I'm Off!

Okay, I just need to finish packing and then I'm off to the airport to head out to San Diego!!! The forecast is predicting mostly sunny with a high of 78. Yippee! I'm super excited for a couple days of warm, sunny weather. I actually got to pull out a couple pairs of flip flops to take with me! :)

Have a great weekend!!!

Change of Plans!

Ahhhh!!!! If you read this entry from a few days ago you'll know the fashion dilemma I was faced with for the upcoming retirement party in San Diego this weekend. I thought I was all set, I'd spent weeks finding and creating the perfect ensemble and was super excited to wear what I'd come up with... and then yesteday when talking to my brother-in-law (who lives in San Diego and is helping to put together the party) all of my perfect-ensemble-plans were dashed in an instant!

What it comes down to is that the party is even more casual than I thought (with a beach theme, and all) that my cute black dress with leopard belt and patent leather stilettos was just going to be a little too much. Boo! :( So I'm on the phone with him, realizing that the party is just a few days away, and thinking, Now what am I going to do???

He suggested a sundress, which is what I had been thinking, except that a sundress in the middle of winter seems ridiculous. "Not in San Diego," he says. "It's 75 degrees here today and girls wear sundresses year round. You'll be totally fine in something like that."

Okay, a sundress it is. But what kind? I didn't want a super-casual one that I'd wear with flip flops to an afternoon BBQ. This is, afterall, still an evening event with catered food, a hired band, etc. I knew I had already scoured my closet for a "dressier" sundress and found absolutely nothing. And I also knew that I wouldn't be totally comfortable and happy that day unless I was wearing something I was really excited about. A little superficial, I know, but it just makes me feel better so I can enjoy myself more and not even think about it.

So at lunch I ran down to the nearest store, not really expecting to find something. Just as I'm thinking to myself that I'm never going to find anything, my eyes land on this sweet little dress:

Except mine isn't hot pink, it's light purple and light blue melded together with a white paisley design running over parts of it. Hard to explain, and I couldn't find a picture of it, but it's actually really cute and springy looking (and more casual looking than that pink one) so I think it will be perfect for Saturday. And you know what the best part is?

I already have some hot Jessica Simpson shoes that match the blue in the dress! My shoes are actually a couple shades darker, which I honestly think looks a little better so it's not too matchy matchy. And they're peep toe slingbacks with a light wood heel and platform, making them 5+ inches tall! Very sassy, but not nearly as dressy as the black patent peep toe stilettos I was originally planning to wear with that black dress.

Okay, this is it, I think I'm finally DONE planning outfits to wear to this thing! :)

FAB-U-LOUS!

I have to say that I am so honored to get this fabulous award, not from just one person, but TWO! Thank you so much Simply Me and Ruggy 13 for giving me this awesome award! I wish I could give it back to you because I think you're blogs are pretty fabulous, too!

I really think all of you are fabulous but here is who I am giving this to:
Pink Julep
Sweet Melissa
Erica

Have a fabulous day!!

I Vote NO on Single-stall Bathrooms!!

You know the ones I'm talking about... it's one small room where you lock the door and you have your own little toilet and sink? Yeah, those ones. It's great if you feel like you don't want everyone else listening to you do your thing, HOWEVER, when someone goes in there before you and when it's your turn you enter and feel like your face was smacked with an odor so bad that you swear all living things are sure to die in it's presence but you have to go so bad you can't hold it and you simply must use that restroom anyway??? ?? ??

Yeah, pretty awful, right? I had the extreme misfortune of that happening to me today. And you want to know what's even worse than that? The person waiting to use the room after you walks in and assumes it must be you who produced the offensive smell!! Ugh! How to avoid such a catastrophe???

For a brief moment I considering spritzing my lovely Victoria's Secret body spray... but I didn't want anyone to notice it was my scent mixed with the stench - too incriminating. So with a lack of any other options I just bolted out of there as quickly as a girl could!

Better luck next time....

Fashion Dilemma

My sister just got married last summer (yay!) and the slowpoke just now sent out pictures of their honeymoon. So beautiful! They went on a cruise in the Carribbean. Seeing those pics just made me super excited for our upcoming Alaskan cruise! But for now I need to focus my attention on a small trip we're taking this coming weekend - to San Diego!

