Catch up

My friend Gina just called to tell me that she was catching up on my blog, and noticed that Google had placed an ad for Bally on my page. Ha! Oh, Google ads. Anyway... I dropped that letter in the mail on Thursday night. Then on Friday morning when I got in to work, I had an email response from the request I submitted through the BTF website. They're canceling my membership. Damn now I feel like an ass because I bitched them out in this letter, and then they do what I ask before the letter even arrives. Oh well.

My HUGE news: I completed and passed the AICPA ethics exam 2 weeks ago, so I am DONE with all exams required for my CPA license!!!!! DONE!!! Last week I mailed in my application with the $250 application fee. After they approve my application, I have to send in another check to cover the annual license fee. Thankfully my employer will reimburse me for that. I also had to have my fingerprints taken via LiveScan, which was $30 PLUS $50 for an FBI and DOL background clearance check. Good Lord! They don't make this affordable! I've heard it can take 5 months until I'll get my license and number. I'll keep you posted!

Here is the necklace that I made for Marilyn, the winner of my anniversary giveaway. (That's scrapbook paper, not something I dropped water on.)


And here is a necklace I made for myself. I bought more of these beads, crazy lace agate, so I can make more because I've gotten tons of compliments on it.

I've secured my etsy shop name and URL! I don't currently have any jewelry assembled or listed for sale. I'll let you know when I do!

My super adorable, chubby-bunny nephew will be 10 months old on Wednesday. He's crawling now and just started clapping last week. He's also able to walk while holding onto toys or furniture. He had an unfortunate accident in which he let go of his Intellitainer while walking, fell, and hit his mouth. He broke one of his front teeth and had to have it extracted. Poor baby now has a missing tooth until his permanent one comes in! Here's the silly little monkey, affectionately known at home as "Hillbilly Landon".


And here's a sweet picture of Landy watching Pirates of the Caribbean with his daddy. Too bad my brother had to go and ruin the moment! Thank goodness for photo editing! (Yes, my dad has a 58" TV.)


Peace & love.
J

Corporate Bullies: An open letter to Bally Total Fitness

Hi, I'm back. I know, it's been a while. I did make the necklace for Marilyn and took a picture to post here, but I'm at work so I'll do another post from home so you all can see it.

Anyway... I'm attempting to cancel my gym membership because my new job has a workout room at the office that I can use for FREE! ... and I probably used my membership 40 times within the last 3.5 years. Worst and most expensive "investment" I've ever made. Probably comes out to $200 per visit. UGH. So, on top of me hating that they made me sign a 3-year contract that you can't get out of unless you DIE, I hate Bally because they are making it totally impossible for me to cancel my membership. Did I mention I hate them?!

And now, my open letter to Bally Total Fitness:

***************************************************

To: Bally Total Fitness Member Services
P.O. Box 1090 Norwalk, CA 90651-1090

From: J

Date: December 2, 2009

RE: Cancellation of membership (#xxxxxx)

I need to cancel my membership (#xxxxx) to Bally Total Fitness as my new employer has a workout facility in our office that I may use at no charge. I am past my initial 3 year contract, and it is my understanding that I am now month-to-month. Therefore there should be no problem in cancelling my membership.

I attempted to cancel my membership both through the BTF website and by phone. I received NO response to my request via the website form. I called the number provided on the website, and was provided no option to cancel “just because”. The only options given are moving to an area with no club within 25 miles, medical reasons and “buyer’s remorse”. So after selecting both of those options (during two different phone calls), I waited through all the inapplicable info about mailing in letters to get to the part where I could select to speak to a customer service representative. Then I was informed that the wait to speak to someone was longer than 25 minutes, so I would be put in a queue. I found that to be quite ridiculous, so I hung up and called my local club. They informed me that I can only cancel my membership by calling the corporate office. I called the corporate number again, sat through the inapplicable messages again, and was then told by the automated system that the wait to speak to someone was more than 30 minutes, so the call was dropped. 5 minutes later I called back and received the same treatment – call dropped. So I submitted a second request through the BTF website. Then I attempted one more time a half hour later… same thing.

This is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable “customer service”. Like every other service provider, you should at least allow an option to request a cancellation through your website. A request that you should actually respond to and act on. And dropping the calls of people who call in to corporate is unbelievable – first you require that I call corporate to cancel my membership, and then you make it absolutely impossible to get through to someone at corporate. At least provide the option for callers to leave a message for customer service to return. But I imagine if I did finally get to speak with someone, I’d get stuck with a sales person who will give me a long spiel attempting to convince me to not cancel my membership despite the fact that I don’t want to hear it, and don’t need a membership any longer, AND have every right to cancel since my contract is up. I know how these things work… I have dealt with pushy sales people before. And I don’t want to deal with this now. My membership needs to be cancelled and it needs to be hassle free. And at this point, I will NEVER consider membership with Bally again due to your horrendous “customer service”.


********************************************************

I hope you all never have to deal with this crap, but we all know that's wishful thinking. Oooh, I should totally write a letter to the BBB too. They listen!

Peace & love.
J

And the winner is...

Hello,

Guess what?! I suck. I still have not made that piece of jewelry for the giveaway winner. But, we do have a winner. I'd like to thank all three of you for entering - April, Mikki, and Marilyn. April got none correct, Mikki got 2 correct, and Marilyn wins with a whopping 3 correct!

Congratulations Marilyn! When I stop being lazy, I will make you a piece of jewelry, and I will post a photo of it here before sending it off. It will be this week because I start my new job on Monday!

