On another note, I got this in the mail today:
Other than that, it's been an uneventful day. Hope to go to a few more places tomorrow to find a beanie... and NOT bring back 4 more bags full of clothes. ;)
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Pay Day + Mall = Deadly Combination
It felt so good to sleep in today. I definitely needed it after the longgg three day work week. My goal for the day was to set out for a beanie for my trip this week. I'm embarrassed to say that I just about bought everything EXCEPT a beanie. It's days like these that I am halfway thankful for not being married yet because I have no one to try to convince that all my purchases were absolutely necessary. haha
I knew this would happen because It's always the days that you don't really need anything or have a lot of money to spend that everything looks so cute and fits just right. Usually it's my luck that an event is coming up and I need that special something and can't find anything! With all of my new goodies, I decided it was time to do a deep cleanse of the current clothes in my closet. The best way for me to do this is to just grab everything and throw it on the living room floor and go through it piece by piece. (I'd take a picture of the living room, but that is also embarrassing too since it looks like something off of hoarding at the moment.) I always say I'm harvesting my inner chi by doing this because the nights that I don't have any clutter are the nights I sleep the best... like fresh shaved legs on freshly washed sheets.
On another note, I got this in the mail today:
I've been summoned for Jury Duty on 2/4/13. I'm thankful that it's not during my trip to the NL. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what this is all about. I was asked one other time when my address was still listed in Hillsborough County, but I was exempted since I had an exam in Gainesville that day. Hopefully it's not one that spans over several days.
Other than that, it's been an uneventful day. Hope to go to a few more places tomorrow to find a beanie... and NOT bring back 4 more bags full of clothes. ;)
On another note, I got this in the mail today:
Other than that, it's been an uneventful day. Hope to go to a few more places tomorrow to find a beanie... and NOT bring back 4 more bags full of clothes. ;)
A photo a day...
...allows memories to stay? Haha, I don't know.
As mentioned before, one of my new year's resolutions for 2013 is to take more pictures. Well, in the past I've seen several people post "a picture a day" on Facebook and I always thought it was kind of cool. Since we're still towards the beginning of the year, I'll go ahead and play that game too. Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures from yesterday, the 3rd, so I might improvise as I continue this post.
December 31st, 2012:
One of my gifts from this past Christmas was a fun pass to Busch Gardens. (It lasts all year -- thanks, J!) Since it had been 3+ years since the last time I visited the park, I'm pretty sure I literally squealed with excitement on more than one occasion over this gift. Being from the Tampa area, I am no stranger to BG having had fun passes several different years throughout middle and high school. I loved going back this New Year's Eve, especially since I still think BG has the best roller coaster rides and animals around!
Montu was always my favorite ride, mostly because I would normally wear flip flops to the park and sit on them when on the ride so my bare feet could dangle below me.
Well, I never thought I'd say this, but Montu has been pushed to my second favorite ride behind the newly opened Cheetah Hunt. As corny as this sounds, I honestly felt as if I was a cheetah on the hunt for something, darting all over the place. If I could, I would ride this ride over and over again and forget the rest.
I am always in awe of technology these days, especially with camera qualities on cell phones. I was able to take a quick picture at the kiosk of the photos that are snapped while you're on the ride. Take a look at this gem below:
As I said earlier, I love Busch Gardens for the animals that are there too. We rode the train through the "Serengeti" where we saw all sorts of animals. The thing that is most cool to me is how close you feel you are to the animals. We happen to be going past the giraffe as they were being fed. I think the next time we go I might have to convince Jamie to let us go on the truck ride to feed the giraffe too.
We also saw rhinos, zebras, swimming hippos, panthers, cheetahs, tigers, monkeys... and all sorts of things. And a lot of them were so lively. The tigers were especially cool this day because one was constantly staring at the window of people observing. He looked HUNGRY and ready to pounce.
Overall, the weather that day was close to perfect. While we did ride front row on every ride we could that day, we didn't get through every ride because we were so exhausted and ready to get back home and ring in the new year together with our hot wings and margaritas!
January 1st, 2013:
The first day of 2013, Jamie and I decided to take a ride on the Hawthorne Trail. The original intention was to ride the WHOLE 30 miles, until Jamie got wind of the Georgia game playing at 1:00 pm that day. So we did about 13 or so miles instead.. another beautiful day out.
Later that night, I got a package in the mail I had been waiting a month for. It was a gift for my best friend Jessica since she had a baby girl named Brooke back on 9/11/12. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it was better than I expected and I was so pumped to tell her about it. It's a necklace with her daughter's name, birth weight/length, and birthstone. Super cute and I definitely would recommend others to consider this gift for their loved ones who have a baby. (Etsy has lots of cool stuff on it) She officially received it in the mail today and loves it just as much as I do. :)
January 2nd, 2013:
My picture of the day for this day was of the calendars in this post.
January 3rd, 2013:
This is a long one...
