Karen's Retirement Party

My boss and I stayed later than usual last night when she rode in from the airport to address a bunch of things on my to-do/to-ask-about list and then we went to Happy Hour afterwards with 2 other coworkers. First thing this morning, I had her signed off on a bunch of things so I could take the weight off my shoulders and then we did my performance review (I'm hoping my promotion will be effective any day now...I just want an official email with the news!). She then went to have her final chat with the Executive Director while we were setting up for her party. I was a little nervous about the cake because it was raining outside when I went to pick it up from Giant. It didn't fit in the grocery cart, so I had to lay it across the top. I was crossing my fingers that it wasn't going to slide off and land in a puddle before I made it to the car!

The retirement party that I coordinated for my boss was a success: pizza, cake (marble with buttercream frosting), plaque commemorating her 22 years of service, presents (a very nice tote bag with other travel related gifts) and a PowerPoint featuring funny pictures of her (I had a little bit of help from other staff).

I was able to hold off on the tears until our final hug before she gathered her belongings and headed to the airport. One of my coworkers said she almost teared up watching us hug because we were both crying (I almost didn’t want to let her go).

Her parting gift to me was her collection of giant microbes: syphilis, gonorrhea, H1N1, etc. Yay, science! I stitched her an amaryllis plant, which based on the florist's website, is given to commemorate a big achievement. I usually send her flowers for events, but they only last a week or so. These will last forever! I also made a card for the office to sign.

Guess it’s my time to grow up a little and take the helm of the department.

A Chat with the Executive Director

Julie and I were the only ones at CrossFit this morning. I guess everyone's sleeping in today or coming in later. I'm glad that we went because otherwise Ryan would have no one to coach!

After getting cleaned up from the gym, I went to the office to have a chat with my Executive Director to talk to him about planning my boss's retirement party (her last day is July 6). We talked about how the work conference we were at was a big success, but that we were happy to be home. When we got to the topic of my boss (he was going to help with planning her retirement party), he said “Karen (my boss) told me how proud of you she is. She said you really stepped up to the plate this year.”

Whattt. Wow, that was so nice, both for her to say that to him and for him to report that back to me! Our staff has really grown over the years, and I’m not always sure he’s aware of everything that his staff does because there’s so many of us and he’s got a lot on his plate. It was nice to get one-on-one time with him and get that recognition. He said he'd take care of lunch, Drew would take care of the staff appreciation plaque, and I'd take care of cake/cards/conference room reservation.

I also went to the office because I wanted to order some food. My refrigerator is looking very bare from being away from home on work travel. “Butter chicken? I like butter chicken!” Mmmno. I’m pretty sure you don’t. Nice try though!

The End of Spring Work Travel

Whew! It's been a busy spring in terms of work travel! In May, I went to Boise, Idaho and Albuquerque, New Mexico for work. I was also in Phoenix, Arizona in March and Jackson, Mississippi in April. This past week's trip to Providence is my last work-related trip until New Orleans, Louisiana this fall.

One of the cool things that I saw in Providence, Rhode Island was the WaterFire. People riding in gondolas lit up wooden braziers along the water. At first the flames weren't that big, but once this breeze picked up and they had some time to burn, it was a beautiful sight. It felt very "Tangled," if you've seen the Disney movie.

WaterFire

 

At the pre-meeting meeting for staff, we were highly encouraged to thank the vendors and make them feel welcomed since they paid quite a bit to exhibit at our conference. While wandering the Exhibit Hall yesterday, one of the vendors saw my watch, and we had a 15 minute conversation about our cats. I mean, we did talk about their product, but we talked mostly about our cats. My teal heels also got attention. I lasted about 2 days with them before I started wearing my flip flops as covertly as I could.

This is my 8th year attending this work conference, and it has probably been my busiest: staffed 1 pre-conference workshop, prepared 1 poster presentation, staffed 3 demonstrations, and coordinated 3 sessions (and moderated one of them). It was nice to see people that I normally communicate with via phone and email and get a bunch of hugs, but I was so happy to be back at home, sleep in my own bed and get back to my workouts.

