Decisions, Decisions....

Yesterday I told the story of selling my old jewelry at the pawn shop. Like I mentioned, it's time to figure out what to get with my "winnings". Kev said that if I sold my jewelry I had to get something substantial that I would actually wear. Now I'm on the hunt for a decent piece of jewelry. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll already know what I bought, well, some of it... Really though, you should follow me on Instagram, especially if you like pictures of my food, my cat and booze. Not my cat with booze, but come to think of it, she might be a little calmer if she she had a little vodka...

Here are some of the things I'm contemplating.

David Yurman Cable Bracelet. I think this is a classic that I'll wear for years. It goes with everything and is really versatile. Bailey's Jewelers has a thing where the month of your anniversary you get $100 off a $200 purchase. Our anniversary is next month and they'll let me use the coupon early. $100 extra dollas is always nice.

Ippolita Sterling Sliver Rock Candy Mini teardrop earrings. I saw these at Bailey's when I was looking at the David Yurman bracelet. They're so pretty and really would go with anything. They're a top contender but for the price, I think I could get a similar look at Kendra Scott.

Tory Burch leather wrap bracelet. This is on special for the Nordstrom's sale. It's reversible too and I really love it.

Totally not jewelry, but something substantial that will last a long time, right?? Tory Burch Melinda Flats, also Nordstrom Sale. I showed Kev a pair of Tory Burch flats once and he asked if the price for 7 pairs. He was unimpressed by the $225 flats. This might be my only chance.

I've been looking for a decent leather bag to carry my laptop, coffee and lunch. I love how simple and sturdy this one looks and it has a place for my coffee. However, I DO have an anniversary next month... Hint Hint Kev. You can order it here. I like the Steel Grey and the brown. It's a tough call on the color.

Kendra Scott has a new collection that just launched and I love. love. love these black agate earrings and the white howlite. They're perfection in person. I might have a slight Kendra Scott "problem".

What do you think? If you were going to get a nice piece of jewelry, what would it be?

Linking up!



-Ish I Never Thought I'd Do

Wow, that sounds really ominous. It's really not that exciting but hey, maybe I got another person looking at ye 'ole blog. Annnd they're gone. Lol. It's cool, I love my 10 readers, you all are the bomb. 

Most people know that I started out my career in retail. I sold jewelry at Sears while I was in college and then was a manager for the now defunct Whitehall Jewelers. When you sell jewelry, you tend to accumulate jewelry. Like a lot of jewelry. 

I have a jewelry armoire full of things that I haven't worn in years. Literally years... tiny hoop earrings, plain ones, ones with stones, thin bracelets, things that were a Sears / Whitehall holiday special. You name it, I have it. 

I have some really nice things too, things that Kev has bought me over the years, but it seemed like when I left the jewelry industry, I stopped wearing a lot of "real" pieces. I know my tastes have changed as I've gotten older and thin chains with pendants just aren't for me. 

I'd rather have more substantial pieces that are versatile and I don't really care if they're considered "costume" jewelry. I do love me some Kendra Scott. 

Let me clarify too, all of these things I bought with my jewelry discount, At Whitehall it was 50% off. I think Sears was the same as well. That's the main reason I can't pay retail for jewelry anymore.  KNOW the stores still made a profit even with my discount, which just goes to show you how much the markup is on jewelry. If there's a decent piece of jewelry I want to get, it's actually worth it for us to drive up to NYC and go to the diamond district. The prices and quality are far superior to anything you'd get at the mall. My wedding rings, diamond studs and a few other things all came from there.

Honestly though, if you're in NYC, hit up the jewelry stores there. I was looking at gold hoop earrings and saw some meh ones for $100. It just made me angry. I KNOW you can get a better deal and everyone still makes money. Sometimes I think it would be fun to work in a jewelry store over the holidays, just for the discount. Kev reminds me that's a really bad idea because I'd spend more than I'd ever make. 

Anywho, for years Kev has been on me to clear out the armoire and sell some of the jewelry, which is what I did last weekend.

I thought about selling the jewelry on ebay but it seemed like a giant pain in the ass. Instead I took my pile to National Pawn to see what I'd get for the gold. I never, ever thought I'd sell anything at a pawn shop. I've been extremely fortunate that I've never needed to pawn my belongings to make ends meet or get extra cash. I just never saw a situation where I'd need to go to a pawn shop.

