Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Night is Day

Ive completely messed up my sleep schedule. All it took was a few nights of endless insomnia, and bam! I am now falling asleep at 5am. It's awful. I really need to fix it, but the insomnia just wont stop. Sigh.

Computer Virus

I somehow infected my computer with a virus, which sucked. I tried running the virus scan, but the virus kept shutting down every program I opened. It wouldn't let me open task manager, or add/remove files either. It was so infuriating. FINALLY, I searched on my blackberry, and realized that if I started the computer in safe mode I would be able to open programs and download the necessary antivirus software. My computer is all good now, but it's not something I want to do again.

Black Friday

WHY would anyone subject themselves to this is beyond me. I just don't believe you can save enough money to make it worthwhile. I've been following the commercials. Old Navy has everyone beat. They are opening at 3am. That's right THREE AM! That is insane! It means you would have to be up at 2am to get there on time. At that point there is no reason to even fall asleep. I just think that time off with our families is so precious that you really don't want to spend it in all mall fighting off soccer moms for a $15 toaster.

Holidays

Speaking of the holidays, it looks like I'll be in DC for them this year. After weighing my options I realize that there is no reason to fly to Dallas and spend an insane amount of money on 4 days. I'd end up spending about a grand, which would basically cover my flights to Vegas and Spain. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. I'm sad that I won't be with my family, but I have to look at it logically. This will be my first Christmas without them, but I'll go to mass, and maybe volunteer somewhere. I'll make sure to fill my day.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Feeling Very College-y

I should note that I LOVED college.
With my new job I have been in my car a TON. I have been running around like crazy and I love it. My main client lives in Mclean, so I drive there, usually 4 times a week. I have also been to another client in crystal city a few times a week. I have been running errands for both clients, the people in the container store know me by name. I have spent over a grand there in 2 weeks, so it's no surprise. Client one also has 2 storage units in crystal city that I have get to frequent to make drop offs. In college I lived in my car. Not literally. I had a great apartment off campus, it was really really nice, cause in NOLA good apartments came cheap. It was about a mile from school (and Brunos), still I was never home. During the school year I had all my classes in the morning. I would go to class from 8am-12pm. At noon I would get lunch on campus and hang out in smokers alley for awhile. I would them go to work study (or to bourbon street to bartend my senior year). I finished work around 5pm at which point I would go back to campus for a sorority event or to the library to study for a bit. About 7pm I would head over to brunos. I usually stayed at Brunos till about 2am, at which point I would go home and go to sleep to do it all over again the next day. As you can see, there wasnt a whole lot of time for "hanging out at home". This meant that I lived in my car. I had a change of clothes for every occasion. Literally, I had a cocktail dress, chapter attire (ie Sunday best), going out clothes, everyday clothes, and workout clothes. I also kept everything I needed for Sorority goings ons. I held a position every year so there were either bins filled with ritual items, butcher paper to make banners, art supplies, new member books, manuals, etc etc etc. I also always kept a sleeve of red solo cups in my car... cause you never know.
Today the front seat of my car has a monogrammed tote bag filled with my gym clothes, two sweatshirts, a digital camera, 3 pairs of shoes, one change of clothes (work attire) and my company handbook. My backseat has 3 huge tubs headed over to a storage unit in crystal city, and a bolt of fabric. My trunk has my luggage that I still have yet to unpack from my trip to Rhode Island, and a 12pack of coors original (this belongs to the webbs).
I have also been eating love I'm in college. I have been so busy running errands, and working that a lot of my meals lately have been fast food. This was basically my diet in college.

So to sum it up, I've been feeling very college-y lately.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Hahaha 11:50pm

But I'm posting!
I have 10 minutes to write this post and still make the deadline!

From the Foodie in Me

Quick Glaze

Throughout all my adventures in cooking i have learned how to make a quick glaze for cookies.
I take one egg white (it makes it shiny, but not necessary for the recipe) and mix it with 2 cups confectioners sugar. I add one tablespoon melted butter and one tsp of vanilla.
Whisk together and you have one delicious cookie glaze. Enjoy!

