Operation: Stacey

So I seem to be getting larger every year. As a kid you were expected to "grow" as you aged, however I am pretty sure I am a fully grown adult. Unfortunately, I am still growing, and it is in the wrong direction. See, I would love to get taller each year, just until I can try on a pair of pants and not wonder if they are worth the cost of alterations. I use to cut my jeans off to make them fit, but Jason cringes at that thought, and though I have long grown out of that phase, he still says "you are not going to cut them". Whatever.
I am growing wider. Really, I embarrass myself with the size I have become, and often want to hole myself up in the house. I want to lose weight, and it is a resolution that I not only make every New Year and every birthday, but also every month, week and day ... until it is time to act! Once push comes to shove and the choice between a low fat or calorie laden meal comes I forget that I am fat and order what sounds like it will taste the best. I enjoy the meal to its fullest not remembering that I am fat, and as soon as the meal is done, I remember that I am fat again. I am pretty sure this is how bulimia starts.
And so we begin Operation: Stacey. Wish me luck!

Happy Holidays (PC just for you Rob!)

Pretty sure Word Challenge on Facebook has consumed me! I am addicted, and I have people at work addicted. I was doing really well, then Becca and Wendy had to put me back in my place. I am 5th right now, but it is ok, because I was at 11!

Today is Christmas Eve, and yup, I am at work. I am ok with that fact, we are all working and goofing off at the same time. There is a totally different vibe at work today, very laid back and fun. The only complaint I have is that the people in the California office forget that there is a one hour time zone difference, so even though they told us to come in at 7:30 and leave at 2:30, they don't want us to leave until 3:30. Fair? No, but they are backtracking now and saying that they told us to come in late at 8:30 instead. So we will see when I actually get out of here! Whatever!

Thinking I would treat myself to a Christmas Eve treat, I went to Starbucks for a full fat, eggnog latte. YUM! But yeah, they were out of eggnog. What? On Christmas Eve? What a mean joke! I got the pumpkin spice instead, but think I am going to stop by the Starbucks by moms to try again. I am pretty sure that when I discovered the eggnog latte about 4 years ago, I gained 15 pounds that winter! New Years resolutions don't start for another week, right?

My sister has lost 15 lbs and looks awesome. Unfortunately she lies to me and says that there is no magic pill, she chalks it up to diet and working out. What a liar, there is a magic pill, she is just holding out on me! Whatever, maybe I will try it her way. Is coke on this diet? What about all of the candy and goodies that the holidays bring? hmmm .....

We had our awesome Cuccina dinner in lieu of exchanging gifts. So good, and we always have such a great time. What a fun way to spend time with great friends for the holidays. 3 bottles of wine makes our friends even better! Thanks all, we had so much fun as usual!

Monday night took us to the locals night at the Metropolitan with Robert and Amy. The place was empty, but we had a good time all by ourselves! The food was good, pretentious, but good. Amy didn't like her pasta, so they forced a Beef Wellington on her. She made sure she ate enough of it to not be rude! Not sure if we will go back, but if you are interested in trying it out, the Monday's local night is the way to do it. You can get 3 courses for $30 or 5 courses for $45 and no corkage fee. I would suggest taking 2 bottles of wine, because you will be there for several hours. We always have a great time with the Mathesons, they are our kindred spirits.

Last night we went to The Vienna Bistro with the Mangums. Another great time. I ordered a wonderful German beer, and ate some herbed dumplings. Pretty tasty, and got me excited to go to Amsterdam and eat. We exchanged gifts with them, and they got me a Bare Minerals gift set. I love makeup, I am not quite sure when I became a girl, but I love all things girly. Weird, because I am not very prissy, but I wanted to do my makeup as soon as we got home. I didn't, I just went to bed instead. I plan on looking pretty for Christmas though! Thanks guys, you are truly great friends. I promise, Catherine, to stop saying that you are single-handedly revitalizing the economy.

Today, Jason is spending the holiday eve with my family at Fat Cats. Jason hates bowling, but I love it. Too bad he can't come to work for me. We are heading to moms after that to eat and hang out. I am sure we will break out the games, or at least the Wii. Jasons aunt sent us a Swiss Colony pack, so we are taking that over. I love it for the cheese, but Jason doesn't much like his tubed sausage, so we need help consuming it!

