Little Bit of Sass Thursday

Howdy! So much has happened since my lazy Sunday. Here's a quick recap:

Monday I tried Jillian Michaels ab workout On Demand. Wowsah. I need to keep doing that. I yelled back at her through the TV. I think it helped. We're cool now, though.

Tuesday was a big day! First of all, I WAS HIRED!!!!!!!!! You're looking at a full-time employee! Big step up from my blog posts over the summer, eh? I contract through the end of the week and then boom. I get a salary. A-mazing. An impressively sizable group of co-workers joined me at the last minute to celebrate at a bar across the street from our office. Then I went to my first book club meeting! A group of ten fun ladies decided last Friday that we'll get together once a month to discuss a book while enjoying each others company and sipping beverages of choice. It was a grand time getting to know new girls and honestly just being in a group of girls again! Our first book is Bitter is the New Black by Chicagoan Jen Lancaster. I've read it before, but she is SO funny that I can't wait to read it again! We're hoping she'll attend our November outing! You better believe I'll sport pearls and a polo for that momentous occasion. There will be a photo on here too. She's seriously one of my favorite authors and inspires me to write. Oh! And after the book club meeting Andrew took me to a late and silly dinner to celebrate! He's so fun and sweet :) His cousin Daniela brought me some flowers to book club, too!

Don't the flowers look perfect on our mantle and especially in that blue vase?

Yesterday was also a fun day. After work I schlepped a big pumpkin about a mile up Lake Street to Andrew's office. I swear I put a smile on everyone's faces because really? Who carries a pumpkin around on a busy street? This girl does. Honestly I was terrified that I would drop it and have it splatter everywhere, including on me. I didn't want to get punk'd, if you will. Luckily I made it to Andrew's office without one trip or stumble! At his office I was showered with free candy, cheese, and beer. Yum! Then we trucked up to Lincoln Park for a pumpkin carving party! Andrew's good friends from MSU get together every year for carving, cider, and pumpkin seeds. It was a blast! Here's our creation:

Here's the group of pumpkins at the end of the night:

I thought ours was a pretty sassy rendition of a jack-o-lantern, don't you? We like to call it our pumpkin bucket, or pumpket. :) Stay sassy, my friends.

My Lazy Sunday in Pictures

Happy Sunday, everyone!

{via 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.}

Thinking Pink for Friday's Fancies

Hey there!

This week on {av}'s Friday's Fancies the theme is to think pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month. I pray for anyone suffering from Breast Cancer and am inspired by those who are beating it. My heart goes out to their families as well. If interested in donating to Breat Cancer research, please click here to visit The American Cancer Society's site. Thank you to {av}!

Without further ado, here's my pink outfit. I don't usually sport this hue, but I must admit it is quite pretty! I wouldn't mind wearing any of these items!

Think Pink! by mkrulia featuring a silk sleeveless blouse

Happy Friday! It's Week One (Yet Again)

Happy Friday!

I hope all of you have exciting and/or relaxing weekends planned! I don't exactly know what my weekend will entail besides football and feeding our friend's cat (!!!), but I am pumped nonetheless.

I feel like I have so much to catch up with all of you. First of all, it's been a random week-ish, but in a good way! Let's see, last week the Weinermobile rolled by my office and I got a picture with it:

That same day a co-worker cleaned out her shoe stockpile and offered up some barely worn freebies! Look what I got!

Later that same glorious day Andrew said that we were going on a surprise day trip! Um OK! I'm always down for that! So Saturday he whisked me away to Wisconsin! To a Cheese Castle!!! hahaha I have a lot of pictures that I need to upload, but don't you worry - you won't be disappointed. From there we ventured to a cute and silly apple orchard/pumpkin farm. The kids were as annoying as the cider was good. It sure was a memorable and laughable adventure!

My next posts will have my Think Pink Friday's Fancies outfit and (hopefully) a very exciting announcement! For now, here we go (yet again) with my weekly Weight Watchers plight, um I mean update. :)

Weekly Update:
Weight loss:
0.9 pounds!

Total weight loss:
0.9 since I started yet again.

Pounds remaining to reach goal weight:
35.2 - sigh.

[I did not come up with my goal weight arbitrarily. This goal weight is based on the WW site guidelines. My goal weight is actually on the heavy range for my age and height.]

Pounds remaining until I can shop for myself:

9.1. That's right, I have a new motivating factor in my weight loss: shopping. I mean it, too! No new clothes, hair products, nail polish, shoes, accessories, etc. until I lose some poundage. If that doesn't make me wake up at 5:30 every morning to workout, I don't know what will! I mean, c'mon, mama needs a new pair of shoes! (No seriously, I really need rain boots.)

Overall mood this week:

Honestly I've been pretty good! Looking back on the week the only thing that brought me down was my little Wednesday mishaps...and that I wore a winter coat and gloves yesterday...but other than that I'm pretty cheery!

Worked out:

5 times! I just love the Butt Bible in the morning before work. I ran twice this week, too, even though it was chilly, so I'm proud of myself for that!

