Halloweeve

It's Halloween Eve and I was very excited for this day. I like dressing up and I like the excitement and the holiday vibe etc etc. Well the joke's on me because even though everyone in my office dressed up last year..................................... I'm the only one to dress up this year LOLOLOLOL. We usually all take a picture against our map wall for things like this, but since I'm the only one celebrating, I figure that's not going to happen, so I had to take a super classy bathroom selfie.

I'm a gumball machine!! I got the idea from my friend Marisa who did it a few years ago, so she lent me her 25 cent sign, and I had the skirt shirt and shoes so I just had to buy the pom poms to glue on, and it's turned into a nice little appropriate work outfit.

Meanwhile, in funner parts of the universe, Kathleen's work dressed us as Mario Kart, and even Casey is a horse.

Haters gon hate!

The End of an Era

Anyone who knows me probably knows about my sidekick mobile device: my hip and proud iPhone 4, that I have had (yes, this exact phone) since February 2011. To give you something of an idea: I don't even have Siri. Everyone makes fun of me, but I consider myself the real winner here. Fact: I never dropped my phone to breaking, never shattered the screen, never lost all my data, never got the sad blue mac screen, never got water damage enough to kill it, never lost it (anywhere I couldn't retrieve it from anyways coughAutoZonecough) never had it stolen, and overall just totally got my money's worth. And yes I feel #blessed.

I did try to get my upgrade a few times, but when you're on a multi-line plan, people are able to steal them out from under you... and they will.

So at this point, believe me when I say that I would really like to run this baby (or Prince William, as he's named) into the ground, like really see how far I could go until he totally just collapses in on himself like a dying star and we both end up in the Guinness Book of World Records, but as the old adage goes, "the future always comes a little before we are ready to give up the past." It's sad, because he's all registered with NYPD and Columbia University too... now how will I end up on my own episode of Law & Order if my phone goes missing?!

All of this to say that I have ordered my new phone and I get to pick her tomorrow and I am so psyched! Sorry Prince William, but I'm just not Kate Middleton as much as I wish I was. This will be my first new device in almost 5 years! A rose gold iPhone 6s that I get to pick up tomorrow... yee!

HELLO

Adele's such a hit. I listened to her new song HELLO yesterday and I enjoyed it. But in yoga last night, our teacher played it for savasana and I really enjoyed it, and then I woke up with it in my head this morning so I had to play it all morning. Khaleesi was staring at my phone seeming very confused watching the music video as I streamed it from YouTube. Anyways I keep playing it and I can tell I'm going to wear this out real fast, but I just want to sing it out loud! She has such great sing-alongs. Like when we all went to Chicago in 2011 for Pam's birthday and we wandered the streets singing Someone Like You on the way back to our hotel.



I was in a bad mood before yoga yesterday, which was perfect because Marisa was in a bad mood too so we both just bitched away. I was getting really frustrated with my workout regimen. It's just a lot, and I'm the kind of person who just likes to get stuff over with, so the thought of repeating these work outs all week long was making me want to cry, but I felt so good after yoga, and refreshed today, I really have to remember all you can do it take things one day at a time. I mean, I already feel better this morning and ready to work out again.

Also, the Mets are in the World Series, which I knew, and I also knew that Lucas Duda, a guy from my graduating class in high school, plays for the Mets, but it hit me last night that this guy is now playing IN THE WORLD SERIES and could even win! That's so crazy to me! I still remember him sleeping in Stats class.

SO HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!

For-Profit Blog

I know a lot of people with blogs, and there are a lot of "viral" blogs out there and it blows my mind that these people get paid to write their annoying clickbait stories, but it's starting to appeal to me because not only would I make some side ca$h monies (maybe) but places send them free stuff to advertise on their blog! I think I need to start doing something like that. Maybe I can start by just putting in keywords #PURPOSEOFLIFE #2NDAMENDMENT #YOUWONTBELIEVEYOUREYES #CHEESE

It's ironic that I went to that whole Non-Profit seminar thingamajig and now all I want to do is turn my blog into for-profit lololol.

I can't wait for Friday because I want to dress up in my costume...!

Halloween Time

On Friday, AJ and I went bowling with Marisa and Nate and then went to downtown Riverside and had to walk home.

On Saturday morning, we got breakfast at our little French bistro. He was wearing the shirt I got him from work and I made him look kute for a picture. This is his "I hate that you're making me take a picture right now" face.

Then I went to visit grandma and we robbed Trader Joe's of all their pumpkin goods.

On Saturday night we found my costume. On Sunday, Kathleen and I went to my mom's and made tons of cookies and Halloween candies.

Now it's Monday and I have to work late tonight.

Five Months Old

Just pictures from, you know, five months ago. (Literally. Her wedding was May 23rd). I'm finally seeing the pictures from Becca's wedding in May that AJ and I went to, and they are HIGHLY IMPORTANT because I caught the bouquet.

Happy Friday everyone!

Special Surprise

AJ had a surprise for me for a few weeks and all I knew about it was that it was in LA on Saturday night. I asked a few questions, like, is it near water? Will there be alcohol? Will there be explosive devices? How should I dress? Should I bring a snake-bite kit? But overall I didn't really try to figure it out because I loved the surprise element.