Merry Christmas tomorrow everyone. I hope it is fun and safe!

Christmas time fun

What is it about this season that makes eating with abandon acceptable? Maybe it isn't, but that is what I tell myself so I don't feel guilty.

Okay, so I used to be a scrooge. I didn't want anything to do with a tree or decorations and definitely not Christmas music. Somehow, over time, I have re-embraced the fun of the season, and I am actually looking forward to Christmas this year. The holiday has lost much of it's luster as it all amounts to the one day off this week for me, but I try to invoke the memories of school being out for winter break and roller skating on Christmas Eve with the greatest grandparents ever. Oh, good times. Hopefully, my one day off this week will live up to the hype!

To get into the spirit of the season, we have embraced tradition. The Mangums had everyone over for their yummy Navajo Tacos(it came late this year), my mom and sisters made candy that only works if the weather is right (Jason will never believe it to be true), we attended our 2nd annual dinner at Cuccina Toscana, and we started, what will hopefully become a new tradition, the Santa Pub Crawl.

Happy Holidays

Chaos and fur ...

So somehow, I became the crazy dog lady. I know, I know, I did it to myself, when we got Jersey, but who knew my house would turn into a revolving door of dogs?

When we got Jersey I was scared to death of the responsibility that I had paid $50 for(initially, hundreds no thousands have been paid on behalf of this dog). I figured that if it didn't work out, I could find a nice home for her, or at least give her to a shelter. WRONG! That fuzzy little thing worked her way into my heart and into my clothes (her dog hair is EVERYWHERE) and we have been stuck with her ever since! She has seriously changed my life in a way that I am sure children do for those willing to bear them. I stopped eating yummy meat because of this dog, not that I ever ate dog, but ... well, it is a long story of animal suffering.

Anyway, onto the kennel that I apparently run. It started innocently enough when we still lived in our condo in South Salt Lake. Our downstairs neighbors, Steve and Stacy, had the nicest black lab that Jersey looked up to, and would have dated if they had the money, so cute. They offered to watch Jersey while we were out of town, and vice versa. Perfect arrangement because their dog, Kenu, was an angel. We totally got the better end of the deal on that one. Since then, we have had many four legged friends come through our door, most of which Jersey has managed to get along with or at least tolerate. She is usually able to establish her dominance within the first couple of minutes and we have no problems(she is my dog after all). This week we are watching, for the 3rd time, Copper, the 8 month old bloodhound. I would think that by now they had established their relationship, but apparently it will always be a tumultuous one. This dog is relentless and will not give up on trying to get Jersey to play with him. Jersey, being the old bitch that she is, wants nothing to do with him. It turns into doggie chaos.

The problem is probably me, I love dogs and I know that they are well taken care of when they are at my house. I don't want to have to kennel Jersey when we go out of town, so I am always willing to watch every ones dogs so that the favor is returned.

Sadly, I am actually glad to be at work today, because the alternative is yelling "shut up" 50 times an hour at two dogs refusing to listen to me. Sigh!

Who knew?

So I have mentioned this before, but it came to light again yesterday, so I thought I would make mention of it again. How is it that I hate people yet I still find myself needing to socialize with more than just my dog?
I was at home sick yesterday, and slept most of the day away. I spoke with no one all day, and I realized that one day is all it really takes to start the downward spiral for me never wanting to leave the house. It was kind of a frightening realization for me. Every morning as I am climbing out of bed to at least brush my teeth before arriving at work, I wish for a second that I was unemployed and could stay in bed all day. Once I am at work, I am fine. My job is good, I work with a great bunch of girls that keep me laughing and talking all day. But the envy that I have for Jersey (yes, the dog) is overwhelming when I am still in a sleepy stupor. The fact that after she walks me to the door and kisses me goodbye, she gets to sleep her day away, makes me green with jealousy. So yesterday, I stayed in bed with her, and loved it.
I did have a hair appointment later in the day, and sick or not, my hair needed Lacey therapy. I considered canceling because it meant I would have to talk to someone and discontinue the inner monologue that runs at a constant when I am alone. I perked up once I was there, and escaped the pull of the deep dark depression that is like a warm blanket on a cold, quiet day. I read my In Style magazine, and let my hair and myself process.

