Office Kitchen Guest

At the office: I come back from a walk outside (ok ok, to CVS and DSW) and my office mate says that I missed the commotion in the kitchen.  "Oh, was it because of the edible arrangements in there?  I saw the email."  Our office always gets excited when there's free yummy food.  "No.  There was a mouse in the dishwasher."

!!

"Was it alive?"

"Yes."

Yuck.  The building maintenance people were here to fix the problem.  By fixing, I mean running the dishwasher.  I guess they are hoping to drown it?  I'm not sure how they'd get the dead mouse out.  I won't be using any office silverware or plate for a while.  That's for sure.

Hair Dyeing: My mission at CVS was to buy some hair dye.  I got a box from Revlon in black, and I had a coupon too.  ~$3 and an hour later, buh-bye gray hairs.  :)

Snowing in Spring

Mother Nature clearly didn't get the memo about how it's spring, which means we should be having spring time weather.  Instead, we were greeted this morning with a bunch of snow!  I sent a telework request to my boss in the morning and went outside to shovel the snow on the walkway.  Whew, what a workout, since the snow was on the wet and heavy side.  My lower back was definitely feeling it afterwards. Good thing my neighbor was outside to help me. 

Around lunch time it was still snowing! Ok, can we have spring NOW?

New Pink Polish

Recipe #2 of 2013: Instead of going to spin this morning (Janice the spin instructor is in Madrid anyway, so I didn't feel a strong urge to go), I did some cooking.  Ground beef was on sale at Safeway, so I picked up a package of 93% yesterday.  I was inspired to make some of the meatloaf that Meg made me for my birthday potluck.  The recipe was very similar to the Pioneer Woman's recipe.  I used 2% milk instead of whole, wheat bread instead of white and no parsley.  This is the first time that I've made meatloaf and I think it turned out pretty good.  I shared half of it with my cousin and my parents, so I might have to go back to Safeway for more beef so that I can make this again soon.  I also made some string beans as a vegetable.  I'm pretty much set for dinner for a few days!  I also made some dal nirvana to bring over to my parents.

Shopping: This past weekend I've acquired 5 new nail polishes (4 colors and 1 new top coat).  Heh.  That's what happens when CVS and Target has deals on them!  On Saturday, I got the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat since my Sally Hansen Mega Shine one got too goopy to use and Flashy Fuchsia.  My Revlon white nail polish doesn't have a smooth application for the whole nail, so I'll reserve it for my French manicures.  As a substitute, I bought a Sally Hansen one called "White On." We'll see how it fairs.  Target had it for $1.99, so it's not like it's a huge investment.  Target had the Insta-Dri polishes for $3.83 so I picked up 2 of them: Pink Blink and Fuchsia Flare.  Just when I think that I have pretty much every color under the sun, I can always find more...or at least an excuse to buy another color. Tee hee.

L to R: Sally Hansen, XtremeWear- White On, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Flashy Fuchsia, Pink Blink and Fuchsia Flare

RJ wanted to cuddle tonight while watching Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Easter Decorating at Meg's

I went over to Meg's place tonight and hung out with Meg and Robyn and celebrated Meg's birthday for the 2nd time.  This time with presents.  Her birthday was while we were on the cruise, but I didn't want her to lug her present around during the trip.  I went with a hot pink picture frame and a $25 gift certificate to Shutterfly since I know that she loves making those photo books.  I did it strategically so that she could make a book out of the cruise pictures.

We got carry out from the Burger Joint, and I went with the veggie one.  On the cruise, I read a book called Food Rules and the basic premise of the book was "Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants."  That stuck with me so this past week, I ate mostly salads, fruit, yogurt and nuts.  I did stray a little bit though- the trail mix did have some chocolate in it, the cheesecake at Mom's birthday, and the leftovers at the office did include chicken.  Anyway, the veggie burger was really good and so were the sweet potato fries.

We reminisced about the trip and at the office antics that happened this past week.  Meg talked about having to get communion bread for church, which resulted in Robyn and me asking lots of questions about the bread since neither one of us goes to church.  Then the conversation veered into Easter.  Robyn asked Meg if she was going to decorate for Easter and I can't remember what she said in response, but somehow it got to Meg taking out her box of Easter decorations from the closet and the 3 of us on the floor and unboxing everything.  There were quite a few lambs, chicks, and rabbits after all that unboxing.  "I don't have that many Easter decorations."-Meg.  Mmmhm.  Well, that's true, in comparison to her Christmas decorations.  My favorite would have to be the large squirrel next to Robyn's feet.

New Nails

Even though Mother Nature needs to get with the program and give us warmer spring weather, at least my nails are ready for spring! Base coat: Revlon in White on White (2 coats).  Pink: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Presto Pink. Bundle Monster plate #224.

I don't even know what to say about this except that it looks uncomfortable.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today was the final day of Employee Appreciation week at the office, and the event today was bowling!  Around 1:30 PM, I finished my last conference call for the week and my officemate and I set off to go to the bowling alley in Bethesda.  I was hoping we could be fashionably late, but we were the first ones there (aside from the HR director who was there to make sure that all the arrangements were right).  The food was pretty good (spinach/artichoke dip, mini tacos, tater tots), and the bowling was fun...not that I was any good at it.  My score was 66 at the end of the game. :P  Oh well, it was fun to socialize outside the office.  The Marketing director went on a Bahamas cruise the week before I did, and she went to see the flamingos and the Hemingway cats too!

After the office event, I went home to get the strawberry cheesecake that I made to bring to my uncle/aunt's house for my mom's birthday dinner.  Blueberries and strawberries were not on sale when I went to Safeway on Wednesday, but I went with the strawberries because you could buy more for less.  Why are blueberries so expensive?!  Anyway, I made a plain cheesecake and strawberry topping.  The topping was a little watery for my taste, but everyone liked it.  Whew!  Clearly, I'm too critical of my own food.

New Office Card Order

While I was on vacation, I got an email from the new Human Resources staff person who wanted to place an order for 30 anniversary cards and 40 birthday cards.  I like having a project already to work on right after vacation.  Here are the cards that I came up with for this order.  I might change the colors in the 2nd card, but you get the idea.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal, Prussian Blue, Pumpkin Spice, Yellow Citrus
Stamps: Studio G (cupcake), The Paper Company Studio- Cupcakes (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts - Abode, Chatterbox
Embossing folder: Basic Grey- Dots Set #2

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal, Prussian Blue, Blackberry, Yellow Citrus
Stamps: Hero Arts- Everyday Sayings, American Crafts- Majestic
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen