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Monday, March 31, 2014

Office Card Order Samples #2

I was inspired by Robyn to buy a FitBit this morning.  I purchased it through Target and picked it up after spin class tonight.  We'll see how this goes...

I wore some bright green eyeshadow today (Maybelline Color Tattoo in Edgy Emerald) and actually got a compliment from one of my coworkers.  It's definitely time to bring out the spring colors!

I came up with 2 anniversary card samples for the office order.  I hope the operations team makes a decision by Friday so that I have time to work on the order over the weekend.
 

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Office Card Order Samples #1

Robyn and I woke up to snow this morning!  Yikes!  I was hoping that winter would be officially over by now. :(  We went over to the Professor's house for breakfast and socializing and then after a few hours of that, we decided to get on the road back to DC.  We encountered more snow, rain and even some sleet.  Thankfully we didn't see any accidents and traffic wasn't so bad considering the bad weather conditions. 

Last Friday, I got a birthday and anniversary card order from the office (38 birthday, 28 anniversary).  After I took a nap earlier tonight, I decided to get started on samples.  Here are the ones that I came up with for the birthday cards.
 

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Professor Beckley's Retirement Party

Robyn got an email a few months back announcing Professor Beckley's retirement.  There was going to be a party in his honor and she asked me and Meg if we wanted to go.  Meg had a race in Charlottesville, but I said that I'd go.  Any opportunity to go back to my undergraduate university, sign me up.

We headed out around 9:00 and made it in time to get there for lunch.  We had big plans to go to the Mexican restaurant in town, but when we got there, we noticed there were very few cars in the parking lot.  We drove up closer to the front door and noticed there was a sign that said something about their plans to relocate and needing to close the restaurant for a few days to prepare.  We went to Salerno's instead where I got a roast beef sandwich.  They were definitely not skimpy on the portion sizes.  I could only eat half and thankfully the hotel had a refrigerator so I could keep the other half cold.
The university was also doing a day of volunteering, but unfortunately the SPCA event that Robyn and I signed up for was cancelled due to the weather.  We spent some time socializing in the Commons and after that hung out at the hotel and Walmart (so Robyn could get her steps in on her Fitbit).

The dinner this evening was really nice.  I had to break out of my introvert shell and talk to folks (and man, was that tough!).  But, in retrospect, alumni are generally very nice and willing to talk.  I caught up with a girl that I went to middle school and high school with, which was nice.  We didn't run in the same circles in college, but we jumped into conversation like it was no big deal.  Dinner was the typical WNL barbeque pork, cornbread, chicken, coleslaw, etc.

The speeches given to honor Professor Beckley were very heartwarming.  I think he's done an amazing job building up the Shepherd Poverty Program at school.  His dedication, compassion, and kindness to everyone is definitely something to aspire to.

Professor Beckley got the last word in of the night, and afterwards, the band played a song for him and we sang the lyrics that were given to us at dinner.  :)

Friday, March 28, 2014

Uncle's Classmate Reunion

I was so happy that my leadership training let out an hour earlier than planned!  My friend dropped me off at the office to pick up my car (go green and carpool, right?).  Before I headed home, I went to the nearby nail place to get my eyebrows done.

I headed over to my uncle's house.  He was hosting a classmate reunion party.  He also invited my family and cousin to come over to help eat all the food.  Julie marinated her steaks and Mom chipped in by making a carrot cake.  (I just came to eat...). 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Office Guessing Game

A few months ago, office staff were asked to answer a questionnaire with fun information about ourselves (i.e. last book you read, who would you want to be for a day, etc.).  Human Resources takes bits and pieces from a person's answer sheet and puts them up on the staff blog and the other staff has to guess which staff person it is.  It's an effort for us to get to know each other.

This week's clues are below.

People were very quick to guess it was me. 