I bagged up my stuff and headed on inside. I was really impressed with the process, they weighed everything and gave me a decent rate per gram of gold. I walked out of there with far more money than I expected. Like, a lot. I really don't think there's much difference between what I paid for it back then with my discount and what I got for it today. Not too shabby.

So there you have it. I sold my old jewelry at a pawn shop and know I have a pocket full of cash to get something I'll actually wear. Now... what to get?

What Came Home With Me From Convention

I don't know about you but I love seeing the favors that people get at a convention / conference. I like seeing all the things and evaluating them. People LOVE to get free stuff. Love, love, love it and we'll take things we won't ever use just because it's free. Then we'll hang onto it for a while because we feel bad throwing it away because what if we need it one day??? Kev and I have been purging things that we don't want to take to the new house. Basically, if we don't love it, it isn't coming with us.

THANKFULLY, that doesn't apply to any of the things I brought home from Convention. :)

Let's take a look at what I brought home. 

Every Convention attendee has to have a some sort of name badge. How else will you know who's who? I added this one to my collection. 

This year you had the option to purchase the Convention T-shirt, I think it was $20. I pre-ordered mine when I registered for the event. Between Conventions, Shamrock Projects and other assorted events, I'm re-amassing a giant collection of Kappa Delta t-shirts, I had a crap-ton from college and they slowly wore out or were ruined. Between KD shirts and race tees, I could clothe a small school. 

If you think I just bought one shirt, you're sadly mistaken, I have a seemingly limitless love of long sleeved shirts and added a new one to my collection. I love the color and this is the back of the shirt. I also scored a new car decal and some super cute notepads.

Every conference has its own bag. A good bag is crucial when attending these events. Everyone needs a place to put their programs, snacks, water bottles, a coffee thermos, powder, chapstick, skittles. Wait, that's my bag. But you get the picture. 

This year's bag was really large and it was made of a waterproof material. It's great for the summer and I could see myself taking it to the beach or the pool. I did think it was a bit large to carry thought the halls and I resorted to carrying my purse or a little tote bag I happened to pack. I was also bummed because the bags the NLT people got didn't have the convention patch. I guess they'd received complaints that the volunteers preferred plain bags since they'd gotten so many in the past. Eh, I would have liked a patch but it's still a nice bag. 

At the first meal this graphic print was our favor. I think it would make a great addition to my cr2f prints that are in my office. Now to find a matching white frame. 

This year I joined the KD chorus. I joined it 2 years ago also, it's always a lot of fun and you get to find out where NCTA and the next Convention will be before anyone else does. Really though, it's a lot of fun to get up there and sing in front of everyone. 

You generally get an extra something as a chorus prop and this year it was a KD visor. I'm super stoked about this. I had been contemplating getting a visor for running for a while but hadn't found one I liked. This one is perfect! I get to show off my KD pride and keep the sun out of my eyes. It's a win win Yo.

When we got to our CAS meetings, our CAS director gave us a present of a Disney gift card, which was super nice and unexpected. I mentioned before that I'm not all that big of a Disney fan. Except for one thing, Beauty and the Beast. Hands down, my all time favorite Disney movie. It was my favorite fairy tale as a kid and I remember being so excited when it was released in the theater. I might have seen it many, many times in the theater and can recite it word for word. 

If I'm getting anything Disney, it's going to be Beauty and the Beast. 

This mug was perfect. And it holds plenty of coffee. :)

Only convention related because I bought it in Orlando. Beaker is awesome. He currently lives in my office and when a member of my team comes in to tell me something "shocking" I hold up Beaker.

This might be one of the best favors ever. It's a portable power charger and works really, really well. My phone is in a constant state of death and I never seem to have a way to charge it. Throw this in my bag, boom, instant power source.

At one of the lunches we received this makeup / pencil bag. I can't decide what I want to use it for yet but it's a great bag.

You can also see the gold rose pendant. At NCTA last year we received a similar gold pendant, but it was a nautilus shell. The collegiates loved them and wore them all the time. This year we got another one of our symbols, a rose. I've worn my nautilus pendant several times and I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of this one as well.