Here are the 10 false "facts":

3. I have four step-siblings. (Correct: I only have 3)

14. My dream car is a Camaro. (Correct: Mustang)

17. I have attended 6 different colleges. (Correct: 4 - San Jose City College, Concordia University, Cal Poly SLO, and Cuesta College)

45. My hobbies include painting.

48. I'm a PC person. (Correct: Mac all the way!)

56. I have lived in Santa Barbara.

67. I have traveled to all 50 US states. (Correct: only 13)

77. I grew up attending a Presbyterian church. (Correct: Lutheran)

82. I have a pet iguana. (Correct: Just Charlotte the kitty)

97. I have had 3 serious relationships. (Correct: only 1, and that one hardly counts)

In other news, my throat is feeling almost back to normal. I had a lovely 10 days of sleeping, resting, relaxing, and recuperating. Saturday afternoon my dear friend Emily got married, and true to form I had a klutzy accident at the wedding. I missed a step as I was coming out of the trailer of porta-potties and rolled on my ankle. In my defense, the area was extremely poorly lit and the hand rail did not extend to the last 2 steps to the ground. And it was quite a dramatic scene - somehow I ended up on my back in the gravel. Thankfully, the best man was coming out of the mens "room" and helped me up. I think my ankle is sprained because it's swollen and HURTS! So, I'm back to lying on the couch... :-/

Peace and love.

J

Free Music from JJ Heller

I've recently fallen in love with the music of JJ Heller. For a limited time, she's offering her Christmas album for free!

Please help spread the word by posting the widget on your blog or social networking page. Click "Embed This Widget" for the code.

I hope you enjoy JJ's music as much as I do!

Peace and love.

J

100 Things About Me - The Giveaway Edition

Ok, so I had what I think is a genius idea for the giveaway celebrating my 3 year blogoversary and 100th post. I am going to list 100 things about me in honor of my 100th post. And you, the readers, need to leave a comment with 3 things from the list that you believe are not true. (Three things in honor of my 3rd year of blogging.) To help your chances of guessing correctly, I will not be listing only 3 false facts; I'll give you 10! And if I gave a sh*t, here is where I would tell you what your chances of choosing three incorrect things are. Unfortunately I'm on staycation, so I will not be calculating and providing that information. :-P

And because I'm exhausted and hopped up on Vicodin from having a tonsillectomy on Wednesday, I have not yet made the piece of jewelry that I'll be giving away. Yeah, I'm doing this all backwards, but that's what we get when my throat, mouth, jaw, teeth, ears, and head all hurt. I'm too busy being a zombie to make jewelry right now. Eventually I will create it and post a photo and give it it to the winner. Please bear with me.

Giveaway rules

1. Leave a comment indicating which three items from the list of 100 you think are false.

2. Leave your email address or link to your blog so I can get in touch with you if you win.

3. The winner will be announced in one week. I will also tell you which of the items are false.

If more than 1 person guesses 3 things or no one guesses 3 correct responses, I'll figure out another way to choose the winner.

And now, drum roll please... 100 Things About Me!

1. I am 5'11".

2. I have one brother

3. and four step-siblings.

4. I took gymnastics lesson during middle school.

5. I have passed all 4 of the CPA exams.

6. I scored 1240 on the SATs.

7. My joints are loose and susceptible to dislocation.

8. I graduated from high school in 2000.

9. After my parents divorced, I lived with my Dad and my brother lived with my Mom.

10. I had to apply 3 times before being accepted to attend Cal Poly.

11. My first car was my dad's 1982 Ford Ranger pick-up.

12. My second car was a 1992 Toyota Camry.

13. I currently drive a 2005 Honda Civic.

14. My dream car is a Camaro.

15. I like to think I'm pretty open minded and accepting.

16. I was sent by my employer to a seminar called "Managing Your Emotions Under Pressure".

17. I have attended 6 different colleges.

18. Since moving out of my dad's house in 2000 I have lived in 9 different apartments.

19. I have a Wii

20. and a Sega Genesis.

21. My hair is naturally curly.

22. I have been coloring my hair since at least high school.

23. Orchids are my favorite flower.

24. I am not interested in sky diving.

25. According to the Body Mass Index I am obese.

26. I love PartyLite candles.

27. My favorite movie is Garden State.

28. Will Ferrell is my favorite actor.

29. John Mayer is my favorite musician.

30. JJ Heller is a new favorite musician.

31. Grey's Anatomy is the one show I can't live without.

32. I prefer silver to gold.

33. My favorite gemstone is a black opal.

34. I passed my driving test on my first try when I was 16.

35. My college roommates got me to like country music.

36. May last vacation was to Kauai, Hawaii.

37. I love Chelsea Handler

38. and try to watch Chelsea Lately every night that I can stay up late enough.

39. I am irrationally afraid of large bridges.

40. I have no first cousins.

My hobbies include:

41. making jewelry

42. reading

43. watching TV

44. surfing the Internet

45. painting

46. photography

47. Men's cologne is irresistible.

48. I'm a PC person. (i.e. not a Mac person)

I have had the following jobs:

49. barista at Starbucks

50. smoothie maker at Jamba Juice

51. Receptionist

52. Accountant

53. Research Manager at a recruiting firm

I have lived in:

54. Los Angeles

55. San Luis Obispo

56. Santa Barbara

57. San Jose

58. I find Dimitri Martin hilarious.

59. I have the most adorable, chubby baby nephew EVER!

60. I occasionally like the way cigarettes smell.

61. I am a firm believer in bathing regularly.

I have traveled to:

62. Mexico

63. Suriname

64. Australia

65. New Zealand

66. South Korea

67. all 50 US states

68. Canada

69. I started enjoying baseball a few years ago - when the Red Sox were in the playoffs (and went on to win the World Series).

