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Thursday, April 30, 2015

New Fun Purchase

I had a $5 coupon from Best Buy sitting in my email inbox and then I saw that they were having a 20% off small appliance sale.  This was the perfect time to buy the mini blender that I had been thinking about. Julie has one and is frequently making smoothies with fruit, yogurt and some sort of juice and they are always delicious.  This would be a good way to get fruit in.  I suppose I could make some green smoothies that I've tasted a while back at work.

I purchased it online last Sunday, but it took a little while to be shipped to the store since it wasn't already in stock. I picked this up after spin class tonight and I'm excited to use it.

I also made some butter chicken using some Safeway brand simmer sauce.  The packet sauce that I usually used wasn't at the Safeway store that I went to on Wednesday.  This simmer sauce was good, but I think I'll stick with the packet one next time.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Day Off

There wasn't anything on my work calendar today, so I decided to take the day off.  And it was wonderful.  I went to a 1-hour spin class, came home to shower, and then I went back out to Costco to get some fruit.  I was hoping for a shorter line because it was the middle of a work day, but nope, Costco was busy busy. The lady in front of me in line apologized and said that she had already let someone else in front of her in line.  Aw, no worries, you've done your good deed of the day. I came home and caught up on some NCIS with RJ on the couch.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

New Nails

It was pretty alarming to turn on the news this morning to see Baltimore up in flames.  That was not what was going on when I went to sleep last night. They also said something about a curfew starting tonight, but why couldn't they have started last night when things were already really out of control.  I guess they didn't have enough law enforcement and military to enforce the curfew?  I just hope it gets better as the week goes on and that officials learn from this event and be more prepared/take more initiative next time (not that there should be a next time).

I was inspired by the nice weather today and did some nail art.  Hello spring! This is Cheeky Happy Nails plate with Sally Hansen in Mint Sortbet nail polish for a base coat and Sally Hansen InstaDri nail polish in Presto Pink for stamping.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Trouble in Baltimore

I got home from work today and turned on the television.  The news was showing lots of rioting, looting and eventually in downtown Baltimore.  It was so sad to watch. I know there's a work conference going on this week in Baltimore, so I'm hoping that it won't be affected by this violence. Sigh.

In other news, I did a new FitnessBlender workout tonight: Fat Blasting Booty Builder - HIIT Cardio and Strength Training Workout.  AND I did it without pausing too (pats self on the back...).

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Yard Sale Success

My coworker Michelle and I teamed up for a yard sale today. I got to her place around 7:45 AM to set up with a table and my clothing rack. She had a bunch of baby and women's clothing to sell.  I had an assortment of things. The yard sale lasted from 8 AM to 12 PM and we had the most business towards the beginning.

In the 4 hours, I came away with $45 (much better than the last yard sale I did), selling 1 dress, 1 pair of sneakers, 1 picture frame, 1 basket, 6 necklaces, and the big ticket item was a Nintendo GameCube that buyer was trying to bargain for.  Nope, I held strong and eventually, he gave in. There was one lady in the beginning that was so rude. She didn't accept the bargain and didn't seem to understand that there were 2 different families. Michelle and I didn't budge and she ended up leaving with nothing.  Ok, fine!  I would rather donate to a worthy cause than sell it to you for a cheaper price.  I'm glad that the Game Cube sold because the box with the controllers and cables was taking up room in my closet.

Meg and Robyn came over for dinner (I carried out from Pacci's), and it was nice to catch up in person since it's been over a month since our last get together.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Administrative Professional's Day Card

My boss's boss asked me if I wanted any more of the leftover baked goodies that his wife made for the bake sale yesterday. I politely declined because I've definitely been pigging out these past few days, especially with the meeting leftovers today and yesterday.  I pat myself on the back for not eating any of my coworker's goodbye cake (she picked a good one: the strawberry shortcake one from Whole Foods). The pat on the back was very premature because when I went to the kitchen to throw away some stuff at the end of the day, I noticed that there was one generous slice of lemon tea poundcake from Mrs. B remaining and while I had 2 slices of it yesterday AND I told Dr. B that I didn't want anymore, I snatched it up and ate some on the car ride home.

