It’s a Marshmellow World!

It started snowing here Tuesday morning and save for a few brief respites, it hasn’t stopped since. It’s a wet, heavy snow and the trees are bending with the weight. It’s quite beautiful, though I am sure I will be over this weather once January hits. The dogs love rolling around and playing in it too.
My boo is out of town for training this week so it’s me and pups. Last night I spooned Rio all night long. It was actually a really good night’s sleep! Love that sweet girl.
I got to play with a golden retriever puppy yesterday. Lola was being babysat by my colleague’s student worker and she brought her with her to their meeting. I immediately stole her and got puppy kisses. It was THE BEST. My university is pretty dog-friendly–there are a lot of service dogs that go here and I see at least 1-2 dogs walk by my office every day. My goal is to one day bring my dog(s) to work with me, though perhaps only one at a time! Rio would go on adventures wanting to get petted, while Charlie would scrounge for food. But they’d make the day so GREAT, it would be worth it!
As of today, I have officially paid off 2/3 of my car! Only 20 more payments to go! Feels good.
I only have a few presents left to buy. My BFF’s birthday is the 5th and I ordered and sent her presents yesterday, and my mom’s birthday is the 14th and I mailed her package this morning! I am still trying to figure out what to get for my fiance and my dad. Guys are so hard to buy for!
Speaking of my boo, I had that amazing board made for him for his retirement next week from the Army. He LOVED it! His good friend and fellow soldier has a woodworking business and he and I designed that together.
I know I’m getting old and cranky because things that I used to do as a child that would get me yelled at by my dad are now starting to irritate me. For example, I become ENRAGED when students walk by my office (I’m in a very heavy traffic area) and drag their feet! My dad used to yell at me to “pick up your feet!” when I’d shuffle by. I always thought he was being a little dramatic, but now when people walk by in their boots that they don’t want to tie and drag their feet on the ground I want to yell the same thing at them! My dad just shakes his head and laughs at me. I guess that’s karma.

Short Week Struggles

I’ve clearly been out of TV News long enough now (since 2014!!) to block out having to work holidays. I posted a cute graphic about it being Monday but a short week that ends with pie and shopping, so we can do this, and some TV friends reminded me that they will still be working. How soon we forget! The University gives us Thursday & Friday and I took Wednesday off to prep/travel (if need be) and I’m so excited for an extended time off!

We were going to Buffalo but circumstances with my boo’s new job made it so we’re staying home. We live 5 hours away from Buffalo so I had planned on taking Wednesday off so we could have some extra time with his family. When we decided not to go, I decided to still take the day off and prep our dinner since we are now hosting Thanksgiving for the two of us and four of our friends! I bought a bigger turkey and all the trimmings on Saturday and have my strategy for Wednesday/Thursday mapped out. My boo is smoking the turkey (all 20.5 lbs!) and so he has to get up at 5am to get it going, but other than that, I should be able to make several items ahead of time AND enjoy the day and my favorite part–the parade!

I was planning on running the Buffalo Turkey Trot but since we’re not going, I will run my own on my treadmill. It is supposed to be bitterly cold so I can’t say I’m too disappointed! 😉

Also, I feel that I have shown great restraint in waiting until today to really listen to Christmas music. I’ve got my spotify Christmas playlist going and it is giving me so much joy! I am waiting until Friday to do any decorating in the house, including the tree. That counts for something, right??

Ok friends, have a great (short!) week!

Lest @exitrowiron and @runs4donuts think that I’m a spoiled brat who expects people to shell out thousands of dollars to attend her wedding I want to clear some things up related to the wedding.

Location, location, location

I’m from southeast Nebraska, south of Lincoln. My fiance is from Buffalo, New York. Either way we do this, it’s a destination wedding for one group of people. We initially were going to have it in his parent’s backyard for “free”. The costs began mounting; tent rental, chairs, tables, dance floor, BATHROOM rental, DJ, food, drinks, photography, decorations/flowers, parking issues, shuttles, etc. It became an expensive nightmare.

