Domestic Day Off

Ugh, it's going to be tough to wake up and go to the office tomorrow (I haven't been at my desk since Tuesday last week...).

This morning was spent in the kitchen.  I made a batch of spinach lasagna roll-ups and heated up some dumplings.  Earlier tonight, I did 2 Fitness Blender workouts to balance it all out: "Tank Top Arms Workout - Best Upper Body Workout for Toned Arms, Shoulders & Upper Back" and "Abs, Butt and Thigh HIIT Cardio Workout - Bodyweight Cardio Interval Workout."  My abs are definitely feeling it now, so much so that when I sneezed, ouch.

These are the two embossing folder sets that I bought at Michaels yesterday.  I hope to get some card making done this upcoming weekend. :)

New Piercings on a Day Off

Ding-dong. 

o_0 What? It's 9 AM on my day off. Who the heck is ringing my doorbell at 9 AM on a Monday morning? Maybe if I ignore it, they'll go away.

Ding-dong. 

Ok, maybe it's a neighbor alerting me to something important outside.

I mustered the energy to get out of bed and look out the peephole. ARGH, it's MOM! WTH?!

"Hi! I was in the neighborhood for my doctor's appointment and I saw your car in the lot. I wanted to come say hi to RJ. Wait, why aren't you at work? Aren't you going to work today? Isn't your boss going to wonder where you are? Hm, your entryway is a little dusty. Hi RJ! How are you???"

-_- Gee, I'm doing great, thanks for asking...

The rest of my day looked up after that.  I went to Michaels and got 2 embossing folder sets on clearance using a gift card, got a workout top from Kohl's using a $10 coupon (it came out to $2.11.  It was too good a coupon to waste), mailed off another Etsy order, bought a 4 lb container of strawberries from Costco with a minimal line, and got my ears pierced again on a whim (fourth one on my left ear and third one on my right).  I've been thinking about getting my cartilage pierced again since my original piercing developed a bump and I had to get it removed.  My lesson learned in that experience is to not get that piercing done with a gun and to leave it alone.

Googlemaps told me that the traffic to the gym was terrible, so I did 2 Fitness Blender workouts instead: "Wake Up and GO HIIT Workout - At Home HIIT Cardio Routine" and "Bodyweight Only Fat Burning HIIT Cardio Workout + Total Body Toning: Fitness Blender Blend."  I tried doing that second one back in early February, but could only get through half of it.  Even though I had to press pause a few times to catch my breath, I got through both of them. :D

New Craft Purchases

I made it to both spin classes this morning, YAY!  This was to make up for all the dumplings that I ate last night.  After class, I went next door to Giant to pick up a bottle of sesame oil and some ginger so that I could make some dumplings to freeze.  There were some people outside the grocery store collecting food donations.  I bought a few cans of chickpeas to donate.

Exercise (check).  Good deed (check).

I sold 4 cards today in my Etsy shop (it's been kinda quiet there lately).  Interestingly enough, 3 of them were Valentine's Day cards on clearance.  This repeat buyer will have to wait quite a while to use them though.

I bought 2 embossing folders at Joann's yesterday.  They were already on clearance and I was able to use a 55% off one regular priced item competitor's coupon.  I think the one on the left is especially feminine and pretty.  I can't wait to use these in future cards! :)

New Makeup Purchases

As a fun reward to myself after the student event this past Wednesday, I went to CVS on the way home, armed with about $8 in coupons.  I needed to get new black eyeliner for tightlining and I saw that NYX was having a buy 1, get the second one 50% off.  The red color, Amsterdam, is totally like BAM in your face.  It'll be great for spring.  Stockholm, a nude, is great for every day, all year round.  This is my first makeup purchase since...late December?  ::pats self on the back::

I did some grocery shopping this morning in preparation for making dumplings with Julie tonight.  I also went to ACMoore (came out with nothing) and walked around the mall (I got 2 things at Joann's which I'll share tomorrow).  Julie and I probably cranked out 60-70 dumplings and I still have another package of ground beef for a second round of dumplings for the freezer that I'll make tomorrow. I sent her home with leftovers to share with Mom and Dad.

I'm not much of a sports fan, but wow, that Notre Dame and University of Kentucky basketball game tonight was pretty awesome.  Nail biter until the last second!

Julie's Office Party

First up this morning, dental check-up.  All good news here.  Afterwards I went across the street and came out with some Listerine on clearance (gotta keep up with the dental hygiene), peanut butter M&Ms (to reward myself for good dental hygiene?) and some Starbucks cafe mocha mix (because I had a coupon and it tastes delicious).

The only things on my work calendar were 2 back-to-back conference calls.  Easy peasy.  TGIF!  One thing that I'm not so sure about is a PowerPoint slide deck that I got to review.  I'm not the subject matter expert on the project so the feedback I can give is minimal: typos, graphics, etc.  I wished that my boss and the SMEs on the project were not on vacation or on travel so they could give the feedback that would be most helpful to the consultants by next Tuesday.

Tonight was Julie's work's 15th year anniversary party at the Newseum.  I came as her +1.  It was quite fancy.  There was an open bar and tons of food. My favorites were the spring rolls and the key lime pie tarts.  They also set up a photobooth where you could superimpose yourself into projects that the company had worked on. It was nice to get dressed up since it doesn't really happen much outside of work.

Good News, Semi-Bad News

Good news: I took the day off today just because and it felt nice to be lazy.  I finished watching G.I. Joe: Retaliation on Netflix and caught up on some NCIS and NCIS:LA.  I made up for my laziness by going to a 45-minute spin class and then coming home to do a Fitness Blender arm workout (I did this earlier this week) and try their  "Belly Fat Burner HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training Workout with No Equipment."

Wheeze...

Semi-bad news: My credit card number got stolen for the second time in about 2 months!  Grrr.  Fortunately, the credit card company sent me an email alert and I was able to take care of it quickly.  That's both nice, but kinda creepy at the same time.  How do they know these things??

Currently on repeat: Jason Derulo- Want To Want Me.

Public Speaking

Public Speaking Event: My friend from graduate school Jessie invited me back to be a speaker for her middle school program for girls.  I've done this event several times in the past (March 2014, March 2012), and each time I think it's kinda funny that I'm at the age that people ask me for advice, when I'm still figuring stuff out just like everyone else.

The girls were divided into 4 different groups and every 10 minutes they rotated to another speaker to ask questions. Most of the questions were focused on the high school and college experience.  When there was a lull in the conversation, I welcomed them to ask other questions to make things a little interesting.

"Are you married?"

Ok, maybe opening myself up to other questions was not a good idea.

"When do you think you'll get married?"

o_0  Ummm...when I meet the right person?  Right now, I'm happy on my own with my cat.

They giggled at my answer. -_-

Maybe it wasn't the cool answer, but when I reflected on the experience on my drive home, I think it was important for them to see that the speakers are in different places in their lives, and we are all successful.  My friend Jessie is married with kids.  My friend Jenny (another graduate school friend that came to the event) is married without kids.  And I'm not married and I don't have any kids.

Jenny, who works at the University of Maryland, laughed and said that one of the girls wanted to know if the college boys hit on her. "No, I'm too old for them." "How old are you?" "31." "DANGGGG!"  Bah ha ha.

The name tent the girls made for me.  I'll have to add it to the one that I got from the UMD event last fall.