Happy Halloween!

Julie and I were the only ones at the 11 AM CrossFit session today. Fine by me because the 10:15 AM session seemed to have like 10+ people. I worked on my chin-ups and then the AMRAP today was 10 pull-ups, 31 burpees, and 15 wall balls (how appropriate since today is Halloween). Wow, this was tough! Those darn burpees. I only was able to get through 2 complete rounds + 2 pull-ups in 10 minutes.

Afterwards I went to ACMoore to pick up some cross-stitch fabric. When I went to Homecoming last week, during one of the trips to the bookstore, I saw the Washington and Lee University crest in a cross-stitch kit form and I remembered that I have one of them unfinished. I dug it out last night and then I realized the reason why I didn't finish it was because I had spilled some ink on it. Time to start over! I think it'll be a nice goal to have and then be able to hang it somewhere in the house. Funny enough, I saw the other Maddie and her mom at ACMoore when I was there, and I had just seen them at the CrossFit gym an hour ago. I also went to Target to buy some Halloween candy because I had a coupon and I felt compelled to replace some of the candy I ate from Mom's stash.

I have been looking for an excuse to wear this Sephora cream lip stain in Polished Purple, and Halloween is just the right occasion! I also tacked on some false lashes since I did a heavy winged liner and curled my hair.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." :D Well, I have my Hogwarts shirt and a cat...just direct me to Platform 9 3/4ths!

 I went over to my uncle and aunt's house to see how they were doing and then to my cousin's house to see how he was recovering from his wisdom tooth extraction. I asked him what kind of candy he was giving out. "I haven't bought any yet." o_0 What?! Fortunately for him, I had one of the bags of candy I bought from Target earlier today so I gave it to him to give to the trick-or-treaters. Chances are there wasn't going to be anything really good at the grocery stores at this time.

Then I went to my parents' house to try the chili that Julie made for her office chili cookoff and won first place! And then I hung out there to give out candy because chances are, I wouldn't get many at my place. One of the trick-or-treaters complimented me on my makeup and several did on my t-shirt. I felt kinda like Cinderella at the end of the ball taking off this makeup...I thought it was kickass!

Captain America at Work and New Card

Flex Friday...at work.

Freakin' hell. I got a bruise on my chin from my little mishap yesterday when I accidentally banged the barbell on my chin.  Heh.  Fortunately, it's not that noticeable.

In other news, I wore my Captain America shirt to work today. It's the only day of the year that I could get away with it.  I think the design's subtle enough that no one would really know unless they are familiar with the comic book. One of the IT guys actually complimented me on it...how fitting, right?  Nerds unite!

I normally telework on Fridays, but I had some banana bread to share with coworkers (read: to get out of my house so I don't eat it all myself). There was also breakfast at work, hosted by the Accounting Department...Panera Baked Egg Soufflés, YUM!

I debated on whether or not to go to CrossFit today and ultimately decided not to. My shoulders were sore from yesterday's workout and I'm signed up to go tomorrow. I took a post-work nap instead and it was awesome...as naps usually are.

Here's a new card that I made tonight on a whim. When Suzie came to visit last week, she took a handful of cards with her which freed up space for me...everybody wins!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink in Yellow Ochre, Dark Peony, Blackbird. Stampin' Up in Pool Party. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire.
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Vintage Labels, American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Stickles

Ouch at CrossFit

It was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit today...

Well, by sleep in, I really mean is wake up at 5:30 AM to a demanding cat and feed him breakfast and then go back to sleep for another 2 hours before having to get up to get ready for work.

Today at CrossFit, we worked on our hang squat cleans. There are several steps to the movement and sometimes I just think too hard. I lifted the bar too high today and banged myself on the chin. Holy ****, that hurt! I mean, not enough that I'd see stars and birds flying over my head, but enough that I had to pause for a moment and take a few deep breaths.

The coach called me a trooper. Yeah, well, I don't really feel like one at that moment. Owowow.

Anyway, I increased my weight from 60 to 65 lbs, so I was happy about that.

Although, now that I'm writing this blog post and it's been a few hours since class, my jaw is feeling sore. BLAH!