I have always dreamt of having a destination wedding and getting married on the beach. I didn’t figure this would EVER be able to happen due to expense for those involved so I left it as a daydream and figured that was that.

Dolla, Dolla, Bills, y’all

We went back and forth on where to have the wedding; Buffalo or Lincoln, or maybe Mexico or Jamacia? What would ACTUALLY be cheaper? The average cost of a wedding now days is something astronomical like $26,000 to $45,000 and I am NOT about going into debt for one day. My parents like many others do NOT have some sort of magical fund out there just waiting for me to use when I get married. (Instead, they financed most of my undergrad education, so I can’t and won’t complain, I managed to graduate with only about $16k in debt that I had to pay. That money was MUCH better spent on my degree than a wedding, in my opinion).

But I digress.

I did a lot of research and found that we could pay for this wedding ourselves by each saving about $5k in a year. And honestly? It won’t even cost that much. For the two of us to go to Mexico to an all-inclusive resort for 10 days it is $2975 TOTAL for flight and hotel. That’s $150 per day each for EVERYTHING, including getting there. The wedding that the resort gives us, which is on the beach, includes decorations, flowers, and a reception with food and drink is $2750. The photos will be around $1900 (basically the same everywhere!). So we will pay about $7500 for a vacation and a wedding. I think that’s win-win.

SO. What upsets me most about ALL of this is that my besties told me, when I first broached the subject of a destination wedding to them and asked if they thought they could go and be a part of it, they both said. “Melissa, we’ve known since FOREVER that you’ve wanted a destination wedding and we have PLANNED for it. Don’t worry, we’ll be there.”

Tit for tat?

Is it fair to expect your best friends to do the same that you did for them? I threw and attended showers for both of them, I bought my dresses and paid for travel and hotel rooms for both of their weddings as well. In fact, for one of them, I had to buy a plane ticket, rent a car, and pay for lodging and food for 5 nights for her wedding because she got married on Memorial Day and the rehearsal was the Friday prior. In Denver. That wedding ended up costing me about $2000 for that weekend alone and I NEVER complained about it once. Right now, they don’t even appear to want to do a shower for me with the help of another friend. So you can see why I feel so hurt.

What is all comes down to is this: I feel like I’m in a bad spot because I planned on having them as my matrons of honor and now it appears that they are going back on their promise. If they would have said in the beginning that they couldn’t make it happen I would have understood.

The Real Cost

ALSO, it would not cost them $2000 each. They only have to be there for 3 days (resort rules) and the prices vary from $800-$1150 for the entire package.

So, the tl;dr is this: This wedding will be a destination for at least one group of people and honestly, I didn’t want to get married in Buffalo. If they couldn’t do it I wish they would have told me that from the beginning because false hope really hurts.

+/-, the Tuesday edition

+ My egg this morning had TWO yolks in it! I thought that was pretty cool and a fun way to start my day.

+ I just ordered my nephew’s Christmas presents so they are checked off the list. I have a few other gifts already as well AND our my boo mailed our Christmas cards last week (I DID NOT want him to, but he really wanted to be first so he did it. In my defense, I was gone and he was left unattended.)

+ I wrote a news release about a notoriously critical professor’s work. He had NO CHANGES. I should probably go buy a lottery ticket.

– Charlie the dog woke up out of a dead sleep at 4:55am with a sharp bark. He had to go potty. My heart didn’t stop racing for a while after that. Thanks, Chuck.

– It has been raining/snowing off and on all day. Also, it is getting dark here at 4:30 and I’m 100% NOT okay with it.

– I am scheduled to get an IUD tomorrow to hopefully deal with my female issues. At least one part of them. I’m really not excited about it.

That’s all I got today, have a great one, friends!

