Perhaps I'm just getting old (some may say boring), but I've come to relish the weekends when I can do nothing but read, eat, watch football and terrible TV, and sleep until I'm in danger of getting bed sores.
Now, this is not to say that I don't enjoy hanging out with my friends, going on dates with Randel, and just having a life in general.
Some of my best memories have come from weekend hangouts with friends: an eggroll-making, Twilight-watching girls' night with the bestie; picnicking at Lake Hefner with Laura; browsing Target, popcorn and Pepsi in hand, with Shawna; and too many others to mention.
And the same goes for time spent with Randel on the weekends. I love having cookouts with some of our other couple friends and getting dressed up to go to dinner, the movies, or out dancing.
But when my weekends are as free as the second item in a BOGO sale, I'm one happy girl. And this is one of those few-and-far-between weekends.
I see lots of Confessions of a Shopaholic-reading, baking, dog-cuddling, and nail painting in my next 48 hours.
P.S. Please don't let this deter you from making weekend plans with me in the future. I do love being with my amazing friends and family. I just have to take advantage of this rare plan-less weekend after an extremely busy last few weeks.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Office-Inappropriate Halloween Costumes
I just got home from work and the gym. I'm hungry. I'm tired. So I'm kind of cheating. Today's post is one I wrote for one of the radio stations I blog for.
Enjoy!
Everyone’s talking and laughing, noshing on finger-shaped cookies and peeled grapes meant to feel like eyeballs, commenting on Bob from accounting dressed as a toilet bowl and the eerily accurate ET get-up Sally from marketing showed up in. All of a sudden the room is silent. You can’t even hear the “eyeballs” being devoured. Jane from the mail room has just entered…in her “wet T-shirt contest winner” costume. Don’t be that person who shows up to the office Halloween party in a completely inappropriate costume that makes everyone uncomfortable. Avoid these 8 costumes if you want to keep your job…and your good reputation.
Enjoy!
***
Everyone’s talking and laughing, noshing on finger-shaped cookies and peeled grapes meant to feel like eyeballs, commenting on Bob from accounting dressed as a toilet bowl and the eerily accurate ET get-up Sally from marketing showed up in. All of a sudden the room is silent. You can’t even hear the “eyeballs” being devoured. Jane from the mail room has just entered…in her “wet T-shirt contest winner” costume. Don’t be that person who shows up to the office Halloween party in a completely inappropriate costume that makes everyone uncomfortable. Avoid these 8 costumes if you want to keep your job…and your good reputation.
8. Sexy ___ (fill in the blank): If the costume name is preceded by the word sexy, chances are it’s not appropriate for the office. Same goes for if you bought it at Christie’s Toy Box. Save it for the bedroom.
7. Baby: If you’re older than 3 and younger than 80, just don’t wear a diaper. It’s not a flattering or even a funny look. Leave that to Rob Schneider’s Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo character.
6. Jesus: Besides the fact that we don’t actually know if Jesus really was a long-haired guy who wore a robe and sandals, we should leave this look to the only person who can actually pull it off: Jesus himself.
5. Body parts: You know which body parts I’m talking about. Just don’t go there.
4. Political figures: This goes for anyone from Hitler to President Obama. This costume will offend someone. You don’t want that someone to be the person who signs your paycheck.
3. Any recently deceased celebrity: It’s always going to be too soon.
2. Doll: Let’s just get it out there—dolls are creepy. When a grown man or woman is dressed up as Chucky, it’s even more disturbing.
1. Your boss: Sure, imitation is the highest form of flattery. But sporting your boss’s baby bump or always-crooked toupee just might land you in the unemployment line.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Anniversary: Take 2
Guess what, you guys? Randel and I have been dating for 24 months. Holla!
Such a milestone must be celebrated in style, of course. So last Saturday, after I spent too much time on my hair, makeup, and outfit (he wouldn’t tell me where we were going, just that we had dinner reservations for 7:00), we were on our way to said mystery location.
I had a hunch, though (a strong one, since I had told him weeks before where I wanted to go), that we’d be going to a hibachi restaurant. And sure enough, we pulled up at Shiki with four minutes to spare, thanks to my indecisiveness about my outfit.
My youngest brother went to Shogun on his senior trip and raved about the food and the awesomeness of the place in general. So I was beyond excited to finally experience it for myself.
