Just Fry’d… Just Quit

Soooo….I quit my job on Monday.  Planned my outfit around pitting out, wore the highest heels to out dress my stress, and walked right in there and slid my resignation letter across the table. Right on time, my body began to shake…starting with my hands and then slowly radiating down to my ankles so I had to keep my hands in my lap and stare straight ahead. (fyi – also a successful deterrent for tears)  All grown up and still crying at work – nice one.

I had known about quitting for a whole week (while I was on vacation no less – which was awesome) so I built the quitting up – role played, rehearsed, wrote it down, discussed possible scenarios…and it all went to shit.  I couldn’t get my words out and ended up handing in my resignation all indignantly without so much as a “Thanks anyway!” let alone a grandiose Jerry Maquire speech! #Quitfail As predicted, they are upset and now we have the pleasure of working alongside each other for the next 2 weeks (darn that professional convention!) and riding out the waves.

Onward and upward though, ay?  (Have I mentioned I was vacationing in Canada?)

I used to be scared of having free time, which therefore made me a workaholic.  I always figgured – staying at work was better than being depressed and sitting alone in our apartment.  Since the hubster works nights at a shmancy restaurant, that leaves little ‘ol me all by myself.  Quick sidenote: I dont know why i am always alone in the dark when i think about me home by myself.  We have lights.  I usually turn them all on upon returning home since we don’t pay for electricity…I should really correct that mental image. Regardless, there was a period back there in February, (aren’t Northeast February’s the worst?) where the sheer thought of being home alone would result in “oh whoa is me” tears.  Now instead I have “oh whoa is me tears” about being alone at work…(problems, I have them.)

ANYWHO – but now with a new job on the horizon for me and eventually for the hubster I feel so much more in control of my home life.  In fact, I have all these grand plans of what I am going to do with my newly found spare time:

• Go to Yoga 3 x’s a week
• Start a book club
• Make dinner
• BLOG!
• Read
• Watch senseless TV
• Take Smelly Fat Face (dog) for walk
• Paint toenails

Really though, the above assumes I am going to miraculously break my workaholic ways and become this efficient, time-managed, cares-just-enough-to-get-it-done machine… which lets be honest… probs won’t happen.  ((Sigh)) …Bye taking S.F.F for a walk, and reading, and yoga…typically the activities that are better for me are usually the first to go.  Helloooo “Say Yes to the Dress” marathon!

On the up side…check out the super cute dress I got for my first day at school…er…work:

Tucker Side Ruffle Dress from Piperlime

Anyone else have a really difficult time quitting?  Please tell me I’m not alone in my professional cowardness (cowardess?)

Tags: Dress, Northeast, quit, Quitfail, restaurant

Hi, my name is Moya….

Yayyyyy happy new year everyone!  Wanna know how I chose to ring in the new year?  By throwing up on the subway in my husband’s hands.  Yeah.  Made worse (yes, worse) by the fact that he asked me to not “get like that” before we left.   (Me: “get like what?” HC: ((that look)) “you know…”)  I was embarrassed because apparently as a 26-year-old I needed a reminder to behave myself, but now, obviously, I am way more embarrassed.  And then this morning, (oh god, the morning) …but he’s such a good guy, such a nice, great guy (I loooooove you) that he wasn’t even mad.  (Well, okay, he was mad but not yell-y mad, just very disappointed).  And now he’s at work and I’m alone and hungover on the couch, thinking about what a disaster I am. At 26.

I once read a magazine article about the number of drinks you can have before your night is destined to get ugly.  I don’t remember the details (ha ha) but apparently after 4 or so drinks you lose your ability to stop control curb your drinking.  Welllllll I can check that off my to do list.  Makes sense I guess, lowered inhibitions = “lemmejusgitanudderoneathesehere(hiccup)drink…things…”

I would swear off drinking, but let’s face it… that’s not going to happen, plus the challenge is CONTROL.  I would say I’m “never going to get like that again” but it’s not like I WANTED to throw up in the head chef’s hands.  In all honesty, I tried really hard to be in control, i ate a carb-y meal, I obeyed the liquor before beer rule…well, that’s it.  But STILL!  I think what’s really going on here is that I can’t drink like I did in college.  I’m not just talking about the sheer number of drinks, but also how my body handles it (throwing up? really? apparently… yes.)  It’s not my first run-in with drinking too much either.  In the last 6 months, my co-worker boss had to come all the way to Brooklyn in a cab to potentially bail me out of jail for not being able to pay my own cab fare (I left my purse at the bar and the cab driver wouldn’t take my gym shoes as collateral… they were only Target brand).  At our company christmas party, I threw up in my coat (and only discovered it the next day).  And my other co-worker says he can’t remember a time when he shared a cab with me when I wasn’t passed out and why don’t I just go ahead and give him my address now while I’m still awake.

