Back to reality...

Hope every had a Happy Thanksgiving! I know I did and the couple of days away from work were delightful. I even unplugged completely for two whole days, much to The Hubs's delight!

However, now it's back to reality and if the traffic in to work this morning didn't give it away, the long list of things I have to do at work that I didn't get done during the short week will. It does seem that things are off to a slow start though. I'm thinking maybe some people decided to stretch out the Thanksgiving Holiday just a bit more!

In any case, we've had an eventful week that I was away.

Last Saturday, we headed to Monterey for my company's 20th Anniversary Party.

The company rented out the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the weekend and it was beyond awesome! There were little cocktail tables set up throughout the aquarium for us to sit and enjoy dinner while watching the fish (or jellyfish as we our location choice!).

It was seriously so cool to have uninhibited access to all of the aquarium attractions sans strollers and little kids running around. Not to mention, we got to imbibe in delicious wine and cocktails while we explored! AWESOME! I would highly recommend a party their for any large group, if you can afford it!

Sunday we headed back from Monterey and I was not home longer than an hour before I headed to Berkeley to participate in a SWE Mixer with some collegiates. It's no secret that I love participating in Outreach activities and this was no exception.

The short work week was hard to get through, but it made the two days off worth it. We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house, where both my family and The Hubs's family celebrated together.  I don't have any pictures (bad blogger!), but know that the food was delicious and the wine was yummo!

Black Friday found us sleeping in and NOT venturing out to the stores to hit up the supposed greatest deals. I loathe shopping and waiting in traffic, finding a parking spot and waiting in long lines were not worth the deals I might have gotten. Instead, The Hubs and I signed up for an Amazon Prime account and began marking the things we would be buying our families for Christmas. WAY EASIER!

Then we went out and saw The Muppets movie with my bro and his girlfriend. I don't totally remember The Muppet Show (I think I was pretty little when it was on...), but once I heard some of the songs it jogged my memory. I definitely remember The Muppets though (Fozzie Bear was my favorite!), so it was fun to see them on the big screen. I LOVED the reaction of the kids watching it with us! Their excitement was infectious!

Image Source: Daemons Movies

Saturday and Sunday were spent Christmas decorating! I love the holidays and our house always looks so cute! I can't wait to show off all of my decorations at the SWE Holiday party coming up next week! The Hubs was a BIG help with the decorating! He put up the tree and decorated it making it the best I think it has ever looked! He also put up all the outside lights and garland!

We did one other thing this weekend that was shopping related, but I think I share that tomorrow! The Hubs and I were pretty excited about our purchase! :-)

For now, I'm going to try to make it through the day... keeping my eye first on lunchtime (when I plan to get my oil changed) and then 4:30 (when I plan on leaving for yoga)!

Have a great first day back to work everyone! Only a few more weeks till the next holiday! I LOVE THIS SEASON! :-)

On Self Acceptance...

I was reading a post written by A Long Far View the other day about Being Yourself and it really got me thinking.

Am I ok with just being myself?

If you had asked me last week, I might have said mostly yes. Work was going really well. I was checking thing off of my yearly goals list and really feeling like I was accomplishing things and making a difference. I also had the opportunity to talk to a group of high school girls and their parents about my career at an orientation for a program that gets girls excited about careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing things like this and both the girls and their parents seemed to enjoy my presentation. I think I may have even convinced a few that Materials Engineering might be in their future! Home life was also great! The Hubs and I had the opportunity to hang out with great friends who I've known since college and who will definitely be friends for life. It felt great just being with people we love being around!

Now, fast forward to last night... If you had asked me then if I was ok with being myself, it would have been a resounding "NO!". I had an especially bad self esteem evening as I was trying on a dress I've worn over the past couple of years to multiple weddings. Since we have a work party this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to figure out if these dresses still fit. (Nothing like waiting to the last minute, eh?) Well, the dresses ended up fitting, but they felt much tighter than I remember and I felt like I looked especially bad in it. I knew I'd gained a little weight and this was evidence. A little too many treats and not enough working out will do that to you. But then I really started getting down on myself... comparing myself to my friends who are pregnant and weigh the same as me. That escalated to the inaccurate perception that I'm broken since I can't get pregnant. That let to me just getting in bed at 8:00pm by myself throwing myself a pity party while The Hubs was watching TV in the other room.

