Tuesday Randoms

The weather is really messing with my schedule. Yesterday was supposed to be a run day. It rained ALL DAY LONG. At one point last night I wondered if the pool was going to overflow.

Speaking of running, what is it with weenie dogs? There are several in my neighborhood & they go into full on attack mode when I run by. By attack mode, I mean they come charging out of unseen hiding places, with that yappy bark & then stop at the edge of the driveway & continue to bark & bark & bark. They're adorable but I will not own one. That yapping gets on my nerves.

In the near future I will start getting quotes on new kitchen counters. Dean says he has absolutely no interest in this project & his only input will be to ok or veto the price tag. That could be good & bad. He will however, help me paint the cabinets. Thank goodness for cheap labor. Do y'all know how much people charge to paint cabinets??? I got a quote. No way Jose. Of course I may regret that later.

All 70 bags of mulch is put down in the backyard. No, I don't have pictures because 70 bags was not enough. We'll be buying about 30 more this week.

The $25 brush is slowly changing my life one day at a time. If I could grow a third arm to go with the 2 freakishly long ones I already have it would be AWESOME!

I was sad to hear that Jenny Garth & her hubs are divorcing.

According to my mom & my friend Allison I must start watching this GCB show. Anyone else watching?

We have food trucks that come to work & today was a burger truck & the specialty was a cheeseburger with fried dill pickle spears on it. One of the boys came by my desk to show me. I wanted to punch him in the face. It looked amazing but I stuck to my willpower & ate my low calorie wrap. Now I sit craving a shrimp po boy from Roberto's. 

Toodles!

OPI

Lately, I've really been loving all the "Easter Egg" nail polish colors. I had it in my head that I wanted a shade of lavender. I saw the Kardashian OPI Collection in a CVS sale paper. One of the colors really jumped out at me.

It's called One Big Happy Fame-ily. I took several pics & none of them really captured the true color. It's a little darker than what it looks like in this pic. Dean went to the LSU baseball game Saturday night & I stayed home because it was a little cool. I caught up on the DVR & gave myself a mani & pedi. This is what it looks like on my nails.

I really like how it turned out. Next up? Some sort of minty color. Anyone have one you love?

Toodles!

I found a Stylist!!

I've mentioned before that I was looking for a new Hair Stylist. I really liked the last girl that did my hair. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was the best hair cut I've ever had. Last week I called to make an appointment. "She doesn't work here anymore" is what I got. Well, isn't that just great. I made an appt. with someone else because they couldn't tell me where Alexy went. I wasn't overly excited about that. I feel like I got lucky finding her & I didn't want to take another chance on someone else new. I turned to Facebook. No luck. I couldn't believe that. She's in her 20's. I know she has Facebook. I went to Pinterest & found her & there was a link to her Facebook page. YAY!!! One of the reasons I left the girl I'd been going to for years & years is because it's about a 45 minute drive & hard to get an appt. I was very excited to see that Alexy's new salon is 5 mins. from work & about 20 mins. from home. Pretty much everything except Canes & LSU is 20 mins. from my house so that's no big deal. The salon is in an old house that was fixed up. It's really cute. I was getting a cut & highlights. The owner of this salon is from Baton Rouge but she lived in Los Angeles for 20 yrs. & was a Stylist for movies. I think she's brought stuff she learned in L.A. to B.R. After my head was full of foil she put me under this thing that looks like a dryer.

Instead of a dryer, it's a steamer. It cuts the processing time in half. It's great! This is how the front turned out.

I've been noticing that as I'm getting older I've got the eyelid droop going. It's very noticeable in pictures so I've been trying to open my eyes more. This is a little ridiculous though! Here's the back.

It was such a lovely day in B.R. Nice & cloudy so the pics don't show my highlights very well. She styled my hair entirely with a hair dryer & round brush. I've never had anyone do that. Not to mention that it stayed all day. Even after a little nap. I decided to that this brush could change my life so I bought one.

I've probably lost my mind because I paid $25 for this thing but I'm thinking of it as an investment. She told me that I could throw away all of my other brushes & this one would last forever. She wasn't trying to sell it. I asked her. She also gave me lots of hair tips. She said that mine was in great condition which is a surprise because it's been like 12 weeks since I've had a hair cut. She said that ideally you should only wash your hair at most twice a week. Well, with all my exercising that isn't going to happen. She said to only shampoo my roots & around my hairline. It keeps your hair from drying out. She also said to use sulfate free shampoo & conditioner. I'd heard about that but I wasn't sure if it was hype from the shampoo companies. Yay for finding someone I love!!

Toodles!!

What does it mean??

