Screwed

No, no I don't feel like that.  I am feeling good.  I slept in a little bit and had a nice morning of yogurt and granola and Dancing with the Stars on DVR.  I took off for a run early this afternoon and during the final stretch I felt a sharp pain in my toe as I was crossing a little street.  After the recent storms there has been lots of debris on the ground and I thought maybe an acorn got stuck on my shoe and made it feel funny.  Since I was finishing up my run I had picked up the pace and must have stepped down with a lot of force. 

Ouch.

I pulled my shoe off and tried to pull it out.  Using the handy "left lucy, righty tighty" I got it out okay and slowly made my way walking.  I'll spare you the bloody sock picture, but here is the culprit.

I put the screw back in so you can see what it looked like.

My big toe has been cleaned with alcohol wipes and I am fine, really thank goodness it didn't happen to a little doggy!

Now I want to share a couple goodies my work bud Carrie gave me:

Glue dots, pretty pen, and very cool packing tape.

I promise to get crafty soon. :)

A Fine Farewell

Thank you all for your kind words via comments, emails, and in person.  I'm getting lots of support.  I feel like I am getting a very nice sendoff from work too.  The office gals (Michelle and Carrie, and lawfirm gals Molly and Kat) took me out for a fun dinner last night at John's Pizzeria.  Kat gave me these beautiful tulips this morning.  And my boss let me pick a restaurant for a farewell lunch today.  We ate at the amazing restaurant, Aureole.

Up in the Air

Have you seen that movie?  I watched it a couple months ago and liked it.  Anyhow, I guess you could say I relate to some parts of it now.  Starting April 1st I will have joined the "LET GO" crew.  Since I won't be reimbursed for unused vacation days, I am taking Wednesday off, so really tomorrow is my last day! 

Everything went down very civil and I don't take it personally.  No one is taking over my job so I don't feel like I am being replaced.  Of course, it was upsetting when I found out.  I couldn't help but shed a few tears, even though I sure was trying to hold them back.  At least I wasn't totally blindsided - I knew it was a possibility.  After a little time I started to accept it and now I am actually pretty excited.  I had all of March to finish up my work and help transition my responsibilities to those taking over.

Things are all still up in the air and I'm unsure of what I want to do next.  I had envisioned working here until there was a little baby in the picture.  As of now I have no other job lined up, but the resume is updated and I recently met with my headhunter that helped placed me at my job in 2006.  Pat and I already have some trips lined up in the near future so I feel like no one will want to hire me right now.  Maybe I will do some temp work or substitute teaching.  I actually do hope to have a little time to breathe in between jobs anyway. To do things around the house and for myself and to just cook nice meals for my husband, during the week, not just on the weekends.

Found this old ID card in the back of one of my scrapbooks.

(I have no idea how to blur, but it seemed like I should try to block out company/last name.)

Other plans, depending on when I rejoin workforce:

1. Learn to Quilt - There is a beginner class starting in May.
2. Improve my Spanish - Pat got me Rosetta Stone.
3. Grocery shop and go to Dry Cleaners during the week, instead of trying to cram everything in on Saturday.
4. Keep my hubby very well fed. =)
5. Exercise regularly
6. My sister booked a trip to visit in May - so nice of her.  We are going to have a great time together!  Also, my parents just bought flights for April!  Woohooo!

All things considered, it was a good 3 and a half year run.  I have definitely grown up and learned a lot and made a few friends.  

Let me know if you want to meet for lunch.  ;-)

Pecan Shortbread

Last week I saw that my friend Claire and her baking business, Dozen, is making carrot cakes for Easter and if I was within an hour drive, I would be having one this weekend.  But that got me thinking about her pecan squares I had back at Thanksgiving.  They were just so good and I was hoping I might make some and get close to her results.  Looks and taste don't come close, but these are still pretty good. :o)

3 sticks of room temp butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon of both vanilla and almond extract, 3 1/2 cups flour sifted with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

And 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

The dough gets chilled in the fridge for half and hour.  Then I rolled out the dough about a half inch thick and used a pint glass to make my circles.

Baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The cookies will definitely all be eaten, but I think they might be better if they had a caramel topping like Claire's!  Tonight the shortbread cookies made their way to book club and will also be heading to work with Pat and me tomorrow. 
Night night. 

Edison Day Trip

What a fun weekend it's been so far.  We hit the Garden State Parkway and headed south today.  Our destination:

I have never been to a dog show and it was a whole new world to me.  Walking around and observing was definitely interesting.  We spent a couple hours there and saw the working dogs.

