Birthday Week Part II

Sorry everyone that I fell off the blogosphere last week. Things got really crazy around here starting on Wednesday and didn't stop until about Saturday afternoon!

To Anonymous from North Texas-- At this point in my job search, I am looking for anything. I'm not specifically set in one particular direction. If a good opportunity arises and seems to be a good fit, then I'm game.

Now, back to my crazy life from last week...

Tuesday night, I went to the gym and everyone and their brother was there and on a treadmill, so I couldn't do my regularly scheduled speed workout. Instead, I parked myself on an elliptical machine and did 35 mins of hills forward and backward and then did my abs class. I didn't get home until after 9 and didn't feel like cooking, so I whipped up some oats. I made them extra fancy by adding, pb, raspberry preserves and a chopped banana that had very few days of life left. This is what I got...

Wednesday night, after group meeting, was my make-up birthday froyo party. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it. I didn't only just have froyo, I had a froyo pie!! It was amazing even though I only ate maybe 1/8 of the thing!

Froyo pie!!

The party crowd

Thursday night was Steak Night!! I was good and only ate half of my steak and potato which I had the leftovers for lunch on Friday, but I also had 3 cookies and a cupcake minus the frosting.

The Meal

chocolate cheese cake cupcake

Birthday shot: Surfer on Acid

Friday night, Erin, Jess, and I went shopping for my interview outfit. I scored a black pants suit with a few different tops to choose from at Maurice's and these shoes from Macy's.

Interview shoes

Also, in the mail that day, I received my new fancy running shoes from www.runningwarehouse.com. I took them for their inaugural spin Sunday morning for only 4 miles. This is what happens to you when you don't do a long run every weekend!

Nike Zoom Structure + 15s

like running on a cloud!

Saturday, I helped work the WSU indoor track meet and met my future husband. He's a thrower for Utah State and he could pass for Kevin Greene's younger brother. Mine! :)

I think that pretty much wraps up the rest of my week last week. 

How was your weekend? Is it cold where you are? It was in the low 40s and raining this morning. Yuck!!

Now I'm off to PT. Possibly only one more visit after this!

Oh! I'm still taking interview advice/ questions I should ask about my first real Big Girl Job. 

Theory of a Deadman 2012

If you didn't know, I had my face rocked off on Saturday!!!

It was by far, the most fun concert experience I have had to date.

It started with the ride up to Spokane with Erin, listening to the albums, of course! Our meet and greet was scheduled to happened to start at 3:15 and we didn't know what the roads looked like so we left fairly early. We stopped and had a burger, fries and a dew at Zip's and then went to the Running Store in Spokane. I got fitted for a new pair of running shoes and learned that I need a support shoe. Good to know! I left there with a few brands/ styles in mind and will check out what Runningwarehouse.com has deals for.

We left the shoe store and had plenty of time to spare, so we wandered around the candy shop not too far from the venue. We wandered back and found some guys changing the sign to see if they knew anything about the meet and greet. They informed us that it had been moved to 6:15! Poop! We found a coffee shop to hang out in for an hour til the bar that's attached to the concert hall opened up. I had cornbread and tea and Erin had mac n cheese and a hot chocolate. Our food came out in iron skillets and was A.Mazing!!

Ma cornbread!

After our food, we went to the bar and had a drink while we still had 2 hours to wait. We chatted with the bartender that was super nice and watched basketball on tv. The time finally came when we were called for the meet n greet. 

We got to listen to the sound check and I took pictures. Then they lined us up and handed out a poster, VIP lanyard and guitar pics. Then the guys of the band went down the line signing our stuff. I had them sign my poster and two cd covers I had!! Then we got to take pictures with them.

Sound check

sound check

Me and TOADM

We had to wait in the hall for a while and this is when Erin and I bought our zip hoodies for $40!! That's a major steal in concert tshirt world. During this time, the opening band, Strike First, was doing their sound check. 

