Day 357

Blurb: Hooray for internet spending!!

Backstory: I never have anything to wear, especially when it come to big occasions, but this year I'm getting ahead of the curve. I'm going to a big new years party and my office "holiday" party is in January, so I want to make sure I've got something nice to wear. That's why I decided to order five dresses offline; because I spent so much I even got free shipping, little does the site know I'm going to send back three of them. Luckily there were two winners in the box, one that I'll wear on new years and another that's a little tight that I'm keeping because it will look good in five pounds.

Day 356

I forgot to take a picture today but I went to the dentist, very exciting. Unlike a lot of people I don't really mind going to the dentist. We've been going to the same place since my parents moved to Columbus 26 years ago, so it's always very welcoming. Just in case your wondering I got an A+ on my check up, the hygenist said I'm doing a great job taking care of my teeth.

day 355

Blurb: Pizza treat.

Backstory: We only have a few more days of Christmas and I still needed to pick a couple things up for my parents' stockings. So I took a little time and went to the North Market for some lovely artisan goods. It was a great midweek treat to visit the market because I always end up buying something delicious. Originally I was going to eat dinner at home but then I decided to indulge and get some corn meal crust pizza; then I decided to get a Belgian waffle and an ice cream sandwich from Jeni's.

Day 354

Blurb: More tv magic.

Backstory: As I've said before, sometimes making things on tv look good means doing stuff the night before. Today we decided the anchors should decorate gingerbread houses and I agreed to do the prep work for the segment. The only reason I agreed to this was because I new that it would end up being a little complicated and I have the mixer needed for the icing.
But even I was surprised at the amount of work I did today. The picture is the carnage of my project. I assembled three gingerbread houses with glue and it took about three hours. The glue took longer to dry than I expected so I'm going to bed with them not totally finished. Right now there are three little houses without one section of their roof. Hopefully the glue will be dry tomorrow and I can finish them up at work.

Day 353

Blurb: Starting my week off right.

Backstory: Of course I love Dirty Franks, but today when I went for lunch I actually changed up my order. Normally I try to order the items that will give me the most cheese for my buck, but today I was in the mood for Mexican food. That's why I slammed down two Tecates and a hot dog with refried beans, salsa, bacon and cheese. It really wasn't that good. I got the that type of hot dog because I really wanted the Tecate, but in hindsight I could have just gotten the Tecate and my normal order.

Day 352

Blurb: Hello Easton at Christmas.

Backstory: For some reason I felt compelled to drag my mom to Easton today. It's the weekend before Christmas and it was packed. I didn't need anything but I really wanted to go. But it was so busy when we went into Macy's you would think they were giving the stuff away. It was a surprisingly enjoyable experience but I much prefer going to Easton when the weather is nice.

Day 351

Blurb: Captivated by Christmas.

Backstory: I know this picture is a little blurry but it really gets across the point of the day. There was a lot of action no matter where you were, but when the presents came out it was all about that moment. This is my cousin Robby's son Brandon wrapped up in opening one of his presents. We had our extended family Christmas today at my aunt Lilly's house. Our family has transitioned from having a lot of old kids to being filled with the young blood of four little ones, so today was all about them and it was hilarious.
I'm not around children a lot and I always forget how fast they move. Right when I came in the door with presents three of them ran strait towards me screaming. I seriously didn't know what to do because even after I sat the presents down they were still running around in circles. It was overwhelming and refreshingly hilarious at the same time.

Day 350

Blurb: It's our Christmas Tree.

Backstory: I have no problem admitting I haven't really been in the Christmas spirit this year. This picture is the tree at my parents house but at the apartment I don't have anything up. I feel like buying stuff for my little place is a waste of money when mom's going to put stuff up at their house. But this is probably why I'm not really in the Christmas spirit; it's no where around me. This season it's really been about buckling down and just working, not really thinking about the holidays. In fact I haven't really spent that much time around the tree, tonight was the first time since mom put it up that I actually sat and stared at the tree. It was actually really enjoyable, but I haven't been enthralled with Christmas as I have in the past.

Day 349

Blurb: I'm fighting with the restaurant down the street, they just don't know it.