7 minutes...

Around Town

C-Grill
I realize I never tell about my awesome experiences at c-grill. C-grill is short for Clarendon Grill, located int he heart of Clarendon, VA. It's a great little bar where I watch football every Sunday. I love it because it NEVER gets full. Across the street at Mr Days, the bar is packed with people. You cant get a seat in there unless you arrive insanely early. C-grill never has a seating shortage for me and I have gone there so often I know the bartenders by name. It feels like my "Cheers". Also, on Sundays, they have a bloody mary and mimosa special. $3 till 1pm!
You cant beat that. So if you live in VA come join me on Sundays at C-grill!

Football

I'm really a little frightened for the rest of the Cowboys season. we have a month of easy games coming up, then we face NYG, Philly, and NOLA. Those are gonna be three clutch December games. Considering out December win-loss ratio, I am terrified that we will fall apart.
Follow me on twitter for me freak out live Cowboys moments.

It's 11:58.

Wooo!!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Come again another day.

I'm cold, and I have no desire to go out in the rain today. Blah.

TV/Movies/Books

The Princess and the Frog

I hope all of you have heard that Disney is now coming out with a new animated film. The premiere date is December 11th. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am for this. I totally grew up on Disney princess movies. I think I own all of them. I am so happy they decided to go back to the 2-D hand drawn animation. Also the characters themselves will be singing the songs, instead of an over score sung by Phil Collins. I know I can't be alone as a child who sung "A Whole New World" and "Apart of Their World" so many times that their parents ended up hating the movies, or better yet, you broke the tape because you rewound it so much.
I don't care if I am the only adult there without a child, I'm seeing this movie in the theaters.

I really have nothing else to say today, but let it be noted, I did post.
:)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

McLean, VA

It's not that far from Arlington. Did you know that?
My biggest, busiest client's home is in McLean. It takes me the same amount of time to get there as it does to get to Alexandria. Just some food for thought.

From the Foodie in Me

This is so NOT foodie, but it deals with food, so this is the section it goes in.
Today I had to grab a quick bite for lunch. I decided on the convenience of a drive thru.
I was in McLean, so my choices were limited... then I saw it, the Golden Arches...except, it wasn't. It was just one arch. One yellow arch, standing all alone. No "M" created, more of an upside down U. I was desperate though, and I decided to drive thru anyways. I pulled into the driveway, and drove around back... and then around front... and then around back again. That's right. THERE WAS NO DRIVE THRU!!! (Yes, that called for three exclamation points.) I had to literally get out of my car and walk inside to place my order.
So here is what I'm calling for, the government should forget health care, instead they should mandate the franchising of McDonalds. All McDonald's should have TWO arches, and a drive through, otherwise be fined. That's just my opinion.

Around Town

This isn't a usual "around town" segment. Rather, I just wanted to share an experience I had. Every once in awhile I question my decision to live in DC. I like it here fine, but my parents, and siblings live 1500 miles away, in Texas. I miss them a lot and I miss my state.
Tonight as I was driving through the city I passed the US Capitol Building. I was driving on the house side of the capitol, and there it stood in all its glory. Our capitol makes me smile. It makes me remember why I moved here. I wanted to be where it all happened, the center of what ran the greatest country on this planet. Seeing the capitol building all lit up at night just reminds me of not only why I moved here, but why I stay

TV/Books/Movies

Thursday Night Football
I love football. I really do. I love rooting for the players, and saying things like "WE" won, when I had nothing to do with the win. I even love being heartbroken when my team loses, because it makes me remember I'm in it for the long haul. However, I hate Thursday night football. I understand the NFL is trying to provide us with as much football viewing as possible... but if they REALLY wanted to do that, then the games would be shown on a network that is accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford the NFL network. Most of us (not me, but most of us) have work on Friday. We can't go out to some bar and stay up till all hours of the night watching football. It's just not fair, and I don't like it one bit.

