Buzz Off

One of my coworkers had a cold last week. Despite my treating him like a leper (I encouraged him to stand in the doorway of my office when he needed to talk to me), I succumbed to the germs.

I bought some cough drops, and it seems that everyone is jumping on the Dove Promises bandwagon and printing little messages on their wrappers. However, I was unprepared for the "Pep Talk in Every Drop" on my cough drop:

In case you're having a hard time reading it, my messages included, "Push on!", "Don't try harder -- do harder", "Conquer today", "March forward!"and "You got it in you!"

What the heck? When I don't feel good, I want ones that say, "Poor you", "Blame others", "It's not fair" and "You should stay home and watch movies."

PS -- When I offered one of the drops to my sick coworker, his said things like, "You can pull through" and "feel better." So apparently mine was just about the tough love.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Hi, Interwebs! A lot has happened since I last blogged. Here are some of the highlights (to be expanded on -- or not -- in the future):

• Francine the Ford Focus (a.k.a. the "Forcus") went to the Great Car Lot in the sky.
• I got a new car (Captain Scurvy, a Mercury Mariner). He's dreamy.
• My roommate got married.
• I moved to a new apartment. In a new ward. In a new stake.
  
• I adopted two furry little roommates: Conan O'Brien and Gracie.
• Went to New York.
• Went to California.
• Lots of work changes (I don't exactly want to put all of that down in a blog, but if you've talked me in the last six months, you know that "lots" is a bit of an understatement!).

Dollar Tree Finds

As I mentioned earlier, the local Dollar Tree has some interesting items. Here are some of the latest finds. Notably, these were all spotted on one trip.

(Special thanks to my accomplice who was willing to humor my need to document everything.)


Can you spot the problem?













Paradox: The back of the "My 1st Birthday" celebratory ribbon warns, "Not for children under the age of 3."
















Would you buy the bottle without the label, assuming that it's probably the same as a marked bottles?
















At first I saw this candy and exclaimed, "I bet these are good!" Then I saw the tiny print on the back: "Excess consumption may have a mild laxative effect." Hypothetical purchase aborted.














Wake up to learning with the Prime Ministers of Canada! This durable placemat is sure to brighten your breakfast and provide valuable facts to impress your friends! (Yes, I've worked in marketing. Why do you ask?)








Be sure to check out the logo at the bottom of the display: "Toxic Waste candy sponsors a cleaner world."
















There is evidently buried treasure in Argentina.

Something else is wrong with this map. Can you spot it?

Happy Fourth

I know, I know -- my holidays are all kinds of jacked up. Here it is August, and I'm blogging about Christmas and the Fourth of July. What can I say? I guess Smokey Bear's Birthday just isn't as bloggable.

Last month, on July 6, the realtors of our work building came by to drop off a bag of festive candy. I wondered if they waited until after the 4th to take advantage of some "after-holiday" sale. Or if they just didn't get around to delivering it on time. Regardless, I was happy to chow down on it. (And since I'm evidently the only one at work eating it, it's lasting quite a while).

What was in the bag? Among patriotic Tootsie Rolls and Fireballs:

Because what says "Happy birthday, America" better than Swedish Fish?

Christmas in August

The other day, a coworker was shocked to learn that I hadn't seen It's a Wonderful Life. She promptly brought me the movie the next day and encouraged me to watch it.

While I was a bit unsure about watching a Christmas movie in the middle of the summer (and not just any Christmas movie - the quintessential Christmas movie), I began looking around my apartment and noticed that perhaps it wasn't so out of place.

The Evidence:
I know that one poor ice skater in the foreground is broken. My bad. I was using it as a game piece for a board game and got a little overzealous in counting the number of spaces I was to advance.






































Jimmy Stewart, here I come.

6 Things

This one's for you, Ariel! (Thanks for the tag AND the blogging encouragement today!)

Assignment: List 6 random things about yourself.

1. I like rearranged furniture. My favorite is when I rearrange my bedroom and wake up the next morning to see something new.

2. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are sitting in the kitchen right now calling my name.

3. On my first day at my new job, my mom sent me this pretty plant. So far, so good (meaning that it's still alive). It brightens my day whenever I look at it!