It's only for a few days but I'm super excited! It's to celebrate my mother-in-law's retirement. How cool is that?? She's having a big party so, of course, I had to figure out what I was going to wear. I initally thought it was going to be a fancy affair so I wanted something elegant and classy, like this:

Or this:

But then I learned that the party is going to be much more casual, with a Mexican buffet, beer, and maragaritas, and the men are not supposed to wear ties or sports coats, so I thought a dress like that would be over the top. So instead I thought about something like this:

Ha! Just kidding! I don't think I'd be caught dead wearing something like that!

I actually ended up with a simple little black dress a lot like this (except my skirt is just a little less full):

It's comfortable, I can dance in it, and it's not too dressy. But I thought I needed a little color so I added a very skinny leopard print belt and it looks great! I was worried about finding the right ensemble for such an occasion but after adding the belt, black patent peep toe stilettos, and some sparkly black beaded bracelets with matching earrings, I think I'm all set!

This weekend is going to be so fun!

Rookie Move

So the Crab Feed on Friday was sooo much fun! I was actually on the sub-committee for this event - I had been on the Board of Directors last year and decided not to run again this year, so, feeling bad, I volunteered to help via the sub-committee... and ended up working way harder at the event this year than I did when I was actually on the Board! But it was all still fun. Doing registration and selling raffle tickets at the door I got to see almost every person that came in, which was great.

The crab was delish, the company awesome, and all in all a great night... until I got home and realized that I left my credit card at the bar. Oops!! I honestly have never done that before in my life, and you think that it's something that only drunk people do, but I wasn't even buzzed, let alone drunk. I just left and forget to close out my tab. Duh!

And since this event was held at a specialty club that isn't open every day I was concerned about how I was going to get my card back, so just as I was looking up their phone number and about to enter into panic mode, a friend of mine texted me that he closed it out for me and got my card. Whew! Disaster averted!

I will get my card from him tomorrow and will never do that again. So the moral of the story is??? Always leave behind a trustworthy friend to clean up after your mistakes. Ha! ;)

P.S. I also helped out by assisting with the Raffle - I played Vanna with the prizes and then handed them out to the lucky winners (all 74 prizes!). And afterwards my hubby told me how fun it was to watch me up there in front of 500 people, knowing that he was the lucky guy who got to take me home. Aww! That made my night!!

Who Loves Crab??

I am so excited. Tonight is the annual crab feed and it's always so much fun. I love crab! And the Feed is being put on by an association in my industry so a lot of my clients will be there, which is cool. It's a fun, networking event with over 500 people! Great way to get some good face time out of the office. And there were some last minute cancellations which left a few open tickets so my husband gets to come, too! Yippee!

I heard they decided to nix the after-dinner-karaoke this year - thank goodness! I can't tolerate hearing another sappy rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" at something that is supposed to be fun. Bring on the DJ!

Happy Friday everyone, and I hope you have an awesome and safe night, whatever you do!! :)

Yucky Day

Actually, today was a pretty good day, workwise. But the weather has just been nasty rainy windy yucky. My job requires me to drive around to meet clients, so basically I often have to go in and out of a lot of places and that's just not very fun when the rain is coming down in torrents that are blowing sideways because the wind is pushing it that way.

Rain by itself? Okay. A little wind? Sure. But 25mph gusts along with heavy rain is NOT my idea of good weather to try and look nice in when you're going to meet clients. Ugh! Umbrellas = useless. Thank goodness for cute raincoats and knee-high boots!

The Name Game!

I totally forgot to do this last week so here goes....

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag some people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real . . . nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Have Fun!!

1. What is your name: Jessica

2. A four Letter Word: Just

3. A boy's Name: Jason

4. A girl's Name: Jocelyn

5. An occupation: Janitor

6. A color: Jade

7. Something you wear: Jewels

9. A food: Jelly

10. Something found in the bathroom: Jacuzzi

11. A place: Jacksonville (FL)

12. A reason for being late: Jaywalking

13. Something you shout: Jeepers! (haha!)

14. A movie title: Jaws

15. Something you drink: Juice

16. A musical group: Jackson 5

17. An animal: Jackrabbit

18. A street name: Juniper Street

19. A type of car: Jaguar

20. The title of a song: "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam

That was hard! Okay, I'm tagging:
Pink Julep
AGH
Could've Been Blonde

Have fun! :)

