Five Thing Friday

Look at this, I said I was going to blog this week and I did. Small wins folks, small wins.

Might as well take it old school and do a "Five Thing Friday". Heads up, I;m super tired because there was a storm last night and the dog and cats really wanted to come into the bedroom. Between all of their fussing, Lara didn't get much sleep. :(

1. A few weeks ago, my office expanded and we took over the the space on the other side of the hallway. Now the office is in a big 'U' and my team moved onto the other side of the office. They really like it, we have the new desks, I have a shinny new office, it's all good, except for the temperature. 

It is so damn cold on our side, BUT my office is like 10 degrees warmer than everyone else. If I;m OK, they're freezing. I'm hot and they're comfortable. The other day it was crazy cold and I had to send them this. 

I found some old, pre-rebrand gloves in the Marketing closet. I'm saving them for the next time they complain about the cold.

2. Back in the day, my Jenny weigh in was Saturday morning. I'd do my thing all week, hold on Friday night, weigh in the morning and if I was going to have a treat, it was Saturday. Then I had the entire week to be on track. Since my weigh-in week starts on Saturday, so does my work-out tracking (is that even a thing?)
Here's how this week looked
Saturday - Thought really hard about going to the gym. Really, really hard, but we went to the farmer's market instead and I was a little bummed about my weigh-in
Sunday - Went to the Southern Women's Show instead of yoga.
Monday - Boot Camp
Tuesday - Spin
Weds - Planned to go to boot camp but they hungry hit me and I knew I didn't have enough fuel to workout.
Thurs - So flipping tired. I had planned to go to spin though.
Friday - Kev and I have to get some photos taken

Just 2 workouts this week. Not awesome but better than nothing.

3. My brother lives with us now and while he's looking for a job, he's been taking artistic pictures of my animals.

With the light through the trees, she's like the second coming of dog.

I'm pretty sure Luger has a stash of mouse and bird carcasses under the deck 

This is Godiva, I am her person. She talks and says my name and it's creepy AF.

Still waiting for Kev to give the green light for me to get a baby goat. He keeps saying no, something about baby goats not being baby goats forever. Whatever.

You live in the Raleigh Durham area and have pets? My brother can take some super awesome pictures for you. 

4. I've been making  my team taste test things I find. It started with the 3 new peanut M&M flavors. Chili Nut, Honey Nut and Coco Nut. Then we did popcorn and yesterday we started on Oreos. So far the Reeses ones are a hit and the 'filled cupcakes' taste like unicorn tears. Sounds delish. I have partaken of 0. Because weigh-in.

5. Saturday I found the biggest Honey crisp apple I've ever seen in my life. This bad boy weighed 1.5lbs and at $4.99 a pound, that folks, is a $7.50 apple. 

I got this shirt at the last Kappa Delta training academy I went to. One of our platforms is building confidence in women. The shirt says "All I need is coffee and confidence". #GoConfidently

Have a great weekend and wish me luck tomorrow! Fingers crossed I see a decent loss!

Linking up with Amanda - Meet @ the Barre! AND

Ode to the Jean Jacket

Wow, this is a post I never thought I'd write, but here I am. An Ode to the Jean Jacket because I recently developed a new love for this classic piece of clothing.

I grew up a child of the 80s and like all good 80s kids I rocked the big bangs and the acid washed jean jacket. If I remember correctly, I had an assortment of buttons pinned to the front. Probably Bon Jovi or Poison. Because that's what you did in the 80s, you had pins of hair metal bands. If you were really into G&R, you'd put a giant patch on the back of your jean jacket. (I did not).

I got older, out grew my jean jacket and never bought another one. Wait, I did, once when I was in grad school and was working at Sears in the jewelry department. I got one with my discount, put it in my closet and never wore it. A few years later, I put it in the donate bag.

Fast forward to maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I found a cute denim jacket and bought it. I have no idea where it came from or when I got it. Part of me thinks it magically showed up in my closet because the closet gnomes knew that it was a must have. Closet gnomes are a real thing. #truth.

I almost put it in the donate bag at least 3 times because I had no idea what to do with it, until I joined the GYPO Spring Challenge. I saw soooo many people wearing jean jackets and it was adorable. Then 2 of my team members started wearing jean jackets over their super cute sun dresses.  I was inspired!

This was the first time wearing it. Maxi skirt AND a jean jacket, completely out of my comfort zone. 

Little more comfortable, jean jacket and a maxi dress!

No full length pix but this was also a black maxi dress.

Branching off into the world of the short dress and jean jacket

And just yesterday, printed skirt, bright tee and a jean jacket. Yes it's 90 degrees in NC but my office is 74 and wearing a jacket is pretty comfortable.