After Randel told the hostess we had reservations, she led us to a table where two other young couples were in the middle of ordering drinks. I was a bit thrown off by this…until I remembered that DUH, it’s a family-style restaurant. So rather than be miffed that we couldn’t enjoy our own “cooking show” on our anniversary, I decided to fully embrace the whole hibachi grill experience.
And I'm so glad I did. It was one of the most fun dates we've ever had.
Randel was my official taste-tester for the soup and salad—it didn’t look like any soup or salad I had ever seen before. The soup looked like water with some spare mushrooms and green onions thrown in, and the salad looked as though it had been dressed with vomit. Fortunately, the soup had much more flavor than it let on and the salad didn’t taste like yesterday’s breakfast come back to visit. They were both delicious.
Then came time for the show. I felt like we were watching an episode of Iron Chef. Our chef wheeled his cart out, asked how we all wanted our meat cooked, and proceeded to wow us with his culinary tricks. He performed some sort of fancy knife show, tossed eggs into his hat before scrambling them into the fried rice, and lit a stack of onions on fire. It. Was. Awesome.
When he finished making our food—steak for me, chicken for Randel—I was disappointed the show was over but couldn’t wait to chow down.
The fried rice was fan-freaking-tastic. I could have eaten just that and been perfectly satisfied. But I also had juicy, tender sukiyaki steak waiting for me. Nom nom, indeed.
We ate until we were stuffed and had plenty of leftovers. Score!
From Shiki we headed to Drinkz in Bricktown. Because I’m such an awesome girlfriend, I agreed to this plan so Randel could watch the Bama game. (Note: never mind the fact that I love sports just as much as he does, if not more...and that I love a good drink.)
I enjoyed a sweetie-tini and a lemondrop-tini, while Randel knocked back a couple Red Stripes. It was a perfect ending to a perfect anniversary.
Oh yeah, and did I mention he wrote me a card that brought tears to my eyes, got me a gift certificate for a massage, and bought me a beautiful birthstone ring?
The game and book I got him pale in comparison...
I’m a lucky girl and couldn’t ask for a better guy to have spent the last two years with.
Such a milestone must be celebrated in style, of course. So last Saturday, after I spent too much time on my hair, makeup, and outfit (he wouldn’t tell me where we were going, just that we had dinner reservations for 7:00), we were on our way to said mystery location.
I had a hunch, though (a strong one, since I had told him weeks before where I wanted to go), that we’d be going to a hibachi restaurant. And sure enough, we pulled up at Shiki with four minutes to spare, thanks to my indecisiveness about my outfit.
My youngest brother went to Shogun on his senior trip and raved about the food and the awesomeness of the place in general. So I was beyond excited to finally experience it for myself.
After Randel told the hostess we had reservations, she led us to a table where two other young couples were in the middle of ordering drinks. I was a bit thrown off by this…until I remembered that DUH, it’s a family-style restaurant. So rather than be miffed that we couldn’t enjoy our own “cooking show” on our anniversary, I decided to fully embrace the whole hibachi grill experience.
And I'm so glad I did. It was one of the most fun dates we've ever had.
Randel was my official taste-tester for the soup and salad—it didn’t look like any soup or salad I had ever seen before. The soup looked like water with some spare mushrooms and green onions thrown in, and the salad looked as though it had been dressed with vomit. Fortunately, the soup had much more flavor than it let on and the salad didn’t taste like yesterday’s breakfast come back to visit. They were both delicious.
Then came time for the show. I felt like we were watching an episode of Iron Chef. Our chef wheeled his cart out, asked how we all wanted our meat cooked, and proceeded to wow us with his culinary tricks. He performed some sort of fancy knife show, tossed eggs into his hat before scrambling them into the fried rice, and lit a stack of onions on fire. It. Was. Awesome.
When he finished making our food—steak for me, chicken for Randel—I was disappointed the show was over but couldn’t wait to chow down.
The fried rice was fan-freaking-tastic. I could have eaten just that and been perfectly satisfied. But I also had juicy, tender sukiyaki steak waiting for me. Nom nom, indeed.
We ate until we were stuffed and had plenty of leftovers. Score!
From Shiki we headed to Drinkz in Bricktown. Because I’m such an awesome girlfriend, I agreed to this plan so Randel could watch the Bama game. (Note: never mind the fact that I love sports just as much as he does, if not more...and that I love a good drink.)
I enjoyed a sweetie-tini and a lemondrop-tini, while Randel knocked back a couple Red Stripes. It was a perfect ending to a perfect anniversary.