So moral of the story.. I guess I haven't fully figured out how to accept myself as I am, even at 29.

I definitely don't feel the need to doll myself up like I used to in college, but I still do the evil thing of comparing myself to others. I need to continually remind myself that people love me and want to be friends with me just the way I am. Doesn't matter my size or shape or my crazy Type A anxious personality (although it does leave me wide open for teasing!).

Guess I need to catch up on the 17 Oprah's Life Classes I have on my DVR. Maybe I'll learn a little more about self-acceptance from her!

Are you ok with just being yourself or do you still struggle with it?

How have you been able to let go of all of your self-criticisms?

Rant

 

Image Source: Babble

I couldn't go without commenting on the fact that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have just announed that they are having their 20th child. 20th!

I must admit that I do watch The Duggars on occasion. I'm a reality show junkie, so this just falls into that category. I just really can't believe after everything they went through with their last child (where both Michelle and the baby almost died), that they would want to take the risk. They already have 19 healthy children! To me, it's crazy. To them, it's God's will.

I guess the green giant of envy is rearing its ugly head in me. We (and tons of other couples) are having trouble just having one baby and they have 20!  It's hard for me to even grasp the fact that she has been pregnant most of her life.

Seriously. Crazy.

End of rant. Now back to your regularly scheduled "Anniversary Week" Blogging.

A Cooking Extravaganza of a Sunday

This Sunday, while The Hubs was off helping his bro pour concrete, I decided that I would spend the afternoon cooking some fall, festive food. (Say that three times fast.)

I started out by making the 3 ingredient pumpkin bread (Spice Cake Mix, small can pumpkin puree & 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice) that apparently has been all the rage on Pinterest. (I am not a Pinner...don't need another computer time suck!) I found it over at Bower Power and then ended up doing a bit more Googling till I got the actual recipe which I ended up finding here.

The final product...

And the verdict??? YUM-O! The Hubs and I have both made duds of pumpkin bread recipes, so it was great to find one that actually works! Even though it is more of a cake than a bread, it still satisfies a pumpkin craving!

Then I went on to make some festive Halloween cupcakes for work tomorrow and for our evening out with friends tomorrow night. I found the inspiration for the decoration over at Gina's Skinny Recipes (what the heck did people do for inspiration before blogs and the internet??), even though the actual cupcakes aren't skinny!

Oh well.. They turned out super cute!!!

And finally... I decided to try a Paleo (well it wasn't fully Paleo as it had some pumpkin ale in it, but we weren't picky!) Pumpkin Chili over Spaghetti Squash that our friends Teresa and Elliott said was delicious. It made the kitchen smell so fall-like as it was cooking! I love seasonal foods!
It was REALLY delicious and healthy!! I loved the lingering pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon flavor!

Now, I have to go get all the pieces of my somewhat unoriginal costume together for tomorrow! I'll try to post a picture of it sometime tomorrow, but if not then, definitely Tuesday!

Until then...I hope you all have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Weekend Shenanigans

This post is coming a few days late as I've been having trouble finding time to blog.

It seems when I don't try to catch up on posts on the weekend, that I can never recover to post daily during the week. When I first started this blog, I'd write posts at work during some down time or at lunch. Now, work has been busier and with one of my best friends working here now, lunchtime is occupied every day! During the evening, The Hubs wants me to watch TV with him and hang out and he sometimes gets a bit annoyed when I have the computer open and am typing away.

In any case, this weekend The Hubs and I did some fun things.

Saturday we had a Cal game at AT&T park at 4:00 pm, so we decided to head into the city early to hang out. We took Bart up to Union Square where we did a little window shopping and then ended up walking the couple of miles to the ball park.

We usually hang out at Public House prior to the game, but this week we decided to try some new places. First we hit up Pete's Tavern for lunch and a few drinks, then MoMo's for a few more drinks. At MoMo's, I had a Pink Lemonade and a Humm Baby shot which were both yummy in their fruity deliciousness. I don't have any pictures cause well, there were tons of people crammed into a small area, reminiscent of our college days.