Total lies. Lies. LIES!

But, I tried to redeem myself by going to spin class tonight and doing a FitnessBlender workout: Brutal Abs Workout - Abs, Obliques and Lower Back Workout with No Equipment.  Those flutter kick crosses were no joke.  That exercise alone was "brutal."

A good thing that happened today was that I came home with an empty banana pudding container. Rave reviews from my coworkers, yay! :)

Because tomorrow is Administrative Professional's Day, I made a card for some folks to sign for ours and I collected donations so that we could get him a gift card as well.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire
Stamps: Studio G
Embossing Folder: Lifestyle Crafts- Zig Zag
Punch: EK Success Postage Stamp border punch
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Song of the day: "Dear Future Husband"- Meghan Trainor

Monday, April 20, 2015

Bake Sale Success

The office bake sale was a success. We had quite a spread of yummy stuff:
  • Banana pudding and Rolo cookies (my contributions)
  • Mint chocolate chip cookies
  • Lemon pound cake
  • Rice krispies treats
  • Assortment of muffins
  • Special K bars
  • Blueberry cake
  • Brownies
  • Banana dessert cups
People could grab some goodies from the office kitchen and then feed the piggy bank with a donation.  We came out with about $200 just from that.  It helps to have generous coworkers. :)

Because of all the goodies that I ate today, I made sure to go to spin class tonight. I was still feeling guilty for my gluttony so I squeezed in a FitnessBlender workout: Total Body Strength Training with Dumbbells - Challenging Dynamic Superset Workout.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Rolo Cookies and Banana Pudding

Spin class (check). That was the most productively healthy thing I did all day. When I got home, I took a shower and then made some banana pudding for the office bake sale tomorrow and plopped myself on the couch to watch several episodes of Arrow. I finished Season 1 in about 1.5 days. Yeah, I know, really bad. Since I didn't catch it on TV when it was on, it was nice to do it all the way through without commercial breaks. I took a break from watching to make some Rolo cookies for the office. The "bake sale" is to benefit March of Dimes and I'm going to bring my piggy bank to help Jennifer collect donations. I hope I don't bring anything home with me!

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Julie came over to watch Mockingjay: Part 1 and on her way over, she bought Five Guys cheeseburgers. As usual, RJ wanted a piece of the action. Julie was nice enough to oblige.  The movie was meh, alright. Nothing that I would want to watch again or buy. Truth be told, I couldn't wait for it to end so that I could go back to watching Arrow on Netflix.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Free Cone Day and Office Computer Raffle

Hooray for Free Cone Day!  Me and 3 other coworkers walked down to the Ben and Jerry's down the street to get our free ice cream.  It was drizzling a little outside, so I think the rain was a deterrent because there was a minimal line.  The last few years, you had to wait a little.  But of course, a little waiting is worth it for some free treats!

We had another office computer raffle and I won one!  I won one last time in 2013!  I'm not usually this lucky. Maybe I should play the lottery.  Bah ha.  This came at a really good time because the computer that I keep in my bedroom suddenly stopped turning on. I had debated on getting a new battery for it, but the thing is about 8-9 years old (I bought it when I started graduate school).  Now it's time to destroy the hard drive on that computer and take it to Best Buy for recycling. :)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Empties #7

Whoo hoo, stuff to go into the recycling bin!  I'm most happy to be done with the Caress body wash in Tahitian Renewal and a Dove conditioner with a grapefruit/lemongrass scent. It felt like it took forever to finish those two.  I have another bottle of conditioner and several bottles of body wash that I need to go through before I consider repurchasing them.  As for the Palmer's cocoa butter lotion, I had to cut the bottle to get the last bits out, definitely would repurchase.  I did repurchase the nail polish remover, my third one!  Those Esteee Lauder sample sized makeup removers were fine, but I think my CVS one works much better. I would never consider buying high end makeup remover when drugstore ones and/or coconut oil does the trick.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Cherry Blossoms on the Tidal Basin

I got a text message from Robyn yesterday, asking me if I was interested in going to see the cherry blossoms downtown today.  Sure, count me in!  The weather was perfect to see the cherry blossoms.  I took the Metro down and she biked to meet me at the Smithsonian station. I wasn't prepared to see much of the national mall fenced off. I hope they finish whatever construction needs to be done before July 4 for the fireworks.