70. My favorite sport to watch is ice hockey.

71. I prefer flats to heels.

72. I'm a daddy's girl.

73. I have never done ecstasy.

74. My favorite drink is a margarita.

75. Yes, I love tequila.

76. My brother's fiancee asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding.

77. I grew up attending a Presbyterian church.

78. Most of my clothes are from Gap and Banana Republic.

79. I'm a hopelessly addicted to etsy.com

80. I'm a whore for cereal

81. and sweaters.

82. I have a pet iguana.

83. I hate working out.

84. The radio in my car is broken.

85. I have a cat who requires prescription diet food.

86. I can't walk out of Target without spending close to $100.

During my lifetime I have considered the following occupations:

87. Interior Designer

88. Editor

89. Teacher

90. CEO

91. CPA

92. Wedding Photographer

93. I love Scrabble.

94. I started babysitting when I was 11 years old.

95. I have framed on my wall a photograph of the plane my grandfather flew in WWII.

96. My favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver.

97. I have had 3 serious relationships (i.e. long-term boyfriends)

98. I live alone.

99. I love frozen yogurt.

100. My favorite cookies are peanut butter.

Again, to win:

1. Leave a comment.

2. Choose 3 things from the above list that you think are not true.

Good luck!

J

Milestones - UPDATED!

10/27/09 UPDATE

I know this is really lame, but my next post is #100 and I don't want to waste it on this little update.

I have a few items of importance that some people might give a hoot about -

1. I got a job!! I start on November 16. I'll be doing the same thing as I was before, but at a smaller, local accounting firm.
2. I am having a tonsillectomy tomorrow, October 28. I have found that this is a hugely controversial topic nowadays because certain people are adamant about keeping tonsils as they are allegedly our first line of defense against germs and bacteria, etc. Well, my decision has not been made lightly. I have consulted multiple doctors over the past few years and talked with numerous people who have had tonsillectomies. I believe that this procedure will give me a better quality of life, so I am excited about that bright future. Of course I am not looking forward to the pain and recovery, but oh well.
3. While I am recovering I do plan to make a piece of jewelry to giveaway for my 100th post and 3 year blogoversary. However, I have no idea how to determine who will win the piece. I don't post enough to do a quiz... Hmmm... I'll be thinking about that this week as well. I think the plan is to post my 100th post on November 3, in which I will lay out the rules for the giveaway. Suggestions are welcome!

Peace and love.
J

***********************************************
Original post from 10/19/09

I'm coming up on my blog anniversary and my 100th post. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that my first blog post was on November 3, 2006... Yes, 3 years later I am barely hitting 100 posts. How lame!

Anyway... Everyone else seems to celebrate blogoversaries and milestone posts. Any suggestions? Maybe I'll be totally awesome and do a giveaway for a piece of my own hand-made jewelry. And since I have like 3 or 4 readers, your chance of winning is quite good! LOL.

So let's hear those suggestions!

Peace and love.
J

loved in all things

A few weeks ago, my favorite artist Kelly Rae Roberts held a giveaway on her blog. Jan from Hazelnut Cottage was giving away a beautiful bracelet stamped with the words "loved in all things".

Guess what?! I WON!!
I received it in the mail on Friday, and it is so pretty and dainty. And of course it reminds me that I am, indeed, loved in all things.

So I just want to say thank you to Jan and tell you all about her generosity and her gorgeous jewelry!

Thanks, Jan!

Peace and love.
J

Warning: Cute overload!

I'm adding some cuteness to the blog here. Plus, I think Kori said she needed to see more photos of babies! :-P Landon will be 8 months old next week. I think he's probably at least around 30 pounds now because he was about 25 at his 6 month check-up. You can see in the second picture that he has a couple teeth coming in! Isn't he just the most adorable little guy EVER?! Can you tell I love him to pieces?

Peace and love.

J

A Blog for Emma - Updated

Hello Friends,

I got this email from Kristina this morning:

Hi Everyone,

A dear friend of mine, Sophie Crew has a one year old daughter named Emma. On Friday, September 18^th, Emma was critically injured at her daycare. She suffered severe damage to her head and has been in a coma ever since. She has had two brain surgeries to remove parts of her skull to reduce the pressure in her head but she continues to still have high ICP which is her Intra Cranial Pressure. They had reduced the medications hoping she would begin to wake up but since then, they have had to increase those same medicines because of some of the risk with her ICP.

I have had the chance to visit little Emma in the hospital and hold her little hand. The sight just makes your heart go into your throat and obviously think about her poor parents Sophie and Tyler who have not left her bed side since that horrific Friday.

I never thought I would ever know anyone who has had to endure so much pain and heartache for a child so young. I think about my own babies, especially having Tristan so close to Emma’s age and can’t even begin to image what they are going through.

So I can’t fix Emma, but the best I can do is try and support their family the best way I know how and that is why I am reaching out to all of you. With the help of San Diego County Credit Union and my amazing friend Wendy Snyder, we have been able to open up a Fund for little Emma to help their family with their medical expenses they have/will take on through this time. Right now all they can think about is getting their baby back but we all know all of the other realities that will face them at some point.