So what’s a girl to do?  Add “acting like an adult when I drink” to my resolutions of course:

1. Be a good friend
2. Be thankful for what I have, and for the people I love
3. Act like an adult when drinking

p.s. I’m making lightof this, but honestly… somethin’s gotta change and something WILL change. (Right after this drink. JUST KIDDING.)  I am hoping that by writing about my problem, I can realize how BAD this behavior is, and after seeing my many offenses written out, I will be inspired to change. Cheers 2011.

Crafty McCraftersons Saturday

It is COOOOOLDD outside!  Which actually is kind of nice since it’s December (BTW – how is it’s December already?!).  But, it’s hard to get in the Christmas spirit unless your bundled to the nines in a scarf, hat, and gloves, so, thank you North East weather… we’ve officially arrived.

Speaking of cold, we were filming a TV commercial in Union Square yesterday (fancy!) so I got my fair share of cold weather.  They were passing out those warming packs like candy, but for some reason the two I stuck in my boots never got hot.  Instead, they just got stuck under my toes… which had turned into small rocks at the end of my feet. OUCH.  I got to leave work early though, which was good because it was the only day the Head Chef had off all week, so I got to spend more time with him.

Needless to say, I wasn’t much in the mood for being cold today, but I had errands to run (#mylifeishard).  My sister got engaged at the end of October (what! what!) and her engagement party is in 2 weeks and I am in charge of decorations.  She is going with a mitten theme and I wanted to make some mitten-bunting like I saw other savvy brides making for their wedding (example here: http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/06/07/diy-wedding-bunting-flags/)

Bundled for the chilly weather

So I braced myself (and the tiny doggy) against the cold, and after a quick stop at Urban Outfitters (to get a sparkly t-shirt…totally necessary) I went to the craft store and I got:

• Red, green and white felt
• White yarn-y string stuff
• Gold glitter glue
• TIIIINY clothespins
• Doilies

Crafty 'ngredients

Not to toot my own horn, but while I can’t cook for beans… crafts, I can do.  I always loved art class growing up and seem to have a pretty creative side, so I was really looking forward to starting this project.  As quickly as I could I hopped on the subway home, “bing’d” the Tea kettle, and turned on Fa-la-la-la-lifetime and got to work!

1. Cut mitten shape

2. Decorate with glitter glue

3. Laid them out to dry

4. Voila!

Anyone have any other DIY Christmas crafts?  We haven’t decorated our (leak-free!) apartment yet, and I’d like to make it a little more festive.

Tags: Bunting, Christmas decoration, crafts, DIY, Do it yourself, glitter glue, Union Square

Killing bugs is tough, but somebody’s gotta do it…

Yesterday, after a really long day at work (hence no blogging… sorrryyyyy), I was all cozy in my PJ’s and headed into bed with my iPad to read and what do I see when I turn on the lights? A HUGE silverfish bug. (I would insert a picture in here, but really, they make my neck crawl so I think google searching an image would be a bad idea.)  Anyway, it was crawling up the wall right by the door… GROSS.  So I ran into the wardrobe room (I can explain this later), grabbed one of the Head Chef’s shoes, ran back, and… it was gone. dis.ap.peared.  So I gave the wall a few warning hits to scare him off and then left the shoe there as a warning that I meant business (grr).

Needless to say, i slept with one eye open and by the time the head chef got home I was fast asleep, but a little shaken up:

Head Chef: “Hey I’m Home”

Me: “Silver. Fish. I brought…shoe…”

HC: “What’s wrong?”

Me: “BUUUUUUG”

HC: “Alright, calm down, the silverfish isn’t coming to get you.”

Why do I bring this up other than to rally the troops against a mutual hatred of silverfish bugs? Because I have a serious question – who does the chores in your house?  With the Head Chef at work while I’m awake, and he’s awake when… well, only silverfish are awake… these things usually fall to me: Grocery shopping, cooking dinner, walking doggie, and yes, killing bugs.