I think clue #2 totally gave it away.
  1. If I could be anyone for a day, I would be my cat because he’s got a nice and lazy life.
  2. My favorite hobbies include baking and card making.
  3. My epitaph would say “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
  4. I have lots of favorite movies, but let’s go with Lilo and Stitch.
  5. If I could change anything about myself, I would like to be less anxious and more patient.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

New Glasses, Take 2

Yay, my new glasses are in!  I love them so much more than the ones that I got 2 weeks ago.  I feel like I gave them a fair chance though.  I told myself that if I didn't like them after I came back from California, I'd get a replacement.  The ones that I got today look so much better because they are smaller and also they aren't sliding down my face.  Yay!
Original glasses
New glasses, take #1
New glasses, take #2

Monday, March 24, 2014

Employee Appreciation Card

As part of Employee Appreciation week last week, the supervisors were asked to write a nice note to their employees.  I got my card today (one that I made, tee hee) since I wasn't in the office on Friday.  Human Resources also included 2 FrozenYo tokens.

Aww, warm fuzzies.

Hmm...maybe this would be a good thing to remind my boss about when my annual review comes around.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Fall-To Layout #285 and New Nails

Spinning: I dunno what's up with my gym lately, but the management there has been kinda crappy.  They instituted this rule that you have to sign up for classes online so they can keep track of how many people are attending the class.  Ok, that's fine.  However, the past few times that I've signed up, the website doesn't work and I've had to make a phone call to sign up.  Hello, what a pain!  That doesn't do anyone any good. Then you have the folks that come to class without signing up because they just decided to attend.  How do you account for those people?  The management has threatened the instructors with termination if they don't uphold this policy.  Can't they have a sign in sheet that you write your name down on when you come to class?  I know that's kinda old school, but that might be so much easier.  It'll account for everyone that attended class. And you don't have to worry about the website not working. 

Nails: I haven't done Konad stamping in so long (yikes, since October!), so I broke out my kit tonight to repaint my nails.  Hello spring!  Base coat: Sally Hansen in Pacific Blue.  White: Sally Hansen in White On. Bundle Monster plate #224.

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #285.
Card Specs:
Paper: Recollections- Mosaic Memories
Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink in Blackberry
Stamp: Hero Arts- Everyday Sayings
Punch: Martha Stewart Garden Gate border punch
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Saturday, March 22, 2014

New Hairdo and Dos Amigos

Julie came with me to the eye doctor to give me feedback on the glasses that I picked out on Thursday afternoon.  It turns out that the one that I ended up with wasn't any of those three.  I found the winner in the glass case and it was the last pair that I picked out.  I can't wait for Tuesday when I can pick them up!

I saw this hair tutorial on Samantha Schuerman's YouTube channel and decided to try to recreate it.  It's basically 2 rope braids and then you combine all the hair at the base of the neck in a bun.  The picture below is the result of my third try.  I'm sure it'll come in handy when the weather starts to heat up!  It's good to have options.
Robyn had a gift certificate to Dos Amigos, so she invited Meg, Maria, Joyce, Julie and I to go to dinner tonight.  I got a chicken enchilada and beef enchilada.  Delicious!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Happy Birthday, Mom!

RJ and Max were having a neighborhood watch meeting this morning.
I decided to take the day off work today.  It's been a busy week with the trip to California so I was in desperate need of some downtime.  I went to spin class this morning, the first Friday class since probably September.  It felt good to be able to check that off the list first thing in the morning.  I went to A.C.Moore afterwards for a under-the-bed storage container (used a 50% off coupon!) and bought some stamps (3 sets at $2 each).  They were super affordable, so I felt like I could justify the purchase.  Then I went to Target for some goldfish, 2 DVDs (Mean Girls and Crazy Stupid Love), and a teal nail polish on clearance ($1.43).  I haven't bought nail polish at all this year, but I caved because I couldn't pass up on this deal!  I found some great clothing items on clearance, but since I was all sweaty from the gym, I didn't feel like it would be right to try them on.  I considered this a reconnaissance trip.

