Almost Wordless Wednesday: My Addiction

Maybe the title of my blog should be Nail Polish Nook.

Happy Wednesday!

Bag it Up

I'm all about bags, as you may recall. And I also want to find ways to save the planet. I know I'm wasteful about many things but I am trying to make a bigger effort to stop taking plastic bags from stores. And I'm really good about bringing in my canvas bags when I go grocery shopping. No problem. They live in my trunk so I grab them and go into the store. BUT I'm not so good on the random trip to Walgreen's or other stores during my errands. Inevitably I still end up with a few plastic bags each week. UGH! I get so annoyed when I realize I've accumulated yet another plastic bag. I'm not sure what the mental block is with grabbing a grocery bag from my trunk when I go to buy makeup or hairspray, but I never think of it. Yes, I have my regular bag but somehow I always end up purchasing more than will fit in that. You get my drift...

Well, a few weeks ago I had lunch with my favorite St. Jude rep and friend, Jessica. She was all about this bag (I can't remember what it was called) that folded up and could be stored in your purse. I was very impressed with her purchase. But then forgot about it....until yesterday. I was at Bath and Body to pick up some air freshener for my car and I saw this sitting on the 50% off table. It looks like a manicure kit, right. I thought so too. Until I unzipped it....and found a cute reusable bag. I know. I know. I bet you are thinking, but AG does it really fold back up as nicely?
And the answer is yes.

It's just that easy. And then you can toss it in your bag for those unexpected purchases that creep into your daily errands.

I used it today. AND I saw a girl two people ahead of me taking hers out as well. Brilliance is contagious. Clearly.

Have a good night!

OH What A Day!

For the past 4 years the two colleges in town have collaborated to put on a joint spring concert and street carnival. I usually have to "work" at the event in some capacity, but this year I didn't have to. I got to enjoy the day with friends at a BBQ and got to see some friends from out of town too. The weather was over 80 degrees and beautiful. It felt great to just enjoy the day and not have to be "responsible" for any part of the event. Awesome.

Oh, and I have officially lost 40 lbs. as of Saturday. Another reason to celebrate. Woo hoo!

Jared, Alisha, Jill, Tara and I with the mascot at the street carnival

Jared was sporting this shirt for the festivities. Dance does matter, my friends. I need a shirt like this.

Even after a long day of fun yesterday, I was up early this morning. I had to do a ritual ceremony for my sorority (I used to be the chapter advisor) and participated in a field days event on campus. It's been a busy weekend. It's always nice to have a weekend that is filled with fun events and warm weather. But it's always nice to come home to relax again before another week begins.

I think I'm going to follow Gracie's lead and get some sleep. (She's damn cute when she's sleeping and not being naughty)

What was the best part of your weekend?

Plot from the Top

I need to document this because I often tell stories of how Gracie really is the most naughty cat in the world. Case in point. She claws her way up the towel hanging on the back of the door and proceeds to perch and judge me from the top of the door while I get ready for work in the morning.

I'm pretty sure she's plotting to take over the world.

You heard it here first.

Happy Wednesday!

Iced Delicious

Today is looking up. I had a good night sleep and I have a renewed outlook on things. I have decided that sometimes life has a way of kicking you in the butt to focus on different things. SO I decided that I'm going to focus on the great things in my life and not worry about the stuff that will work itself out in the end. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff (or so the saying goes). And I DO have many great things in my life.

For instance today was teeth cleaning day. I love getting my teeth cleaned. I know, I'm a weirdo. AND after I went to the dentist I picked up an iced coffee for 50 cents. All day long it's .50 at my local Dunkin Donuts. Love that! I'm off to a meeting but I wanted to let you all know to head to Dunkin Donuts immediately and get some liquid refreshment.

It's a good day, indeed.

Today

Today is Founder's Day for my sorority, Tri Sigma. It's the 111th year since Sigma was founded. I'm so glad to be affiliated with such a great organization. I proudly wore my purple and white ribbons under my badge today to work.Today has not been my best day, though. I won't go into details but I got some bad news this morning and I'm just feeling a little defeated. I'll be better tomorrow but for now I'll leave you with this poem that I find empowering. Tomorrow I'm all about being a queen.

Be a queen. Dare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader. Be the kind of woman who in the face of diversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward challenge. Take it on! Be a truth seeker and rule your domain, whatever it is—your home, your office, your family—with a loving heart.

Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give birth to ideas and rejoice in your womanhood… my prayer is that we will stop wasting time being mundane and mediocre… we are daughters of God—here to teach the world how to love…It doesn't matter what you've been through, where you come from, who your parents are—nor your social or economic status. None of that matters.