If you are able to help this family they would so greatly appreciate it. We have set up an account through Paypal which will go directly into the “Emma Crew Fund” and can be accessed below or you can also write checks to:

SDCCU marked “Emma Crew Fund – Account #000368773100” & mailed to

San Diego County Credit Union

6545 Sequence Dr.

San Diego, CA 92121

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and hopefully you can contribute to this cause. If you are unable to at this time, please just pray for this little girl and her family and pass this message on if you can!!

Sincerely,

Kristina Marchesano

My friend Wendy started a blog and has posted some recent updates on little Emma and the link to donate through Paypal (it is on the right hand side). Our families and the wonderful Company I work for, are also walking on Saturday in support of Rady’s Children’s hospital.

We have set up an email account where people can leave messages for their family:

hopeandloveforthecrewfamily@gmail.com

Please visit Hope and Love for the Crew Family and keep praying for Emma.

Thank you!

Peace and love.
J

I met my prince charming an @sshole

I found a coupon code for eHarmony which got me a 3-month subscription for only $29.99! This is a crazy good deal because the usual cost is $59.99 for ONE month!! I'm about 2 months into the subscription now, and I've only communicated with two guys. One guy I just started "open communication" with today. The other guy, the prince charming, named Todd initiated communication with me on Labor Day. I wasn't sure that I'd be attracted to him based on his pictures, but we emailed back and forth during that week and even talked on the phone one night for 2 hours! He was funny and we obviously had enough in common to have easy conversation for 2 hours. He asked me out for that Friday night. I accepted, and we went to the San Francisco Giants game.

I had fun, and he was nice and funny, but totally cheesy. Sometimes that's good, but sometimes it's annoying. And good Lord, it was TOTALLY obvious that he thought I was hot and he was like so lucky to be out with me. haha. Very odd for me because that never happens to me. When we first met at the train station, he came up and he was grinning from ear to ear and he was like, "It's nice to meet you." I was waiting to pay for my parking, so I said "it's nice to meet you too" then he repeated it. And after I paid, we walked away from the pay station and he said it AGAIN. and continued grinning like an idiot. And then I said, "You wanna say it again?" He knew I was joking cause we'd joked on the phone and via email.

Then on the train ride there were no open seats so we had to stand. He kept staring at me, smiling, and he continued to all night. It's nice he thought that I'm so gorgeous, but seriously, calm the frick down and stop staring at me. Oh, and I was 100% not attracted to him.

When we were walking to the stadium he told me that I look great, and then as we were walking up the stairs to our seats, he was walking behind me and said, "Yeah. You definitely look great" (as in he was checking out my ass). I was annoyed - definitely not cool for a first date. I'm looking for someone with a little more class. So I stepped into an aisle, turned around and said, "Excuse me?!" and motioned for him to walk ahead of me.

When we were sitting and watching the game, he kept trying to touch me... touched my knee a couple times when I was joking and said something stupid and then put his arm around me for a quick side hug when I realized in the 8th inning that BOTH teams (not just the Giants) were wearing red hats (in honor of 9/11).

On the train ride home we ended up in seats facing each other and he continued to stare at me. At one point I said, "What?" and said, "I'm just looking at you." Awkward! When we were parting ways he said, "So maybe I'll see you again soon?" and I said, "Maybe." and he was like, "Oh? Well, I guess if I ask right!"

But, I did have fun, so it wasn't a total loss.

I didn't hear from him that weekend, so I thought I'd gotten off easy. Nope... Wednesday night I got an email from him:

Subject: Hiya

From: Todd

To: Julie

Hi Julie,

I was left with the vibe that you weren't really into me (if I'm wrong, let me know) and since I haven't heard from you, I figure that was what was going on, but I wanted to thank you again for coming out to meet me. I did have a good time. :-)

~Todd

*********************************************

From: Julie

To: Todd

Hi Todd,

I did have a good time as well, but I did not feel any chemistry. Thank you for the fun evening! Best of luck to you in your search.

Julie

*********************************************

From: Todd

To: Julie

You're welcome. As a helpful hint, it's nice to show thanks on the date, or offer to pay something for the evening (especially if you didn't feel chemistry).

~T.

*********************************************

From: Julie

To: Todd

I'm sorry you didn't notice, but I did say thank you multiple times during the evening. And you didn't really allow me an opportunity to pay for anything as you paid for the game tickets and train tickets before I arrived, and then made the offer to get the food on your own. I'd be happy to send you money to cover my portion of the evening. Just let me know what your address is and how much it was.

And as long as we're offering helpful hints, try not to make your date uncomfortable by staring at her or making comments that she looks great while you're walking behind her (and obviously commenting on her ass).

*********************************************

Seriously?!?!? RUDE!!!

Here's hoping you are either in a relationship or don't have to encounter a loser like this in your dating adventures!

Peace and love.

J

Update on Emma

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. I put Google Analytics on the blog earlier this week, and I had 300 visits on Wednesday alone; nearly 500 visits in total since Monday. I'm hoping this means at least 500 people are praying for Emma!

Just to clarify - I don't know Emma or her family. I received the message via a number of people forwarding it on. The person who wrote the original prayer request email is Kristina, who is a friend of Sophie, Emma's mom. I wrote an email to Kristina this evening asking for an update on Emma since I know all of you praying would like to know how she is doing, as would I. Here is what Kristina said:

I am overwhelmed by everyone’s commitment to making sure Emma and her family are being prayed for. Thank you so much for passing my message on to others!!

