Tag: shopping

Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Amy

Let’s just jump right into this week’s randomness shall we?

  • I am over the almost Sybil like weather around here, pick a season and stick with it. Between trying to pick out something to wear daily, my sinuses/allergies cannot take this much longer. 
  • While cheesy, I did enjoy The Mistletones Sunday evening but I beg Tori Spelling to lay off of the fillers or whatever she is doing to her face. It was so puffy and at least to me, that isn’t an attractive look.
  • Confession: I purchased Taylor Swift’s song “I knew you were trouble” over the weekend. I have probably just lost about 100 cool points for that.
  • I have lost my baking mojo. . . I feel like a total failure.
  • I had to say goodbye to my stinky boyfriend, aka Shadow, my BFF’s dog over the weekend. I was keeping E while she and her hubby went out for a bit and Shadow had a seizure. A horrible, full on seizure.
  • I can handle about 98% of things good and bad but this fell into that 2% category. I felt helpless, scared, freaked out and most importantly, not in control. A kid gets sick? I know what to do and how to handle it. A dog that I love very much and know he is very sick but can’t tell me anything, I can’t handle it.
  • He has been my date for New Year’s Eve and a sundry of other things over the years. I loved my stinky as much as I love Wook.
  • It feels like everyone I love and care about leave.
  • I get that this isn’t really the truth but it seems like that is all I have been doing the past few years and that gets old.
  • And I already know that He doesn’t give you more than you can really handle but geeze, really? I am starting to think there is a black cloud floating over my head.
  • How the Steelers lost Sunday, I haven’t a clue; I finally took a nap-haven’t done that in awhile.
  • Facetime with Son and Snug always makes me smile
  • I have finally managed to go into Tiffany’s to browse and come out with not one thing marked to add to my wish list. . .
  • Of course to balance that out, I have fallen in love with several pairs of drool worthy shoes
  • In the world of weight loss. . .if I go by what I weighed when I started all of this a year and a half ago, I have lost almost 40lbs but if I go by where I was in September/October of this year (since I stalled and gained some back) I have lost almost 30lbs.
  • I will take either number though because I am below 180
  • Looking at old pictures from college over the weekend. . .umm, I cannot believe I thought I needed to lose weight. Holy cow, I wish I was that skinny again! Apparently after college I felt the need to eat for ten people at times. . .
  • Researching flights and costs for London. . . doesn’t anyone have frequent flyer miles they want to donate to me? Dear lord, this is going to be pricey. I don’t mind the cramped seat from Nashville to wherever I fly out to London but I would prefer to have the room when I fly over the ocean. Must start researching gambling or how to pick winning lottery numbers.

Now I must get back to figuring out what to get mom for Christmas, she is the hardest person to shop for. . .well besides Wook.

Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Amy

The turkey is done, most of the leftovers have been picked over and the tree is up. . .which means that my parents trek up to Nashville was successful. Oh and Wook is still alive, despite my dad’s threat of hurting him should he show attitude.

  • I have now proven to my mom that I can actually keep my place neat
  • My guest room is now spiffed up and even comes with a tv, so Bird, it is time for a big girls weekend
  • I pulled a lazy Amy moment after Christmas last year by not packing my ornaments back into their respective boxes, this should be interesting when I pull them out tomorrow night
  • The tree is up and of course I have at least one strand of lights not working
  • Wook has become reacquainted with the black pepper. . .it is the only thing that makes him stop chewing on the tree
  • I tried the bitter apple spray as well as Tabasco, he loved them both
  • I have a neurotic cat
  • I was half watching DWTS last night and was once again reminded why I dislike Derek. The pro is known for breaking rules and is rewarded time and again for this. Sometimes it seems like those who do not play by the rules, cheat or lie win.
  • If Big Ben doesn’t play this Sunday, I may just cry. I need the Steelers to win, more importantly, I want the Ravens to lose
  • Ole Miss won the Egg Bowl this past weekend, Notre Dame is still undefeated and my fantasy football is limping into the final stretch
  • I have a million and one Christmas movies and specials I must watch this season
  • I finally retired my size 16 (ouch! How did I manage to get that big???) jeans after a rather embarrassing day at work last week.
  • I don’t get how Justin Beiber can walk around with his pants that low all the time
  • I now fit comfortably in my old size ten jeans and picked up another pair on Black Friday
  • Next up, I need to deal with my stomach. I shouldn’t have the mom pooch, I’ve never had a kid!
  • My dad is now the proud owner of an iPhone 4S, this is going to be interesting
  • I have managed to end up with a Pittsburgh Steelers player follow me on Twitter. . .

