SNOW DAY #2

Snow Day #2!  I have been working at L&T for 4 years and I've never experienced a snow day, in 2011 we've had two!

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and treked through the foot of snow to hit the gym before work.  The "walk" to the gym seemed more of a workout than my 30 minutes on the elliptical machine since no side walks had been shoveled yet.  I get home from the gym and randomly decide to call the emergency hot line to see if the central offices were closed.  I had to listen to the recording twice to in fact confirm, SNOW DAY #2!!

Now I'm on the couch in my comfy sweats drinking hot chocolate.  If it was only Friday....

9:00am - looking out my window (ignore the trash bag)

THANKS MOTHER NATURE!

FYI: Central Park measured in at 19" of snow this morning. That's a lot of snow!

"We Will Quit Sexting"

Alex sent myself and Megan a link to a post about dating & love resolutions for 2011.  These are just so awesome I had to share...


"We Will Quit Sexting": 25 Dating and Love Resolutions for the Ladies in 2011

A new year has just begun, and it’s time for clean slates and fresh starts – in our lives and in our hearts. There’s no better time than now to sit down with a blank piece of paper, an open mind and the determination to rock our love lives in 2011.
To get you started, raise your glass and toast to following BettyConfidential's 25 New Year's relationship resolutions:

1. We will not call, text or Facebook him twice in a row. No matter how desperate we are to hear from him. (Remember that little word, desperate.)

2. We’ll give Mr. Nice Guy a chance. And give Mr. Bad Boy the boot.

3. We’ll teach Nice Guy a few of Bad Boy’s bedroom moves.

4. We will not shave our legs before a first date. (We’ve finally learned not to trust ourselves to make him earn it; we need a little insurance policy.)

5. We will get friskier with our boyfriends/husbands; occasionally even in a public place (or on a public mode of transportation).

6. We won’t abandon the rest of our lives (including friends and family) just because we’ve met someone new.

7. When he sends us a one-sentence email, we will not respond with 10 paragraphs, two YouTube videos and three photo attachments. From here on, he gets fewer syllables than he sent.

8. We will smile at handsome strangers on a daily basis.

9. We will list d-bag dates in our iPhones by their character flaws. We’ll never again accept calls from “Only Dials Me When He’s Drunk Dan,” “Still-Married Marcus” or “Broke My Heart Twice Ted.”

10. We will stop telling ourselves we are too old, too plump, too skinny, too busy, too boring or too short for love. Self-love begets other-love.

11. We will quit sexting cold turkey.

12. We will make a habit of slapping on some lipstick and a smile before we walk out the door. Mr. Right could be waiting on the elevator. (Of course, if he’s truly Mr. Right, he’ll love you with plain old Chapstick – but that smile is crucial!)

13. We’ll invest less in thinking about wedding dresses and invest more in our retirement accounts.

14. We will not “friend” a guy we just started dating on Facebook. Nor will we prompt him to change his relationship status. We will remember that real life is better than virtual life.

15. We will stop kissing frogs who don’t turn into princes. And vice versa.

16. We’ll learn to trust our intuition more – and take our friends’ and families’ criticisms and/or dating advice with a healthy grain of salt.

17. We will get out of our comfort zone and be open to trying new ways to meet men.

18. We will give anyone who cheats on us the Jesse James treatment. (Thanks, Sandra!)

19. We won’t be afraid to define the relationship before we sleep with him.

20. We will throw out all of our silly dating “deal breakers” involving height, eye color, fashion sense and nose hair.

21. We will write new dating must-haves that include kindness, honesty, love and partnership.

22. We will take a breath before we start a fight with our significant other about something that won’t matter tomorrow morning.