To balance out all the Halloween candy that I've been eating, I went to 6:30 PM spin class too. I didn't go as intensely as I usually do because everything honestly felt like jello (the Metcon today was 6 push presses + 10 lunges...7 rounds and I did it with 50 lbs).
I eyed the spotty bananas sitting on my kitchen counter when I got home and decided to make some chocolate chip banana bread. I can bring some to the office tomorrow to share, at least with my boss because she was nice enough to bring me back some chocolate back from her trip to Switzerland. Hopefully I don't eat it all at once because this is some good stuff.

New Birthday Card

6:30 AM CrossFit, here we go! Today we worked on our push presses. I upped my weight from 65 to 70 lbs. Considering I started at 45 lbs at the end of September, this is considerable progress. Next week is test week, and I'm looking forward to see how my 1 rep max  goes...I'm hoping for 80 or 85 lbs. Oh, the suspense! :)

I had to head over to the DoubleTree hotel for a meeting this afternoon with some of the Board of Directors and other VIPs. One of them told me they had saved me a seat. "So, how have you been?" I told her about my trip to my college reunion. At the end, "Did you find love at the reunion?" Uhh, no. Most of the guys there were married, fathers, and/or brought their girlfriend. I think it's amusing that every so often, my love life (or reminder of a lack of one) comes up at work, not just with my boss, but with partners/members too. Everyone wants to see me married off.  Meanwhile, I'm perfectly content being a cat lady.

My friend Diana's birthday is on Saturday (yes, Halloween) and I made a card tonight to send to her. I used this rose stamp that I hadn't used in a while, used some black embossing powder and Distress Inks as watercolors. I think the use of more colors make the flowers on the card come to life.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Fired Brick, Broken China, Tattered Rose, Peeled Paint
Stamp: Peddler's Pack Stampworks- Rose Background
Other: Liquid Pearl in Buttercup
Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Rub-on: Stampin' Up- Chit Chat (sentiment)

Day Off

I decided to take the day off today because there wasn't anything important to do at the office. Plus, with being away and social all weekend, I felt like I needed have a moment to myself and reset my house, i.e. run the dishwasher and do many loads of laundry. I went to CrossFit with Eileen in the morning and worked on our push-ups. Our regular coach Arielle will be in Guatemala for the next 3 weeks, so Maddie and Rob will be taking over for her while she's out.

I went home, took a quick shower and then headed over to the MVA for my vehicle emissions test. I was the third car in line and the actual test only took 2 minutes. This was my first emissions test I've ever done, if you can believe that. With the car that I drove before I bought my Fit, Dad always took it for maintenance...but now that I'm a grown-up (hah!), I figured I should take care of it myself. Everything was done before 9 AM.

My boss texted me last night that there were lots of leftovers from the reception that was held for the Board of Directors and other VIPs at work. She specifically mentioned the sugar cookies. Aw, man. I debated going to the office after the emissions test, but decided that it wasn't really worth it to sneak in and sneak out. 

I went to the Walgreens nearby to get a new hairbrush (plus I had $5 worth of points to use). I dropped the one I currently have and the handle broke off, but I never felt the urge to replace it until now because the plastic coating is peeling off and it's kinda gross. I also picked up a package of Haribo Cola gummies for Julie as a thank you for tolerating RJ's early morning wake up calls and a package of peppermint Oreos for myself. It's not quite the holiday season yet, but they were calling my name!

My cousin got one of his wisdom teeth removed today and he was terrified. He's been putting this off for several years. However, he was pleasantly surprised because it only took 15 minutes and the numbing shot didn't hurt too badly. I brought him ice cream (Haagen Dazs was buy 1, get 1 free at Safeway so I bought strawberry and limoncello...he chose limoncello) and he looked totally fine. Pish, what a big baby.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Sigh, okay, time to get back to normal. I took Suzie to the subway station this morning so that she could ride it to Union Station to catch her train and then I headed to the office. There wasn't a lot going on today. Well, except for a Board of Directors meeting, but I wasn't a part of that. Today was Kara's first day at her new job and it was weird not seeing her and sharing a cat and/or weekend story.

After work, I zipped over to CrossFit. We worked on our back squats today which I increased from 75 to 90 lbs. Hooray! Then I went to my parents' house to raid the refrigerator and pick up RJ.

