Let's start the week off right

Ava says, "Happy Monday!"

I have shampoo in my eye!

So, what do you do when you are at the gym, in the shower, shampooing your hair when you realize the fire alarm light is flashing like mad?

(i) Accidentally poke yourself in the eye with a shampoo-laden finger

(ii) Look around in a panic after flushing shampoo out of eye

(iii) Calm down once you realize chessy 80s music is still playing in the background and no alarms are sounding

Yeah. I'm three for three.

Skinny jeans

Have you ever had a pair of jeans/trousers that you refer to as your skinny jeans? Yeah, me too. And guess what??? Last night, for fun, or for pure torture as the case could have been, I tried on my skinny jeans for the first time in almost two years. And oh my goodness. They fit. Perfectly.

I knew training for a half marathon would have many benefits, but is it REALLY vain to say that fitting into those jeans has made me happier than any other benefit, like being healthier, being more alert, sleeping better, etc?

Oh, who cares. I'm doing a chair dance IN MY SKINNY JEANS.

Dog Pack Attacks Gator

I found this article and thought I would share. It's not often you see dogs attacking a gator. This happened in Florida.

Dog Pack Attacks Gator

At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty. The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the 'apex predator', can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and 'survival of the pack' mentality bred into the canines.

See the remarkable photograph courtesy of Nature Magazine below.

You will note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while another dog has a hold on the tail to keep it from thrashing. The third dog attacks the soft underbelly of the gator. Not for the squeamish.



Tee hee! My friend Mark sent me this in an email and I thought, I should totally use that as a Hump Day post! Forever the blogger. So, Happy Hump Day!

And for those of you who are not as easily amused as me, here are today's photos sent from my sister. Let us all ooh and aah over my niece.


Oooooh.


Aaaaaaah.

I could have died! And other random observations

So, yesterday on my way home from a particularly late day at work, I was almost T-boned as I was GOING STRAIGHT down the road and getting into a turn lane. And to make matters worse, the woman who almost hit me slammed on her horn and flashed her brights at me while speeding up behind me. And THEN she commenced screaming obscenities at me as if it was my fault. So, I just watched her yell (isn't it always funny to watch someone yell at you when you can't hear a single thing BECAUSE YOU ARE IN DIFFERENT CARS WITH YOUR WINDOWS UP?) and nodded my head along in agreement as I was called every name in the book (I sometimes wish I couldn't lip read) and then gave her the thumbs up sign as I smiled broadly. I have to tell you that I am still laughing at the 'oh no she didn't' look on the woman's face.


Yeah, this is about right. Well, minus the rollers. And my glasses are totally cooler.

As I was telling Kole yesterday, all the squirrels and chipmunks in our neighboring area are suicidal. Period.

The cherries and watermelon at Publix are on sale, and really good. I highly recommend you pick some up!

And oh my gosh, don't you just want to eat up my niece???


Thank goodness my sister likes to send me photos of Ava fairly often via cell.


This child is perfect!!

Me and my boss, my boss and me

I've decided that no picture or quote on earth will sum up me and my boss more than the following:



Pinky: Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?
The Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.

Guess who is which. Here's a hint. The first time I spoke to my boss on the phone he said, "Look for the best-looking short guy in the room."

Yeah, now back to taking over the world.

Friday Hodge Podge - with visuals!

1 - Oh my goodness. You have to buy a Ped Egg! No. Seriously.



I know it looks like a cheese grater for your foot, but it totally works wonders! I first read about it on Sarah's Sensibly Sassy blog HERE, and then at knit night my friend Laurie showed me how fabulous her feet looked after using one. So, I bought mine at Walgreens last night for $9.99 and I think it is the best $10 I have spent in ages (one really good bottle of pinot grigio aside).

2 - I have a great boss. We all know this. And guess what great boss did this week. He surprised me with a bag of my favorite candy. Just because. And because I am not eating anything sugary during the week (besides a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream that I had to have on a night out with Kole - ahem), I have stared longingly at the bag every 15 minutes or so for the past two days. I find it helps me build willpower!



3 - My friend Michelle's daughter, Kailyn, is a ballerina. And she is gorgeous. Well, so is her mother, so it makes perfect sense. They came to visit the other week and I spent a few minutes taking photos of her. Isn't she beautiful?



Have a great weekend, y'all.

Growing up so fast

As requested by my BFF, here is an updated photo of Ava from my sister's cell phone. Because as Kari put it, "So when do we get some updated photos of Ava? It's been almost two weeks... Do you know how long that is in baby years?"**


Drunk on milk.

And at this rate, I suspect that by next week Ava will have gotten her first tattoo, sassed back at her mama and jumped on the back of a Harley with some guy named Johnny.

**For the record, I couldn't agree more with Kari. I freak out every time I see how much this child has grown!

Hump Day Advice

This is just one of my favorite pieces of advice. Happy Hump Day, y'all.

If it's not beautiful, useful or loved...

