Friends and Family Discount 30% Off!!

I received a Friends and Family Discount email today from Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy and Piperlime for 30% off if you present the email at checkout. For some reason the email cannot be copied into a blog post, so if anyone is interested and would like the email discount code, just leave a comment with your email address and I will forward the savings on to you! The email is good in stores and for online purchases when you shop between November 13- 16!!

I Need To Get Some Organization In My Life

J and I have been living in a 500 sq foot apartment for too long now! I have no room in my closet, my shoes are scattered all over the apartment and are taking over the entire welcome mat at the front door, and the linen closet disgusts me. I need some organizational tips!! Who has some good ideas for me???



And the following two comments do not count, "get a bigger apartment" or "get rid of some of your clothing". I understand those would both be great ideas; however neither are possible any time soon.

J.Crew Final Sale Items Additional 30% Off

It was exactly 24 hours from when I received my J.Crew gift card from Shop It To Me that I cashed in on the goodies. I stopped in at J.Crew over my lunch break today and found the blazer that I have been waiting to see on the Final Sale rack for the past six weeks, hanging right in front of me with the other sale items! I couldn't resist, they only had three sizes left and I was in luck. Not only did I get an additional 30% off the sale price, but I also used my $10 gift card! So now the terribly overpriced blazer I have been longing for, for the past few weeks was now down to a slightly over priced item that was destined for my closet!

A Few Pictures From Ellie and David's Visit to Chicago

It was so nice to see Ellie and David for a few days while they were in town. Here are a few pictures we took at Bon V!

Me and Ellie

J and me

J and Ellie

Ellie and David

Shopittome.com

One last quick thing before I run - I want to thank everyone who signed up for Shop It To Me through my invitation! Because of all of you I received a $10 gift card today in the mail to J.CREW!!!! Thanks again! And I will be sure to post my new item sometime next week.

Well Don't We All Feel A Little Bit Wiser After J's Post

I apologize for J's seemingly boring post about work. In real life he is really pretty funny and most of the time very amusing. I had no idea that allowing him to guest blog was going to suck the very life out of him. I mean I know he meant well and was probably just trying to make a good impression to all of you, but WOW. Just kidding, I love him regardless of the fact that Google has demeaned his first ever blog to most likely be either a virus or a spam blog.

Conflict Management

Tonight, J will be guest-blogging because he has a post that he really wants to make, but claims that his blog has not been updated in so long that it "isn't credible anymore."

Enjoy!

Hi Everyone,
After work this evening, Nicole came home very upset about a situation at work. It seems as though one of her new co-workers is a bit demanding and is taking up quite a bit of her time with meaningless tasks. The only reason I got involved is because I hate to see her so upset. So I decided to give her the following advice:

Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. I explained to Nicole that I had a large list of things that needed to get done at work today, but I was not able to do a single one of those things because of a request that I received over the weekend. Apparently this person did not take into account that I had a personal life and did not work on the weekend, thus I did not receive the request until this morning, which is when he wanted the materials. So instead of performing my scheduled activities, I was forced to complete this person's request, which turned into an all-day affair. So the point of my advice to Nicole was: even though some people are inconsiderate, getting worked up and stressed out about things will often times just make the situation worse. There are a lot of times in life where you have to roll with the punches. As a line in my favorite movie goes, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you."

Bye Bye Hawaii

My mother has just bailed out on the Honolulu trip. I'm not happy.

I'm Fondue of You

I'm such a spoiled little brat that I went and got a pedicure last night while I was waiting for my catering staff to finish setting up for a reception I had planned for a client at work. I bought a new pair of black Alfani heels a few days ago and after ten hours of running around in them at work, and four more hours to go, my feet were KILLING ME! So I thought the heck with this - I am going down stairs to Fingers and Toes and getting a new color and a quick foot rub. Luckily, the account executive from the catering company I partner with, was in the same boat and decided to join me. We ran downstairs and made it in just in time before they closed. Lou, the owner of the salon and the cutest little Chinese man I have ever met, brought out a new bucket of colors that he had just got in. Immediately, I saw my new favorite fall color- "I'm Fondue of You." It's part of OPI's 2008 French Fall/Winter Collection and is now my new addiction. The fall colors are filled with different tones of chocolate and wine shades. Obviously I would never wear this color on my pasty hands, but I love it on my tosies for the winter weather!

