Taking care of self

I have a confession to make. The entire month of August? I totally slacked off on my exercise routine. I did jog most weekends, but I fell off my morning routines and trust me, I noticed a major difference in the waistline. I started losing all of my tone that I had worked so hard for. I think it was a combination of the heat and my slight anxiety about work.

After I came back from my girl’s weekend, I returned rejuvenated and have been kicking butt ever since. “We fall down, but we get up!”

The last two weeks, I have been back to running about three days during the week and early Saturday mornings. On Sunday mornings, I look forward to my 2 mile walks with Melonie.

So this past Sunday, Mel and I went walking. I was wearing black yoga capris, a tank top and a baseball cap cause it was misty outside and my curls would not have cooperated (Chaka Khan…Chaka Khan). You know, straight bummy.

We did our walk and on the way back, stopped at our local Starbucks for breakfast. Over coffee and multigrain bagels, I glanced down and lo and behold….your girl Melonie was wearing a shiny pair of coach sneakers.

Blogland? Who wears Coach sneakers to workout? Can you guess which one of us is the size two? LMAO! My azz was in straight power workout mode and Mel is in “I’m just a Diva”  status.  Did I mention those joints were PINK?

Either way. I am on vacation this week and just got back from running with Tali 1. It feels so good to whip this body back into shape. My whole mindset wasn’t right and now my head feels clear.

I truly believe that my frame of mind is tied to my workout schedule. Now that the Fall is approaching and the cooler weather is back, I am so looking forward to the feel of that crisp air against my face and the wind at my back.

A fool and her money

I have a friend that I love dearly.  She has a generous soul and will give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. Just all around “good people”.

This particular friend is not where she wants to be in life but she is a very talented individual. She is a gifted writer and has a pretty decent job. However, she loves to shop, travel, eat out and party. Nothing wrong with that. She’s young, good looking and hey, it’s her money.

Where do I come in?

She asked me to borrow some money a few months ago. Since I know this individual was truly a great friend, I gave it to her without hesitation. I know that if I ever asked her for anything…she would move heaven and earth to help me out and hell….I couldn’t have her out in the cold.

Fast forward a few months later and she calls me with another story about running low on cash, not being able to pay her bills and basically getting her electricity cut off. *sigh*

This time, I told her no…point blank. She was fine with that and I figured she would ask someone else until she found help.

Now I try to mind my business and stay out of other people’s financial situations. Lord knows, I am not one to give ANYONE financial advice. However, when you spend all your time calling folks to talk about the shoes you bought, showing off your latest handbags, flashing pictures from your Holiday in Bermuda and then you want to call and borrow money because your lights are off…..*crickets*

Like the song says “I got nuttin but love for ya…..”

When one is pushing damn near 40 years old and you are gainfully employed, one needs to learn to live within their means. If your means enable you to ball out of control…GREAT. If your means are SLIM To NONE……you may need to cutback on frivolous shyt you don’t necessarily NEED in order to maintain having lights, gas and shelter…..*COUGH*

I am all for helping folks if they need it….but only if they are helping themselves first. Hell, I may not have a job of my own in a few weeks (not that I’m claiming that) and I have my own mortgage, car note and two kids to take care of. I can’t take care of stray grownups too.

Besides….you know what they say about friends that lend their friends money.

Just sharing the love…….

My absolute newest favorite site. PEOPLE OF WALMART

Why? For gems like this….

El Mulletino

I love this country. God Bless America.

Now we wait……and wait…..

Thanks to everyone for all of their thoughts, prayers and support. I truly appreciate it and walked into my interview at 8am feeling like you were all with me. I answered every question they threw at me without stuttering. I didn’t say “Um”. They took lots of notes and seemed to think I had good answers from their responses. Not sure what it means but I definitely didn’t leave feeling bad. I actually felt pretty good.

I can’t lie..I am so glad that is over. The stress was killing me.

We won’t find out until after September 24th as they will still be conducting interviews for the next two weeks. *sigh*

So now we wait.

I am sooo glad I am off next week. I need a vacation.

Quick somebody distract me….

All I can think about is tomorrow and I am getting butterflies in my stomach. UGH!!!!

Thank GOD the interview is at 8am so I won’t have time to get totally nervous.  One of my friends had her interview today at 4pm. That sucks.

I need a diversion. I need a topic.

What do you have?

I could get used to this…

Today I didn’t have to get to work until 10am since I am staying late for an appointment. What a nice way to start the day.

I got the boys ready without rushing, strolled downstairs and made breakfast for Tali 1 (Tali 2 eats at school) before he left. I left at 7am to go run with my neighbor. Came back in around 8am, took a shower, got dressed and then left for work.

I grabbed a cup of coffee at Bucks County Coffee (shouts out to my peeps at the counter!) , boarded my commuter train and arrived at work on time.

If When I get the new job, it will be a remote position. I will be working from home everyday. With my fast paced and hectic lifestyle, how nice would it be to wake up and not have to rush to get to an office? I could get up and get the boys ready, work out, eat….everything before 8am. I could brew a nice pot of coffee and head into my office upstairs and focus on the days tasks. I would be at home when the boys came home waiting with a snack.

I am sooo ready for this and I truly believe this opportunity is here and God wants this to happen for me. I recognize when a blessing is brought before me. Now I just have to go get it on Thursday morning.