Of course RJ made himself at home at my parents' house. Fortunately he created just enough mischief to make things interesting, but not terrible enough that he wouldn't be invited back.

New shirt that I got from Homecoming. I took this picture when I got home from my parents' house. I sweated through it majorly by the end of CrossFit though.

10 Year Reunion, Day 3

Wah, last day of the reunion. We ate breakfast at the hotel, checked out and then headed to campus one last time. Meg went to get coffee at Lexington Coffee and the rest of us went to the campus bookstore. Robyn made a comment yesterday that I found amusing, "Even though I'm working and I make good money, I still feel too poor for the bookstore." YES! Everything there is so pretty but expensive. Everyone except for Suzie bought clothes there yesterday...from the clearance section, hah.

I went to the section of notecards, and I found this book. I'll have to see if it's available at the library. Sounds like a book perfect for me! :)

Then it was time to get back on the road. We got about 1.5 hours in before we stopped for lunch at a Johnny Appleseed restaurant. There was a somewhat creepy statue of him outside. Suzie pushed the button next to him and an equally creepy voice gave us a short bio of Johnny Appleseed.
Then we got on the road and I felt like we were at Meg's place in no time (that's probably because I also fell asleep). One funny thing that was said during the trip home was when Suzie repeated a conversation that we had about our favorite characters in Inside Out. "Mine was Sadness. Tina's was Anger or Disgust." (silence...then laughter) Meg- "Should we be concerned??" I liked Anger! He was funny!

Once we dropped Meg off at her apartment, we went to Robyn's place and she dropped Suzie and I at the Metro and then it was another hour back to my place. It felt like an Odyssey.  Suzie ended up getting some Pacci's and then we watched the last remaining episodes of the Great British Baking Show until it was time to go to bed.

What a whirlwind weekend! I can't believe that I have to go to work tomorrow. I mean, I suppose I could stay home, but Michelle said that she was going to bring me leftover meatballs from her housewarming party this past weekend.

10 Year Reunion, Day 2

OMG, I was so tired last night that I slept a full night in my contacts! ARGH! Fortunately they were not glued to my eyeballs. I did wear glasses today to make sure they could breathe though. UGH...

Anyway...we ate breakfast at the hotel and then walked over to campus. Meg and I wanted to go on the dorm tour (Robyn went to another event and then later caught up with us halfway through the tour). It was cool to see what had changed on campus since the last time I was there which was only 2 year ago! One of the freshman dorms was torn down and a nice pathway was created connecting one of the main roads to one of the other freshmen dorms. My old freshmen dorm is no longer housing students and they are renovating it to make it into offices. Meg's old freshmen dorm was upgraded so that there are elevators (everyone had to schlep their belongings up the stairs), laundry rooms on every floor (instead of in the basement) and air conditioning. I felt old..."Back when we were here..." Hah. The dorm that we lived in for sophomore year had been converted to mostly doubles, when they were originally suites.

After the tour, we went towards the football field for tailgate and lunch. Suzie went to get some work done in the library, while the rest of us watched some football until the first quarter was over. I wanted to go visit the Science Center, my old stomping grounds...Meg went to take some pictures and Robyn went to the building where her politics classes were held.

 

I walked down the hall in the Science Center to the chemistry department and there was a student in the Asylum, the student room. I asked for a piece of paper so that I could leave a note for my chemistry professor (I was supposed to have a meeting with him at 2, but his flight was delayed and wouldn't be getting in until tonight). I chatted with the student who was a junior for a good 15 minutes about what her plans were and what professors were still there. The old couch and pillow that were there from when I was there were still there (?!), which grossed me out and warmed my heart at the same time.

Home Sweet Home

"The Couch"

Meg and Robyn eventually found me, and Robyn took us back to the c-school where she found some bumper-car desks that looked like UFOs, hah. Robyn had the bright idea to get some ice cream at the local ice cream shop, Sweet Things, so we walked over there. While we were enjoying our ice cream (I got a scoop of pumpkin pie ice cream with a waffle cone), we saw Suzie walking by so we caught her attention and she joined us. We also had a chance to Facetime Page to see what she was up to. She looked in good spirits, considering her mom had passed away earlier this month.

