Dog Picture of the Day

She looks so comfy that sly little fox.

Queasy

I feel poopy like I've wanted to barf all day today...

<3<3 <3

Pretty new things!

A sense of...

relief? satisfaction?  These words aren't quite right, but I feel good.

Work has been hectic these past two days.  We got a request in from a customer and my new business lead is breathing down my neck for answers.  He stops by my desk every 10 minutes or it seems like it.  I'm sorry, but the person you should be getting answers from is out of town on business (my direct boss).  I'm sorry that I have to text him with my phone to his phone because he doesn't have access to work email or a work cell phone.  I'm sorry things are not instantaneous.  I'm sorry that I don't have complete knowledge of what you are asking for since it's not a project I work on.

I'm well aware of the deadline TWO fucking days from now.  So stop bothering me which is what I finally said to him when he stopped at my desk for the 5th time today.  "Please stop bothering me."  I said please that should count right?  He just stopped talking and tried to say because he was leaving he wanted an update.  Whatever.  He got the point and scampered away.  YES!

Another work story:

The hubster and I were talking about hard and soft targets for saving last night at dinner.  My direct boss was texting me about hard and soft sides for work numbers.  These are not the same things.  The hubsters hard and soft mean that soft targets are higher than hard targets.  In work, it's literally soft and hard, so hard is higher than soft.  That was a frustrating 20 minutes of text.

Only another 2 hours...

Berenstain Bears

I just read on CNN that the author of the Berenstain bears just died.  So sad.  Those book were a staple of my childhood.  I remember my dad taking me to the discount bookstore and I would just stand in front of the Berenstain bear book display and just read them all.  (Yes, my dad is quite frugal.  We never bought any of them).  I had no concept of time back then, but I could stand there for hours and just read and read.  They never seemed to run out.  If I ever have kids, I would want them to read them too.

God, I remember all of these.  After perusing the Berenstain Bear website for these pictures, I didn't realize all the different issues they address for families: new babies, bullies, working parents, lying, cleaning up, and so much more.  I love them and I want to read them now.  Future Baby Stowell, you're in for a treat if and when you come into this world.

How awkward

Coming face to face with someone at the gym wearing the same shirt as you and not like a "oh I also ran the new York marathon" kinda way, more like a "we bought the same obnoxious Nike shirt with some stupid saying". *sigh*

Charleston

I'm sitting at the airport in Charleston, South Carolina after visiting my high school friend for the weekend. I got a glimpse into life as a parent of a newborn and a toddler. Holy crap, is it tiring. Kids are cute and fun , but quite a handful. Even with all the time spent with the kids, we were still able to steal away for some siteseeing in downtown Charleston.




A cannon





Carriage house





Rainbow row. Beautiful colorful houses





Cannon balls





Sun dial - pretty darn accurate





Big cannon!





Cute garden maze





Another cute house





Random dog sign in German ...

Leggings

Where does one buy leggings? Apparently what I have that I thought were leggings are just tights. They aren't see through, but I guess leggings are thicker than tights. I havent seen any in the stores, so where do they hide them? Can I just wear my underarmor tights?

Chicago midway

This weekend must have been jam packed with collegiate sports because I have seen at least 5 different collegiate teams roaming around the airport. I'm watching some Notre Dame men's team getting of a southwest flight and I can't tell what sport they play. Definitely not basketball, not tall enough. Is baseball in season?

Off to a not so great start

*sigh*. I lost a birth control pill and I forgot my motion sickness pills on the sink after I took the time to refill the damn thing. Woke up late too, but I'm on the plane and ready to go. Time to sleep!

I'm stuck

Trying to figure out what's for dinner and getting motivated to pack. It's not looking good at the moment.

Ice Loves Coco = Best Show on TV

The second season of Ice Loves Coco is now showing on TV.  It's a reality TV show following the lives of Ice-T and his wife, Coco.  I've gotten the hubster to watch this show with me too.  It's perfect for us for the following reasons:

• Reality TV
• incorporates Law and Order
• involves a dog
• has nice cars (this is for the hubster)
• Lots of first world problems, but also semi-realistic marriage issues

I find it very funny and amusing.  I think Ice-T is hilarious and his wife is just a little crazy, but not too obnoxious.  As enhanced as she is, I wish she wouldn't tan so much.  I think she would look a lot prettier if she weren't so unrealistically dark.

Stupid Dog

So Egg Roll thinks she's the boss.  She shows this by herding us around the house when she wants something.  She'll bark and bark and then follow you out of the room, then run in front of you and watch you walk towards her and then run behind you again.