NASCAR Disappointment

One of the few sports I actually like to watch on TV is NASCAR. Most people think it's just a bunch of people driving around in circles but if you actually pay attention it's easy to see how much strategy, skill, and excitement is involved. Although honestly, I usually like to get caught up on magazine reading or baking through much of it, where I can still pick my head up and pay attention if something exciting happens. Or take a nap or something. As long as I see the high points and the finish then I'm good. ;)

But yesterday, the first race of the entire season, the Daytona 500, was such a disappointment! The track got rained out so they had to call the race with almost 50 laps to go! It would have been so much better to see how it would have played out if they'd actually been able to go to the end. No exciting finish, no one running out of gas on the last lap or causing an accident because they're trying so hard to get ahead on the final stretch, no cars racing for that finish line... very anti-climatic. Hopefully next week will be better. :(

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! We decided to play it very low-key this year. No restaurants, no flowers, no anything. In fact, I gave him strict instructions not to take me anywhere or buy me anything but a card, especially after what he did to recently upgrade my diamond necklace. I told him I didn't want anything at all - just time alone with him. *sigh* And that is exactly what we've got... all day. (Oh, and a special dinner he's cooking for me tonight). :) Yay for me!

I hope your Valentine's Day is everything you want, too. :)

A New Award!

Simply Me was kind enough to give me the Love Ya award. How sweet! Check out her fun blog!


Rules do accompany this honor:
"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”!

I choose:
Ruggy 13
The Polks Dotted Owl
Erica

You girls deserve it!

Love Those Rainy Days!

We've been fortunate enough in "sunny California" to have a very mild past few weeks, sunny with high's in the low to mid-60's. And as much as I love that it doesn't really feel like winter, plus we really need the rain! So when the clouds came in a few days ago I was actually really excited.

Today is gray and wet and I couldn't be happier! Probably because I'm working from home today so, with the exception of running over to the gym during lunch, I'll be home all day in my cozy sweats and slippers, working away at my computer. The only thing that would make it better is if I didn't have to work at all and could just veg on the couch by the fire and read while drinking hot chocolate! Hmm, now that I think about, maybe I should move my laptop into the living room and work in there... yeah, good plan. I'm on it right now. ;)

Have a Happy Rainy Friday!!!!!!!!

More About ME! (You know you wanted to read more....). ;)

This is me hanging in my honey's thermal. :)

Here are the rules - post this list on your profile replacing my answers with yours. Tag people to do the same thing. If I tagged YOU, it's because I want to know more about YOU!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name is Margaret, named after my great-grandmother - amazing woman.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? About something I was actually sad about, probably some time last fall, but I tend to tear up watching movies or pretty much anything that makes me think, "What if this happened to me??"

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? When I take a little time, yes, I even get compliments on it. Otherwise I tend to write way too fast and let it get sloppy, then I can't stand the way it looks.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Either turkey or ham.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No, but I have my baby Addie (a 12lbs. mini schnauzer that is the sweetest dog in the world!).

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Oh yeah! The coolest chick evah! ;)

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? No, not ever. ;)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No, taken out when I was 13. Not eating sucked.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably not, but if it was part of a game show I was on, then YES!

NAKED? I am not naked now nor would I ever bungee jump sans clothes!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Corn Bran

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Hardly any of my shoes have laces but the ones that do (workout shoes), yes. It actually bugs me when I see people take laced shoes off without untying them... and then just smash their feet in when they put them back on. How lazy are you??

(Not sure where question 12 went....)

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? I love many but I'll have to say Pralines and Cream.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Usually their expression - are they happy, sullen, annoyed, smug...? If I can't really see their face right away then their overall look - sloppy, neat, fashionable, gaudy, plain, preppy, etc.

15. RED OR PINK...Pink

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Sometimes I get annoyed a little too easily.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My sisters in Boston and my two dearest friends (K lives in Colorado and B lives in Washington).

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Yes!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Pink velour sweats and my Ugg slippers.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The TV but I'm not really paying attention to what is on.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Sienna! The reddish color is sort of close to my hair and I also always thought Sienna is a really pretty name... and then Sienna Miller became famous and even worse, Toyota had to come out with the Toyota Sienna mini van. Ugh. Had to cross that name off my baby name list.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Fresh flowers, clean laundry, my Addie girl, rain, Jake.... :)

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My friend Goss.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Absolutely!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH NASCAR, but I usually like to take a nap about halfway through and wake up for the end!