We made our way back to the hotel so Suzie could drop some stuff off and then we went back to campus so she could do her book signing and we could grab some dinner at the BBQ and wine tasting. The BBQ dinner was good and I had some of the sangria, but I didn't even finish my glass since I'm not much of a drinker. At some point, a couple that participated in the tour earlier in the morning asked if he could join our table. The guy was in the same year as us (his wife didn't go to WLU), but I don't remember him when we were in school. It was cool to see how conversation flowed (this was in contrast to some other young alumni that sat with us and didn't bother to make conversation, grumble). The event ended around 9:30 PM, and we headed to the Palms for drinks and snacks before calling it a night!

One weird thing today was that the neighbor who gave me sloppy hugs a few weeks ago sent me a Facebook request. Um, no.

10 Year Reunion, Day 1

Meg, Suzie and I were going to carpool down to our college reunion together, but since Robyn had to go to work for a meeting in the morning, we didn't have to start moving until around 12:30. Until then, Suzie worked on edits to her book and her nails and I camped out on the couch, watching the Great British Baking Show.

Suzie and I took the subway down to Robyn's apartment and then we picked Meg up and then started heading down to Lexington. The traffic wasn't so bad until we got closer to campus, but we made it in time for the dinner.

One funny thing that happened when we were still at my place was when I went to go gas up my car. And when I came back, I noticed that some dishes were on the counter.  Suzie said that she took them out of the dishwasher because they were clean and she wanted to make room for the dirty dishes from last night.  This was a nice gesture, except they were dirty dishes!  Of course, I would be the one to have clean looking dirty dishes (I like to rinse mine off before putting them in). So we spent 5 minutes trying to figure out what silverware and dishes needed to go back in, hah!

The evening event was under a big tent. There were food stations (mac and cheese bar, Chinese food, sliders, and crepes) and a bar in the middle. The music was rather loud so my group spent most of the time outside the tent chatting.

Sad Day, Happy Day

Today was a sad day and a happy day at the same time.

My coworker Kara's last day was today, and while I had planned to work at home, I decided to go to the office and give her a proper goodbye. I also wanted to see her expression when she opened the card that everyone signed for her. Her team also gave her a goodie bag of library related things: I Work at a Public Library, a tumbler that said Librarian: the Original Search Engine, and a necklace with a pendant that said "I love the smell of books."

I ran out of work around 4 PM to go pick Suzie up at the subway station. We got Indian food for dinner, and she introduced me to the Great British Baking Show on Netflix. The contestants on this show seemed a lot more charming than ones seen in American Shows. Watching several episodes of it makes me want to up my baking game, i.e. venturing into making bread (I don't know what to do with yeast!).

I also did my nails in the spirit of Halloween and going to my reunion tomorrow.

Happy Back to the Future Day!

Happy Back to the Future Day!

I made it to the 6:30 AM session of CrossFit, go me! We worked on our hang squat clean which I increased my weight from 40 lbs (10/5/2015) to 60 lbs. Wee!

I got the following email from Human Resources today regarding holiday office closure:

Greetings! We are pleased to announce that the APHL Headquarters & remote locations will be closed for the holidays from Friday, December 25, 2015- Sunday, January 3, 2015. The office will re-open on Monday, January 4, 2016. During this time, benefits eligible employees will be paid for the regularly scheduled time away from the office.

I guess the Executive Director was feeling generous! :) The last time this happened was when we were moving back into the building after our floor was renovated. I got the email when I was talking to my boss for our weekly touch-base. It got suddenly really quiet, but I could hear her typing in the background and I was doing the same. "Are you typing up a thank you note to Scott?"  Yeah.  "Me too." It's important to be appreciative so that he will be this generous in future years!

RJ and I hung out watching tv for a little bit tonight before dropping him off at my parents' house for the next few days.

Overslept!

I had turned off my phone alarms yesterday and forgot to turn them back on. When RJ woke me up for breakfast, it was already 6:08 AM and I usually leave the house for CrossFit at 6:05 AM. I wasn't going to make it on time so I told Julie that I wouldn't be able to make it (she ended up being the only one in class today, so she got some personal attention with the coach). It worked out fine in the end because I was able to make it to the 5:15 PM class and then go directly to 6:30 PM spin class.

