Because I got some sweet new shoes...

... and felt the need to share!

I picked up a pair of Reebok's new EasyTone sneakers. They are, in a word, awesome! Definitely one of the most comfortable shoes I've put on my feet, and they're cute! AND I legitimately can feel worked muscles, so I guess EasyTone really could be possible! I compared them to the Sketcher's shoe, and these are WAY more comfortable, and feel much more natural.

Picture (albeit a bad one) below!

A Trip to the Big Apple!

I think I'm going to NYC in a few weeks! Now, I'm not a huge NYC fan -- I think it's way overrated, overpriced, and let's be honest, a little dirty -- but nothing beats NYC at Christmastime! At least nothing I've experienced. ALL the stores are decorated, Christmas music plays everywhere... It's Christmas everywhere you turn! Not to mention they have the best North Pole and big jolly guy in the red suit.

This trip isn't scheduled until December 20th, so I can fully enjoy Thanksgiving, even though I'm trying to treat it as a regular meal, and not a COMPLETE gorge-fear... Good luck, right...

Anywho, my aunt is getting a sweet deal on hotels -- $70 for the night! I'm thinking about just booking my own room so I don't have to share with my family, but we will see. Either way, it should be fun!

Update on my life

Hello, my 2 blog followers! (Side note -- is it weird that I feel sad and lonely that I only have 2 followers?!?)

I haven't written in a while -- my apologies. There's not much to update at the moment. I recently got back from another trip up north to the cold state of Minnesota. The trip was fabulous, per usual. Lots of relaxation and quality bonding time with my favorite baby, and I even saw snow -- TWICE! Pretty crazy. Definitely too early for me to be seeing snow. It's not even Halloween yet. Anywho... The trip was great, and I miss the Janish's very much!

When I got back, I had my 2nd tattoo removal session (and a chiropractor appt on the same day). I just took some pics:

It's already significantly faded! I'm pretty pumped about that. It's healing a lot faster, too, the 2nd time around. The only downfall I see to this process is that the bandaging is QUITE annoying, especially on my back because it never stays in place due to my constantly changing position, and it gets itchy from time to time. Other than that, though, I'm thoroughly pleased!

I'm going to get back to watching Slumdog Millionaire (great movie, btw), so talk to you later alligators!

I needed a change...

... so I painted my room :o)

This was not the big to-do like it was when I re-decorated my room a year and a half ago (thank goodness!), but I think it turned out pretty well. The colors I chose were Light Mint Green and Mint Shake. It's a nice color combo, in my opinion, and lightens up my room a lot! The pics aren't really true to color, but to give you an idea...

It's time for a vacation...

...or a retreat! I'm going on my company's retreat this weekend and I am P U M P E D! A whole weekend of free(ish) fun-in-the-sun at a fancy resort and spa in Pennsylvania! The whole shebang is paid for by my company, minus any spa treatments  we wish to receive (or golf, but I don't golf). The spa hooked us up with a nice discount, so I am taking advantage of it! I signed Gus and myself up for hot stone massages. I've never had a REAL massage, much less a hot stone massage, so I am VERY excited about that!

It's going to be a busy weekend! I hope we get some time to relax... aside from our massage time. There is a cocktail party Friday evening, then TST Olympics (aka super fun team bonding!) Saturday afternoon, quick break to shower and get all perdy, then a pre-dinner cocktail hour (with head shots for the website (I think) and "prom pictures" (we're taking advantage of the photographer being there and getting family/significant other pictures taken), a fancy-ish dinner with an AMAZING menu, then a farewell brunch Sunday morning -- and open bar throughout the whole weekend. And apparently, some of my coworkers REALLY know how to let loose at these open bar work functions! I am excited to see some of these geeks get down! Maybe I'll get some pictures for our Geeks Gone Wild website... yes, it really exists... yes, we own it... and yes, our shenanigans will be posted haha...

Pics to come next week when I return!

A little retrospection never hurt anybody...

I think it's pretty safe for me to say that this past weekend was pretty lame. I did a whole bunch of nothing, I was on my period, and quite moody because of that (thanks, Mother Nature!). I had a heads up though... One of my coworkers, Mani, is really into astrological charts and what-not (he is from India and apparently it's kind of a big deal there..?) and he told me the weekend would be not-so-great. Anyway -- he started at the end of July, gathered some info from everyone in the office and gave us all readings. Needless to say he was dead on with me, and has been every single time he's done a reading for me. It makes me think that there is actually some truth to it all! He will even send me emails when I'm having a bad day, and he hasn't even seen me to know I'm having a bad day! Pretty crazy... but I digress!

So Sunday evening, I'm in a pretty crabby mood and I'm having some quiet time by myself and get to thinking about my past, past relationships, past friendships, and why those relationships didn't work out. I've had a few significant break-ups with girlfriends and boyfriends, but its the breakups with the girlfriends that are the hardest on me. So I'm sitting there, watching Golden Girls reruns and thinking about my past relationships and I decided that I wanted to email some of the break-up-ees and apologize for any wrong-doings and give myself a little closure. I tracked down one of my old bffs on facebook, sent her an email, and sure enough she had been wanting to do the same thing! I think we may be getting together soon to catch up on life since I haven't seen her in 7 years. She was a HUGE influence in my life and as corny as it is, really helped me become the person I am today, so I am pretty excited to meet up with her. I don't think we will become bffs again, but it's nice having a relationship with someone who was such a big part of your past.