27. HAIR COLOR? Red, or auburn. Sometimes I add blonde highlights in the summer.

28. EYE COLOR? Blue

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope

30. FAVORITE FOOD? This question is impossible for me to answer! I will have to defer you to questions 7 and 8 of this post, it may give you a clue as to how hard this question is for me....

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings! I only like scary movies if they're thrillers that make you think and keep you on the edge of your seat; horror movies terrify me and give me nightmares.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I think maybe Tropic Thunder the other night. I wanna go see He's Just Not That Into You!

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer, although I do love wearing my cute winter coats.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both :)

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Uhhhh

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Angel Falls by Nora Roberts. Good mystery.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Starry Night by Van Gogh

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? I didn't watch any last night but I'm sure I've got some stuff Tivo'd. :)

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S). Silence except for chirping birds, any good music, laughter, and when Addie sighs. It means she's snuggling in and about to fall asleep. So cute!

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Um, Beatles.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Boston or Florida.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Maybe I've yet to discover it.

46 WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Sacramento, California

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyone's

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? I worked as a nurse in the hospital and he volunteered there on his days off. He used to come onto my floor to play games with some of my patients and then started asking the patients about "that hot redheaded nurse!" lol :)

I'm tagging:

AGH

Pink Julep

Simply Me

It's kind of a long but still fun. :) Happy Wednesday!!

What is Romance?

With ads for flowers, jewelry, candy, and loads of pink stuff everywhere in what is essentially the most romantic month of the year, it’s only right to think about, what exactly is romance?

Is it giving a girl flowers, taking her out to fancy dinners, and buying her nice things? In my opinion, only if those are things she really likes and wants. I think romance is paying attention to the small details of a person and showing an interest in the things that are important to them. It’s being thoughtful and doing things that SHE thinks are special. Her favorite sporting event, helping her clean the house without being asked, cooking a favorite meal, or finding that special something she mentioned over 6 months ago and didn’t mention since but he remembered anyway.

Romance doesn’t have to be expensive or come in a velvet box, it doesn’t have to be pink or red or covered in chocolate. It certainly can be if those are things she loves and he knows that (and gets her favorite flower or favorite kind of chocolate), but really, it’s just knowing what is special to her and demonstrating how much he pays attention.

So… what is romance to you? :)

The Bag Tag!

So I've been tagged by The Polka Dotted Owl to do the Bag Tag! You have to check out her cute blog to see the adorable bag she's posted. :)

Here's how you do it:

1) Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse that's your fav. We want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house. No cheating!
2) List how much it cost. And this is not to judge. :) This is for entertainment purposes only. So spill it. And if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, we’d love to hear it.
3) Tag some chicks. And link back to this post so people know why the heck you’re showing everyone your bag.

So here it is:
My lovely gold Estella bag by Elliott Lucca! I know it's bright but I love that it goes with pretty much everything! And I especially love the gold hardware.

This was a gift from my parents, although I must confess that I picked it out. ;) It was purchased at Nordstrom for $300. Unless it's an evening bag I pretty much have to have exterior pockets and these ones are so cute! And one of the other things I love about this bag is that it's just so versatile - it's got a long strap that I can use on my shoulder and the handles will fold down so they don't stick up while using the long strap (I really hate that). And the strap is just long enough that you can wear it across the body. It looks a little strange like that because the strap isn't quite long enough to make it cute, BUT if you're traipsing through an airport and hauling luggage who cares how it looks?? It's functional! :)

I still switch my purses out as needed but I definitely use this one a lot. I love it!!!

And now for the girls who must post about the bag they are currently using:

~Sweet Melissa

~Classy in Philadephia

~Missy R.

~Just Moi

Can't wait to see your posts!

A Little Slice of Cherry Heaven

Today my sister and parents came over after church to hang out. I was craving something sweet (what else is new?) so I decided to bake a cake. And not just any cake, mind you, but a cherry chip cake (from Betty Crocker, super moist and yummy) and homemade cream cheese frosting that I did from scratch – so much better than the canned stuff.

Here is a picture of it:
Doesn't it look pretty? It was soooo good and I knew I'd be tempted to eat pretty much the whole thing so I made them take some home so that all that was left was this. Not too bad....

And just in case you want to try and make cream cheese frosting yourself, here is the recipe I use:

Beat together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine, and 2 teaspoons vanilla until light and fluffy. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating well. Add 1 teaspoon milk and approximately 2 1/2 more cups of powedered sugar until spreading consistency is reached.