Then it was time to go back in and Erin and I scored front row center!! The best place I've been to any TOADM show yet!! Then we had to wait for an hour while every one else was let in and the music started.

Strike First is from Nashville and the guys were really good! After the show, we bought their cd and had them sign it.

Then it was Theory's turn and they did not disappoint!! They played a lot of songs from their newest album and played some stuff from the last 2, but nothing from the first album.

Tyler

Joey

Tyler

Dave, Dean, Tyler

Tyler

Tyler

It was an amazing time and I went home with a set list too!!

Have you been to any concerts lately? What bands/ people do you like?

Snow Day/ Interview

Hello everyone and welcome to my new readers!

Yesterday, WSU closed school down because of the weather, so Heif and I made use of the day off and went for 1:15 walk.

He went from this...

To this after the walk. I think I about near killed him! But it was fun!

While we were walking around our part of town, we came to the end of a street that was on a hill and this is what Pullman looked like...

After we got home and warmed up, Heif napped and I worked on reading 'Catching Fire'. It was a glorious afternoon of doing nothing but relaxing, drinking tea and hanging out with my kid. I can't say that happens too often. He usually wants to go sit outside in the cold.

For dinner, I cooked up some spaghetti squash and topped it with a home made kind of maranara sauce and the leftover chicken from the stuff I made on Sunday. It was quite delicious!

The squash is in there

This morning, I got an email with some AMAZING news!!! The job that I had a phone interview with and filled out a questionnaire for wants to fly me to Wisconsin the first week of February for a real interview and to meet the team!!!! I was so unimaginably excited!! I called relatives and posted it on facebook! I think just the idea of having a real job after grad school is enough to tide me over at this point.

FINGERS CROSSED!!

Any interview suggestions? I haven't interviewed since high school for a job at Gander Mountain. I can take all the advise you have to give!

Birthday Blizzard/ 1st Guest Post

Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes! It has totally made my day b/c since I left my house this morning, it's been quite a struggle!

Welcome readers from A Journey to Thin!!

Last night when I got home, I put my chains on my car so I would be able to get out with the expected 6-12 inches of snow that they were calling for. I got the first chain on just fine but then ended up putting the second chain on backwards... TWICE! I was so mad/ exhausted by the time I got the stupid thing on that I didn't go to my abs class, even if my car would have gotten me there.

I stayed in and watched BL and Parenthood. I'm not sure about the Bob and Dolvett dynamic but I do enjoy looking at Dolvett, so I hope they keep him around!

I woke up to a beautifully snowy birthday morning with my inbox, facebook and texts wishing me a happy birthday! :) I got ready like normal and went out to get the car warmed up/ clean the snow off. I thought things were clear and then I got stuck in my driveway b/c one of my chains (the one I had trouble with last night) fell off!! I was SOOOOO mad! I finally got my car out of the driveway and into the trailer-street and put the chain back on. I must also note that the snow was coming down so hard at this point that I was sweaty from moving around and my hair was all wet even with a hood on! I was not happy b/c I tried to look nice for today and mother nature was giving me the finger.

my driveway

Heif not holding still after 10 mins outside

I finally got all settled in and got going. I reached a max speed of 20mph but made it to school and parked. Then I had to trek in to the building. It's still snowing and blowing and I'm exhausted and frustrated and soaked from sweat! EWW! I put my little hand fan to work and got settled down.

I had my phone interview scheduled for 10am and the guy didn't call til after 11am! I don't think this job would be a good match for me anyway b/c it's in Carlsbad, NM which turns out to be in the middle of no where desert in New Mexico. I think I'm far enough from civilization here in Pullman, so more isolated will not work for me! Nor will living in the south or a desert! I don't like being hot.

After my interview, I had a lunch insurance meeting and got free pizza for my birthday! I've been working on data the rest of the afternoon. About 3pm, I got 8 texts that WSU will be closed tomorrow. Everyone was very skeptical, but more alerts followed and it's for real. Snow day tomorrow!!