A Quick Trip to Jackson, Mississippi

My boss and I took a quick trip to Jackson, Mississippi for work (left on Wednesday, going home tomorrow). We are here to serve as facilitators for an assessment. I've gone to these assessments in the past as a notetaker, but with my boss retiring this summer, I needed to have experience as a facilitator. My boss did the first two sessions and I did the two afternoon sessions. I'm not sure if the people were just in a food coma or they didn't have the knowledge to respond to the questions that were in the assessment tool, but they were not as chatty as they were earlier. I was getting a little nervous, which apparently showed because after that session my boss was like "The only feedback I would give you is that you should probably smile more. You looked scared to death." Oh really? THAT'S BECAUSE I WAS! Heh. The last session went a lot better, so whew, I'm glad that's over!

The food here has been amazing. I had scallops last night and I had scallops tonight too. I also had something called a lemon ice box pie, which is the consisitancy of key lime pie, except with lemons. OMG, so good.

While I loved how cozy my king size bed was (I could lay in it diagonally and still have room to spare!), I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow!

(What I found concerning about Jackson was that there were pockets that looked great and other parts that looked run down. It was kinda sad to see the difference in just a few blocks. The apartments across the street from the hotel were run down, but I heard that they were going to be renovated, so perhaps the city is making a comeback.)

My boss's second grandson was born earlier today...and it's also her birthday today!  What an awesome birthday present! :)

International Women's Day

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! 3-second pause back squats today… 3 x 5 at 85 lbs.

WOD:
5:00 Row for max calories
–1:00 REST–
5:00 7 Wall Balls (8 lbs ball) + 7 Burpees
–1:00 REST–
5:00 5 Bear Complex (55 lbs) +15 V-ups/tuck-ups/sit-ups

In honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll be wearing red to work. Truth be told, I’ve had this red dress hanging in my closet for the past, I dunno, year? Never been worn, tags still hanging. Ah, what a perfect day to break this out! I hope all the ladies out there feel strong, beautiful and capable today. Well, any day, really! But especially today.

The new BBQ place near work was open for lunch today, finally! Thank goodness! If I was turned away again like I was yesterday, I would have been super disappointed. I went with 5 of my coworkers, and we enjoyed the good food and company. I got the lunch special: 1 meat and 2 sides (BBQ pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes). I’d totally go back!

Lip color: Maybelline Creamy Matte in Nude Nuance.

Shoulder Press PR and Happy Valentine’s Day!

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Test week, day 2…shoulder press! I got a new 1 rep PR at 70 lbs (+5 lbs from my last PR).  I tried for 75 lbs, but no go. I think I maybe go the bar up to my eyeballs, and then I had to rerack. We’ll try again in the next strength cycle.

WOD, 3 rounds, :40 work/:20 rest and transition
Push-ups (on my knees)
Kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
TTB (Hanging Leg Raises)
Row for calories

Happy Valentine’s Day! I got some Valentine's Day mail last week from my friend Laura's twin boys. Of course, I promptly displayed it in my gallery of kid art in my work cubicle.

Gotta be festive in red!

Finished Makeup Product and Udon Lunch

I've had this Maybelline cream eyeshadow in Bad to the Bronze for a few years now. I made a concerted effort the past few weeks to use it every day so that I could finish it, and I scraped out and used it up today! OMG, what an accomplishment. To actually finish a makeup product takes a long time! I wish the makeup companies would sell smaller quantities because once you open it, you're racing against time to finish it before you a) get tired of it and/or b) can't use it anymore because it has expired.

I'm excited to be able to go back to using other colors now. The neutral look was getting rather old.

I went to the hibachi restaurant near work to get some lunch today. Mmm, beef udon, yum! A lady in the elevator asked me if I got sushi. Nope, I haven't tried the sushi there before (because it's a little expensive!). I gave her the menu that came with my order since I didn't need it. I basically inhaled my noodles at my desk when I got back inside from the windy and cold weather (wah, it was like 70 degrees outside yesterday!). I wore my leopard print tights to work, hee hee. RJ wanted some post-dinner attention. "Excuse me, I didn't say that you could stop me. You may continue, human."