So this morning, I must not have gotten out of bed fast enough.  It's true because I got an email this morning that really pissed me off enough to wake up the hubster to talk about it.  Anyway, she's watching me pee this morning which she normally doesn't do.  I start talking to her that she can't rush me and that I have to brush my teeth first which she knows.  While I am brushing my teeth, she goes under the bed which is unusual.  I get down on the ground to look and the little bitch is pissing under my bed!  She knows that we would be headed outside in like 2 more minutes.

I was livid.  So I take them both outside and for Egg Roll's punishment, I fed Red her dog food and none for Egg Roll.  That's why she's so bossy in the morning.  She wants her food.  Well not right now!  As I read my email in the office, I can hear her rustling around in her cage and barking at Red wondering where her breakfast is.

I take my time getting ready this morning and then finally give her her breakfast.  Take that Egg Roll.
I hope that extra 20 minutes without food felt like an eternity.  I hope you learned your lesson.  Probably not...

All Checked In

for my trip to visit my high school friend, Debbie, in South Carolina!  I haven't seen her and her family since 2 summers ago!  Wow, how time flies!  I get to meet her new baby too.

Now just to start packing...

Yogurt

I've started to eat yogurt again with my lunches.  On a whim, I bought Danon Light and Fit since I had a coupon.  I finished that pack of yogurt and when I went grocery store last night, I decided to try Danon Oikos which is their version of Greek yogurt instead of going with Chobani like I usually do.  I have to say I do not like Oikos.  The peach tastes very artificial.  I think I'll spend the extra quarter and stick with Chobani.

Yay for President's Day

I wrote this post Saturday night, but it's a good thing I bought all these presents for myself.  I definitely needed them after Sunday's events.  Who knew they would be pick-me-up presents?

So since the hubster had the first free day to ourselves this weekend, we ended going to Costco to pick up some items and swing on over to Polaris to peruse some items of interests at Saks Fifth Avenue.  I wanted to look at the Tory Burch items I wanted and they were the only store in the area that carried them.  I saw the two cross body bags and another one of interest.  I stood there for like 20 minutes with the hubster hemming and hawing, and weighing in on the pros and cons of each bag.  I like the strap, but I like that this one is bigger.  I like this color more, but it's not something that goes with a lot of things.

I finally had to step away and go walk to another part of the mall thinking that I would be able to decide once we made it back to Saks.  No dice.  As we were headed back to Saks and to the car, I still couldn't decide.  I still wanted that wristlet too, but it was out of budget =(  While sitting on one of the couches in the mall, I had a little lightbulb go off.  I decided which one I wanted which is what I think I always knew  I wanted and since I knew this, I should just buy it online and save on tax and shipping.  Since it wasn't on the site anymore, I called them up and they could still ship it to me from a store.  Yes.  I got tired of waiting and being on hold, so I hung up.  I also really wanted that wristlet and I wasn't sure if the clutch being shipped from the store would make me lose my free shipping because the wristlet was available online.  So I didn't want to do the whole transaction on the phone at the mall.

When we got home, the hubster graciously called in for me and got me both my wristlet and clutch to be shipped for free and tax-free from New York.  That isn't even the best part.  While he was on the phone with the customer service representative, I was poking around the Tory Burch website.  I noticed that there was a promotion for President's Day.  I thought that was just the free shipping, but I clicked the link anyway.  It was 20% all purchases over $250.  What?!?!

I yelled at the hubster while he was on the phone "Make sure I get my 20%... Do I get 20%?!?  Hubster, 20%!!!!!!"  Apparently, he was motioning to me the whole time that yes the customer service guy was going to honor the discount, but of course, I wasn't looking at him.  He finally yells at me "YES!" and then has to tell the customer service guy that he wasn't yelling at him.

So the best part(s):

• FREE shipping
• Tax-FREE - they don't have a physical location here in Ohio; hence, no sales tax
•  For less than the price of the clutch (plus tax), I got my clutch and the wristlet = FREE wristlet!

So yay for me, yay for the hubster, yay all around!

Things don't always go as planned

*sigh*. I am not the new COWLOA president or even vice president. Obviously not the anticipated results. I might have made it onto the board, but I couldn't put myself through another loss without losing it. I admit I cried in the bathroom after the meeting a little bit. I wanted to be president and I didn't get it. I think it was also another reminder of how unlikable I am. I just couldn't compete with two well liked men in the organization. I also felt betrayed, but that's a different story and a different post for a different day if at all.

