Loserssss

Okay, so my team didn't win the Office Decorating contest yesterday -- but we really did do a fantastic job!! We were all so crushed when the Sr. VP didn't say our names but we sucked it up like true champs and were sincerely happy for the Health Services Department and their winning Bandaid tree. (..but budgets are tight, we shouldn't be wasting Bandaids!!.. haha jk jk, they did a great job) After the luncheon we went back to our office to re-group and discuss our loss. My boss felt so bad that all of us were so disappointed she told us we could go ahead and have the 4 hours of PTO that the winners got! Wooo Hooo!! This girl left work at 3pm yesterday & plans on doing it again next week too.

Anyway- while we were discussing our loss, we realized some really important things about our team and all the hard work we did. When it was announced that there was going to be a competition among departments, our team got together and everyone naturally played a role in the organizing, planning, and set up of our decorations. No one had to tell us what to do. We all knew our own strengths and weaknesses and used them in the best way possible. Then when we actually began putting up the decorations, everything went so smooth you would have thought we had a literal action plan or something! We worked like a perfectly oiled machine to get the task done-- & considering the task was outside of our usual scope it's amazing that we did exactly what we needed to do. It's heartwarming to think that our team is all so professional that without missing a beat, we can quickly move from one thing to another and get the job done! I guess that's a sign of a good team, huh?. It is certainly something we need to keep up!  I'm so proud of everyone :)

Okay, so enough mushy, deep corporate things -- onto fun stuff:
I AM IN LOVE WITH JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT (#2 behind boyfriend of course!)

I recently watched (half of) Inception and I didn't realize how freakkin hot that guy had grown up to be! He was such a dork on Nickelodeon shows when I was younger but man NOW he is beautiful!! I want to share his photo with everyone -- so we can all have some eye~candy today!!

...um, yes please?

..i'll take one of these too.

i mean look, he can even rock a slicked back hairstyle.. mm, love.

Okay, speaking of eye~candy, I can't forget this one --

okay, this one has me in it too, but there's MYYYYY eye candy <3

Alright alright.. that's enough for now.. I need to go do something productive.. & probably brush my teeth. haha


Have a good weekend ya'll!!

<3k*

Thursday Thiiiings

So today might have been the MOST. FUN. DAY. AT. WORK. E--V--E--R!!

My Department is having a contest to decorate our offices for Christmas so we spent a solid 4 hours this morning decorating out office from TOP to BOTTOM!! We had stuff on the ceiling, floor, walls and almost everywhere in between. It was a ton of fun to sit in the glow of the christmas lights for the rest of the day & then finally when our Sr. VP came through to judge we turn on the music and put on our show. I REALLY HOPE we win. The office that wins gets 4 hours of PTO for everyoneee!! & Who doesn't want a half day off of work?? A CRAZY person, that's who.



i like that my hat is wayyyy too big.. haha i look like i'm 5.

We find out at 11am tomorrow!.. fingers crossed!


Okay, in other news--- who here has tried the new Wendy's fries? THISSS GIRRL!!.. They are freakkin awesome. I was doing a fantastic job of staying away from fast food until I tried these little wonders. Now I've had them 3x in the last 8 days.  EAT THEM. DO IT. THEY'RE GOOD. --[the end]

 

Okay, next up is my new favorite thing in my town. We might not have snow, but we have the Ludy's Christmas Spectacular. It's free- and it's amazing.

Please enjoy the video below :) and my Little's narration and singing along. haha

Okay all it's time to start addressing some Christmas Cards!!

<3k*

It's been a while...

That's what he said. .. haha jk :)

Anywho, it has been a while since I sat down to write on my blog. Woops!.. I wonder where my time goes?

I have absolutely no idea where my time goes. In the month of December I have been to 2 holiday parties (to include my company event which = AWESOMEEEE) & I suppose I've been going out a lot-- every Friday and Saturday to be exact and spending my Sundays recouperating & watching the Steelers.

I've spent WAYY too much money recently. What makes me think this is okay? I don't know but it's happening. Still. I've bought some awesome presents for my lovies and some awesome stuff for myself as well. haha I have one more thing to pick up for Daddy sometime this week and a few things coming in the mail so I'm about to get busy wrapping!