I came home, showered, and organized my closet a little bit and vegged out on the couch.

I went over to my parents' house with some tiramisu and limoncello cake from Pacci's to celebrate Mom's birthday.  Julie and I got my parents some Lion King Kennedy Center tickets.  The show isn't until July, so they'll have to wait a while to enjoy it.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Buyer's Remorse

I've been having second thoughts about the glasses that I got recently.  They are a bit thick and kinda remind me of goggles.  I told myself that I would give them a chance and make a final decision on whether or not to exchange them after my trip to California.  Yeah, I'm just not totally in love with them.  If I'm going to be spending money on them, I better be wearing them.  And if I don't love them, I'm not going to wear them.  Which results in a total waste of money.  No good.

This week is Employee Appreciation Week. Because I was in California, I had to miss out on the chair massages (wah...I look forward to that every year!).  But at least I was able to get back in time for the office happy hour.  I wrapped up all the things that I needed to do today and wandered over to Firehouse.  Human Resources was setting up, but at least I could get a drink.  The bartender asked me what I wanted.  "Something pink, fruity and alcoholic."  He gave me a few options and I ended up with a tequila sunrise.  I also ate two of the sliders and some veggies.  Yum!  I was able to get a leftover boxed lunch from a meeting that one of the departments was having.  It pays to hover around the kitchen...like a shark.  :D

After the office happy hour today, I went back to MyEyeDr and talked to them about an exchange. The guy who helped me apparently had a good record with no one coming in for a restyling for the past two months. I broke his streak.  Oops.  Julie is coming with me over the weekend to see which one out of the few frames that I picked would work best.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Anaheim, Day 3

My boss and I had 1 PMish flights today, and it was nice to not have to rush out and sit in LA traffic. We got breakfast around 8 and had a call with the contracts person at the office to clear up some budget stuff.

The next step was to return the rental car. Wow, when they say that LA traffic is bad, they aren't joking. I guess it also didn't help that my GPS gave us a roundabout way to get there.  That aside,  I got us to the rental place in one safe piece so that's all that matters, right?

Security was a breeze and made it to my gate with plenty of time to spare. We had about a 1.5 hour delay because of congestion in the DC airspace, but I'm home now and I can go back to driving my own car in a familiar place. It's the little things that make me happy. :D

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Anaheim, Day 2

The assessment meeting that I came to California for went so well. Invitees were engaging and participated in the discussions. The people that coordinated. The event made sure that folks were well fed, which always helps.

One of my coworkers that's based in California was invited to the event as a guest and afterwards she drove my boss and I to Newport Beach for dinner. No point in driving home in the rush hour traffic. She comes to the office about once every six weeks so it must have been nice to have people visit her for a change.  We went to a seafood place near the water called Bluewater Grill and the fish and chips that I got were tasty.

She zipped us back to the hotel and I got to working on some office emails so I wouldn't get too bogged down on Thursday when I get back to my desk.

Anaheim, Day 1

OMG, what a stressful morning.  I woke up around 5 AM to check the weather and my flight status.  There was a lot more snow on the ground than I was expecting.  The roads didn't look that great.  The flight status went from 9 AM on time to 12:30 PM departure to 12:00 PM departure to 11:00 AM departure.  Sometime between the last switch, I had fallen asleep on the couch, and freaked out that the departure time was now 11 AM.  I hadn't expected that they would move the departure time up.  I thought it was going to be cancelled because before I had fallen asleep, I heard that the airport had closed down the runways and cancelled a bunch of flights due to the snow. Crap. 
 
I threw everything together and ran out of the house.  I tried to check in on my phone, but since it was after the original cut off time (as opposed to the new cut off time because of the delay), it wouldn't work.  Double crap. 
 
I was worried that the airline would give me a hard time about that.  And then I was worried about RJ because I didn't pet him goodbye and I hadn't given him fresh water because I was rushing out of the house. 
 
