Coming Soon: The Gift

So I am totally revamping  my blog which is extra exciting. I'm constantly looking on Pinterest for outfit ideas for work, play, and what ever else. I kind of live in the Women's Fashion category. I have been blessed with the gift of styling, basically I can take a normal outfit and make it work for different body types. With this gift I end up being everyones personal shopper. I can't lie, its a pretty fun gig.

During my exploration on Pinterest, I'm always seeing cute outfits on real people but there is one issue. They ALL have the same body type...tall, thin, modelesque. Don't get me wrong, thats all well and good but I have boobs and butt and I need those cute outfits to translate. I can do it for me and I'd like to share that with others. So part of my blog revamp will be focusing on these outfits. I'm pumped!

I've already started to put some things together already so look for new stuff this week!!!

The Job

I'm baccckkkkk!!! I'm so sorry for my extended absence. Work has been kicking me in the butt repeatedly but its paid off. Literally. I ended last week with a raise!! Praise the Lord. I'm so happy because I was honestly feeling underpaid and that does work on a girls motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last week. She is incredibly smart, she just finished her Ph.D and is someone that I've looked up to my entire life. She also does marathons, half-marathons, 5ks, 10ks, half ironmans, etc. Needless to say we could totally nickname her superwoman.

(note to self, never google images "superwoman" unprepared to see some things that can never be unseen)

Anyway we were talking about all the things that we've been disciplined enough to accomplish in life. We can make sure the bills are paid, go to work everyday, keep tabs on our friends and families, study hard enough to get good educations, yet somehow we have issues disciplining ourselves enough to eat right and work out.

Doesn't make sense. I can turn in every work assignment in on time, make all the necessary phone calls, and return every email in my inbox inbetween 8 million distractions in 8 hours or less but I can't make healthly eating decisions or workout consistently? It shouldn't be THAT hard?

It kind of got me thinking. What do I need to help keep me going? What motivates me at work...a paycheck. What motivated me to finish school...graduating so I could get a paycheck. Clearly I'm motivated by money. So why am I not paying myself?

I always say that I'm going to pay myself as I lose pounds, but that isn't promoting healthy weightloss. At work, I get paid as long as I show up and put effort towards my projects and then get extra when my projects succeed.

I'm applying this same principle to weight loss. Everytime I spend an entire day withing my calorie range...cha-ching. When I complete workouts...cha-ching. When I actually lose weight double cha-ching. The thing is, I have to figure a way to pay myself extra...its kind of silly if I'm just going to spend the money on stuff I want whether I pay myself or not. Since I'm in desperate need of a tight budget, any money that is not paid to me as a result of healthy eating and working out goes to neccessities and gas. Thats it.

So there...two problems are solved in one. Here we go!

The Time I Went Speed Dating

Mundane Monday. The weekend flew by way too fast as usual but I had a really great weekend complete with spoiled movie watching and speed dating...

So I'm sure you want to know all about speed dating but you'll have to wait (or cheat and scroll down...I can't really stop you I guess! haha!)

Friday night I had the best movie and dining experience ever! We went to CineBistro. Its one of those swanky movie theatres where they serve you real food in these huge comfy chairs that recline. TO DIE FOR!!! I never want to watch a movie the regular way again! #princessproblems

We saw the movie "This Mean War" with Reese Witherspoon. I won't give it away because its definitely worth seeing. Its got action for the guys and love, eye candy, and awesome fashion for the ladies. It's also very funny! I was pleasantly surprised! Reese looked AWESOME! All of her outfits were killer and the SHOES...OH THE SHOES! I counted at least 2 pair of Louboutins and one pair of Manolo Blahniks (yes I'm shoe obsessed...designer shoe obsessed to be more specific)

I couldn't find any good photos with the shoes but kudos to the costume designer on this movie. She looked awesome and it all translated really well.

So Saturday I was planning on hanging out at home and catching up on laundry and Lifetime movies with my Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies (I support ALL of our "troops") But one of my friends from my networking group called and asked if I wanted to go speed dating. I've always joked about doing it but never really took it seriously until I heard another friend talk about how she had met her current boyfriend (of 5 months!) speed dating. Why the heck not?

It started at 3 which made choosing an outfit tricky. After ravaging my closet much like I'd imagine the Tasmanian devil would, I finally came up with an outfit. I wanted to look put together, fun, while still feeling comfortable.

I met my friend at the bar where we had a drink before heading to the event. It was exactly what you would expect. The ladies sit at numbered tables and are given a name tag and the men move from table to table every five minutes to the sound of a bell. (Kind of like in Hitch)

The first "round" I didn't have anyone sitting at my table so I used the time to plan my questions. The weather was nice so that was a great go-to. I also stuck to the typical "what do you do/where are you from"

So let's face it. Dating in Atlanta is NO easy task. After about the third guy, they all started to look alike because NONE of them were my type. They were mostly socially awkward and a little dorky. Which is fine...for some...I'm pretty sure one guy (who had hands the size of an 8 year old) was the son of Norman Bates (you know from that scary movie...). I tried to be nice. I smiled, laughed, asked questions...but most of these guys were SO awkward. And the thing is, the majority of the women there seemed absolutely normal. Needless to say I didn't check yes to any of them.

Where are the men?

My friend and I came to the conclusion that women speed date because we have a hard time meeting quality men, however men speed date because they aren't comfortable approaching women in other settings...hence the normal girl/socially awkward guy scenario that we ran across.

So I think that men are in one of three places: Sports Bars, The Gym, or The Grocery Store. I haven't really been to any sports bars to find out (which is why I think that's where they are hiding). I do have a gym crush so there is at least ONE there, and I haven't proven or disproven my grocery store  theory.