And with visions of a Pittsburgh win this Sunday, I am going to hit the hay. I am also going to dream of snow, a cozy fire and a couple of classic Christmas movies. Crap, I need to grab the pepper and head off the cat before he gets into the tree again. . .

Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Amy

How in the world is it Thanksgiving next week? Where did the time go? And is it possible that this next weekend not be in the 70s? I am beginning to get a complex when it comes to picking out clothes to wear each day.

  • The past couple of weeks I have indulged myself by taking Friday off. Apparently I needed it. The Friday before last I took it so I could deal with my guest room. . . but I didn’t even so much glance at that room.
  • Last Friday I knew I had no choice but to deal with it because I also needed to buy a bed for my parents and the current state of the room didn’t exactly welcome a queen size bed.
  • Because I rarely sleep in anymore, I got up and dealt with the room first thing. This never happens, so I was shocked as I went through the stuff that had been thrown in the room; putting everything in a tote and stacking them in the closet.
  • FYI–guests will not really have room to hang stuff in this closet, oh well. At least it is no longer an episode of Hoarders. 
  • I also managed to gather the random junk mail, paper and other crap that seems to camp out into a trash bag to take to the dumpster.
  • I started laundry, dealt with the kitchen and finally got cleaned up.
  • The nice part of taking a Friday off from work, it gives me a chance to get stuff done but not feel rushed. I knew I would need to get out to run a couple of errands but instead of running out of the door as soon as I got cleaned up, I read, watched some tv and piddled around.
  • I went to a couple mattress stores and giggled when the salespeople wanted to point me to the higher end models. Seriously? I need a basic queen set and frame. Doesn’t have to be fancy people. And while I could have dragged my very old queen set back up here when I moved, I didn’t want to torture any future guests.
  • I am sure it used to be a very comfy bed but in all fairness, how comfortable is a 30+ year old mattress?
  • My trusty, I am never ever going to part with it, like ever rocker is sitting in the guest room, waiting for the bed to come so it won’t be lonely.
  • Background: this poor rocker is as old as me. I was rocked in it as a baby, my mom’s dog used to hike his leg around it in a fit a jealousy and it was re-upholstered sometime in the late 80s. Dad also broke the base so if you sit in it a certain way, it will tip over with you in it.
  • But I love that thing and it has moved about 100 times with me. I will eventually get it fixed and recovered.
  • I was told a few years ago that being an Ole Miss fan is one of the tougher things a person could do. . . they were right. So close, yet so far Saturday night; Vandy beating us AGAIN. Not enough Jack in the world to get me through those losses.
  • I did get to witness two, um, interesting women get into an argument about football teams in the bar. The drunker one of the two did the whole up close, bump you with my chest and let the bar stool fall on the floor. She was ushered away to cool off and the other woman quickly paid her tab and left the bar.
  • I am still wondering why drunk one didn’t get kicked out or cut off. She came back, did a few more shots and wallered (is that even a word? I mean, I use it when talking about the cat not leaving me alone. . . ) on a few men.
  • It was all Klassy with a K.
  • I believed I OD’ed on football Sunday and watched the ESPN 30 on 30 documentary, Ghosts of Ole Miss. It was a wonderful documentary and left me conflicted on what I know is right and traditions.
  • Monday night was filled with a lot of pacing, gripping the arm of my chair, yelling at the tv and thinking I might need oxygen
  • All because the Steelers almost lost to another crappy team
  • They pulled out the win but my man Rothlisberger is hurt
  • I am officially a sad panda
  • I am doing fairly decently on try # 1,875,139,471 of losing weight, getting into smaller sized pants but I need to get back into walking, ugh

Now I must go deal with my fantasy football team, I won this past week but I need to deal with some players going on bye this week as well as some players that are questionable. I also need to have a talk with my Steelers, I need them to beat the Ravens. I need them to go into the playoffs and not as a Wild Card. I also need to talk to Coach Freeze about Ole Miss needing to win so they can go bowling this year.

Clearly I have issues. . . I am also waiting for Bettman to throw greed to the side and get the NHL season going. I haven’t been to a game in forever and I always loved going when I lived here before.

Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Amy

I know that if I had Mondays off every week I would begin to dread Tuesday but since that isn’t the case, I have to say I really like the shortened work week. I also must put a Snoopy dance in here because I am taking Friday off to head to Nashville. I would love three day work weeks all the time!