I have been attending Body Bootcamp for over a month now and I'm really starting to feel better about myself. I haven't been paying attention to weight because I don't really think that's what's important. The body image is my biggest problem. and I love the workouts a ton but the 5am wakeup is really hard sometimes. & to make things even better I started Triathlon training yesterday!! The Iron Girl is only 6 months away!! --so I got my swim on at Chattahoochee Scuba after work yesterday. I did the distance + some, now I just need to focus on speed and strength. --I should probably schedule that out, huh?

I CAN'T BELIEVE CHRISTMAS IS IN JUST 11 DAYS!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP.
okay, i feel better with that off my chest. but MAN I'm really behind. I just ordered my Christmas cards last night so my family and friends might be extending their holiday cheer into 2011 when they finally receive my card. hahah Who cares about timing, it's the thought that counts right? haha


aren't we just the cutest?

.. & tons of thanks goes out to my great friends Nate & Jenny for taking our pics on a freezing December day!!

Okay, back to work for meeeee.

--I've kinda missed this little blog :)



<3k*

gonna give it a try..

I just recently came across this little list where the previous author was told to answer with just one word. Now, I've also been trying to say less -- & by that I mean THINK about what I'm saying before I say it: is it really important? is it necessary to the conversation? am i just trying to fill a silent space in the conversation? -- I know I talk a lot & I know I have a tendency to just ramble if no one else is talking so I've decided I want what I say to be more meaningful so anyone that is listening will take what I have to say seriously.

So here it goes -->

Your Cell Phone? droid.

Your Hair? curly.

Your Mother? goofy.

Your Father? quiet.

Your Favorite Food? pasta.

Your Dream Last Night? none.

Your Favorite Drink? coffee
Your Dream/Goal? successful.

What Room Are You In? office.

Your Hobby? soccer.

Your Fear? crime.

Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? California.

Where Were You Last Night? couch.

Something That You Aren’t? tall.

Muffins? Chocolate.

Wish List Item? house.

Where Did You Grow Up? mountains.

Last Thing You Did? email.

What Are You Wearing? polo.

Your TV? huge.

Your Pets? hound.

Friends? amazing.

Your Life? happy.

Your Mood? bubbly.

Missing Someone? yes.

Vehicle? mitsie.

Something You Aren’t Wearing? coat.

Your Favorite Store? express.

Your Favorite Color? pink.

When Was The Last Time You Laughed? today.
Last Time You Cried? yesterday.

Your Best Friend? hilarious.

One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? starbucks.

Facebook? constantly.

Favorite Place To Eat? bar.

hmm, not too bad. but I would still prefer to be able to expand on some of these. I just feel like I'm leaving so much out!

<3k*



I finally replaced my camera..

with this little gem:

The Sony Cyber-Shot, model HX5V

I wanted to invest in a larger, nicer DigitalSLR camera but I decided to wait until I could actually afford one of those before I bought one. But this new camera is NIIIIICE!! I love it. I went around my town the next day and took about 150 shots of our beautiful brick buildings and the camera definitely pulled through some good shots. Of course I don't have those loaded on my work computer so photo updates will follow!


....so you say you want an update on my life???

YOU GOT IT!

Last week I traveled to the Mountain State & oh what a glorious vacation it was! I got to see my fabulous parents, my best friends, some family & lots of snow flurries!

There was plenty to drink and plenty of laughs and stupid pictures and completely unhealthy food and aboslutely no sleep --but all in all it was a great trip. [those photos will come soon also!]

..short update.. haha oops :)


What did ya'll do last week?


<3k*

Drunken Mishaps..

Happy Saturday, yall!

So last night started out as a nice dinner at El Vaquero... Can you say, PARTY OF 15?! haha we pretty much took over that restaurant after the beers started flowing. & That is how the night was supposed to end.. We were supposed to go home, and SLEEP-- but no, what did we do? --someone had the bright idea of having a "few more drinks" at the bar (my new favorite: the Maple Bar).. so of course, 10 minutes later our party was continuing to the tune of an OLD MAN BAND at a crowded tiny country bar..

