Memorial Day Weekend Recap

Hi friends! How was your long weekend? Mine was pretty fantastic and just what the doctor ordered... Saying it's difficult getting back into the grind after the weekend is a major understatement.

I'm become slightly addicted to Camera+ and PicFrames soooo I'll let the pictures from my iPhone do most of the talking.

Pooled it up...

Attended three cookouts... 

All were a great time and two of the three lasted well into the evening with great friends, good beers, and lots of laughs. :)

We also spent a good deal of time at a local nursery and planting new stuff around the casa. Admittedly, Eric has more of a green thumb than I do- probably b/c he's better at researching what grows best in what settings. I just pick what's pretty and then promptly kill it. Oops. *shrugs* Anyhoo, the garden looked pretty good already, but with the intense weather we've had the past couple of years, we thought it could use a boost where some things had died off, dig out some of the old stuff, replace mulch, etc.

Just some of the finished product! :)

I was outside for approximately 35 minutes without applying sunblock and am now all red and itchy. Hell. This does NOT bode well for Barbados. I am going to try to lay out when I can so I don't roast on our first day of vacation in early July. :) #fairskinfailure

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! :)

What I'm loving Wednesday

It's Wednesday! It's Wednesday! And that means we're thismuchcloser to a long weekend. Whatcha got planned? Pool time? Cookouts? Lake? 

Anyhoo... thought I'd blog about some random things I'm loving lately... :) 

1. Psst dry shampoo. I can't really take credit for finding this one, but I love it. A friend that's a stylist told me about it and then when I mentioned it to other friends, they looked at me like "Duh, how didn't you know about Psst?" As far as dry shampoos go, it's really good. And it's cheap! I like it better than the Oscar Blandi one I used for a bit and it seems to last longer. That said, I don't really use dry shampoo that much, so for me, it's great when I need/want it. Besides, if you try it and don't like it, you've only wasted 6 bucks. *shrugs* You have to look around for it because it's hard to spot in it's less-than-flashy packaging, but Walgreens, CVS, Ulta, etc. carry it locally.

Ulta Via

2. Paul Mitchell Lavender Mint shampoo. My scalp is always dry-probably because I use hair spray, etc, a lot, attempting to get it to look less super flat than it is. Anyhoo, picked up this stuff on a whim b/c I like mint and I like lavender, so why not, right? Actually really dig this shampoo! Moisturizing, but doesn't weigh down my fine hair. :) And it smells fantastic to boot!

Via Paul Mitchell

3. Clinique repairwear laser focus wrinkle and UV damage corrector. Phew. Long name. Got a sample of this last year as a Sephora beauty insider and really liked it. Finally coughed up the cash to get the full sized one. Been using it a few weeks now and am really liking it. That said, I wasn't really using anything consistently before, so I think if you buy something you like and just use it everyday, you're bound to get at least SOME positive results, right? But, I have been really pleased with this. It makes my skin feel soft and smooth, not greasy at all. And a little goes a long way. And most importantly, I really have noticed a difference. :)

Via Sephora 

4. What I'm loving most of all: the long weekend coming up! And being poolside as much as possible during said long weekend. :)

Happy Wednesday! Whatcha lovin' today, friends?

Weekend Recap!

The days are getting longer but the weekends seem shorter with all the warm weather and fun to be had out of the office... Just sayin.

The weekend was good. :) Didn't have a lot going on...er...didn't have a lot of prescheduled things going on, that is. I love having a lot going on, but it's nice to have a weekend of catch up every so often.

Thursday, TU Young Alum co-hosted Alumni Night at the Tulsa Drillers and it was pretty darn successful for its first year! The weather was absolutely outstanding, the turnout was great, and it was thirsty Thursday. All good things. Eric caught a baseball while they were practicing. Gracie digs it. 

(Oh and a quick thank you to CMae for letting me know about the app, PicFrames. Slightly addicted in case you can't tell from this post.)

Friday, I crossfitted it up then Eric and I headed to our fav little Mexican place for margs and dinner on the patio. I'm slightly nervous about my commitment to crossfit once the temps rise above 100 consistently with no A/C in the gym. Nevermind.. blocking that thought.

Saturday, I took off to enjoy some Jackie time. I went shopping for another swimsuit for vacation, sandals, etc. I didn't find anything. Isn't that how it always happens? *shrugs* Eh well..

Then, I headed out to Jenny's to celebrate Maddox's 3rd birthday- I can't believe he's already three!

She had a bounce house. Jenny and Sarah had to try it out... ya know.. quality control. Obvi.

I just love this little guy. He got a power wheels police car for his birthday and was reallyfreakingexcited. :) See photo of Jenny and Jeff trying to explain reverse, also a lesson called "let's not hit parked cars." haha...

