Bar Method

My manager at work goes to a bar method workout class at a bar method studio and swears by it. I decided to look into this and the closest studio is by where I work, which is a ways away from my apartment. Instead, I decided to order the DVDs and starter kit. It’s no joke!! My goodness! It’s not as bad as Insanity, but my muscles were literally shaking!! I’m going to give this a whirl and see how it works. As absolutely terrible as it was, I loved Insanity and noticed results, so I’m hoping I love this as well!

http://www.barmethod.com/

Thanksgiving in Woodland Hills

I spent my first Thanksgiving away from home with Uncle Bill and Dana at their home in Woodland Hills. It was more than I could ask for! The first Thanksgiving away from home is always going to be hard, but this was totally great!!

On Wednesday we went to “Life of Pi.” Great movie!! I hadn’t read the book, but it’s definitely on my list now. We went out for sushi Wednesday night…I’m a fan!

On Thursday Dana cooked for a large army, I swear! It was only the three of us but we had SO MUCH food!! So much!! She prepared all of the tradition dishes and everything was absolutely wonderful. Everything!! I got sent home with some great leftovers, too! J Dana and I {literally} waddled to the new Twilight movie. I loved it! By far the best of the 4.

I’m really really really going to miss them when they move L It’s been so great being so close and being able to spend time with them!

Leftovers I got sent home with. This isn't even all of the dishes she prepared, either!

Bad Luck Streak

I've had terrible luck with shoes lately!!! I had literally worn my new MK heels 4 times and I was at work and the heel broke!! I've never ever had a heel break on a shoe before! Yesterday I was wearing my MK Aria flats with studs and a stud fell off. Not near as tragic as a broken heel, but still! I don't wear those flats anywhere but work and I've had them for no more than two weeks! Best part, though, is that since they were MK shoes I could just damage both pairs out for new pairs! :-) {{I don't want to give MK shoes a bad name...I've never had any problems with any other MK shoes nor have my co-workers. It's just that my luck has been absolutely terrible lately!!}}

My second, and much more devastating, round of bad luck also happened at work. I swear that place is out to get me! We were having a super slow day at work last Tuesday afternoon/evening so I was texting a client when another client walked in. I simply left my phone on the counter by the cash wrap (we all do it, and it was surrounded by binders we were working on so it wasn't sticking out all by itself) to help the client with jewelry in the front of the store. A few minutes later another client walked in and headed to the watches, which are in the back of the store by the cash wrap. He was around my age and by himself...my first thoughts were that he was shopping for his girlfriend. He hovered by the watches for no more than two minutes and I was just finishing up with my first client and about to head to him when he walked out and said he'd be right back (1. famous last words 2. he was on his phone so I didn't think twice). A few minutes later after both clients are gone, I go back to do whatever and notice my phone isn't where I thought I put it. I look around a little bit and finally decide to call it so I could hear it vibrate. It went straight to voicemail. My manager watched the tape and the guy who was looking at watches stole it!!! Just grabbed it and walked out!!! It was my brand new iPhone 5 that I had had for literally 3 days!! Ughhhhh!

Let's hope my luck at work turns around!!

Black Friday at Michael Kors

Black Friday at Michael Kors on North Robertson wasn't anything crazy at all. The clientele of that street doesn’t need Black Friday nor do they go deal hunting. Our traffic was busier than normal, but no lines or craze. I even planned for extra time for traffic this morning, which turned into extra Starbucks time (never a bad thing). The whole street was kind of dead all day. I saw on the news that people were camped outside of Best Buy for a WEEK before Black Friday. An entire week! In my eyes, sacrificing a week of work isn’t anywhere near worth the money they’ll save on the deals. Crazy people!

The adventures I get myself in to....

My flight back got into LAX at 11 pm..by the time I got back to my apartment and crawled in bed, it was 1 am. I had to get up at 4:30 for an early morning work meeting (7...in the Valley...ugh!), so my whole sleep schedule is completely messed up!

 I had quite the experience getting back to my apartment. I was walking toward the door in the airport to find a cab (no way was I taking public transportation at 11:30 at night!) and this guy dressed in a suit approached me and asked if I needed a cap. I was exhausted from flying and just automatically responded yes. He literally grabbed my bags from me, put them on a cart, and started walking. I followed and all the sudden we're walking into the parking garage...not where taxis wait!! I had no clue how to get out of the situation at this point, so I grab my purse (with my pepper spray) and climb into his car. As soon as he opens the door for me, the smell of weed comes pouring out. His excuse is that he had a Hawaiin from Maui in there before me that owns a weed shop (or something like that). So we drive to the gate to exit the airport and the security lady grabs her clipboard, climbs out of the pay booth, and starts walking around his car. I ask what's going on and he says he got new plates (I noticed right away that they were dealer plates). This makes me even more nervous, especially with the smell of weed wafting out!! We get through and he turns left...everyone else is turning right to get onto the interstate. He says there's road construction and that he knows a shorter way. By this point in time I'm clutching my pepper spray and have pulled up my map app on my phone. He's driving on this pretty much deserted road through not so nice parts of town. I'm absolutely terrified!!! He eventually gets back to where I recognize and I relax...a little! He actually turned out to be a really nice guy who lost his landscaping business a few years ago when the economy turned bad and now transports people to and from the airport. It was a very nice car with comfy seats, and once I relaxed, was a very enjoyable ride. I'm thinkin next time I'll just go for the yellow cabs, though, to save myself a panic attack!!

Home is Where the Heart Is

I recently spent five days at home in Iowa. It was so great to be HOME! I had just seen my parents, but I missed home (as weird as that sounds). I took the red eye flight, which at the time I thought was a genius idea. I had to work Saturday night, and  instead of wasting my whole day Sunday flying, I thought I could just fly while I slept Saturday night. I learned that I absolutely cannot, for the life of me, sleep on planes. I was beyond exhausted on Sunday morning when Dad picked me up at 6:00 (bless his heart)!! I went home, showered, consumed at least 4 cups of coffee, and had a full day of activities. Once I showered and drank like a gallon of coffee, I was just fine, but I was almost to the point of delusional when I got off the plane. My flight home for Christmas is also the red eye--the was the only option at the time I booked my tickets. Maybe I'll get better at sleeping on a plane before then?? Or just sleep all afternoon the day before I leave.

Some highlights of my trip include:

• Spending time with my parents
• Hanging out with the little brother (I kinda missed that kid)
• Seeing my kiddos (I more than kinda missed them!!)
• Seeing both my Grammas and Grampa
• Seeing and spending time with a lot of extended family I hadn't seen in a while
• Just being HOME
• $1.50 pints! 
• Driving my car and having the freedom to be on my own schedule!! (This one's a given)

Fun fact #1: I have turned into the wuss I wasn't going to. It was COLD in Iowa!! I was curled up on the couch in my slippers, sweater, and blanket and my mom was just fine where usually it's the opposite. I called my dad one day to ask him if I could trade him vehicles and park my car in his heated shed so it wouldn't freeze after I washed it. He kinda laughed and said it wouldn't freeze that day. I drove past the bank in town a few minutes later and it was 44 degrees... Uhhhh... 

Fun fact #2: Iowa is not even a little bit pretty this time of the year!!! 

Halston

I am officially a PR intern at Halston!! I'm super excited to learn what a fashion company does for PR and marketing. Their headquarters are downtown and they only require me to be there from 9:30-6:00 on Fridays. It works perfectly with my schedule. I started on Friday and didn't really do anything too exciting other than learn the basics and did a few other odd jobs. I'm excited to see what this new adventure brings!

http://halston.com/