BUT THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT THAT!

The post is about the fact that my drunk self happened to LOSE misplace the BF's camera. It was in my hand last night.. it was on the table.. it was in my purse.. and nowww it's not in my purse. It's not in my house. I LOST IT!! Omg I KNEW the jager bombs were a bad idea.. but I just can't say no!!

So now I'm on a hunt.. for a camera.. that doesn't belong to me... because I got drunk and LOST IT.

[insert sad face here]

If anyone ends up at the Maple Bar today, take a look around, there's a free camera lingering around there somewhere!!

RIP, oh camera that does not belong to me.

<3k*

WTF Wednesday

Pretty much just a list of shit that has annoyed me recently---

WTF Georgia weather?
I was freezing to death and battling hypothermia on Saturday and today I'm sweating in 80 degree weather. Make up your damn mind!!

WTF Sushiko?
One week you taste absolutely fabulous & the next week the sushi has me running to the potty 8x an hour.

WTF Penny Baumann?  <-- that's my dog.
Why must you have to potty every morning at 3:31? I'm gonna get your ass some pull-ups nighttimes so you dont disturb my slumber anymore!

WTF 5am?
Why must you come so early??

WTF Favorite Pair of American Eagle Jeans?
Whyyyy are you too tight in the thighs? and WHYYY doesn't AE sell you anymore so I can buy a size that fits? .. sad face.

WTF Southern Drivers?
Why the FU** do you 1) drive so slowly?? & 2) run red damn lights??
I'm gonna start gunning it as soon as my light turns green and see how much insurance i can squeeze out of these assholes.

WTF Fred's?
Why do you always only have ONE cash register open during the lunch hour? And the slowest cashiers known to man-- even slower than SUBWAY.


Okay, that's all I've got. Have a Happy Hump day.

<3k*

things in my thoughts

It's 4:52 & I have work to finish, but my mind is just not with it anymore today.. my body is falling apart still hurts from my workout yesterday & I've got my running group tonight so I've gotta relax a minute!

So here we have "My thoughts, via a bulleted list"

• I have to pee, bad (TMI). But I'm so lazy I'll just sit here and kick my feet until it's time to leave.
• Sam's Club has officially topped Publix on my list of favorite grocery stores. (But they don't take VISA Credit... that's annoying)
• I really want to firm my tummy back to what it was like in college. --is that even possible??
• I bought a pack of 7 rainbow colored ZEBRA pens the other day & I'm really dissappointed with them!
• I got a 30% off coupon for GAP.. & I can't wait to buy some jeans! [Gap Jeans are my absolute favorite & at 70 bucks a POP you gotta get them when you can!!]
• My Steelers party went great last night! My dog behaved [pretty much] and we had plenty of food!
• The Steelers won-- again. woo hoo!!
• I HATE T.O. & that 85 douchebag.. & last night's game reminded me of that.
• My house is still nice & clean & I love it like that.. just wish that is how it would stay!
• I should really be finishing my work right now...
• One of my favorite girl friends from college is coming to Atlanta on Sunday! & I can't wait to see her!!
• Tomorrow is another 5am wake up.. whew, will I get used to this??

Oh  & here's a MINI update of my Halloween photos that I SWEAR are still coming::

a gnome & her baseball player lover :)

silly girls

gnomes & indians are pals

Have a good week, Folks!!

<3k*

Ohhh Monday--

Ewww Mondays. For real, I thought Mondays were super crappy before-- but add in this fabulous new 5:30am BODY BOOTCAMP I've signed up for and Mondays are officially * THAT MUCH SHITTIER * -- I don't do mornings. Never have and had never planned on being a morning person but last week while working on a Habitat house for my company, one of my co-workers sold me on it. & i'm sayin, she must be a heckkkk of a saleswoman because I hate the AM hours.

& a workout at that? I've got to learn her strategy. Because you've got to be an A+ sales person to get me to lose 2.5 hours of very valuable sleep every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

I've done it twice now, started last Friday and was there again this morning and to be honest, it's really not that bad.. but by 9:30 I am dragggggging at work.