Backstory: There are some good things about living near a nice restaurant but now I'm starting to experience one of the worst things: the parking. In the last week or so the parking on my street has gotten really bad. If I leave my spot anytime between 11a and 1:30p I have almost no chance of getting that spot again. The valets have been filling up the street so much I have to park down almost a block (I know, first world problems). This drives me INSANE! All I want is a parking spot, because I paid for my pass and I follow the rules. I just want to go to the gym during the day and not have to park blocks away. Valets, we are officially fighting.

Day 348

Blurb: This is my nose, it's tired of spending time with tissues.

Backstory: I called off sick to work again and this is pretty much unheard of but I can't really sit up. I spent today the same way I did yesterday: laying on the couch then laying in my bed. I did manage to clean out everything on my DVR and I'm almost finished with a book I rented from the library on Sunday. The medicine needs to kick in so I can start breathing from my nose and drop this mouth breathing crap.

Day 347

Blurb: Yep I called off work today.

Backstory: After laying under my desk at work yesterday I called in sick to work today, and this is what I got. Doctor Tranen helped me out with some serious antibiotics that I started taking them. Turns out my sinuses and lungs are infect, this explains why my nose won't stop running and all I do is cough. I feel like crap and I can't sit up for more than 30 minutes.

Day 346

Blurb: Making my own little pharmacy.

Backstory: I feel like utter crap. The sickness started early yesterday but I still went to my brunch, I really shouldn't have done that. Today I had to go to the store to stock up on tissues and medicine because the tissues I have don't have moisture in them (first world problems). I felt so bad today I laid down under my desk when I finished my show, and for anyone who's been to my office you know how gross the floor is and how desperate I must have been.

Day 345

Blurb: Hello brunch.

Backstory: I work with a great group of ladies but I seldom see the majority of them because I work the weird shift. Luckily one of my bosses is getting married and we all got together today to have a bridal shower brunch. It was an amazing turn out, we had almost 14 people there and took over a good portion of the restaurant. There's not much else to say but it's always good to have a little time with people you don't get to see.

Day 344

Blurb: Say hello to 18 year old me with my least favorite hair cut of all time.

Backstory: Today was my sorority's Christmas brunch, more festively called Pine Party. It's incredibly adorable because all the old and young members come together, have brunch and exchange ornaments. Another great part of the brunch is that it's held at the house on campus. It's kind of weird to go back there when the students are in sessions but the girls have left for Christmas vacation so it's all ours.
The picture you see above is my composite picture from my freshman year. I love and hate this picture because it brings back a vivid memory of a very specific time.
First, I hated that hair cut more than any hair cut I've received in my entire life. I got it the day before Big Little Reveal and it hadn't grown out by picture day. Secondly, I was one of the palest girls in the pledge class. Last but not least it was INCREDIBLY hot and humid and all the freshmen were the last to go, so any effort I had put in on my appearance was lost. I know that sounds bad but this picture reminds me of a lot of good times.

Day 343

This is a short story. I stayed in tonight and laid on the couch with the dog.

Day 342

Blurb: Some kids are just good.

Backstory: When you work in television you have to work your share of holidays. Right now I'm lucky enough to work Monday through Friday, and this year Christmas falls on a Sunday. Unfortunately one of my friends has to work on the weekends and he has two daughters, one of them a newborn. That's why I offered to work Christmas Eve for him because their family travels to southern Ohio (we did this almost every holiday growing up because our family is from Indiana).
Stuart's six year old daughter Laney wrote me a very nice note thanking me for helping her dad out. I must say I was very impressed with her efforts. Most six year olds would have just drawn a picture and written Thank You, but that's not Laney's style. She actually wrote out a little note and only drew a small smiley face. It definitely made me smile.

Day 341

Blurb: Working on a little dog hygiene.

Backstory: Sadie has a problem, her breath is horrible. Part of this is because her mouth is filled with bad teeth, the other part is because she eats poop. So you can obviously see why she needed a good teeth brushing; plus I learned from one of the veterinarians we have on the show that you should try to brush your dogs teeth every day. Today I decided that it was a good time to introduce Sadie to the home doggie teeth brushing kit.
She was surprisingly ok with the entire situation. I made sure to go slow, letting her smell the brush then letting her eat some tooth paste before actually putting them together. I was very proud of her, she only squirmed a little and let me get a bunch of brushing done. I really thought this was going to go a lot worse but she showed how mature of a dog she is and that she's lost the will to fight back. And I must say her breath is much better.

Day 340

Blurb: Hey Christmas, what's up?