Most of the time, I don’t mind.  Growing up, I was definitely the messy kid, but somewhere between high school and Freshman year in college I took a right turn at presentable.  So, even though I’ll opt to wash dishes over make them, windex like nobody’s business, and can de-sticky the floor (hey, I said presentable, not immaculate) I will not clean a bathroom.  It seems that, no matter how much I scrub, with whatever cleaning products and tools I have it is still dirty (weird, for a place where we are cleanest).  And no matter what, there is, and always will be, hair on the ground.

After we got married, some things (like cleaning), had a natural division – I’ll do this, you do that.  What gets tricky are the other not-fun things you’re supposed to share once you’re married: paying bills, making dinner, doing laundry and killing bugs. For me, being the psycho type-A, independent person that I am, I cannot ask someone to help me.  Even more annoying, I have this pesky alarm clock pop-up reminder in my head – do laundry. do laundry. do laundry. buy groceries. wash dishes… so I end up doing them all myself.  Then, inevitably I get so burned out and frustrated, that, “ugh no one is, like, helping me!” that I freak out, have a massive breakdown and the Head Chef has to pull me back to reality and offer to help fix whatever I’ve gone on strike about.

courtesy of icanhazcheeseburger.com

So I ask, how do you split chores?  Are we “doin’ it wrong” and there’s supposed to be a natural division of these things? Does one person just have to suck it up or do we have to create a chore chart? ((please don’t say chore chart)).

Tags: chores, cleaning, killing bugs

Ye Olde Cyber Monday

At this point in my job, I’m used to going along with made up dates that “make a good PR story”.  For example, I’m okay with pushing a recycling contest during Earth day/week/month despite the fact that I flew to Miami, drove an air-conditioned SUV to the school, and took an extra long hot shower at my hotel.

What I can’t seem to figurr out is what the heck Cyber Monday is!  Originally, I thought it was the online sister to Black Friday. So, instead of waking up in the middle of the night to go buy $4 toasters (seriously, were you eeking out the old one, suffering through bad toast, just waiting for them to go on sale?) …anyway, on Cyber Monday maybe you can shop in your pj’s right from the comfort of your own…oh crap, it’s on a Monday?!  Well that’s no fun.

Courtesy of Daily World Buzz

Well this year, on Ye Olde Cyber Monday, we executed a “feel good” campaign for our client to raise awareness and help New Yorkers (sorry I can’t go into more details).  That doesn’t sound like buying $4 toasters to me… so maybe Cyber Monday is more about teaching smart internet habits (I sound like a dentist commercial).  Such as stopping cyber bullying, and identity theft, and stupid daily 12:00pm sales where they never have your size and everything left at 12:05pm is always ugly…

Regardless of what it’s supposed to mean, I don’t appreciate my email inbox flooding with everything from Fresh Direct to Verizon telling me to take advantage of Cyber Monday deals.  I took great pride in unsubscribing from all kinds of eNewsletters today, only to be inevtiably and unwittingly re-subscribed when I shop online for a christmas present.  But I have to wonder, is this how Valentine’s Day started?  A totally bogus holiday that was talked about so much that people started to put it in their calendars as a reminder to send an e-card?  Just let me know when I should be offended for not receiving flowers.

Anyone have any clue as to what Cyber Monday is?  Any good ideas on how to celebrate it?

Stuffed with Peppers

After the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s back to reality.  The Head Chef is at work today (16+ hours) which means I was all alone and desperate for something to do with my time.  So, after reading a few blogs I decided on “Baked Stuffed Peppers” from the Food Comas blog. I braced myself against the cold (a chilly 45 degrees) and headed to the grocery store.

I have a secret confession to make – I love grocery shopping.  I just put on my giant Bose headphones and go up and down the aisles imagining all the great food I could eat (assuming I was in any way decent as a cook).  I like comparing prices and picking the best bang for our buck.  I tend to spend a good amount of time in the grocery store and today was no exception.  After touring the aisles for an inordinate amount of time, I also thought I could forego delivery and make the 6+ block walk home… BIG MISTAKE.  My fingers were throbbing after one block and I was singing “You can do it, just ___ more to go” every couple steps.

But I made it!