The late afternoon at the ballpark was great. The weather was warm enough to be without a jacket and the Bears FINALLY won!

Sunday morning I caught up on some Oprah's Lifeclasses (I'm hoping to write up some blog posts on some of these episodes this weekend. I've been finding them quite enriching in reminding me on how to live my best life.)

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet Teresa and Elliott's new edition Mackenzie.

She is such a cutie, as evidence of these pictures!

It was so nice to see the whole family and I was able to get my baby fix, at least for a little while!

I'm so glad that today is already hump day and next weekend is already in sight. We don't have anything officially planned for the weekend so I'm looking forward to just relaxing!

And now for a reader poll...

When do you all compose your blog posts?

Have a great rest of the week!

Happy Birthday!

Isn't he cute?? :-)

Happy Birthday to The Hubs who turns 30 years young today!

Thanks for putting up with my crap and loving me anyways.

Here's to many more wonderfully happy birthdays! :-)

(Sorry that this showed up in Google Reader yesterday!)

TGIF

Image Source: We Heart It

Wahoo! Thank God  it's Friday!

I feel like the last two weeks have dragged on. Must be the post-vacation slump. (Has it already been a month since Seattle??) I'm already ready for my next vacation day. Unfortunately, neither The Hubs and I have this Monday off for Columbus Day. :-(

The Hubs and I don't have any special plans this weekend, although the weather in the Bay is supposed to be really nice. After a week of rain, it might be nice to get a little bit of sun!

Fleet Week is coming to the city, so if we have enough energy to brave the crowds, maybe we'll head there. Or else we'll just hang out around the house doing errands and maybe go out to the movies to see Moneyball. I hope to spend a little time drafting some blog posts for next week as well!

Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend or are you content just hanging around the house? 

Are any of you lucky enough to have Columbus Day off?

Get To Know Me Better - 5 Things

Here's another great "Get to Know Me" exercise that my new blogging friend Shayla posted about.

Feel free to re-post so I can get to know more about you as well! :-)

Last five people I talked to on the phone:
1. Coworker and one of my best friends about a work thing
2. The Hubs - I needed him to take ground turkey out of the freezer for dinner! See below!
3. The Hubs
4. My sister
5. My mom

Last five meals I ate:
1. Last night's dessert: A piece of spice cake (not a meal, but close enough)
2. Last night's dinner: Ground turkey tacos with a corn tortilla
3. Yesterday's lunch: Lentil chili leftovers (recipe courtesy of Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life) and fruit
4. Yesterday's breakfast: A bowl of Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Granola Cereal and a glass of milk
5. Sunday Dinner: Sweet Tomatoes - salad, chicken noodle soup and chocolate lava cake with soft serve

Last five places I’ve traveled (or fun places I've gone!):
1. Keith Urban concert last night!
2. Cal Football game at AT&T Park
3. Seattle at the beginning of September
4. Backstreet Boys/NKOTB concert in July
5. San Luis Obispo for a spontaneous weekend away in January

Next five places I will go that I know of right now and not counting work (I added some details to make this one more interesting!):
1. 24 Hour for my FAVORITE step class
2. Grocery Store - I'm hoping I can find a Spaghetti Squash as I've been wanting to make one for awhile.
3. AT&T Park for Cal v. USC football game
4. Monterey for a Comedy Show (This is still up in the air... It would be part of The Hubs 30th B-day celebration)
5. SWE Professional Development Event


Last five workouts:
1. 30 min stationary bike (today at lunch)
2. Cleaning the house and doing laundry, which I consider a work out! hehe :-) (Saturday)
3. 1 hour step class at 24 hour fitness (Thursday)
4. 30 minutes of running on treadmill, 10 minutes of stair climber, sit-ups (Wednesday)
5. 1 hour step class at 24 hour fitness (Tuesday)

Five things making me happy right now:
1. That the weather is gloomy and getting cooler, perfect for snuggling with the Hubs and wearing warm, comforting clothes.
2. The smell of pumpkin and cinnamon (from baked goods and candles)
3. The secret I'm keeping about what I'm getting the Hubs for his 30th birthday! ;-)
4. That my BBT is FINALLY tracking like a "normal" woman.
5. That I seem to be getting back in the blogging groove and I'm connecting with even more online friends!