Oh yeah, and did I mention he wrote me a card that brought tears to my eyes, got me a gift certificate for a massage, and bought me a beautiful birthstone ring?
 |
| nope, not an engagement ring, people... |
The game and book I got him pale in comparison...
I’m a lucky girl and couldn’t ask for a better guy to have spent the last two years with.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Date Night Sharpshooters
For months now, Randel has been wanting to find this board game called Sharpshooters. I had never heard of it, but he swore up and down that it was an awesome game and looked for it everywhere we went---Walmart, Target, the mall. He could never find it.
For our anniversary, I knew he'd be ecstatic if I presented him with the game he's been trying to find for so long. So I hunted it down and found it on Amazon.
So for date night tonight (after watching The Voice and New Girl, of course), we played Sharpshooters. And I loved it! The fact that I whooped Randel's butt has nothing to do with my feelings of goodwill toward this game.
The best way I can explain Sharpshooters is to say it's kind of a combination of poker and Yahtzee! Each person starts out with 16 die (yep, you read that number right), and you roll 5 at a time, trying to fill a somewhat BINGO-like score card.
You can roll until you can't place any more die, or you can stop after placing a dice or die, if that will help your strategy. If you can play something, then you must. So if you were playing on the above card and the only open spot was the last black 4 and you rolled a 4, you'd have to play it.
Whoever places the last die in each row gets the corresponding number of chips...and whoever places the last black die in the row has to pay the banker. So you can see why you wouldn't want to play that black 4. But anticipating who's going to have to pay up is part of the fun of the game.
Each game lasts 6 rounds, but Randel and I played 9 because it was just so much fun. We weren't actually keeping score because it was plain to see that the winner was moi, but we counted up our chips just for kicks and the final score was...
Drumroll, please...
1960 to 580. I think I found my new favorite game.
For our anniversary, I knew he'd be ecstatic if I presented him with the game he's been trying to find for so long. So I hunted it down and found it on Amazon.
So for date night tonight (after watching The Voice and New Girl, of course), we played Sharpshooters. And I loved it! The fact that I whooped Randel's butt has nothing to do with my feelings of goodwill toward this game.
The best way I can explain Sharpshooters is to say it's kind of a combination of poker and Yahtzee! Each person starts out with 16 die (yep, you read that number right), and you roll 5 at a time, trying to fill a somewhat BINGO-like score card.
Whoever places the last die in each row gets the corresponding number of chips...and whoever places the last black die in the row has to pay the banker. So you can see why you wouldn't want to play that black 4. But anticipating who's going to have to pay up is part of the fun of the game.
Each game lasts 6 rounds, but Randel and I played 9 because it was just so much fun. We weren't actually keeping score because it was plain to see that the winner was moi, but we counted up our chips just for kicks and the final score was...
Drumroll, please...
1960 to 580. I think I found my new favorite game.
Monday, October 1, 2012
30-Day Writing Challenge
This is me telling you that today I decided I want to blog every day in October.
And this is me telling you I fully expect to fail.
So why would you even set that goal and waste my time telling me about it? you may be wondering.
To that I say, "Good question," but the reason is because I will certainly give this my best shot, but I know myself...and more specifically, my lack of self-discipline.
But that's what 2012 has been about for me--trying to better myself in several ways (both big and small). And one thing I really wanted to work on was becoming more self-motivated.
I've been blogging (and have lived with myself) long enough to know that I won't have something to write about every day, so I consulted a 30-day writing challenge for a little help and inspiration.
So here's to 31 days of bettering myself as a writer and a perosn...and hopefully providing a bit of entertainment along the way.
And this is me telling you I fully expect to fail.
So why would you even set that goal and waste my time telling me about it? you may be wondering.
To that I say, "Good question," but the reason is because I will certainly give this my best shot, but I know myself...and more specifically, my lack of self-discipline.
But that's what 2012 has been about for me--trying to better myself in several ways (both big and small). And one thing I really wanted to work on was becoming more self-motivated.
I've been blogging (and have lived with myself) long enough to know that I won't have something to write about every day, so I consulted a 30-day writing challenge for a little help and inspiration.