I always add more sugar or milk, depending on the consistency I want the frosting to be, so you can adjust that as you need to. If you decide to try it I'm sure you'll love it!

Caffeine and Exercise??

I was at the gym this morning at 5:30, and let me just say that there are only two reasons why it's good to get there that early. (1) Because you can pick pretty much any piece of equipment you want, and (2) you can accomplish more before 6:30 than most people do all day.

At any rate, I was on the treadmill and this girl jumped onto the one next to me, and all of a sudden I got this strong whiff of coffee. Not something you normally smell in a gym, but I quickly dismissed it. Several other times I swore I was smelling coffee (and I loooove that smell) but I just ignored it because I was too engrossed in doing my running-up-hills drills (ugh!).

But about the 4th time I caught a whiff I finally spared the New Girl a glance and, sure enough, there was a Venti Starbuck's coffee cup neatly tucked into the cupholder of her machine. Coffee and running?? Of course, I had no way of knowing if it was caffeinated or not, but the I-want-to-be-helpful-so-this-is-how-you-should-do-it part of me wanted to reach over and politely tap her on the shoulder, inquire as to what she was drinking, and then kindly explain that caffeine is a diuretic, which means it dehydrates you, so it's not really the best thing to be drinking just before or during a workout.

But who am I to tell her what to do? If she wants to guzzle a hot, caffeinated Caramel Macchiato or a fizzy Pepsi during a workout, that's totally up to her. Hey, at least she's working out. There are much worse things a person could be doing! And plus, I didn't feel like being a Buttinski. ;)

P.S. For those of us who hate to get up really early to work out (which is probably most all of us) just remember the second reason I listed above: you will accomplish more before ____a.m. than most people do all day. That should make you feel good! :)

My First Award!

The sweet Penny over at Penny's Thoughts bestowed me with my very first award! I have to be honest, I didn't know what it meant so I looked it up and it means "proximity", nearness, or kindred by birth. Cool! And here's a better explanation found by Miss Ruggy 13:

The blogs who receive the Proximidade Award invest and believe in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Awww!

Thank you soooo much, Penny! And now I'm going to pass this on to several special ladies:

The Polka Dotted Owl
Adorably Distracted
Erica

Here's to you, girlies!! :)

B-B-B-Benny and the Jets!

I SO have this song stuck in my head! (And after reading this, you will too, HA!). ;)

Normally that would be fine since I like the song and it also reminds me of that super-cute movie 27 Dresses with the adorable James Marsden (and Katherine Heigl is pretty hot, too). :) But I really only know one part of the song, which of course I had to belt out while driving in the car with my hubby this evening....

"She's got electric boobs, a mohair suit,
You know I read in a magaziiiine! Ohh Oh Oh
B-B-B-Benny and the Jets!"

My husband looks over at me and says, "Electric boobs?? Uh, you know he says, "boots", right?"
"I know, but it sounds like boobs and it's funnier so I'm going to sing it that way." (Didn't the scene in the movie go something like that? Not sure).

At any rate, now I can't get it out of my head. Need help. Must hear other music pronto.

P.S. I know a mohair suit is just a nice wool suit, but when I hear that for some reason I prefer to think of something that looks more like this. With that suit and electric boobs how can you go wrong??? ;)

The Dreaded Unpainted Toes in Public

Just in case you missed it, I mentioned a couple of posts ago in the random facts about me that I always have my toenails painted. And I do. At least, except for today. See, last night I took off my toenail polish and was getting ready to repaint them but numerous things occurred (stove timer going off, etc.) that I completely forgot and then was so tired that I didn’t feel like doing them right before going to bed.

Oh well, I can take care of it tomorrow night, no biggie... it’s not like anyone is going to see them between now and tomorrow night anyway.

And then the day dawned bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky… ah, what a gorgeous day! (Inhale deep… and slowly blow it out… BIG smile!). I think I’ll go by the shoe store to get my new running shoes since I’ll be in that part of town today. Yay! I’ve been wanting to get those!

So during the lunch hour I head over to the athletic shoe store downtown. A nearby parking space calls my name, and look! It’s a free space; I don’t even have to pay! I step out of the car and happily saunter down the sidewalk, allowing the warm sun to penetrate my entire being. Breezing into the building I head straight for the running shoe section where a young man greets me and offers his assistance.