SIGH.
 
Fortunately, I was able to make it to the airport on time and the airline checked me in just fine.  The security line was also short because so many flights were cancelled.  Whew!
 
I got the window seat next to an older couple going to Tahiti.  We were at the gate for a while since the plane needed to be deiced.  Once we were in the air, I zonked out for most of the flight.  The wife next to me noticed that.  "I'm so jealous!  I wish I could have slept on the flight."  Lady, it's been a stressful morning.
Ah, finally, California!  Since my boss currently has a broken arm, I had to drive the rental car.  All the anxiety that left when I got on the plane and took a long nap sky rocketed.  Nothing like driving a car that's not yours, in a place that you've never been, with your boss.  Fortunately, she was a great navigator and did an even more awesome job being a reassuring co-pilot.  We made it to the laboratory and had a successful pre-meeting meeting.  Next stop, the hotel.  Hello, cute valet guy.  After we dropped all of our luggage, we went to Downtown Disney!  Best way to end a busy and stressful day!
We looked at the restaurant options and settled with Naples...mmm, Italian food.  I went with the gnocchi: Pumpkin and potato gnocchi with Tuscan kale, smoked pancetta, fresh tomatoes.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather.  The heat lamp kept us comfortable.
One of the candy stores had a large window where you could watch the workers make decorated candy apples.
I wanted to go into the Sephora when we were waiting for the table, but decided that I was going to be good.  The temptation to look around would have made me want to buy something!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

March Snow

Go me for making it to spin class this morning! Janice wasn't there, but the substitute was great!

In the late afternoon, I picked my coworker from the metro and we headed to the boss's boss for his open house.  He and his wife purchased a very nice townhome not too far away from me.  This will come in handy if he ever needs me to water his plants again.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day, they had lots of green and Irish themed food.  His wife baked lots of cookies so of course, I had to test taste some.  Several of my co-workers were there too, so it was nice to socialize with them.  The executive director's wife complimented me on my blue nails (Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue), ha ha.  My coworker and I stayed about an hour and then it was time to get her to her meditation group.  It was great timing because not too long after I dropped her off, the snow started coming down. 

Mid-March snow.

Yeah, no joke.

I hope I'll be able to get to Orange County, California tomorrow.  This winter is totally bogging me down. :P

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Catching Fire

Sigh, RJ! This morning he stuck his head in one of the handles of the dentist's gift bag (the dental hygeniest gave me a new toothbrush and toothpaste, etc. after my appointment yesterday) and got scared and ran around like a crazy cat and making lots of noise. Sigh.  This happened to a family cat Oliver way back, and Ginger chased him down to see what was going on.  He consequently thought it was her that was scaring him and the two of them didn't get along for a while. Sigh.

Anyway, Julie came over for dinner (Pacci's) and we watched Catching Fire. Wow, so good!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Etsy Custom Order

Went to the dentist this morning and the hygienist said that I had great dental health.  "Your gums look great!"  :D

At the office: The Executive Director IMed me this afternoon, asking if we could chat.  Now I'm thinking Um, of course...am I in trouble?  It turns out his neighbor is doing a craft show and he thought of me and wanted to see if that was something I'd be interested in.  Whew.  Yikes.

Etsy Custom Order: I got a custom order request from a repeat buyer on Etsy.  She wanted a dress and dog card for her friend.  I emailed her back to see what color dress she wanted.  This was her reply...aww! :)
What do you think? This is the back story: I met Judy in stroke rehab. She lost a child a long time ago. I guess her son would have been about my age. Rachel(her miniature schnauzer) is her family. I like her to know that she is loved. she also really digs Ladybugs. They remind her of her mom(who is also passed). Help!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

New Glasses

I got a text message from my eye doctor's office yesterday, telling me that my new glasses were in.  Wow, that was quick!  I was thinking I'd have to wait until I got back from California next week to get them.  I got a bunch of emails sent off in the morning and wandered off to the office to fetch them.  They aren't too different from my old glasses except to say that the black frames are a little thicker and there's a tortoiseshell pattern on the arms.  I found that the glasses were sliding down my face frequently, but fortunately, the guy that helped me in the morning said that I could get the adjusted anytime if I needed to.  I did my two conference calls of the day and wandered back.