I love this bracelet. We received it as a favor at the Foundation lunch. Pearls are another one of our symbols and this bracelet is so versatile, They did a great job picking out jewelry that spoke to all ages and that you'd actually wear.

At our first NLT dinner, these books were on our chairs. They've been around for a while but I've never bought one. I'd contemplated several times but never pulled the trigger, now I don't have to!

I already showed this picture but one of the best things I brought home was my National Leadership Team dagger. It's really special and signifies a lot. I'm just really thrilled to be able to serve at the National level.

I looked over my treasures trying to decide what my favorite thing was. I love all of the things we received and I know I'll get a lot of use out of them all, which for convention swag is a huge deal.

One of the things I received that was so very special to me was this.

One of the Xi Chapter Alums gave me this postcard with a super sweet note congratulating me on my NLT appointment and a taste of home. For those of you who don't know, Sarris is the best chocolate on the planet. Hands down, no question, don't argue. If you're in Pittsburgh, get some Sarris chocolate covered pretzels. Life changing.

I'd never met her before but she knew about me. I was so, so touched to receive it and it reminded me that no matter how many years I've been away, how many years I've been with Eta Upsilon or how many chapters I work with, Xi is still "my" chapter and Xi alum will always have a special connection. Thank you for reminding me where I came from and why I continue to serve.

We definitely received some great things. I had to pull some things out of my checked luggage to stay within the weight limits but it was worth stuffing in my carry on!

Linking up!

Convention Recap pt 2

Le Sigh, I totally meant to have this posted and up last week. The good news is that I actually think things might slow down a little bit at work, but that's probably wishful thinking, lol. After I got back from convention I rolled straight into 3 days of Sales Training that I facilitated. It was actually pretty fun to return to my trainer roots, especially since it was only for a few days.

Alright, on to the last 2 days of convention! Monday morning started off with the final business session where we installed the new National Council. We also gathered most of the Xi Chapter alum in for a picture in front of our flag.

Really, this was super cool. It's been a really long time since I interacted with alum from my chapter. I've been away for a long time and have been with Eta Upsilon for 5 years, longer than I was in college (thankfully). Seeing so many women from "my chapter" really helped to remind me of my roots. It was awesome to see so many people from the University of Pittsburgh.

After the final session and lunch it was time for our free half day. Some of the other CAS and I had dinner reservations at Todd English's restaurant over at the Dolphin but I still had several hours to kill and didn't have anything planned. I knew a bunch of people were going to Magic Kingdom but I didn't have enough time to go there and have dinner.

Instead I took the boat over to Hollywood Studios where apparently it's nothing but Frozen. Mo' Frozen, Mo' Money.

Honestly, the main reason why I went to Universal Studios was to go to Muppet Land! Honestly, I've never really been a Disney fan. I know people who love Disney movies, Mickey and Minnie and that's just never been me. What I do love are Muppets!

I was super excited to go to the Muppets 3D show. Beaker is my fav.

Statler and Waldorf were there to heckle the show, as they should be.

Definitely a cute show, I was just excited to be at a Muppet Show. After it was over, I headed to the gift shop.

So many feels. On one hand, I'm really glad this book exists so that people will know the awesomeness of Jim Henson. On the other hand, I'm so sad that someone had to write this.

Beaker came home with me.

Soon it was time for dinner. One of the beverages I enjoyed was this Swedish Fish martini, complete with Swedish Fish foam. It was pretty sweet but really yummy.

I had an amazing piece of salmon with some crazy crab sauce on the side.

We had a lot of adult beverages and it was a blast hanging out with new friends.

Tuesday morning and afternoon we had break out training sessions and before we knew it, it was time for the White Rose Ball!

All of the Chapter Accounting Specialists gathered for our final picture of the Convention!

Eta Upsilon CAB representing!

Me and the fabu Eta Upsilon Pres. We talk lots, that's the joy of me being your advisor. :)

I was super excited to finally meet this lady in person! Nancy was on of the founding members of the Xi chapter colonization back in the day and I remember looking at the face on the composite for 3.5 years. She's the CAB-Finance for one of the chapters I work with and I get to work with her too. She's the bomb.