--My whole body hurts. Bad. and I'm hungry. But the good news is the day is half over and I've already done a whole hour of exercise. Hmm, I guess in retrospect it doesn't sound {quite so baddd}. & It's a good price too. $3/session -- wow. I love cheap things.

Tonight is our STEELERS Partayyy :) so hopefully I can steal a quick nap before it's time for peeps to come over. But probably not.

The Bengals are goin down!!!.. Again. Because they suck. and also because the Steelers are awesome. The End.

P.S. I really do plan on UPDATING with Halloween pics! We just got a router back in our house so I don't have to sit on the floor anymore to use the internet. haha. GNOME photos are amazing.

Hope ya'll have a great week!!

<3k*

Here we go Steelers!!

Here we go!!

I am so excited for this: --even though i have to clean my entire house and probably buy some more seating so people don't have to sit on the floor. haha..

[& I made the invite all byyyy myself!]

<3k*



Halloweenieeee

Hi all!!

I hope everyone had a safe and superfun weekend! I am still on my candy-high this morning and am so excited to share this weekend's events!! [once I get the pictures uploaded]...

Here's just a little preview of what's to come:

<3k*

Doggy-Bee & some Garden Gnomes

Wow this month has absolutely flown by! I guess I can thank budget season at work for the speediness of the workweeks.. but in all seriousness it is October 29th and the only thing in my household with a solid costume is my dog!

She got all dressed up this morning to go to a costume party at Doggy Daycare today:

get that ear in the hoodie, mom

momma has some crazy hair, but hey it's 7am!



waiting patiently in the car!



The wings I have on are just for work.. My friend and I plan on dressing up as cute garden gnomes this weekend. we just have to go to the store and buy the stuff first. Procrastinators? YES.. woops. 

Last night I celebrated Thirsty Thursday with lots of beers at Buffalo Wild Wings. I LOVE THEIR FRENCH FRIES-- with a passion.

& Tomorrow we're having people over to "pregame" the Halloween Festivities and cab it down town from our place (since we live closest to downtown = cheapest cabfare) I suppose that means tonight I'll be cleaning my entire house because I don't really want people to see that Alan & I live like slobs extremely busy people. haha.

Anyone else have fun plans for Halloween? I must admit, our plans came together at BWW last night.. nothing we've really been "planning" for. :)

Happy Friday everyone!! Beers to be had in T-minus 5 hours & 10 minutes..

p.s. Gnome photos to follow, soon!

<3k*

1600 miles in 2 days

Wow did I really just do that? Yes. I did. The BF and I made a 1600 mile round trip journey last weekend!  We needed to go to Maryland to pick up his new car and didn't want to take time off work to do it, so we flew to Baltimore Saturday morning (5am wake up-- YUCKKK) then drove an hour to his parent's home. Then hung out for like 5 hours (maybe) then hopped in his new car and started our trek back to southwest Georgia.

Our little adventure started at 5am Saturday with an EXTREMELY early wake up. We rushed to get ready, stuck the dog in the back seat & then dropped her off at daycare, drove an hour to Atlanta and were there right when our plane was boarding! (We probably should have set the alarm for 4:30 haha) Took an hour and a half nap on the plane, and greeted Alan's super happy parents outside of BWI airport.. & all of this was before 11 am! whew, I'm exhausted just re-thinking all this!

Anywhoo, we left to drive back to GA on Saturday night.. and lo-and-behold but right at the point where the BF and I were both too exhaused to drive, we happened to be in the midst of EVERY COLLEGE'S PARENT'S WEEKEND!!! It was freakin VMI's parent's weekend, some stupid little other college's parent's weekend and then of course it was Virginia Tech's HOMECOMING. It took us 2 hours of calling and continued driving to find a place to sleep!!

The good news is:  we got 2 hours farther than we anticipated driving that night.
The bad news is: we had to sleep in a $60 Econolodge (smoking!!) room. ew. ew. ew. ew. ew.

