Lunch updates and tax deadlines

My lunch was a success!!  Woo hoo!
I went back to making my classic chicken quesadillas for tomorrow, but its good to know that in a pinch, I can crank out a good Italian dish as well.  I may experiment a bit more if I time permits this weekend.  I've been waiting to make a healthified buffalo chicken and potato casserole and given the right amount of time, I think I can throw together something amazing.

In other news, today was tax day!  This morning a co-worker sent me and my boss this classic...
.

Oh how true it is.  Since I am an extremely high-strung and overly analytical Accountant, I had my taxes done mid-January and e-filed them as soon as our W-2s were released by our payroll processing company.  My boss, on the other hand is one of those laid back, everything-can-be-fixed-with-a-journal-entry type of Controller and he sent off his paper returns this morning.  Yeah, I guess both ways work.
Luckily, today we didn't have any real issues to deal with since tax isn't our specialty, but it still was a busy day and I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend.

Pure genius?

I may have just created the greatest recipe of all time...we'll know for sure tomorrow around lunchtime!
If not, I guess I just better stick to those few meals I make extremely well, like my chicken quesadillas, pizza casserole or roasted potatoes.

I've been trying to expand my cooking skills a bit more and decided that I would try to make something new for lunch tomorrow.  Tonight's experiment was a stuffed Chicken Parmesan.  Sounds like an easy enough concept.  I just hope it is a success. 

I'm holding my breath in the meantime.

How is this possible?

This morning I had to get up to attend a funeral for my coworker, Robin.  It is the second incident of cancer, resulting in losing another amazing, young, vibrant person in 18 months for our office and we only have 35 employees.  We lost Sherri back in 2008 and were devastated.  We were finally starting to get back to normal when we found out Robin was diagnosed with the same cancer that struck Sherri. 
Robin was feisty and persistent and told all of us that she was not going to give up with out a brilliant fight and that she did.  We have so many special memories with Robin from boatfests, golf tournaments, Cardinals games, weddings and more.  She was a great friend and always some one you could count on and we definitely saw that today with the outpouring of support for her family.
Our work family is a close, tight-knit group of people and we will push forward; yet, right now we are all in shock, grief stricken and wondering how what kind of odds we just defied with this happening to our group twice and in such a short amount of time.  We did find some comfort in the thought that Sherri greeted our dear friend with a Bud Light draught and a practical joke at the pearly gates.

Describes me to a tee

I found a website the other day that had fun Accounting apparel among other accessories.  Some of the sayings made me giggle and others of them had me down right laughing and daring myself to buy them and try to get a rise out of the office and there are the others that were just speaking the truth.  Like this one:

Yeah, that totally describes me and definitely drives some people insane, especially my co-workers on month-end days like today.  Of course, it does come in quite handy when you meet with your wealth management advisor about your 401k and other financial opportunities.  They seem to appreciate your detailed budget and spreadsheets and call you the perfect client.

How awesome is this!?! -- Part Duex

My Blues jersey is autographed along with other memorabilia, business cards were handed out and finally he was set up as one of our new vendors.  But before we let him leave the office, a few of us girls had one small request -- a photo op.  

And what did our new business acquaintance do....

 

....he smiled for pictures of course!  I have met a few athletes in my life and I can say, Tony Twist is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.  Not only did he sit in our office for well over an hour signing pictures, pucks, jerseys and more, he also offered his company's services to our employees and ended up spending a decent amount of time talking to all of us.  Sure, he was one of my favorite hockey players back then, but he's earned even more brownie points with me now.  It ended up being a really exciting day at work too!

How awesome is this!?!

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at my desk, working on one of my many Monday to-do's when the President of the Company buzzes my phone.  I answer nonchalantly and wonder what kind of project he needs completed. and have my pen and paper ready to write down the details of his request. 

He asks just one question -- "Remember 'so and so' (I'm protecting his name for now) from the Blues a few years back?"
My response, "Oh yeah, he was one of my favorites."
His next comment, "Well, give it 30 seconds and he'll be walking into my office.  If you want to catch a glimpse, walk out to Operations."

So I hang up and walk out to Operations, taking one of my other female co-workers with me so I don't look like a total goof just standing around in the middle of the office.  Of course, the guys in Ops look at me like I have 10 heads because I never just mosey out there mid-day and definitely not with another co-worker on a busy Monday afternoon.
Sure enough, a few seconds pass and 'so and so' walks into my boss' office.  The guys just look at me and laugh and I assure them that it is who they think it is.