We walked towards the Jefferson Memorial and near the Tidal Basin to watch the tourists and paddle boats go by.  Afterwards, we made our way back and got some lunch at one of the food trucks, Sub Palace.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Furious 7

I told myself that going to see Furious 7 would be my reward for getting through this week of travel, so that was the highlight of my day.  I went to see the 12:30 PM showing and there were only a handful of people in the theater.  I couldn't tell if that was because the hardcore fans already saw it last week or because of the nice weather outside or...what?

I really enjoyed it.  The stunts and special effects were amazing.  Yeah, there were some cheezy action movie lines that I rolled my eyes at, but that was to be expected.  I was mostly curious about how they'd wrap up Paul Walker's character's storyline.  It was beautifully done and I was totally tearing up at the end.  Fortunately, with the dark theater, I could let the tears flow.  I remember watching the first Fast and Furious movie when it first came out and thinking "wow, that was really cool." And then I remembered watching it on TV the night that he died in the car wreck.  I'm curious to see if the franchise continues without him.  It just won't be the same.  

Next up, Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Afterwards, I went to the gym and got some cardio in since it was around the corner.  I also did a FitnessBlender workout "40 Min Cardio HIIT Workout + Butt, Thighs, Abs: Ultimate Workout for Belly Fat Loss, No Equipment" earlier tonight and truth be told, it was more like an hour since I had to pause several times to catch my breath, but I did it!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Back from Iowa

Getting home from Iowa was quite the challenge.  I got to the Cedar Rapids airport at around 8:30 AM Thursday since my boss's flight was before mine and she had the rental car.  I knew the airport had free WiFi so I could amuse myself until my flight at 12:30 PM.  My boss went to go check in and when we said our "see you laters", she also mentioned that the two previous flights to Chicago were cancelled due to thunderstorms in that area.  My flight to Chicago was still on schedule.  But that didn't last long.  I was probably delayed around 4 hours.  We even got on the plane and then after the last person got on, they had us get off the plane because Chicago had another ground stop.  Once I got to Chicago, I was delayed another hour before getting on the plane and then there were about 4 other planes in line to take off.  I got quite a lightening show from my window seat. o_0  The one good thing about the Chicago to DCA flight was that there was a seat in between me and the gentleman in the aisle seat and I also got what seemed like extra leg room (not that I need it since I'm short).  Then I had to take a 45 minute taxi ride to my Metro station to retrieve my car and then drive home.  I didn't roll up to my front door until about 1:30 AM.  BLAH.

Surprisingly, I wasn't really struggling to get work done today.  I took a break to go to the post office to mail off an Etsy order and the mall to get a Chipotle burrito using the gift card that I got from employee appreciation week.  I've been wanting to get one for a while, but the line was always out the door at the one near work.  Good for their business though!

After I shut down my work computer, I went to my parents' house to go for a walk with Julie and get RJ.
Oh hai!  I like ribs too!
Mom gave me this Estee Lauder Pure Color nail polish in Sweet Pea for my birthday. I felt sorta...guilty? that she got me high end nail polish since I would much prefer to go drugstore on that front.  Or pretty much on all fronts.  But it's pretty for spring and I couldn't say no!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Iowa Assessment Success

The meeting at the Iowa laboratory was a huge success. There was good discussion and I think people found the event productive and enlightening. The challenge will be keeping up with the follow-up activities and maintaining momentum generated from this event.  Afterwards, my contact gave me and a few colleagues a tour of their laboratory which was really cool.