In your face Annie, another day, another post.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Founders Day

So this is a special post for all my sisters out there who read my blog.
You all know that today is a very special day. On November 11th, 1874 four women came together at Syracuse university in Syracuse, NY and found Gamma Phi Beta.

The four women attended college at a time where is was not common for women get receive an undergraduate education. However, Frances E Haven's father was the chancellor of Syracuse at the time, and would not deny his daughter an education.
Frances, along with Helen M. Dodge, E. Adeline Curtis and Mary A. Bingham decided that a society was needed, a society for women, to foster a nurturing place where they could come and discuss their thoughts. Rather than joining the already establish Alpha Phi, the girls decided to found their own group, with their own ideals. A higher type of womanhood is what they longed for, and the saying would soon become our motto and part of our mission statement.
The ladies would meet weekly in the study of one of their professors, Dr. Brown. Because of his generosity they adopted brown and mode as the official colors of the sorority (though pink is often used today, as the official flower is the pink carnation).
The ladies were different, they were special. So for them, Dr. Frank Smalley coined a new word. All other woman's organizations before Gamma Phi Beta were woman's fraternities. Frater is a latin word meaning brother, or brotherhood. Although fraternity ties were strong, the ladies of Gamma Phi knew that what they had was something different. The word sorority was made just for them. They were a sisterhood, with bonds special and different from all others.

On this day, Gamma Phi's everywhere give thanks to Helen M. Dodge, Frances E. Haven, E. Adeline Curtis and Mary A. Bingham for founding an organization that we have all become sisters in. We are sisters ever true...

You Thought I Was Going to Forget.

But I didn't.
Continuous day 3 of blog posting...

TV/Movies/Books

Glee
I know I've already talked about it, but I can't help it. I LOVE this show. It's totally my new favorite show on television. This week's episode was all new. There was only one musical number, which I kinda saw coming. Apparently the budget for each episode is really high because of all the musical rights that need to be acquired. They say defying gravity, which is on the CD they just put out. God, I love this show.

Personal Best

So my new thing, aside from being healthy, is letting my nails grow. I am a chronic nail biter. I can't help myself, except now I can. I have decided that I WILL have nails. It's the ladylike thing to do. They are actually growing quite nicely. In order to help myself keep fro m biting them I have started to paint them, something I haven't done since middle school. Somewhere around the age of 14 I figured painted nails were too much effort to keep up with, so I with the all natural route. The paint on the nails helps because instead of biting my nails, I chip away at the paint. Also, along this same route, for the first time in my life tonight I had something under my fingernails. I have to say, I didn't like the feeling. Anyone have any other tips on keeping up with my nails?

Thanksgiving

For the first time in years I don't have Thanksgiving plans. It's kinda sad. I'm not really in a place to go home, financially speaking (plus I'll be there for Christmas soon enough) and I'm not dating anyone. Is anyone in the DC metro area over the holidays? We can party at the Webbs...

;)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

It's 2:30am...but it's Tuesday

I told you i would post every day this week.
HA! to Annie.

Why am I up? You ask?
Well, I'm a horrible insomniac, so here I lay awake at 2:30am.

From the Foodie In Me

So this is perhaps the least foodie thing ever... but, if you haven't tried the microwaveable steamed veggies, you need to. They are AMAZING. Seriously, they are a great addition of veggies to any meal, and they are done in 5 minutes in the microwave. You literally stick the whole bag in there and presto, done! Go out and buy a few bags, I guarantee you'll be a fan.

TV/Books/Movies

MAD MEN SPOILER ALERT

So, If you haven't been following Mad men this season, you're missing out. There are a few episodes that I get frustrated at, but Sunday night was the season finale of the show.
It was AMAZING. Betty left Don! I can't believe it! I am sure that isn't the last we see of her, but it's weird because I am angry with her for leaving... but HE is the one that cheats on her constantly. You have all these wonderfully flawed characters. The show is just so interesting.
Please start watching if you don't already.