Then all was well with Sunday even though it took us 11 hours to make a 8 hour trip.. [Hey, when the Outlet Malls call, you MUST stop!] and we safely arrived in our new car back in Georgia.

So that's the story of my jam-packed weekend of travel!

p.s. I cut my hair and learned how to do something different with it!!-- finally, after 23 years of the same ol' thing..

Anyone else do anything rediculous this weekend? I'd love to hear!

<3k*

Little Furry Lion

So in my last post [which was wayy too long ago!] I said I would update with pictures of Lucy's new haircut-- which is STILL awesome!! So here it is!!  && I welcome comments!

Lucy, Pre-haircut



Lucy post-haircut, enjoying her time in the windowsil



we call these her "boots with the furrr"



two of the loves of my life




i love her little wrinkles



sweet girl!

So there she is :) The first time I saw this haircut I laughed so hard! Everytime I look at her it makes me smile and I hope these pictures can make you smile too!

In other news::

Tomorrow I'm going to the Braves playoff game in Atlanta!

 I'm pretty excited. Party begins at 11am... Drunk at 11:30! Updates to come!!


<3k*

Today's the day!

.... that I meet my little! Yay! I'm so excited but a little nervous too. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen at the first meeting but I hope I make a good first impression. We are meeting a a restaurant that has a play area, so I'm sure the magic words of the night will be "wana go play??" Which I am VERY excited to do! I know it takes time to build a connection and trust and all those important things --the whole Rome wasn't built in a day thing, which just means I'll be praying for patience and confidence in the next few weeks. He hasn't failed me yet, and I'm sure He won't fail me now. :)

So ya'll keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

-----In Other News-----

1. i gave my Maine Coon kitty a haircut yesterday & now she looks like a small black lion. haha. complete with a ball on her tail!! pics will follow as soon as my laptop decideds to stop sucking! (i'm at work now.. multitasking!!)

2. i am cooking tomorrow. like seirously making 2 whole dishes to feed 20 people on Saturday. this is BEYOND insane for me. i'm havin the girls over tomorrow night to be my rocks when i'm in a hard place and don't know how to finish what i've started... ohhh, myyy.

3. my soccer team won last night! Woot Woot go YO MOMMA!!! And might I add that we won the summer league championships? well, YES WE DID!! and we are on our way to  doing it again! 2-1 Yo Momma!

4. i ate at crApplebees on Tuesday. glad i got that one out of the way.. at least i don't have to worry about eating there again untill October of 2011.. (i case you can't tell, i thoroughly detest that restaurant)



..okay, that's all i've got.


Toodaloo!


<3k*

i love free things.

... especially when they are HUGE and Fabulous!! and especially when it is my anniversary weekend and the "free thing" just so happens to be one of my wonderful boyfriend's favorite things on earth..

okay, enough suspense---

said "free thing" was definitely 2 tickets to the PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta :) So that is where I spent my morning and afternoon today!

Even though it was 91 degrees (disgustinggggg) I still enjoyed every second of it! We had access to our own air conditioned tent thing as well as AC'd porta potties that were sooo awesome they had hardwood floors, skylights, and gold accents (the porta potties, that is).

Boyfriend and I are also pretty sure we were on TV quite a few times today. We had some awesome views and were right on the ropes most of the time. We actually almost got smoked with a ball twice.

Now I am not a golfer (although I enjoy trying) and I have never been to watch other people golf before but I was very surprised with myself at how much I really paid attention (which I never do, to anything).

We got to see this guy

and this guy

and this guyyyy

annddd this guyyyyy

Besides ol' Phil, the other guys are all quite nice to look at which always makes a day better. (Of course I was there with the most handsome guy around <3 so what am I saying, really??)

So that was my day of free things! Now I'm off to take a little nappie nap and get myself ready to go watch WVU beat the pants off of LSU tonight.. Buffalo Wild Wings better be ready for this girrrrrl!!

Have a great evening, ya'll!!



Country Roads

This girl right here is a born and bred West Virginia girl.



I grew up my entire life in West Virginia --and even chose to attend a small private college 45 miles from home. But when I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to GET OUT ... I took it and ran.