4. When I drive by a house for sale, I love stopping to pick up the flyer about it. House "window shopping" is a favorite hobby of mine.

5. Reading materials on my nightstand (in various states of being read, including "not started"): Entertainment Weekly, Peace College alumnae magazine, scriptures, Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, and Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works by Janice (Ginny) Redish.

6. I will miss LOST while it's on hiatus :(

Take My Stuff. Please!

A few weeks ago, I helped my mom clean out her attic and have a yard sale. Valuable Lesson Relearned at Every Yard Sale: No one will pay as much for your stuff as you originally did.

A Few Favorite Finds from the Attic:
1. A 5" floppy disk of Quicken (trashed).
2. A time capsule I made when I was seven (saved).
3. A globe with the U.S.S.R. on it (first item sold of the day – ha!).

Most Popular Item Among Kids: A totally 80s gray and pink Le Clic camera. When I set it out that morning, I said that it would be a hit. Indeed, almost every kid that came by dropped to his or her knees and started playing with it. In the end, two little kids bought it and were so excited! Before I even looked up, I knew they were playing with it when I heard little voices saying, "Cheese!" They shyly brought me 50 cents and scurried off to play with their new toy. Super cute.

Most Popular Item Among Adults: An old bike. Go figure.

Most Popular Item Not for Sale: My old Little People dollhouse. I was going to sell it, but by the time I set it up, I couldn't part with it. I set it to the side and got a number of inquiries, but I selfishly stood firm.

Most Profitable Customer: An antiques dealer came by and got a bunch of stuff. Yes, my mom has good taste :)

Hardest Item to Move: A sleeper sofa. My mom recently remarked to my uncle about my lack of upper body strength. His matter-of-fact reply: "She can't help it." We laughed about that A LOT.

Speaking of which...

The coworker I just referenced is actually a new coworker. "New hire?" you may ask? No, that would be me. I'm the new hire!

I changed jobs recently. It's exciting, nerve-wracking, challenging, and all kinds of things wrapped up together.

Just thought I'd mention it!

Filter much?

Excerpt from my day:

Coworker: "I have a couple of questions for you. Do you want to do it now or later?"

Me: "Just let me finish up this little thing I’m working on. It will be 10 minutes or less. Like a pizza! But that would be really fast for a pizza."

As soon as I said it, I realized that last part would have been better left as a portion of my inner monologue.

Low Point(s)

I injured my hand today while car dancing to "Life is a Highway." Enough said.

Pay It Forward

My friend Amanda is dong this, and I thought it sounded like a cool idea (largely because I love both sending and receiving things in the mail!).

She's picking three random people who comment (not just the first three who comment), and I'll (diplomatically) do the same. Also, you don't have to do it on your blog, Facebook, etc. if you don't want to. I'm really doing this for the above-mentioned thrill of mail ;)

Enjoy and comment away!

"Here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive are a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well – before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!"

Part of Your (Blog) World

I'm so excited to finally be tagged! Secretly, I have wanted someone to tag me for a while, so thanks Meredith for making my day!

Here are the rules:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open to page 56.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.

5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!

6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same.

I have a number of reading materials around me, so I let Dixie pick which one I should use:

Here's the pick: The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs. It's about a man's experience in reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. He organizes his book through highlights of actual entries. Page 56 lands me in the Ds (and contains a bit of an ironic entry for me).

Descartes, René (the 5th sentence on the page is the last line of this entry)

"And if that's not enough of a good thing, consider this: Descartes liked to stay in bed till 11 A.M.—good ammunition the next time anyone gives me flak about sleeping late.

Deseret News
"I always thought the name of Utah's major newspaper was some sort of weird misspelling of the word 'desert.' But no, Deseret is the 'land of the honeybee,' according to the Book of Mormon. I guess I should have figured they would have caught a typo in the masthead after 154 years."


I know some people don't like to do tags, so don't feel like you have to do it. But since I wanted to do a one so much, I thought I'd pass it along in case someone feels similarly: Brittany, Tammy, Alvin, Ariel, and Heidi.

