Small Treasure Tuesday!

I'm totally thrown off this week, since I had yesterday off and I'm taking a personal day on Thursday before my last day at my current job on Friday...so, to me, it feels like Monday, but it's Tuesday.  And that's something to celebrate, especially by noting the treasures in your life through Small Tuesday Treasures with Chantel!

 

So my treasure this week?  Meeting goals, because, let's face it...when you can check something off your "to do" list, it makes you feel pretty good, right?

I'm happy to say that many of those goals are ones I set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year.   The first of those being to work a few of the many projects I have sitting there just waiting for me to complete them.  I sat down this last weekend and did a couple of pages in my engagement scrapbook, and I believe I have about four left before it's completely done!  And then, it's onto the wedding albums...(sigh...)


I also had an awesome Mary Kay party this last weekend.  It was only my third one ever and I managed to earn my biggest sales ever and I booked an additional party in February.  So yay for that!  I'm still not in the black just yet, but I feel pretty good about the accomplishments I made.  I look forward to keeping it up and seeing where this takes me.


 

I am proud to say that I was able to send out a total of seven letters to seven different people in honor of National Letter Writing Week.  I wasn't sure I could do it, but I managed to get all seven out.  I was humbled by the reaction I received, too.  Several people who received the cards emailed or wrote me back saying how much that handwritten note had made their day, and I've even made a new pen pal!  Chloe at My New Life as a Housewife!  I got a handwritten letter from her all the way from Seville, Spain, and by now, I hope she has gotten mine.  It was so much fun, and I can't wait to keep it up.


Lastly (and certainly not least) I am about to embark on a new adventure with my job...this Friday I will be saying good bye to a job that has given me many experiences (good and bad) and introduced me to some great coworkers and taught me a lot for the last two years....but it is time to move on.  I begin the new job next Monday, so this last week will be one full of excitement but a bittersweet one nonetheless.


Stop by Chantel's blog and see what other Small Treasures people have to share this week!  And, don't forget, the Motivation Monday meme is still up and the linky will be open until Saturday!

 

Motivation Monday!

Welcome to another week, folks, which means...what's that?  Another Motivation Monday! 


This week's Motivation?  Preparing for the butt kicking that will be happening to me on May 8th.  See, before the end of last year, T and I signed up to run (T) or walk (me) the mini-marathon in Indianapolis.  That's 13.1 miles, folks.  That's like the distance some people drive to work.  I'm walking that.  I'll be walking for like 4 hours that morning.  The rest of that day will be spent either in my bath or my bed. 


So we need to prepare for it, which means training.  T found an awesome program through a local running store where they meet weekly on Saturday mornings and train.  They have programs for walkers, runners (beginners, intermediate and advanced).  It'll be kind of nice because it'll force me to get up and do it, and I'll be walking with other people so I won't be lonely for those long miles.    For T, it'll be a good way to pace himself with other runners.  (Me, I tend to walk like speed demon.  I could probably use the pacing too).  The program starts this Saturday.   And the high tetemperature that day?  Oh, somewhere around 13 degrees.  (Brrr!)


Working out with the trainer is still going well.  She kind of kicked my ass last week.  I had a session on Thursday where we did some serious leg work, and all day on Friday and Saturday I could barely walk or sit down without wincing in pain.  But that's good, right?  Getting my money's worth, and I'm getting stronger!


So what about you?  What's motivating you this week?  All you need to join in with the Motivation Monday fun is to write a post about what is motivating you this week and link up using the linky tool below.  Hope you can all join in!  Thanks for participating!


And, just a poll, but how many of you would like a Motivation Monday guest post by T? 

Friday rundown

I have to admit that I'm having a bit of bloggers writer's block this Friday morning.  Maybe it's because all of my posts this week have just been so freaking awesome that my awesomeness is somewhat depleted.  (ha, rrrright...)  Or it could just be me being tired.  Either way, this post is not going to be groundbreaking by any means.  Sorry folks. 

I have not spotted a mouse since last Friday and that fateful evening (knocking on wood here), but our kitchen is now covered in mouse traps.  (Lovely.)

I went to an awesome and motivating conference last weekend and received some much needed motivation for my Mary Kay business.  I even got so much motivation that I went to my area meeting on Monday night and met some fellow consultants, got some great ideas, and I think I may just go again!

It snowed.  And then snowed some more.  I shoveled the driveway.  And then it snowed.  And all my hard work went to shit.  I hate snow.

I took a few days to myself and had the chance to catch up on some projects.  Some, not all.  I finished one critique.  Only 2 more to go.  Did I get a chance to write?  No, but baby steps, people.  And, I did manage to order wedding pictures for our frames we received as presents.  It only took me about four months, but I did it.  So pat myself on the back, Nain. 

