What I'm Loving Wednesday

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed some time off and safe travels. If you are anything like me, you are having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things this week. After all, at this very time last week, we were all dreaming of turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and pie and eating/drinking/sleeping too much. Now....well, it's just another Wednesday.

BUT, there are still things to be loving on this Wednesday after Thanksgiving, right?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving.... that the car repair place just called and while it isn't going to be FREE, it's definitely a reasonable amount and should be ready by the end of the day today. Two thumbs up for that.

I'm loving....that my cold feels slightly less crappy than yesterday. Maybe I am finally turning a corner for good? Fingers crossed!

I'm loving....these Tom's. I've been contemplating a pair for a while now and these just seem too good to pass up.

I'm loving....that a friend is off to the hospital today to deliver her twin baby girls. So excited for M&B and the newest chapter of their lives. And I am DYING to finally learn the babies' names!

I'm loving....that even though I really didn't deprive myself of treats lately, I managed to lose a little weight after Thanksgiving. I don't quite know how in the world that's possible, but I'll take it!

I'm loving....that I finally made a microwave mug cake. The recipe I actually used was a little different and used some delicious Nutella but holy cow was the thing good for taking less that ten minutes to mix and make. And it made TOO MUCH cake. I never knew there could be such a thing as too much cake, but there certainly was for me. MVP looked a little excited by it and remarked "So you're saying now I can have cake anytime I want??" Things may have just gotten dangerous...

I'm loving....the Christmas pants I bought for MVP. We had been shopping a long time ago and run across the most amazing Christmas pants at a Brooks Brothers Outlet store. I think they may have been some sort of red and green plaid wool with little Christmas trees embroidered all over them. But of course they were way too expensive to rationalize a pair of pants you could only wear during the holiday season. Then a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a Vineyard Vines sale on Rue La La...and lo and behold the North Pole Grey Wool Club pant. With teeny little sprigs of holly embroidered on it in addition to santas hanging off of ship anchors.



I'm loving....that MVP actually got excited about the pants and didn't think I was a total looney tune for buying them for him. He even selected the perfect bow tie to go with them.

I'm loving....that things feel a bit more manageable at work at the moment. It's not easy-breezy, but it definitely feels better than this time last month, so I am really really thankful for that. I know this is probably too good to last for very long, but I will enjoy it while I can!

Back to the grind

Always so hard to come back to work after a long weekend. Even though *technically* it wasn't a long weekend for me since I worked on Friday, but you catch my drift.

I had a great weekend in MVP's hometown and really enjoyed meeting a lot of his friends. Although tailgating bright an early in the morning and all through the day got the better of me and I put myself to bed at around 7:30 or so while MVP and others changed and headed out for the night. Hopefully I didn't come across as too much of a party pooper, but I just knew I had no get-up-and-go left in me. Judging by how MVP looked/felt on Sunday, I think I made the right choice ;) I think I am getting to the age where I am SO OLD that I don't even remember a time when I could be a rockstar that tailgated all day and then went out at night. I am sure some of my college friends will refresh my memory otherwise though...

Unfortunately, all that travel and tailgating set me back big time in my battle against the cold. I felt pretty good waking up yesterday, and then it has been a steady decline since then. So it's back to chugging Theraflu for me. And blowing my nose what feels like every 2 minutes. Although I do have these nifty new "cooling" tissues from Kleenex. Was a bit skeptical but they totally help my nose not get all red and sore.

Hoping that the week ahead is an easy one for all of us so we can recover from our holiday weekends!

The most pointless work day ever

That is pretty much what today has been for me.

However I HAVE managed to accomplish the following:
o Complete two expense reports
o Design and order my holiday cards
o Pay bills and balance checkbook
o Take care of some emails for my collegiate advisees
o Make a list for what I need to pack for the weekend when I get home from work today

Ok, I know only one of those things was actually work-related, but at least I managed to get something done. I will admit it is very nice for the office to be so calm and quiet...but right about now I am feeling like I want to crawl under my desk and take a nap. I mean, I probably could, who would be here to notice, right?

I shouldn't complain too much since I did get to enjoy a lovely day off yesterday and a very quiet and low-key Thanksgiving dinner with MVP. I am still grappling with whatever this sickness is, so there was a lot of tissues and Theraflu on the menu for me.