Saturday night, a group of us headed out to watch the Thunder game. Sadly, I took no photos. We were too busy Thundering up for photos. ;)

Pretty cool to see an entire bar cheering for a team. In OK, everyone's usually split between OU/OSU, so it's kinda awesome to see everyone united, fists thrust into the air with every three pointer. I dig it. :)

Despite Eric betting me I wouldn't get up to help in the yard this am after the adult beverages I consumed last night, I proved him wrong...haha.. Boom. We got a LOT done. I need to take a pic of the finished product... 

Gracie helped. 

And although you're beginning to wonder if I'll ever stop rambling, I'm going to keep going to tell you about these adorable shoes I got at Target today for 15 bucks. Hello awesome.

Gracie was trying to get in the photo. She liked the shoes, too. Duh. 

And now, I am done with the rambling. Until next time, friends! Hope you had a good weekend and are gearing up for a good Memorial Day weekend ahead!

Thursday funnyrandoms

Funnyrandom. I think that should be a word. Or maybe randomfunny. Or fundom. Hmm.. Okay, moving on... 

I have lots of things I've wanted to blog- trying a new sun-correcting skin serum, television season finales, the joy of spring drinking on patios... ya know... important stuff. But, alas, I haven't gotten around to any of that yet. So I have this gem that made me laugh today. (I've started saying "gem" a lot. Like "Wow, she's a real gem." Or "Well that information was just a gem of knowledge." Dunno where I got it, but I think I'm okay with its entrance into my vocabulary). Someone facebooked this and it almost made me spit out my morning Snapple. This is so me. 

And it reminded me of the @8!(!!## stupid logic games from the LSAT. I found an example and had to share. Seriously, those stupid logic games almost broke.my.brain when I was practicing for the LSAT. I remember one question about clowns fitting in a car.. all the clowns names were like: Abe, Bob, Carol, David, Ethan, Frank, and Michaelangelo. What? Why Michaelangelo? If you've taken the LSAT, you're with me here. 


Okay, sample question: 
stolen from here. 


An advertising executive must schedule the advertising during a particular television show. Seven different consecutive time slots are available for advertisements during a commercial break, and are numbered one through seven in the order that they will be aired. Seven different advertisements – B, C, D, F, H, J, and K – must be aired during the show. Only one advertisement can occupy each time slot. The assignment of the advertisements to the slots is subject to the following restrictions:
B and D must occupy consecutive time slots.
B must be aired during an earlier time slot than K.
D must be aired during a later time slot than H.
If H does not occupy the fourth time slot, then F must occupy the fourth time slot.
K and J cannot occupy consecutively numbered time slots.

1.Which of the following could be a possible list of the 
advertisements in the order that they are aired?
(A) BDFHJCK
(B) CJBHDKF
(C) HBDFJCK
(D) HDBFKJC
(E) HJDBFKC


?!?!?!?!? 


If you took the time to figure that out, we need to give you something else to do. ;) Teasing teasing. 


Oh and I also may have intentionally run late to work today to see these guys on the Today Show. This video just cracks me up! 

 

So yeah, there's some funnyrandoms for you today, friends.

Weekend Recap!

How was the weekend?! 

Fast? 

Not long enough?

(I know, right?!)

Sooooo Friday night Eric and I went to a housewarming party for some friends...where I didn't take any photos. Oops. 

Saturday morning, I got mah hair did and then decided to take G funk on a walk. Last week, this is what I was leaving at home when I went to work... :(

She knows I put on my shoes right before I leave so she climbed on some of the pairs I had out... 

So, I opted for some quality time with G dog on Saturday afternoon. :) I took her to Turkey Mountain to go walk/hike. Once we got started, I quickly realized we (1) had no idea where we were going (2) were likely going to get lost and (3) I didn't want her to get bitten by some slithery woodland creature. 

"C'mon, mom! What's taking you so long?!" 

So, after about 30 minutes, I decided to take her to the dog park instead. :) I think she was already a little tuckered out from her adventures because she snubbed some of the dogs trying to play with her and preferred sitting on my lap. 

Saturday night, headed to watch the Drillers baseball game with friends. :)

Sunday morning, we headed to breakfast with Eric's family for Mother's Day. :) Then, I headed to lunch with my mom afterward. We were going to cook out at our house, but his sis had to be at work, so we just did two different things this year. Bummed that I didn't take a single photo of either celebration. Blah. Lame. 

So, with a full stomach and still REALLY wanting to hike (per my last post ranting about wanting to do something new), Eric came with me on Sunday back out to Turkey Mountain ready to take on the urban wilderness.  We took the yellow trail, got sidetracked and ended up on the blue trail, and then ended up on the yellow trail again. Who knows how we managed that, but whatever. 