Fell off the Blogging Wagon

Wow...did I fall off the blogging wagon!

It has been over a month since my last blog post and unfortunately I have NO big news, like Sugar over at Sugar and Spice, and NO big excuses to show for it.

It has simply been a lack of inspiration...

I talked to my best friend about it and she came up with tons of things I could blog about. Funny how people looking from the outside in can see more interest in my life than me and I'm the one living it!

Here's a list of some blog topics in the works:

• Surviving my first "baby" babysitting experience (with some help). How hard could it be to take care of a baby this cute???

• My constant search for fulfilling activities to participate in to offset my extreme lack of motivation in my current line of work.
• How to Have a Garage Sale - The Hubs and I REALLY need to have a garage sale and get rid of all the crap we have in our garage and one and only spare bedroom. I've never had one before though and the prospect is SUPER overwhelming.
• The Hubs and I went on a boat tour of the new Bay Bridge a couple of weeks ago. It was very interesting and I can't wait till it is completed (especially with The Big One coming...)

• Babymaking - this one I'm a little apprehensive about writing about. I mean, I feel guilty saying that I think we have issues when we haven't been trying for that long. My gut tells me (based on the information my body is telling me) we're gonna need some help and I have an appointment coming up to formally discuss it with my doctor.
• We took The Pup to a dog park for the first time two weeks ago and he LOVED it. Then yesterday we went to Fort Funston, aka, "Dog Disneyland" as our friend Bret calls it, with some friends. It was awesome (for people and their canine friends). Here's a picture of the ambiance there on an apparently rare sunny day:

 That's a pretty awesome start of blog ideas and it felt great to get these ideas down on "paper"! Now I need to find time and motivation to get writing!

Brain Dump...

I haven't felt very inspired to write lately...which has been why things have been somewhat radio silence over here. I do have stuff in my head that I know I should get down on paper (or on this blog), but I've been so lazy I just don't feel like doing it.

I thought it might be a good idea to do a brain dump to get clear my head so I can get some real writing done!

• I'm coming up on the two week mark of having my brand new spiffy Smartphone. I think I've finally decided that I am going to stick with my Droid Incredible 2. Once someone showed me how to work it (i.e. figure out the setting so I could make the screens look the way I want), I really started to like it. My favorite thing about it is that I can sync it with my Google, work and Facebook contacts all without physically connecting the phone to my computer. I've also found myself to be more productive since I can check all my blogs easily BEFORE I get to work.

• I finally got around to making an appointment to get our 1 year and 1 week old Pup to get neutored. I know, I know, I should have done it long ago, but it was a task that I had hoped The Hubs would get done. That didn't happen, so I just went ahead and did it myself. Everything went fine and The Pup was back to normal in less than 24 hrs. In fact, we left him home in the crate for 4 hours with his "cone of shame" on to find it COMPLETELY DESTROYED. Now we have to hope he doesn't lick his wound like crazy...

• I had a yummy lobster sandwich this week...from a food truck! A bunch of coworkers follows Sam's Chowder House on Twitter and found out their Chowdermobile was in the area. I have been to the actual restaurant which is delicious, so we had to try it. It was delish. I mean, lobster for lunch?? I should have taken a picture of all the lobster meat I got, but it was devoured before I could take it. I got a picture of the truck instead! hehe :-)

• TV has been less than stellar lately, but I have found one show that I really like.. Pregnant in Heels. I love that Rosie Pope helps crazy rich pregnant ladies learn how to be a mother or deal with their issues before baby comes. I also love that she discusses her own struggle with infertility and happiness when things finally seem to work out!

Image Source: Facebook

• Only 3 more episode of Oprah left... I'm already crying after every episode. I'll probably do a rehash next week of what I thought of her last season, but for now, head over to Kim Michelle's blog to see what lesson she learned from the latest episode... 

Have a great weekend everyone! :-)

Joining the 21st Century!

So this weekend, I finally did it! I finally upgraded to a Smartphone. I didn't end up adding The Hubs to my plan since he still has to have his phone for another year. I just added the data pack to my really cheapo talk plan from back in the day.