Come to find out....'so and so' owns a company that we're going to start doing business with and he came in to bring his completed vendor paperwork to the President. 
Tomorrow he's coming back in and signing autographs.  You can bet I've got my Blues jersey out and ready!  I know that only my boss would be able to pull off something this spectacular.

One minute of fame

My friend Tom wrote for the Seattle Roller Derby Examiner before he made the move to Tulsa earlier this year.  Earlier this week, he officially ended his stint with that page so that he can start up his Tulsa Sports Examiner page very soon. 
He's a great writer and we've been friends for numerous years but I was officially honored by the kind words he wrote about me in his last article.  You can read it here: Seattle Roller Derby Examiner 
Considering some of the other stuff I've been battling lately, it's a nice to know that there are others that see I'm one of their biggest fans even when we live hours apart.
Also, added to my to-do list is making the trek to Oklahoma to visit and check out the women's roller derby team he's now coaching.

Thank Goodness for Dad

Today was an extremely trying day and despite all of my efforts, I couldn't fix it.

Luckily, I have a wonderful Dad who always looks out after his little girl, no matter how old I am.  It's days like today, that I wish I lived closer to him.  Such a brilliant and insightful man that I'm very grateful to have as my Dad.

Oh what fun!

4 St. Louis bars + 4 drinks + 2 bands + many awesome friends = 8 hours of St. Patrick's Day weekend fun

I got home at 1:47 am and I would say I partied hard.  We'll see how I feel in a few hours when I have to wake up and make my way to my Dad's for my brother's birthday celebration.  At least this year I have my bro's birthday present wrapped so I won't make the same mistake and wrap it in a bag clearly labeled CHRISTMAS once again.

Off to bed!!  Might just take a few Advil, just to be on the safe side.  :)

What a week!

Monday started off extremely rocky, but I somehow pulled myself together and by Wednesday, I was back to a fairly normal me.  After helping plan the impromptu happy hour and the after party and sticking around for the craziness, the direct comment from Coco was, "I'm so glad the old Lindsay is back!  We've missed this fun side of you!"
The happy hour came about all because of the President's visit to town and the blocking of the interstate at rush hour.  So I asked myself a very important question... 
Should you really sit in traffic for an hour because the interstate you take to go the gym and eventually use to go home is shut down? 
My answer to that...
....well no, there are better things we can be doing!

Yes, I've missed this side of me too.

After work last night we all helped SM move into her new apartment.  Who knew moving boxes and furniture and unpacking would be so much fun.  Get our work group together to do anything and it turns into a comedic performance.  I'm not sure the last time I laughed that hard.  Yeah, Tupperware, a salad spinner and picture hanging are indeed hilarious.
To carry on the weekend festivities, tonight we're going out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day St. Louis style.  Should be a good time once again.  I'm sure most of the people we will run into have been drinking and carrying on all day, so it's a bonus to get to mess with their heads a bit tonight too.  Because besides having fun, it's about being a silly sh*t disturber on top of it all.  :)

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Milk-a-what?

Think I can get by with this?

Lindsay Lohan Suing E-Trade for Milkaholic "Parody"

MINEOLA, N.Y. – Lindsay Lohan is feuding with the E-Trade babies.

The actress has filed a $100 million lawsuit claiming a television ad for the Wall Street firm that aired durning the Super Bowl and Olympics was modeled after her.

Talking babies in the ad engage in chatter that refers to "milkaholic Lindsay." The 23-year-old actress has famously sought substance abuse treatment.  Lohan's name was never mentioned. But her New York lawyer contends that "Lindsay" is an equally recognizable moniker for her client — like that of Oprah or Madonna.

Lohan's legal team is seeking an injunction to stop future airings.

An E-Trade spokeswoman is declining to comment.

My only comment -
Lindsay Lohan, get over yourself!  You're nowhere near as popular as Oprah or Madonna and there are plenty more before you that were given this name (like me!) and there will be plenty more after your sorry career is over.
We all laughed when the commercial was played at the Super Bowl party and after seeing this article today, I laughed again.  Milk-a-what?

Yeah, I'm a Lindsay and quite proud.  Plus, I'm cooler than her any day!  Good job E-Trade!  :)

This sums it up

New episode of The Office 

+

 Season Finale of The Real Housewives of Orange County

=

Exciting, Relaxing Thursday Night for Lindsay

Out of Commission

I should be at the gym right now, but because of a dumb mishap on my part on Tuesday night, I forced myself to take the night off.  Ok, it really might not be all my fault, but I can't blame the trainer that showed Coco a few new tricks to help tone the abs now, can I?