The turkeys (yes there were TWO of them) arrived from my mom


And I even made MVP a pumpkin pie


All in all, Thanksgiving 2011 felt like a success. MVP loved his pajamas, however since they were flannel it was a bit too warm to wear them yesterday. Between the unseasonable warm weather and the oven heating up the apartment, it got a little toasty in there. I even had to open a bunch of windows.

Now I have an hour and a half more to kill at work before heading home and packing up for the weekend. I'm going with MVP to the VT-UVA game tomorrow. Excited for tailgating in some more unseasonable warm weather (it's supposed to be low to mid sixties!) and just a teeny bit nervous about meeting his friends. We shall see....I do know it is keeping me from getting myself into trouble holiday shopping this weekend, so that in and of itself is a very good thing!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the holiday weekend whatever your plans may be.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Is anyone even on here today? I'm hoping most people are either on their way to visit with family and friends or have taken the day off to prepare to family and friends that will be visiting them. I'm at work but thankful for less people in the office and the little bit of calm and quiet I am getting to soak up today (and Friday)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...Thanksgiving. It really is my favorite holiday...just focusing on good food and your family and friends. There's even football and parades to boot. What's not to love?

I'm loving...my Mom. I know she's sad that this is the very first Thanksgiving in my whole life I won't be with her and my dad. So she wanted to let me know she was thinking of me by sending me a gift. Anyone who has ever wondered where my love for gift giving came from....it's my mom. I mean, who WOULDN'T want a 1lb loaf of sourdough shaped like a turkey?


I'm loving...an extra day of sleeping in this week. Duh.

I'm loving...my first holiday with MVP. I'm so happy that I get to spend it with him. Actually, so happy that I bought us some matching pajamas to lounge around in for Thanksgiving. Yes, you read that right. Matching pajamas. I'm a very big nerd when it comes to stuff like this. I like having quirky holiday traditions and thought maybe this could be a fun one. Either he will embrace it/suffer through it/get on board with it....or it will repel him so far away that we end things. Stay tuned readers!!!!

I'm loving...holiday cards. Seriously, I know what a pain in the @ss they can be to send but when I get them from people in the mail.....oh it can make the worst day turn around like you wouldn't believe. I am SO looking forward to holiday cards in the mail.

I'm loving...that there is a new Muppet Movie to be seen. Y'all...I lived for the Muppets when I was little. I think my mom might still be keeping my collection of Muppet Caper Glasses from Burger King in the china cabinet for safe keeping per my request.


I'm loving...Homey C! Today is her birthday and I am terribly excited that now that she lives here in DC I get to go out with her for her birthday dinner -- yay!

I'm loving...great holiday shopping deals like Bridesmaids for only $5.99 -- yes please!

Mindless Monday Musings

I think I may have spent the better part of my weekend asleep and am still feeling groggy and out of it. Unfortunately, I am coming down with something that started as general malaise/achiness on Saturday that became a sore throat later that night. when I woke up Sunday it was so painful to swallow that I didn't even want to be awake. Boo. I have been on a steady diet of theraflu and cough drops since yesterday hoping like heck I can stave off whatever this may be.

But man, is there anything more craptastic than being at work while you are sick and not feeling well. My head just feels all foggy. I am hoping it is a slow-ish week with lots of folks taking off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hoping, hoping, hoping.

But my foggy head has lots of random thoughts in it....that I should probably just dump out here. Empty out my head so I can even hope of getting some work done today.

• Rold Gold Honey Wheat pretzel twists…where have these been hiding? I grabbed a bag from the new pantry at work out of curiosity (I mean, they are FREE after all so what’s there to lose?) Big fan.

• As independent and self sufficient as I know I am, I must admit it was nice to have MVP around taking care of my sick self over the weekend. Making me my Theraflu and making sure I drank it all. Letting me watch "Newsies", even though I fell asleep halfway through. It was just really nice.

• I also watched SO much Food Network this weekend. Hopefully watching people on TV cook a Thanksgiving dinner makes up for the fact that I went online last night and ordered mine from Whole Foods and will only need to heat it up on Thursday. I know, I know....but it just didn't seem right to cook all day for two people. Esp when the price was right to just order it and pick it up.

• According to postings on Facebook, about 16 people I know had babies over the course of the last few days. WTF.

• I have no clue what to get MVP for Christmas and it is seriously bothering me. Like, big time. I LIVE for finding people *the* perfect gift and I am seriously drawing a blank for him.