Little Emma…as of yesterday they stopped the medicines that were keeping her in her coma. And as of this morning she started to twitch her little toes and her eyelids but the doctors say that there is so much medicine in her blood that it will be a couple days before she wakes up. It is really just a hope and wait game at this point. They still do not know what the long term effects will be from this accident. All we can do is hope and pray for the best. It will be a long road I am sure for her family. I am going to see Sophie in the morning (we are going to bring them some breakfast - they have been living at the Ronald McDonald house at Children’s) and hopefully she will have some good news to share. I promise to pass any new information I have onto you as soon as I have it.

Thank you for everything,
Kristina

I will update as often as Kristina updates me. Thank you all for your continued prayers! Please forward the prayer request to all the prayer warriors you know, and feel free to link to my blog if you'd like.

Peace and love.

Julie

Prayer Request - Emma Crew

Hello friends,

My dear friend Mikki emailed me with a prayer request this evening. I have seen the power of prayer, and how the Internet has facilitated wildfires of prayer.


Please pray for little 13 month-old Emma. Per the email chain: "Last Friday she was admitted to Children’s Hospital for head trauma. She just started at a new day care the previous week... A very long story but Emma hit her head and went unconscious. She was taken to Children’s where she has undergone two brain surgeries to remove part of her skull to relieve the pressure because her brain is bleeding and has actually shifted. She is in a medically induced coma and because they are having a hard time getting her head to stop bleeding they are not sure when they will be able to bring her out. They do not know the long term effects from this. She will have to wear a helmet after until they can go back in and replace the missing pieces of her skull."

See more photos of Emma on her mom's blog.

Thank you!

Peace & love.
J

Not a housewife

I'm completely hopeless. I commented on Kori's post today that I can't cook, and she replied with, "ANYONE can cook; haven’t you seen Ratatouille?" Well Kori, here's how pathetic I really am...

My mom gave me a bunch of fresh limes from her tree yesterday, so I decided to make fresh, home-made margaritas tonight. First of all I needed tequila. Margaritas are my favorite drink, so I needed some quality tequila. I went to the grocery store, and bless it's soul, ALL of the tequila was 25% off!! I felt bad only buying one bottle, but I'm not getting paid until Friday, so maybe I better wait until then, and really, what single person needs more than one bottle of tequila in their apartment?! Then, I had this genius not so genius idea to cut and peel the limes, put them in the food processor, and blend! Well, my food processor didn't do that swell of a job and it ended up pretty chunky. Also, VERY sour. After taking a few unpleasant sips, I came to my senses and decided to look up a recipe for simple syrup with the hope of adding a little sweetness to my concoction. After a little Google search, I find it really is quite simple:

Ingredients:

• 2 parts sugar
• 1 part water

Preparation:

1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat.
4. Allow to cool completely and bottle.

So I go into the kitchen and pour 1 cup of sugar into a pot, and pour 2 cups of water into a measuring cup. Then I realize, I think it said boil the water first, then add the sugar. So I pour the sugar back into the sugar canister and pour 2 cups of water into the pot. I looked at it and decided I may as well make a bunch and save it for later (as another website advised). So I add 2 more cups of water, making that a total of 4 cups of water. When it starts to boil, I add 2 cups of sugar, and gee it dissolved very quickly...

I'd seen a link for "flavor infused simple syrup" so I came back to my computer to check that out. The recipe was the same as above and listed, for example: 2lbs of sugar and 16oz of water. I thought, That's a lot of sugar... That's 1 pint glass of water and 2/5 of a bag of sugar (a 5lb bag of sugar to be exact). Oh shit!, I thought as I frantically searched for the first site I looked at. Sure enough, idiot, TWO parts SUGAR, ONE part WATER. So I quickly poured off about half the water and added more and more sugar.

I took a couple spoons full, and re-mixed my margarita with plenty of ice to cool down the simple syrup. The margarita is delicious now, in case you were wondering. (Well, with the exception of the large chunks of lime. LOL. I'm a mess!)

But seriously, I can't cook... and really, that's not even cooking - it's freaking boiling water!!!

After re-reading that post, I think I have a serious addiction to commas. I hope I'm not a comma abuser...

Peace and love.
J

P.S. El Torito called back, apologized, and said they're transferring the $26 back into my account.

Another Meme - 7 Things

I'm a horrible blogger... Oh, I don't know... a month and a half ago Britt tagged me to do this meme. And... um... I'm a slacker, so I haven't done it yet. But better late than never, right? And as we all say, "yay for blog fodder!"

The rules are as follows:
List 7 random facts about yourself
Tag 7 other bloggers

I'm not going to tag anyone... if you need blog fodder, please feel free to do the meme!

Fact 1: I weighed in at Weight Watchers last week and I've now had a loss for 3 consecutive weeks. Would have been 7, but I had one week where I gained. Anyway, my net loss is now 6.8 lbs! And I love the feeling I get when I see the numbers going lower on the scale! I usually wear a t-shirt and yoga pants to weigh-in, but I was running late last night and had to go directly from work, so I wore my work clothes, naturally. The leader told me I looked beautiful! Weight loss PLUS a compliment! Gotta love it!