It took us just under two hours to hike around 5 miles, stopping for random photos (of course). I'd never been to Turkey Mountain (how do I call myself a Tulsan?!) so it was pretty cool! We passed some trail runners, mountain bikers, etc, but it really wasn't that busy... :) It was quite gorgeous! I was surprised we have such a cool place to hike/bike/etc so close. 

No this isn't part of a trail. This is Eric and Jackie going rogue on our hiking adventures. 

Arkansas river view

We did a lot of the "okay, now you climb under the big rock and take a photo" stuff... until we saw a Copperhead snake! Yikes! It was dead, but where there's one... Seeing it made me feel better about my decision to pack it up with Gracie the day before.

Overall a great weekend! Eric and I had a chat about how I tend to overbook myself. Case in point, after hiking, I was like "Oh, we could go plant flowers at home!" He was like "You're doing it again." haha.. I think I need a lesson in just chilling out sometimes.  Instead, we went and ate a Chinese buffet and ate our weight in fried rice. Hey, hiking makes you HUNGRY, people! ;)

Oh.. asthma update... THANK YOU for all the comments about how some of you guys have exercise induced asthma, too! I felt even more justified in my belief. And, after emailing with a couple of you, I was 100% sure that's what it was. I made it to the doctor today and it was an accurate diagnosis! I just picked up my inhaler and am gonna give it a shot before Crossfit tonight. Wish me luck!

GG finale tonight, people... I'm excited... :)

Random self observations

First things first, thank you all for agreeing with me so wholeheartedly about the eye drop weirdo at the movie- I knew it was bizarre!

Second, I have made two recent observations. 

1. I am completely...

via weheartit.com

Yup. I don't know if it's b/c I was guns blazing to launch that big project at work or that I have an awesome vacation approaching (but not approaching as quickly as I'd like). I don't know. But, I just feel so.. uninspired. I start a magazine, get bored and put it down. Start watching something on tv and same thing. Start cleaning, cooking, etc... You're getting the drift. Crossfit is awesome, but I've lacked motivation to even do that this week...not b/c I'm tired or lazy.. but I'm just kinda "eh" about everything I normally do for some reason. (As an aside, I dragged my arse to Crossfit today and reminded myself why skipping almost a week is NOT a good idea. Ouch).

I'm in a mood where I want to kinda shock my senses with something novel...

I want to go hiking. Or boating.

Or learn a new skill... like how to repel or rock climb or sail.

Just.... SOMETHING. Do you ever get like this?

*sigh* I'm sure I'll snap out of it.

2. Prepare yourselves for my randomness. I have diagnosed myself with exercise induced asthma. Laugh. It's okay, I did. B/c when I heard it in high school (when I was first diagnosed), I totally laughed. I was like "Everyone has exercise induced asthma. Thanks for playin'."

But, no matter how much better shape I get in, I have trouble getting breath in at many points of a hard workout...especially when running. And I don't mean I'm out of breath-that's a given-I mean I can't inhale deeply in any capacity. My legs could keep going but my lungs give me a big middle finger. I thought it was just crappy lung capacity I need to work on, but then a friend said she has EIA, too! I was like "wait, that's real?" And even has meds for it..that HELP. So, I started googling, and immediately called a doc. Tightness in lungs, not being able to take a deep breath even after the workout is over, pain in your lungs after workouts, coughing, wheezing. Whodathunkit? Obviously mine isn't bad enough to stop me, but it's just frustrating I guess. And I think mine's gotten more noticeable due to the intense allergy season right now.

So, whether it's lame or not, I'm having it checked out. Just thank WebMd. Either that or I have a lung disease that is only prevalent in 3rd world countries. <-- Totally being sarcastic. Don't you love it how the interwebs make you a hypochondriac sometimes? Yeah.

Despite my EIA (what the cool kids call it), I signed up for what looks like an awesome run in Tulsa-the Color Run.

via The Color Run

It's the first year in T-town (I think) and it's a fun run where participants get sprayed with various paint colors (safe and washable) at different mile markers. It's not about speed (thank gawd) but more about just having a good time. I'm totally jazzed!

So there you have it. I'm an uninspired asthmatic who willingly signed up to get blasted with paint colors in the June heat of T-town. Happy Thursday. :)

Open Letters, Monday edition

Open Letters...