My Friend Phillip From Work

Phil is the financial analyst in my office and will be the topic of my post today. Phil is hysterical. I'm going to give you one example of Phil that I feel encompasses him to the very tip. He is a fairly quiet mannered fellow until you really begin to peel away the onion.

Currently our office space is becoming a bit crowded as our company begins to grow and restructure, so we are tentatively looking into purchasing a larger suite in the building. A few weeks back, our general manager asks Phil (our FINANCE ANALYST) to look at the staffing that we currently have, and draw up an "ideal" amount of office space and design it, so we can all function in the same space as a well oiled machine. Now, I know what you are thinking, why is the finance guy drawing pictures of a hypothetical floor plan with no direction except to draw a floor plan of a space that he thinks will fit. Well your guess is as good as any because nobody really knows why Phil wasted his time essentially coloring his way through the workday. Anyway, so Phil (being the committed employee that he is) comes up with an office plan. He has no measurements or budget to work with - just the creativity of Phillip. Below is the floor plan that he presented to the general manager and the rest of the team. Your guess is as good as mine.

By the way our manager is from New Zealand, if that helps decipher a little bit better where the mindset was in the production of this so called office space.

Waikiki Beach Here I Come!!

Found a great deal today on Hotwire.com. If you are not familiar you need to get on over to their site! I've found great deals on all of my hotels and vacations!! I signed up and created a profile based on where I live and places I would like to vacation to. I receive an update on any travel deals that they find each week or month.

I received an email this morning from the “Travel Ticker” about a 7 night vacation to Honolulu. This deal is through Northwest Airlines and for around $800 a person you receive airfare and hotel accommodations. This price is based on a three star hotel right on the beach – obviously if you choose a higher ranked hotel the price goes us from $800, but I thought I can’t pass this up we need to go! So I emailed my mom this morning and she is as excited as I am. We have been trying to plan a trip together for a few months and couldn’t decide where we wanted to go. One day it was NYC to shop and see Shrek on Broadway and the next minute it was Washington DC to see the White House; so I’m glad I came across this deal.

We are planning on going the second week in December. Which for anyone living in the Midwest area, you know that is right around the time the cold weather gets to be too cold to bear and you are in need of some summer sun!!

Penance

Ok I feel like I have done my penance for not blogging for five days straight. I think that four posts in the matter of 45 minutes is sufficient.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWO TONES!!

On Saturday it was my best friend's 23rd birthday. Tom and I met at a summer job four years ago and I distinctly remember thinking I need to stay away from that kid because he looks like trouble.

The first time I saw him pull into the parking lot at the country club we worked at was an early afternoon in May of 2005. I was standing outside of the pool hut with another friend of mine redoing the flower beds and Tom's 1983 red buick bounces into the lot for the first time. We both look up and immediately start laughing hysterically. This car was practically riding on the ground and scraping its way by. I seriously thought at one point that he had dead bodies in the back of his trunk and was looking for more to add to his collection. My friend Katie and I looked at each other and said we need to stay far away from him all summer because he looks like a freak! Well one thing led to another and Katie began to date him, I started taking daily trips to the mini golf course with Tom after work, we would all go out for drinks together, go bowling, or just hang out. Tom and I spent almost everyday together that summer and have ever sine then.

We have shared so many wonderful memories together since that first summer and I truly enjoy his company each time we see each other. I feel bad that I can't see him on his birthday and that his present didn't make it to his house on time this year. So I thought I would devote a post to the person who I thought was a murderer for the first three days of our friendship and who now, four years later, I can't go more than week without calling just to say hello.

Happy Birthday Tommy!!!