On this day, both Jamie and I had stressful work-filled days and had drinks on the mind. Eventually we decided to try out Napolatano's since Jamie had never been before. The waitress met us at the table and asked what we'd like to drink. Having never been there before, Jamie inquired about the selection of beers. She pulled out a small wrinkled piece of printed paper with different drinks and their prices. He settled on a Blue Moon, even verified that the price was $2.25 for a pint. We shared a pizza, he had another beer, and then the bill came. You know where this is going -- she charged him $4.95 a piece for the 2 beers he drank. When we questioned the waitress, she said that the $2.25 price was the happy hour price till 7 pm (which she never said earlier, and apparently we ordered at 6:53, which still didn't make sense why both were full price). Why would you show a customer the happy hour list and not tell them it's a happy hour price that's over in 7 minutes, and then charge them full price? It was like pulling teeth trying to explain to her that she was the one that made the mistake. She finally agreed to talk to a manager and decided to right the wrong and take off the difference between the prices.
Our frustrations didn't end there. She came back out with the receipts to sign the tip on, and the original wrong total was charged to the debit card. She had to go BACK and do it all over again. I told Jamie it was probably in his best interest to save all receipts because I have a feeling he's going to see several wacky charges on his account and have to dispute it. It was seriously a mess that night and I doubt he will ever feel like going back there. Such a shame.
January 4th, 2013 (today):
After work today, I stopped by Kohls to look for a beanie and spend my $10 in Kohls Cash that they sent me for my upcoming birthday. They ended up having an awesome sale on their jackets, so I spent what seemed like an hour trying on different jackets and sending a couple of pictures off to friends and family to help me pick out one. I eventually picked out a purple "Zero Exposure" jacket which will be perfect for my upcoming trip to cold and rainy Europe. It's normally $120 and I think I got it for $36. I also think if I would have purchased it on-line, I could've probably gotten it for cheaper, but I need it by next week. :)
That is all for now. Stay happy, my friends!
As mentioned before, one of my new year's resolutions for 2013 is to take more pictures. Well, in the past I've seen several people post "a picture a day" on Facebook and I always thought it was kind of cool. Since we're still towards the beginning of the year, I'll go ahead and play that game too. Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures from yesterday, the 3rd, so I might improvise as I continue this post.
December 31st, 2012:
One of my gifts from this past Christmas was a fun pass to Busch Gardens. (It lasts all year -- thanks, J!) Since it had been 3+ years since the last time I visited the park, I'm pretty sure I literally squealed with excitement on more than one occasion over this gift. Being from the Tampa area, I am no stranger to BG having had fun passes several different years throughout middle and high school. I loved going back this New Year's Eve, especially since I still think BG has the best roller coaster rides and animals around!
Montu was always my favorite ride, mostly because I would normally wear flip flops to the park and sit on them when on the ride so my bare feet could dangle below me.
 |
| Photo of Montu above from this website |
 |
| Photo of Cheetah Hunt from this website |
As I said earlier, I love Busch Gardens for the animals that are there too. We rode the train through the "Serengeti" where we saw all sorts of animals. The thing that is most cool to me is how close you feel you are to the animals. We happen to be going past the giraffe as they were being fed. I think the next time we go I might have to convince Jamie to let us go on the truck ride to feed the giraffe too.
We also saw rhinos, zebras, swimming hippos, panthers, cheetahs, tigers, monkeys... and all sorts of things. And a lot of them were so lively. The tigers were especially cool this day because one was constantly staring at the window of people observing. He looked HUNGRY and ready to pounce.
 |
| On the train |
Overall, the weather that day was close to perfect. While we did ride front row on every ride we could that day, we didn't get through every ride because we were so exhausted and ready to get back home and ring in the new year together with our hot wings and margaritas!
January 1st, 2013:
The first day of 2013, Jamie and I decided to take a ride on the Hawthorne Trail. The original intention was to ride the WHOLE 30 miles, until Jamie got wind of the Georgia game playing at 1:00 pm that day. So we did about 13 or so miles instead.. another beautiful day out.
We stopped at one of the walkways to check out the water. There were several people fishing there which was surprising to me considering several months ago the place was so dried up.
Later that night, I got a package in the mail I had been waiting a month for. It was a gift for my best friend Jessica since she had a baby girl named Brooke back on 9/11/12. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it was better than I expected and I was so pumped to tell her about it. It's a necklace with her daughter's name, birth weight/length, and birthstone. Super cute and I definitely would recommend others to consider this gift for their loved ones who have a baby. (Etsy has lots of cool stuff on it) She officially received it in the mail today and loves it just as much as I do. :)
January 2nd, 2013:
My picture of the day for this day was of the calendars in this post.
January 3rd, 2013:
This is a long one...