A different guy from this morning with a bright pink shirt (I meant to compliment him on his shirt...whoops): "Can I help you?"  Yeah, I need to get my glasses adjusted.  The guy looks around: "Is there anyone here that can help her?  Do we do that around here?"  I must have looked confused and horrified.  "Ha ha, just kidding!  I can help you!"  Whewww.  It took him a couple tries to get my glasses tightened, but we're all set now!  I guess I have a small head?  Ha ha.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

New Coupon Organizer and Wallet

For my birthday, Julie gave me a coupon organizer and a new wallet from Etsy.  The coupon organizer turned out to be a little cracked on the bottom, but it's still totally useable.  I like that there are plastic dividers on the inside.  The cardstock ones that I had in my previous one just didn't hold up.  Julie contacted the coupon organizer shop, explained the situation and were prompt in giving her money back (great customer service!).  Hooray for presents!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Meeting Up with Vanessa

At the office: I had a day-long security training on traveling internationally for work.  Most of my travel is domestic, but my boss thought I could get some valuable information from the training.  More of a just-in-case scenario.  Some of my coworkers and the organization's consultants travel to places like Nigeria, Sudan, etc., places that aren't exactly the safest, so this training was mostly geared towards them.  What did I learn?  Basically don't leave the house.

Just kidding.

But seriously, with all the risks those places pose, it'd be so stressful to me to travel to those places!

Dinner with Vanessa: I stayed at the office a little while because I was going to meet up with my former boss.  She was my boss when I came on board in October 2008, but she found a new job and left in June 2009.  I hadn't seen her in-person in about 2 years so it was nice to catch up with her, especially regarding her new job.  We went to Mandalay, a Burmese restaurant.  The last time I went there was for her good-bye lunch.

Public Speaking

My friend Jessie from graduate school invited me to participate in a women's career panel.  I did this 2 years ago and had fun, so of course, I told her I would come back. 

Just like the previous time, Jessie asked us to fill out a profile so that the students would have a sense of who we were and what kind of questions they wanted to ask.  I left right after the staff meeting today and zipped over to the middle school. There was a student waiting at the front entrance for me.  "Hi, Ms. Tina?"  I was a little puzzled as to how she knew who I was and then I remembered that my profile had my picture on it and she had printed it out so she could identify the guests.  Another student led me to the classroom and whoa, lots of middle school girls!

We did an icebreaker "Move If..." to get things going.  Basically everyone gets in a circle with one person in the middle.  The person in the middle says "Move if (fill in the blank)"...you have black hair, you wear glasses, etc.  If the statement applies to you, you have to move to another place in the circle and if you're the last one to do that, you're the new middle person. 

After the icebreaker, we went back into the classroom and each person on the career panel got assigned a table and in small groups, the girls circulated and asked us questions.  "What was your high school experience like?"  "Did you get good grades?"  "What made you choose the job/major/college you went to?"  "How did you parents influence you?"

At the end, we were asked to give one tidbit of advice.  I channeled Ellen and said "Be kind to one another." 

On another note, totally unrelated to the school event, my coworker purchased 10 cards from me.  :D

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Meg's Birthday Celebration

Using my new Wii YouTube app, I caught up on my YouTube videos while using my spin bike this morning.  Multi-tasking at its best. 

I met up with Robyn and Meg for dinner to celebrate Meg's birthday which is next week.  She had a $20 off $80 Wharf birthday coupon, which came in very handy.  I can't believe that we were worried that we wouldn't be able to make it to $80.  3 entrees (I got the crabcakes with a baked potato), 2 drinks, and 2 desserts later (cheesecake and oatmeal pie), we were ready to roll ourselves out of the restaurant.  Yum!