Fri-yay

This has been a pretty awesome week:

We went to Harry Potter World and Universal on Sunday when I went to Orlando for a work conference. It was fantastic!
The conference was great and gave me a renewed vigor for my job. Always a good thing.
We flew home Wednesday and they needed people to get bumped, so we volunteered. We were put on a later flight and given $500! Delta lets you take it as an Amazon gift card, or Macy’s, or even Royal Caribbean, but I chose to take mine as a Delta gift card, so now I have a free trip back to Nebraska to take whenever I want! YASSSSSSS!
I did manage to get a cold in Orlando, but I bought the behind the counter version of Mucinex-D with the 1200 mg dose of Guaifenesin and I feel SO MUCH BETTER. My ears aren’t plugged and neither is my nose. Sweet, sweet relief!
It is supposed to be cold and may snow here this weekend, so I plan on doing some early holiday baking. My favorite time of the year!
I went to Aldi’s last night and bought their Cheese Advent Calendar for my coworker and I. I am v. excited to countdown the days to Christmas with fancy cheese!
Happy weekend, friends!

Fri-yay

We’re going to Buffalo this weekend. I was supposed to see Justin Timberlake but his show has been postponed due to bruised vocal chords. My boo is going to Metallica with his friends and I am going to spend the weekend with his family, do a little shopping, and doing some wedding hair trials. I’m v. excited.
If consistency is key in losing weight (which we know that it is) then I am on track for success. I have been consistently doing my workouts over the last few weeks and eating well and it is starting to show. I am seeing a slight movement to the scale. Not much, but slight. And I will take it.
I am currently thinking about applying for a job at my university as a part-time adjunct instructor of public speaking. They generally require a masters degree (which I do not have) BUT with this being such a shallow pool of applicants and the fact that I know the department head quite well, I MAY have a chance. It would just be something good to put on my resume in addition to my current title as Director of Media Relations. I need to ask my boss if I can apply first, and she has been out all week for events in DC. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
I am going to Orlando next weekend for the American Marketing Association Higher Ed Conference. My co-workers and I are going down a day early and hitting up Harry Potter World and I am SUPER excited! I went in 2015 but am always up for HP World.
Ingrid Michaelson has a new Christmas album out today. It is lovely and makes me very excited to start listening to Christmas music soon. Before Halloween is even too early for me! 🙂
However! I did order some limited edition peppermint crunch Quest protein bars that are arriving today from Amazon. I am very excited to try them.

Have a great weekend, cats!

Monday Coffee (Chai Tea Latte) Date?

It’s chilly here and I am not ready, despite the fact that it is October 22. I know, I know, it’s time. But if I could try living in a perfect 72 degrees environment right now, I would totally do it. Just to try it. For like a year. At least.
Our Christmas cards are ready to be mailed the weekend after Thanksgiving! I addressed them and got them all stamped this weekend. I LOVE having that checked off the list!
I had my quarterly employee evaluation today and I got a GLOWING review! My boss said I am doing a great job, and agreed with my self-assessment. It feels good to be in a good place, professionally.
I will be out of town for the midterm elections, so I have already submitted my absentee ballot, two weeks ago! I like knowing that I have already voted. Plus, they give you an “I voted today” sticker so you bet I’ll be rocking that while I’m at my conference in Orlando!
My coworker cleaned out her closet this weekend and brought in a bunch of clothes that no longer fit her, but will fit me! I’m excited to have some new-to-me items that I don’t have to pay for!
Running is still happening. I am still using the Transform App, and am enjoying it. I am not seeing any weight loss–likely because I honestly haven’t been very committed to eating well and consistently exercising. I gotta get my poop in a group–we are about 7 months out from the big day! EEEEK!

Have a great week cats!

Hello friends!

Check me out! I did my hair today! Go team! I also picked out my outfit last night so it was super easy getting ready today. I love when a plan comes together!