 

Lots of grooming action.

We also met with a bullmastif breeder and got to hang out with her full grown male, Champ and her 6 month old "bitch" Amanda.  While she gave us lots of information and let us interact with her dogs, we actually really helped her out too.  She came to the competition alone and planned to show both dogs.  While one was in the ring, we held the other. 

Many pictures to follow.  This is Champ, he's 135 pounds.

And this is Amanda. :)

They were really sweet dogs and I think they convinced Pat that this is the kind of dog he wants.  I am not convinced.

We said our goodbyes to the breeder and made our way to the Skylark Diner in Edison.  It was delicious!  Then we went to check out this nearby tower.  It was fenced off and I wasn't too wowed by it, but I'm glad we stopped for a quick look.

A great little adventure.

Weekend Ahead

• Possible dinner date with Pat at Felice ($2 Restaurant.com $25 gift certificate with discount code COOK - offer ends on Wednesday)
• Day trip to Edison, NJ.  We're going to a dog show and meeting with a bullmastif breeder.  Probably check out the museum too.
• Eat at Skylark Diner in Edison (thanks to Ele for suggestion)
• Bake up some Pecan Shortbread.
• Book Club at Andrea's on Sunday evening. Oh boy!

(Picture from Skylark Diner website)

Enjoy your weekends!

And one more thing- A VERY HAPPY  BIRTHDAY to my fabulous and funny Father in Law Paul!

Photo of the Day (back for today)

Since I currently commute in and out of Port Authority Bus Terminal, I walk basically right through Times Square and must navigate the slow moving tourists and other busy people trying to get to work quickly. 

It can be annoying at times, but a part of this that I do enjoy is companies are always trying to promote a product and there are always free samples or coupons being handed out - granola bars, cough drops, shave gel, cat food, etc.

My favorite so far, chocolate.



Tonight we're off to Joe's Pub for a CMA Songwriter Series with Dierks Bentley!

Soak up the Sun

It's currently raining, but I can't complain after that GORGEOUS weekend.  Winnie even did a little exploring outside yesterday.  After I finished a morning run, I got some water and sat on the back patio with the door open, wondering if Winnie would follow me.  She was hesitant and slow, but eventually she was looking at and smelling everything outside!  I even had to pick her up and take her back inside when I wanted to shower.  She wanted to stay out though!  I don't trust her outside unsupervised.  =)  My little adventure kitty.

Winnie sits at this table by the window all the time.  She has a great view of all the neighborhood happenings and also it's a great spot for sunning.

If only we could keep her pawprints from showing.  :) Oh well.

We sure are welcoming the sun and spring.  Now that the weather has warmed up, it means ICED COFFEE!  I can't make it as well as DD or Starbucks, but not bad.  I really loved iced coffee. 

What are you doing to welcome spring? 

Saturday in the City

I normally avoid heading all the way into the city on the weekends, but with Pat in Vegas, I was more than willing to hang out with Miss Lauris in the city yesterday.  It was the prettiest day of the year so far - 70s in March.  Wow. 

We met up at Mesa Grill for brunch/late lunch around 2 pm.  I thought it was very good.  I had some mahi mahi:

Laurisa opted for breakfast food.

And thanks to the nice gentleman sitting by us, a picture of both of us:

Since we were already on 5th Avenue, we were ready for some shopping.  I had a Friends & Family 30% discount for Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy that came in very handy.  There are also several paper good stores which were awesome.  Look at all these stickers!!

I was very excited and had to control my spending.

After we had shopped til we dropped, we were ready for a drink. 

I had been craving a cider for a while.  So good.

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If you want to check out my purchases, keep on reading.  I'm saving my favorite for last.  :)

Might wear the shoes and dress to an upcoming rehearsal dinner, we'll see.

I got this as a beach cover up.  The brown matches my bikini.  :o)

Cards and stickers and the best scrapbooking markers.

Cute passport cover.  Sadly no stamps.  I haven't been out of the country since our Costa Rican honeymoon which was before I updated to my married name.

And my only non-SALE item of the day:

A jewelry stand for my earrings!

It was fun to arrange them - I think I can remember pretty much where I got each pair. 

Many are treasured gifts. 

In case you happen to like this stand, here is the Urban Outfitters Link.  I feel like I have a ton of earrings, but I still have plenty of empty space for later additions.  Oh boy.  =)

Such a fun time in the city.  Thanks for a great day Laurisa!!