Happy post Christmas days

The elusive post-Christmas, pre-New Year days are upon us. Or "up on us".

I had a joyous Christmas, in case you were wondering. There were a few notable exceptions, which will possibly be discussed later. On the 22nd I drove down to my grandma & grandpa's house after work (with brother and mother). That was a 4 hour drive, so we got in pretty late. The 23rd was fun - eating, drinking, game playing, and being generally loud with extended family members. Christmas eve is fun b/c we do our "Dirty Santa" gift exchange after dinner. You know the deal - everyone gets a number, and there is stealing and drama and good times. The game itself usually outshines the gifts, and it takes so long because there are over 20 of us. I like Christmas eve because you get to see all these gifts being opened and have fun, and sometimes not have much control over what you end up with. I did get an awesome gift though! Right up my alley - 4 beers, bottle of red wine, bottle of white wine, bottle of Bailey's, and some coffee. And it all came in a cute re-usable bag! I stole this gift from my aunt. She wasn't too mad ;) My dad gave me the gift he got b/c it was food and drinks, which he can't bring back to Singapore. Haha lucky lucky Leah.

*side note: I'm so glad my brother isn't a jerk. He is awesome.

Long story short, Christmas eve was a fun time. I went to Church even! Mainly b/c I know my family likes when I do. This year's service was so weird. They played a movie from the 80s about a girl with tattoos and facial piercings who runs away from home. It made little to no sense. Also there was not enough singing of Christmas songs to meet my liking. Oh well, maybe next year.

ALSO!!! My cousin's baby/my ex baby roommate Jack is SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!!! He is 2 now. And I love him so much. He even remembers me and loves me back. *insert heart swelling here. When he first got to my grandparent's house he ran past everyone else and said "Leeeeeah!" while giving me a big hug. Moments like this almost make me want to have kids. Jack's mama gave us matching hats for Christmas so we took a few pictures together. Ahhhh the joys of only being around kids when they're being cute.

Okay, I really should work now. Jeez quit distracting me. I'll be back with part 2 of Leah's Christmas Vacation. More boring stories for you to read!

Everyday I'm hustlin

Hi, it's me again. Even though you can't see it, I'm wearing a headset. So don't be confused thinking that I am a secretary or a football coach or Madonna or something. Just regular Leah. With a headset.

So since I spend 40 hours of my week at work I've started keeping certain things at my desk. I'm slowly getting into a routine where I take certain things every day. And you know what? I love this! Mainly b/c the things that I take are good for me/serve a purpose. Let's have a break down shall we?

Keepin my heart from burning all day!

Apple Cider Vinegar (Unfiltered). This stuff is awesome and I need to get better at taking it everyday. It is good for your skin & hair, and even for stomach problems.

Vitamin B12 - keeping me full of Bees.  Since I don't eat much meat anymore.

Bitches be drinking 8 glasses of H2O by 5pm every friggin day!

This picture is misleading perhaps. I also take my birth control everyday. Not to prevent babies, but to make me not miserable for a week of the month ;)

chello

10 a.m. Friday morning. Maybe one of my favorite times of the week. Office holiday party today, then Christmas movie double feature at the music box theater :) This week has had a consistent stream of anxiety so I am more than happy the weekend is coming. Back when I made my first serious attempt at quitting smoking in April, I went to the doc and got an Rx for Zyban (haaaaaated it btw). Anyway, had a doc appointment the other day, they gave me some papers with records etc. Without looking over them much I set the pile in my kitchen. Apparently my mom read something that discussed the smoking cessation treatment and last night she confronted me about it. It's still so awkward to think about. Also still up in the air. We are dealing with it the best way we know how, by avoiding it. Ugh.

Today I am wearing a new skirt and boots! Kind of un-Leah like things but I love em so far. High waist grey skirt with high black boots. The boots have a little wedge which I normally think is ugly, but these don't offend my sense of style yet. Haha. My skirt looks kinda like this one (maybe a lil shorter?):

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! Jeez, sorry for yelling, but I thought you should really know. I have finished so much of my shopping already! Got stuff for my dad, mom, and brother. Bought my family gift exchange present, and my secret santa gift for the other side of the family. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for a few things to come in the mail, but they still have about a week to get here. Leaving for grandparent's house on Thursday night after work.