Image from barnesandnoble.com.

I went to Las Vegas and came back with a disease.

Influenza, that is. According to my doctor, "classic flu" comes on very quickly. And since I'm such a classic girl, I went from fine to bedridden in 4 short hours the day after I came back. Having spent a week in bed, here are my thoughts from the experience:

1. I can keep everything I need on my bed and bedside table. This includes food, medication, thermometer, tissues, beverages, etc. If some sort of bizarre flood came and I had to use my bed as a raft, I'd be prepared.
2. I knew I was in trouble when the doctor a.) came in wearing a face mask and b.) made me wear one to leave the office.
3. Fevers are stupid.

Everyone likes swag, right?

Las Vegas is all about conventions. This week, there are two main conventions going on: the Consumer Electronics Show and the Adult Expo. Yes, the latter is exactly what you think it is. (They don't call it "Sin City" for nothing.) As a result, I try to make it very clear which convention I am with when people ask. (I'm with the Consumer Electronics Show. And if you wondered, we need to talk more).

Tonight's picture displays the merger of these two conventions, as seen in a leather jacket I saw at CES today:


It definitely made me laugh. And point it out to the person I was with. And take a picture. And then tell my cohort that I took a picture.

I've seen freebie pens, notepads, clocks, etc. from pharmaceuticals, but this takes it to a new level.

Swag: Promotional items, especially when given for free, considered as a group. Source: Dictionary.com.

Sin City

Today's blog post is coming at you from Sin City (a.k.a. Las Vegas). I'm here on a business trip. My flights were fine (I had a layover in Charlotte), though a little long. Two women got into an argument on the plane 5 minutes after takeoff, so that livened things up. (PS – If you're going to get into a high-volume fight about kicking the back of someone's chair, try to wait until you're good and into the trip – not 5 minutes into a 5-hour flight. Save some for later. PPS – The flight attendant broke it up. No one was harmed.)

Here's the view from my hotel room, followed by a shot of me in said room.


I'm staying in the Palazzo (part of the Venetian) and have a view of Trump's Hotel and Treasure Island, as you can see. Donald's place is pretty quiet, but Treasure Island fires a cannon and sets off fires about once an hour. Exciting!

Aside: To say that today has been an emotional roller coaster would probably be an understatement. Special thanks to the poor people who had to listen to me talk about it. I couldn't get through days like this without you :)

*For any readers who were wondering if I got this daily post in before midnight, I technically did. While it's 1:45 am at home, it's only 10:45 pm here. Ta-da!

Art on the Wall

I'd like to thank Dixie for coming up with the title of this post ;)

Tonight I'll spotlight one of my paintings. (Not that I created it; it's part of a series by Kirk Adams.) And since it's right beside me on the wall, it's the perfect candidate for a blog post.

3 Generations

I almost forgot my picture post for the day. Since this is the first picture that popups in my pictures folder on the computer, this will be it for today ;) Here are three generations of women in my family. I'm the kid, seen here with my mom and her mother (my grandmother).

Today's View

Today wasn't very bloggable. (Then Courtney, why are you blogging? Well, I've made a commitment to the 7-day picturethon, and I'm keeping it.)

I spent all day working at my computer, this evening working on a freelance project, and now this is my last thing to do tonight. So I leave you with a shot of my blog:

Lean, Mean, and Green

Last night I rinsed off the barrel of a marker and then stood it up on the counter to dry. When I woke up this morning, this is what had transpired overnight.

<--

Cool! (It's a washable marker, so it will come right up. But in the meantime, it's a neat design.)

Love Notes

Today I went to Target to make some returns. That naturally segued into spending more money as it's impossible to go to Target without finding something that I "need."

In the stationary aisle (one of my favorite places), I noticed these little notes (see pic).

When I was little, my mom would put sweet notes in my lunchbox. Usually she would just write something on a napkin like, "Love you!" or "Have a great day!" I don't know that one would have to purchase a set of cards like this since there are cheaper (and customizable!) alternatives (ooo! - it's a green alternative to write on the napkin since you need it anyway! Bonus!). But seeing the cards reminded me of how nice it is to get little surprises :)