I didn't do a whole lot more research other then using the suggestions you all provided a month or so ago on which phone to get. Instead I decided that I wanted a Droid and then went with the one that was the smallest. This ended up being the HTC Droid Incredible 2, which I didn't realize just came out last week.

Image Source: SimplyDroid

I was a little leery about the brand, as I'd never heard of HTC. All the other Droids were Motorola's but they were SO big. The iPhone is also super large. So based on size, I thought I had made the right decisions.

The problem was, I wasn't able to play with ANY of the phones, as they were all demo units and the real ones were locked until activation. I played with my Droid all weekend to see if I could get the hang of it and although I am learning, some things are just strange to me. My Yahoo mail isn't syncing properly. I'm getting mulitple notifications about the same emails. There are like pre-installed apps that stream all of my Facebook and Twitter updates which I'm not used to. The time on the main screen is so large I can't only put six apps on it. Etc. I also still haven't figured if I can sync my Outlook mail and Calendar from work with my Gmail one. 

One thing I did like was that I could sync my contacts with Facebook and Gmail so I could get pictures of everyone and Facebook b-days show up on my Calendar. Can the iPhone do that???

Needless to say I'm a bit overwhelmed. So I'm sorta thinking about switching to an iPhone. Regardless of the size, I know I know how to use it and have TONS of people at work who can help me figure it out if I have questions. I also know more about using iTunes to get any apps I want.  I don't know anyone with an Incredible. I have 14 days to change phones so I am going to ask around at work today. 

Also, this paranoia victim is worried about radiation. The Incredible 2 has a SAR rating of 1.44, the iPhone has a SAR rating of 1.17. AND I know of a phone case for the iPhone that supposedely reduces radiation. So far it looks like they haven't even started manufacturing any for the Incredible. I must admit this is also sorta swaying my decision as well...

Uggg...now I'm starting to think the extra $30 a month isn't worth the stress I'm causing myself....

I'll keep you posted on what I end up deciding. In the meantime...Any words of wisdom???

Shopping Win!

You may think I'm weird, but shopping is not something I like to do. Many of my clothes are ones I've worn since high school and I typically only buy new stuff when I REALLY need something. I complain to The Hubs about my wardrobe all the time and every weekend I tell him that I REALLY need to go shopping. Problem is if I do go shopping I normally just look around, try the occasional thing on and then leave empty handed. My usual excuse is that the items are too expensive or I'm indecisive in whether I like the item or not.

This weekend, however, my mom, The Hubs and I, hit up the Outlets after attending a birthday party. There are tons of awesome stores at these outlets, but we ended up hitting a select few.

Always on the top of our list is the Coach outlet. I mean, who can resist, adorable purses for like half the price that they normally are! They were have an AWESOME sale the day we were there... all of the items were 30-50% off of the original non-factory store prices and then we were able to et 30% off our entire purchase. With the help of my mom and The Hubs, I was able to leave the store spending on $260 on three items! An awesome deal if you know how much this stuff normally costs!.

I came away with a new smaller, brown wallet, an ADORABLE summer bag that is big enough to fit evrything I typically carry around with me (which is a lot!) and some much needed new sunglasses (my hot pink "Love an Engineer" ones were getting a bit old!).

After that, my mom wanted to go into Aldo to look for some new white sandals. The minute we walked in we saw the perfect ones. I ended up trying them on as well and we both left the store with them! They were a steal for $36. (It was a good think I bought these because when I got home, I found that the heel was separating from the top of the shoe on the white sandals I had at home. It was a great feeling to know that I made worthwhile purchase and a steal in price at that!)

Then, while still at the Aldo store, I saw these cute grey/black flip flops with Sparkly tops. Again, I knew I didn't have black flip flops at home so I knew these would be a good buy. What made it a better buy is that my mom ended up buying my sister a pair and they were buy one get one half off!

 

We ended our short little shopping spree at the Levi outlet where I got a new pair of Boyfriend jeans (I had just figured out my own jean capris were not fitting well.) and a pair of regular jeans (a few of my pairs were starting to look crappy).

It felt good to buy some new cute stuff and it felt even better that I was able to get rid of one item for everything I bought! I'm hoping these fun, practical purchases get me out of my shopping funk!

Any other shopper haters out there? How do you get out of a no-shopping, but really need to be shopping funk?