Speech Recap

I'm sure everyone remembers my ridiculous speech that I had to give this past Tuesday on Twinkies. I meant to come home after class to tell everyone how it went but unfortunately the old hag that I am went straight to bed and at which time my memory loss kicked in. Anyway, I signed up to be the 6th person to speak and it went great! I made it with in the time frame and didn't get lost at all. I did however forget all about my visual aids (photos of Twinkies - not interesting at all and most likely would have just taken away from the speech anyway.) It was a requirement to have a few photos incorporated into the speech so I am expecting a loss of a few points - nothing to drastic I'm sure. So if all went as well as I think it did I should be getting a low A on Tuesday evening for my first BIG speech. Surprisingly enough my useless topic was not the most uninteresting topic in the class - that award goes to the d-bag with the lip ring stumbling over the baking process of Pumpkin Ravioli!!

Another Week Come and Gone

I can't believe the last time I blogged was almost a week ago! This past week has been so busy at work and school that I can't seem to find the time during the day and once I get home the only thing on my mind is my pillow. So I apologize for the brief break, but I assure you that I am back on track.

My friend Ellie from MN was in town this weekend with her boyfriend visiting for a couple days. I only had a chance to see her for dinner and than out for a few drinks last night, but we had a lot of fun. We went to a new club called Bon V because my co-worker is a bartender there and has been begging me to try it out for weeks. I'm not much of a dance club kinda girl so I have been really hesitant. I prefer to go to a wine bar or somerthing a little less crazy to have a few drinks and call it an evening. Regardless, we went out to the club had our free cocktails, felt extremely out of place because our boobs and butts weren't hanging out of our shirts and called it an evening. Just a side note: had I looked at the website before we went, I would have gladly foregone the free drinks to be able to skip the half naked dancers and bartenders.

Speech Day

I am taking a Speech 101 class as an additional elective this semester. Tonight is the big night: The first major speech day for everyone in the class. We all had the opportunity choose our own speech topics and for some God for saken reason I decide to write a speech on Twinkies. Yes you read right Hostess Twinkies. I can't tell you why I decided to speak on a such an irrelevant nasty treat but I did. So here I am running out of my apartment to give a 6 minute speech to 30 of my classmates about Twinkies. A processed treat that I have never even taken more than one bite of in my entire life! Out of all the things in the world that I am remotely well versed on, I choose a topic that I know nothing about and have never even purchased at the grocery store before. Nevertheless, I gave it a dry run through to a few of my co-workers and they laughed when I was finished and said " Wait that was serious you really are going to say that in front of people?!" So that was reassuring. I'll get back to you with the outcome.

Lazy Weekend Comes to an End

J and I lazed around the apartment all weekend avoiding any and all classwork for the up coming week. On Friday we went to a charity event at The Hard Rock Hotel for The Goulden Touch Essential Tremor Foundation. J's work bought a table and needed a few extra people to fill the seats so I got to tag along. I asked J the day before what the dress code was for the event and he said he wasn't sure, but his boss said a nice shirt and tie would be fine. I wasn't thrilled with that definition for the dress code, but J assured me that whatever I wore to work that day was going to be fine. So I threw on a black skirt, a pair of boots and a blazer. As we walk into the hotel there is a group of ladies with their dates all wearing cocktail dresses, suits and some were even in evening gowns!! I almost killed him right then and there. I won't go into detail of the lecture J received throughout the entire evening and even into the weekend, but let's just say he will never again just guess on the dress code for an event again.

All and all we had a good evening, we met a few Chicago Bears players, had a nice meal and a few good cocktails. Even after attending the event I can't tell you what Essential Tremor is, but a lot of people showed up and donated a lot of money to the cause; so I think it was a pretty successful night for the foundation overall.

On Saturday J and I went out to the Chicago Country Music Festival at Solider Field. It was a beautiful evening for an outdoor concert and we had the chance to see Gretchen Wilson and Luke Bryan along with a few other no namers. The lake was pretty calm that night, so we took a walk down by the marina after the show and sat and watched all the boats come back in after what was probably one of the last hot weekends of the year.

It was nice to be able to relax all weekend and not have to get up early to catch a plane or a bus. I feel like we have had so much traveling to do over the past month or so that it was nice not to have to set an alarm. Unfortunately, the weekend has come to an end and J is setting the alarm as I type for an early 6 am wake-up call.