Backstory: This weekend I did some epic shopping and today I did some awesome wrapping. I have can have mixed feelings about Christmas, it tends to make me really stressed out. All the crazy people come out and the normal people start getting really pushy. So this weekend I did some crazy shopping just to get this all out of the way. In addition to the shopping I get a little stressed about wrapping because I think everything should look like Martha Stewart crapped it out. On a scale from one to Martha crap I think this job rates about a six, and I'm happy with that. So family, enjoy my stuff.

Day 339

Blurb: Yes, I bribe my child.

Backstory: Today I understand why all those parents on Toddlers and Tiaras bribe their children with Pixie Sticks; it makes life easier. You can not understand how much it has rained today. Buckets and buckets have just poured down creating huge puddles all over my walkway and making a crazy mess of the village. Thus, I did not take Sadie out on a walk and I had a huge amount of guilt. I alleviated this guilt by giving her special fancy dog treats, and as you can see from this picture my bribery worked.

Day 338

Blurb: Daniel refused to get up to take our picture so this angle is kind of odd.

Backstory: This morning my lovely grand-little Chris and I had brunch, her boyfriend Daniel came along as well. The best thing about Chris is that I don't have to make excuses when she's around. She knows I'm kind of a hot mess who doesn't like to clean and that I exclusively wear yoga pants when I'm not at work. This was the first time she'd see my new place (we lived together back in DC). In general she thought I was quite the big girl, but that was all taken away when she saw that I didn't have a shower curtain, only a shower liner. To quote Chris "You are this close to being a big girl, but you're just not there yet." I'm ok with this because honestly I like to have a lot of light when I show. But I miss you Chris.

Day 337

Blurb: A little Christmas shopping for myself.

Backstory: Tonight my friend Vanessa and I went downtown for the holiday edition of gallery hop. I really should have taken a picture of the delicious dinner we had at Hubbard Grille or the stores that were crowded beyond belief, but I forget. Instead here's a look at the early Christmas present I bought myself. For some reason I've really wanted this book and today I decided to pick it up and support a local merchant. So who knows, maybe I'll hit you with one of the lines such as " Your timeless beauty would be enhanced by a burka." or "To qualify for a Napoleon complex you'd have to grow 6 inches."

Day 336

Blurb: This can cause a lot of damage.

Backstory: Today's picture isn't very impressive but it gives me a lot to talk about. I like to call today's post "One of the stupidest things I've done in a while." On Tuesday I bought a really nice winter jacket and today I sprayed pepper spray in the pocket. The spray I have looks like a lipstick case; when I carry it around I normally leave the cap off because if I need to use it really fast the cap gets in the way. I've been doing this for the past couple months and haven't had any problems, but today when I bent down to pick up after the dog it sprayed in my pocket.
I didn't realize this had happened until I stuck my had in the pocket and found the wet stuff on my hand, then I realized "oh crap, I pepper sprayed my pocket." I worked feverishly to clean my pockets and I repeatedly washed my hands to avoid feeling like a student at UC Davis. But it turns out I didn't get it all off my hands because my face started to burn and I couldn't get the burning to stop. Eventually the burn just went away by itself, but I did feel pretty stupid.

Day 335

Blurb: Look at all this random crap.

Backstory: Today's post is a tribute to impulse buying. For the past month and a half I've been trying not to purchase things I don't need. I'm doing this for many reasons, some of which include: saving money, conserving space and consuming less. My quest to buy less has been going pretty well, but it's become a lot more difficult now that the urge to Christmas shop has kicked in. I really feel myself getting whipped into a credit card and commercial induced frenzy.
Today I went to the store with one of my co-workers with the intention of buying some de-icing spray and dog treats, but somehow we ended up at World Market. This is one of the worst stores for me when it comes to impulse buying because it's filled with old fashioned and European candy, booze and cute little knick-knacks. In the end I came home with a bottle of wine, gourmet oreos, a chocolate bar, dutch caramel cookies, extremely alcoholic beer and chocolate flavored soda. I needed none of this but hey, I'm going to enjoy it.

Day 334

Blurb: Hello binge Wednesday.

Backstory: I was supposed to have lunch with a friend today but she got caught up at work so I went to Chipotle. This is the first time I've been there in a while, which is surprising because earlier in the year I was eating there at least once a week. Let me say it was just as good as I remembered, I even went a little extra fatty-fat and ate the entire bag of chips.