Oh well, I'm just not meant for the board. This was my second year running to be on the board and I don't think I could handle a third year of defeat. I ended up getting dinner and margaritas with some good friends to cheer me up theres a timeline set for getting my national! On the bight side, I have the best husband in the world. After my emotional breakdown, he took me to get dessert at Cheesecake factory. He's so good to me.





Time to drown my tears in strawberry shortcake.

Dog picture of the day

Someone's got some fluff on their nose!

Oh the irony!

I'm always wiping my lips and mouth to get the dog hair off and look who's getting a taste of her own medicine!

Annoying Dogs

The girls have been pretty annoying this past week in the morning.  Red has decided that my alarm clock is not doing a good enough job.  She has taken to climbing up onto the bed and laying down on my legs right before  my alarms is set to go off.  She doesn't just lie down on my legs, she circles around then and lays down so she squeezes them open and makes room for her giant fuzzy ass.  And then to add insult upon injury, she grumbles at me as she nestles her furry head onto my leg.  So annoying, but cute.

Egg Roll must know that the Westminster Kennel Club dog show has been on because she's upped her herding tendencies a million percent.  This morning she herded me out of the bedroom into the living room where I bent down to put my shoes on.  The entire time she was barking at me in her high pitched "I smoke 3 packs a day" bark.  After putting on one shoe, I stopped to stare at her and ask who she thinks she is.  She just barks in my face.  What a bitch!

These dogs, I don't know where they get their attitude from.

Want

We filed our federal taxes a few weeks ago and we are getting a refund.  The majority of it is going into savings, some will be set aside until April to pay for our state and city taxes which we always owe every year.  We mutually agreed that we would both get a small portion of the refund to do with what we wish.  Along with some other company perks and credit card rewards, I've been poking around the interwebs to what I want to get.  Here are some front runners and options:

1. Tory Burch Boots/ Winter boots

2. Tory Burch Cross body bag

3. Tory Burch Clutch

You might remember this bag from November when Nordstrom cancelled it on me for no good reason.  Well, it's crept back into my mind

4. Dakine snowboard bag since the current one I have is too big and only conducive when the hubster's board is in the bag

5. Coin Purse - I need a small wallet or credit card holder for when I just don't want to carry a purse.  Kate Spade had a cute glittery one, but I don't think it's in stock anymore.

6. Kate Spade iPhone Case/Wallet

7. Tory Burch Wristlet

Phoneless

I left my phone at home today.  I feel naked.

No More Malware

When I tried to get to my blog using Chrome yesterday, I got a message saying there was malware on my blog and that it originated from blogpress which is the iphone app I use to blog from my phone!  Oh no!  I don't think there was actually malware on my blog because I hadn't use the app in a few weeks since it wasn't posting anything and I had never gotten this warning before.  I've been using this app since I started the blog.

Everything is back to normal now.  So I hope I didn't infect anyone's computer.  Sorry!

Happy Valentine's Day

Click on picture to my Valentine's Day card

Resolutioners

That is what my friend calls people who crowd the gym at the beginning of the year in hopes to finally meet that pesky new years resolution. Well they suck. I went to the gym for the first time in a long time. It's probably been a year, but I am definitely not a resolutioner. I just can't stand being in a gym when the weather is nice. I also can't stand running on a treadmill and long distance on that tiny track drives me crazy. Anyway, there was no parking, a million people on the track and no space to do anything. Ugh.

On the bright side, I ran 30 minutes pain free and did some of the exercises Jeff prescribed to me as well as my physical therapy exercises. What a work out! It felt good and my legs are tired this morning. This is the start of my half marathon training (again) and just in time.

How Sweet!

The hubster and I were in  bed last night watching TV and I was sticking my stomach out.  He hates this and tells me to stop.  I said "This is what I'll look like if I get pregnant!"  He casually remarks "If you get stretch marks from a pregnancy, I'll pay for you to get a tummy tuck afterwards."  Gee thanks honey!

I said well a lot of stuff is going to be out of place if I have a baby.  He goes and expands the offer to put everything back in place.  That's so sweet of him *eye roll*

Tights/Leggings

It was pretty cold over the weekend and was cold last night.  I decided that I would wear leggings under my work pants today.  I usually wear jeans and they keep me warm enough and there's not really room to wear leggings underneath.  My black work pants are another story.

I can't decide if I like it or not.  It feels a bit more constricting, but I must say, I am pretty warm in my cube.  The heater is still running, but my jacket is off.  I only own the one pair from Target.  Maybe it's time to invest is some more.

Dog pictures of the day

Someone leads a very hard life.

Dog picture of the day

The hubster is out of commission, but the girls are taking care of him.

