You're hot then you're cold..

More like you're cold then you're hot...but thanks Katy Perry.

Today is October 21st. According to my seasonal calendar this means that it is FALL. So, being the logical person that I am, this morning I dressed for FALL. Here is what I whipped up (sorry for the poor quality. I am not a photo genius unfortunately):

I'm all cozy and cuddly in my sweater tights, boots, and pashmina and I'm feeling pretty darn chic. I usually opt for jeans and a "blouse" when I don't have meetings, so this is dressy for a sit-behind-my-desk type of day (yay for a super casual dress code..that's what you get when your job involves randomly loading and unloading trucks). So anyways, I was sitting here thinking how smart and cuddly I am when I decide to make a quick trip to Starbucks to grab a nice warm FALL beverage. I walk out the front door of our office and am immediately hit by a FREAKING HEAT WAVE. Yuck wtf?! It's 80 here with a chance of boiling. I am sweating in 2.5 seconds. I ended up going to Starbucks anyway and order a cup of apple cider, just to spite the evil weather gods. I did feel like a freak though, considering the other people in line were ordering iced beverages and sporting flipflops & tanks.

Come on REAL FALL...where are you?!

Vacay & more bizarre searches

Let's start with the most recent searches that have taken people to this little ole blog:

• "askwebmd.com"
• "everything gives me anxiety"
• "is aspirin good for potted mums?"
• "twelve by twelve forever 21"
• And then a WHOLE BUCKETFUL of searches related to Absolutess (my bff's blogger handle..thanks Tess ;): "does anyone work for absolutess.com?" and "does anyone have good things to say about absolutess?" and "i work for absolutess.com" and "absolutess.com complaints"

Ok so I just HAD to Google absolutess to see what the heck all these people are searching for. Basically absolutess.com is a "work at home career" website. Probably a hoax. And WHY THE HECK they call themselves absolutess, I have no idea.

In other news, Brian and I are planning a random romantic trip to Staunton, VA. We decided we needed some time to ourselves, away from droll of daily life and randomly picked Staunton as our destination. Neither of us has ever been there and it isn't really a huge tourist destination. It's only a 2 hour drive from Richmond and is in the Shenandoah Valley. Even though we aren't going anywhere spectacular, I am super excited about the trip. I even did the nerd thing and ordered an "All About Staunton" visitor guide. And, thanks to the fact that Staunton isn't a touristy place, we are staying in a "really nice" hotel, the Stonewall Jackson (only $80 a night, sham-wow!). According to all the dirt I can dig up on Staunton, the Stonewall Jackson seems like a ritzy place for the area. Take a look: http://www.stonewalljacksonhotel.com/. While we are on the trip we plan to check out a brewery, a vineyard, a farmers market, some mountains, and some pretty leaves. AND I'm trying to convince Brian to go out with me to a local Staunton bar on the Saturday night that we are there, but he is worried that people will shun us for being "Richmond City Folk". We'll see..

Anyone ever been to Staunton??

I've gone over the edge...

Yes that is me dangling 400 feet above the street :) You can really get the perspective of how high that is by looking at the tiny little car dots. And why was I doing this?? I was rappelling as part of the event I've been working on for months and months at work. Basically people raised money for the opportunity to rappel off the building. The event was a huge success and definitely a lot of fun. I ended up rappelling at the end of day 2 since pretty much EVERYONE told me I had to. I'm so glad I did it - it was INSANE. The hardest part was squeezing the rappel device to lower myself. I was so sore afterwards. From top to bottom it probably took me 10-12 minutes and WOW it was HIGH up. Despite my smiling and carefree face in the picture, I dropped quite a few f-bombs.

Eat Your Heart Out Pumpkin Spice Latte

I must preface this entry with the following tidbit: So you probably know by now that I despise the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. I read all the hype about it on the blogosphere so I figured I just had to go see what the deal was. I was extremely disappointed in the ridiculously overpriced concoction that was served to me and I vowed to stay away from pumpkin flavoring from thence forth. And I even LIKE pumpkin flavors.

Now that I am trying to stay away from caffeine (thanks stomach) I have had to be creative with my beverage selections. No more grande nonfat 2 equal lattes for this little lady. So today I decided to grab a quick lunch at a local coffee shop near my house (I'm working from home today) called Stir Crazy. The place is cute, local, funky, and yet somewhat overpriced in my opinion. But anyways I digress. I scanned the drink menu for something warm and toasty (our house is COLD) and came across "warm pumpkin chai." My gut instinct was to stay very far away from anything squirted with pumpkin flavor. But, of course, rather than listen to logical reasoning I went for it, "just to see." And HOLY MOTHER what a DELICIOUS impulse buy that was!!! This pumpkin chai is probably the best beverage I have ever tasted. It ACTUALLY tastes just like melted pumpkin pie - sorry Pumpkin Spice Latte, you tasted like melted plastic. I am completely in love with this beverage and really proud of myself for sticking up to the Pumpkin Spice Latte fiends. Now let's just hope chai is caffeine free...it is right?!