So here's to 31 days of bettering myself as a writer and a perosn...and hopefully providing a bit of entertainment along the way.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
My Month-Long Case of the Mondays
I’ll just come out and say it: I’ve been in a funk this month. Unfortunately, that affects all areas of my life, including my writing. I’m not sure if it’s the changing-jobs-after-almost-
Since writing is my career now, though, I kind of have to be more diligent about writing. I know my work will suffer if I don’t take the time to write when I have the chance. So here is my attempt at getting out of my funk. Forgive me if it’s disastrous.
First things first: I dominated my August goal of keeping a daily food journal. Down to every last Swedish Fish, I faithfully recorded every morsel I consumed. I did not, however, eat less or continue my journal this month. So I don’t know how helpful that goal really was.
Now for another confession: I basically gave up September’s goal--improving my posture--the first week of the month. I had all these lofty goals of walking around with books on my head, taking some yoga classes, and sitting on the edge of my chair at work in hopes of training my spine into submission.
But even though I remembered I should sit with my feet flat on the ground, it was just so much more comfortable to just let them cross…and to slouch down while in the throes of writer’s block…and to walk normally instead of thrusting my chest out as if it were on display.
I know my posture is terrible and that it won’t get better if I don’t work to improve it. Maybe I'll just get weekly massages instead of sleeping on my back and not allowing my poor legs to cross.
Okay, now pretend that I worked in a seamless segue here.
Moving on to my goal to read 52 books this year. Not to toot my own horn, but beep beep! I’ve read 42 books and am currently reading 43, 44, and 45.
Since I last blogged I’ve read some great ones, namely The Devil in the White City, Unbroken, and The Fault in Our Stars.
This post is already too long to go into any great detail, so just go borrow/buy/whatever you have to do to get these books in your hands. You won’t be sorry.
I also finally read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I really enjoyed it and will probably read the other two books in the series, but it took me over 100 pages to get into the book and really understand what was happening. I don’t usually give books that long to hook me in, but since I had heard from several trusted reader friends that TGWTDT (I had to think about that abbreviation so long that it probably would have taken me less time to just write the title) was excellent, I stuck it out.
I definitely don't regret reading it, but I do wish it had been as suspenseful and dramatic as it turned out to be all the way through.
Pretend once again that I've just worked in another seamless segue, 'cause I want to wrap this up.
October's goal is to floss every day. Clearly, I should have been doing this long ago, as I have to go back to the dentist in a few weeks to get another root canal. Oops...
But I thought this would be a good goal for October since I'll undoubtedly be consuming more sweets than usual--candy corn, caramel apple pops, Fun Size anything. You get the point.
I won't subject you to pictures, but I will try reallyreallyreally hard to be a better blogger this month. Randel and I celebrated our two-year anniversary yesterday, I tried another Pinterest recipe, and I've been writing more project sheets at work, so it shouldn't be difficult.
Holla!
Since writing is my career now, though, I kind of have to be more diligent about writing. I know my work will suffer if I don’t take the time to write when I have the chance. So here is my attempt at getting out of my funk. Forgive me if it’s disastrous.
First things first: I dominated my August goal of keeping a daily food journal. Down to every last Swedish Fish, I faithfully recorded every morsel I consumed. I did not, however, eat less or continue my journal this month. So I don’t know how helpful that goal really was.
Now for another confession: I basically gave up September’s goal--improving my posture--the first week of the month. I had all these lofty goals of walking around with books on my head, taking some yoga classes, and sitting on the edge of my chair at work in hopes of training my spine into submission.
But even though I remembered I should sit with my feet flat on the ground, it was just so much more comfortable to just let them cross…and to slouch down while in the throes of writer’s block…and to walk normally instead of thrusting my chest out as if it were on display.
I know my posture is terrible and that it won’t get better if I don’t work to improve it. Maybe I'll just get weekly massages instead of sleeping on my back and not allowing my poor legs to cross.
Okay, now pretend that I worked in a seamless segue here.
Moving on to my goal to read 52 books this year. Not to toot my own horn, but beep beep! I’ve read 42 books and am currently reading 43, 44, and 45.
Since I last blogged I’ve read some great ones, namely The Devil in the White City, Unbroken, and The Fault in Our Stars.
This post is already too long to go into any great detail, so just go borrow/buy/whatever you have to do to get these books in your hands. You won’t be sorry.
I also finally read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I really enjoyed it and will probably read the other two books in the series, but it took me over 100 pages to get into the book and really understand what was happening. I don’t usually give books that long to hook me in, but since I had heard from several trusted reader friends that TGWTDT (I had to think about that abbreviation so long that it probably would have taken me less time to just write the title) was excellent, I stuck it out.
