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Sunday, April 27, 2014

March of Dimes Walk 2014

I went with my two coworkers Jennifer and Lucy and their families to the March of Dimes walk.  I contributed some cookies to the office bake sale a few weeks ago.  The weather was so nice (and I got a bunch of Fitbit steps in).  Like last year, they had free Subway sandwiches for us at the finish line, yum!
After I said bye to everyone, I went to Target and Kmart since they were in the area. I also went to Nordstrom Rack in search of a blazer since the Annual Meeting is coming up for work.  I bought one from New York & Company recently, but the sleeves are too long.  I thought I could just deal with it, but since I found this one at the Rack on clearance for $20, I figured this would be a good alternative and I can return the other one.  Good thing I kept the receipt! 
When I got home, I knew something was off.  I had left the newspaper outside when I left this morning, and now it's inside.  o_0  What?  Then I noticed that the faucet was slightly running upstairs.  I looked where my roses were outside, and they had been replaced with azaleas.  Ah, Mom's been here.  I had been asking her to replace my dead roses and she did that while I was at the walk.  This was quite an improvement!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Great Target Find

I went to a few yard sales this morning, one by my coworkers' neighborhood down the road (two folks at the office actually let me know about it earlier in the week).  I also went to one near my parents, and I came home with nothing.  I spent the rest of the day bumming around the house and doing some laundry.  When I ventured to Target in the evening, I found this 4-pack of Chapstick for 39 cents.  It was because it was in the Easter section and Target was doing an after-Easter clearance.  I'll be set on Chapstick for a while now.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Office Field Trip

Today a bunch of us went to Rosslyn for a meeting (4 hours long, blah).  The office building had a really nice view of the Potomac River.
When we got back to the office, I was so happy that there were still meeting leftovers available.  I wolfed down a bunch of spaghetti and sauce and bread.  I was starving.  The cereal that I ate this morning didn't last very long and while I had some grapes for a snack at the meeting, it was around 2 by the time we got back to the office.  I was bordering on "hangry."

I stopped in the meeting to chat with some folks during their break and totally lost track of time.  By the time I got back to my desk, I saw an IM that I hadn't read yet.  "Are you coming over?"  Oh crap, I forgot about a 3 PM call, and it was already 3:20 PM!  Oops!  Thankfully another coworker was taking care of things and I jumped right in.  The member on the phone was like "We were getting worried about you!  You're usually so prompt."  Ugh, sorry :P

It was a long day...getting to the office around 7:50 AM and leaving around 5:30 (which is considered late for me).  At least it's Hump Day.  Thursday and Friday are much less stressful this week.

Before going to work this morning, I watched a YouTube Kmart haul and this lady was telling folks what she bought on clearance from Kmart recently.  She got some great makeup so I wandered over there today to see if I would have the same luck.  Oh, I did.  I almost missed out because I only checked one clearance section, but after walking around I found another one!  I came out with 5 new Loreal Infallible eyeshadows for $2 each (regular price ~$8).  I'm very pleased with my loot :)

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Crazy Siting on 495

I saw the weirdest thing when I was driving home from the gym. There was a Uhaul truck with the back door open driving two lanes over.  You could see 2 couches stored back there. If that wasn't bad enough, I noticed legs and feet moving.  I then realized that there were people sitting on the couches as the truck was driving down the highway.  What the heck?!  I was secretly hoping that a cop was driving nearby to pull them over for being so dangerous and stupid!

Monday, April 21, 2014

You Know Nail Polish Is Your Thing When...

Your co-worker asks what the color of the week is.

We (and another co-worker) went on a Fitbit walk at lunch and while waiting for the stop light to changed, she asked me. "Tina always has pretty colors on!" This week is Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in I Pink I Can. It's the color of Pepto-Bismol. The other co-worker said it was a very spring-y color. I love how bright it is!  In yo' face!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Brunch at Pacci's

Back in March, I helped my cousin Andrew prepare for a job interview.  He recently let me know that he got the job and will be starting in early May.  To celebrate, Julie, his sister Emily, Andrew and I went to Pacci's for brunch to celebrate.  Yum!  They didn't have any gnocchi today, but there was plenty of other good food to eat: salad, fruit, lasagna, little cheesecake bites, etc.