• I think there are some changes in the very near future for me that are going to be sad, happy and scary all at the same time. It is all very good things for everyone involved, just a little bittersweet I suppose.

• I need to nail down a winning cookie recipe (and soon) for my friend's annual cookie exchange party. We call it a "party" because there's food and wine, but really we are all crazy competitive and want to WIN.

• Soup. All I want to eat is soup. And sleep. Soup and sleep.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...that at least it is Wednesday. This week feels like it is seriously dragging for some reason.

I'm loving...my quiet night at home last night. I unpacked some bags, caught up on some TV, flipped through a few magazines. It was just nice to be at home with some free and quiet time all to myself.

I'm loving...chipping away at my holiday shopping list. Slow and steady so hopefully I am not running around at the last minute.

I'm loving...that next week is Thanksgiving. It is hands down my favorite holiday.

I'm loving...that next week will hopefully be calm and quiet in the office with many taking time off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Leaving me the chance to be productive and a little less stressed.

I'm loving...our new pantry at work. The upshot to the company getting sold is that the new parent company installed a huge cafe-set up on our first floor with coffee, juice, milk, sodas, cereal, fruit and more SNACKS then I have ever seen. All free. A nice perk for sure...just so long as you keep the snacking in check and don't go too overboard.

I am WELL aware that this is a supremely lame WILW post....I think I am seriously being affected by the gray rainy gloom here in DC today. I have had two cups of coffee and still can't seem to keep myself from yawning and wanting to crawl under my desk and go to sleep. Anyone else feeling the same?

Another episode of being utterly ridiculous

MVP is on his way home today and I've been somewhat distracted at work. I have missed him so much the last two weeks and am obviously excited to see him but I'm also....nervous. Is that totally weird?

Quick, please someone tell me that is not totally weird so I can calm the eff down and not worry about how I am feeling anxious over this.

What the what?

I really love when I log into Blogger, excited that a morning meeting got cancelled so now I have a bit of time to just enjoy a few blogs before diving into the work day, and blogger tells me I am currently not following any blogs.

Hilarious, Blogger. You are a real laugh riot.

Justgivememylistdammit!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...that today is really my Thursday because of the Veteran's Day Holiday on Thursday. this is probably about the bajillionth time I have mentioned that this week....because I am really in need of a LONG weekend away from work.

I'm loving...that having the day off means I had a free day to schedule myself a much-needed hair appointment. Things are looking rough to put it mildly. When one of your steps in your "must do before I leave the house in the morning" routine is cover your roots, then you are overdue to get you @ss to the hair salon. And PS, you don't need fancy over-priced products especially for root cover up. Cheap drugstore eye shadow in a shade close to your hair color works wonderfully. Just spray a little hairspray down first to make it a little tacky, they brush on some powder. Magic.

I'm loving...that I get to go to the Maryland-Notre Dame game this weekend. My Terps are pretty terrible but I haven't been to a game yet this year, so I am looking forward to it.

I'm loving...that I finally got time to switch out my summer clothes for my winter clothes this past weekend. Also gave me a good opportunity to do some cleaning/purging in my closet and I managed top get two HUGE bags of clothes together to donate. Now if only I could muster the energy to take the boxes of summer clothes down to storage....

I'm loving...this exact time of year. Post-Halloween but still Pre-Thanksgiving. You get to start the warm and fuzzy holiday feeling and enjoy it before it usually turns into a stressful time of obligations and functions and to do lists and gift shopping and all of that. Thanksgiving is really my favorite holiday and I especially enjoy the few weeks leading up to it.

I'm loving...that even though this will be my very first Thanksgiving ever where I won't be with at least one of my parents, I will have MVP to keep me company back here in DC.

I'm secretly loving...that I don't have to make that dreadful Thanksgiving drive up I-95. Shhhh, don't tell my family! But seriously, when what should take you three hours turns into a 7 hour drive, ANYONE'S patience would be tested.

I'm loving...that MVP comes home tomorrow. He has been gone for 2 weeks for work and I have missed him. A lot. I am so proud of him and the work he was doing but selfishly, I hated that I didn't get to see him and some days, between both of our hectic schedules, didn't get to talk on the phone. Am so so SO happy that I will get to see him at the end of the day tomorrow. Can't get here soon enough.

I'm loving... that my tomorrow is scheduled FULL of meetings. For once, this is a good thing, because it will make the day go by THAT much faster :)

Lesson learned...don't even bother being nice.