What matters is how you choose to love, how you choose to express that love through your work, through your family, through what you have to give to the world…Be a queen. Own your power and glory!
--Oprah Winfrey

I hope you are all having a happy Monday!

Celebrate, I Will

6:30 am--Wake up & shower

7:00--Breakfast and computer time (checking e-mail, weather.com)

7:30--Straighten up apartment (dishes, vacuum, make bed, etc)

8:15--Hair, makeup and get dressed

8:30-9:15ish-Drive thru Dunkin Donuts to get my coffee

9:30--Arrive at the office and do the office warm up (e-mail, mail, chatting with my office peeps)

10--Meetings and work

Noonish--Lunch

1:00 ish--Meetings and work

5:30ish--Go home feed cats and grab a quick bite to eat for dinner

7 pm--Back to the office for night meetings/events

10:00pm--Arrive home and do the night time routine (wash face, brush teeth, watch Will & Grace on Lifetime)

Rinse and Repeat. That's been what's up with me for the past few weeks. It's just the time of year, I guess. April is always really busy. Today I have to make mention of things that have been making me happy in between meetings and sleep. :) Because life is good and sometimes it really is the little things that make a difference in a busy day.

1. Dave Matthews Band. I feel like I've rediscovered an old friend. I always love DMB but I kind of put him on the shelf for a bit. I've recently pulled out some (or all) of my CDs and can't stop listening to Under the Table and Dreaming, especially. It's so fun to be excited about music that I've listened to a million times before. Beth and Courtney--I would love to go to a show with one/both of you this summer!

2. No Pudge Brownies. My friend, Jessica told me about these last week. Naturally, I ran out to get myself a box. Yes, it says Fat Free on a box of brownies! They are made with yogurt and each brownie is only 2 Weight Watcher points. And they are delicious. So thanks, Jessica for letting me know about this.
3. Exact Eyelights. I love makeup (I've said this a million times) and I picked up a tube of this at Walgreen's last week. It is supposed to enhance eye color. I like to believe that my eyes have been especially green this week. That's my story--so humor me.
4. New clothes. I got this cute scarf dress last week on sale at the Gap.com (in Navy). I am excited that the weather is getting nice and that means more skirts and dresses!

What's been making you happy lately? Which reminds me...I need to do some serious blog reading soon. But first, let me me put on some DMB and grab a brownie.

Have a great week!

Dang

You know how you walk into a pet store and see a cute puppy or an adorable kitten and really want to take it home that minute? But leave the store because you just can't do it right then. Later, at home, you realize that you should have taken that puppy/kitten home because it was the perfect companion for you.

Well, that's kind of how I feel about this Coach bag. I know I don't NEED it. But I love it. And I saw it at the Coach Outlet a few weeks ago and I SHOULD have bought it because it was 50% off. But no. I left it there. Dang. I just hope it found a nice home and the owner loves it as much as I would have.

(I'm exhausted from work so this is my lame attempt to blog tonight. Happy Tuesday!)

Keepin' It Real

It's Good Friday. And it's also really GOOD that it IS Friday! I'm so over this week. I'm ready for some weekend. So far that means getting my taxes done at 5 pm, then heading to dinner with some friends. Maybe I'll dye some eggs tomorrow after I clean out my closet. Who knows...I'm crazy! All I know is I'm so happy for the weekend--and Easter. Love it!

Anyway, yesterday The Pink Chick tagged me in Keepin' It Real. Here are the rules:

Take a picture of yourself RIGHT now.
No primping or preparing.
Just snap a picture.
Load the picture onto your blog.
Tag some people to play.

What a fun game! I did it immediately, but haven't had the chance to post until today--another long day at the office. So this is me keepin' it real yesterday at about 5 pm.(Don't mind the clock behind me--I need new batteries) I'm sitting at my desk trying to finish up some stuff before my 6 pm meeting. I had second day dirty hair (hence the bangs being pinned up) and no makeup touched up since lunch time. It was a rough day. ha ha. There are three things that I see when I look at this. This girl needs a tan (freckles), I need botox in my forehead and I have to be more careful with my curling iron (check out my nose)

But that is me. Keepin it REAL. :)

I tag Movin on In, Baseball and Ballet, Mutterings & Musings, McPhee Family Adventures, Frogspot and Life with Attitude. And anyone else that wants to play--because it's fun to keep it real.

Have a great weekend! And Happy Easter to those that celebrate!

Tweet Thang

Well, it's possible that those Wisp things that I mentioned in the last post have been the highlight of the last few days. Work has been long and tedious lately. I haven't been home before 10 pm any night. I get home, clean up and go to bed. My favorite time of the day is when I can listen to my ipod and blow dry my hair in the morning. It's probably the most peaceful part of my day. But you don't want to hear me complain more about this, I'm sure. Although, it would be hilarious if you could see me sing to my mirror as I listen to Kelly Clarkson's new CD. hee hee.