The workout was:
12:00 EMOM (every minute on the minute)
10 Kettlebell Swings + 40 Single Unders
15 Wall Balls

The last 2 minutes just about killed me, but whew, I did it!  P.S. I was almost late to class because I lost a contact! UGH. I'm usually able to find it on the floor or on the bathroom counter, but after fumbling around for 15 minutes, I decided to just open up another package. It just so happened that I have a lone contact for my left eye anyway because I had to open an extra right eye contact a while back.
I really appreciated the Abby-centric NCIS episode tonight. She's such a great character, and I'm glad she was able to get more screen time than usual.

CrossFit and Difficult Call at the Office

Today was my first CrossFit class since last Monday, and boy, was I glad to be back. Well, at least for the company. The workout in general was hard because we worked on our push-ups and I was sore from my chest workout yesterday. And then for the fun part:

• 20 Deadlifts
• 20 Hang Cleans
• 20 Front Squats
• 20 Push Jerk
• 60 Double Unders
• Every time you break, 15 hollow rocks

I thought you had to do the hollow rocks if you had to drop the bar, but I paused to rest for a little bit during the workout and the trainer saw..."15 hollow rocks, Tina!!!" Ahhh!  Okokok.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, except when my boss called me to say that she had to take her daughter to the ER because she was worried about a kidney stone. She asked me to run her call in an hour, a call that had no agenda and I didn't really have the expertise to even wing it. OMG, it was painful because the people on the phone were so quiet. Fortunately, a CDC person and one of the other call participants chimed in. Ugh, so awkward. I feel like if there's no agenda, there shouldn't be a call! I was happy to go to spin class to work out my frustration afterwards!

Chest Day, Pumpkin Pancakes and New Card

I haven't worked out since last Monday because of my cold, but since I was feeling better today, I decided to get things back to normal by going to the gym. I did Crush60's Day 38: Chest workout, and surely enough, those Tabata push-ups at the end just about killed me. Sweat, shaky arms, the whole nine yards. But, hey, at least it's done! I've reserved my spot for tomorrow's CrossFit class...I'm ready, let's go!

I had half can of pumpkin in the refrigerator leftover from when I made pumpkin macaroni and cheese last Monday, and I didn't want it to go to waste so I made a bunch of pumpkin pancakes. Yum!
My friend, Kara, at work is leaving at the end of the week. Her summer internship asked her if she wanted to take a librarian job at the organization, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I offered to make a card for everyone to sign. Her boss suggested a book/librarian themed card, and I couldn't think of what to do with that so I went with what I know best: origami. She has a white cat named Yeti so I made him the focus of the card.

Lunch with Jenny and Hanging Out with Julie

This is my first day out of the house since Tuesday. Internally, I was screaming "I'm free, I'm free, I'm FREE!" as I was leaving the house to go to brunch with Jenny and Jessie.  Unfortunately, Jessie had a cat emergency, so she couldn't make it. Simba was given new medication, so hopefully he'll be good as new. We went to Cafe Deluxe and while it was only 10 AM, they gave us both the lunch and brunch menus. I went with the chicken pot pie and Jenny went with ham and cheese croissant. Yum! She asked me

Cheese! :D

I went to visit my uncle/aunt, my parents and my cousin on the way home from lunch. Whew, good thing everyone lives so close together. It makes these check-in visits so efficient and environmentally friendly since I'm not going all over town. I took a short nap when I got home and then Julie texted to say that she was bringing Five Guys burgers over. We chowed down on our burgers and fries while watching Jurassic Park and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on tv.

He's always a good sport.

I can has cheeseburger?  Fine, okay.

Old T-Shirt and New Nails

While going through some of the clothes I had stored away, I found my favorite t-shirt from college. I don't think I'll ever have the heart to get rid of it because of all the many hours I spent in the Science Center studying (I was a chemistry major). However, these days, I need to replace it with one that says, “I can’t, I have to go to the gym.”

I took a break from my work computer this afternoon to do some nail art (hooray for feeling better and not needing to use another sick day!). This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Heat Wave with Maybelline Color Show nail polish in Bold Gold for the nail art, using the Cheeky Happy Nails plate.