waste of wine

So I am a klutz ... lets just get that out there! I trip over my own feet, and for those of you that used to work with me at Maggie, you will remember I was always good for a laugh. Luckily I am able to laugh at my own expense when something happens, because why get embarrassed?
So on Saturday, we were enjoying a nice dinner at our downtown chain PF Changs. I had brought a bottle of wine to share, as we usually do (ok, Rob and Amy usually do), and we all had a few glasses.
The waitress poured our glasses, then put the bottle on the table between Jason and myself. My first thought was that I would, at some point in the evening, bump the bottle and knock it off the table. As soon as that thought left my mind, I was drenched in my glass. Turns out, as the waitress was collecting our menus, she bumped my wine glass with my menu and it dumped the entire glass of (luckily white) wine into my lap. My shirt caught most of it, and there was no hiding it! I just started laughing, but the waitress felt so bad! She bought me a glass from the menu, and I excused myself to the bathroom hoping for a hand dryer. Nope, no hand dryer. Luckily, the manager walked into the bathroom as I was toweling myself off and offered me a server shirt (score!). I changed and went back to the table.
Now in retrospect, I am sure I could have gotten a lot more comped from that meal, but who really cares? I didn't have anywhere to go (sorry Amy, reading magazines at your house doesn't count as a place to go!), and even if I did, it was done and any amount of compensation wouldn't have dried my shirt! I was mostly just glad that I wasn't the one that spilled the wine!

How I spent my summer vacation

I am back to the real world, reluctantly!
I spend my time off either drunk, hungover (not really, i didn't get sick once) or painting. Strange combo, I know!

Amy, Heather and I took a girls trip to Viva Las Vegas this past weekend, and boy was it a fun way to realize how old you really are! Thursday night when we got in, we tried our hand at a $3 dollar Black Jack table. I gave the casino $15 and they kept the drinks coming. I was playing with $100 limit for myself, and only lost $15, pretty good! We then ventured to a club that was fun the last time we were there, but was EMPTY when we got there. Luckily they didn't charge us a cover, because we were 3 of maybe 15 people in the whole place. The music was good, and we were feeling great, so we stayed and danced.

The next night we went to THE Mix at THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay, AWESOME club. We had such a good time and were the only girls there w/o skirts up to our who-ha's, so we were a little overdressed! Amy told the cab driver that there was a Denny's by our hotel, but no, there wasn't. He was nice enough to introduce us to the $1.49 breakfast at WILD WILD WEST that was by our hotel, and is now our new fav spot to eat. Not quite sure if we would eat there sober, but that is beside the point!

Saturday night was the reason for the trip, the Alanis Morisette concert at Hard Rock. Before going to find our seats, we purchased some juice at the sundries shop. Amy has a knack for eaves dropping, and one of her top 5 talents (long story) is talking to people, so she chatted up the guys at the table next to us and scored us a spot on the list to the afterparty.
The concert was great despite the fact that there were a lot of olds there, and one girl told me to sit down, oh, and I almost went into the mens room on accident.
The afterparty was at "Wasted Space" and Everlast played. Very fun, no cover cause we were on the list (I could get used to being hooked up!) and cute go-go dancers. The best part about the club is that the bathroom is a unisex so the guys had to wait in line with the gals, AWESOME! They were all pissed about it, but oh well!

So enough about Vegas, you have all been there, you understand. Somehow, I had the bright idea in my head that for the rest of my time off, I would paint the kitchen and back stair area. I still don't know why I did it when I have a DVR full of shows and a couched that missed by butt, but I did. When Jason finally got home from work on Tuesday, he actually said "you painted in here?". I could have killed him! So on Wednesday, I left the hard to reach spot for him to paint so he was sure that some painting went on. Does he really think I got a "fresh paint" Scentsy sent from mom just to fool him? Wait, that isn't a bad idea!

And BLAH, BLAH, BLAH I will stop blabbing now!