Friday, March 7, 2014

St. Patrick's Day 8K Bib Assignment

Volunteer Activity #2 of 2014:  I took another day off work to volunteer with the St. Patrick's Day 8K race by handing out runner bibs.  The volunteer email told me to be at Pacers in Logan Circle at 11 AM.  I totally overestimated how long it would take me to get there so I was at the location 40 minutes early.  The store didn't open until 11 so I walked around the neighborhood.  I went into CVS and browsed the magazine and also went into Whole Foods. 

I went into the store when it opened and waited for the volunteer coordinator.  In previous races, they'd print out the race numbers and your name and you'd have to go and tell the person what your name/number was and they'd give you a bib with your number and name printed on it.  For this race, the procedure was different: you got assigned a number when you came in to pick up your bib and t-shirt.  There were probably about 150 people that came through between 11 AM and 5 PM.  Not too bad for a Friday. 

Dad picked me up at the Metro after volunteering and I stayed at my parents' house for dinner and hung out.  I also went to see my cousin and aunt who are leaving tomorrow to go back to Taiwan.

For a right-before-bed snack, I ate some leftover cheesecake from Jessie's birthday.  RJ hopped on the bed to silently judge me.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Jessie's Birthday

Whoo hoo, hooray for a day off!

I made sure to make the most of the free time. I made it to the post office, ATM, gas station, and Target for Meg's birthday present.  While I was circling around the parking lot for a spot, I saw two people walking that looked familiar.  *beep beep*  It was Mom and my aunt.  "You're not at work today?"  NOPE, bah ha ha.

I came home to watch some YouTube and RJ came to cuddle with me.  I also printed off my taxes so I could cross that off the mental to-do list.  I'm getting money back, whoo hoo!
I went over to my parents' house to celebrate my cousin Jessie's birthday.  Mom baked a blueberry cheesecake that we all enjoyed.  There were leftovers so we could prolong the yumminess. :D

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Eye Doctor Appointment

Awww, man.  So based on what the eye doctor told me, one eye stayed the same at -3.00 and the other eye got slightly worse (from -3.00 to -3.25).  I had just ordered some new contact lenses, but now half of them have the wrong prescription.  Fortunately 1-800-CONTACTS says they will let me return the lenses that won't be of use to me.  Hmmm, now I'll have to be super diligent of keeping track of which contact goes in which eye. 

In other news, I'll be getting new frames.  The doctor was basically saying that I should take advantage of it since it was use it or lose it.  Ok, might as well.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Revisiting Jillian

Yay, OPM telework option.  Yes, please!

I didn't make it to spin class tonight, but I did break out my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD and used my spin bike tonight.  It was feeling kinda cold in the house, but not after 15 minutes of jumping up and down.

My Wii was a little on the fritz tonight, as in the YouTube channel wasn't working like before.  I thought there was something wrong with my internet connection, but after some Google searching and poking around, I decided to delete the channel and reinstall it.  Ah, all better.  I also figured out how to sync my iPhone YouTube with the Wii.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Oscars Night

Harry the homeless cat: Has really claimed my parents' deck as his home.  Hans the orange cat (who already has a home) came to visit and there was a little bit of a stand off at the stairs.  Hans ended up in the garden and Harry stood at the stairs to make sure there were no more uninvited guests.

Weather: We're expecting snow and ice overnight so OPM has closed the federal government in advance of the storm for tomorrow.  Yay for a 3 day weekend! :D

Oscars Night: I'm usually not one to watch award shows while they're happening, but rather watch the highlights the day after.  I actually watched the whole thing tonight (minus 30 minutes from the beginning), one of the reasons being that Ellen was hosting and I knew she'd be totally funny. 