I wrote a post for Skirt!  I still have one more to write, but check this one out when you get a chance.

Thursday, after getting my butt kicked by my personal trainer, I headed down to my future job location and met the entire staff and a few of the board members who threw me a welcome luncheon.  It was so great to meet everyone, and while I'm horrible with names, I hope I can remember them all.  It was overwhelming, as starting any new job naturally is, but I really look forward to it.  I even got to check out my office and get an idea of the space into which I'm moving.  Exciting, right?

All in all, it was a productive but somewhat relaxing week.  It's been nice to take a step back and have a few days to myself before I start my new adventure on January 24th.  This weekend, T and I will be venturing up to the north side of Indy to spend some time with my brother and fam, and I will be hosting another Mary Kay party on Sunday.  Keep your fingers crossed that it goes well!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this last week's Motivation Monday!  I truly appreciate it, and I can't wait to read motivating posts next week!  Have a great weekend!

 

A sense of humor...

In the few months I have been married (and I would so not call myself an expert by any means...) there is something I've learned.  A sense of humor is vital to a relationship.  Sure, all of that lovey dovey stuff is great, but if you can't make each other laugh, then you're missing out on something wonderful.

 

I lucked out when I met T, really I did.  Everyone in my family has a weird sense of humor.  I think it has to do with the fact that my dad raised us watching classic movies like Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, pretty much anything Mel Brooks...and now I've grown up as someone who can rarely find the humor in something. Sometimes it's inappropriate, but...it's me.  And I have to admit, I was worried that I wouldn't find a guy who fit that.  Someone who understood me.


And then walked in T.  T, the guy who laughs every time he hears the name Dick, or the word cock, or makes Beavis noises when vacuuming the house.  Someone who finds it funny when I make weird noises that make me sound like I'm some sort of animal from Jurassic Park.  T, the guy who I can reference Family Guy scenes with.  T, the guy who regularly makes me laugh by posing and making stupid faces with my feet by his face.  (We're weird, you'd have to get us...) 


He's rubbed off on me.  I find myself laughing when I hear the name Dick, going "huh, huh...he said dick..." ala Butthead.  We're weird, but it's us. 

 

It's just so amazing to find that one person who gets you, gets everything about you and probably knows you more than you know yourself sometimes.  The kind of guy who, when you're out doing wedding photos, thinks it would be hilarious to take a picture next to the porta-john that he always has to use when we're out for walks (and I always get impatient).  The kind of guy who looks at you and says "let's walk into the reception hall playing Black Sabbath "Iron Man!"  The kind of guy who loves the fact that I watch TLC trainwrecks to make myself feel happier at the end of a rough day and makes fun of these shows with me.

A sense of humor is vital to a relationship, or at least it is to ours.  It's one of the reasons why I feel like such the luckiest person in the world.

 



Small Treasure Tuesdays...on Wednesday?

I know it's Wednesday, which means I should have done a Small Treasure Tuesday post on, well, Tuesday, but I was still so traumatized by Mousegate 2011 to think of anything good and happy in this world.  OK, maybe that's just a tad on the dramatic side, but still, I was distracted by my current rodent problem. 


Anyway, getting to the point...my small blessing this week is....a little time to myself.  Since I'm starting my new job on January 24th, I have quite a few personal days left that if I don't use, they just go away.  So, I'm using them to catch up on doctor's appointments, but also to just relax.  Because, let's be honest, we all need a little bit of that.  I also hope to use this time to catch up on some of my New Years goals.   One of those is to order some wedding pictures to put in these frames we have just sitting around in boxes.  Another is to catch up on my critiques and write that article I've been putting off for the state bar.  It's quite a lot, but I'm up for the challenge!


It doesn't hurt that it's snowy out today, and I would rather have my teeth drilled than get on the Interstate in that crap! 


So stop by Chantel's blog (click on her awesome logo up there) and check out other small treasures people are sharing.


And if you should feel so inclined...check out my latest posting at Skirt!  I hear it's pretty awesome, too!




  

Mousegate 2011....seriously?

I thought we were done with this.  I thought it was enough with Mousegate 2010 parts 1 and 2, but no.  I got too comfortable.  I let my guard down.

I won't make that mistake again.

So it started off on Friday.  I was cleaning the bathrooms, as is our normal routine on Fridays so we can avoid cleaning on Saturday and Sunday.  I was being productive.  T was on his way home, so I wanted to surprise him with a clean bathroom, except ours smelled like bleach after I was done.  So I went into my kitchen to get a lighter to light a candle.  The kitchen light was on.  I had been in and out of the kitchen all afternoon.  Little did I know it was there.