The rest of the day was pretty lazy...taking a nice nap and doing a load of laundry.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Makeup Organization

I went to another mall today that had a Target, Marshalls, Joann's and Big Lots, but came out with nothing during that trip.  I came home for lunch and went out again to Ulta and Marshalls near my work.  Ulta was having a 40% off sale on Maybelline and Revlon so I got a replacement black eyeliner since I ran out of this one recently, a Maybelline Color Elixir in Signature Scarlet, and a Revlon lip butter in Wild Watermelon. I also found a duo chrome China Glaze nail polish that reminds me of a mermaid's tail.  What made this deal even better is that I had 2 $1 manufactuer's coupons AND the $3.50 off $10 Ulta purchase coupon.  Yay!
I came home and of course had to try the lip gloss and whoa baby, did it pack a punch!  Especially with the eyeshadow I was wearing.  Yikes.  When I went to my parents' house for dinner, my sister Julie was like "Whoa, you're wearing a lot of makeup today."  Mom was like "You wear this much makeup on the weekends?  Where are you going?"  Um, nowhere.  Heh.
I was looking at my makeup collection this afternoon and found that I wasn't really liking how it was organized.  I kept everything in a 3-drawer container (you can kinda see it in this "after" picture), but you couldn't really see everything laid out.  I decided to dig out one of my card displays from my craft room closet that I use for craft shows and use that to display my makeup.  When it comes time to sell some cards, I can dump all the makeup into another box for the day.  No biggie.  I love this system so much more.  The 3-drawer system that has the leftover miscellaneous things got moved into my bedroom closet.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Recipe #2 and #3 of 2014

Yay, day off!  First order of business, spin class (check!).  I also walked 2 miles on the treadmill because I've been slacking on my Fitbit steps.  I had a few YouTube videos to catch up on anyway, so it went by really quickly.

Next order of business, grocery shopping (check!).

I spent most of the afternoon cooking.  I've been meaning to cook the large package of drumsticks that I bought at the grocery store a few weeks back.  It's been sitting in the freezer because I had no idea what to do with it.  I spent some time this week looking up recipes.  I went with Recipe #2: Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Stew and Recipe #3: Molly's Chicken (crock pot).  I was feeling pretty proud of myself with the sesame chicken dish (below) because I don't have to wait for Mom to make it anymore.  I can do it myself! :D  As for Molly's chicken, that wasn't as exciting.  I probably would have been able to get the same result if I tossed the chicken in with some BBQ sauce and let the slow cooker do its thing.  Both recipes resulted in chicken so tender, it fell easily off the bone.
Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Stew

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Free Frozen Yogurt

For employee appreciation week back in March, we got 2 FrozenYo tokens.  Each token is a free serving of FrozenYo frozen yogurt.  OMG, yay!  I cashed in on a token today.  I checked with the cashier first to make sure it was really free (because I didn't bring cash with me).  I loaded up on cheesecake and red velvet frozen yogurt and toffee and peanut butter cup toppings. Yum!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Early Morning!

Today was off to an early start! My Honda Fit's maintenance light came on recently, so I knew I'd have to take it in for an oil change and tire rotation. Fortunately, because I purchased the car from Sport Honda (wow, has it almost been a year??), my first oil change was free. The tire rotation was $19.99 + tax. I wanted my appointment to be early in the morning so that I could get it out of the way. The first available appointment was 7:30 AM. I was in and out of there in 45 minutes and got to the office earlier than I normally do. Unfortunately, I had to stay a little later than usual for a conference call. :/

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Coins, coins, coins

For the bake sale yesterday, I offered my piggy bank (literally) as the container where donations could be placed in.  I dumped out the coins on Sunday and had plans to bring it to a coin counting machine.  The one at the bank was out of service, so I went with the one at the grocery store.  I came out with a $13+ gift certificate to Regal.  Maybe I'll go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier on my day off on Friday. :D

Monday, April 14, 2014

Bake Sale Update

The bake sale that the office held for March of Dimes was a success! :D
A HUGE thank you to everyone who stopped by today’s bake sale and donated to the March of Dimes. Thanks to those of you who brought in the delicious treats and cards or helped set up/clean up. We raised a total of $220 all of which will go to March of Dimes. This brings our current team total to $1,115. Your generosity is amazing!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Cookies!

I was realy struggling to get to spin class this morning, but I did it and I'm glad I did because there weren't that many people in class. 

My only goal today was to bake some cookeis for the office bake sale (proceeds would go to March of Dimes).  I was going to make some oatmeal raisin cookies, but then something with chocolate won.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

One Pot Beef Strogranoff

Crafty Yard Sale: I went to a crafty yard sale near the gym this morning.  There was yarn and jewelry supplies for sale, but not much papercrafting materials except for one table.  I picked out 2 used paper pads and 2 stamps.  The seller was asking for $8 for everything, but I was able to get it down to $5.50.  I had made a deal with myself that if I went to the yard sale, I'd have to go to the gym afterwards, so I stayed true to my deal and went on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
New Recipe #1 of 2014: When I got home from the gym and the grocery store, I tried the one pot beef stroganoff recipe I found on Budget Bytes.  Yum!
Long walk: It was such a nice day outside that I went for a long walk (roughly 4 miles) after lunch.  I definitely got my Fitbit steps in for today!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

New Phone Case

The lady at the Verizon store last Saturday said that I could turn in my old iPhone 4 for a new phone case for my iPhone 5S.  A free phone case?  Yes, please!  I had my sights set on a red or hot pink one, but I couldn't get it right then because I hadn't backed it up yet.