I had a dream the other night. Let me start by saying I've always had very vivid dreams. I can remember when I was a teenager dreaming that something was falling on me & it was very heavy & I was having to hold it up off of me. I woke up & I was in my bed but up against the wall, sitting up, holding onto my window seal. Another time I woke up to find that I'd taken a bunch of pictures off of my bulletin board that hung by my bed. So, the other night I dreamed I was driving on the interstate & as I was approaching an overpass that was being worked on, the worker dropped a screwdriver & it fell all the way to road. He was livid & was hollering & screaming as I approached. I continued to drive. Next thing I know I was being arrested for not stopping. Apparently, it was against the law to drive by a dropped screwdriver! Not only was I arrested but I had to spend the night in jail. I asked if I could bring my Nook & they told me no. My mom appeared from somewhere & I told her that I was arrested & had to go to jail to which she said, "OK". Really?? Anyway, the jail looked like a mall. People were sitting around eating. It was very nice. As the cop escorted me to my cell I saw a guy reading a book & questioned the cop. He said I could have books but not a Nook or my phone. So I told him I needed to go get a book. He said OK & off I went. Next thing you know I was out of my cell & telling my mom that they were making me stay another night. That's when I woke up. Very odd.

Last night I dreamed that me, my friend Vicki, my cousin Leslie, her mom (my aunt that died 16 yrs ago) & other assorted people that I don't remember were going to the Academy Awards. We were all decked out & sitting outside somewhere waiting on a ferry to take us to the show. I was using someone's very nice camera & the next thing I knew it was gone & my cousin said to "go find that guy that thought it was his". Off I went. Then Vicki starts hollering to "come on, the ferry's here". I left the camera & took off running to the ferry. What's also funny is I distinctly remember posting on Facebook "About to go to the Academy Awards!! AGHHHH!!!". So weird!

I know I've been skipping Weigh In Wed. I'll be back with that next week. Between the cruise & doing updates & forgetting, I've been a little off track. I did make it to Yoglates 3 times this week & we've got some crazy stuff in this weeks routine. Imagine doing a squat, coming up, pivoting to the back, squat, travel to the right, squat, travel to the left, squat, pivot to the front, squat. Yeh, that's 1 rep. We did 8. Then picture yourself doing a push up & when you come up jumping to bring your legs in with your butt sticking up in the air, doing a push press & then jumping back to the push up position. 1 Rep. We did 16. I shouldn't say "we" because "we" did NOT do 16. "We" did whatever "we" could do which was somewhere around 11 or 12.

I've also completed week 2 of C25K. Yay! I got up at 5 this morning & did it before work. It's supposed to be a rainy weekend. Not looking forward to that. It rained through my last 3 runs but not hard so I finished. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to. I really like working out in the morning!

Have a great weekend!

Toodles!

Hat Woman & Shoes!

Saturday was book club. You may remember I'm a member of what was dubbed "The Worst Book Club Ever". We do read books & sometimes even the same books, just not at the same time. Like now, everyone is on the Hunger Games bandwagon. Everyone, but me, that is. I read Twilight & some other absolutely ridiculous book so I'm pretty much done with anything that isn't "normal". When I say normal I mean no aliens, vampires, wolves or whatever Jacob was, dystopian, etc. Anywho, Saturday evening I was making a stop at a local family owned grocery store, Calvin's, if you're from the area, to pick up what has got to be the absolute best chicken salad EVER! I parked & saw this.

Yes, it's a random chick with a really big hat on sitting in front of the grocery store. It's hard to see just how big the hat is because her head's turned & it's black & blends in with the background. Trust me, it was big. Hat Lady was selling tickets to some sort of raffle. I have no idea what it was about because luckily for me when I was going in she'd already nabbed a lady & was giving her the spiel. She was dressed very cute & the hat was cute too but it was very strange to me to see someone sitting outside of a grocery store dressed like this. On to book club. As usual, the food was divine. It's very odd considering that very few of us actually cook, yet we always manage to have too much good food. Between, the chicken salad, my friend Vicki's cheesy raspberry dip (sounds weird doesn't it?? It's amazing!), and this

I felt sick. This bowl of goodness is a diet blower waiting to happen. Thanks to Wendy, we know that it's 670 calories per cup. I'm pretty sure I ate at least a cup. The good news? There's no way I will ever make this concoction because of the 17 million steps involved. There are Reeses to be cut & then cut again, brownies to be baked & cut up. YES, there are brownies in this too. Pudding to make & mix with Cool Whip. Allison used low calorie Cool Whip. Thank goodness! I can't imagine eating this with regular Cool Whip & not saving those 10 calories. (That would be sarcasm). Then you layer the whole concoction. It was delish but good grief. We did actually talk about books this time but we also did Zumba. Allison's been going for awhile & she gave us a demo & taught us some of the moves. I can see why people like these classes. It seems to be more fun than actual exercise.

While I was on the cruise I started C25K again. Sunday morning I started Week 2. I hate that I've had to start over but after being hurt for so long I think it's the way to go. It's definitely been easier this time around. So far anyway. Yesterday, I had a dentist appt. so I got home from work a little early. I went for my run. The weather was awesome. It was in the low 70's & there didn't seem to be any humidity. After my run I helped Dean tackle this "little" project.