  • My holiday weekend was spent hanging with Bird, her girls and my mom. There was a lot of shopping to be done.
  • Bird’s girls make me sad. . .they hate shopping! They definitely didn’t get that from their momma.
  • Sadly, I got the shopping gene from my momma and my granny. . .the good news is I don’t have nearly the number of shoes and purses they each had years ago.
  • I went to sit by the pool and read yesterday; apparently the UVA rays were on high intensity.
  • My thighs are now a nice rock lobster red and hurt like the dickens.
  • I also made my BBQ rub, prepped my ribs and steamed them forever as well.
  • Sonia, I hope they make it to Nashville Friday, I had a little taste test sans the sauce. Oh my, so good.
  • I also need to get my oil changed before I head out.
  • Two things that I really hate to do (besides clean) are getting gas and getting the oil changed.
  • Why can’t I teach my cat to handle that mess?
  • While I am not a beer drinker, I am going to ask for beer recommendations that would compliment my BBQ–what are your favorites?
  • I am looking forward to this weekend, cooler temps, visit with friends, lots of good food and hopefully a trip to Radnor Lake or the Farmers Market.

And now I am going to watch a storm blow in and enjoy the cool breeze!

I Love Me Some Spanx

Posted on by Amy

First, the last post has all kinds of spelling errors and I apologize, my laptop is acting up and I was using a mini notebook and well, typing isn’t all that easy. While my laptop’s keys do not work (well, a good portion of them) I finally got around to dragging out a spare keyboard so I can actually type without too many errors.

And because I have no shame, a story from a few years ago. . .

The Queen is all about looking smart. Girlfriend is always dressed nicely, accessorized down to the jewelry, shoes and purses. During a golf tournament I was working, we sat chatting with another friend and the topic of Spanx came up. I listened intently as they discussed the finer points up the suck em in pants, nodding and making a mental note that I should get a pair to try. The interesting part about all of this is, when my hose would start to wear and tear, I would cut them off around the thigh area and wear them under skirts. And I had done that since my Ann Taylor days back in the late ’90s.

I hit up Dillards looking for the oh so important, you have to have them Spanx. Unfortunately the sticker shock made me rethink getting them. I would occasionally look at them when at the mall but never did buy them. For my birthday the Queen was ever so nice and spoiled me like she normally does, this time it was in the form of Spanx.

I was down in her office, chatting with her, she gave me my gift and I knew right then and there I had to try them on. Unfortunately I had on tights and realized I would have to take them off, put the Spanx on and then put the tights back on. . .

Having no shame, I stripped down in her office with the door closed and someone standing in front of the section that was glass. I got them to my knees and thought, man, this is going to be great. Those suck em in pants had a different plan though. The Queen had bought what she thought would fit me but as we kept on trying to get them up and over my butt, we realized that they were too small.

The Queen tried to help me from behind, which looked like a bad use of the Heimlich maneuver, we tried me on the floor pulling on them like you might do with really tight jeans, we went with the let’s try to get it all the way up on one leg and then the other and who knows how many other ways.

There was laughter, tears, shaking until we couldn’t contain ourselves; oh and half the women in her department sauntered into her office trying to figure out what in the world was going on. It was a case of the wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall? And all this while my dress is almost over my head, tights laying on the floor and the Spanx being wrestled into submission.

Once we all dried our tears and stopped laughing, I calmly put my tights back on, pulled my dress back down and stuffed the ill fitting Spanx back into the package. I finally got the correct size and am now a card carrying member in the suck em in pants group but. . .

That story has followed me for a few years now, normally when I completely forget about the story, the Queen has someone come up to me and ask about the Spanx story. Carrier reps, coworkers and other offices have heard about me and the day it all went wrong.

But I have no shame and was reminded of that story the other week when I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. She was in the Chattanooga office, we squealed with delight when we saw each other and then she threw out the Spanx story for other ladies to hear.

Thank goodness there are no pictures and while I would kill to weigh what I did then, you still would not have wanted to see that mess.

Oh and just for Monday, since I dislike it so. . . I am now down 25 pounds. It took changing medication to finally get the weight to come off consistently but woo hoo! Come on skinny jeans, get ready because I am working my way down to wear you again. Spanx included.

Tuesday Randomness

Posted on by Amy

I would like to blame this on my days of the week underpants since this is Thursday and not Tuesday but I don’t have any. . . days of the week underpants. I have underpants people. So I will blame this on the aftereffects of too much food at Thanksgiving and running all over Nashville last week.

