The Blogmopolitan Quiz! Round 2

Morning everyone! Despite my serious lack of coffee and the amount of crap that just hit my inbox, I decided that A moment was needed to fill out this awesomeness. If you want to link up go visit the uber gorgeous Erin, download, and fill it out!  You know you want to.... 

This Week = More Naps

I am sorry if I have been quiet lately. This is how my week has been, and I seriously thought it was Wednesday all day today. 
I may actually get some real posts in this weekend. I make no promises though. 
Night

Sunday Social

Morning everyone! I opened up Blogger and Bloglovin and didn't see very many posts. Sundays are a forgotten day of preparation, and blog posts. So I thought I would join the link up hosted by Neely and Ashley! 

1.Favorite breakfast food: SO hard because I love breakfast. In all seriousness though, scrambled eggs. I put sautéed mushrooms, peppers, spinach, and bunches of other things in there but I could eat scrambled eggs.... every day. 
2. Best way to spend a free day: is by having a movie binger, getting one thing done around the house (even the smallest thing), and taking a nap! A nap is a must. 
3. Given a free airline ticket to anywhere in the world; where would you go and why?  I would go to Spain. I want to see the culture, the architecture, and it is centrally located to the rest of Europe. 

(Casa Batllo by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain.) 

4. You can leave the house with only one thing, what is it? Well it depends on the circumstances... If it is a normal day, my iphone. If my house is on fire or it is a life and death decision, I would take Ghillie. 
5.How do you take your coffee? HHHHMMMMMM!!!! Well most of the time from Starbucks. But if I am at home, I put some creamer in my medium roast. At work I put in one hazelnut creamer and one splenda. Either way, any coffee is my friend.  

(Bad picture, but hey it was two days after I got out of the hospital.)

Want to join the link up? Go here! 

How is your Sunday going? 

Food Truck Tasting: Torched Goodness

Every Friday in downtown Phoenix, there is a little event called the Food Truck Coalition that happens. Food trucks from all over the valley gather so that you may eat the amazing, different cuisine that they create. That is how we found Torched Goodness!  Torched Goodness is a Creme Brûlée food truck! As a Valentines Day treat last friday, the company decided to hire Torched Goodness to come out for 30 minutes or so and serve us this amazing sweet treat. The flavors included Dark Chocolate, Classic Vanilla, and Sea Salt Caramel. If you are in Phoenix and want to try something different, I would definitely look into visiting the Food Truck Coalition for lunch! You won't regret it. 

(Our office pup Beckett was even able to have a little!) 

^Dark Chocolate ^

Five on Friday

Morning Y'all. I had another post planned for today but then decided that I didn't really care for it. So I thought that It was finally time to jump on the five on friday band wagon. 
1) Blogcation....Gals this was pretty much the highlight of my week! I am still looking for a room mate, but I have the room already saved with the deposit sooo... Either way I am going dang it! 
2) This picture from my co-worker. I was having a grumpy day and bam... He sent this and I laughed way too much. 

3) The decision I just made to get Chipotle for lunch. I am pretty sure I have never made a lunch decision this early. Ever.
4) This Image: 

Because the Arizona Senate just passed a bill (SB1062) Which allows businesses to refuse services based on their religious beliefs. Meaning there is a chance that I could be kicked out of a bar for being an unmarried woman. Or half of my friends could be refused service for being LBGT. NOT COOL AZ!
5) The possibility that I may or may not have found the perfect employee, but I am worried that his salary request is going to be too much. :(  AAGGGHHH! 
For your #backthatazz up pleasure: 
David Nail: Whatever She's Got
Yup, more country y'all! 

I want to be a Unicorn

So sometimes it pays to housesit for people. Why? Because I get cool stuff that I would otherwise not be able to get. Like time to go swimming, because I do not own a pool or hot tub. Or fancy Christmas presents that my normals leave me. Even thoughtful gifts or trinkets that their kids pick out for me.  OR my very own UNICORN STAMP SET!!!!

Isn't it pretty?! Now I received an email from my consultant/ housesitting client that the new Close to My Heart Catalogue had come out, and with me being bored at work I decided to give it a look over. Well I made it two pages in before I saw this beautiful thing and squealed in girlish delight. 

*Insert girlish scream* 

 Since it is a hostess rewards gift (meaning you have to hold a show to get one) I asked ever so nicely if I could trade some housesitting work for my precious! (said in a totally Agnes/Gollum voice combination) And although it seriously scared her how quickly I had emailed her about it, she agreed and called me a dork. 