The Royal Wedding

Yesterday night, I had planned to not wake up to watch the Royal Wedding live, but to just watch it on DVR the next day.

However, lucky for me, The Pup decided to have the hiccups at 3AM exactly this morning so I was at least able to catch the wedding ceremony LIVE!

It was such a beautiful ceremony! Princess Kate (I know that isn't her official title, but I like the simplicity of it) looked ravishing and in a way utterly normal. You could tell she was a bit nervous, but excited and she handled everything so gracefully. Prince William also looked quite strapping in one of his military uniforms. I loved the shy little smiles he was giving Kate throughout the ceremony. I loved that they even whispered a few words to each other now and then even though they had to have know billions of people around the world were watching them. Some royals would have just stoically stood up there and gone through the motions of the ceremony, but Will and Kate looked like they were actually able to live it and enjoy it. Amazing!

Image Source: Yahoo AP

It is also amazing to me, how normal the two of them seem, compared to other high profile couples. Their courtship was utterly normal with bits of jealousy, uncertainty, and even a short lived break up. The wedding, although a royal formal affair, definitely had their stamp of approval at every step of the way. I think much of this probably has to do with Princess Diana's influence. Although it is so tragic that she wasn't able to celebrate with them, it was her life and death that seemed to teach Will and Kate that there is more to life than being Royal and that they must speak up for themselves in things they truly believe in.

Kate's dress was so beautiful. It was elegant, yet modern. Simple and not overly ornate. Her hair was also in a simple half up/half down do, and she wore a small but sparkly tiara. To me, she was perfection. And to Will, well he summed it up in my FAVORITE part of the whole ceremony. As her dad walked her up to the alter, Will gave her a slight side glance and smile and I saw him say to her "Beautiful".  Made me want to get married all over again!  Kate's sister Pippa was also so elegantly dressed in a white silk dress that was so flattering on her.

Image Source: Yahoo AP

 I am so happy that I was able to see the ceremony LIVE as it will remember for a long time. I will also likely be rewatching it later thanks to the DVR!

I wish Will and Kate all the best for a happy and healthy future!

Now for some coffee...

Missed Opportunities

It seems that I am quickly becoming the queen of missed career opportunities. Rather, I waffle on whether or not to take advantage of an opportunity and then end up missing it. Then I become  inwardly annoyed with the person who ended up getting the opportunity - in most cases someone who technically has less experience then I do (which hasn't seemed to matter much in many of the moves I see being made).

The latest missed opportunity occurred recently. It was the opportunity to supervise one of the labs at work. Operators had approached me, asking me to look into the position as they thought I would be a good fit and would like to work for me. I did my research and went to our company website to look up the job description. When I did, the only supervisory position was a swing shift opportunity - not something I would want. Plus, even though the operators wanted me to bring my detail and organizational skills to the lab, I don't know how I would be in a supervisory role because of my intense emotions and tendency to get very stressed out. So I sort of put the opportunity to the back of my mind.  (This was my big mistake. I now realize if I was at all interested, I should have gone and physically talked to somebody about it.) Now I find out that the position is taken and that it was in fact a day shift opportunity. I'm finding myself a little resentful although the fault sits squarely on my shoulders!

I think the majority of the time, I don't actively pursue these opportunities because I'm afraid at failing at the new position. I also have plans for starting a family and don't want a new career move to get in the way. Both of these are BAD reasons to miss opportunities. I just don't know what to do to gain more confidence in myself and just do it.

Failure is something that I already deal with in my current position, so how could taking this new opportunity be any different. I read on SO many blogs (click on each for GREAT personal development stuff) that you need to take risks to reap great rewards, but for some reason I am not putting what I learn into action.

As for starting a family, who knows when that will actually pan out. Four months in and I don't even think things are moving in the right direction (i.e. - no Aunt Flo, no egg, no baby).  I need to go see the doctor, but figure she'd probably make me wait six months anyways until they would do anything. I normally see her in Aug, so I think I'll just wait till then to see what she says. But until then, well, I guess I need to keep looking for opportunities and not worry about the what if's of when a baby comes...


How do you all approach opportunities? Are you like me and tend to miss them or do you take the bull by the horns and just go for it?