Personal Goals

So I mentioned few weeks back that I was trying to lose weight. I started posting about my daily food intake. While I fell behind on my daily postings I luckily didn't fall off the exercises/ eating right wagon. I managed to lose... weight (get the pun) for it... 21 pounds!
I was amazed myself. Though, I can't take all the credit for this. A lot of it had to do with my surgery and my all soup diet. Now that I have lost the weight I am really working on keeping it off, and losing more. My goal is 12 more pounds by Christmas. Also, as a personal feat, I tried on my smaller size jeans today and they fit! I was really excited about this. I still have an even smaller size in my dresser drawer to aspire to, but for the time being, I am happy to be out of my "fat jeans". Yay healthy living!

Grinds My Gears

Tolls

Seriously, it cost me $33.80 in tolls to go from DC to RI this past weekend. I was flabbergasted. It cost me almost the same amount in gas as it did in tolls. That's just not right.
Two thumbs down to the NJ Turnpike.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Annie Say's I'm not Committed to My Blog

So I'm gonna commit. I'm gonna committ the hell out of it.
I'm posting every day this week. That's right EVERY SINGLE DAY.
The guantlet is thrown.

Weekend Recap

I drove to RI this weekend. This is the third time this year I have made the trek up I-95.
It's a long f-ing drive. Not really, but driving back hungover is not fun... and all three times I've driven back hungover. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now, but nope. I haven't.

It was lovely wedding. The bride and groom looked marvelous. I didn't take tons of pictures, but I'll post a few in the coming days.

From the Foodie in Me

Pioneer Woman cookbook
Annie turned me on the pioneer woman's blog. She's a city girl transplanted to a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. While I enjoy the blog on occasion (www.thepioneerwoman.com), I really enjoy her cookbook. For the novice chef there are tons of pictures. I think a major fault of a lot of cookbooks are the fact that they don't include illustrated descriptions. It's sometimes hard to follow directions when you don't know what your dish should look like. I highly recommend you check out her site, and if you can, buy her book. Thanks to Annie for the find on this one.

Work

I'm getting paid to sew! That's right, right now I'm doing a lot of party planning type stuff, but as there are no current parties in the work for my client I am cataloging her supplies. This also means that I am creating some parties supplies from scratch. Right now I am sewing tablecloths to go with the next tea party. I LOVE doing this type of thing. It allows me to be creative AND get paid. Also, it's work I take home. I can literally watch TV or tune into music while I create. This job really is perfect for me.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Unemployment

is the best.
No seriously, it really is.
I thought I would be blogging everyday since I am no longer a 9-5er. Instead I've been living it up. I get errands accomplished, I can cook meals. I get things organized. I've gone back to the gym. I really love being unemployed.

Of course, this can't last forever. I have started my part time job at Chaos solutions. I love it too though. Basically I work when I can. The pay is decent (less than I was making before, but still enough to keep me in cheesy poofs). I really don't think I can go back to working a 9-5. For the first time in a long time I am truly happy.

Trip to RI

I'm headed off to RI this weekend. My friends Dave and Rachel are getting married! I'm really excited for them. I made Rachel's veil, just like I made Annie's veil when she got married.
I'll post pictures of it soon on my crafts blog. i'll also have lots of wedding pics to post here for your viewing entertainment.

From the Foodie in Me

Super Taco
That's right. I'm reviewing a place called Super Taco. It's this hole in the wall taco place in Adams Morgan. I LOVE it. I dont get out to AM very much, so it's definitely a special thing for me to go there. Their food is great, real Mexican cooking, not El Salvadorian, like much of DC/VA. It's right off calvert street. Also the owners speak perfect English, so if your Spanish isn't up to par there is nothing to worry about, you can still convey your order. 4 stars.

TV/Books/Movies

Glee.
I LOVE Glee. It's totally become my new favorite show. I bought their first CD, which came out 2 days ago. It's on sale at Target right now for $10! Go buy Glee!