Sick Day #2

I wasn't feeling any better than I was yesterday, so it feels kinda like Groundhog's Day. My sister was nice enough to drop off some soup, cough drops, a donut and share some of her chicken tenders. I took a nap and dreamt that I was at CrossFit, working on my back squats. I'm really hoping I can make it to an afternoon class tomorrow.

I was feeling more like myself tonight, so I worked on some craft show cards (the only craft show that I'm doing is the Saturday before Thanksgiving) and am currently baking some banana bread (what else am I suppose to do with 5 bananas with spots?).

Maybe I should wash my hair for some extra excitement...

Sick Day

Yeahhh...there was no way I was going to make it to the office today. And I didn't really have the energy do to any meaningful work even if I teleworked. Fortunately, I had stuff under control, so I sent off a sick day request and a few emails first thing this morning and then went back to bed.

This is the second day in a row that I haven't been able to make it to CrossFit. While waking up at 5:30 AM can be grueling, it sucks even more to not be able to go. It's just become part of my routine. I hope I'm feeling better enough to go to an afternoon class tomorrow and at the very least, telework tomorrow.

On a brighter note:

• I was able to sell one of my dresses on Ebay today and an origami panda birthday card on Etsy yesterday. :)
• The updated Crush60 program was released today, complete with a new layout, illustrations and accompanying videos. I can't wait to put it to use once I get over this cold!
• I'm so glad that Arrow is back on. What a great episode tonight...not that I would expect anything less.

Fall Office Potluck

I felt awful and congested this morning. I woke up to feed RJ his breakfast and sent a text message to my sister to let her know that I wouldn't be making it to CrossFit this morning. The few extra hours of sleep really helped and I actually managed to get myself to the office this morning. I did have a casserole dish of pumpkin macaroni and cheese for the potluck after all, and there's no way I would have been able to eat it myself.

I mean, I could, but it would have been an awful idea!

The office potluck was a big hit! I only came home with a little bit of the mac and cheese leftover (like a few bites). There were other tasty items that people brought in: shepherd's pie (Shari), sweet potato au gratin (Michelle), and my personal favorite- cinnamon rolls (Jennifer used a Pioneer Woman recipe). She brought in 4 trays and since there were a lot of leftovers left, I took one of the trays home with me. Heh. YUM!

CrossFit and Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

Alright, here we go...another week!  I woke up with a slightly sore throat, but nothing that would warrant not going to 6:30 CrossFit. We worked on our push presses (I'm up to 55 lbs. now) and lots of rowing at the end. I came home to get cleaned up and then I headed back out to do some grocery shopping, mainly to get some supplies for pumpkin mac and cheese, which I'll be bringing to the office tomorrow for the fall potluck. I think we were supposed to use locally grown vegetables or something so...I cheated a little bit. Oh, well! 

Oh, btw, I saw the touchy-feely neighbor on my way to the car to go to the grocery store. He waved and I did the same, while cringing on the inside.

Channeling my inner Catwoman. Dramatic winged liner, check. Red lipstick, check.
Cat, double check.

I drank what seemed like a gallon of hot tea with honey and took a nap this afternoon, but woke up in time to go to spin class. Then I came home, made the mac and cheese and drank some more tea. I hope to be feeling better tomorrow. I've been so good about not getting sick. With the exception of the bout of shingles last summer, the last time I've been sick-sick was probably last February 2014.

Gym Time and Pancakes

The residual bad mood from last night's events bled through to this morning, but instead of staying in bed in a funk, I went to the gym for the 8:30 AM spin class. Truth be told, I did go back to bed after class because I didn't feel like last night's sleep was all that restful. I did get my butt out of bed to go to the other gym location for Day 37: Leg Day. I was really lacking in motivation, but I told myself that if I could make it through the workout, I could go to the Thai restaurant nearby to get some pad thai for dinner. Surely enough, one rep at a time, I got through it. For the most part, I was the only woman in weights section and it felt empowering. You want to watch me squat and deadlift in my colorful tights? Fine. Look, but don't touch.
In an effort to procrastinate thinking about what fall-inspired food item to bring to the office potluck on Tuesday, I searched for pancake recipes instead. I found this one from Martha Stewart (Recipe #6 of 2015). I think this is the first time I've made pancakes myself, if you can believe that. Heh. Pancakes for second dinner!