Anyway, I've been wanting to discuss this whole Twitter thing. I know it's the latest craze in the social networking era and I felt pretty good about myself when I had to explain what it was to some college students. But as I was "explaining" it, I realized that I actually don't fully get it myself. I came up with my own list of questions:

Why should I twitter?

Why is it called twitter?

Who cares what I'm doing every minute of the day?

How is this beneficial?

Does it need to be beneficial?

With facebook, I can connect with my friends, look at their pictures, message them etc. So what do I do with twitter? Yes, I joined it while I was at my conference last week (because they were apparently twittering updates to the schedule--none of which I got because I don't know what I'm doing). The most fun I've had with it so far, is coming up with my user name. So I'm looking to you "twits" (those that utilize twitter) to help me. And just so you know, I have watched that short informational video that tells what twitter is. I get it, but still am not sure how to use it in my life. So I'm turning to you, blog friends. How do you use twitter?

Because NotoriousALG needs to know.

Time Out

I'm not sure what is happening today but I've been in a cranky mood all day. So much so that I had to close my office door to give myself a time out. I never shut my door unless I'm in a meeting. I think being in and out of the office for the last two weeks has me feeling really behind. And I had to work late tonight too (yes, I scheduled an event on the same night as the basketball championship--I'm a genius.)

In my crankiness and rush to get back to work after dinner, I didn't have time to brush my teeth so I tried one of these new little wisp things that I got this weekend (I had a coupon). Um, hello. Wow...I'm impressed. It doesn't replace brushing of the teeth but I can get down with this. It freshened me right up. It's the perfect thing to keep in your bag for those busy days.
Have you tried these yet? What do you think?

I'm off to bed to sleep off the crank. After I brush my teeth, of course. :)

All Tied Up With A Bow

This weekend went too quickly. I ended up being pretty busy both days. It was nice though. I ended up watching the final four games all snuggled up in bed so I was able to get some relaxing in there too.

Today I went to a craft fair and managed to find my way to a booth with cute bags. I know...I know. Do I NEED another? Nope. Was it too cute to pass up? Yes. Did she give me a deal because of a defective zipper. Yes. Sold.If you think this is cute, you should see the others she sells here. I love the bows on all the bags.

Dang, I need to learn to sew.

Spring into Saturday

I'm so glad that today is Saturday. I had big plans of laying around watching movies and reading. But I actually have to do a panel discussion at work (for an hour) and then attending a baby shower. So I'm postponing the lazy Saturday plans for later today. Either way, I love Saturday. Especially with a big DD coffee and freshly painted nails. Life is good. Except for the snow in the air today. Ugh.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of my Easter/Spring decorations.

This pineapple candle from Bath and Body Works smells delicious.

This heart wreath came from Michael's. They have such cute stuff for the spring.

This cute basket came from Cracker Barrel. I love that place. Cracker Barrel also has some cute little plates. I love this one.

Another Cracker Barrel plate. Cute for the kitchen.

And my favorite decoration this year is the peep centerpiece. I saw this in a magazine and thought I'd try it out. The flower are fake because my cats tend to eat real flowers and then I have to clean up cat vomit for days. So I'm okay with the fake in this situation. Happy Saturday!

Vacation Brain

I still have vacation/conference brain and the weather was nice today. This is not a good combination. But I got through it. My cats got back home this morning. My mom was taking care of them while I was gone on my two trips and my dad was nice enough to drive them back over to me this morning. (Thanks Mom and Dad) So now I'm back to normal. I love going on trips but I always like to come home too. There is nothing like sleeping in my own bed. Or seeing Gracie and Sadie curled up at the end of it.

Yesterday we made a really quick stop at some outlet stores in Hershey. These are my three favorite things I picked up.

A cute clutch bag. It's the perfect size.

I love these flip flops.

A new green bag. I know...shocking.

It's all about accessories after all.

I'm excited that tomorrow is Friday so that I can catch up things around here. I think Saturday is going to be all about relaxing at home. Working two days in a row is tough. :)

The End...

of the conference.
I can't believe it's already time to head back to NY. The conference has been fun. We had a good time. The conference sessions were interesting and it was great to see former colleagues and friends.

Jill and I hung out with the Obamas. We're cool. Obviously. I'm not sure why they had them set up randomly in the ballroom. Weird. But fun.

Last night we ate at a cute Chinese restaurant and I actually used chop sticks for my meal. I've never been able to master them but I ate my whole meal with them. Ha ha. Is it sad that we took a picture of this?
And now we are packing up and heading back to NY. But not before we stop at the outlets in PA. I love a trip that ends in shopping. :)

Happy Wednesday!