  • Christmas music is on most of the time at work now, I am sure my coworkers will be looking to disable that feature soon. I hope I keep it at a reasonable level so it doesn’t bother anyone.
  • The 25 Days of Christmas is in full effect in my apartment
  • As is the mess known as decorations that is slowly making it’s way out of the many plastic totes
  • Wookie has taken to trying to open the box the tree is in, I inherited my parents’ tree (again) since my other tree was somewhat destroyed by him during prior Christmases
  • Tomorrow night I will rearrange my furniture, set up the tree and commence with sprinkling black pepper around the tree in hopes of keeping little man away from it
  • Creating Christmas ornaments for gifts, including using glitter which will be found years from now since it never goes away
  • I love Nutcrackers and can’t wait to get my little army out of the totes
  • I was grumbling to the boy about Zumba in an email today, he explained a guilt free way of not doing it. . .
  • It’s called spin class
  • Have I mentioned that he isn’t really that funny?
  • Only four more weeks until I get to go shopping on his dime!
  • The Queen and her Royal Court gathered last week for our annual Thanksgiving dinner, this year we added glittery crowns to our outfits (all thanks to the Queen!)
  • My love continues to grow for Green Hills Mall, hit Macy’s at 7:30am Black Friday, scored some new pillows and drooled over dishes, bake ware and appliances
  • I got my letter to Santa written and in the mailbox at Macy’s
  • Hit up See’s Candy for some chocolate lollies, I LOVE them!
  • Also tried out the cinnamon lolly and wish I had gotten some of them as well
  • Scored some clothes on the cheap at Ann Taylor Loft
  • Had lunch at 6th and Pine at Nordstroms, tried the pastrami on rye for the first time, gotta say, it was good. Also make sure you get one of their cookies for dessert, they bake it as you wait so it is warm and gooey.
  • All that food meant extra time at the gym
  • I ended up losing two pounds even after all of that food
  • Spent some much needed time with my BFF and the cutest little boy ever! Mr. E is going to break hearts one day AND I love his baby legs, too bad leg warmers are not in style. . .
  • After driving (quickly) from Nashville back to Chattanooga, I watched The Muppet Movie with mom, Bird, her girls and husband. My emotions were all over the place, such a wonderful movie and brought back wonderful memories of my childhood
  • Had to explain to one of the girls how puppets work and made a mental note that I will have to school them in all things Muppet very soon
  • Sang along and now need the soundtrack
  • Pick up two of the colors in the OPI collection but still looking for The Rainbow Connection, it must be mine

With that, I must get some sleep and hope that I can get my days straightened back out! Or put on my list to Santa days of the week underpants. . .

Getting My Skinny On

Posted on by Amy

Well, I am working towards it anyway. . .

I thought I would give an update on how things are going because I think actually putting this out there keeps me accountable. Or it is simply I just don’t want to fall flat on my face.

So far I have managed to ditch 11 1/2 pounds! And yes, I am so counting that half pound. A lot of my struggles have been drinking water, keeping up the pace working out and eating enough. Full disclosure, I have been using the boy as a sounding board and for support. I am not really sure why his support is what is keeping this going (well, a bit of shopping on him kind of helps) but it is. Between emails and catching up every so often on the phone, it has launched me further in my resolve to get rid of the excess weight.

Of course one of the funnier moments came when I told him I sometimes curse him in my head while on the elliptical. I am distracted for a good bit of that time watching ESPN but normally that last five minutes I am hurting, tired and just want to quit. So I tend to tear him down all in my head. So I apologize to the boy for using him as a punching bag but dang! It really helps!

Then the second half of my workout is all the weight machines. With an eclectic mix of music, I go about my routine torturing my body further. I also have to remember that other people are around so I don’t sing or start dancing. I am loving the machine that works out my calves. See, I was never  one to be all about the toning of muscles, I just wanted to be skinny. But then I took a look at Bird’s calves and have to say, I am quite jealous. Girlfriend has some defined calves!

Between that and the two machines that work out your back and tummy, well, I could stay on those three all day. That was until this afternoon when I noticed a slanted weight bench that you could lock your legs on. Memories of doing situps with a medicine ball flooded my brain and I jump on it faster than a vat of chocolate at The Melting Pot. I hate normal, lay on the floor situps. They hurt and I tend to give up but using this little bench makes all the difference. I didn’t use a medicine ball this afternoon only because I didn’t want to hurt myself. Maybe next week. . . but I did manage to get through one and a half reps (so 15 total) and for an out of shape shlub I think that is just awesome.