I ate half of these and saved the rest for tomorrow :)

New Jeans, CrossFit, Housewarming Party and Uncomfortable End to the Evening

I headed out earlier than usual to go by Old Navy to get a pair of skinny jeans (the jeans I bought yesterday were bootcut). It surprisingly didn't take too long, even though the jeans section could have really used some straightening up. An added bonus was getting a set of 3 pairs of "diamond" studs: tiny, small, and medium. I also browsed Marshalls to kill some time, and when I was leaving to go to CrossFit, Julie texted me saying that she got a message from the co-owners that the parking lot was being paved so no one was allowed in the gym. I started heading home and she sent me another text message saying that the coach was going to do an outdoor workout in the back parking lot. I made a U-turn and headed back. Fortunately, I wasn't too far away. The 10:15 class was closing up. I think it's cool that the coaches made it work AND that a good handful of people showed up anyway, despite what must have been an unfortunate surprise this morning.

Hello, Fall.

I headed out to Hilary's place for her housewarming party with my tray of banana pudding in tow. I was the first one there, which worked out fine because I wanted to could catch her up on office gossip and how her new job was going. I had 3 helpings to the macaroni and cheese that she made and 2 pumpkin whoopie pies and some yummy spicy chips (heh). I met her 2 other roommates and other friends. I'm glad that another coworker was there so I didn't feel like I was by myself. I stayed for about 2 hours and then headed back home (the introvert in me was wiped out).

Sephora lip stain in Blackberry Sorbet.

When I got to the parking lot, I saw some of my neighbors chatting and drinking. They invited to me to join them. I thought it'd be rude if I didn't stay for a little bit. One of the neighbors has been trying to get me to join his gym. He went inside to get something and came back to hand me a free 7-day pass. I accepted it, but realistically, I have no interest in going to that gym, even if the membership price is significantly lower than what I pay now. My loyalty to the gym and CrossFit box that I go to has nothing to do with the cost. It's about the people and experience I have while I'm there. It didn't take me long to realize that he was a little tipsy. "When are we going to the gym together?" Uh, never? He kept touching my arm and ranted about religion. "...They don't have sex... they don't drink!" And then he proceeded to touch his junk. I was so uncomfortable. He offered me a vodka and orange juice, to which I took a sip of and held in my hand for pretty much the entire conversation, only to pour it down the drain when I got home. Finally, I just had to get out of there. I told everyone good night and the guy gave me a sloppy hug and it took everything in me not to run around the corner to my house.

Ugh, I feel so gross and angry. WTF. What a way to end an otherwise nice day. I can't wait to go to MY gym tomorrow and work out this frustration.

Clothing Mission, Banana Pudding and Daredevil

My mission today was to find some new jeans and dress pants and make banana pudding for Hilary's housewarming party that's happening tomorrow, and I was successful. I bought 2 pairs of jeans at New York & Company (buy 1, get the second pair for $10) and 2 pairs of dress pants from JCPenney (50% off each, plus a $10 coupon). YAY!

I finished watching Season 1 of Daredevil on Netflix tonight. Wow, so good! It was grittier than the superhero movies, but I think it's because it's Netflix and maybe they don't have to be so strict about violence and language as the movies do. I can't wait for season 2!

Pretty productive for a rest day!

P.S. The lady at Sephora complimented me on my red lipstick. I was wearing Sephora cream lip stain in Always Red and thinking about purchasing other colors, but I decided to wait until there's a good deal on shipping or Sephora points or Ebates (or all of the above). The formula of those is awesome!

Bring on the abs!

All set for tomorrow!

Stuffed Peppers, CrossFit and New Nails

I decided to take today and tomorrow off, making this Columbus Day holiday a little longer. Mwah ha ha.

It was nice to be able to go back to sleep after my 5:30 AM wake-up call from RJ. Except I was woken up again around 8:30 AM by the neighbor slamming something next door and his kid crying. It was really jarring. WTH?!!  What could really be that bad that you had to be so loud and scary first thing in the morning?