Dim Sum with Coworkers

My coworkers and I have had this dim sum lunch on our calendars for the past month. I was a little afraid that there were going to be too many people because my calendar appointment got forwarded quite a bit, but it turns out that there were only 6 of us that ended up going, a manageable amount. I told Ben to sit next to me since we were already familiar with the menu. I feel like each time we go, we get better and better about knowing how much food to order and not having a ton of leftovers, heh. OMG, per usual, the food was amazing, and I'm already looking forward to going back soon.

Work, Rawr

Work this week has been exceptionally challenging, and there was nothing I could have done would have prevented it. I've been working on a return on investment project for the past 3 years with a workgroup composed of members from my association. My work hired a consultant to crunch numbers that the workgroup provided, and for the past few months, we've been asking the consultant to explain how he got the numbers. This shouldn't be difficult, right? Just show us the formulas. Easy peasy, right? NOPE.

We had an in-person meeting yesterday and today, and wow, things got a little heated yesterday (first thing in the morning, mind you) when the workgroup had lots of questions for the consultant. He raised his voice a few times and got defensive. UGH, it was so uncomfortable, I wanted to leave the room a few times. I feel like this project is one step forward, three steps back. BLAH! I'm hoping we can find ways to move forward with this project without the consultant because there is NO way I want to add $30,000 to this project and continue to work with a consultant who is rude to our members and slow to be forthcoming with his data methods.

At least folks had a good time at dinner last night. 1/2 price bottles of wine probably helped!

I'm glad I was able to make it to CrossFit this evening. I couldn't go yesterday because of this meeting.

Office Cookie Exchange

Last day of work for 2016! I had to make it through a few conference calls and of course, the office cookie exchange today and now, YAY, I'm free!

The office cookie exchange was a huge success. I'm so impressed with the amount of cookies that people brought and the variety: spritz, oatmeal raisin, ginger, orange shortbread dipped with chocolate, sea salt chocolate chip, etc. One of my coworkers even bought milk, as I requested, and not just regular milk, but chocolate milk, almond milk, etc.

One minor thing that happened...I'm not even sure I feel that guilty about it. When I reminded folks last week about the cookie exchange, I was tempted to say "Please please please don't buy anything. If you are not able to bring something homemade, I'd rather that you come and enjoy the treats so that I don't have to bring any of mine home." But I didn't want to come across as a baking snob. At noon today, the treats started trickling into the breakout area. I made an off-hand comment to the few people that were there. "Wow, guys, I'm impressed that there isn't anything store bought here. I was going to mention this during program reviews, but I didn't want to come across as a b*tch." My coworker Michelle whispered to me later to say that the cookies in the glass bowl were store bought and the person who brought them heard me say it. Oh. Wait, what?! (Insert foot into mouth...) A part of me felt badly that I had said that, but the majority of me wanted to be like "I didn't bake my little heart out in my kitchen for over 2 hours to get store bought cookies. Like the ones from Safeway! You even tried to make them look homemade by taking them out of the original packaging! That's SO LAME!" Someone else brought cookies from Potbelly across the street and put them at the end of the table. Like, really? Even if you made cookies from a mix or you brought slice and bake cookies, that would have shown some sign of effort.

Sigh. I guess I am a baking snob.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I'm glad that so many people participated and that there weren't many cookies leftover. Everyone went home with a full tummy and baggie of cookies to share (or not share, ha ha).

Testing Squat Cleans and Custom Wedding Card Order from the Office

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s test week, and today we tested out 1 RM for squat cleans. After 3 tries, I was able to do 100 lbs. It was down to the last possible minute, but I did it! I had to sit down on the mat right after because my body was like "Ok, let's take a little break, right now."

WOD, 8:00 AMRAP
21 push presses (55 lbs)
15 front squats (55 lbs)
9 pull ups with green and red bands
I got through 2 complete rounds, and 8 of the push presses in the 3rd round. The goal was 5 rounds. I don’t think anyone was able to hit that, so I don’t feel bad.

When I got home, since I was already sweaty, I trimmed the bushes outside the townhouse, vacuumed, and scrubbed down the bathroom. Not bad for a day off and before 9 AM. I also went to deposit a check and run by Ulta (I bought a few lip liners using my 20% off coupon, 3 from NYX and 1 from Rimmel).

Before I went to Jacksonville for vacation, one of the girls at work asked me if I could make a custom wedding card for her friends upcoming nuptials. I was thinking she'd want something flowery, but nope. She had a specific request.