I am sore, tired and need someone to come over and help me stretch everything back out because it isn’t pretty. And Wookie isn’t very helpful when it comes to me trying to get off the potty after peeing. Which I do all the time now thanks to all the water I am drinking.

Now to the food. . .I am not all that hungry. I checked with the boy about this issue because I don’t want my body thinking it is in panic mode. According to an app on my phone I need to eat 1,200 calories a day. I am doing good to get to that point (well, just a bit under) when I have an off day from the gym. But when you add the workout in, well then I drop a whole lot. So for the time being I am trying to get as close as I can to hitting that number daily and not worry about it.

I think I am going to take tomorrow off from the gym, but who knows. I may go ahead and workout since I am into a really good grove. Plus the taunting of my skinny jeans and a shopping trip is just too much to just sit on my duff.

Highs and Lows, All in One Weekend

Posted on by Amy

Another whirlwind of a weekend spent in Nashville and I am still wondering where it went. . .

I am loving the new Nordstrom’s in Nashville, not the price tags of course and I still don’t understand spending $1,500 on a jacket but hey, someone will buy it. I loved seeing all the high end designer frocks but had to wonder who actually wears some of the stuff. My favorite part was the shoe department. I can now say that I have fondled the shoes that one day I will own (and pass down to the next generation). I finally saw my Manolo black patent leather Mary Jane heels. So pretty, so sweet and oh my, so expensive! I also fondled the shoes that Carrie from Sex and the City registered for when marrying herself. Ladies, those are really pretty shoes!

I also got to see several new stores and took in a much needed browsing of pretty things in Kate Spade. I was never a Spade fan but this weekend pushed me over there, a lovely purse in brown and black (no need to ever worry about your purse matching your outfit again!) as well as a Katherine Hepburnesqe pink dress with pockets that I know would just be perfect with those black Manolos. I think it is now time for me to get a second, third and fourth job just so I can have a closet full of all of these pretty things.

Of course the main reason for heading back home was not to window shop, although I guess at this point it would have been the better reason. . . nope, I headed home to go see Ole Miss play Vandy with the boy, one of his college buddies and his girlfriend. Sadly, I can say the only good thing about the game was the bourbon. Ole Miss played hard but couldn’t get it done or even halfway done. This isn’t the team I fell in love with a few years ago and it makes me sad that it was such a bad game. I will not admit defeat though because there is another week of play, so I will go into each game with the attitude of they will win and then hope for the best.

I did get to try out Ninki, a local Japanese restaurant in the Belle Meade area. Yum! Excellent sushi, fried rice to die for and the saki that I tried was good. When our little group wasn’t trying to keep the boy from jumping off the balcony after the loss we talked about food, food trucks, drinks and I think food. We also discussed my aversion to mayo.

This week is going to be full of pulling reports, working out, trying to clean my apartment, catch up on laundry and working out some more. I was scared to death to even look at the scale after my horrible eating habits from the weekend but luckily it wasn’t too bad. Now I just need to get back into my routine and hope that my hard work will start to show. I think that is my biggest challenge right now. I just want to see some results.

And I need to figure out how I can get a couple of pairs of those shoes I fell in love with along with a dress and purse. . . I wonder if Wook would be willing to get a job. . .

Success!

Posted on by Amy

Target is standing and I managed to make it through my little shopping jaunt with little discomfort. I wandered around trying to remember what I needed and managed to get through there without going overboard.

I did end up with slight damage to my eardrums though. While mama was busy looking at hair care products I was treated to the screeching sounds of a toddler roaming the aisles while his big brother followed him around laughing. After getting about two aisles away from mama, she finally shouted for them to come back to her.

I was actually shocked that she even did that since she didn’t seem concerned about them. Then I heard her say to the older one to just give whatever item the little one was screeching about to him. I guess this is the new parenting mantra. . .

But it was nice to be out and about minus the boot. I still move slowly but getting in and out of the car is far easier now. Plus I don’t seem to lose my balance as easily going up and down the steps.

So I have now set a goal for myself that I will not injure any body part the rest of the year. I am ready to get back into normal shoes and soon, hopefully walk with more grace than I have the last month.

Of course, it was kind of nice having a great reason as to why I should not go roam Target. I love that place but I think it has designs on my budget. Meaning it wants to drain me dry of any pocket change I might have. . . I kept it under $50 and it was for things needed.