And she was.  It was a great awards show!  I think the interactions that she had with the crowd were so great, specifically the selfie and the pizza order.  Everyone seemed really relaxed and happy, and I feel like Ellen did an excellent job reducing the tension I'm sure that the nominees were feeling.  I liked the musical performances by Pink, Bette Midler, and Idina Menzel (although I'm not sure how John Travolta could butcher her name, how embarrassing!).

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Busy Bee Saturday

Whew, lots to report from today!

Volunteer Activity #1 of 2014: Woke up around 5:30 AM so that Julie and I could go to So Others Might Eat (SOME) to feed the homeless. It was an event that Julie proposed for AMOK.  Julie and I worked in the plate making line- my responsibility was to put 2-3 pancakes on the plate, Julie put syrup on it, the next person put bacon or sausage on the plate and then the last person put a scoop of applesauce.  As people came through the line, they got a plate and sat down to eat.  After two rounds of making plates, we stayed to round up all the chairs so that the floors could be mopped and then put the chairs back when the floor was dry.  We fed a total of 258 people today!  It felt good to help someone first thing in the morning!  I'd totally do it again.  I got this pancake job down.

One funny thing that happened was that a huge vat of liquid was put in front of Julie.  There was some butter on the top.  I thought to myself, "We're putting a laddleful of butter onto the pancakes?"  The cook came by later to stir up the vat and we realized it was really syrup.

The volunteer coordinator at SOME gave us some encouragement at the end of our session and basically told us the importance of helping others.  It made me think of the girl that I gave the $24 over a week ago.  I had texted and called her and left a message last Monday.  No reply to either.  I called her last Friday but her voice mail box was full.  Ok, you know what?  You can keep the money.  It's not worth it to me to keep stewing about why you haven't paid me back.

Nathan's Birthday Party: My coworker Aline invited me to her son's birthday party.  Nathan just turned 2.  It doesn't feel that long ago that I went to her baby shower!  I went to Petsmart, Shoppers and Target before heading to her place.  I didn't find anything that I liked at Target so I figured I'd go early (I mentioned to her that I could help set up).  I noticed that there was someone approaching her apartment too.  Oh perfect.  Hopefully I know this person and this won't be awkward.  "Hi, are you here for Aline's party?"  The girl turned around and it was another coworker (Sylvia)!  "Hiii!!"

Aline was running errands so I helped Sylvia get stuff from her car.  Soon after, another coworker Reggie arrived.  Umm, where's Nathan?  Nathan turned out to be at his uncle's house sleeping.  Guests started to arrive.  Aline sent Reggie to get Nathan and I went along as the navigator.  Navigating was tough because the street address that Aline gave me was 101, but after driving around and calling the uncle, we realized that the street address was really 1001.  Yikes.  Oh well,  Nathan can be fashionably late to his own party.  He was so excited to see all the balloons and friends at his place.

I hung out with my coworkers for a little bit and then it was time to go home to celebrate my own birthday.  :D
Birthday Celebration with Friends: My birthday celebration with friends was postponed from last week because Meg was sick and Robyn just got back from vacation.  I placed an order at Pacci's earlier in the day.  The place is a little small and they don't take reservations.  The take out was more convenient because then we could eat at our leisure and talk/laugh as much as we wanted.  Julie picked up some tiramisu for dessert, yum!  Robyn got me some Philosophy stuff (smells so good!) and Meg got me a puzzle (great timing since we have some wintery weather coming on Monday that will probably shut down the federal government, which means no work for me...), a red glitter nail polish, and a bag of Swedish fish, which I cracked open immediately to share because it's too much for one person.
Julie fell asleep on the couch while Meg, Robyn and I were talking.  RJ kept her company.  It was a long day!

Next up, Meg's birthday celebration next Saturday!
Song of the last few days: "Talk Dirty To Me"- Jason Derulo.  I don't particularly care for the lyrics, but the beat is catchy.