23. We will remember why we fell in love with our significant other to begin with – and tell them often.

24. We’ll use our backbones more often than our wishbones when it comes to love.

25. We’ll spend more time with guys who make us laugh

"We Will Quit Sexting": 25 Dating and Love Resolutions for the Ladies in 2011 partner by BettyConfidential.com, on Mon Jan 3, 2011

- Carrie Seim, BettyConfidential.com

"That only happens in the movies"

So yesterday I was on the hunt for the perfect sparkly top for New Years Eve.  I was leaving Bloomingdales after an unsuccessful trip around the store walking down 59th Street heading towards Lexington Ave from 3rd on the phone with my Mother.  As I'm walking down the street I see a gray Jeep speeding up the street trying to pass the cab on their right and then it happened, something that only happens in movies... I got splashed, seriously splashed with cold, dirty slushy snow/water.  My entire left side was soaked from head to toe and worst part a cute guy saw the whole thing and gave me a sad face.  As I try to shake off the incident and continue my journey to H&M I walk by the cute guy and he says, "That only happens in movies", apparently not anymore!

So like Carrie in Sex & the City (30 sec - 34 sec)....



but 10 times worse, more like this, but unlike the idiot boys it was not welcome....

Happy New Year!!

New Years [Wikipedia]: In countries which use the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is usually celebrated on 1 January.
The order of months in the Roman calendar has been January to December since King Numa Pompilius in about 700 BC, according to Plutarch and Macrobius. According to the Christian tradition, 1 January is the day of the circumcision of Christ (on the eighth day of his birth), when the name of Jesus was given to him (Luke 2: 21). Since then, 1 January has been the first day of the year, except during the Middle Ages when several other days were the first (1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, 25 December).
With the expansion of Western culture to the rest of the world during the twentieth century, the 1 January date became global, even in countries with their own New Year celebrations on other days (e.g., China and India).
At present, the celebration of the New Year is a major event worldwide. Many large-scale events are held in major cities around the world, with many large fireworks events on New Year's Eve (31 December).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

Christmas Recap

I have to say Christmas 2010 was pretty successful...

On Christmas Eve Eve Brian hosted a fabulous little holiday cocktail party at his apartment. Check out additional pics from the very successful Soiree on the facebook album here.

Brian, Me & Ant

Cheers!!

 Christmas Eve I headed out to NJ for the remainder of the Holiday weekend.  This was my first Christmas sans my parents and second "white" Christmas in New Jersey.  At first I was a little sad that I wasn't going to be spending the Holiday with my parents, but I was spending it with family and that's what really counts.   Its about time to start making new traditions for myself.  I had a great time and no regrets not going back to California for the Holiday, also think I wouldn't have made it back to NYC if I did thanks to the crazy Blizzard on Sunday.

Christmas Eve was wrapping all the gifts that both my Mother & I shipped to my Uncles, 4pm Mass then Jersey Aunt Mary's for the evening.  And in the theme of making new traditions I again made the Danenhower Deviled Eggs for the festivities. Check out my serious egg cracking skills...  Oh, best part of Eve, Mary accidentally hit her sister, Theresa in the eye with some fuzzy slippers and Theresa got a black eye, see below.

Look at those perfectly cracked hard-boiled eggs... I got skills

Mary, Theresa & Theresa's Black Eye

 

Christmas Eve night after returning home from Mary's I participated in my family's tradition of receiving new PJ's for Christmas, Love.

Christmas morning we had an amazing breakfast cooked by my Aunt Dawn then we opened gifts.  I got a new macbook!!  That was a serious surprise,  Thanks Mom & Dad!

"Oh.. My.. GOD... I got a new computer!!!"

Christmas afternoon the Dimon family along with my Aunt's Sisters (Jersey Aunts) & Mother came over for presents, merriment and food.

Grans chilling at the bar with Chels & Ash

The Cousins w Gran in our Xmas PJ's... Top: Ashley & Me; Bottom: Chelsea, Granny & Jonathan

And Sunday I finally saw some snow, Blizzard was a little more than I was requesting for.  I was looking for some light snow, maybe 4 inches max, not 20.

Sunday at 2pm before it got really CRAZY Blizzardy

For more pictures from the Christmas weekend in Jersey you can check out my facebook album here.


Best Part of the whole weekend, Monday I got a SNOW DAY!!!  Impromptu 4-day weekend!


And now.... Happy New Year!!