Poor Man's Stroller

I have to show these photos of my little cousin Lucas. My mom and J were babysitting him this past Monday while I was out and about and they decided they wanted to take him for a walk. Unfortunately my mom had just thrown away an old stroller she had from when my brother was little and had no other option but to be creative. So J and my mother searched the house and came up with the below contraption to serve as a stroller for Lucas’ morning walk. I would like everyone to note the intricate detail that went into securing the laundry basket to the skateboard with the bungee cords. I haven’t stopped laughing all morning.

Wrong Name

What do you do when you have called someone the wrong name several times for at least three weeks and than you come to find out that the person's name is actually not Rudolph it's Ryan? This situation came up at work today when my co-worker said hello to a relatively new employee and called him Rudolph. I looked at her and said, "who are you talking to when you say Rudolph?" She said the new guy - what do you mean? I went over to talk to him and said, "why does Dawn call you Rudolph? Is that your nickname?" And RYAN replies "No she has just called me Rudolph since the day I started here and didn't have the heart to tell her that she was wrong."

Why would anyone ever let someone go on calling them wrong name for three straight weeks?!! Wouldn't you think that would drive someone crazy? I don't know, maybe I'm going overboard here, but I think common etiquette would have been to correct her after the first mix-up. So I thought I would pose the question to you: If someone you work with on a daily basis has been calling you Rudolph every day since you started and didn't realize that your name was actually Ryan - would you correct them or let it go and just go by Rudolph for a few minutes each day?

Apple Orchard

Over this past weekend while I was visiting my family in MN we went to the apple orchard with a few of my little cousins. It was perfect weather for hayrides and the pumpkin patch so we went to an orchard that had the whole package: apple orchard, hayrides, pumpkin patch, and apple pies. When we got there we discovered we weren’t the only ones with this idea. I have never seen so many cars parked in an apple orchard lot in my entire life! We walked into the orchard and discovered that during our hayride out to the apple trees we weren’t allowed to touch any of the apples! If we wanted to take any apples, we could purchase them in a bag from the general store. Needless to say J wasn’t happy because he had been talking about picking apples for at least two weeks before heading up to MN. But as you can see from the photo below he wasn’t going to let a few orchard rules ruin his fun for the day. The picture to the right is of my goddaughter Maggie. She had such a fun time at the orchard playing hide and seek with J and I and even dancing to the band before we left.

Adsense

Just created an AdSense account with Google to allow for advertisements to appear on the bottom of my blog!! For the newbies in my family: I receive money into an account every time someone clicks on one of the ads below. I haven't figured it out completely yet, so for right now it is just public service announcement ads. Once I get the account information confirmed I will be able to have more relevant ads that may actually be kind of cool. So start clicking!!

MegaBus Held at Gunpoint

As you all know I was very uneasy about taking Megabus back home to St. Paul for my mini vacation this past weekend because of the bad experiences I have had in the past. The trip to MN was rather uneventful. We made good time and J and I were lucky enough to get the handicap seats on the first level of the bus (Comparable to the exit rows on a plane) so everything went fine in getting to Minneapolis, it was the way back to Chicago where we ran into major issues!

J and I boarded the bus at the second pick up area so we weren’t able to get the “good” seats down bottom. We sat on the upper deck of the bus, in the way back next to the most ignorant group of guys I have ever met. They started drinking and hollering the minute the bus took off and didn’t stop until we came to the Milwaukee station. Needless to say I wanted to lose it several times between Hudson and Madison regardless of J’s persistent pleas to keep calm.

We were making good time heading into the Milwaukee station and from the looks of it we were on track to arrive in Chicago 45-50 minutes EARLY! So aside from the intolerable jerks behind us and the unsettling looks from the ninja sitting next to J (long story here as well but I will save that character for a later date) – I was doing surprisingly well for the circumstances.

