Return from Chicago

Chicago was ok-I worked my butt off and it was productive but I am beat. As I mentioned, I barely got any sleep before I left. We worked hard Monday, had dinner and toured the city for a while. Tuesday-8-8 is all I have to say. Then we went out for a terrific Chicago Style Pizza! I had one before and didn't like it but this was awesome. I don't know if it was the fact I was so hungry or what. Then I went to the House of Blues and listened to a great local band. They were so much fun and I stayed out way too late listening to them. Wednesday was busy and drama ensued at work. i got to the airport and my darn flight was delayed. So...I got in a little later than anticipated and morning came way too soon.

Today was a busy day. I worked until 10:30pm tonight and feel pretty good for two reason. 1) I got two things done that needed to be done before tomorrow (among a few others) and 2) I drank a fabulous bottle of wine. (new one for me to try) Now it's time for bed.

Hopefully the Posion concert and the labor day party don't wear me out too much. I am looking forward to a nice long weekend.

Brain Dead

Brainstorming sessions should be called brain drain sessions. I have been in meetings since Monday on a new initiative. It is fun to be involved but man, it sure is exhausting. I think this contributed to it:

Sunday night: tried to go to bed at 9:15 and got about 45 minutes of snooze time. Then I woke up and was on again/off again until Ryan came home with my parents at 11:30pm (or later). They were flying into Ft. Lauderdale from Europe (vacation). I got up and talked for a little bit but went back to bed a little after midnight. Then the panic to fall asleep set in. I had to be up at 3:30 to get ready to leave for a flight to Chicago. Of course, knowing I needed as much sleep as possible, I couldn't fall back to sleep and when I did, I kept waking up to make sure I hadn't overslept.

Monday morning: Made it to the airport, had an ok flight, and headed straight to the office. We worked our butts off at work and then had a nice team dinner. On the way back to the hotel, we decided to take the L for a cultural experience. Oh my. Then we walked around for a while and my brain was awake but my body was tired. I finally fell asleep around midnight and was back up a little after 6.

Tuesday: back at work before 8 and still here (it's going on 6:30). We worked too hard and I can't think or bare to talk about work anymore. We are going out for pizza and drinks. Hopefully it will be an early night.

It's been fun but there are more meetings tomorrow and then an evening flight back home. I felt bad not being around to baby my hubby after his surgery today. Hopefully he is obeying the dr.'s orders.

later peeps!

Pricey Saturday

Today was a pricey day. I started off by getting a nice new haircut (bye bye length, no more ponies for me). Then I headed to the mall for some shopping. Now here's the thing I hate most about my new hair salon (it relocated after Hurricane Wilma shut down the entire mall it lived in). I used to go every 4-6 weeks for a haircut (when I had short hair) and I always spent a little extra money purchasing a new ensamble to celebrate feeling good about myself. When the hair salon shut down and my stylist moved, she ended up in a crappy strip mall location with a UPS store on one side and a jeweler on the other. It doesn't lend for a quick trip down the hallway to find a store to shop in. So, back to the shopping thing. After my haircut, I headed to the mall in search of a few new things.

I found 2 purses that totaled less than some of the ones I was in love with. I can't justify paying that kind of money for a bag I toss on the floor and change every few months. If I had found a classic black or brown one I might have splurged but instead I found two semi-trendy ones I liked (plus they were on sale). Bought some new fingernail polish and then headed back to Ann Taylor. I found a super cute (I think I have used the word super 10 times now) pin striped pants suit and top to go under the jacket and two more shirts and a nice pair of dress pants. I saw a lot more I liked but they didn't fit perfect (especially at the prices they were asking). I told myself that next month (I have $150 worth of coupons for Sept in that store to use...read the fine print, I have to spend a lot to use that on my next trip) I will reward myself after losing some more weight. I think I am inbetween sizes on tops. They weren't fitting quite right and I hate to buy something too big or too small. I also bought a cute wooden bracelet and earings from some vendor in the center area of the mall. I loved his stuff and would have bought more but I really didn't need it. He had some gorgeous wooden bowls but they were too pretty to hide in a cupboard and I have no where to put them. I almost bought some wooden placemats or coasters but refrained. I think I had done enough damage for one week.

Good thing tomorrow starts a new week. I head to Chicago on Monday and Tuesday night is a free night. Maybe the girl I am going with will want to hit up H & M and some of the other fun shops on Michigan or State Street (I think it's State...).

After I get back, it's full steam ahead to drop the remaining 8 pounds. I think that will put me at a happy weight and the love handles will be minimized or possibly gone! Whoot woo!

Shower Head

Yesterday morning I turned on the shower and started to climb in when the flood gates opened! I thought my shower head filter thing (the plastic part with the slots for water to come out) broke. I turned the shower off and discovered the whole thing had disintegrated! I managed to haul my stuff into the hubby's shower and take one there. Last night, he replaced the old one with a new fabulous shower head. I am not used to it quite yet but it is quite nice. Good job Ryan and thank you!