In other news…

I’ve started Christmas shopping. I bought my mom something today (though it might be for her birthday, as that’s December 14) and I bought my fiance something last night. I also have started addressing our Christmas cards and ordered Christmas stamps for them as well. I really want to be done with all of my shopping early. Most of my family have birthdays in the last few months of the year. Nephew 3 was Sept. 19, Nephew 2 is Oct. 28, Nephew 1 is Nov. 20, Dad is Nov. 22, soon-to-be-step-daughter is Nov. 26, Bestie 1 is Dec. 5, future Mother-in-Law is Dec. 7, and Mom is Dec. 14. Not to mention Christmas!! It’s an expensive time of year!
We’re going to Buffalo for Thanksgiving again and I will be running the Turkey Trot there on Thanksgiving Day with my future bro-in-law. We did it last year as well. It’s an 8k, so just under 5 miles. I hope I don’t regret it if it gets too cold. I tend to wuss out when the temps get too low.
If I talk about the bathroom standoff, do you know what I’m talking about? Maybe it is a girl thing, but when faced with the need to do more than number one in a public restroom with multiple stalls, many women will simply sit in silence until the other parties leave, so she can do her business in private. Well, that happens a lot around here (University campus, classes going on, everybody poops, etc) but when you do the bathroom standoff in a restroom with only TWO stalls, you make the line build up and people get cranky. JUST DO IT. We all do. 😉
Pushing Daisies is now on Amazon Prime video! I LOVED that show when it was on tv in 2007. So now I only let myself watch it while I’m running. It makes the time go by very quickly!

Have a great week, cats!

Tuesday Things

We ordered our Christmas cards last night! My goal for the last, I don’t know, 8 years, has been to get ahead of the holidays so that I don’t feel that stress. It became even more of a big deal last year when I moved from Nebraska to New York. I Amazon’d all my gifts and had them sent to my parent’s house so when I got home it was easy to wrap them up. Fun fact: I buy my mom’s presents from my dad, otherwise she would get crappy gifts that he buys on Christmas Eve. I’ve done it for the last 10-15 years or so. It makes me happy to give her a good Christmas.
It’s 79 degrees here right now. I’m good with it! It’s supposed to be more of the same the next two days, then 49 on Friday. Ugh.
I made my great grandmother’s pumpkin bread recipe on Sunday and brought the loaves to work with me yesterday and today. As of 2pm, the second loaf is nearly gone.
I’m halfway through the Save $5,000 in a Year plan I’ve been following and I’m so freaking proud of myself! The next 26 weeks will suck a bit–there are a few weeks where I have to be disciplined enough to save $200 one week, and $150 the next! OUCH!
I booked the wedding photographer AND they don’t require a deposit! I like that! I feel like I’m hemorrhaging money at times.
I’m going to see Justin Timberlake in a few weeks!!!!! I’m super excited!!
That’s all I have for today! Have a good one friends!

WHAT A WEEK

TGIF you guys. This week has kicked my butt.

Monday–it was fine, the biggest excitement is that I got this shirt that I ordered from my friend. I LOVE it!! It’s so me!!

Then came the rest of the week…

Tuesday–I went home early with a migraine, my second one of the week. I got it during work and since I get auras I am basically shot once they hit. I went home and laid on the couch from 3pm to 7pm.

Wednesday–I felt great and got back into my regularly scheduled workouts and did my run and strength training. The Transform app had me doing 10 rounds for time of 10 walking lunges and 10 pushups. Two days later I still have a terrible case of the DOMS. I then went to see “A Simple Favor” with my friend Madison. It was good! Then, IT happened. Our dogs got sprayed in the face by a skunk. Rio, the instigator, got the brunt of it. Two days later, after many baths and a good scrubbing with a special skunk shampoo, her snout still retains a bit of the smell to it. SO GROSS.

Thursday–I spent my day running around campus with a documentary crew from South Korea. They are doing a story on Income Share Agreements as a way to pay for college. My university just started them this year and they had a lot of questions for our president, a few students, and the program director. It was an all-day affair, but fun for this former TV Newsie! 🙂

I have a massage after work today, my fiance has more firefighter training classes tonight and tomorrow morning, so I plan on catching up on this week’s TV premiers and snuggling with the pups. Tomorrow we are going on a haunted hayrack ride after the Husker Football game (I just hope we win!) and then Sunday we are going apple picking! Hello Fall!

Have a great weekend, friends!