Once I got moving, I ate breakfast and went to the grocery store to get supplies for Old El Paso Back-to-School // Enchilada-Style Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers (Recipe #5 of 2015). I found the recipe when I was scrolling through Tastespotting a few days ago, and conveniently peppers were on sale. I used green lentils instead of French ones because that's what I had in my cabinet already, and I also tossed in a can of chick peas for some protein. While they were in the oven, I vacuumed the house (multi-tasking at its best). I ate two of them for lunch, delicious!

Before

After. (P.S. Everything is better with a layer of cheese)

I went to 5:15 PM CrossFit. I was sitting in one of the folding chairs, checking emails and Maria came through the door. "TIIINAAA, I'm so happy to see you!" She was worried she wouldn't know anyone in class since she's part of the morning crew. Aw. :) I think it's so cool that I've been able to develop these relationships with people in such a short time. It's all the sweat and struggle that brings us together, hah. We worked on our pushups and then for the AMRAP, we did dumbbell thrusters and burpees to a target. I picked up the 15 lbs for the thrusters and about halfway, I was tempted to get the 10 lb ones but they were all taken. Okayyyy, just gotta push through it. Whew!  Then I went to spin class afterwards and my parents' house to check in.

When we were stretching, Maria complimented me on my burpees and said they were "graceful." Hah, it sure didnt't feel graceful.  I joked that it sounded like a pick-up line. We laughed and laughed about it, probably from exhaustion. "Ha ha, yes! It's like a pick-up line only CrossFitters would use."

Oh, I did my nails yesterday. OPI-Onyx and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep with Bundle Monster plate #314.

A Sad Night

My friend Page's mom has been battling breast cancer for a while, and earlier tonight I got a text message from her saying that her mom has passed away this morning peacefully. I had a feeling this news was coming because I had talked to Page on the phone briefly on Saturday, but it's still sad. Mrs. T was a very strong, vibrant woman, and it's been tough to hear about her health declining over the past few years.

Our college group of friends is trying to figure out what to do. Do we go to the service? Maybe it'd be better to go to visit Page in November because I'm sure that things are going to be hectic with the funeral, and then once people go home, loneliness might set in and she might want some company.

:'(

CrossFit and At the Office Stuff

Julie and I were the only ones at CrossFit today (hah, just like Saturday). We commiserated with the trainer about the perks of living at home and saving money and the cons of living with roommates. The Metcon was 600m run, 50 sit-ups, 100 kettlebell swings and 600m run. I squeaked by Julie by a few seconds. 

My only conference call for today got cancelled. There has been talk about doing an in-person meeting at the beginning of November, less than a month away. I wasn't keen on the idea from the beginning because I felt like preparation for the meeting would be too rushed, but I went along with it because that's what the higher ups wanted and send out a poll to see what everyone's availability was. It turns out that some of the major players can't make it, so it was easier to voice my concerns to the director. We're going to try to have the meeting in January when there's more stuff to discuss. I don't want to waste anyone's time (or mine) or travel funds. (Sigh of relief!) I worked on a survey document and cranked out a quarterly committee report for the rest of the day. I'll have earned the vacation days that I'm taking on Thursday and Friday, making an already long weekend longer. :D

CrossFit, Cookies, Spin Class and Work Anniversary Card

I met up with Julie for 6:30 AM CrossFit this morning. The usual crew was there too (Maria and Eileen). We worked on our hang squat clean (I upped my weight to 40 lbs, but next time I'm going to go for 50 lbs).

I brought the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I made yesterday to the office and within an hour, they were all gone. Reggie came by to bring me the empty container. Michelle gave me one of the pumpkin butter chocolate chip cookies that she made over the weekend to share. YUM! I'm glad she only brought me one because I would have gone back for second and thirds, etc.

My 7 year work anniversary is on Friday, and of course, right on schedule, I got my work anniversary card in the mail today (along with a snail mail letter from Suzie). Since I had energy at the end of the work day, I went over to the other gym for the 6 PM spin class. I gave Nancy the instructor some of the cookies I made because she periodically alludes to them and how yummy they are. I had 3 cookies left over, so those went to Julie, Hugo and Michelle, which I delivered after class. Hooray, they are all out of my house!