Then I saw it.  Right by my kitchen sink, behind our canisters.  A flash of gray.  I froze in my spot.  Shit.  Not again.  As quietly as possible, I reached to my left for my phone.  I hit speed dial and called T.  I knew he was on his way home, as we had just gotten off the phone about 10 minutes earlier.  Not sure why I called him.  He couldn't kill the mouse from his car, but...as soon as I hit "send" and he answered, Darrell (The name I chose for him.  He was the cousin of Damian, the little shit that was in our kitchen in 2010.) ran out from behind the canisters.  T goes "hello?"  And then I start screaming.  "It's in here!  It's in here!  Oh my God, it's in the house!    T thought a burglar was in the house or something, and by the time I finished hyperventilating, the little thing had crawled under our burner under the stove. 

About 20 minutes later, T pulled in the driveway as I stood frozen in the spot.  I was going to get him if he dared come out.  We popped open the stove top and we could hear him scurrying about underneath.  He was toying with us.  Occasionally, we saw a whisker or two peak through the holes in the stove top, as I screamed, standing poised with my trusty frying pan, ready to play whack-a-mole with the thing if it popped up enough.  T got out some of the traps we had leftover before, and set those ready to get him if he came out while we left for Home Depot to get more traps. 

While we were gone, Darrell had the balls to come out and eat the peanut butter from the nearest trap without setting it off and hide again.  He was messing with us.  I didn't like that.  So we set up seven (yes, seven) traps.  Two on the stove.  Surely we were going to catch him.  This one was gutsy to show himself in broad daylight like that.  (And scare the living crap out of me in the process.)

I'm happy to say we did catch him that night.  But sadly, I don't think he is the only one.  We now have mousetraps in our pantry and on our counter.  This is unfortunately our reality until we move in May.  It can't come soon enough. 

So to quote the words of Samuel L. Jackson..."I'm tired of these mother f#@%ing mice in this mother f#%#ing house!

 

Motivation Monday

Welcome back to Motivation Monday!  I was so happy with the participation I got last week with the meme, so I hope we can keep this momentum going...and...without further ado...


So this Saturday, I went to this big Mary Kay event in our area called "January Jumpstart."  It was an all day deal, and I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into but I was following through with one of my goals this year to really get my Mary Kay business going this year.  I'm going balls to the wall with this venture.  We need the extra money, I love the product, and I'm geared to sell. 


The only hang up? It was located at the same building where I took the dreaded bar exam in July 2006.  I recognized the name of the reception hall, and part of me was like "yeah...no...not sure if I want to go there..." But I did it.  So I got up Saturday morning, headed out, pulled into the lot and made my way cautiously into the hall. 


I got there with only five minutes to spare, and the place was packed.  Pink Cadillacs covered the parking lot.  It was loud in there.  All I could see when I got in the door was just full tables of women all chatting as if they were best friends and knew each other from birth.  I, however, knew no one.  Not a sole.  I momentarily thought "shit, did I make a mistake?"  I wouldn't be lying if I didn't feel like it was the first day of school after moving here from Alabama.  (Seriously, I had flashbacks.)  But I swallowed my fear and chose an open table with some relatively friendly-looking ladies. 


I wasn't sure what I had in store for me, but with the first speaker it was hard not to get motivated.  It's tough to describe, but all of these women were just so inspiring, so empowered.  The beauty of Mary Kay is that it's your business, and you get to run it the way you want.  And you get to positively influence women's lives.  Before, I thought it was just about makeup, but after today...I'm convinced it's much more than that.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.


You would think that hearing speakers from 9-4 I would find moments of boredom and the need for doodling to pass the time, but that didn't happen.  In fact, I took like 8 pages of notes on what I learned, and I can't wait to apply it to my own business. 


My goal these next few months is to double my sales from December and to book at least 10 parties until the end of February.  I have two already booked for January so I'm slowly getting there. 


Later this week, I want to feature one of my favorite products in a fun giveaway, but for now, I would love to direct you guys to  my personal Mary Kay Web site.  Check out some of the products, and email me if you have any questions about them or would like to learn more about how you, too, can become a consultant.  And...if you should feel so inclined, feel free to make a purchase so that I can each my goals.  (but only if you feel so inclined.  No pressure here, OK?) 


So that's my motivation for the week!  What's yours?  It's easy to join in - just write up a post about what's motivating you this week and link it up, using the linky tool, which will be open until Saturday.  Hope you all have a motivating week!