All in all, I will not be speed dating again. I'm going to back to the drawing board for ideas to meet my future hubs.

11 Heaven

I guess I'm super blogging this week to make up for the fact that I was totally M.I.A. last week. Anyway, I'm extremely stressed out from work and while I was perusing my favorite blogs today I ran across this cool little diddy at my buddy Ashley's blog. (Check it out its darn good!)

Anyway the premise of this game is first to list 11 fun facts, answer 11 questions, and ask 11 questions.

11 Fun Facts:

11. I love all dogs and while I would love to own a rottweiler one day, I've only owned shih-tzus my entire life...4 to be exact



My babes, London and Kingsley

10. When I find something I like (fashion-wise) I usually buy it in multiple colors...I have 5 Longchamp Handbags [black, brown, purple, yellow, orange]
9. My eyes are really sensitive to light so I always wear sunglasses, even when its mostly cloudy.

8. I can currently count about 16 bottles of perfume on my dresser

7. Cheeseburgers are my absolute favorite food and I am not one of those people that only eats gourmet burgers...I also love turkey burgers

6. Most of my coworkers wear sweatpants to work, our office is pretty casual, but I absolutely can not bring myself to do it, even on Fridays.

Typical Workday Oufit

5. When I'm really stressed out I can't sleep, which stresses me out even more

4. I never wear contacts, makeup, or brush my hair on Sundays that I don't have real plans (running errands does not count as real plans)

3. I have to sleep with a fan. When I don't, I wake up with a stuffy nose. I even passed up a really awesome apartment after college because it didn't have a hook up for a ceiling fan in the bedroom.

2. My grandmother did my laundry my entire freshman year of college. I never even knew where the laundry room was in our dorm. She would come pick it up and bring it back clean, folded, and ironed. She even ironed my t-shirts. I knew there was a reason I picked a school close to her and far away from my parents.

1. No matter what, the first thing I do when I walk in the house is take my shoes off. I kind of hate wearing shoes but I love looking at them. It's a strange relationship

11 Questions:

1.       Which Website do you visit the most?

It's a tie between Facebook and Spark...oh and Google because I need to know a lot of random facts and google knows everything.

2.       If you couldn't shave your legs or wax your eyebrows for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Legs...my leg hair is very thin and soft so I usually go about 10 days between shaves but I inherited a terrible unibrow from my mother

 

3.       Name a talent you have

Uhhh...I can find really good deals at the mall?

 

4.       If you could meet one person, living or dead, who would it be?

It's hard to pick just one but I would want to learn more about all of my grandparents. From the stories that I've heard, especially about my grandfathers who both died when I was younger, they are fascinating people. (I guess this counts, because I've met them before, I just want to talk to them more)

 

5.       If you had to go on a reality TV or game show, which one would you choose?

I've always wanted to go on the Price Is Right, but I wouldn't mind gaining the lifestyle that Lauren Conrad earned from her years on "The Hills"...but I think I'd still pick Price Is Right, only if Bob Barker came back and hosted for that one show

 

 

 

6.       If you were president, what's one law you would make?

I would mandate a minimum amount of vacation days offered to full time employees (I only picked this because having some extra vacations days would SO benefit me right now!)

 

7.       What's your favorite smell? 

Curve, the green one...mostly because it reminds me of someone but it smells good too

 

8.       You have a spicy piece of gossip,  who's the first person you tell? 

Twitter. KIDDING. Probably my best friend

 

9.       What's your favorite thing about yourself?

I can usually find something positive in most situations. It's a good outlook to have.

 

10.  what's your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving for sure. My grandma cooks a delish meal and our entire family goofs off, laughs, and spends a day being loud.

 

11. What did you want to be when you grew up?

My mom convinced me that I wanted to be lawyer but judging by the pictures of my perfectly matched outfits, fashion has always been in my veins.

 

 

Questions for you:

1. What's your signature dance move?

2. What dish do you cook exceptionally well?

3. What's your bad hair day hairstyle...you know the "go-to" when you can't get your hair to do anything you want it to

4. Would you give up your cell phone for a week in order to earn more money?

5. What's the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?

6. Name one thing on your bucket list.

7. What is your favorite song?

8. Would you rather elope and have a fabulous honeymoon or a big wedding with no honeymoon?

9. Have you ever faked sick to get out of work?

10. How old were you when you had your first kiss?

11. Name one thing that if you forget in the morning you feel naked without all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Vow.

Sorry I was MIA last week! I had more events on my social calendar in the last week than I've had since I moved to Atlanta total. Hopefully this week will be a little calmer because I can feel my body tiring out a little.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my friendships. When I was in high school I had a group of 10 close friends. I thought that we would be friends forever and be each others bridesmaids. Over the years I lost touch with all of these girls but one. They have mostly kept in touch with each other but somehow I got left out the equation. One of the ten got married last weekend and I was kind of bummed that I wasn't able to be apart of it because our friendship got lost somewhere.

I have this grand idea that my friendships should be like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Girls, I would hang out with all the time, that would all be friends with each other...that I would talk to about everything. As an adult this hasn't happened yet for me.

Don't get me wrong. I have some amazing friends and I'm starting to put myself out there to continue to make good friends. I'm very excited about my budding friendships as well as some of my friendships that I've had for awhile. Let's face it, I can't hang out with my dad every weekend.

So I've decided to make a vow to be a good friend...
to reach out to girls that I know
to make and keep plans with them
to go shopping with them
to chat with them
to gossip (only a little)
to get manis and pedis
to listen to their problems
to eat raw cookie dough and talk about bad dates
to take roadtrips
to celebrate birthdays
to bring them chicken noodle soup when they're sick
to invite them to zumba
to share beauty secrets
to laugh
to love
as long as our friendship shall live.