I talked about the GYPO Challenges in the past and I really can't say enough good things about them. I've always been a "shopper" but it's been so helpful to know exactly what you need to shop for. The best part is that these are all wardrobe  staples that I find myself using again and again and again.

Here's my advice, go get you a jean jacket! Find one a little snug so it still shows your shape. This isn't 1987 and you aren't Billy Ray Cyrus, no need to button it up. In fact, please don't ever button your jean jacket.

Linking up!

Meet at the Barre

Friday Five (or six) Favorites - Junior League Shopping Spree

Last Friday I called off from work and went to the Junior League Shopping Spree. Geeze Lara, calling off to go shopping? yep. Two reasons. One, I was waiting for my final offer letter from the new company and knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything. And two, I knew I was leaving and didn't want to spend the day looking at their faces. 

I always love the Shopping Spree, each year the Junior League gathers a bunch of vendors and for 4 days it's a big shopping extravaganza. It's $12 to get in and you can come back all 4 days.

It's hard to see but those are all vendors. It fills the entire floor of the convention center.

There's lots of boutiques and interesting gifts. Most years, this one included, I found a bunch of great food items.

This was one of the first ones I had to pick up. It's a Party in a Bag and for $20 you got a dip mix, a box of tasty crackers and a box of magic that turns your alcohol into slushies.

You take a bottle of wine or booze, add a mixer and the deliciousness in the box, put it in the freezer, wait a few hours and it turns into a booze slushie. Seriously amazing. Add some cream cheese / sour cream to the spice mix, dip the crackers in there, instant party. It's going to be perfect over the holidays.

I did buy one non-food thing, these gable boxes were 11 for $10. I absolutely love these for gift giving over the holidays. I participate in a huge cookie exchange every year and when it comes time to spread the love, these are perfect. You can fit a crap-ton of cookies in here and they're instantly festive.

I also found these gluten-free, no-GMO baking mixes. The chocolate one had 0 soy which made my heart (and stomach) happy. 

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I got really excited when I saw these butter mints. Kev and I sampled them a few weeks ago and didn't buy any. They were soooo delicious. I had to get get some. I'm going to take some to my grandma for Christmas, I know she'll love them too.

BBQ Sauce with beer AND bacon? Um yes. We made BBQ the other day and used this sauce and it was amazing!

One last thing was these delicious hard candies. Again, taking these to Grandma for Christmas.

Overall it was a pretty successful spree and I got some great stuff. 

Have you ever been to a Shopping Spree?

Linking up!



Five thing Friday

Happy Friday!

I think we're all saying this, but how the HECK is it almost October already?? I took out all of my fall and Halloween decorations 2 weeks ago and put them in a pile in the living room. I thought I would only put out the fall stuff and on October 1st add the Halloween. Welp, it looks like that didn't happen. At least one corner of the house is decorated.

I love 5 thing Friday, mainly because it's Friday and 5 is a nice number. Not too many, not too few. My mild to moderate OCD appreciates it.

1. At work we only get to wear jeans the last Friday of every month. This is a huge departure from my old job where the engineers wore jorts nearly every day (jean shorts). It makes me wonder if I truly "need" all of the pairs of jeans I have in my drawer right now. Since today is jean day, I'm definitely rocking a pair and am slightly more casual than usual top. Then I realized I have to interview someone today. Ooops. You in your suit and me in my gray skinny jeans. As least it's better than an interview I had where the manager was wearing jeans and a ratty Bills sweatshirt (I got the job).

2. Wednesday for lunch my co-workers and I went to Cowfish for lunch, which is delicious and amazing. They told one of my employees,who was off that day, that we would be there. He showed up and sat at the bar in what I'm pretty sure were the same clothes he wore yesterday. Oh, to be 23 again.

3. I just realized that I'm on a work tangent but I really think the cleaning ladies have some serious ninja skills. The last 2 mornings I headed to the closest restroom only to find it being cleaned. I walked down the hall to the other one and I'm in there not even 3 minutes and she's banging on the door. WTH??? How did she make it there that quickly???

4. I bought a pair of pants last weekend and I'm afraid they mean that I've given up on life. They're burgundy dress pull on pants. (shame face) So let me back up, they're not knit (thank God) and a flattering cut. They came in numbered sizes, not S/M/L, so I bought them in an actual size (10), which might be the only thing that saves me. I have very similar pants from other places, they just have a button and zipper. These do not. I'm always wary of pull on pants. They're very forgiving and if you're not careful, they turn into the the only thing you wear. Buttons keep you honest.

5. This isn't new but I love me some People's Court. Judge Milian is my girl. Well, I've been DVRing them and watching in the evening sometimes. Then thing about People's Court its the station figures that since you're watching a court show, you must be interested in all things legal; from needing an attorney to filing for bankruptcy. They also run commercials for people who may be eligible to sue for past medical procedures. I've seen so many of them it's gotten to the point that I think I might qualify. I keep asking Kev if I've ever had a bladder sling or needed vaginal mesh. I have no idea what either are, but I might have them and can be compensated for my loss.