I slipped in to my trusty cooking slippers and turned on the latest Glee Christmas Album (no judgements) and commenced to cooking…

Step 1: Cut and Hollow Peppers

Step 2: Brown meat and herbs

Step 3: Stuff Peppers

The peppers were delicious (Thanks Food Comas!)  but before I left for the grocery store, I asked the Head Chef if he wanted anything.  There’s kind of a running joke between us that whenever we ask that question, whether it’s for Starbucks, the Grocery Store, or the book store we respond “Yeah, something good” which means the person in the store has the burden of picking something “good” out.

Well, I was inspired in the grocery store to make him some “good” homemade bread… how hard could it be, right?!  I got the recipe from “Lisa’s food on the move” which seemed easy enough: flour + yeast + water + salt + oven = warm fresh bread.  Not so much.  I could have made a wrong turn at the  ”rapid rise” vs. “active dry” yeast… or maybe it was the bread flour vs. the all purpose flour I used, or it also could’ve been the fact that i forgot to add salt… (I never said I was a good cook!) but I ended up with a pudding-looking, hard as a rock, salt-less… carbohydrate.

FAIL

Anyone have any good bread making tips or knowledge on different kind of yeasts?  Bread may have won this time, but next time, I will prevail!

Tags: Bread, Glee, Grocery Store, Starbucks, Stuffed Pepper, Yeast

The Good News and Bad News

Hi my name is Moya and I’ve been a bad blogger.  I swear I have an excuse!  It all started a week ago when I was headed to the airport to fly to Seattle for what was then… a 2-day, 26-hour meeting (more on that later).  I was sitting with the rest of my co-workers waiting to board and all of a sudden my throat was on FIRE.  No big deal, I ran to the nearest Hudson News and picked up from drowsy Alka-seltzer “Cold” Meds (delicious).  Popped 2 in my complimentary water (yeah, thanks American) and I was out like a light.

Fast forward to the end of our 6+ hour flight and I have NO voice!  Then I started panicking because I wasn’t going to be much of an asset with no voice in all the meetings we had lined up.  I popped 2 more Alka-seltzer and slept with my fingers crossed.

Well, the good news is… I woke up and I had a voice (yay!) But, as my co-workers and I sat through each presentation it started snowing, and snowing HARD.  So, later that night, as we were enjoying our delicious edible flatbread pizza in the hotel restaurant, we got a call that out our 2nd day of meetings had been cancelled.  After a quick call to the travel agency, the bad news hit…the first flight we could get out of Seattle was at 1:15 the next afternoon.  That meant more Alka-seltzer and another dreamless night (I know, hold on to your pants this is exciting stuff).

The next day, we all woke up early.  One, because we were anxious to take advantage of the fantastic complimentary hotel breakfast, but also we wanted to get the hell to the airport to make sure we didn’t get stuck on the snowy roads.  As we were enjoying our breakfast, the news was talking about how much snow fell, there was round-the-clock coverage of traffic, school closings, and one of the newscasters was even giving a real-time tour of seattle from the front seat of his SUV to give viewers a look at the road conditions.  Except… “conditions” was a stretch.  There was only two and a half inches of snow on the ground!  C’mon Seattle, I thought you were better than that.

Actual Seattle Photo (Thanks DJ Stellar Life!)

Needless to say, there was no trouble on the roads, and we got to the airport in just over a half an hour.  Which was great, except we were now THREE hours early for our flight.  And cue me at Hudson News (again) buying playing cards, magazines, water, and chocolate.  The hours actually passed pretty quickly, and soon it was time to move from sitting in the airport lounge to sitting for 5 hours in a cramped chair a bajillion miles in the air.  Oh the excitement of it all!  I did get the link from our photographer for our wedding photographer so that helped pass the time, I’ll share some tomorrow!)

Long story short, we finally landed in New York, sniffles and all, and it was time to head home and get some rest for work the next day.  I was still feeling pretty lousy and developing a pretty nifty chest cough but headed i anyway nto work.  It was the day before Thanksgiving so things were pretty quiet, especially because I forgot my work computer at home (Doh!) No matter, I still made it through the day and headed out at 5pm to get ready for Turkey day tomorrow!

Sorry for the long (almost) pictureless-post more exciting stuff to come…promise.

Tags: airport, Alka-Seltzer, cough, New York, Seattle, snow, Thanksgiving