But don't get me wrong, WV is amazing and beautiful and has perfect weather and nice people. --but other than that there's not much to it. It's literally a place to live a simple life and being 22 years old, I was not ready to just live a simple life. So I moved. 11 hours from home to be exact. to a little town called Columbus, Ga to work for a wonderful company that treats me right and keeps me happy.

So there is a little background for today's post:

*RANDOM WEEKEND TRIP HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY*

For some absurd reason, last week I was very, very homesick. My boyfriend was going to be busy all weekend with school and I was just not all about sitting alone (with my dog) in my house all weekend.

So on Thursday, I bought a couple plane tickets and was home in WV by Friday night.. (thank the Lord for planes!) and here are a few pictures from my wonderful (less than 48 hours) at home:

Me & Aunt Kathy, literally standing in the center of my little "city"

with my daddy

with my baby girl.. not literally, but i LOVE this kid.

with my momma <3

let's not forget that on that beautiful day in north central West Virginia,

WVU STOMPED the Maryland Terps!

woot woot, go team!

Happy Friday to my few, but fabulous readers!!

<3k*

Mobile Blogging HELP!

So I must have spent a solid 2 hours on my phone (multitasking at work of course!) trying to get the mobile blogger to work. I have set it up, and texted to it and done SMS & MMS and come back to the computer and have put in the security codes, etc etc.. and I just can't get a post to work from my phone!

I feel absolutely horrible for being such a terrible.begginer.blogger but I know I'll be able to post more often (and probably more interesting things) if I can just figure out this phone sitch!

Can anyone help me? Or think of what I may still be doing wrong?

..in the meantime, I plan on updating with my super duper random trip home last weekend! Pics and excitement to come-- I SWEAR!


<3k*

I'm a BIG?

Recently, I decided I wanted to make some changes in my life. I've been doin my usual things [eat, sleep, work, drink, dance, drink, soccer -- repeat] & at the beginning of August I hurt my knee at a soccer game. So my lame self has been sittin on my butt for the last 4 weeks waiting for my leg to stop being fat & that's where this fabulous idea came from.

I want to be a Big Sister. Not literally, but to a sweet little girl that needs an extra hand to hold. :) A lot of my friends are in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program here in my city and I finally decided to take the plunge. It's something I need to do & I feel like it's almost selfish not to. It has taken me about 10 months to decide to do it [yes, that is a direct correlation to my usual decision making process, haha]. But now I'm excited!

I saw a princess book in Winn Dixie yesterday & thought to myself  "aww, I can't wait to read this to my little." --and paint her nails and teach her soccer!

I've never had a little sister before. I used to beg my mom to adopt one but it never happened-- probably a good thing it didn't because then my parents would  have 2 crazy daughters instead of just one. (wink)

So here it goes! Thursday afternoon is my interview. Fingers crossed! :)


*k

-Day One.

Um Hello?

In all honesty, I have absolutely no idea where to start this? But I'm gonna give it a shot & we'll see how it turns out. :)

The name's Kayla. I am a bubbly college grad from a small town in West Virginia  (Woot Woot, Go Mountaineers!). I gew up in a tiny city, went to college in a tiny city and basically have only known tiny cities my whole life-- until I got an absolutely perfect job offer to travel halfway across the country (well, down the country) to Columbus, Georgia the fall after I graduated college. So here I am living, working and beginning my "big kid' life 12 hours away from home with only my [absolutely wonderful] boyfriend, who I'll continue to name *boyfriend* & our pets, Lucy & Penny.

I started reading blogs at work after I stumbled across one in Google Images and for some reason, I was completely fascinated! I have never written a diary, never even liked writing to be honest. But this adventure just seems like something I can pour my heart into.

This blog isn't intended to have a theme (weddings, babies, etc)- no nothing like that. But instead I'm going to follow my life with it. I have so many plans for my 20's and 30's I want to be able to remember them all and have a place to capture my thoughts. So when I'm 80 I can look back on this site [hopefully] and remember my energy, and spunk and general love for life.

So with that, I'M OUT. See you next time :)

k*