For one of the last pictures of the night, the La(u)ra's had to get together. Laura is my House Corp counterpart at Eta Upsilon and she's fantastic. The chapter gets us confused all the time, which we totally perpetuate. We've thought about having a "Know your La(u)ra's" presentation so they'd finally be able to tell us apart. 5 years later, that still hasn't happened.

PHEW! THAT was the 2015 Kappa Delta Convention! As always it was an amazing time and I left with a new infusion of green and white!

Scenes From The Weekend

Do the weekends get shorter? I swear it was Friday I blinked and here it is Sunday night. Ugh. I need a vacation. Sadly, I just had a "vacation", actually 2, and now I need to save the rest of my PTO for the end of the year when we're planning our re-booked Europe trip. Meh...

Okie Dokie, on to our weekend! Friday night Kev wanted steak. Really though, Kev always wants steak so this night was no different than the rest. We had reservations at Ruth's Chris via Open Table but Kev isn't a fan of their steak so when a spot at Vinnie's opened at 7pm, we headed there instead. 

I've mentioned before Vinnie's is hands down the best Cosmo in town. Their steak is pretty awesome too, so there's something for both of us. Marriage is about finding things you both like and doing them together. 

We generally split a steak because I'm just not going to put away 8 ounces of meat, booze and a side dish. You gotta have priorities. We went with the Strip Steak, Pittsburgh Rare. I personally thought it was closer to Rare that Pittsburgh Rare and therefore, a little overdone for my taste, but then again, I noshed on a pile of raw steak tartare last weekend. Kev said I was insane and he ended up eating most of my food too. It was fine though, I had 2 Cosmos to fill my belly.

After dinner, we stopped at Whole Foods to get some movie theater candy BTW, that's a bad idea because Whole Foods candy is more expensive than movie candy.

We went to see San Andreas which I thought was AWESOME. It might be because I had 2 Cosmos coursing though my system but I still thought it was fantastic. 

heh heh heh.....

The one major thing for me was that I actually believed the movie could happen. Let me explain. 

The Rock had to save his daughter through a natural disaster. We've all seen these sorts of movies before. That John Cusack movie where he drives a limo though the apocalypse, and that other one where Dennis Quaid walks from Philly to NYC in a storm that freezes most people to death immediately. I didn't believe them for a minute. In this one the Rock flies a helicopter, steals a truck, gets a plane, parachutes out of the plane, drives a boat, then takes the boat OVER a giant tsunami wave, ALL to save his daughter. Fricking awesome. I feel if anyone was physically up to the challenge, it's him. There were some fantastic cheesy lines and it was pretty much nothing but iconic landmarks getting destroyed.

There was one part I didn't understand. How was The Rock not eating throughout the movie? I read that he eats something like 170 ounces of cod every day.

Fine, it was 36oz of cod but that's still insane.

After the movie Kev wanted dessert and we ironically ended up at Ruth's Chris where he got some bread pudding.

Saturday morning I got a much needed manicure. I might be breaking up with my nail guy. They're super nice and do a good job but take foreeeeevvvveeerr. I'm normally there for 90 minutes for a gel manicure and have been there 2 hours before. I had a gel mani and a regular pedicure last time I was there and it was almost 3 hours. I just can't spend that much time there. 

It's a bit of a hike to Cameron Village but they always do a great job at the salon there. Same price as my guy and 45 minutes start to finish. 

I came home, got Kev, we went to get groceries then debated pizza for dinner.

I have a confession to make. I don't love pizza. I just don't, never have. I know people who pizza is their favorite food and would eat it all the time (Kev). I just don't get it. 

When I tell Kev I'm in the mood for pizza, it's a special day and he has to take advantage of the opportunity.

We went to Paparazzi and I went with the chicken pesto pizza and Kev got something covered in meat and cheese. I think their pizzas are yum and perfect for the every 3 months I want a piece.

Sunday morning rolled around and decided to make use of the blueberries Kev picked the other day, We have an enormous blueberry bush in the back yard and it's blueberry season! I;m gonna miss that bush when we move.

I ended up making a blueberry protein pancake with protein powder and cottage cheese. They were surprisingly good and packed with protein. I think I have a winner! I'll post the recipe in a few days because it's good enough to share!

I went to Body Pump, showered and now time for a little blogging and catching up on e-mails.

What did you do this weekend??

Linking up with BLoved Boston!

AND