Weekend Fail

How the weekend already be a fail?  It's only 2:40 pm on Saturday.  Here's how:

If you read this blog, then you know that I was supposed to go snowboarding today, ref a game tonight, and get re-rated tomorrow.  Well two of those three things won't happen.

The car was packed up and we were ready to go.  The hubster was up eating breakfast, I had just fed the girls, the step son was ready to go.  Then disaster struck in the form of an Underarmour long sleeve shirt.  The hubster comes out all stiff like.  I think I've got a problem.  He can't move anything without pain.  Of course!  Snowboarding cancelled.  In his own words, it's quite ironic.  He worries about hurting his neck when snowboarding and all he really has to do is just think about it and it throws his entire body out of the picture.  I can't say I'm not disappointed.  We finally got some snow last night and it would have been great.  Leave it to the hubster's body to throw us a curve ball.

I also just got a phone call that the Toledo play day will NOT be happening.  It was the right call to make since it would have been freezing to spend that much time outdoors with not nearly enough clothing on.  I'm glad that's not happening, but bummed that I won't be able to re-rate then.  I've been told that it's much easier to get it done in the fall then during/after the season.

So I'll still be doing the game tonight, but man, I hate it when things don't happen like they are planned.

I guess I should thank the hubster for saving me $100 by now snowboarding today...

Baby Steps

I ran two miles today!  Woohoo!  On my way to a healthy recovery and successfully RUNNING a half marathon.  Physical therapy is actually working.

I may ruin it all this upcoming weekend though.  I have PT tomorrow.  The hubster wants to take the stepson snowboarding and we've been promising since Christmas.  I'm pretty much booked every weekend through the end of May, so this Saturday is the only day with cold enough weather to go.  Sorry Cap City Board Meeting.  I have an indoor scrimmage Saturday night too for warm up for Sunday when I go up to Toledo to get rated in asshole cold weather.  4 games outside from 10 am to 7 pm.  Yeah, I'm not going to be a happy camper come Sunday night.

If I don't ruin all my progress with all that, I'm sure with my luck I'll get super sick.  *sigh*  But the good news is that I won't have to go Chicago or somewhere far to get rated this year.  I'll take a 2 hour 30 minute drive to Toledo any day.  At least I stay in the state.

Turkey Sandwich

I went to the grocery store Tuesday night and picked up ingredients to make a delicious turkey sandwich. And the one I made today did not let me down.

It had whole grain bread, turkey breast, havarti cheese, mayonnaise, avocado, sliced mushrooms, romaine lettuce, and red onion.  It was a pretty fat sandwich and was delicious.  The sliced mushrooms were a last minute addition since I had some leftover in the fridge.  I love raw mushrooms in my salad so I thought why not.

I'll probably have another one tomorrow, but don't want to burn out on turkey sandwiches.  I have a lot of sandwich ingredients leftover.

Sundays

This the Sunday picture for my perpetual dog calendar. It almost makes me wish that I worked on Sundays just so I can see it on a weekly basis. I do live corgis.

Sick Day

I didn't go into work yesterday because like I told my boss, I felt like crap.  I ended up sleeping for most of the day and still managed to feel tired this morning.  I wonder if it was physical therapy that pooped me out.  It's been 9 months since was regularly going to the gym, but I didn't know my core strength had whittled away to almost nothing.  Apparently, a weak core will strain my IT band and we are working on strengthening it in PT.  We did some planks and side planks and man, was I shaking during side planks.  WTF!

Dinner of champions

Two egg rolls and frosted flakes...

Ouch

I'm pretty sure I strained/pulled something in my left leg.   I can't raise my knee up to my chest without pain.  This is not good for Sunday.  I'm going to try and run on it a little bit when I get home from work to test it out.  If it hurts, then I'll have to sit out of my indoor game tonight.  I'll check in with my physical therapist and see what they have to say.

I sure hope I didn't screw myself over for my re-rate.  That's 4 hours of running with college age girls...

Utah pictures

Best Co-workers

I have some really great co-workers.  Aside from having a standing game of Monopoly Deal, they are pretty nice guys and are fun to hang around after work and socialize with during happy hour.  What makes them the best is that today I came into work late after flying in from Utah on a red eye.  I made into work at 11:30 am.  I had eaten McDonald's breakfast on the way home from the airport at 9:00 am.  I took a quick nap and shower and headed to work.

I didn't bring any lunch hoping McDonald's and snacks would help me through the day.  Well of course, it didn't.  I had co-worker offer me a slice of leftover pepperoni pizza (which I ate), canned organic ravioli (which I passed on) and a half of turkey sandwich (which I ate).