He asks me to sit down and take off my shoes so he can measure my feet... and I suddenly remember I didn’t paint my toenails. Eek! Gasp! Choke! The panic starts to bubble up and I contemplate creating a sudden excuse for which I have to leave. Swallowing to calm myself, instead I oblige and almost apologize to him for them not being painted. Now, they were neatly trimmed and shaped and everything but just without polish. But still! No one has seen my toes without perfect polish in like, 15 years! How was I to deal with this tragedy?!

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an overreaction - I realized that, though unpainted, my feet were still very well cared for and I’m sure this salesman deals with heinous feet and toenails on a daily basis (poor guy). I’m bet, in his opinion, they were just fine. No, better than fine – lovely, shall we say? Haha, okay, maybe we shouldn’t go that far. But if I’d apologized I would’ve just drawn more attention to them anyway, so I just let it go.

I still felt much better, though, once I put on the new pair of running socks that I insisted he get me because, of course, I needed to purchase a new pair anyway, right? ;)

P.S. As soon as I got home I promptly painted them a nice shade of dark burgundy called Vixen. They look ravishing. :)
P.P.S. I bought some great shoes – I’ll try them out tomorrow!

Pain In the Gluteus Maximus

Literally. Have you ever tried one of those Stairmaster Stepmill machines? Not the ones with the two small platforms, one for each foot, that you move up and down to simulate going up stairs. Oh no. I mean the really big machine that has actual stairs that rotate through so that you are actually walking up stairs? I’ve seen people on them at my gym many times but it never really occurred to me to try one.

But then one of my clients suggested I use it from time to time in my training for a half marathon because he said it will really help to prep me for those hills. Hmm, makes sense, I thought.

Him: But it’s going to kick your butt.

Me: Really? (A little unfazed).

Him: Yeah, it’s really tough.

Okay, whatever, sounds fun. I flippantly dismissed his comment since he clearly didn’t know what he was talking about. So yesterday I get up on this gargantuan machine and decide to do it on manual. I was all ready for a good, 45-minute workout. Once I hit “start” the machine automatically set itself at 20 minutes.

20 minutes? That’s it? Oh well, I’ll just do one cycle and then start it over again when it finished.

Step, step, step… step, step, step……….step, step, step……………..

Whew! Must be pretty far…(I look at the numbers on the screen)…What? Only 5 minutes? Seriously?! Huh.

Step, step, step… step, step, step……….step, step, step……………..

Wow, a whole 10 minutes have gone by…only 10 minutes. Uh, don’t think I’ll be doing a second 20-minute segment on this.

Step, step, step… step, step, step……….step, step, step……………..

By the time the 20 minutes was up I was dripping with sweat and my toes were repeatedly clipping the step I was trying to put my foot on because I could barely lift my foot high enough to actually clear the step. Guess that guy knew what he was talking about! But you know what? According to the machine I climbed seventy nine flights of stairs! SEVENTY NINE! Holy crap, no wonder it was so hard! (I think that was based on a 10-step flight and some are more like 12 or 14 steps per flight, but whatever, that's still 790 steps!). That made me feel much better.

Plus, I got on the treadmill and did another 2 miles afterwards so when I finished, even though I almost looked like a sweat-drowned rat, I felt I got in a really great workout. Then I hightailed it out of there as fast as possible so I wouldn’t see anyone I know. :)

Pink Giveaway

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Check out Missy's fun blog for a super-cute pink giveaway. I know I want to win!

6th of the 6th

Tagged one more time, by Could've Been Blonde. :)

The rules:
1. Go to your pics, pick the 6th folder and the 6th pic.
2. Tell who and what.
3. Pick 6 people

When I opened up this pic to see what I'd have to post I actually laughed out loud. I'd be nice to say it's a picture of me and my grandpa, but, alas, that is not the case. One night about a year ago some of my girlfiriends and I went out to a club and who do you think was gettin' down with his bad self in the middle of the dance floor? This charming gentleman pictured above. We thought it was so cute that we danced with him for a little bit, and of course my friend had to take a picture. He was a very sweet man. (Although I wonder what he is looking at???). lol :)

And now I am going to break the last rule of this tagging and not actually tag anyone else - I don't have enough followers to tag anyone new! :) Oh well, Happy Monday!!!!!