So now I have a fancy unicorn stamp to make pretty things with. I mean this stamp set gives great advice! And now I so want to send out fantastic cards to people! SO EXCITTEEEDDD!!!

I'm the kind of girl who...

*loves to make others laugh. 

*despises the feeling of helplessness. 

*would take a bullet for my friends and family, despite our differences or arguments. 

*would rather stay in and read, than go out. 

*swears like a sailor. I mean it gets pretty bad sometimes. 

*can remember how to get somewhere after only being there once. 

*believes that iced tea and coffee can fix any problem. 

*believes in dipping my fries in my frosty from Wendy's. 

*can watch black and white movies all day. 

*would order food and go out to eat, before I would consider cooking. 

*believes liquor is a wonderful ingredient for baking. 

*is shy at first, but once I know you I don't shut up. 

*can do a Netflix binger with no problem, and finish at least two seasons of a show in one weekend easily. 

*watches sports, but cannot for the life of me play them. 

*has an obsession with buying binders and notebooks, but I rarely use them. 

*hates talking on the phone because I fear awkward silence. 

*will eat ice cream out of the carton to keep from dirtying a bowl. 

*gets frozen Margaritas to dip my tortilla chips in. 

*has no fear of chopping off my hair on a whim. 

*believes that giving back is the most important thing a person can do. 

What kind of girl are you? 

Must have will power!

If there is one thing that you should know about me, it's that I know how to spend. Because let's face it, I live by the mantra of Carrie Bradshaw:

Except my closet is my entire house, and mostly made up of electronic items, furniture, and THEN clothes. I do actually have a ton of clothes.   And these last few weeks have been rough on me! This girl got her tax returns back and has been trying her hardest not to spend it all! But then the miracle known as Blogcation magically appeared.  And now I save. And avoid my favorite stores like the black plague.  And take my little brother shopping with me at Walmart, partially to use his discount and then he is good at talking me out of stuff. Plus it's Walmart, and I only shop there out of desperation and the need for dog food.   Although here are the top 5 things I almost spent it on. 
1) A trip to Target:  Let me just say, I do not leave Target with a total under $50. EVER! I buy the most random stuff, and always buy things that I do not need. ALWAYS! Target is pretty much my form of crack. This e-card is pretty much the entire truth. 

2) A new iPad or Kindle Fire HDX:  This one was hard, yet easy to talk myself out of. I really, REALLY want a new iPad mini, and the Kindle Fire HDX was looking so pretty as well. I literally watched 20 youtube reviews on both and priced them out before I was able to talk myself out of it. I figured that I didn't use my current first generation iPad enough in the past three years to warrant the purchase of a newer one. Although the inner apple nerd in me is screaming, I know that as soon as I buy it the newest thing will come out. 
3) A Smart TV:  This varies from your normal run of the mill HDTV. Smart TV's are the beautiful creatures that are all ready to connect to all of your fantastic streaming media accounts like Netflix, Hulu, and HBOgo. I am still working on saying no to this one for right now, although it is on my 26 by 26 list. 
4) Random Items to Clutter My House with:  The list includes a George Foreman Grill, a personal smoothie maker, thousands of books, cool speakers for my iPhone, random things that I would by from Target, clothes, a new pet, several different photo printers, and a rather large amount of food that I would otherwise not actually eat. 
5) A trip to Ikea:  My most recent let down, and still a slight possibility is a trip to Ikea. Although I never really spend money in Ikea, it is always so hard for me to say no. And I feel that right now I am in a weak frame of mind that would only cause me to buy things that I don't really need but really want. Le sigh!  But now I have to stick to the budgets and avoid the cardigan isle at Target. Because now I have to now save for my vacation. Stay strong my friends, stay strong. 

Fan Girl Freakout: G.O.T.

*Please pardon the complete nerd moment that I am about to have.*
O.M.FREAKING.G!!!

New Game of Thrones trailer! Could this week GET ANY BETTER!!!! Seriously, fan-freaking-tastic! I am so ready for the new season to start. Only 47 more days.

Meanwhile enjoy.

Anyone else excited or is it just me? 

A REAL LIVE VACATION!

First off I would like to thank Erin from Two Thirds Hazel for putting this together and being the criminal mastermind behind the scenes! Honestly, I have helped put together events for maybe 11-12 people but not hundreds! You are by far my favorite person ever! 
And for all of you who are questioning what I am applauding her for... SHAME ON YOU for not following her blog and there, in turn reading about the big surprise that is known as the Blogcation! If you would like to see what I am talking about then head over here and then here, and get all of the details. If you already know what I am talking about then you can agree that this is TOTALLY AWESOME! 