I was wondering if it might be possible to have the two main characters of the card be a marmot and a bear. That would be a very personal card for them! Front of card: “Whoever thought that a marmot and a bear would get married?!?” Inside of card: “Best wishes in your new den.”

Ummm...ok, sure. Internally, I was thinking, "What's a marmot?  Like a groundhog? I had to google it first to double check.  Here's the card that I came up with. I sent this picture to my coworker, and she really liked it, so mission accomplished! :)

Performance Review

On this year's annual performance review, I received an "exceeded expectations" rating! I was hoping for that because when my teammate left last summer, I took on some extra work on top of the work that I currently do. It was nice to have the hard work pay off.

A celebratory shopping spree was in order, of course:

• New cat mug.  Bah ha, it even looks like RJ. I think he'd have the confidence to rock some pink sunglasses.
• New makeup and make up brushes from Milani and ELF (purchased online, hopefully it'll be shipped out soon!).
• New crafty items: ink pads and liquid pearl pen for Joann's. The ink pads were already 50% off and then I had a coupon for 20% off your entire order (sale and original priced items).
• New underwear from Victoria's Secret. The sales associate gave me one of those tickets that you tear off to reveal a coupon/deal. Mine was for a free full-sized lotion. I've never tried their lotion before, and yikes, they have quite a selection. I didn't want to take forever trying to pick one out, so I went with something safe: vanilla. And now I smell like cake! :)

Payment in Challah

Ugh, first day back from vacation. I got my CrossFit workout in this morning. We worked on our overhead squats and I had to decrease my load by 5 lbs to 50 lbs because 55 lbs was hurting my wrists. For the WOD, we did Fran and even though I took longer than I did when we did the workout last year, I was able to handle more weight.

I had 2 loaves of Michelle's challah bread waiting for me at the office, as payment for watering her vegetable garden the week of August 8. She made two smaller loaves, one for now and one for the freezer, but truthfully, it's so delicious that I don't think either loaf will last very long.

My brain must still be on vacation. I went to CVS to get some candy to refill the communal candy bowl at the office. I had 2 coupons to use, but the self-checkout machine didn't want to take them. What the heck? The CVS employee asked me if I had scanned my card yet. Oh. Um, no.  Heh. Blah.

I had just a good time in Jacksonville, so I thought it would be the right thing to do to send some snail mail to Page, her brother and her father for being such good hosts.

Delta Woes

On the way to CrossFit yesterday morning, the radio was saying that Delta Airlines was experiencing major delays and cancellations due to an outage. Oh great. How was this going to impact my trip to Atlanta??

I kept an eye on my flight information when I got home from the gym. Since I had the extra time, I went to Safeway to get some travel snacks. I went to the airport fully knowing that the flight would be delayed some more. Delta even went so far as to order what looked like 60 pizzas and popcorn for the people in the waiting area. Normally, I would be happy about free food, but I'm already kinda a nervous traveler and I just wanted to GO! Surprisingly, people weren't really visibly upset in the waiting area. I'm not sure if that's because of the advance notice of the delay or they were in a food coma (or both!).

I was supposed to get to Atlanta around 5 PM and meet my boss at baggage claim so that we could get dinner and go to the hotel. All that waiting resulted in me getting to Atlanta around 8:30 PM and getting to my hotel room at around 9:30 PM. Sigh.

Anyway, the meeting today was successful and my boss was happy, so that's really all that matters to me. I'm thankful this was a short trip! My boss said that Delta was going to give $200 travel vouchers to affected customers, so I'll be on the lookout for it and planning for a random fun trip in the back of my mind.

Korean Lunch with Coworkers

I went with 3 of my coworkers to a Korean place for lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got a rice bowl and you got to choose from a selection of things to add to it. I went with eggs (both sunny side up and omelet style), cucumber, and bulgogi beef for around $10. I would totally go to this place again, but there are other restaurants in the area that we want to try out first before circling back to this one.

Even though I went to CrossFit this morning, I still had gas in the tank to go to spin class tonight.

