An Epic Weekend

I can't believe it's Monday already! I think I say this most Mondays but this one was filled to the brim with lots of fun times and I though I'm exhausted, it was great to see so many people that I haven't seen in a while.

Thursday:
This weekend was the 150th Rivalry game of my alma mater, and it was being held right here at Yankee Stadium (how cool is that?!). One of the best parts is that lots of people flew in and/or came here for the game. Unfortunately I didn't get a ticket, because when I was originally asked, it was right after my grandpa had passed away and the following shitstorm, and I really couldn't focus on a game at that time. One of my closest friends was flying in from California though, and came a day early just to hang out with me. He wanted to eat "something Jerseyan," so I promptly took him to the nearest diner. After filling up, we went out for some pool and drinks. It was so great to catch up with someone who knows me so well, someone who I could just be with, I didn't have to be on. Does that make sense? Either way, it was great to catch up, especially since I haven't seen him in about 3-4 years.

#trainstationselfies

Friday:
Friday night was spent with Blue, pizza, beer, and a mini-John Hughes/Molly Ringwald marathon. I finally saw "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink." I have to say, I think my expectations were a little too high for the former. This may be due to Beca's reaction in "Pitch Perfect;" I was definitely not close to tears. I really liked "Pretty in Pink" though. Overall, it was a perfect Friday night. #homebody

Blue attacking me in a Darth Vader mask, because why not?

Saturday: 

Saturday was pretty lazy, and time to catch up with myself from the prior couple of (super) late nights. After relaxing and some errands, I headed out to a friend's birthday party at Barcade. I had actually heard a lot about how cool this place was, and suggested it for the party, so I'm really glad they chose to have it here! Also, I hadn't seen one of my bffs in about 2 months (at least), so it was great to finally hang out. 

shots, fun times, and Seattle

the ladies

group shot

I may have mentioned this before, but I am severely directionally challenged. So when my friend Seattle picked me up and handed me his phone and told me to navigate to Barcade, I had to admit this. I don't think he realized just how bad I was though until we missed not one, but several, turns. Luckily, he didn't get mad. Instead, he nicknamed me "Chewie" from Star Wars. I think he even changed my name to that in his phone. He sent me this pic yesterday, and I literally lol'ed. (And of course we then played the Star Wars game at the bar.)

Han Solo and Chewbacca

Sunday:

I was up fairly early to meet up with some more college friends for brunch, but they were pretty banged up from the day before. Instead, I headed out to NYC with my mom to visit my great aunts. They are not doing so great, but I'm really glad I got a chance to see them. 

It really was an epic weekend, and I'm so grateful I got to see so many people. I'm also really grateful that it's a 2-day work week. Woohoo! 

So, how was your weekend? 

What's Your Agenda?

This weekend was pretty tame. Friday night I was supposed to have a girls night in, but my friend cancelled on me last minute. I really didn't mind, since I wanted to relax and prep for a date on Saturday. However even if I stay in, I seem to get into trouble. I spent a good portion of the evening apologizing and trying to explain to a new friend that I'm not into women. And then I felt bad, even though she knew this from the beginning.

Saturday I realized that I work much better with a schedule. I don't know how this happened- I used to hate schedules and routines, but it's true. My date was supposed to be at 7:30, but he cancelled around 3. Womp womp. I sat around thinking of all the stuff I should be doing, but was just kind of bummed and did a whole lot of nothing. I was really excited to be going out, especially since I knew (via FB) that RJ would be nearby (his sister's bf's bday was that night at the local bar), and I didn't want to be home in case he stopped by all drunk and dramatic. I was invited to the party too, but figured I wouldn't go since he was going to be there. But then I decided to throw caution to the wind. I figured if he showed up, I would just leave. And wouldn't you know, he didn't even come. I had a great night out with friends, and was so happy that I decided to just do me and not worry too much about him.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, except I actually accomplished some things. And then I went out to watch the Eagles get destroyed (seriously though, what WAS that?!). So I'm sitting there, minding my own business, and this older guy comes and sits next to me. I've seen him a bunch of times, so I'm friendly. We're just talking about the game, and all of a sudden he gets all serious.

He's like, "Can I ask you a question? What's your agenda?"
me: "I don't have one."
him: "Everyone has an agenda. What's yours? And if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?
me: "I'm 30. And I really don't have an agenda."
him: "I'm 54. I mean, I've seen you here a bunch of times. I usually sit back and people watch, I'm an observer. So I guess I'm wondering, why do you come here?"
me: "Well, I like it here. No one bothers me. And it's close, has every football game, and cheap beer."
him: "Huh. Ok. Every time I see you, you just seem so in control of everything. You act more like a 54 year old woman. I don't mean anything disrespectful. I was just wondering. You seem like a good person."

I thanked him and left. I was on my way out anyway. The whole conversation just seemed odd to me. and made me think. I literally went, watched the game and had a beer, and left. And that was because I had been in my apartment all day and just wanted to get out a little bit. I'm confused. Why can't I just like to go somewhere? Why do I have to have an agenda?

Has something like this ever happened to you? 

Friday's Letters//Gratitude

Dear TJMaxx: Thank you for having your lingerie section in the back of the store, thereby forcing me to walk past your shoe section. And thank you for having my new favorite boots!