Workin' on the Weekend

Workin on the weekend-well, sorta. Here's the recap:

Saturday I tried to get some "back to school" shopping in and that was cut short due to Rosie the Escape Artist. We are doggy sitting Rosie, my parent's dog. She is a black and white spotted spaz like Annie (she is a greyhound so not quite as crazy as Anna Banana but still crazy). She was out in the yard with Annie and supposedly they decided to find freedom (the gate door opened and none of us can figure out why or how since we were out with them a half hour earier and it was shut). I received a frantic call routed from Ryan, to Jerry, to Jess, to me (my cell didn't have reception at the mall) to come home. By the time I sat through 100+ lights (seriously, I sat at one red light for 4 or 5 cycles!) and went through every horrible scenario, I received a call that Jerry found her 2 blocks away from our house. I was relieved but still felt sick to my stomach.

The crew went out for dinner at Bubba Gump's and then to Howl at the Moon for some entertainment (or as I like to describe it, off key singing and chair dancing). We were celebrating (if you can call being sad celebrating) the departure of our friends to CO.

Sunday Ryan and I went to the movie Superbad which was not superbad nor supergood. It was funny but I would have waited to rent it. Then we headed home so I could finally tackle some work that I haven't been able to accomplish in the office. In 2 hours, I got done something that has taken me two days in the office to even look at. I seriously need to start working from home without email or phone access. I would be so much more productive-no interruptions.

With that said, we are both tackling some laundry and eventually will cook some dinner. Not very exciting but not too stenuous either. At least with a couple hours of work at home on the weekend, I dread going to work on Monday much less.

Busy Week

This week was super busy at work. Not sure why but it was. So that is why I have been slacking on the posting.

The mighty red blazer is starting to poop out on us so yesterday Ryan took it to Carmax to see what we could get for it. Excellent news, they quoted us $1000 more than what it probably would have cost to get the darn thing running again. So, we will be saying farewell to a very fun car. For me, it will be losing my first car all over again (my first real car was a GMC 2 door Jimmy-many memories there) and this was the car we rescued after hurricane Wilma (good memories cutting it out from under the tree and it's previous owners are good friends that moved back north). We will be back to a 2 car family. I wonder how long Ryan will hold off on letting me get a new car...or him a new one...

Bowling was ok this week. I was on fire during the first game. I think I hit a personal best at 142 or 147 (too many drinks, I am not sure what it was but it was in the 140's). After that, back to down hill with an 80 something and a 90 something. My parents were with us so afterwards we came back home and played Wii bowling with them. I got my butt kicked. Ryan was on fire with a 222! Ah...such good times.

My goal was to work on the computer until nature started to work. Time to go-literally. Talk to you all later!

Anniversary Post

Our trip to St. Augustine was good but VERY HOT! I don't know why neither one of us thought to maybe wait and go when it was cooler but 115+ degrees is too hot to be out walking about being a tourist. The worst part was as I was panicking to find a spot to get water before I passed out, I see a chic running at 2 in the afternoon like it were only 60 degrees out. Your runners are CRAZY.

Here's the breakdown:
1) I left work around 12:30 and we were off. Made it to our hotel before 5pm.
2) Friday night we walked the main strip in search of food, drinks, and our ghost tour. What we didn't account for was that even at 11pm it seemed to be 100 degrees out still. We vowed to dress very cool for Saturday.

*Food=ok on Friday night. Drinks=good but too many combos. Ghost tour=good for a "G" version. We did get pictures with orbs in them! Ryan was a sissy and told the ghosts to leave him alone. I encouraged them to give me a sign. The only sign I got was when I stubbed my toe and split it wide open in the hotel room that night. The sign was clearly present when I saw stars while saying every swear word in the book. Dang ghouls!

3) Saturday we were full blown tourists. We walked the strip again, went in more shops, visited a wax museum, the fort, ate and drank more, and went to the Fountain of Youth.

*The Fountain of Youth was very educational! Pretty cool to learn stuff even if you are sweating from your eyelids to your toe nails. Ryan literally had sweat dripping off of his arms!

4) Sunday we visited a great museum and had a good lunch. We decided we had sweat enough Friday and Saturday that we were just going to go home rather than hit up the last couple things we wanted to see.

Overall impression of St. Augstine was good. Just don't go when it is this hot outside. Also, we want to thank/harass our parents for teaching us that a vacation means fitting in as much as possible because you may not go back. It is a blessing and a curse. I think we miss the "relaxing" part of vacations because we are so busy trying to see all the sights but at least we get the main highlights accomplished and can decide whether it is worth going back for.

That's all folks. I have 3 episodes of Weeds to watch and laundry to do before Hell's Kitchen Season Finale.