I went to my parents’ house afterwards and my sister and I split the last of the curry rice. Harry the Homeless Cat paid a visit, WITH A BABY BUNNY IN HIS MOUTH. It was still alive too! We yelled and chased him into the garden, hoping he’d let go, which he did. My sister went to pick up the bunny with an old towel and it leapt out of her hands. The scene was like something out of a cartoon: Harry chasing after the baby bunny and the sister chasing after Harry. We have no idea where the little guy ended up; I hope it’s still alive!

Payment in Macaroni and Cheese

As payment for watering her vegetable garden, my coworker Michelle gave me at tray of macaroni and cheese. This was a similar arrangement to when I did my first Craft Time with Tina with her daughter and her daughter's friend.

The tray was actually kinda heavy. I made sure to share a considerable amount with Julie because it would not be a good idea to eat it all on my own! 

Michelle lives near my parents' so this was really minimal work for food that will last me a few days. Sounds like a win to me! :)

Office Potluck Success

My hope was that I'd come home with an empty tray of banana pudding and enough dumplings leftover for dinner tonight, and mission accomplished. Other items that people brought in from the potluck were: deviled eggs, challah (OMG, this was my favorite!), shepherd's pie (also very good!), some sort of African rice, etc. There were also some sort bought desserts, but meh, not very exciting. I did have one of the red velvet truffles that someone brought in. It was tasty, but very rich. I'm glad I had the self control to have just one!

I set aside some dumplings and scooped up the last of the banana pudding to save for my coworker's kids (my banana pudding sous chef and her little brother). My coworker uploaded a video to my Facebook of them saying "Thank you, Tina!" OMG, yes! With that much cuteness and good manners, I will totally make you more in the future! 

Happy Birthday, Uncle!

Even though my uncle's birthday is tomorrow, we celebrated today. Mom made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and we all went to my uncle and aunt's house for lunch to celebrate. Several of my cousins were there too, so it was nice to catch up with them. I had mentioned that I made dumplings yesterday and was going to continue making them tonight. it turns out that my cousin Emily and my cousin's girlfriend Michelle had made dumplings recently too.  Michelle had also gone the extra step and made the wrappers.  Um, yeah, I don't have the patience for that!

I think he wishes he was turning 28 instead of 82, but I think he will always be 8 at heart.

We are having an international potluck at work tomorrow, so of course, I said that I would bring in dumplings. I also tacked on a tray of banana pudding as a "surprise." This always happens, I always mumble to myself, "Why did I volunteer to make these? They are so labor intensive when you assemble these by yourself!" But then when I'm done, I have a huge sense of accomplishment! I made about 150...85 are going to the office and the rest are going to family or in my tummy for quality assurance.

Happy Hour with Coworkers

I was invited to Happy Hour with coworkers today, so I decided to go eat, drink and socialize. I had been to this specific restaurant about a week ago and enjoyed their "Daly Special" (Tea-Infused Vodka and House-Made Lemonade) and ricotta donuts that I got those again, plus their crab macaroni and cheese (it's one of their appetizers, but since it's rather rich, it was filling too!).

Crab macaroni and cheese.

Ricotta donuts with vanilla and chocolate dipping sauce
and my tea/lemonade mixed drink.

Long Workout Day and Dim Sum with Coworkers

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s the long workout day. After our warm-up, the WOD was 5 rounds of the following:
200m run
1 Barbell complex: 1 Power clean+1 front squat+ 1 hang squat clean (I did 55 lbs the first round and Coach Maddie encouraged Julie, Maria and I to go to 65 lbs the 4 remaining rounds)
5 Lateral burpees
Time: 10:27

Unrelated to CrossFit, I went to dim sum with 3 of my coworkers yesterday. I haven’t been in about a year, so I definitely couldn’t say no to the invite. I'm drooling just looking at this table of delicious food. This wasn't even all of it. There were one or two dishes that came after this picture was taken. You’d think we were eating for an army of 10 people, but no, it was just 4 of us. The price was totally reasonable, and everyone went home with a full container of leftovers.

I went over to my parents' house to watch the CrossFit Games on tv with Julie. There was a moment there where we looked at the food around us. Macaroni and cheese, iced tea, golden Oreos, frozen yogurt, etc. Heh, well, I went to class 5 days this week...and we'll be back to the grind on Monday.