For me, this means a real live vacation. One that I cannot work on, because frankly if I have internet the only thing I am using it for is to send pictures to the poor people that will be buried in snow next January. All while I sit on the beach or boat deck drinking fruity drinks with little pink umbrellas in them. 
So here we go! My deposit is paid, I paid for the ticket to the conference already, I am almost done with my budget planning, a vacation request went to my boss, AND I have already racked up to-do's on wunderlist with deadlines.  Can you tell I am excited?!!! 

So pretty! 

Office Olympics: Week One Recap

A friday or two ago, I posted how my office was doing our own Office Olympics. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but I live for competition. This year I could not participate because I am the person who thought of all of the ideas and put the games together. Therefore I became one of the judges and the master of how it all runs. 
This last week we focused on two major games: archery and swivel chair curling. Since I live in Arizona where the highs for all last week was 89 degrees, it was really hard to find sports that we can do that are related to the winter Olympics. Each team chose a name and made a banner. 

So we ended up with Team Pina Coladas, Team Las Gringas, Team Relo, and Team USA. 

For both archery and swivel chair curling we only allowed two members of the team to participate at a time. 
Enjoy the antics of my office! 

If you work at an office, what do you do for fun? 

The time I became a man

No it's not what you think, I did not magically decide to become a physical male. But I did do a manly thing yesterday. 
So I left work early (ssshhhh) and headed out to the AutoZone on my way home. Now that in itself takes a lot of guts since I was all kinds of semi girly today. Even the cashiers second guessed me. Honestly, they didn't help me so they should keep there judgy judgerson looks to themselves. But I found all of the things I needed and $90 later I was on my way home. Aaaannnnndddd theeennn..... I CHANGED MY BRAKES! Mostly by myself because I have super tiny hands and can get to the bolts pretty easily. It actually was much easier than I has thought. The hardest part was remembering my left from my right. And then you have to remember it backwards! I mean come on! 
But I managed to snap a picture of our progress, after I got the first casing off. My grandpa stared at me like I was nuts so enjoy it. 

And then I supervised my grandpa changing the oil, mostly because he wouldn't let me try that one by myself. But still my Holly the Honda got a little TLC. 
And then I proceeded to scarf down some Alfredo, and a sleeve of thin mints. 
Don't judge. 

FanGirl Freak Out: Teen Wolf

WHY?!!!??? WHY DO THEY WANT TO KILL ME??? My STILES!  Anyone else having this problem?? Opening scene and my Stiles in already in trouble. And after last week, I am really having a problem with the writers.  So brief little summary, and hopefully I do not give up too much. Scott is woken up with a phone call from a frantic Stiles, he cannot move his foot, cold, bleeding, and there is someone with him. Then the search begins for my dear, dear Stiles. And we include Derek *insert girly screams here*. Lydia starts hearing voices, and being a banshee she has the power to hear such, but this episode goes a little overboard. Stiles is finally found (thank god), but now we know that he has an incurable form of dementia. But then the creep that was with him before gave him a riddle, while Stiles was dreaming.  Everyone has one, but nobody can lose it. 
Have you guessed it yet? Comment and give me the answer!     I am pretty proud that Lydia has kinda become this banshee bad ass though. I still think Scott needs to grow his alpha juevos, or take some training with Derek. His alpha skills are really lacking. 

Caramel Machiatto Cheesecake

So if you love coffee and LOVE dessert, you need to try this cheesecake. I made it last friday for our potluck and received glowing reviews and literally had non left over. I felt bad for the poor little carrot cake that only had a sliver taken. 
Step One: go to Starbucks and order a Venti Iced Quad, Extra Caramel, Caramel Machiatto for inspiration. 
Ingredients:  Crust:  2 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 tablespoons white sugar  1/2 cup of melted butter
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the gram cracker crumbs, sugar and butter together until it is well combined.  From there take your 9" springform pan and spray it with a nonstick cooking spray. Take the crumbs and press them into the bottom of the pan and at least 1" up the sides. Bake for 8 minutes, and then set aside to cool.     Batter: 3 (8oz) packages of softened cream cheese 1 cup white sugar  3 eggs 1(8oz) container of sour cream  1/4 cup brewed espresso or dark roast coffee  2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 
First Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.  Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. (Words from the wise, make sure the cram cheese is pretty soft.) Gradually add in the one cup of sugar. Add one egg at a time (or if you don't read the directions right like me, all three at the same time) beating them in well after each addition. Then stir in your sour cream and Vanilla. Then brew your coffee, I used my Keurig and did the smallest cup so that it had a stronger brew. Add the 1/4 cup coffee. take your batter and add it to your crust. 
Bake cheesecake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. When your timer goes off turn the oven off and open the oven door. DO NOT Take the cheesecake out yet, let it sit in there for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow it to cool to room temperature. Run a knife around the edges, and then wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 8 hours. 
Toppings:  Caramel Sauce  Whipped cream 
Add toppings to taste.
In the end you should have one of the best cheesecakes you have ever had in your life. You're Welcome! 