Oh, and most importantly...I finished Harry Potter. Excellent book and ending to a fantastic series. I didn't get as "emotionally" upset as some but I did have a few moments where I had a pain in my chest and watery eyes. Kudos to JK Rowling. She knows how to write a great series.

Just a post

I haven't posted lately for a couple reasons. The main one is I haven't had much to blog about. Then, I think yesterday or the day before I had something I wanted to share but got busy at work and didn't do it when I got home.

Summary:
1) Weigh-in Thursday: new personal best. I have lost 11 lbs total and saw a new set of numbers on the scale that I haven't seen in two years. Ah...now I need to get back to exercising and drop the remaining 9.
2) Bowling: Sucked. Well, I sucked at bowling. Enough said.
3) Anniversary: Today I have a half day of work and then we are off to St. Augstine to celebrate another blissful year of marriage. That's right, he still loves me.

I hope to have some fabulous ghost stories when I get back. I am pumped for the haunted tour!

Weekend Recap

I did not wash our cars this weekend but I did get some R and R in on Sunday. We biked over to our friends house, sat by the pool and read, took a few dips to cool off (swimming in bathwater isn't that refreshing but it helped cool us off) and rode back home to do some more reading and tv watching.

I found a recipe for muffaleta (spelling ?) sandwiches like Rosey's Bar makes...they turned out excellent. Now, if only I could figure out how to make Rosey Fries I would be set!

Scam or Poor Service

Well folks, besides being awake with the dogs since 6:30 (thank you Ryan for taking them in and out several times) I have been struggling to fall back into a wonderful state of sleep. When I finally did I received a call from MECU (Motorola Credit Union) trying to verify charges on our credit card. Ryan told me not to give them any info over the phone which I would have because a) I was half asleep and b) I don't take lightly to thieves. (If you remember, someone stole my cell phone number a couple years ago and wracked up a $2000+ phone bill.)

Ryan quickly said, don't give them your info, we know what we bought yesterday (which was a spendy day-Target, Publix, and Crown). The computer voice rolled over to a human and I asked if they could tell me what the charges were first before I gave them info and they said no. So I said ok I am not verifying anything with you. Then she said I could call some Customer Service number. I asked her the number and she said its on the back of your card. Hmm....shouldn't they know that number? Also, why in the hell would anyone call before 9am ET on a Sunday?

The question I beg to ask is "Do I call the service number and check to see what's up?" Ryan says no. We checked our online account and everything we bought yesterday is accurate. I think I should call and see if it was a legit call. If it wasn't, other people could get scammed today.

Anyhow, I am awake now and not happy about it. Maybe I will get some Potter read today. Yesterday we cleaned house and I sharpened my knives. Yes, they worked pretty slick last night on our steak and prawn dinner. Ryan was a grilling machine. I even made some fully cooked twice deviled potatoes. The lightbulbs were purchased and installed and Ryan put in a new shower curtain rod for me and a new toilet seat. So, it was a very productive chore day at the Froyd household. Today will be a day of rest and relaxation.

Weekend List

I have very few goals this weekend other than the following:

1) Read Harry Potter
2) Clean House
3) Wash Cars

Now, all of those could become much more detailed but I figured I am going to be lazy in my blogging today.

I worked until after 7pm last night and then came home to eat some glorious mexican rolls, crab rangoon, and hot and sour soup. Then I watched 300 with the hubby and Jess and Jerry. I was actually more impressed with the movie than anyone else. Maybe it was because I thought I was going to hate it.

The hounds were pretty good lastnight. Rio snuggled on the couch with us while the other hounds fought over which bone they were going to eat. As for Jazzy...she just kept an eye on us all.

Time to get some cleaning done so I can work on reading Harry.

Dull Knives = Sharp Tongue

Since I made my comment about wanting to sharpen our knives, I have received some crap from a few friends that found it hilarious. I admit, funny crazy Erin.

Last night was bowling and I bowled ok. I am definitely better than years past but still not holding my own on the team. That part stinks. The other part that stinks is that after a few beers we all start yapping at each other and last night I was going back and forth with a friend. We took a few stabs at each other that didn't go over so well and in the end we knew we were just giving each other a hard time. I honestly couldn't remember what was said because that's how fast we were flinging comments. Last night got a little crazy and I want to apologize to those that were caught in the cross fire of awkwardness. Sorry guys. It's all good.

So, next week. No sharp tongue because I will have sharp knives!

10 Hours of Sleep

I left work early last night (a whole whopping half hour) but it made a ton of difference. I was able to get my 2 mile walk in with Jess, Scooter, and Annie. We had dinner, watched two episodes of Weeds, I read 2 or 3 chapters of Potter and went to bed at 8:30. It was glorious!

I doubt I will be leaving early tonight but I have a ton of "things" I want to accomplish at home tonight through this weekend. Ryan better watch out the list includes things like sharpening knives and replacing those darn lightbulbs that keep burning out around the house. I swear as soon as he replaces one, another one burns out.