Who knows what will happen, but sometimes it REALLY is a small world...

Because I'm so Domesticated...

I felt the need to share that apparently, I am a quite the little seamstress!

I bought 2 pairs of jeans from AE and they were WAY too long. I think like 3 inches too long for me in a pair of 4" heels. Yeah. Somehow I came across this link and it shows you a neat trick for hemming pants. I've been wanting to try it since I found the link a few months ago, and was pretty excited when I had a reason to finally try it!

I think they came out really well! Once I iron them, you wont even be able to tell they were hemmed. Pretty pumped.

So Long, Tattoos! - Day 7

It's been 1 week since my first laser tattoo removal treatment and I must say that my backside is looking MUCH better!

I apologize for the view. Apparently at one time I thought it was a good idea to put ink on my butt. Both tattoos are healing nicely and I believe the only issue I'm having is with the tape! I haven't had tape on my skin for almost 48 hours now, but it's managed to mess my skin up somehow. It feels chapped, if that's even possible.

Here's another pic of the bigger tattoo on my back:

Some areas are already faded! Woo!

Well... I have lots to do this evening! More to come tonight or tomorrow! And NOT about tattoos!

So Long, Tattoos! - Day 1

It's been about 28 hours since I completed my first tattoo removal session, and I just took the bandages off for the first time. I have to admit, it's kind of gross looking, but I do believe it works!

You can see in the picture that some of the black ink in the tattoo on my back has faded a lot already. It's supposed to progressively get lighter for the next 3-4 weeks, so I'm excited! If this works the way I think it will, it will be worth every penny of the $1,254.00 I spent on this.

Taking the bandages off was pretty simple. Putting the bandages back on, however, was not. I had to twist myself in all sorts of ways to see my backside in the mirror, while attempting to put the new bandages on the right spot. Thankfully, the Bacitracin I'm using kept the pads sticking to it so I could attempt to tape it down! THAT was the tricky part. I'm definitely not looking forward to changing these things once or twice a day for the next 1-2 weeks while it heals. And I have to do this whole routine until it is COMPLETELY healed to prevent any scarring. F-U-N!

Tattoos Really AREN'T Forever!

Yep. They really arent, thanks to laser tattoo removal!!! I have these 2 tattoos. One is a classy tramp stamp. It's some cliche tribal design with a heart in the middle. And then there's the one on my hiney... a crescent moon with a halo and 2 stars. Why I got that one, I have no idea. I think I was drunk the night before and clearly thought it was a good idea. Needless to say, hindsight is 20/20 and I've hated these damn tattoos for a while now.

Recently I've decided to look into tattoo removal so that I could budget and plan to accomodate getting these tryphlin' things removed! Well, to my surprise, I discovered that tattoo removal is definitely NOT what it was 10 years ago! Before, you could get the tattoos removed, but it was extremely painful and it left a considerable amount of scarring. But, thanks to the gloriousness that is technology, it's pretty much as easy to get rid of the damn thing as it is to get it! Actually, I think it hurts a lot less -- just my opinion. I found a nice place near my office and I got my first treatment yesterday! I am SO excited at the thought of not cringing when I catch a glimps of my backside in a mirror! Typically it takes about 6 treatments 6-8 weeks apart to get the tattoo to go away completely. They use special FDA approved lasers to break up the pigment, which gets disposed of by your body over a period of 3-4 weeks. The procedure is pretty quick. They make you lay on a table and they numb your skin with some numbing medication (similar to Novicane). That part sucks. I compare it to getting Botox (not that I really know what that's like....) because they have to numb the WHOLE area of the tattoo. I probably got stuck 6 times in my butt and a dozen times on my back (which was NOT fun!).

So after the discomfort of getting stuck with a needle for 5 minutes, they do the laser treatment, which literally lasts for like 10 seconds. Then they put a bandage on the treated area, and off you go! You can't shower for 24 hours (ick), hence why I'm blogging at 7:15am!

I am curious to see what my tattoos look like this afternoon when I have to change the bandages! I hope it's not too gross... Update on that coming tonight!

Have a great day!

It's Official!

I've joined the blogging world! Hooray! I figure now is as good a time as any to post my first blog!

So, I'm house/dog sitting for my aunt while her family is on vacay in the Outer Banks. I'm watching the 'devil dog' for only 2 nights, thankfully! She is crazy and has just successfully punched me in the face, which will, I'm sure, leave a LOVELY scratch -- I'm thrilled. And I'm pretty sure this house is "haunted" by my grandmother, who used to live here many moons ago. Needless to say, I'm pretty much looking forward to Tuesday afternoon when I can go home to my house and sleep in MY bed!

Ahywhoo...
My first day house/dog sitting was really nice :o) A few peeps came over, had a few beers, ate some yummy food, and lounged around in the pool. I even have the sunburn to prove it! Good times, though. Good times.

So, blog 1 down. Go me. Goodnight!