Let the Office Olympics BEGIN!!

FRIDAAAAYYY!!!!! OH my goodness it could not come quick enough. This week started off rough, and slowly it has gotten better. But friday, friday is my best friend. It's sweet, kind, and fun. It sounds like I am having a love affair with friday huh? Well good, because I am. 
Today starts the beginning of our First Winter Office Olympics. We will start off today with our opening ceremony and then go into Monday with swivel chair curling. Be prepared for that excitement and posting!!! 
Well I am starting a new linkup, my first link up! And what am I going to do? #backthatazzup with some country. I have been on a huge country kick lately. And this song, it is by a pretty darn handsome man. 
Y'all enjoy Bottoms Up by Brantley Gilbert. Hope it gets stuck in your head like it has mine.  

Chowin' Down in China Town

Well I didn't exactly go to China Town, but I sure did chow down! Now Chinese food is not my favorite genre of food by any means, but when I get a hankering for it nothing sounds better. Last night.... Well let's just say that I spent an obscene amount on a massive amount of food that will feed my happy butt for the rest of the week.

Now the special part of last night is that I didn't leave my house to get said Chinese food. THEY DELIVERED! Can I get a WOOT WOOT?? I am not stuck in snow, but once I get home there is really no ambition for me to leave. Plus the Originals was on last night, and I needed to watch the chaos that unfolded with my poor, poor Elijah.

Well any ways, I ended up buying three different meals. Orange Chicken (A MUST), beef and broccoli, Beef Lo Mein (because I have never had it), and Chicken Fried Rice.

Through out the hour that it took me to eat said food, I literally just sampled a little bit of everything. I LOVED the Lo Mein, but everything else was sub par. I hate it when that happens.  But the best part is always the fortune cookie, because it is always interesting to see what your "fortune" is. Mine? Well I HAD TWO!!!

Now who wants to send me a cheerful message??

Moral of this story, well if you ever want mass amounts of food, let me order for you.

Lost It

I have been trying to keep my cool. I have been doing my best to let things go and not get worked up about a situation. Today I failed.

I am a member of two committees, not for my company but for our sister company. We sit in the same office, and I have been involved with both committees since they began. One committee is strictly for community outreach and trying to help small businesses and non profits that try to do more for our local community and for the Phoenix Area.  The other committee focuses on the company culture and the employees. We do the fun things like set up happy hours, potlucks, games, contests, and birthdays. We strive to make our office a more fun place to be at.

I do not need to be a member in either committee. I am not an employee. I only take up a corner of the office. I choose to be a member. I choose to take the time out of my day and my own time to come up with ideas for these events.

Today, we had a meeting to discuss the culture, and upcoming events for the month. We wanted to do a bbq, and decided to do office olympics. I took time out of MY weekend to put together ideas, look up games, type it all out, ect. But when I got to the meeting and tried to explain why and what I wanted to do, all of a sudden what I was trying to do, was not going to be approved by others.

I heard nothing but "well I wouldn't do that." and "I don't have time to put that much effort into this." Any solution that I tried to come up with was shot down instantaneously. I was being cut off and attacked.

I lost it.

I started to raise my voice. I started to say mean and impolite comments. And the idea that I worked so hard to come up with and put together was suddenly no longer mine. People played the whoa is me card, claiming that they had more to do than others, and throwing the rest of us under some form of bus. And I didn't take their shit. Because that is what it was, shit.

A part of me wants to bow out and quit these committees. I after all am not an employee, and I have a lot on my own plate. But at the same time, it would physically kill me if either of these committees were to fail.

But I made a promise to myself to let these things go and not to get worked up about them. And if this was any representation of what the year is going to look like; I will not mentally be able to do it.
I am hoping that a good nights sleep and some time to clear my head will allow me to reconsider everything and remember why I wanted to be in these committees in the first place.

Thank you for listening.