I definitely don't regret reading it, but I do wish it had been as suspenseful and dramatic as it turned out to be all the way through.
Pretend once again that I've just worked in another seamless segue, 'cause I want to wrap this up.
October's goal is to floss every day. Clearly, I should have been doing this long ago, as I have to go back to the dentist in a few weeks to get another root canal. Oops...
But I thought this would be a good goal for October since I'll undoubtedly be consuming more sweets than usual--candy corn, caramel apple pops, Fun Size anything. You get the point.
I won't subject you to pictures, but I will try reallyreallyreally hard to be a better blogger this month. Randel and I celebrated our two-year anniversary yesterday, I tried another Pinterest recipe, and I've been writing more project sheets at work, so it shouldn't be difficult.
Holla!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Three Boys and a Backsplash
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
I’ve never had a reason to doubt them—whoever they are—but I know now just how
right they are because I got a new-and-improved kitchen for nothing more than
chicken tacos and BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.
It all started one afternoon several months ago when, out of
the blue, Randel’s friend Joey asked me about my backsplash. I told him I
didn’t exactly have one; it was the same
grayish-bluish-stuff-I-don’t-know-the-name-of that my countertops are made of.
He then asked me if I wanted a new tile backsplash. I said
yes, of course, but asked how much it would set me back. He said he, Randel,
and their friend Ryan would do it for food.
I’m no Rachael Ray or Pioneer Woman, but I’m not a fool
either. I quickly accepted the generous offer and consulted Pioneer Woman for
the perfect recipe to feed three hungry, hardworking men. I decided on her
make-you-wanna-slap-your-mama chicken tacos.
The Saturday in March (yep, this project was begun six
months ago) arrived and with it, the men and their supplies—tile, grout,
measuring tape, some sort of tile adhesive, and lots more stuff I don’t know
the functions of.
We started out with the food. In retrospect, this probably
wasn’t the wisest decision on my part. What if they had gotten so full and
satisfied on scrumptious chicken tacos that they couldn’t work?
Luckily, they remained true to their word and got right to
work after polishing off somewhere around 17 tacos.
I stayed in the living room, out of their way, with Joey's wife and baby. Amid the noise of tiles being cut, tiles being
dropped on the floor, and the general loudness that occurs when Randel, Joey,
and Ryan are together, Ashley (Joey's wife) and I kept up conversation and tried not to
interfere.
But when we saw what looked like mud being smeared across
what I thought was a beautiful, nearly finished backsplash, we grew fearful. Maybe Joey doesn’t actually know what he’s
doing, I thought. Maybe he just
wanted a free meal. So Other Ashley and I ventured over to see if
we could deduce what they were up to.
“Um…what’s that mud for?” I politely asked Joey.
He gave me an answer I didn’t understand, but I tried to
calm my fears of my kitchen being ruined. Other Ashley wasn’t so hesitant with
her query.
“Babe, it looks like you’re messing up her kitchen,” she
said.
I just laughed and tried to trust Joey when he told us to
just trust him.
Turns out, Joey could be trusted. Several hours later, half of my kitchen had a brand spankin’
new backsplash that looks better than I ever imagined!
**six months later**
Somehow, nearly half a year passed before the guys came back
out to finish the job. It could have something to do with the fact that Joey and
Ashley have a new baby. That’s just speculation, though.
After hounding Randel about hounding Joey about when they
were going to finish my kitchen, Randel texted me one day: “How about we finish
your kitchen this weekend?”
I immediately said yes and wondered what I would feed them
this time around. They loved Pioneer Woman’s chicken tacos, but I wanted to do something different this time. I had a fierce craving for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, so that's what they got. Wanting to be a good hostess, I whipped up some baked beans and potato salad to go along with the sandwiches (okay, I bought the potato salad, but I did whip up the beans).
After eating, the boys got right to work. The other side of my kitchen had a smaller space to cover, so they were done in just a couple episodes of "Criminal Minds." The only thing is...they forgot the grout. So my kitchen isn't actually complete, but it's almost there.
I wonder what I should feed them for grout work...
And now, some before and after pics. [Note: Inevitably, I forget to take adequate "before" pictures, so I don't have many, and the ones I do have aren't great.]
These photos don't do my new kitchen justice, so if you want to admire the boys' handiwork in person, just stop on by. If you're lucky, you'll get some food out of the deal.
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