Fact 2: As much as I want my CPA license and all I have left is one little ethics exam, the book has been sitting on my kitchen table for a couple months now. I wanted to take a break after having studied for 4 years to pass the 4 subject matter exams, but the little break seems to be going on and on... I need to get on it! Tomorrow is a company holiday, so I'll do my best to study and take a stab at the exam tomorrow and Saturday.

Fact 3: I am a total freak about spelling and grammar... And up until yesterday I fully thought, until JP informed me otherwise, that dammit was spelled "damnit". Oh, and he took quite a bit of pleasure in proving me wrong, which drives me crazy because I'm so anal about spelling! I can't be wrong! LOL.

Fact 4: If you haven't heard of comedian Chelsea Handler, you need to! She has a late night show on E! called Chelsea Lately, which is on every weeknight. At my location it's on at 11pm, and she makes me laugh EVERY NIGHT, so I try to stay up for it as often as possible. I also saw Chelsea live back in June. She's just hilarious! She has an assistant named Chuy who is a little person and has a very heavy accent as his first language is Spanish. He gets his jokes on a teleprompter, and then they always have to provide captions so you know what he's saying. I don't know if Chelsea knows ahead of time what Chuy is going to say, but she cracks up laughing every time he replies to her, and more often than not his replies are completely random but totally hilarious. Last night they were talking about Sharon Stone posing nude on the cover of a French magazine and Chelsea asks, "Chuy, you're friends with Sharon Stone aren't you?" and he says, "God no. She tried to feed me to a dragon." I just laugh my ass off at that show.

Fact 5: I love music. A LOT. I'm currently loving Colbie Caillat's new album "Breakthrough". I also re-discovered, on my iPod, a band called Mikeschair. They're a Christian music group and they have a new album out, but the one I have is a few years old. I wanted to recommend it to a friend, but I searched the web and found that it's no longer for sale! Oh well for them, at least I have it! I better go back it up. And my timeless favorite will always be John Mayer. His music is simply AMAZING. His new album "Battle Studies" is coming out November 17. I cannot wait.

*****I'm having a little bit of trouble coming up with 7 things because I'm pretty sure I already did a "weird things about me" post...*****

Fact 6: My hair is naturally curly, but I didn't know until I was a freshman in college. Kids in middle school would call me cocker spaniel because my hair was so poofy. Little did I know it was because my hair was curly and all I was doing was blow drying it. I blame my mom for not helping be slightly more stylish. I was pretty unattractive in those tween years. I only found out because my curly-haired friend said, "Girl, your hair is frizzy. Put some mousse in it and wear it curly." and I was like, what? my hair is curly?

Fact 7: This one is kind of lame, but I can't think of anything else and I want to finish this post today... I cry really easily. I don't consider myself to be sappy or uber sensitive because I'm pretty raw and can be crass at times, but some things just make me cry a river. Like just now my favorite former boss from the accounting firm (in the So Cal office) I worked at called me because I had emailed him asking a question earlier. His name is Peter and he is also my #1 reference for when potential employers need to verify my awesomeness. I've been keeping him updated on my struggles to obtain employment, so he said, "I'm really, truly sorry about your situation. I know it's tough. I think about you a lot and I have my fingers crossed for you." and he added that while he understands and completely respects my reasons for moving up to Northern California (family), but he would have been able to protect me from layoff and/or helped me more had I stayed in LA. I'm certain that had I stayed in LA, I would not have even been at risk of being laid off. And he's said before that if I move back down, he'd hire me in a heartbeat. And that... that made me cry a little bit. I am truly blessed to have a friend and colleague like Peter.

Peace and love.
J

WTF El Torito?

The scene: Last week. Happy hour at El Torito Grill & Bar.

My friend and I split part of the bill on our cards.

My share = $23.18.

His share = $26.

Amount charged to my card per my bank statement $49.18.

Amount charged to his card per his statement $0.

Looks like maybe his card was declined after the fact so they charged my card for his portion... wtf?! Is that allowed? What's weird is that his card was initially processed because the POS created a receipt for him to sign... and I know they didn't swipe my card twice because I only have one charge on my statement; not 2.

In the mean time, I'm waiting for El Torito to call me back. And my friend is cool about it. He said he’ll bring me cash tomorrow.

Peace & love.

J

I'm a pimp (edited)

Hi friends,

I'm pimping out my friend Mike here. He has no readers except me, his girlfriend, and some mean chick who says he's boring and his blog sucks. Mike and I go way back. We've been work BFFs since before I transferred to the San Jose office because we used to kick it in Kansas City together at national trainings. Then when I transferred to San Jose, he became my work spouse. And then sadly, we were laid off together (on the same day, not in the same meeting). Seriously folks, I love this guy. Give him a chance, pretty please. (Now the pressure is on Mike...)

Edited:
Disclaimer: Some of my more mature readers (if I have any readers left besides Kori and April...) may not find him as entertaining as I do. But folks like Becky, I would imagine, might enjoy him. (Not that you're not mature, Becky. I just know you have a similar sense of humor.)

Apparently I'm not a good judge of mature/older tastes. I was basing that disclaimer off of one of Mike's previous posts, which, if you're reading this in the future, he may have removed due to it's tastelessness. :) Love you, Mike!

Anyway... it's hard out here for a pimp, so I'll just leave you with that.

Peace & love.
J

I love this

Beautiful Christian Sister

By Maya Angelou

A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ
That a man should have to seek Him first to find her.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean living;'
I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say....'I am a Christian’, I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say...'I am a Christian", I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say...'I am a Christian’, I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess...