 

 Have a great weekend!

 

 

Pull on pants, would you wear them to work?

 

Linking Up!

 



I might have to go dumpster diving

I was trying to think of a topic today and I realized there seems to be 2 schools of blog thought. One is where you just talk all about your day and provide a snapshot into your life and the rest is blogging on a topic.

I have to confess, blogging about a topic is much easier than trying to capture your day. I think it's because I don't think my days are very interesting. I get up, walk the dog, go to work, maybe go to the gym, eat dinner, maybe watch TV and surf the interwebs and go to bed. Sadly, not terribly interesting.

I'm all for a new genre, brain dump! Where else can I put my random thoughts?

This week I did a lot of sitting on my ass. Then again, where else would I sit? But really, I've been dealing with this lingering crud and it gave me a sore throat and lots of sleepiness. I think that 35% of my daily caloric intake has come in the form of throat lozengers.

My entire life I called it a lozenger. Come to find out, it's lozenge. Apparently in the Northern Panhandle of WV / Western PA we add an R to to the end for no good reason. I continue to add the R because Kev rolls his eyes when I do.

LOOK! Courtesy of  Pittsburghese.com

Lozenger

Lozenge. (Submitted by Joy Buzzelli, Pittsburgh) 

Thank you Joy.

My mother in law is visiting this week which is pretty awesome. We love having her here and this trip signifies that she's been here enough times that Cleo is convinced she's not here to kill us. Cleo does still try to herd her into other rooms but the lack of side eye is pretty nice.

For an anniversary present we're getting new dishes. The last time we got new dishes it took us 3 years to pick them out. Kev likes heavy plates with an interesting design. I prefer not to get an arm cramp when carrying my plate and food. I caved and we got heavy plates, and they all chipped, one by one. I HATE chipped plates. It makes me all ragey. I like to point out that Corelle doesn't chip but Kev says they feel like college. We'll see if we end up with dishes or are eating off paper plates.

Last night I learned that you can put Chapstick on your had and when they stamp you for being under 21 you can go wipe it off. WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS????? We had Chapstick in the 90s! Ugh, this would have upped my quality of life in college, annnnd probably lowered my GPA.

There's a runner who passes Cleo and I every morning while she's mid poop. Today he ran by and said "Good Morning, it's a beautiful day for a run!". I wanted to trip him. Yes, it's 65 with a glorious cloud cover. Running would be fantastic at 7am. But nooooo some of us have to go to work and can't run in the morning because they are sweaty messes and poor hygiene is frowned upon in the workplace.

Damn right.

One of my friends is having a baby sprinkle (She had a shower for her first, so this is a sprinkle, cute name) and I have no idea what to get her. She's a huge proponent of reusing, recycling and reducing which I think is fantastic. I wish I could be more like that. Instead I always forget my reusable bags and pick up Cleo's poop with plastic Target bags. I guess I could stop picking it up and let the poo go back into the earth? It's the Circle of Poo Life.

I want to follow the theme but I'm so bad at it. I could make something, but I waited until the last minute and that's not going to happen. I could scout out some garage sales for baby stuff? I could also go to a consignment store? Yea, let's be honest, not gonna happen. Can I just put some cash in a card?

UPDATE - There's an Amazon registry and I have Amazon Prime! Cue choirs of angels!!

Tonight we're taking my MIL out to dinner at Vinnnie's. The seriously have the best steak in town, but more that that, they have hands down, the best Cosmo in the Triangle. Perhaps I only think they have the best steak because I'm 2 drinks in when my food arrives?

 

That's right, just a nice light flush of pink. I didn't order a vodka and cranberry.

 

 

That's all peeps! Have a Happy Friday!

 

Oh, I still haven't heard from the winner of the Lawson's Gift Card. If I don't soon, I'll draw another winner. Thanks!

 

Does your part of the country pronounce things differently than other parts?

Do you remember your reusable bags at the grocery store?

 

Linky Linky!



Five Thing Friday

Well, I have been keeping with the theme of not posting anything this week until the middle of the afternoon. Go me. I'm sure this is one of those terrible blogger no nos. NEVER BLOG AFTER 3pm! OMG!!!

Well, it's Friday and I have a belly full of meatballs, so all is good in the world. I even had some one on ones today and spread some love. I WAS going to order some cookies from Insomniac Cookies but they stop delivering a mile away from my office. I could go to the ghetto at the edge of their deliver area and wait for them, but I won't. Not that there's anything wrong with the ghetto. heck, they can get cookies delivered and I can't.

So, 5 thing that are going on this week.