I backed up my phone tonight and went back to the store to get my case.  I thought it was going to be a quick trip, but no, I waited an HOUR.  They should have an express lane like they do at the grocery store.  A sales associate put me in the queue when I walked in and told him what I was there for.  Then I walked around, checking out all the phones, even though I did that when I was there on Saturday.  By the time a sales associate checked on me, I had been waiting for 49 minutes.  I'm going to get a new case, darn it.  Finally, someone came to help me out.  "What are you here for?"  "I'm here for a new phone case.  I was told I could get one if I turned in my old phone." He was shocked.  "You waited an hour for a phone case."  Yep.  I tried my best not to look annoyed, but I think anyone would understand that an hour is a little long to wait, especially when I told the first sales associate what I was here for.  He profusely apologized and got me what I needed.  I even had a quick conversation with the manager, expressing the dissatisfaction with the customer service and the wait.  He also apologized profusely.

At least I got my phone case!

Back in January, the staff at work got a $10 gift card to Sweetgreen, a nearby salad place.  I decided to use mine today to get some lunch.  I walked there without my wallet, thinking that $10 would be enough to cover lunch, but it turns out that the District Cobb salad that I wanted to get was $11.50. Whoops.  Fortunately, the office isn't too far away so I went back up to get my wallet and paid the remaining balance for my salad.  It was delicious and was enough for 2 meals, but I don't think I'd buy it full price.  $11.50 is too much for a salad when you can easily make one on your own...

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Free Cone Day!

Whoo hoo, the day is here!  I went with 3 of my co-workers to get some free ice cream from the nearby Ben and Jerry's.  Mmm, Phish Food. :)

The weather this year on Free Cone Day was so much better than last year, when the weather was much warmer and the ice cream cone was melting dramatically on the walk back to the office.  Today was warm enough for ice cream, but not sweltering that eating ice cream would turn out to be a big mess.

I balanced this treat with a 45-min spin class later.  I stopped by my parents' house to visit afterwards, and in an effort to get up to at least 10,000 steps, I walk around the neighborhood before I went inside...to eat some fried rice and carrot cake. 

Heh.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Feeling Like a Hamster

It was raining tonight, and I didn't want to go to the gym.  What did I do instead to get my steps in?  I switched between riding my spin bike and walking laps around the living room (it's about 25 steps a lap) while catching up on NCIS and NCIS:LA.  The Fitbit has made me really accountable for how active I've been and because I was able to connect with some friends on it, it'll be really noticable if I've been a slacker. 

Coupled with counting my calorie intake and decreasing my junk food intake, I've already lost a few pounds from when I got the Fitbit last week.  o_0  That just blows my mind.  Once I hit the 140s, then I'll know that something is really working and it's not a fluke thing (or part of my imagination).

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Office Order Completed!

Even though I went to bed kinda late last night, I managed to wake up around 7 AM feeling rather refreshed.  I decided to go to the 8:30 AM AND the 9:30 AM spin classes.  I figured, well, I'm already awake...I might as well go get some exercise.  And get some steps in on the Fitbit...although, now that I'm looking at the leaderboard, my friends are still totally ahead of me.  Sheesh, we are a competitive bunch, aren't we?

After going to spin, I went to Petsmart for some cat food and Michaels for some cardstock for the office card order.  I found some cute stamps in the $1.50 bin and a Cuttlebug die on clearance.  The rest of the afternoon was spent working on my card order.  And yay, I'm done ahead of schedule!  I kept telling myself that the sooner that I get done, the sooner I can get paid.  Cha-ching!
 
Oh, and I took a nap in freshly washed clean sheets this afternoon.  Thank goodness for small comforts.

Song of the day: "For the First Time in Forever"- Frozen Soundtrack

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Busy Bee Saturday

NY & Company, Part 2: So, yesterday, I didn't get the clothes that I tried on because they wouldn't let me use the "Get $20 off $50" because everything that I was getting was more than 30% off.  Well, the shopping gods must have sensed my sadness because I got an "Get an extra 20% off" coupon this morning so I went back to the store (another one from the one that I went to on Friday night) and got 2 tops, 2 dresses, and a suit jacket for the upcoming Annual Meeting.  Yay!

New Phone: I met Dad at the Verizon store to upgrade my phone.  Hello, iPhone 5S.  Geeze, this thing is so smart with the fingerprint sensor and Siri.  Coming from a iPhone 4, this is a nice upgrade!
Cards: My goal for the afternoon was to finish the anniversary card part of the office order.  I had about 11 cards out of 28 left to go and I was able to check that off the list.  38 birthday cards to go.

