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.