Adding a Few Laughs To Our Weekend

After both The Hubs and I had a less than stellar work week, The Hubs decided we needed to do something spontaneous and fun to start our weekend off right.

So on Friday night we ended up buying last minute tickets at a local comedy club to see this guy...


Image Source: SF Standup

Let me just say, Kevin Nealon was hilarious! The Hubs was especially excited about seeing him. He was also more than a little bit starstruck when he entered the club and was sitting a few chairs away awaiting his time on stage.

It was so nice to have a spontaneous date night, just the two of us, as most of the time we just hang out by ourselves at home.When we do go out to comedy clubs and things, we most of the time make an event of it and invite all of our friends. We really need to make a point of planning "outings" that are different from dinner and a movie. It livens things up!

The rest of the weekend was fairly relaxing. We took our first trip up to the ranch to see my bestie Sarah work with her horse Ronan. I thought it was quite amazing seeing her work with him, as the closest animal I've ever seen being trained were our dogs. The Hubs and I even got to help brush him and learn a few things about horses in the process. We weren't able to ride him this time, but hope to get a chance in the future. It will be the first horse I've ever ridden (with the exception of the pony I rode on one of our honeymoon excursions!)

Ronan and Sarah

Me trying to be artistic with the camera.

The Hubs and I also spent some time this weekend watching the Giants and being amazed at the Friday and Saturday games when we pulled out a win in the bottom of the ninth. So exciting! It looks like the TORTURE is continuing!

Tonight we're going out to the ballpark to see the Giants play the Dodgers. It's my first baseball game attendance in a few years so I am really looking forward to it! :-)




How do you add a few laughs and excitment to your weekend after a long week?

Bad Blogger and the ABC's

I apologize for being a bad blogger and not posting in awhile. I've definitely got stuff to say, its just been hard finding the time. The rain made me sleepy and now the sun makes me want to spend time outdoor instead of on the computer.

So to give my lovely readers (whoever is still out there) something to actually read, I figured I'd jump on the ABC bandwagon so that you all can get to know me better.

A. Age: 28

B. Bed size: Queen - that's the biggest that will fit in our tiny room

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom, especially dealing with dust when the bathroom is even a little damp. 

D. Dogs: Chocolate Lab named Rusty (aka Devil). He's 11 months old (wow time flies as I remember him when he was only 8 weeks and an angel!)

E. Essential start to your day: Checking email, reading blogs, checking Twitter and Facebook

F. Favorite color: Purple

G. Gold or silver: I used to be mostly a silver girl, but lately I've been throwing splashes of gold in. I really love my gold Stella Dot earrings and necklace!

Image Source: Stella Dot

Image Source: Stella Dot

H. Height: 5'2

I. Instruments: I can play a little piano, but mostly just easy songs.

J. Job title: Sr. Process Engineer

K. Kids: Not yet. I need to figure out how to get my body to ovulate first! (I know, I know... TMI!)

L. Live: Castro Valley, CA

M. Mom's name: Linda

N. Nicknames: Jen and my maiden name

O. Overnight hospital stays: None. Hopefully it stays that way until I'm ready to have a baby!

P. Pet peeve: I have lots I'm sure, but the first one that comes to mind and that annoys me on a fairly regular basis is The Hubs throwing his clothes on the floor.

Q. Quote from a movie: "Just Breathe." - Ever After

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: 23 year old brother and 20 year old sister

T. Time you wake up: 6:30 AM

U. Underwear: Victoria's Secret

V. Vegetables you dislike: I'm not a big fan of Eggplant.

W. What makes you run late:Hitting snooze one too many times and then being in a traffic mess because I left late.

X. X-Rays you've had: Only on my teeth.

Y. Yummy food you make:My turkey meatballs are pretty good, but I think the thing I make best and most often is my mom's chocolate bundt cake. I make it for EVERY occasion!

Z. Zoo- favorite animal: Hmm, never thought about this. The first animal that comes to mind is a Giraffe!

Love Weekends

I love weekends.

I love them even more when I get to spend part of them with this cutie!

 

 

Can't wait for a couple of weeks from now when The Hubs and I get to spend the whole weekend with him...and  his mom, dad, and some fresh powder of course! :-)

Thank you!