Dinner and a movie: Julie, Meg, and Robyn came over for dinner.  Mmm, Italian from Pacci's and Frozen.  And oh yes, the movie was just as good as everyone was saying it was.  I'll be lipsyncing the songs for the next few days...for sure.  Well, aside from "Let It Go."

Meg brought yellow birthday cake Oreos to movie night...they were all gone when everyone left at the end of night.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Empties #2

I was so happy to be able to make it to spin class this morning.  Get those endorphins going!

Those came in handy later because after I got home and showered, feeling mellow and was prepared to ease into my easy teleworking Friday, I get this email from my boss's boss with capital letters...URGENT.  Oh, great.  The executive director needed some slides from each program about recent accomplishments.  My boss is current out of the office on vacation, so my boss's boss delegated the task to me and my coworker, naming me as the lead on this assignment.  I noticed that my coworker was at yoga, so I got started.  This was tricky because we were only allowed 3 slides and they were due by Monday at noon.  I took bits and pieces from recent reports and program reviews.  My coworker was able to get her bullets together after yoga and by 4 PM, I sent the slides off for review and they were approved.  Whew.  YIKES.  I hope my boss knows that yes, we can hold down the fort while she's gone.

Earlier tonight, I went to New York & Company to check out the clothes that I liked from yesterday's window shopping trip.  I tried some things on and went to pay.  The guy rang me up, and when it was time to give him the coupon, he said that I couldn't use it. o_0 What?  Why not?  "You can't use the coupon because everything that you bought was already 50% off.  You can't use it on things that are more than 30% off.  It says so on the back on the coupon."  Crap.  Sorry, no thanks.

Sheesh, I don't remember that stipulation before.

Oh well.  I saved some money for a rainy day...or for another good deal.

Empties:
  • Morning Burst Moisturizer from Clean & Clear: I got this sample size with my face wash.  The scent is nice, but I would have liked it more if it included SPF.
  • Redken shampoo: smelled and felt nicely tingly, but for $10 or whatever I paid at Ulta, I don't think it helped with hair thickening like the salon lady said it would.  I'm back to my Dove and Head and Shoulders shampoo. Drugstore all the way.
  • The Body Shop Coconut body wash: it smelled nice, but like the shampoo, I'm not going to spend more than I have to on soap.
  • Maybelline Master Drama Eyeliner in Midnight Master: Love it.  I'll be repurchasing it once I work through some other black eyeliners

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Fitbit Buddies

When I went outside for a walk during work (it was either that or sit on my butt, waiting for people to email me back), I stopped by New York & Company and saw some clothes that were 50-60% off.  I didn't feel like I had the time to walk around and try stuff on, so I considered this a reconisance trip.  I went into Marshalls and CVS as well and didn't find anything that I wanted in either store.  On my way back to my office, I saw a coworker that was walking back too.  I knew from eating lunch with her on Wednesday that she has a Fitbit too.  I called out to her and when I caught up, I asked if she was getting her steps in.  She laughed.  I guess we were on the same wavelength.  She added me as a Fitbit buddy.  I also added Robyn and Jules today.  Let the competition begin!  I have some catching up to do since I'm a newbie.

In an effort to get some extra steps in, I went on the treadmill for about 15 minutes after spin class while also catching up on my YouTube.  Woot!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

2 Happy Hours and Office Card Order Samples #3

Happy Hour x 2: Today was the web intern's last day, so a happy hour was organized for her at Austin Grill.  She helped me a lot with making my work-related website more attractive with pictures.  I had to leave this happy hour early so that I could go to another happy hour at Jackie's and catch up with a CDC contact that I worked with last summer.

Cards: I worked on some more samples for the upcoming office order last night. I figured a total of 3 birthday cards and 3 anniversary cards would be enough for Human Resources to choose from. I sent pictures of the samples this morning and got an almost immediate response saying they liked this anniversary card and this candle birthday card from this post.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Hello, Fitbit

This past weekend, Robyn shared that she had been using a Fitbit to track her activity and log her food intake since January and already lost about 13 pounds (yay for her!).  I had wondered if she was losing some weight because I could tell something was different when Julie and I went to eat Mexican a few weeks ago.  She showed me how the information was recorded on the iPhone app and also on the little device.

Hmm...

I was feeling inspired by her success and after reading reviews online, I was sold.  I also got my Maryland tax refund, so that helped too.  I ordered it online from Target and picked it up after going to spin last night.  Wow, I'm impressed how smart this tiny thing is!  It even tracks my sleep!

Robyn said that the Fitbit tracks spinning as steps, so that's how I was able to get to over 11,000 steps today. :D

Logging in my food and seeing how many calories I am allotted for the rest of the day is a little depressing though...