New Years Resolutions vs. Aspirations

Its crazily enough almost the end of 2010 and time to think about 2011.  In 16 days everyone will come up with some outrageous New Years Resolutions for 2011.  I on the other hand am making "New Year's Aspirations" vs. Resolutions because lets be honest, no one ever follows through on their resolutions.  We all set these unattainable goals and resolutions for the New Year that we only half attempt in the first few months of the year then inevitability give up by Spring for a lack of effort, determination or sheer boredom.  So this year I've come up with a few things that I'd like to aspire to do in the New Year and (hopefully) years to come.

1. Actually put money into my non-existent savings account.  (My Mother will scoff at this one because she knows this will be my hardest aspiration).  That means spending less money on whatever I spend money on, I don't know where it goes.  My American Express bill is always a surprise.

2. Clean up my dirty mouth.  I have the innate ability to throw in a "dirty" word in almost every conversation and sometimes those words are not appropriate for the audience.  I need more than orbit gum to clean up this dirty mouth, I need a rubber-band around my wrist and sheer determination to keep my language cleaner.

3. Limit the number of excuses.  I'm very good at coming up with multiple excuses to not do something.  I aspire to stop making so many excuses for any number of activities like: going to the gym, doing the dishes or laundry, participating in activities out of my comfort zone, etc. 

4. Dance, just dance.  I need to make a commitment to (1) sign-up for class and (2) show up to class.

5. Cook Dinner a minimum 3 nights a week.  This aspiration can be looped into #1 and #3.  I like to cook but (#3) find an excuse not to and end up ordering from seamless web (#1).

To be clear I'm not resolving to do all these things, but aspiring to.  So you can't hold me accountable if they don't pan out 100%.

Boobie Update

Today I was surprised, astonished, slightly (just a tiny bit) disappointed, but not really surprised.  I went to Linda the Bra Lady to officially get my new boobs fitted into some under-wire bras... Final boob size 32 F or 34 DD, I thought I lost my boobies, guess not.

1. My first push-up bra, 2. t-shirt bra, 3. Everyday bra, 4. My first sexy/lace bra

It was a whole new experience trying on the new bras.  I had no idea how they were supposed to fit, especially the push-up and lace bra since I've never owned one before (didn't need & never made in my size), I had to ask my fitter if that's how they were 'supposed' to fit. My shirt even fits differently now, it fits better because I have boobs! Now my boobs are separated and lifted into individual cups versus my wireless non-cupped, no boobie definition bras I was currently wearing.

My boobs are like the prodigal son - I had them, I lost them and today they came back.  I guess I'm also a ball of contradictions when it comes to the ladies: (1) I didn't want my ginormous boobs, (2) Got them reduced, (3) Want big boobs again (push-up bra).  Still overall still best decision of my life and now I have so many options for bras, even cute, sexy and lacey bras I did not know in my previous boobie life.  Yay, to the new ladies!


UPDATED:
how appropriate - an article on "sister sizes" for any of those who are curious how 32 F and 34 DD are essentially the same size

Cow Class

So today I took my final butcher class at Jeffery's Meat Market.  Same concept but it was a totally different experience than last week's Pig Class.  I enjoyed myself and I learned a lot but I think I preferred the pig over the cow class.  But now I'm interested in the sausage class...

"Just Too Damn Smart"

Per my Mother's request I finally looked up my grades from my last two OD classes I took in November.  I already assumed I got As since every other class I've received As and I DID (shocking, I know).  So either the professors are easy graders or I'm just amazing, both work for me.  I've got one class left in Spring then I will have earned a Certificate in Organizational Development and Leadership. Woot Woot

'Tis the Season

This year I decided to get into the Holiday Spirit and do a little decorating around the apartment.  I really wanted to buy a Charlie Brown Christmas tree but they're really expensive.  Then I would also have to invest in twinkle lights, ornaments, etc which I do not have money for since my Amex is nearly maxed out with Christmas gifts for friends, family and a few for myself.  So I did some mild decorating...

Holiday Door Contest at Work

My Classy Front Door

Some garland

Some Silver Sticks that Light Up

And Look I baked Coffee Cake Muffins...