Silhouette how-to

I'm pretty nervous about my gift idea for ThePanda. I got the inspiration from Pinterest (obviously), but I'm not super crafty and I am really sparse on free time. Anyway, this bird picture is the thing that got me thinking. The person who did this first made a collage using random pictures from magazines, used a stencil she liked and painted around it.

My plan is a little different: I bought a small-ish picture from Goodwill, and am going to create my own stencil of some penguins (ThePanda likes penguins), and paint around them. It shouldn't be too difficult - that is once I actually get started. My first step was working out an idea, 2nd step was buying the picture, now I just have to figure out how to draw some penguins, buy paint, and giterdone! I'll post a picture of the finished product of course :)

Okay, back to work for me! Happy friday.

Small, dramatic photo shoot

Sleepy day fo sho

Ohmygoodness I am so tired today! Last night was lots of fun, but I am paying for it now, and I'm not sure that I like it. (Haha?) Made some vodka cream pasta sauce last night for the first time. I really wanted to take step by step pictures, but I was just too hungry. I couldn't focus on anything but getting ready to eat! This is a pic from the site I got the recipe from, mine didn't turn out this pretty, but it was tasty. We didn't have a blender so it was chunkier than anticipated. That's okay b/c Leah likes chunky. Also I used tiny tube noodles. Because.....that's what we had on hand. Perfect. If you want to make this, here's the link to the recipe: Vodka Sauce!


Today is a very very low workload day at work and I'm struggling to stay awake. Drinking my afternoon coffee so I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed for hanging out with B-Pain tonight. She's coming all the way out to the burbs to see me. And I haven't been home in so many days! Maybe since last week sometime? Who knows. I was in Indy on Saturday night so now all my days are mixed up. I can't wait to get home and open all the boxes of things that I've been ordering online during the past couple weeks! Ahhhhh!!! My mom sent me a picture message of a pile of like 10 boxes in our kitchen that are for me. And that was yesterday, so more of them might come today. It will be like Christmas morning!!!! Except the presents aren't for me. But that's okay. I also like being Santa Leah.

Oy, I wish I had more interesting things to say. Writing this has helped me wake up a bit. I seriously fell asleep for a second when I was playing Sudoku earlier.

The Virginia Tech situation is really upsetting. I hope they find the shooter soon :\

Poopy instant coffee

Seriously. The coffee at work is pretty disgusting, but this instant crap I brought is even worse. Haha oh well. It makes me appreciate the icky work stuff now. And a coworker of mine finally invested in some creamer so that helps. Ahhh, the little things in life.

I have been SO SO GOOD this week about not buying food/drinks while at work! I brought a bunch of snacks at the beginning of the week, and keep them in a bag by my desk so I don't feel tempted to hit up the vending machines/stores downstairs. I am learning a lot about self control (and how much I don't really have, lol). This is the first week I haven't bought coffee - go me! I miss it. I miss delicious, not nasty coffee, but I probably saved about $10-15 by not buying any.

But don't worry, I found other ways to empty my bank account...Christmas shopping! Haha I am actually a little bit impressed with myself this year, I'm probably more than halfway done with my gifts already.

Tonight - decorating Amanda's apartment for Christmas with Molly. Drinking adult flavored eggnog and listening to Mariah Carey Christmas songs. PERFECT. Tomorrow morning - driving with Butsy down to Indianapolis. Sunny & Jeff are having an ugly sweater/house warming partay. My no drinking of beer plan might go out the window.

Love you bye!

Emmy's Organics :)

A blog that I follow (Mr.Kate) is going a little giveaway from a company called Emmy's Organics. And since I'm doing my best to be a healthier Leah I thought I'd try to get in on this (duh). If you wanted to get in on it too, just go over to Mr.Kate's blog and check out the post! #recommend!

whoop!