I actually was quite pleased with my effort this week.  I was going to work out Monday through Thursday and then quite possibly pick up a weekend day if I felt up to it.  Nothing too crazy, but not completely slacking off either.  This schedule would also allow me one day next week to set up dinner plans with a friend if I so chose to (which in the back of my mind, I thought I would do) and not feel too bad for actually eating out and giving up a workout.
I went Monday night and did my normal hour long cardio and then came home and worked on core; Tuesday, I did a half an hour of cardio and then Coco and I decided to work out together.  She met with a trainer last week who showed her a few new moves to add to her gym routine.  So we thought we'd try those out together along with adding in a few things my trainer showed me when I worked out with him last year.  I was fine while working out, I was actually enjoying the new stuff and having fun mixing in the old stuff.
Well, that darn Bosu ball got me.  I'm not used to crunches on that thing and I guess I got a bit carried away wanting amazing abs by summer and pulled the muscles in my lower back.  Really, I wasn't too bothered by it until yesterday morning and as the day progressed, it got a bit worse.  I still was not about to give up a workout though, so I decided to go again last night and work out with TL.  I got on my stride elliptical and he worked out on the machine next to me, we laughed and joked but I could still feel some pain.  After 30 minutes, I was done.  I came home and took it easy the rest of the night.
Yeah...this morning, I could barely walk without totally grimacing in pain.  Then, me being the complete doofus I am, decided to wear 4 inch heels to work with my cute skirt and sweater...let me tell you, not too smart when you already are having back pain issues.  Probably would not have been so bad if I could have sat at my desk all day, but today, like most days, I was up and about in the office.  I teased the guys in the office to push me around in my rolly chair, but really, that was not an option today or really any day for that matter.  SS saw me almost in tears and was extremely awesome, bringing me an Aleve so that I didn't completely break down.  (Something I've done a bit of lately.) 
As the day went on, it did start loosening up, but I still didn't want to chance it.  Although for one split second, I thought I could make it better by working out.  Finally around 4, I decided that sometimes it's just better to come home and relax and tonight was going to be that kind of night.  I just hope that it's feeling 100% better tomorrow.

As for Coco's trainer, I am going to blame him a bit too because his philosophy is all work and no play and well, I just don't think I can go along with that.  I'm not that intense about the gym and working out.  I work out to be able to have fun.  As soon as I found out that he told her no drinking and no eating anything that is not organic and full of vitamins and minerals, I was not a fan.  Sure, I keep a healthy diet most of the time, but there has to be some wiggle room for fun.  Plus, I could never give up my marshmallow addiction or nights at Bellacino's.  :)

My mental notes for now are be a bit wiser when it comes to working out and definitely be smarter when it comes to my fashion.  Of course, I will say, I was complimented for my outfit today, so maybe being in a little pain is worth it.  Heh...jk!

Have a great night and a fantastic weekend!

Oh Canada!

Congrats Team Canada on your Gold medal in Men's Ice Hockey. Such an exciting game to watch and even though I was rooting for the USA and my St. Louis Blues representing our team, I'm alright with the end result.


Sidney Crosby, you continue to amaze me. I'm not sure how you can get much better, but I know you will come up with something. After today's awesome game, I'm ready for the NHL season to get back into full swing. Too bad we only play the Penguins once in a blue moon.

Lost and Found

Up and at 'em at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. Yeah, I'm crazy like that. Actually, I feel great right now and I'm looking forward to the day. Nothing too wild plan, I'm just trying to take it easy and enjoy the little bit of time I do have off.

In talking to some very wise people earlier in the week, they inspired me to think outside the box a bit to bring back that lovable, sweet, fun person I have been missing in myself the last few months. It seems I've let work and worrying get the best of me and pretty much have lost the drive to pursue all of the other fun stuff I used to do. So, I spent some of my down time this week thinking about all of the interests I used to have before I started working 45+ hours a week.

Cooking, baking, working out, playing poker, reading, scrapbooking and spending quality time with my family and friends...yes, that's the stuff I'm missing. Lately, I've rushed through these sorts of activities just to get them off my list of things to do and I haven't really taken the time to enjoy them. I have to get a grip on my life and find a balance and I think I'm off to a good start.