On Friday night I went out with my friend and coworker Macy to a campus bar and it was super fun and I felt like a college student again lolololol

On Saturday morning I got up early because we were driving out to Hermosa Beach to stay with AJ's mom for the weekend. We got brunch and walked along the beach and AJ's mom guessed where we were going before I did. I freaked when I found out that it was to go to see Florence + the Machine at the Hollywood Bowl. She is my girl and I was still wishing I could see her after getting the acoustic set at Coachella.

The night was perfect weather and we had amazing seats at the Bowl. We bought food from Trader Joes and had a picnic in the car once we got there and parked. We bought a bottle of wine inside and watched her entire amazing set.

She is hands down the best ever!!

Bossypants

I devoured Tina Fey's Bossypants last week within a few days. I'm not a huge Tina Fey fan, but the book had a lot of LOL moments. Nothing was incredibly insightful, and the whole book was pretty funny, but there weren't a lot of one-liners, mainly stories, so nothing concise. I'll leave you with this one semi-relevant excerpt:

(On the 2008 election) Instead of talking about issues, everybody was trying to prove how "down-home" they were. 'I'm just like you' was the sub-text of every speech. Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? 'I'm not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I'm just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I'd like to cut your chest open.' The crowd cheers.

And here comes 2016. Sheesh.

When Bad Things Happen To Good People

I joined in this NFL weekly betting with my boyfriend and his friends. (Mistake #1). It's just a $5 buy-in each week that you want to play, and winner takes all. This was my second week playing, and imagine my surprise when I was in FIRST PLACE.

Long story short... it all came down to the Chargers game last night. The only person challenging my position had put the Steelers for the game last night and I put the Chargers. If the Chargers won, I would have walked away with just shy $100. I was tense.

So imagine how that game was for me... Chargers up, Steelers tying, Steelers pulling ahead, Chargers, pulling ahead... and then Chargers were WINNING. And with 5 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME... the Steelers scored and won.

I was actually SO devastated, I almost did start crying. I still tear up a little bit when I think about it. I used to think it was the most immature, absurd thing ever to hear about fans sending death threats to QBs after losses, but honestly, after last night, I kinda understood it. I was thisclose to cutting out magazine letters and mailing my anger in to Philip Rivers.

I am actually still SO UPSET about that loss... I may be in the market for a new NFL team. Let the bidding begin! (For them. To earn me. As a fan. Obviously.)

The Dog Beach

I miss the dog beach! This weekend was unexpectedly spent in Orange County, mainly crashing a Newport mansion some friends were house sitting on the harbor, lots of food and football, and the DOG BEACH.

I guess maybe because it was roasting triple degree heat this weekend, but it was sooooooo funnnnn. It was pretty crowded, but the water felt amazing, and Anana was being so cute. AJ and I tried to go swimming, but Anana gets very nervous for people out in the water, and she kept trying to go save us, but she gets nervous getting too far in, so she kind of panics too. We tried to take turns going in the water and the other up on the sand with the dog, but she wasn't having it, so we basically just ran up and down the shoreline with her. So adorbs!

And there's a good chance I'm going to win a good chunk of change tonight with tonight's game (Chargers vs. Steelers - ouch!) based on me being amazing and psychic and picking the most winners of this weekend's NFL matchups. STAY TUNED.

Long Night of Arts & Innovation

Last night was Riverside's Long Night of Arts & Innovation. It was modeled after Germany's Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, where you basically have a long night celebrating... (wait for it)... arts and innovation.

I had my usual yoga class (which was AMAZING because my favorite teacher subbed and I love her and her flow and she brings the straight good jams and then lets you savasana to Neil Young's Harvest Moon) went home and ate and then walked to the Main Street mall to check it out.

It was pretty poppin' all things considered. Everything from poetry readings, finger paintings and a free caricaturist (the line was too long otherwise I totally would have been all over that) to nursing students, TV stations, engineering contests, universities, entomology departments (NO I do NOT want to hold your scorpion, go away!) and robots, etc etc!

I have to say though, that I was paroozing the scene around 9, and a lot of vendor tables had already been abandoned. The schedule was from 5p-midnight. Short Night of Arts & Innovation? I should have put Khaleesi on her harness and brought her with me.

Anyways, it was a warm night and nice to see everyone out and about, and kinda cool to see Riverside undertaking these kinds of events and funtivities.

The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt, Book 2

I finished this book recently. I didn't fold any pages, there weren't really any moving lines of literature, although the series is good, albeit a little slow. I haven't read Lord of the Rings but I do imagine it is comparable, and most of the reviews on the series suggest the same.

Just keeping the world apprised of my book reading this year.

#pabbri15

My cousin got married to her boyfriend of 13 years! It was a really fun event, and it started when I had to get up at 6a to make it to her hotel by 6:45a to start getting ready for the 12 noon ceremony. Not only was I so swamped with getting ready and helping with all the wedding details, but my phone died pretty early on, so I didn't have a chance to take any pictures really, so this was what I was able to round up.

Brianna was super cute and got the bridesmaids personalized clothes hangers for the dresses, and water bottles with our names and "BRIDESMAID" on it (which I am drinking from today). We were in a frenzy getting out of the hotel, the Catholic ceremony was nice aside from the priest not knowing her name. We went to take pictures afterwards (and man was it hot in those long dresses!) and then the reception went well into the night! I got to partake in some Mexican traditions of girls forming a line with hands and running all around the couple like chains you would have at recess... that was the best part! Oh, that and the open bar of course.

Toast to the newlyweds!

Does it look like Monday to you?

Next up in the Year of the Weddings: Pam and Doug!