Steve Madden- Troopa

Dear Mom: Thank you for buying me said boots as an early birthday present. They are perfect! Also, thanks for letting me know the cleaners around the corner will do my laundry for $1/lb because lately #aintnobodygottimeforthat. 

Dear Boss: Thank you for being away at a conference all week, and not being all up my ass with emails asking if I took care of something/someone. 

Dear Christine/Blue Eyes: Thank you for taking me to dinner on Wednesday- it was delicious!

Dear "friend" on FB who I haven't spoken to in 10 years: Thank you for posting this song, and introducing me to a new-to-me artist. Samsaya - Stereotype

Happy Friday folks! What are your plans? 

Awesome Things// Friday Favorites

I got an 18/20 on my in class presentation!

finally got back into cooking and meal planning and so far, its going well.

I winterized my windows. It makes SUCH a difference. #oldlady

getting back into reading

Double fantasy football win!

finding new music. Especially this song: CHRVCHES- Dead Air

making new friends

a new space heater at work. because office temps are either boiling hot or freezing cold!

getting my money back from the asshats who hacked my bank account

low key weekends

Happy Friday!

Goals and Challenges and Things

October Recap:

Last month was a bit crazypants, and flew by. I only completed three of my 10 goals. Womp womp.

• Rock the Fall Bucket List: went to a concert, tried 4 new pumpkin ales, dressed up for Halloween, had a PSL (on Halloween- go me), put up fall decor, found booties, and aced my conference in Denver. Lucky for me, Winter doesn't start until Dec. 21st, so I still have time for some of the other goals! 
• catch up on ALL of my reading for class: CHECK! 
• blog (at least) twice a week (I think there was only one week when I missed this, and 2 weeks where I wrote 3 posts in a week, so I'm counting it!)

For November, I plan on taking a step back, refocusing, and reorganizing my life. 

November Goals: 

organize my life with the Choose Your Own Adventure challenge

start meal planning- already done for this week!

read two books - both of these are ready for pick up from the library and I'm very excited to read both of them!

cut the dang cable

weather strip all the windows- got the supplies, just need to get the hair dryer out

get a haircut? (I'm not sure I want to do this one anymore... still debating)

#NoSpendNovember (more on this below) 

The Wallet Watch

My Parameters:

- create new budget

- stick to budget / no unnecessary purchases

- track actual spending

- share the results on Wednesday, November 5

I did none of this. Honestly everything went all out of whack when my grandpa passed away and I had to take an unexpected and un-budgeted trip to PR. And then my back account got hacked. And then my damn bank refused to cash my paychecks and made me deposit them. So really, I've just been trying to keep my head above water over here. Hence #NoSpendNovember. My parameters will be the same. There are already a few events (birthdays/Christmas shopping/wardrobe refresh items) that I will buy that are budgeted for, but other than that I really want to see how much I save.

Choose your Own Adventure: Organize

I have yet to participate in one of Steph's "Choose Your Own Adventure" monthly goal link ups, but this month's theme is organization and that's one area of my life that could definitely use some work, so I'm jumping on board: 

1. Purge/change over clothes in closets
2. Clean out the other 3 closets of junk
3. Re-organize my file cabinet
4. Clean out my fridge (completed yesterday)
5. Clean out my computer. Old/broken files, repeat or songs I'm tired of, and allll the duplicate pictures. Harumph. MAJOR project. 
6. Clean out/update my phone. I haven't been able to update it since it has so much crap stored on it. Oops. 

Monster Mash and Matrimony- A Weekend Update

Oh hey Tuesday, nice of you to sneak up on me. After a whirlwind weekend, I'm just starting to get back into regularly scheduled programming. And since I'm not quite there yet, you get a lovely photo dump of my weekend!

There aren't many kids in my neighborhood, so instead of worrying about handing out candy, I went to a Halloween party. I dressed up as a "Freudian Slip." Quite appro for a former Psych major, no?! 

Me and Dan, the hot dog, pretending he didn't like me touching his buns!

My two lovely friends/bartenders, keeping the monster juice flowing all night long. 

Saturday was one of my best friend from high school's wedding. I couldn't make it to the ceremony (the ceremony and reception were held in 2 different towns with a 3 hour break in between), but the reception was beautiful and a ton of fun. 

Best friends from high school, 12 years later. Love these two. I also made a new friend. The bride had original put me at a different table, but since I was now single, I snuck into my other friend's table with his wife. The other guests seated were friends of the groom. When alcohol is flowing, I tend to get a little extra chatty. Turns out Blue (below) is actually neighbors with one of my coworkers who is in my work football fantasy league/happy hour crew. Small world! We actually made plans for tomorrow night, so that should be interesting. I think this pic most accurately describes our new friendship:

She said that the group hug/dance was "the gayest shit I've ever done. And I'm SUPER gay." Well, ok then!  Also, the wedding theme, appropriately being on The Day of the Dead, was skeletons.

They also had a photo booth. I know I've mentioned how much I love these in the past, and this one had the added joy of props!

After the party was the after party. Well not officially, but I knew some friends were at another Halloween party, so I headed there. In my formal dress. And rain boots. I'm classy like that. And the night ended ever so New Jersey at a diner. Nom. 

And Sunday was a day of errands and rest. Le sigh. How was your weekend? Anyone else still in recovery?