Today, Zandria has a great post about trying to downsize one's possessions to 100 items. She goes into great detail about how 100 things can be defined and she asks her readers if they could live with only 100 things. This really got me thinking.

While I may not downsize to 100 items, I do need to simplify my life. I once read an article that said: "If it's not 'beautiful, useful or loved,' get rid of it." And I think I need to live that solid, if not common sensical, advice.

And not just regarding possessions. For every aspect of life: work, relationships, health, etc.

So, in honor of trying to surround myself with things that are either beautiful, useful or loved, I registered myself and my brother-in-law for the Silver Comet Half Marathon today. And I realized that it fits all the criteria: I love to run, the exercise is good (useful) for my health and strangely, it makes me feel beautiful.

Does anyone else have some advice along these lines?

Broken, tired and hungry

OK. So the title is a little melodramatic, but it's Monday and so far: (i) the microwave broke - ah! no breakfast; (ii) there was only enough coffee left in the pot for a half a cup (I know this could easily be remedied but I decided to blog instead of fixing another pot); and (iii) there wasn't any of my creamer in the fridge.

Kole and I have the following sign next to the door as you leave our house.



I really need to do that today.

Warm, delicious memories

Today I had one of those emotional, scent-triggered memory moments that put such a smile on my face. I was pouring my daily cup of coffee and we must have switched grounds because today's coffee scent took me back to my first 'real' job out of college, when I was a press secretary for a US Senate candidate.

I was so nervous my first day on that job, because the day I began work was the same day I interviewed for the position! I sat in the interview, greener than a hybrid-driving hippy, and my soon-to-be-boss basically said, you're young, you seem like a hard worker, your resume looks good and I'm going to give you a chance. Can you start right now?

I was so happy and eager to take on the world at that moment. And my first job assignment? To make coffee. This was not officially on my job description, but because I was the newbie, and the youngest on the campaign at that time, it fell to me on that one day.

My new boss took me to our break room and I brewed the first pot of the day and I remember savoring the delicious smell of the coffee as it gurgled through the filter. After he took his first sip, my boss told me that everything was a little easier after a good cup of coffee in the morning and that I was in for a wild ride over the next 12 months.

And I now know how lucky I was to have had that interview, to have gotten that job and to have shared that first cup of coffee with an incredible mentor/boss and now, friend. So today, I stood just a little longer in my office's break room, savoring my daily cup of joe and thought about how much I've changed since I took that job five years ago, but how the aroma of coffee still gives me an excitement to take on the world. How's this for a cheesy Friday post?


Five years after this wonderful man gave a kid a chance. I should take him out for a cup of coffee.

Thursday is almost Friday!

So, my deep thought of the day was that since today is Thursday that means tomorrow is Friday. Neat, huh?

As an addendum to yesterday's post, because I was asked by a couple of people, the best way to treat a spider bite is to clean it with soap and water; I then use hydrogen peroxide (part of me loves that cleansing sting!) and then slather on some antihistamine cream. Spider bites tend to get infected because they are not cleaned properly and then people scratch them because those suckers itch! And you're welcome.

And in other random news. Today, as I was driving to the gym, I wasn't more than .10 of a mile from my house when I noticed two lovely, older (70+) women standing in the road in front of me. And not on the side of the road, no. They were standing in the exact middle of it, having what appeared to be a wonderful chat.


This is not them, but around the right age. I just thought this post needed a photo.

So, I slowed my car down and waited as they slowly (oh, so slowly) moved out of the way. But not together. No. It was like the parting of the Red Sea. And when I looked back in my rearview after I waved to both ladies (yes, I was polite), I watched as they closed in on the middle of the road again. And at the gym, I was actually checking the TV for news of a tragic car accident involving two older women. Do you think people get to a certain age and just don't care? I think when I turn 90 I am going to walk across I-85, because you know what? At that point in life I will ALWAYS have the right of way.

Dr. Nicole

I love my gym. It's full of wonderful equipment, great locker rooms and nice people. In it, I have re-discovered my love of running and sweating like a mofo. And today, oh yes, today, I realized how gyms really bring people together.

I had just finished my shower and was headed towards the mirror to beautify myself (which takes time people), when I overhead two women talking about spider bites. I, being very unshy, described to them what spider bites look like because I have been bitten numerous times. So, when one of the lovely ladies, says, "Well, is this a spider bite?" while pulling her, erm, pants down, I happily commenced diagnosing her ass. Literally.

Yeah, she totally flashed her butt at me. And yes, it was a spider bite. I'm just hoping that the other women who walked by don't think I am this huge self-esteem breaker since I was staring at a woman's bum with intense concentration while saying "Yeah, it looks pretty bad."

Pseudo Mommy Blogger

So, my sister stopped by my office today and of course she had Ava with her. AND she had a disc of photos taken IMPROMPTU by the amazing photographer, Brandy Shirley. The same fabulous gal who took Steph's maternity photos.

I think I'm becoming a pseudo mommy blogger. What do you think?