Julie texted me a picture of RJ hanging out with Mom in the morning.  I'm not sure if this is because he wants to butter her up for a possible second breakfast or if he really wanted to sleep on my old bed.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Care Package Success

Julie and I sent my youngest cousin a care package last week and I got a nice thank you text message from him today.  He went on to say that any classmate that comes down with a cavity becomes the most popular kid because everyone wants to diagnose (and/or operate?) on him/her.  I suggested that he share his candy so that he doesn't come down with a cavity.

"That's brilliant!  Then they can ALL be my patients!"

Um, yes, I suppose.  But that wasn't really what I was getting at.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Netflix Day

The majority of today was spent binge watching Marvel's Agents of SHIELD on Netflix, 9 episodes total.  Yikes.  I've been meaning to watch it, but that's so much easier to do with Netflix with no commercials.  I did get a 2 mile walk in with Julie when I dropped RJ off at my parents' house though!  He wasted no time mooching food off of Mom, specifically some salmon fried rice.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Treadmill Day

YAY, Saturday! :D

Time to go to the gym!  I told myself that I just need to go for 30 minutes.  It'll be over in a snap.  ithinkicanithinkicanithinkican. In an effort to work on my 2015 running goal, I wanted to see how far I could go in 30 minutes.  My previous best distance is 2.41 miles and today, I made it to 2.45 miles.  It's not much, but any progress is progress!

I came home, ate some lunch and then went back out to get some iced coffee at Panera (free with Panera rewards program) and some strawberries from Costco (surprisingly the line wasn't bad at all, given that tomorrow is Easter and Costco will not be open).

I cranked out a Fitness Blender workout before dinner too: Strong, Lean, Toned Arms, Chest and Shoulders Workout - Lift Like you Mean It!. I have a feeling that my shoulders are going to feel it tomorrow.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Teleworking, but Not Really

Made it to a 1-hour spin class this morning.  Yay!

There wasn't much on my work calendar today except for a check-in with my boss and then a focus group teleconference.  My 3 PM conference call got moved to Monday.  I had to make another set of assessment voting cards, and I had set aside time to do that on Monday, but since I got that time back, I showered after my focus group and headed to Staples and the office to get stuff done (I'm so lucky to live so close to the office!).  The workroom printer kept jamming for some reason, so I didn't finish my project, but at least I put a serious dent in it. My coworker across the aisle helped me cut them up so extra bonus there.

TGIF!

Next week should be interesting.  In the office on Monday and then Iowa Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday for work and then teleworking Friday.  I'm planning to take RJ to my parents' house on Sunday so he can get acclimated, but since this will be his third stay, I'm hoping he's a pro by now.

I caught bits and pieces of The Fast and the Furious on TV tonight.  And then I remembered that Furious 7 came out today.  My reward to myself for getting through next week will be to go see that movie in the theater once I get back from Iowa.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Good Workout Day

I've been really lucky this week with meeting leftovers!  I've gotten breakfast and lunch leftovers both yesterday and today.  We've had a slew of new people start at the office.  I hope they like to eat because we do that a lot around here.  Heh.

I was really good with working out today: 25 minutes walking on the treadmill because I got to the gym early and needed to pass the time until spin class, 45 minute spin class and then I did a Fitness Blender workout Tank Top Arms Workout - Best Upper Body Workout for Toned Arms, Shoulders & Upper Back to pass the time until Lip Sync Battle, Jimmy Fallon vs. The Rock.  They looked like they were having lots of fun and of course it was funny to watch. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

New Spring Card

Julie and I put together a care package for our cousin who's currently in Boston for dental school.  Ironically, the care package was full of Easter candy, but I figured with being in dental school, he'll have easy access to toothbrushes and floss, basically anything that's conducive to good oral hygiene.  I took this opportunity tonight to use a new embossing folder for the card that I included with the package.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird and Chestnut Roan. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China and Mustard Seed
Stamps: Stampin' Up- Forest Friends, Studio G
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Embossing Folder: Lifestyle Crafts- Zig Zag