That's 70 bags of mulch. We got 24 put down in the backyard. I don't think 70 is going to be enough. It's so pretty though. I'll have pictures once we're finished. 

Today at lunch I ran to Shoe Station. Y'all know I love that place. What makes it better is this week there's a 25% off coupon. Normally, they're only 20%. Far be it from me to waste a good coupon. I got these & they're so comfortable. The brand is that  b * an o with a line through it * c.

 Yes, I took the pics in my car. I did it while I was thinking about it. I got these too.

Cute huh? I love Corky's flip flops. They're so comfy. I bought a pair last summer because they were so cute. I had never heard of them & had no idea how comfy they were. I should've taken a better pic of the heal. They're not flat. They have a little wedge. The best part? $19.99 + the 25% off. Seriously, who passes up $15 flip flops??? Not me, that's for sure. They had them in a couple of colors but I don't have any green flip flops & these are really bright. Perfect for summer. I had to wait in line to check out. Not ideal when you're on your lunch break. Y'all may remember me talking about how I'm not a fan of check writer's. No offense if you write checks in a store but I hope you start filling out the check while the cashier is ringing your stuff up & not wait unitl she's completely finished to get your check book out of your purse. If you do that you'll get an eye roll from me, but you won't notice because you're too busy digging for your check book. Well, I had a whole new experience today. The lady's total was $55.01. What did she do? No, not write a check. She pulled out a penny & her credit card. HUH? Why would she do that?? Well, that would be because she wanted the penny to pay for the .01 portion of $55.01 & she was charging the $55. Umm, wierd much?? I think so. The cashier apparently thought so too because she kept asking her "you want to use the penny?" To which the customer kept saying "yes, you said it was $55.01 right?". Sorry but I think this is the weirdest thing ever. For the life of me I can't figure out why someone would do that. Do you know how much longer it took to handle the transaction that way? I do, I wasn't enjoying it. That's why I try not to shop at lunch.

Toodles!

A sea day

I woke up sometime during the night/early morning Saturday & the ship was really rocking. When I got up Dean said he'd never seen waves so big.

When we turned on the TV it showed 20 ft. seas & 52 mph winds. It was like being on a Disney ride. You couldn't walk straight down the hall & when we went outside there were times it felt like we were going to take flight. It was wild! There was a lot of people sitting around with their heads in their hands not feeling so good. I felt bad for them. We ate breakfast, we walked around, we laid around & read & all the boys played a game with a little ball on the basketball court that's enclosed by a net. It was a very relaxing day. I had THE best 2.5 hour nap ever. It was like being rocked to sleep.

Our last dinner for 12. I was ready to come home to my bed but I miss our dinners. Last week was a rough work week. It's tough to work all day without a nap when you've taken a nap every day for a week!

Toodles!

Cozumel

WAS SOOOOO FUN!!! I'd read on a blog about an excursion called Salsa & Salsa. On this excursion they teach you how to make a bunch of different salsa's & then teach you to salsa dance. I highly recommend this. It was worth every penny. We took this pic from Cozumel. It's our ship & another Norwegian ship.

We were able to walk around for awhile before the excursion.

Be still my heart!!!!STARBUCKS!!!! Very exciting.

I had an iced green tea. YUM!! We got loaded into vans & were brought to a resort.

Pretty huh?

We were ready to start cooking.

Cliff & Sheri.

The rest of the crew!

As we walked in the building there was a table of frozen margarita's & bottled water waiting. I'm not a margarita drinker at all but these were AMAZING!!! Sooo good! There were waiters everywhere to fill up that glass every time you took a swallow. Crazy! That red looking drink is some non alcoholic drink that was almost like a flavored tea. It was good too. The first thing they taught us was how to make a margarita on the rocks & a strawberry margarita. The frozen one was my fave.

Jackie & Dennis ended up on stage. As you can see, Dennis isn't happy about this development. Jackie, however, was having a ball. You can guess whose idea it was to go on stage.

This was our table before we got started.

Dean was chopping up a very hot pepper. This is how we do things around our house, Dean cooks, I watch. We put very little of this pepper in our salsa & it was HOT!

Me doing what I do best - EATING! We made guacamole. YUM! We ended up making a 6 salsa's & a guac. The salsa we made with green tomatoes was the best! Next up was dessert.

This is some sort of vanilla bean ice cream that you can only get in Mexico. MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER TASTED. It was FABULOUS!!!

Then they had us add this stuff. Fruit & coconut. It was good but nothing like the plain stuff. I always knew it wasn't a good idea to add fruit to ice cream.

And now we're Salsa dancing!! They taught us on our own before we danced with our partner. I see why Zumba is such good exercise. My thighs were killing me by the time we were done! So fun!

Once we finished dancing we went & shopped a little & then got back on the ship. We had dinner & then more dessert. The chocolate buffet was that night. It's sooo pretty! There's chocolate everywhere!

Mickey was waiting when we got back to the room!

Toodles!