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?

Friday Favorites

Halloween AND Friday??! Doesn't get much better than that! I'm taking my friend's daughter trick or treating and then heading to a Halloween party. I didn't dress up for work today because #aintnobodygottimefordat. Other good stuff going on: 

I got my certification from my training conference in Denver!

I delivered my first training at work. I was so nervous, but I think it went really well!

My friend from high school is getting married this weekend and I can't wait! I'm so happy for her. Now I just gotta figure out what I'm wearing... eek!

Speaking of what to wear, I *finally* figured out what to be for Halloween... talk about the last minute! Can't wait to share it with you on Monday!

Favorite Song: I Won't Let You Down - OK GO

Favorite Quote: 

Funnies:

Happy Hallo-Friday peeps!

Superstitions

With Halloween being tomorrow, and having done nothing Halloween related whatsoever, I figured I might as well try to get in the spirit by sharing some superstitions. I have to say I didn't really think I was very superstitious until I started writing these out, but I definitely follow all of these. 

1. I won't put my purse on the floor- it means your money will run away

2. Walking under a ladder, having a black cat cross my path, breaking a mirror- all bad luck! I try to avoid all of these like the plague.

3. If there is a wish fountain, you can guarantee I'm throwing in my two cents and making a wish.

4. I'll never make a wish on a stray eyelash. I used to do this, but I found that the opposite of whatever I wished for would happen.

5. Bad things come in 3's.

6. If you spill salt, throw it over your left shoulder. I heard it has something about throwing it in the Devil's eyes or avoiding evil.

7. If a bird poops on you, it's good luck.

8. If you have a dream and clearly see a number (or numbers), you should play the lottery.

9. Obviously I never tell anyone my wish; that's just silly.

10. Do not open umbrellas indoors, particularly in my presence. I will close it. It's bad luck!

11. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: I will definitely be following this on my wedding day.

12. If I see a penny, I'll only pick it up if it's head's up.

13. I will always knock on wood, and wish upon shooting stars.

14. Friday the 13th is unlucky. I don't know why, but I'm not planning on making any big changes or doing anything out of the norm on this day. In fact, anything related to the #13 is unlucky in my book.

15. Eat black eyed peas on New Years Day for good luck.

16. I won't talk about something if I think it went well, like an interview, because I don't want to jinx it.

17. If your right eye twitches, something bad is going to happen. 

18. If the palm of your hands itch, you will come into money. 

19. If your left ear rings, someone is talking badly about you.

20. If you bite your tongue, someone is talking about you.

Need some more things to be superstitious about? Here's a super long list, most of which I've (luckily) never heard of! Want to see how you measure up? Buzzfeed's got you covered. 

Do you have any superstitions? 

Confessions: Dealbreakers

So last week Kathy announced that she was no longer going to do the Confessions linkup. This made me sad because I found a lot of great blogs through it, but I understand that there must come a time for all good things to come to an end. While I may understand that, this list was already drafted, so you get at least one more confess sesh. 


Did you ever have a "wish list" of what you would want in a significant other? I remember making them up with my friends when we were younger, and having ridiculous requirements like "must be 6'0"" or "must love dogs" (actually, that one still applies). What I mean is that they were never real deal breakers in a potential relationship. Now that I'm single and looking, there are certain aspects that I certainly keep an eye out for. I don't expect to find someone with all of these traits because no one is perfect, but these are some qualities that are important to me: 

Taller than me: I'm 5'2", this should not be hard

Reader: I read, so it would be nice if you do as well; we don't need to read the same things, but an interest in reading would be a plus

Cooks: because I can't very well

Tips waitstaff: this is just common courtesy

Funny/silly/makes me laugh

Tummy rubs (only during shark week)

Caring/no cheating (didn't know this had to be stated, but I don't want to leave anything out)

Wise with money

Protective (not to be confused to possessive)

Likes to travel: I love to travel; having someone else who likes to travel and enjoys exploring other cultures/cities would be a definite plus

Passionate

No kids preferred

Able to communicate effectively/easy to talk to

Willing to go out of comfort zone

Gets along w my friends and mom: I didn't realize how important this one was until my last relationship. If you cannot get along with my friends and/or have no interest in meeting the most important people in my life, you don't belong there 

College educated

Steady job

yes, yes, and yes!

Did you ever/do you have a list?