When I say...I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect,
my flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

When I say...'I am a Christian’, I still feel the sting of pain...
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say...'I am a Christian’, I'm not holier than thou;
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!

Tuesday Fragments

So I've been absent for a long while because I've been SUPER busy. Work has been keeping me busy, so I don't have time to blog during the day. Then I've had stuff going in the evenings - physical therapy, weight watchers meetings, visiting my nephew, dinner with friends and family, being lazy, and last night I actually went to the gym!

Since I haven't been around and there's nothing majorly important for me to report, I'll just do a little "fragment" post.

I was also sick for a while. it's weird cause I didn't really have any symptoms... I found two large, painful bumps on my head right behind my right ear. I found them only because I felt pain when I was washing my hair in the shower. Over a few days they seemed to be getting larger, so I went to the doctor. Now other than a little bit of pain due to touching it, I had no other symptoms. The doctor said it was likely due to an infection, so he prescribed an anti-biotic. First the medication reeked havoc on my digestive system, if you know what I mean - without getting too graphic. It was so unpleasant I stayed home from work one day. The doctor said I could take acidophilous supplements and eat yogurt. I knew that antibiotics killed that stuff, but I had no idea that that's what cause the, uh, digestive issues. And it turns out that I'm allergic to that particular anti-biotic. Yeah, that weekend I broke out in a horrible, itchy rash over my whole body except my neck, face, and lower legs. It was so horrible that I attempted to sleep for the 3 days that I had it because I didn't want to feel my skin. I ended up taking another day off work because of that. I called the doctor and he prescribed a quick, 5-day antibiotic to take since I'd discontinued the first one. He said, "You'll need to remember that you're allergic to Keflex." Ummm... no shit! Thanks for the advice!

My nephew gets more adorable each day. He was 6 months old on August 9. He had his 6 month check-up a few days later, and.... he is the size of an average 14 month old!! He's 22 lbs and 29 inches long!! That is a BIG baby! Here he is with his uncle Brandon, my step-brother.

In other news, facebook is getting a little crazy... my best friend's grandma, a few old folks from church, and the pastor of the church I grew up in have added me on facebook! Guess I won't be swearing on my facebook page! I would feel bad deleting them, so I won't. I'll just live my life like a lady, as I should anyway... :-P

Oh! I did do something crazy, ridiculous, out-of-character! I got a tattoo! It's on my wrist. It's an ichthus, Greek for fish. The Greek spelling is IXOYE (Iota Chi Omega Upsilon Sigma)... the five Greek letters stand for the words meaning: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. This symbol was first used by early Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries. For more info see this page.

I went to San Diego with 3 of my girlfriends to attend a wedding of a girl we grew up going to church with. It was the most gorgeous, and likely most expensive wedding I'm sure I will ever attend. The bride's dad is a big dog at a software company here in Silicon Valley. It was a nice weekend away! I don't really like this picture of me, but whatever. I'm a giant compared to all the other girls! Yes, I'm 5'11".

I haven't been doing so well with Weight Watchers, but I've finally decided to get my butt in gear, hence the trip to the gym last night. I'm tired of HATING photos of myself. I'm disgusted... and that, that is really sad. My friend and I went to the Palo Alto Festival of Arts this weekend and this guy who worked at Comcast tried to pick up on us. He was 100% the stereotypical salesman. He gave us his business card and I looked him up on facebook. He had some photos from the past, and he looked super hot, and super fit in those pictures. Now he's got the beer gut and the chubby face. I hate to be superficial, but it's amazing how much a little fat can take a gorgeous person and make him less than attractive. So that was the motivation I needed. Thank you chubby Comcast salesman for making me want to see the hot chick who's hiding under the fat!

Peace and love.

J

Too busy

I told Kori that my goal for tonight was to post something new on my blog. And then my mom called... And we talked on the phone for an hour and fifteen minutes. That never happens. I'm not a huge fan of talking on the phone. But there it was... an hour and fifteen minutes gone. It was good conversation. We covered pretty much everything that has been keeping me so busy the last month. I'm really hoping I can find some free time and muster up some energy in the next couple days to compose a post! Hang in there...

Peace and love.
J

Where has the time gone?

Wow! I haven't posted in 20 days! I didn't realize it had been that long! Sorry folks. I am alive, but things are crazy. We had month-end and quarter-end stuff at work that kept me busy so I couldn't be web surfing or blogging. And because we implemented a new accounting system at work on July 1, I have continued to be extremely busy. I have people stopping by my desk ALL day long, so I try to keep work-related stuff up on my monitor. ;-)

I also went to Las Vegas over the 4th of July weekend. I did a LOT of partying and was intoxicated three nights in a row, so I was exhausted all of last week. (And with all the calories I consumed in Vegas between the buffet, the numerous drinks, and the late night/early morning pizza binges, I only gained a half a pound as of last week's Wednesday weigh-in!!! I was pretty damn proud of myself! But the weigh-in wench made her comment AGAIN. I finally gave her a piece of my mind - told her I didn't appreciate it and it was only a half a pound. She better not say anything to me tomorrow or she'll get another piece of my mind, although hopefully tomorrow the scales will tell me I'm a loser!) I fell asleep (way earlier than usual) on the couch every night last week. Now I'm caught up on sleep, but thanks to physical therapy on my shoulder, I've been in quite a bit of pain. The pain is so bad that I took 800mg of ibuprofen and a muscle relaxant, and I STILL felt it. And pain makes me very cranky. And when I'm cranky I don't want to do anything, including blog. So there's that.

