that stuff is amazing!" Anyone have any thoughts out there?

Hope you're nice and warm wherever you are. I know lots of areas are dealing with snow right now so I hope everyone's safe and sound. I just hope we don't get any major ice here... Snow=fine. Ice=bad.

Weekend recap coming later. Hope you guys had a good one! :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Years Eve.. In Photos!

New Years Eve was really fun! A group of us went to a benefit for a fellow alumni and friend of friends who is battling cancer. He's our age and has two adorable little girls. It's a sad situation and I feel very lucky to have been able to participate in such a good cause for New Years. :)  All the proceeds went to him and his family and I don't know about you, but I don't remember a single time I've done something GOOD with my money on New Years.

Anyway, it was a really good time! One guy said something about how great it was to be somewhere where everyone was in such a festive and great mood b/c they all know they're doing something good for someone... I have to agree with him that the tone of the party was pretty awesome.. :)

Met at a friend's condo beforehand...with some festive champagne jello shots thanks to Alove in town from LA! And yes, they are in a shoebox...haha...I mean, you wouldn't want want them to spill on the way there. Duh. :)
Every restaurant was annoyingly booked to the max...and we didn't wanna deal crowds anyway...so we ordered pizzas and salad, brought appetizers, wine, etc, and had a casual dinner at our friend's condo with a very cool chandelier. (see behind us).
Ended up going with the tights and some cute heeled bootie things b/c it was FUHREEZING outside!
My dress' sequins changed colors depending which way they were facing-gold or black. Eric was demonstrating. Photo result= hilarious and slightly inappropriate...haha...whatever....We're all friends here.
 The tables had props. We liked them, especially the glasses. Obviously.







 He loves me...haha... :)




This photo really amuses me for some reason.... Mostly b/c I have no idea what was going on....
 HAPPY 2011!!!
 Get it? 2011? We're creative. That's how we roll.