We pulled into the downtown Milwaukee stop for 5 minutes or so and let off the first group of people. As we began to pull out of the parking lot and head back to the expressway, we were suddenly surrounded by six police cars pulling over the Megabus with their guns drawn! The driver opened the doors and four officers raided the bus asking for everyone to pull out their IDs and have them ready to be scanned. They took one guy who was sitting behind us, off the bus to search him and his bag. They searched through the old food bags, seat compartments and luggage, looking for something that this guy may have hid before taken off to be searched. It wasn’t until 40 minutes later that we got back on the road and found out that they were looking for a murderer who had apparently boarded the bus in Minneapolis and was on his way to Chicago. The poor guy sitting behind us happened to fit the murderer’s description and was the one who caught the brunt of the 40 minute layover in Milwaukee.

I think if murderers are now using the Megabus system as their getaway vehicles, it is probably safe to say that Megabus is no longer the best option to travel, even if it is the cheapest.

I will be sure to post some photos of the wonderful weekend we had in St. Paul later this evening along with some great stories!

Back home in MN

In Minnesota this weekend visiting! We went to the apple orchard today and had so much fun - I will be sure to tell you all about it next week when I have more time.

OTC Drug Mix-Up

A terrible cold/flu is going around my office and I caught it yesterday in the middle of the day. I ran over to Walgreen's across the street and picked up a box of Theraflu medicine. (Just as a preface to my story, no where on the front of box does it distinguish a night time from a day time version.) So I have been sipping on this tea for the past 24 hours and have become increasingly tired as the hours pass. I went to bed about 8 last night and didn't wake up until 8 this morning. I am now in my office falling asleep only to look at the back of the box and to find the following, "May cause extreme drowsiness, please look for TheraFlu orange for daytime relief" Apparently Theraflu distinguishes daytime by the orange box and nighttime for the blue box. THEY REALLY NEED TO MAKE THAT MORE CLEAR! My eyes have never felt so heavy.

Southwest Airlines Comes to Minnesota!!

After four years of going back and forth from MN to Chicago the cheap airline finally decides to fly my route. I have been paying at least 150 bucks for airfare home the past few years and could never find it any cheaper because none of the cheap airliners flew the route. Well isn't it just my luck that Southwest Airlines has announced today that it will now add Minneapolis to Chicago as one of their daily routes. So I suppose that means I can get one last flight home for under 100 bucks and not have to worry about Mega Bus.

Southwest Airlines To Fly MN

I guess I’ll try for employee of the year next time around.

Well I guess that’s it for summer. I woke up this morning and my apartment was so cold that I couldn’t make myself get out of bed. J was up and ready to walk out the door at 7:45 and I was still bundled up under the covers. After hearing the high temperature today of 52, I rolled back over and took another 30 mins. as I was not ready to pull out the fall wear just yet. Luckily the majority of my office was gone at an off site training course today, so nobody noticed me strolling in around 9:45. Oops!

On a side note: J and I are getting on the Mega Bus this Friday to go back to MN for the weekend and I am dreading the trip! Not the visiting MN part because I am very excited for that! It’s the bus part I can’t stand. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mega Bus it’s a super cheap bus that goes all over the US and tickets start at just $1. So as far as the price goes you really can’t beat it! But more often than not the service is crummy and the other passengers on the bus are obnoxious! I can’t remember one MB trip that I have taken that hasn’t made me want to get off the bus and hitch hike the rest of the way home. But, with flights from ORD to MSP sitting just pass $500 and J not wanting to sacrifice a rent payment for my own sanity, we will be boarding a full bus Friday morning at 7am. Needless to say any suggestions for the road trip home are welcomed – mostly for J’s own peace of mind.

Shop It To Me : Online Personal Shopper

I was looking online last night and found a great website that I'm sure has been around for a while, but I am bummed that I am just hearing about it now. It's called Shop It To Me. Essentially it is a website that tracks stores that you generally shop at and watches for items to go on sale - FOR FREE. I created a profile of stores that I currently shop at and items that I am looking for right now; they will then send me an email update each week with where the sales are. The site also offers gift cards to the stores you enjoy for every ten people that you get to sign up. So unfortunately some of you probably already received an annoying computer generated email from me asking to join. And I am truly sorry for that!!! But I couldn't resist the idea of a giftcard to J.Crew!!

ShopItToMe.com!