My Saturday in a nutshell

August 22, 2009

1. Cancer (6/22-7/22)

   It’s a good time to start thinking about your future, especially in terms of a partnership. Where do you want a certain friendship or work relationship to go? Set some goals on this front — any plans you formulate now have a high likelihood of coming to fruition. You’re in a phase of life when you want to get things done, not just think about getting things done. You have the drive, the energy and the attitude you need to take it to the next level – if that’s what you want.

Woke up, logged in and these were the words waiting for me on my homepage. As you all know, I have the interview on Thursday and after an entire summer of anticipation, it’s time to go fight for my new job. I am so ready to knock their socks off.

After I woke up, I took a long hot shower and we headed out to GO GET MY BABY. Once we got to Harrisburg, we found out he had spent the night at Mr. 1969′s cousin’s house. I packed up all of his things at his auntie’s and we rolled over to get him. My child looked straight crazy. He needs a haircut, he has a nasty scab under his nose, his front tooth is gone and he looked like he slept in the very clothes he had on that morning. Clearly, he had a ball. *sigh*

Once the brothers Tali got back in the car, it was like they had never been apart. Noise and Mayhem ensued all the way back home.

See?

Mr. 1969 dropped me straight to work. Tonight I have an indian wedding taking place at my hotel for 416 people. The groom will be arriving on a white horse shortly. Let the festivities begin.

The room looks phenomenal. Here’s a peek….

Ceremony

Right now we are testing the uplighting for the Reception/Dinner. Here’s the dance floor and the indian mundap where the bride and groom sit during the reception. It’s like a canopy.

I can’t wait to see the bride’s face. She is going to love the fact that we found the blue lights she wanted.

All in all, I am having one of my Wonder Woman days but I feel great. I am positive about next week and I am soooo happy to have all of my boys back at home safe and sound.

My life rocks.

The Randomness

After finding out that folks that were getting  interviews would be emailed by the end of the day….I spent most of yesterday stressed the hell out.

I finally got my email at 5:01pm…*sigh*. My interview is next Thursday at 8am.

The first Lady wore shorts on a trip to Arizona (it was over 100 degrees) on vacation with her kids to the Grand Canyon. This is news why? People need to get a life. Seriously. We have an accomplished, intelligent First Lady and all they ever report about is her hairstyle or what she is wearing.

Mr. Vick is the hot topic here in Philadelphia. People are walking around pissed off that he is here. All I know is that the NFL has felons, non-child support payers, wife beaters, gamblers and drug addicts still playing. At least Vick went to jail and served his time. It’s over. Relax and fall back. What he did was horrible but he has paid his debt to society. Do we even care about the other athletes that we let continue to get paid despite their crimes? Whatever….if he comes here and scores touchdowns, it will all go away.

Project Runway is back and so is Top Chef. All is right in my world.

I REALLY MISS TALI 1.

Tali 2 is an easy kid. It feels like vacation when it’s just him in the house. He is so easygoing (unless he is angry). I now realize that Tali 1 is the one with nonstop energy. I still miss him terribly.

I need a new suit. Now granted, I have lots of appropriate suits I can wear for this interview. I just feel like wearing something new because it will make me feel like I am walking out the door in  my armor. Is that weird?

I just realized that Kate Gosselin has a black girl hairstyle. LMAO.

Relax, Relate, Release

After a mini hiatus, I am back from spending the weekend with my girls. I am one of those people that never takes the time out to recharge myself so all I can say is…this trip was much needed.

I arrived in DC and immediately was able to have lunch with two of my favorite people. Lunch was fabulous and afterwards, I dropped my bags at the hotel and went to meet up with two of my former Hotel associates now working in DC. It was great to see them and talk shop.

After that, I swung back around to the hotel and met up with these two:

These are two of my best girlfriends. One has three kids and the other has two. Crazy right? When I met Southern Belle (on the right), we were both pregnant for the first time. Once the babies were born, we met Island Girl (on the left) and she had also just had a baby. All three of our oldest boys were born a week apart. We have been friends ever since.

What does one do on a girls weeked? We of course, shopped.  We worked out every morning. We also talked…alot. We made time for these….

And we ate and drank!

And drank some more….

and after that?

More drinks.

Yup, it’s official. I am too old for this shyt. LOL I am STILL paying for my night of craziness. Can you believe that we stayed out until 3am and did not pay for one drink all night long? We still got it! (It didn’t hurt that Southern Belle had the dj announce that it was my 21st birthday and we proceeded to have men buying us rounds all night long.)

All in all, I had a great weekend and returned to sending my Tali 1 up to Harrisburg to spend the week with his auntie. I miss him terribly already and have spoken to him about five times since he left. He of course, is having a ball. He went to Hershey Park yesterday and then to Friendly’s. He’s in heaven.

Tali 2? He’s enjoying having the house to himself and fell asleep next to his woman last night.

This will be a looooong week for me. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

What’s Popping?

Happy Monday People.

After an action packed weekend, I am back in the office for a short week. I am off for my GIRLS weekend, leaving on Thursday morning. I have been friends with these ladies for eight years. We became friends when we were all pregnant with our oldest boys and all of our babies were born the same week. We have been girls ever since. In those eight years we have been there for each other through some awful times and some great ones. We haven’t seen each other in a while and are totally looking forward to catching up without kids so we can pamper ourselves and relax.

Therefore, I am trying to cram a week’s worth of work into three days. Before I tackle my inbox, I just wanted to wish my homie, Always Funky Fresh a very happy birthday. GO BROOKLYN!!!! I am poor but decided the least I could do was give you a picture of your woman.… enjoy!!!!