I've cooked a few times this week to make lunches for my nearest and dearest friends and I also semi-baked to go along with those lunches. (Don't worry, I'll get back to my full baking and wow you all very soon!) Cooking for myself is a no brainer, usually it's something quick and easy but taking the time to put together a meal you can be proud to serve others is something I enjoy doing. I take pride in knowing that I can brighten my friend's day by making something delicious. I also think cooking is a great way to show someone else how much the mean to you and how grateful you are to have them in your life.

I took a very different approach to working out this week. While I have never really given this up, it always seemed like going to the gym was such work for me after my regular job. I'd force myself to go to the gym every night and wouldn't leave the gym until I had my 65 minutes on the elliptical in or I had my cardio and weightlifting goals finished for that day. This week, I switched it up a bit and decided that if I'm going to go to the gym as often as I do, I don't have to be so obsessive about it when I get there. Some nights it's ok to just do a run/walk combo on the treadmill for a half an hour (something I would never do before) or just to weightlift and tone my core or if I feel up to it, do 65 minutes on the elliptical. I have a very strict diet for myself most of the time, so it's not like I need to go and force myself to burn 1,000 calories a night. I'm smaller and weigh less than I've have in 17 years. That's an accomplishment and I need to look at it that way. In the long run, I think I will feel much better for switching it up too.

Yesterday, I think I found a fairly complete balance to my time off. I went to the library to find some fun reading material and started reading for entertainment again, spent a little time catching up on errands, found some time to catch up with my family and then finished my night watching the Olympics at home. For the first time in months (besides my birthday), I went to dinner with my Mom, Michael and my Grandma again. Usually, I will stop in to their house for a few minutes every few weeks and then rush off because I felt like I had so many other things to do or I can't seem to find the time to get over there more often. It was nice just to talk to them. I know they want to make sure that I'm taking care of myself and I know they have my best interest at heart, even when I don't want to hear it. Before I left, I planned a time to cook dinner for them next week too.

Today, I'm taking the same approach. I have to go do my laundry this morning and I think I'm going to scrapbook some of my fun summer pics from last year. I'm so tired of winter and the freezing temps here and I'm hoping that this will help get me even more pumped and thinkin' spring. Tomorrow is already March 1st so spring should be around the corner, right?!? Let's hope so! The rest of the day....who knows. I'm learning I need to just go with the flow and that's what I'm going to try to do. :)

Enjoy your day!

Songs of the week

Happy Monday! Hope your week is starting off on the right foot.

Not sure how I feel about the day or even the week so far, but in getting ready this morning, two songs popped into my head. I think I going to make these my songs for the week and hopefully they will pull me through all of the nonsense. I know very little about both artists, but their songs are catchy and apply to this week in some regard.

- The Remedy by Jason Mraz
- What Do You Want from Me by Adam Lambert

Don't worry, if you happen to catch me singing either one of these, it's just because I'm taking my own advice and looking to music to relieve some stress.

I'm headed into work. Take it easy! :)

Weekend wrap-up

It's been a fairly good weekend here once again. There was time for quite a bit of fun, a bit of rest and relaxation and just a very little work, which is a good thing because after the crazy week I had last week, I needed a stress-free weekend.

Saturday afternoon, while still celebrating Coco's birthday (it's a month-long event), the girls met to see the musical,

Having never seen it before nor ever watching the movie (yes, I must live under a rock), I thoroughly enjoyed it. What made it even better was that it was performed at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

Probably the biggest downfall of the day, the amount of time it took for all 12 of us to meet and actually make it to our seats. (we were late as per usual)
I don't know if I'm not as high-maintenance as I previously thought or if my friends are just that much more high-maintenance than me but when I'm told that everyone is supposed to meet at a place at 12:30 so that they can make it to their final destination at 1 pm, I would definitely try to stick to my deadline. (This coming from a girl who's biggest pet peeve is lateness and thinks time management is a valuable and essential asset for any person to have.)

I drove myself separately and even had an errand to run beforehand and still made it to the parking lot by 1 pm. My friends...umm yeah, they called at 1:15 saying that it would take them 15 more minutes and finally at 1:52 pm, 9 of them met me out in front of the theatre. We waited 5 more minutes for the last 2 girls and then the potty stops started. Needless to say, we didn't make it up to the balcony until 2:15 and then had to inconvenience others to get to our seats for a show that started promptly at 2 pm. Ugh!
Thank goodness I was kept occupied with texting during my hour long wait, otherwise I probably would have been even more irritated by the time we made it into the Fox.