To the kid at La Madeline during lunch-

I have no idea why you decided to RUN in the restaurant. I mean.. I like getting my Dr. Pepper as quickly as the next guy, but come on… When you decided to get a running start to wherever you were going, you took off on.my.big.toe. By the time the pain registered, you were gone, but my toe is now swollen and my toenail is black underneath, started bleeding, and is making me unable to wear my heels. Thanks a lot, kid. And thanks a lot to whoever raised you and never told you RUNNING in a restaurant is inappropriate unless you’re headed to the bathroom about to soil yourself. Things that suck: the pain (obviously), but also likely losing a toenail before a beach vacation b/c those suckers take FOREVER to grow back (first world problems, I know). Blah. Oh well.

Running is for OUTSIDE. Even Forrest knows that.

To the guy sitting next to Eric and me at The Avengers Saturday night-

You saw Eric using my eye-drops. Apparently, they looked pretty awesome because you asked to borrow them. What? Who does that? Who borrows some stranger’s eye drops? Anyway, unsure whether you touched your pupil with my bottle or not, I had to toss the whole thing. And yes, we could have said no, but it was just stunning and weird, so Eric just handed it over. Don’t you worry about your own eye health? Gross.

To the feral cat in the neighborhood-

Please stop defecating in our yard. I’m tired of running to the backyard like a crazy person flailing around just to get Gracie to avoid your poo pile so I can clean it up and keep her away. You have diseases. You are not a cat. You are a cuter version of a striped rat. (Seriously, this cat really is feral and MEAN).

To my massage therapist over the weekend-

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. These open letters would likely be more like open hostile threats if not for you. And I dig your hippy mojo as well. Keep it up. (So glad I booked a massage for myself! Long overdue).

To Barbados-

I’m coming for you in mere weeks (okay, quite a few weeks, but whatever). Prepare yourself for my camera and ability to drink two tropical beverages at a time.

Weekend Recap!

(Also known as my feeble attempt to get back on the blog train). 

Okay, time to dust off the cobwebs in my corner of the web and spruce up the place with a new blog entry. Sorry long time no blog. Blah. Not impressed with myself. I guess one could say I got pushed to batsh*t crazy my limit with everything going on at the same time. I think I just overbooked myself in my down time plus a crazy work month. So, the past weekish= no blog fun b/c I was heavily drinking decompressing. It's all good now, but I think I just needed to stare at the wall and regain some sanity or something. I'm workin' on it. ;) 

Anyway, excuses excuses, right? ;) Moving on... 

I took Friday off work and kicked off my weekend with some fun festivities at my alma mater for the 2012 graduates. At TU, it's tradition to ring a bell in Bayless Plaza when you finish your last final of college. In the past few years, the Alumni office has made a whole event out of it called the "final bell party" complete with a dj, food, beer, etc. Alumni, graduates, friends, and family all come out to celebrate. I wish they'd had this celebration when I graduated! 

Hanging with some fabulous Chi Os (much younger than me, but we don't need to talk about that- haha)! Love these girls! The bell is in the background (surrounded by pillars) :)

Our friend, Josh, turned the big three-oh this weekend and Kristy threw him a fiesta on Friday night at Leon's. (MMmmmm sliders!)  

Sara, me Kristy, Beth  

Saturday, our friends threw a derby party. Admittedly, I've always wanted to go to a derby party. I'd gotten a plain hat from Forever 21 with a yellow rim for like 12 bucks. Well, at the last minute-and I mean 30 minutes before the party-I had a hat meltdown and opted to glue some bows and feathers to it. I heart Michaels craft store. Anyway, turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. And yeah, Eric's facial hair.. haha.. Awesome.

Leave it to me to find a furry friend anywhere... 

We bought a few stick ponies...that whinnied when you touched the ears...haha.. Nice.  Also note our friend's Cinco de Mayo/Derby hat in the background...

And then...just as the race had finished... we all gasped as Cory got down on one knee and asked Candice to marry him! She had no idea! (And of course she said yes in case you can't tell from her happy smiles below!) Many congrats to a fantastic couple. :)

 

Good weekend if I do say so myself. That said, in all my flusteredness lately, I put a friend's wedding on the WRONG WEEKEND on my calendar. Yes. You read that. I'm embarrassed to even admit it b/c it's so out of character for me. How on earth does one do that? Blah. It's not a friend I talk to as regularly as we'd both like or else I would have realized my stupid mistake. We've kinda lost touch in the past couple of years, but I totally feel like a horrible friend for missing her wedding. By the time I realized what I'd done, there was no way I'd make it because it was out of town. I have no idea how on earth I did that. I was fully planning on going...in two weeks. Anyway, I feel crappy and trying to figure out if there's any way I can even begin to remedy it...(Advice appreciated). *head hung in shame* I know she wasn't looking around on her big day, thinking "Where is Jackie?!" but still...ugh. I suck. 

Now that I've admitted I'm a big fat jerk, I'll sign off... Lets make it a good week, friends...