The only bad thing about this is that I have had to reschedule my Froyo Birthday Extravaganza and will probably have to reschedule Steak Night tomorrow too. They are calling for another 6-12, possibly 15 inches of new snow tomorrow. CRAZY!! As long as I can go to my concert on Saturday, then I don't care what else I have to reschedule.

Back to the guest posting thing... I while back, Alissa at A Journey to Thin posted that she would like to guest bloggers while she is on a cruise and I offered. I thought it would be fun to reach out to some potential new readers and I had never guest posted before. If you check it out or are reading my blog because of her post, please leave me a comment! :)

Since my other birthday plans got spoiled, I think I'm going to have Chinese food for dinner!

Here's to a happier and healthier year! 28 is gonna be filled with a lot of new beginnings for me and I'm ready and excited!

What do you do to celebrate your birthday?

Birthday Eve Storm

Hello everyone!

Today is my birthday eve and things are crazy around here! They are calling for 6-12" of snow here in the next 36 hours! I might get snowed in on my birthday! This could be good and bad. Good for a supposed day off but bad b/c I'll have to shovel the driveway and not be able to go to froyo for my birthday party tomorrow night.

Yesterday I was swamped so I didn't have time to blog, but here's what's been going on in my life...

I had that phone interview on Friday and then the HR guy for that company called me yesterday. He then sent me the benefits package list as well as a job questionnaire. I've been working all day on filling that stupid thing out! Then this afternoon, I get another call from a different company and they want to do a phone interview with me tomorrow morning! Yay! Things are getting crazy but I'd rather have a bunch of offers and have to choose than have none and be jobless and poor when I graduate.

The plan for tomorrow is froyo party after group meeting and then Steak Night on Thursday. It's supposed to rain after the snow moves through, so Erin and I should be fine going to Spokane for our concert on Saturday!

Here are the results of my mani/ pedi...

Are you getting slammed with snow where you are? How much snow does it take to shut things down or slow them to a crawl where you are?

Psst... I'm going to be 28 in the morning!

Birthday Week Commences

Happy Weekend everyone!

I had all intentions of blogging yesterday but work took over and I ran out of time. I met Erin in the office at 5 b/c she was giving me a ride home to start the fun evening we had planned.

Originally, last night was to celebrate the fact that Erin had an interview for a new job, but it also ended up that I had a phone interview too! Crazy!

The plans for the evening were froyo for dinner and then seeing Sherlock Holmes. It was a smashing success and I remembered how much I missed my froyo. I was good and got the PB/ cake batter swirl with fruit and mochi on top.

After the movie, I went home and made a giant cup of tea that I was craving and read some more of 'Catching Fire'.

Backing up a little, I had a Good2Go bar for breakfast, 2 pieces of veggie pizza at lunch and 2 after my interview b/c I was losing my mind, and my greek yogurt as far as eats go. I had the froyo for dinner and a small popcorn with ranch and white chedder flavor sprinkled on it.

This morning, I battled the post office and mailed my package back to Bravissimo for an exchange. One bra was too small around (I couldn't get it to hook) and the other one made me feel claustrophobic from the cleavage! Not a good thing. So, I'm exchanging those two for a new nude tshirt bra, which is my favorite and I can wear with pretty much anything. I also mailed a job application. Woo!

I came to school and had a meeting with my Boss. We were supposed to talk about what I need to do to graduate but instead we talked about my "interview" and what I need to brush up on/ learn for the next one. It's all pretty exciting/ scary/ overwhelming all at the same time. B/c of my meeting, I sadly had to miss my workout class this morning but will do some kind of an ab workout later instead.

Tomorrow officially starts my birthday week and I'm going for my long run (7miles) and then meeting up with Erin to get our nails done! I'm going with the shellac again b/c it lasts so long! I just love it! This will probably be the last time I get my fingers done since my sister bought me a UV nail dryer so I can do my own shellac nails. I just have to buy the stuff to do it all.