It gave me warm fuzzies that my co-workers make sure I'm fed.  I do get cranky when I'm hungry and they know to avoid that just like the hubster knows.

This reminds me of when I forgot my lunch money in middle school and my entire lunch table pooled their ice cream money together so I could buy lunch.  I was such a sheltered child then.  I remember crying because I had no lunch and was hungry. I never did say thank you them.  So thanks to Patty, Krystal, Crystal, Lauren, Jen, Jenn, and Kristina!  Better late than never.  Ah ice cream money, I remember those days - mickey mouse ice cream bars, twin pops, fudgesicles, strawberry shortcake, ice cream sandwiches.  Do schools still serve ice cream treats like that after lunch?  Probably not with the obesity epidemic.  That's too bad for today's kids because I'm sure kids weren't fat back then.

Wow, went off on a tangent there.

Pet peeve

Assholes who bring two carry on items and place both in the overhead on a full flight. Jerks!

Dog picture of the day

Laser eyes dog. She's also laying in a basket barely large enough to fit her.

Dog picture of the day

Look what happens when I go out of town. Red moves in on my man!

I <3 Utah

It's 7 am on my last day in Utah. My entire body hurts like hell, but it was so worth it. It has been the perfect weekend with my college friend, Kristina who so graciously volunteered to come with me for a weekend of snowboarding and beer.

Friday - in n out, night riding at Brighton even though our lift tickets from our package didn't cover it, sushi, hot tub. Sheer perfection. Brighton was perfect to get us warmed up. I was definitely overusing legs on my edges and turns, but I corrected that problem the next day.

Saturday - breakfast which we picked up at the grocery store on Friday, riding at Solitude for 4 hours, my legs were shaking by the end of the last run, hot tub, napping, souplantation, and a night in reading. Another great today.

Sunday - the plan. More riding at solitude, pack, get cleaned up, massages and a steam bath!!!, dinner tbd, return car, and a 4 hour wait at the airport :(, then a red eye flight home. Not ideal, but leaving never is. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the massage and steam bath. My body needs it.

Stupid blogpress

Lame! I haven't been able to blog from my phone since wednesday. I could not figure out what was wrong. It turns out my blogpress app is broken! Ugh!

So I'm using the official blogger app. It didn't get the best reviews, but at least it works. Let's see for how long, but at least I post my random thoughts on the road again.

Sigh

I'm sitting at the airport waiting to board my plane to Utah. I'm eating a banana and see a woman throw her gun away in a recycling trash can! The best part is that the regular trash can was sitting right next to the recycling one. Really?

Like a foot away. They are even color coded! How lazy and uncaring can some people be? I guess I should be glad that cmh offers a recycling option?

Stale Twix

I didn't now Twixes could get stale, but I found out yesterday that they could.  I was craving something sweet after dominating in Monopoly Deal and I decided to get a Twix out of the vending machine.  It was completely unsatisfying.  The caramel and cookie were separating and the caramel was extra chewy, but not in a good way.

I just ate the second one today.  Same thing, not that I was expecting different results.  I will say that I will be wary of getting any kind of snack from the break room vending machine.

A Sense of Accomplishment

Things with Cap City are going so well.  We've held a successful youth clinic, have three, basically impromptu indoor games scheduled - one against another team, and have two scrimmages planned all before the season has started.

We've got a lot of good interest in our indoor 7 v7  tournament which we need to start planning and lots of interest in attending existing tournaments.  We have a potential working relationship with another lacrosse group to share field space for summer league.  We have 14, soon to be 15 paying members!!

This is going so much better than anticipated.  Here we thought it was going to be a tough road, but things are coming together nicely.  I get a lot of satisfaction being part of this organization and knowing that I helped make all this come to fruition.  We've come a long way since our first scrimmage against Cinci over a year ago.

Let's hope this is only the beginning.

Go Cap City!

Holy Bruising Batman

Look what physical therapy did to me on Tuesday!

It looks a lot worse in person than in this photo. I don't know if the person working on me this week knew what they were doing.  The other guy was much better.  Not that I would know what is right or wrong, but during this "massage", it didn't quite feel right.

My leg still hurts where all the bruising is.  It kills me even when Egg Roll paws my leg in that area, and Egg Roll is little.  She doesn't really put much pressure on me.

I took a break from my exercises last night since I was completely pooped.  I'm planning on doing them tonight along with a mini-run.  Need to get in shape for the season.

Perfect Weather!

Let's hope this stays accurate!

Longest Week of My Life

This is by far the longest week of my life.  Can it be Friday already?