On this day, both Jamie and I had stressful work-filled days and had drinks on the mind. Eventually we decided to try out Napolatano's since Jamie had never been before. The waitress met us at the table and asked what we'd like to drink. Having never been there before, Jamie inquired about the selection of beers. She pulled out a small wrinkled piece of printed paper with different drinks and their prices. He settled on a Blue Moon, even verified that the price was $2.25 for a pint. We shared a pizza, he had another beer, and then the bill came. You know where this is going -- she charged him $4.95 a piece for the 2 beers he drank. When we questioned the waitress, she said that the $2.25 price was the happy hour price till 7 pm (which she never said earlier, and apparently we ordered at 6:53, which still didn't make sense why both were full price). Why would you show a customer the happy hour list and not tell them it's a happy hour price that's over in 7 minutes, and then charge them full price? It was like pulling teeth trying to explain to her that she was the one that made the mistake. She finally agreed to talk to a manager and decided to right the wrong and take off the difference between the prices.
Our frustrations didn't end there. She came back out with the receipts to sign the tip on, and the original wrong total was charged to the debit card. She had to go BACK and do it all over again. I told Jamie it was probably in his best interest to save all receipts because I have a feeling he's going to see several wacky charges on his account and have to dispute it. It was seriously a mess that night and I doubt he will ever feel like going back there. Such a shame.
 |
| Photo of Napolatano's from this website |
After work today, I stopped by Kohls to look for a beanie and spend my $10 in Kohls Cash that they sent me for my upcoming birthday. They ended up having an awesome sale on their jackets, so I spent what seemed like an hour trying on different jackets and sending a couple of pictures off to friends and family to help me pick out one. I eventually picked out a purple "Zero Exposure" jacket which will be perfect for my upcoming trip to cold and rainy Europe. It's normally $120 and I think I got it for $36. I also think if I would have purchased it on-line, I could've probably gotten it for cheaper, but I need it by next week. :)
That is all for now. Stay happy, my friends!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Calendar Shopping
I like to wait until after the new year to buy my calendar. Just as I had planned, the calendar kiosk in the mall had their 50% off signs displayed proudly (I can be frugal... sometimes). I looked at about every calendar when I finally laid my eyes on a calendar by Susan Branch.
To be honest, I've never heard of this woman before, but her calendar is right up my alley. It has cute sayings, doodles, and suggestions sprinkled all through it. Call me crazy, but I only looked at the month of January in order to keep some elements of surprise in the coming months.
To be honest, I've never heard of this woman before, but her calendar is right up my alley. It has cute sayings, doodles, and suggestions sprinkled all through it. Call me crazy, but I only looked at the month of January in order to keep some elements of surprise in the coming months.
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today <3 " -SB
 |
| Above is a collage of photos I took from the cover and January pages. |
A few months ago, I also purchased on my kindle the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" by Richard Carlson, Ph. D. When I read it, the suggestions and ideas he wrote about were so obvious to me, yet I could think of vivid examples where I had indeed "sweat(ed) the small stuff". Well, there just so happened to be a day-to-day calendar available based on that book, so I snagged it and now I can't wait to put it on my desk at work.
Time to transfer the birthdays and appointments from my old calendar to my new calendar. It may sound lame, but this is also a lot of fun for me because I get to quickly reminisce about the last year through the little scribbles of notes from my 2012 calendar.
This year, I really am focusing on my soul, and so far it feels good! It's the little things that mean the most to me, obviously.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Hello, 2013!
Hello!
There are still about 20 minutes left of 1/1/13, just enough time for me to create this quick post about how I'm going to try to "blog" this year. I always make resolutions for myself, even though I never usually stick to them. This year I jotted down a few resolutions that were a little more broad, therefore, more realistic for me to maintain:
There are still about 20 minutes left of 1/1/13, just enough time for me to create this quick post about how I'm going to try to "blog" this year. I always make resolutions for myself, even though I never usually stick to them. This year I jotted down a few resolutions that were a little more broad, therefore, more realistic for me to maintain:
- Run 365 miles in 2013 (I got this idea from my brother's girlfriend who ran 1000 miles in 2012)
- Love harder (So much to say about this one)
- Laugh More (Cried too much in 2012)
- Go out more (I'm going to be 24 this year! There are no excuses to stay in as much as I do)
- Facebook/Post less (Facebook has become quite an addiction of mine, as well as a channel of negative energy, whether from my own posts, or from posts from friends)
- Take more pictures (I recently went though a high school photo album of mine. I had TONS of photos back then... now I don't take as many, and when I do, I hardly ever print them out. Memories are better cherished with pictures there for easy reminders)
- Read more (I recently purchased a Kindle and I LOVE IT)
- And now I should add "blog more" to the list since I just created this blog on a whim tonight after reading a friend's blog.
I'm pretty pumped about these! There's just something about increasing the last digit of the year that makes you feel entitled to a fresh start.
I really hated 2012 when I think about my overall attitude for the year, so I keep telling myself that 2013 will surely be better. Here we go!
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