Wishful Wednesday: The I-Wish-This-Day-Was-Over Edition

Today started like any normal day. I got up, did some Butt Bible, and felt pretty good. But then I couldn't find anything to wear for the rainy day - my rain boots split open so I am instead wearing some leather boots with heels. How that is a better option than broken rain boots beats me. Then Andrew and I missed the bus to the L so we walked in the rain (in heeled boots! Doh!) and waited for the next bus, and inevitably was later than I wanted to be for my busy day. Then I went to Dunkin' Donuts expecting a free coffee but the coupon I had was invalid. Then I got to work and realized I have a hole in my pants. Then, as if I need another reminder that I'm fat, I get a text message from the pizza place down the street telling me about their October specials. I appreciated the courtesy, but c'mon. THEN I went to the kitchen to slice apples for my co-workers and I sliced open my finger instead! UGH! It's only 1 pm in Chicago and I wish it was 10 pm so I could just go to bed. I feel like it's the only remedy.

I had a whole recap post planned for today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Little Bit of Class Tuesday

Hi there!

I had an absolute blast in DC this weekend. It was somewhat difficult feeling like a visitor in the city I called home for four years, but other than that the trip was wonderful. The weather was perfect, Andrew flew a plane over Virginia, I saw pretty much everyone who said they could make it out, and went to some of my favorite spots in town. It's just what I needed.

However, it's strange how only five months away feels longer. Maybe it's because my DC life and Chicago life are vastly different, or maybe it's because other friends have moved to other parts of DC in my absence. Maybe it's weird to think about how life keeps moving when I associate the city a certain way - like when you go home from college for the first time and you notice your town added new restaurants or your favorite store closed: you imagine something a certain way and when you aren't there to be part of the change it seems unreal or just plain wrong. For example, both Andrew and my previous abodes on the Hill had apparent repairs to the facades of the buildings which we always wanted while we lived there. Then when we got back we noticed our own apartment building had new paint (!!!). Do we have to see something as it happens to accept change? Is this getting too deep for a Tuesday afternoon? My food coma has taken a turn from my typical spacing out to an over-analyzing session instead. Oh well.

Here's a picture from my pinterest for some classy inspiration this Tuesday. I would love to make a wreath like this - it is certainly a step in the classy direction as opposed to the current scarecrow wreath decorating our door! Have a good one!

Source: missloviecreations.blogspot.com via Mary on Pinterest

Little Bit of Sass Thursday: Ode to DC

This sassy Thursday I must pay tribute to the city that helped to sass me into shape. Andrew and I are headed there this weekend to visit friends and the city we used to call home. The more I think about DC the more I miss it. Mainly I miss my friends and the familiarity of the District; I always knew where I was going and I usually knew what was new and going on. While I love Chicago it's an adjustment getting used to another - much bigger - city.

This weekend I'm looking forward to the weather, the changing leaves in Virginia, the pandas at the zoo, trying to eat at our favorite spots, and hanging out in my previous neighborhoods of Cleveland Park and Eastern Market. I would love to squeeze in a stroll through Georgetown, too. I am excited to see previous friends, whether old friends from Ohio, previous co-workers, grad school buddies...you name it, I want to see them.

Instead of linking to my Pinterest for some sassy pics, I am instead going to share just a few of some relatively tame pictures as proof my growth as a sassy and classy gal. Gosh I miss my friends from DC :)

Little Bit of Class Tuesday

Good morning!

My blogger friend Mimi from Irresistible Icing posted about her Weight Watchers weigh-in today - bravo to Mimi for being so brave and honest. I wish I could be like that! Anyway, her post reminded me that I didn't post about my WW journey on Friday! I only lost 0.3 pounds, but hey it's going in the right direction...and we had a friend in town the weekend prior, which means I wasn't as good as I should have been! Anyway, I have 33.1 pounds to go before I hit my goal weight. Woot!

So far this week I have been better than last, meaning I didn't drink as much over the weekend and I held back from eating the worst of things for meals...really I was bad but not as bad as I could have been! I enjoyed myself while being conscious of portions and all of that jazz, keeping in mind that I should refrain from demonizing food. It was a happy weekend. Yesterday and today I woke up early to run 3 miles. It's a fantastic loop - I can still see the stars when I start my run, the streets are silent, and when I get back I can watch the sun rise after I jump on Andrew to wake him up :)

Back to the theme for today: little bit of class. Well, today is a dress-up day at work, which I love because I enjoy the whole business casual regime. I feel like people respect me more when I'm in a nice outfit instead of the usual jeans get-up I'm allowed to wear on a daily basis (woot!). Today I decided to be classy with a skirt and sweater combo, but added my sass by throwing in pops of color: my coral flats, royal purple sweater, and a statement necklace. I've already had compliments!

Here's a classy photo for you today, via my Pinterest:

Source: matchbookmag.tumblr.com via Mary on Pinterest

Stay classy, my friends!

2 Years :)

It's our two-year anniversary today! I'm so happy :)