Thanks so much for all the Smartphone feedback!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I can use this little blog community to gather information about things I know little about. It is wonderful and one of the best parts of blogging!

The Hubs and I are planning on going into Verizon sometime soon to see what sort of deals are being offered and to at least get some information.

It would be AWESOME if the parentals would let us share a plan (a great suggestion from Cathleya!) , but I'm not sure it would work out. My family already has three phones on it, so I guess I could see how much more it would be to add two Smartphones. We'd then need to figure out a fair way to split the bill since the Smartphones should cost more. I can see this being a point of contention in my family, although if I offer to pay the entire bill up front maybe it would be easier to convince them.

Sharing with his family would be tough since his dad is sorta cell phone crazy (i.e. renewing contracts and choosing phones for people without their consent). This is why The Hubs is still on his parent's plan.

At this point, I think I'm leaning toward a Droid X, since I already have an iTouch, but who knows...

Anyways, sorry for the lack of posting lately. Work has been busy (in a good way! Shocker right???) and I'm in need of some blogspiration. I'm attending a local SWE conference this weekend which is never short of inspiring, so maybe I will be enlightened. :-)

To Smartphone or Not To Smartphone...That is the Question!

The Hubs and I have been living in the Stone Age when it comes to cell phones.

These are them in all their old school glory:

Both of us have noticed that whenever we walk into a work meeting or into a public place, we are the ONLY ones without a Smartphone.

I've been due for a new phone from Verizon for ages and The Hubs is waiting for his contract on his parent's plan to be up so we can finally combine plans. It seems like now is as good a time as any to see if we are ready to take the leap and join the Smartphone revolution.

So what are our reservations...

First, is the cost. At Verizon, there really isn't a price break when you have only two phones on a family plan. Then add on $60 a month for two data plans and you're talking a cell phone bill that costs as much as our TV, Phone and Internet combined!!  I've been on the same plan for ages, back when talk and text was cheap!

We've been trying to save money as much as we can now before we start a family, but after meeting with our tax guy yesterday and finding out what our refund is going to be (YAY!), we sorta realized that we do have extra money for some splurges in life...Smartphones being one of them. I mean, it seems like everyone and their mother can somehow afford a Smartphone, so why can't we?

Second, is signing that darn 2 year contract. They don't make phones like they used to and it seems like they always bite the dust right before your contract is up. I'm not sure how reliable the Smartphones on the market are, but it worries me to pay a ton for a phone upfront, sign a 2 year deal and then the phone stops working 1 year in.

So blog friends, who I am sure ALL have some sort of Smartphone device...

What service provider do you have and on average how much do you pay a month?

Is the extra expense each month worth it?


What phone do you have - iPhone, Droid, Blackberry? (I have an iTouch, so I'm thinking getting an iPhone is somewhat redundant. Although my iTouch doesn't have a camera or a phone on it.)

Change my Name, Change my Name

So when The Hubs and I got married in November of 2009, I had already decided I was going to change my name. I even was gifted with a Miss Now Mrs gift card to make the process easier! However, being the lazy bum that I am, it took me 6 months to get around to actually going to Social Security to complete the process. In the few weeks that followed, I changed my name at the DMV, work and at the bank where I do the majority of my business.

And that is where my motivation stopped...

It is almost 9 months later and I still haven't changed my name in the following places:

~ All Credit Cards (I still have my old ID so I can still use them.)
~ Old 401K
~ ING Savings Account
~ Mutual Funds
~ Title on the House
~ Real Estate License
~ Passport
~ And probably tons more places I haven't thought of!

I just made an appointment with our tax guy and I'm freaking out a little that I'm going to screw things up for our taxes because I've only half way changed over to my new name. My social security number is the same though and should link up to both names, but I'm still worried. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks! (I also hope we find out we get a BIG refund! The Hubs and I both withhold the max from our paychecks and never adjusted it after buying the house so that should help increase our refund...)

I really need to get on the ball and just send out all the letters and copies of my marriage certificate to get things rolling, but again I'm lazy and would rather spend the little time I am at home with The Hubs watching a movie.

Did anyone else take a long time to fully change to your new name after getting married? Is there any other totally obvious place that I am forgetting about where I should change my name?