I knew better than to go to dinner after the show as I had somewhere else to be by 6:15 pm and didn't want to go through the same craziness or be late for my other plans. So, I rushed to my car and tried to dodge as much of the traffic out of the city as I could. I made it in plenty of time for event 2 and even had a few minutes to spare. The rest of my evening was great and probably once of the best nights I've had in months. :)

Today, well, what can I say about today? It's been an alright day. I'm not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow morning and I think that's what has me a bit down.
It will be a busy week once again since we have month-end on Friday and to top it off, after nearly 5 years without backups for any of the Accounting/Billing/Payroll positions, our bosses decided last Friday to start cross-training for our departments this week. Yes, you read that right, the employees in our department have not had backups since our corporate headquarters moved to St. Louis 5 years ago.
My position, not-so-much this week (or probably any other week in the next few months), but everyone else will have one other employee start learning a new job so that people can finally start taking multiple days off or even week-long vacations. Because of the confidentiality and sensitive nature of both my Accounting job and HR role, my duties will be spread amongst numerous employees. I get to find the time to meet with a few people and teach them specifics about what I do. Honestly, I think it will just be easier if I never take off of work when its not a Federal holiday but that doesn't work so well when you have 3 weeks of vacation and 6 PTO days to use in one year. So, we will see what happens...
I did make it known in our meeting that I won't answer work phone calls in Vegas again this summer. Of course that probably has more to do with the fact that we don't have a Vegas trip planned and not the fact that it's work calling and checking in on something random.

Wow...seems like I'm all full of complaints tonight. I'll try to have a more positive and upbeat attitude for the next update.
Hope you have a good week!

My Valentine's Gift

No matter how many times I'm an idiot, there is one person that will always make me realize that I'm a truly special and much loved person.

Tonight was again one of those nights where I was a complete moron and that person fixed me and made sense of the mess I created. I don't know why I deserve someone like this but I'm thanking my lucky stars that I do.

Now if only I could remember how to stop being so stupid...

This just in...

from NASCAR.com news.

CONGRATULATIONS

Jamie McMurray

ON YOUR 2010 DAYTONA 500 WIN!

Jamie McMurray wins the 52nd running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway!

Big WOO HOOs coming from me! I was rooting for him all race long!! Good job Jamie!

You Give Love A Bad Name!

I could have started off this post with Shot Through The Heart or I'm a Cowboy, on a Steel Horse I Ride or She's A Little Runaway or any other Bon Jovi lyric, but that didn't seem as fun and even though this news is unrelated to Valentine's Day, it's extremely exciting!
So here's a little riddle for you. It's the same riddle Rosemary and I presented to Coco on her birthday this past Wednesday.

What could be better than rocking out to Bon Jovi while driving into another day at work?

How about...
Rocking out to Bon Jovi LIVE in Chicago on July 30th?

That's right...7 girlfriends are going to see Bon Jovi in concert in Chicago!!
Coco was extremely excited that we surprised her with the trip to see her absolute favorite band and Rosemary and I are so excited that we were able to pull off one great birthday present for one very special friend! We're definitely looking forward to the concert and the girls trip! Coco and I have been reminiscing about our last trip to Chicago to see Bon Jovi in concert and we have laughed like crazy about the antics of that weekend....I can only imagine that it will be that and more with this group.

In other news, I finally have a day off from work tomorrow! After not taking an actual day off since our little mandatory vacation stint back in July, I'm ready for a real day of enjoying myself and trying to regain some sanity from the year-end grind and new year bedlam I've been put through the last 3 months. It actually should be a good day off too, since it's a Federal holiday and there is not much that needs to be done for my job. Tuesday will be crazy, but at least I should be somewhat rested to deal with that.
I don't have much planned for my day off though. I decided to take care of all of my household responsibilities on Saturday so that I could enjoy the next two days off with little to do. I've got to take my car in for brakes and an oil change and I've got an appointment to complete 2 sets of taxes for my friends tomorrow night, but the rest of the day will hopefully be carefree and very enjoyable.

Finally, I want to say thanks to two of my favorite cousins, Nicole and Emily, who at 7:30 this morning, sent me the cutest text message for Valentine's Day.

Thanks girls for brightening my Valentine's Day. You two are awesome and I hope you have a fun day.
While I think you should show those special people in your life, how much they mean to you every day, it's also nice to show some extra love today. I know I'm truly grateful for those that stick by me through thick and thin. :)

I'm going to go enjoy the rest of the Daytona 500 (go McMurray!) and take it easy. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend! Catch ya later!!