Creeper Job Seeker Guy - I posted an open position on LinkedIn and this guy InMailed me. It was fine and I sent his info to the recruiter. Here's the creepy part. HE CALLED MY DESK. Someone, somewhere gave him my work number and he called me. I don't even know my work phone number. I haven't written it down anywhere or put it on the interwebs. The only place I've distributed it was in the fishbowl for free bagels at Breuggers. So unless he pulled my card out of the bagel drawing, I have no idea how he found me. I'm a little freaked out and needless to say, I won't be offering him an interview.

The cleaning lady follows me and closes the bathroom when I really have to pee. - EVERY DAMN DAY. I swear she follows me and knows some secret cleaning lady short-cut that lets her enter the bathroom seconds before I do. The I have to do the pee dance down the hallway to the other bathroom.

My Dog still hates you - Sorry folks, I know she's cute but Cleo doesn't like you. We were in the car Sunday after the dog park and Kev and I stopped for bagels. I was waiting for the lady in the car next to me to get into her car. She saw Cleo and started baby-talking to her. "Ooooo look at the baby, I didn't know you had a baby in the backseat." (The door was closed and the window rolled up) and I heard her start to growl. Then Cleo gave her best Cujo imitation. The lady jumped back and nearly peed herself. Kev and I apologized, she's just really protective. (and apparently hates baby talk)

Pumpkin Spice is the new Christmas carol. Every year my mom would complain that they would put out the Christmas stuff earlier and earlier. Instead of being after Thanksgiving, you would get Christmas carols and decorations the first week of November. Basically everything after Halloween is fair game for Christmas. Now we're getting pumpkin spice everything earlier and earlier. Starbucks started with the PSL this week and this morning I went to Dunkin Donuts for my coffee and was surprised to see that all the pumpkin was out. Well, not really, but I swear we used to enjoy the summer through Labor Day, THEN all things pumpkin came out. I love fall as much as the next gal but come on now.

Salted Caramel Blue Diamond Almonds - EAT THESE! EAT ALL OF THESE. I stopped at Target Monday and picked these up along with some other work snacks. They're seriously amazing and I can't stop eating them. Do yourself a favor and get some!

If you have it off, enjoy your long weekend! I know I will!

Linking up with:

Five Thing Friday

It's FRIDAY!! You know what that means, time for Lara's 5 things. After Wednesday's confessions you'd think I'd be out of things to ramble on about. Nooooope. That's the one thing about me, I can talk about all sorts of things.

Without further adieu, the 5 things on my mind this week

1. That new badge on the side bar! I received an e-mail yesterday that I'm the newest Sweat Pink Ambassador! I am so unbelievably thrilled to be a part of this community. Sweat Pink Ambassadors are committed to building a healthy community.  I absolutely love their mission statement.

Click here to learn more about Fit Approach

2. ThredUp! I ordered my first clean out bag last week and I started filling it up! If you haven't heard, ThredUp is an online consignment shop. You can shop online and/or send them your gently worn or new items. The postage is all prepaid and you can either drop it off at the Post Office or at FedEx. They get the bag, decide what they're going to take and give you a credit. I saw plenty of cute things I could use wear to work on there and I'm interested to see what they'll give me.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the size of the bag. I posed it next to 55lb Cleo to show the size and just how much I was able to fit in there. Now to drop it off at Fed Ex today! (So hard to take a good picture of a black dog)

Wanna get $10 free from ThredUp? E-mail me at larabadanes at gmail dot com and I'll send you the code!

3. Spin Class! I took a looooong break from spin class, mainly because it was in a spin class that my SI joint popped out of my back and completely jacked up a ton of things, especially my running, for almost a year. It took 2 rounds of PT and lots of chiropractor and strenghtening before I could run pain free. That's why I was starting from nothing at the beginning of the year. I dusted off my spin shoes and remembered how bad my butt bone hurts after a class.

Not awesome for an hour spin class, I was having a heck of a time getting my heart rate over 150. It was odd. I upped the resistance and still couldn't get it up. (TWSS)

4. Gym Selfies! If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen this, apologies for the repeat.

That's my 70 year old dad, at the YMCA, taking a selfie, in compression socks. He has no idea how trendy he is right now. I seriously love it.

5. WHY IS THIS A THING???

You can go to diedinhouse.com and see if anyone DIED IN YOUR HOUSE. Obviously someone thinks there's a need for this service but as long as any dead people in my house keep quiet, I'm good. The less I know, the better off I am.

I e-mailed the winners of my Melaleuca giveaway! Congrats to McKenzie and Kristen! E-mail me your addresses and I'll get it sent out to you!

Have an awesome weekend everyone and don't forget to stop over for the Friday Favorites and Oh Hey Friday!

 

Would you want to know if someone died in your house?

 

 

Ever had an injury that kept you from exercising? How did you keep from losing your mind?