Hopefully I'll be back to my usual self soon. I know you're all riveted to your feed readers waiting for me to post something witty. hahaha.

Peace and love.
J

I've been tagged!

Kori tagged me to do this meme.

1. What is your current obsession? The Internets!

2. What is your weirdest obsession? I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

3. Recall a fond childhood memory? Painting refrigerator boxes on my grandparents’ farm, putting carpet scraps in them and then playing in them like they were houses! I have a ton of fond memories from summers spent on my grandparents’ farm.

4. What’s for dinner? a Mexican Tamale Pie.

5. What would you eat for your last meal? Filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

6. What’s the last thing you bought? Literally? Hair gel and face wash.

7. What are you listening to right now? The television.

8. What do you think of the person who tagged you? Kori is an amazing individual. A strong, independent woman. A phenomenal mother.

9.If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would it be? This is really tough because there are a lot of beautiful places in the world, so not having seen them all, I can't say. For now I'll go with New Zealand - beautiful scenery and mild weather. I hate heat and humidity.

10.If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.

11. Which language do you want to learn? I’d like to speak Spanish fluently.

12. What’s your favorite quote (for now)? “Can you look out the window without your shadow getting in the way?” – Sarah McLachlan

13.What is your favorite color? Blue

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? Trouser jeans.

15. What is your dream job? Owning a coffee shop and/or doing something that makes a difference in the world. I’d love to volunteer with needy kids and families or work with Doctors Without Borders.

16.What’s your favorite magazine? I currently subscribe to Self, but I haven’t been reading it. I like National Geographic, but I don’t subscribe.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? A bag for my new camera.

18. Describe your personal style? Kind of stylish, but not stylish to the point where I spend tons of money on the newest (and weirdest) fashions. Comfort is the most important factor. Most of my clothes are solids that can be mixed and matched. I’m a Gap & Banana Republic girl.

19. What are you going to do after this? Go to my friends’ house for brownies, strawberries, and ice cream! Yum. (Yeah, I typed this up last night.)

20.What are your favorite films? I love action movies and comedies. My favorites are the Ocean’s trilogy, Old School, and now The Hangover. Not exactly “films”, but they’re what I like.

21. What’s your favorite fruit? I can’t choose just one. I love so many! Peaches, mangoes, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, cherries, bananas, apples.

22.What inspires you? People who are strong and persevere. Creative people.

23. Your favorite books? Anything by Barbara Kingsolver. She moves me.

24. Do you collect anything? I kind of collect shot glasses, but I stopped because I had too many. I had a cute little shelf above the sink in my last apt to display them, but now they’re hiding in the cupboard because I’m classier now. ☺

25. Any advice from bitter experience? Never burn bridges, no matter how much you want to. The world IS small and everyone knows everyone!

26. What makes you follow a blog? If it’s witty and makes me laugh. I also love to read cute quotes from peoples’ kids. Good photography will also keep me coming back.

Rules: 1. Respond. 2. Tag 4 other people.

I’m tagging Mikki, Brit, J, and MyLittleBecky.

Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments is brought to you by Mrs. 4444. Go check her out and join the fun!

**I usually don't like making my own salads. I just can't make 'em taste as yummy as restaurants can. All of that changed a few months ago when I was working in Sausalito and had to eat out for lunch every day. I would go to a regional grocery store chain called Mollie Stone's and visit the salad bar. I found a delicious salad dressing that was labeled "Roasted Garlic". I asked if it was bottled for sale, but they said no and I could pour a bunch into a soup bowl and be charged the same price as a bowl of soup. Being out of town, I opted not to do so. Since then I have searched high and low at every grocery store I go to for roasted garlic salad dressing. I found ONE salad dressing, but it just wasn't the same. I just discovered this week that there is a Mollie Stone's near where I work. I was disappointed to find that they didn't have the roasted garlic dressing, but noticed a balsamic vinaigrette of the same appearance. I tried it, and sure enough it's the same. All this searching and it's actually balsamic vinaigrette! So I poured a bunch into a soup cup and brought it home. I ate salad for lunch and dinner on Monday. This dressing has revolutionized salad for me.

**On Wednesday at Weight Watchers I hopped on the scale and then the weigh-in wench made a "oh dear" scrunchy face and said in a patronizing tone, "Oooh, did you expect to gain this week?" I was like, WTF?! I gained ONE freaking pound. and YES, I did expect that I would not have been as successful with my efforts because for Father's Day I went out to breakfast and then went to a friend's house for hot dogs and chips and dip. Sometimes a girl gets fed up with being deprived of things. Seriously though, aren't the WW people supposed to be encouraging?!

**Sunday is the one year anniversary being adorable Miss Charlotte's kitty mama. Over this past year I have really come to love my little fuzzy wuzzy fur-baby.

She does this adorable little thing where she lays down and puts her paws up like an otter. Then she rolls around and meows at me to pet her belly.
Charlotte is the sweetest cat I have ever encountered. She's only hissed probably three times since I've had her, and she NEVER scratches; not even when I subject her to a bath. She would be happy being petted 24/7 for the rest of her life.

**For some reason I thing blog posts are better when pictures are included.

**I'm going to see comedian Chelsea Handler this weekend! I'm going with my friend and her cousin who I've known since Daisy Girl Scouts! I'm excited to be reconnected with these girls and to spend time with different people. Bring on the fun!

Peace and love.
J