Thick Skulls

We are really starting to feel the Halloween spirit around here. Probably because it is ACTUALLY feeling like Fall. AND our boiler (original to the house...1920) doesn't want to show us how to turn it on. I'm pretty sure the instruction manual for the thing doesn't exist, and the "24 hour help line" is "B-3567" according to the little sticker on the boiler door. Obviously we've come a long way with phone numbers since 1920. 

Bottom line is...we are cold (in 55 degree weather) and sick of trying to keep the fire burning (the ambiance was nice for about 3 hours...now it's just work). 

So yes, since I'm feeling all Halloween freaky I decided I'd try my hand at some Halloween cupcakes. I now present to you SKULL CAKES!

Pretty awesome right?? I basically just made plain old boring cupcakes, pulled back a part of the cupcake paper, inserted half a marshmallow, and iced the whole she-bang. The black icing was a little hard to work with, especially since I don't own any fancy shmancy icing tools. Overall I think these turned out well and I'm looking forward to wow-ing my coworkers with my culinary prowess. 

The process was a little long so I decided to ice half of the cupcakes normally. The purple and orange coloring is actually sugar that I got in Target in the $1 section. 

If you feel like doing this yourself just Google "Skull Cupcakes." 

Anyone else know of any fun Halloween/Fall creations? I attempted to make an "apple crisp" this weekend as well, but I will spare you those photos. Apparently I am completely incapable of making anything "crisp." My concoction was more like apple goo :)

Hello Normal Life

While I personally consider Christopher Columbus to be more conquistador than hero, I am thankful for this day off. Our event was a HUGE success and I am happy that all of the late nights, stress, and hard work paid off in ways that I can't even describe. We made A LOT of people happy this weekend :) Oh, and I even rappelled off a 400ft building...pics to come as soon as I have them!

So now it is Monday afternoon and I'm still in my pjs. I was sick most of yesterday but feel much better today. My parents were here this weekend and it was SO WONDERFUL to have them around. My mom really helps keep things organized and I just feel *happy* and *comfortable* when they are around. I've seriously neglected my housekeeping duties the past few months (thank goodness for Brian) so it was so nice to have mom's help whipping things into shape around here. I think I am going to make their visits mandatory when I have major work stress :)

Right now I am feeling a sense of relaxation that I haven't felt in what seems like months. The cats are sleeping next to me, it is overcast and chilly outside, I'm sipping a cup of tea, and I am almost finished reading a book about the zombie apocalypse that I just started last night. Oh, and between now and the end of November, I am cashing in all of my "recovery" time and taking every single Friday off if possible. AND my Monday-work-from-home weeks are actually going to be possible. LIFE IS GOOD!

Listen to your hea...stomach.

Yikes. This is my first blog post in the month of October. I should be ashamed :( I am. But here I am so let's all move on...

The past week things have been hectic to put it mildly. So hectic in fact, that I have stressed myself into a physical ailment. In case you haven't been paying attention (My fault entirely), I have a huge event at work this weekend and have been going non-stop to make it happen. I am usually pretty good at stress management. I like to think of myself as a "glass half-full" type and I don't like to sweat the small stuff. But the past few months have finally caught up with me and manifested themselves in the form of gastritis. 

What is gastiriris you ask? Well why don't we ask WebMD? Gastrisis is an inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach. Gastrisis can be caused by irritation due to excessive alcohol use, chronic vomiting, stress, or the use of certain medications such as aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs. Oh and caffeine too. So while I haven't been slinging back shots every day for the last few months, or even puking my brains out or wolfing down aspirin, I have been drinking a grande latte about 4 times a week and stressing on a whole new level. 

I've been tired, cranky, unmotivated, and gittery lately, but nothing unusual for the amount of pressure I'm under. 

However, on Sunday night I poured myself a nice cup of hot chocolate (yay Fall!) and snuggled up on the couch to relax (I had worked all day Saturday so I was super tired). Around 8pm I felt this insane weird pain above my belly button and kind of under my ribs. At first I thought it was just gas (ewwww) or a muscle ache but it got significantly worse as the night went on. As the pain increased I kept hoping that I would puke just to feel better. I didn't feel nauseous at all - more like I had been punched in the gut. I could barely sleep on Sunday night and felt horrible in the morning. I would have taken a sick day to try and make the pain go away but with this event on Saturday I have my days scheduled to the minute. I ended up at Patient First anyway since I didn't want things to get worse and then have to miss the event entirely. They drew a lot of blood, I peed in a cup, I drank a "GI Cocktail" (most HORRID thing EVER and it did NOTHING), and got some X-rays. Turns out I have a lot of protein in my pee which is bad but they couldn't explain my pain. So yesterday I went and got an ultrasound to make sure it wasn't my gallbladder trying to escape. Everything with that turned out A-OK and they were finally able to make the gastrisis diagnosis and give me two different kinds of drugs. I feel a little better today and I hope the meds make things better. I still have to pee in a cup next week though to make sure my protein is normal. 

Once this week is OVER I'll be back on the blog more regularly, I promise!! Oh and Brian and I cooked up some delicious meals (well Brian did) and I'll share the pics soon.