As I said yesterday, I am trying to just make peace with work. Come in, keep my head down, work as hard as I can, and then just get the f*ck out at the end of the day in one piece. Run home and enjoy the time I get to have outside of the office.

And it seems like a workable plan, more or less. I know that there are going to be some days/projects that are going to cause more stress than others. And I know that there will be some colleagues who may be more challenging to work with than others. WORK with.

Not just inhabit the same space.

I just had an experience this morning that I have no words for. Most folks I know have some form of security badge, ID card, or key fob to get access to and often get around their office building. Well, at least working in the hyper-aware-of-security-threats DC region, anyway. And I don't think it matters how careful/mindful you are, everyone has had the experience of getting "locked out" at least once or twice. You get stuck in a hallway, or outside an elevator because you accidentally left your badge/fob back at your desk. Then you wait by the door and give a sheepish grin to the first person who happens to come by and let you in. They give you a little nod back that says "Hey, we've all done it!" and you each go about your day.

Coming back up to my office with another colleague in tow, we exited the elevator where I noticed a lady just sort of standing in front of one of the doors. Assuming she had "locked herself out" I scurried over, chirping an enthusiastic "let me get that for you!" as I swipped my ID badge to unlock the door.

The woman looked at me with absolute horror and, I kid you not, disgust. "Can I help you?!", she barked at me.

"Oh..sorry...I thought maybe you had forgotten your badge and were waiting for someone to let you in", I cowered.

Growing more disgusted with me, she huffed back, "Whatever would give you that idea?!"

Um.....that you were standing motionless in front of controlled access doors? With no forward momentum to actually get through said doors?????

"I was just applying hand sanitizer! And really, that is for everyone's benefit!!" she said, growing so irritated I was beginning to get a little scared.

"Ok, great. Have a good day!" I called back to her as I hightailed it out of there with my colleague. Colleague turns to me and says, "Haven't you learned by now? Don't bother being nice to anyone here. Don't. Even. Bother."

I will again count my blessings and be EXTREMELY grateful that this is a shortened work week and will be counting down the minutes until I leave this place on Thursday. I think right now it's just about 1,320 more minutes. Of which, I will probably be stuck in meetings for about 500 of those minutes. (Sad part is, I actually did the math for that one...)

A Monday that's really a Tuesday

I survived my conference in Seattle and made it back to DC in one piece -- hooray!! I spent my Saturday catching up on TV watching, swapping out my summer clothes, unpacking my winter clothes, and grocery shopping. I'm also thinking I must have lost a box of winter things because there are some shirts and pants I was expecting to unpack that I never found....annoying. Sunday was spent volunteering for Junior League -- all in all not so bad, we were done an hour and a half earlier than anticipated AND they sent us home with 2 Georgetown Cupcakes. Score.

Now I am back to the same-old-same at work, just trying to keep my head down and get things done. Slow and steady.

Deep breaths. Must. Not. Freak. Out.

Things are still stressful, but I am trying to just take it as it comes, bit by bit, and look forward to things outside of the office to get me through the time I must spend in the office.

It helps a BUNCH that today is really like Tuesday, since I have Friday off for the Veteran's day holiday. Before you go getting TOO jealous, I will let you know that I do NOT have off for the day after Thanksgiving (what the eff, right?!) But I will happily take my day off at the end of this week.

TIGF

Yes...you read that correctly. It's not a typo. I need to take a cue from lots of other folks out there and make sure I am taking time this month to remember Things I'm Grateful For.

Right now, as I'm trying to wind down and get ready for bed (and setting this to auto post tomorrow!) I'm very grateful that I get to go home tomorrow. As much as I love a hotel room and having someone as make my bed while I'm out for the day, I'm really looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my own bed.

I'm grateful for not having any sort of obligations on Saturday so I'm free to sleep in, get some things done around the apartment, run a few errands.

I'm grateful that, even though it has been giving me some days that really try me, I have a job and a paycheck.

Even though I haven't been a fan of this work trip, I am grateful for the quiet time on the plane when I can catch up on my trashy magazine reading. I was falling wayyyyyy behind.

Ten Day Challenge - Four Books

I truly think I could die from boredom today. It's some times like these where I don't understand the value of having me fly to this conference, pay for my meals and lodging here and all that jazz, for me to smile and hand out tchotchkes. [Side note...I love free sh*t just as much as the next person, but do you really need to shove me out of the way as I am setting up my booth so you can get a free pen?!?! Rude.]

Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of having a presence at important industry events, but I think I am just selfishly thinking about how being here is putting me WAY behind on things back at the office and am not seeing the trade off.

Anyway, I gave up and went back to my room to grab my laptop so I could at least try to get a little bit of work/emails done during my "down time." And things seem to be a little quiet back on the home front...in an eery sort of way. Am concerned it may be a calm before a bigger storm....

But until I get hit with that mess, let's kill some time with a blog post, shall we?

Four Books. I would like to tell you that this is going to be really intellectual or enlightened, seeing as I was an English Major and spent the better part of my college years with my nose stuck in some novel. But it'll probably be run of the mill. Sorry y'all. I blame the fact that I am tired and bored for my lack of more provocative choices.

1. Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott. I read this when I was fairly young and I clearly remember reading it in a day. It's my first recollection of when a book truly captured my entire attention and I couldn't put it down.

2. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. I feel like most people aren't even aware that he wrote anything other than Catcher in the Rye. But I loved this collection of short stories and how he was able to create beautiful stories and rich, often heartbreaking characters, in such a short number of pages. I remember one of my first visits to MVP's apartment I spied a copy of this on his bookshelf and took it as a very good sign.

3. Corduroy by Don Freeman. Loved this book when I was little and it also made me incredibly (and irrationally) fearful of being locked in a department store by myself overnight.

4. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. A beautiful story with so many lessons to learn and insights to gain from it. If you haven't read it since you were small, I highly reccomend re-reading it as an adult.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This week's WILW is coming to you all the way from Seattle, where I am spending a few days to work a conference. While people often think it's so nice when you get to travel for work, in the end it can be double or triple the work of being back in the office. One of the reasons things have been so stressful at work lately was trying to front load as much work as humanly possible before leaving for this trip, so that my projects might not suffer as much while I am out. That was the hope anyway. Sigh.

So while I don't have to be at the conference hall until 2pm today, I'm basically chained to my laptop and hotel room to desperately try to keep my projects afloat....from almost three thousand miles away and three hours behind.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...that while I may not be able to take advantage of a "free morning" here, at least I am working from a comfy hotel room and am still in my pajamas. And after being up for about 21 hours straight, managed to clock a solid 8 hours of sleep last night.

I'm loving...that I don't think it is possible to be sleepy here. You pass a coffee shop every few steps! I haven't been here in probably 10-12 years, and I think at that time, Starbucks was just really taking off, so maybe I don't remember it being quite as "much", but I am thinking I will be seriously wired with caffeine for the next few days.

I'm loving...that I heard that Sbux has a Skinny P-Mint latte this season! I think I may be getting my first red cup of the season right here in Seattle...

I'm loving...direct flights each way. And yesterday I lucked out enough to have the middle seat in my aisle open. Hooray!

I'm loving...that I am a block away from the flagship Nordstrom on the very first day of the Half-Yearly Sale. Sign from above that I may need to treat myself to something??

I'm loving...that even though the next three days may be super busy, at least that means they will go quickly. And I think I have my Saturday free and clear to myself to do laundry, run errands, catch up on DVR, and hopefully just spend some "down time" at the apartment.

Girl Crush of the Moment

Having a girl crush on Tina Fey is soooooo last year. I mean, I have mad love for my fellow Delco girl but let's face it. She doesn't need me singing her praises to give her a boost. I imagine she is well aware of how awesome she is. But in a humble, tasteful way, obvs.

My Girl Crush of the Moment (GCOTM) is Mindy Kaling. I am borderline obsessed with her. I read her blog and when she recommends products that I use too I get little tingles that make me feel like we may be long lost besties. Sometimes I see her on talk shows and she's discussing some topic and it's like she is taking the words right out of my mouth. Ever feel compelled to write a fan letter along the lines of "I totes know you and I would be BFFs in real life" but stop short for fear of getting a restraining order slapped on your @ss? THAT is precisely how I feel about Mindy Kaling.

That's why I am super-duper excited that her new book is out today...just in time for me to pick up an overpriced copy at the airport later and devour it on my flight out to Seattle (for a horribly boring work conference, blah)



So if you haven't already jumped on the Kaling Bandwagon, I'll hold a spot for you while you go pick up a copy of her book.