After tomorrow, nothing is happening until my actual birthday on Wednesday and I'm having a party at the froyo place and getting a froyo pie!!! Thursday is birthday Steak Night and Saturday is awesome, meet the band, rock your face off with Theory of a Deadman Night!!! SOOOO Excited.

I may be turning 28 but this is going to be an awesome week and I think I'm past the idea of getting older get me down. I have so much fun stuff to do and a whole life in front of me to live!

Have you ever had a super fun birthday week? Or do you just celebrate on one day? 

I pretty much lucked out with the concert and Steak Night is always on a Thursday, so it's a week event this year!

3 Things Thursday

I didn't post yesterday because I had group meeting at 5 and am getting bored of looking at my own pictures of the same foods I've been eating. But I'm not actually tired of eating them. :)

1. I've been working on plotting and making sense of my data from experiments I ran last week. There are some promising results which are good but also means more experiments. I also feel like my face is going to melt off from being glued to the computer all day. I don't know how anyone can do it. I took a couple breaks but sheesh!

2. I went to the dentist this morning and no new cavities! Yay! They gave me a super awesome goodie bag with tooth paste, tooth brush, mouthwash, 2 kinds of floss, gum and lip stuff. It was all in this pencil pouch looking plastic container and was very cute! I was amused.

3. Refer back to #1 and my melting face... I'm going to the gym tonight for a "tempo" (can you hear me laughing) run. If you know me, you know I only have one pace and that is slow. So, a tempo run for me isn't exactly a tempo run for most anyone else. I'm hoping for about 4 miles and then do my abs class and go home. I had a rough time not eating after 9 on Tuesday b/c I didn't get home from the gym til after 9 but had my dinner already. Can we say 'Hello tea!!!!'? That solved my problems and tasted delicious.

Now for what you've been waiting for... the boring pictures of my food. I have not been taking pictures of my breakfast sammy b/c they are the same and I'm bored with them, but know I'm still eating them.

Older eats:

More recent foods:

Can you see the Theory on my calendar?! :)

toast for dinner

WW lasanga bake... kinda gross

snack

Ok. Now that I've bored you to tears with my food from the past few days, I hope you have a great night. 

Anything good on tv tonight? If not, it looks like Katniss and I are going to get friendly. (She's the main character in the Hunger Games books. ;) )

Survived the PT

Last night, I went to Physical Therapy and I didn't die and they didn't turn me into a pretzel, so I thought it was all good!

I got there a little early after taking the bus home and had a massive amount of paperwork to fill out. I went back to the room and met my PT, Brandon, and we talked about my leg cramping issues. He did some range of motion and strength tests on me and then had me get on the treadmill for 10 min so I could get nice and crampy. We went back to the room and he put some kind of goo on my legs and rubbed on the hurting area with what looked like a metal tongue depressor. I guess this was to work out the soft tissue? He then gave me some sheets with exercises/ stretches on them. I need to strengthen my outter hips and stretch my ankle area. I will be seeing him again for the next 4 Mondays to see how I progress.

I walked up the hill b/c the PT place is practically at the bottom of my driveway and was pooped. I had some chicken noodle soup for dinner, did my exercises/ stretches and watched The Bachelor and Hoarders at the same time. Both were equally as jaw dropping shows, just different kinds of drama. I think I feel underwhelmed with this season of The Bachelor but that could be because I cheated and read the spoiler and knows who won. I don't think I'll be doing that again. And it could be the fact that Ben isn't as hunky as most of the past Bachelors.

Here's my food from the past day:

chicken noodle soup for dinner

night snack to get in my fruit/ veggies

breakfast... see that pepperjack?

lunch + greek yogurt

snack + an apple... I ate it before I remembered to take a picture

Tonight, I have a Track officiating meeting and they are feeding me pizza, so dinner is taken care of. I also have my first abs class tonight and plan on getting a speed workout in. I'm sad b/c I'm now going to miss the first hour of BL, but most of the business happens in the second hour.

Are you ready for BL tonight?! Feel free to fb or twitter updates to me of the first hour if you'd like. :)