I love vacation time!

Looks nice huh? Guess who is off to that lovely locale in 4 days!! Yours Truly!

So I wanted to write a post today letting you know that I may not post for a little bit.... It is vacation time for me!! It is a twice-yearly tradition that my family travels. We aren't big on material presents in my family, and we are jewish so we always try to go to one place over the Christmas holidays and one place during the summer. When I say my family travels, we really "Get Around!"...We don't do the normal beach trips most of the time...

Last year, It was Italy in the winter, and Turkey in the summer.

The year before, it was Russia in the winter (My dad's thinking was, the only reason to go to Russia is to experience the winter there, otherwise it's just like other European City in the summer...It was cold but the Kremlin was amazing surrounded by Snow.)

Other past trips have included, India in the summer, London in the winter, Skiing in Upper Montreal in the winter...

I LOVE TO TRAVEL!!!

As much as I love to sightsee, this year all I wanted to do was spend my vacation on a warm beach in the sun and we are finally taking a "NORMAL Vacation"!!

We are off to Montego Bay, Jamaica this year!! Yah, MON!

Just imagine, I will be laying on one of those chairs this christmas!! Thank Goodness for parents who like to spoil their children :)

But before I go, I have 4 boyfriendless days (he is headed back to California to spend christmas with his family and friends) where I plan on catching up with old friends, staying up late with my girls Lorelei and Rory Gilmore :), and the great movies that are on their way out right now including:

I really want to see this movie, Julia Robert and Tom Hanks! Forrest Gump x2 :)

I want to watch this movie, because when I read the books when I was 12, I dont think I understand anything of what it was trying to tell me about being anti-religious, however, maybe it subconsciously worked because I am anti-religion, well maybe not anti....just Not...

If anyone has seen any good movies this year that I probably missed, our has any suggestions for other ones that are out, please share!!

Oh, and of course I want to see: Except I hate sad movies, can I skip the sad and go right to the funny parts?

OH, How could I forget my awesome new bag!

I totally forget! I ordered a great work tote online at Ann Taylor. I was so nervous that is was not going to look at cute as I thought in person, and when I pulled it from the box...TA DAA!! AMAZING!!

I have a little bit of the Mary Kate syndrome where the bag is bigger than me, but it's not easy to find tote bags that aren't bigger than I am, being only 5'2 and 97 lbs....

So these were the best pictures I could find because, Sorry Folks, but it looks like I got the last one!


The large one in this collection: MWAH!

Very Happy to Not Be Hungover, Excited for my Friend's to Return

Good Morning!

I feel a hundred times better than I felt yesterday....I am very respectful of my work place, yah, I am the only one that doesn’t curse, or get angry, or lose my patience. As a person who has 4 bosses at least in just one office…it is important to have a certain type of personality that can have your big boss tell you one thing, your director tell you another and then figure out a way to tell psycho sid that I don’t have to do what she is asking me to do because 1. it is not my job, 2. Director has said I don’t have to because half the things you ask me to do are psychotic and involve running shoes and taxi fare... Things can get a little hectic and confusing around here. Because of this confusion it is important that I am always at my best and in a good mood or psycho sid along with the crazy wedding clients would get an earful…but…I slipped (I guess once a year is ok)…
YAY!! My wonderful, beautiful actress friend Sarah is in town from LA. I went to elementary school with her and we grew up about 3 blocks away from each other. Not only that, when I lived in LA, I called her up and we actually ended up living on the same street in LA about 2 blocks away! Very Very Small World.


So we met up and headed over to Manhattan’s in Georgetown. (B.F.'S BAR PICK OF THE WEEK)
If you have not been I highly suggest ! I love it because it is actually a very cute nice restaurant, they always have the window seats open and they are just so happy to see people they treat you like royalty. Not only that they have really good food and drink Happy Hour Special ($1 oysters!! Some of the best oysters I had all year actually!!) So we started there…2 drinks, 4 oysters, calamari and crab soup later…




We are off to McFadden’s!

We really were headed down a notch on the classy ladder but dollar drinks was something we couldn’t resist. We spent the rest of the night ordering drink after drink of Vodka, Soda, Lime Juices and dancing with this guy who was a spitting image of Napolean Dynamite…So, I am not gonna lie, Sarah is in trouble for introducing me to that drink, the additional Rose’s Lime Juice covers all the alcohol up so you can’t taste it and therein lies the problem…5 more drinks later, I stumbled home, fell into bed and passed out. Ten (my bf) was not too please with me to say the least…”It is irresponsible of you to go out and heavily drink while you are still on antibiotics and just got over strep throat….blah, blah…snore”


6:30 am snuck up and bit me on the ass, way to early…I rolled over hit the snooze till 7:15. Woke up, rolled out of the bed, onto the floor, into some clothes, and onto the metro…and I arrived only 15 mins late…except I spent the next 30 mins. trying to stop the world from spinning until I gave up and I did the most awful thing ever… I threw up at work, in a public bathroom!! AHHH!!!! It was awful and I never want to experience that again, but at the same time I had a great night with my girlfriends and in the end that’s all that matters, oops, I pulled a britney!! (Speaking of Britney, that poor Jamie Lynne...they need to put a cork in those two, you know where, this world does not need anymore of that kin!)

I love this time of year because all my friends come home! I can be popular again! YAY! Two of my friends came into town and they want to do drinks and catch up at one of their houses…except the drink part I can’t wait. Most of my good close friends I went to elementary school with, which is crazy, but that is how things happened.


So happy to spend good quality much needed, girl time. Ten is great, but girl’s really need their girly time! So excited to hear about their adventures! (one went to school with me at UCSB, and is still there getting her masters, and the other just started a fellowship for the UN in New York).

What's my hobby?

So, I need a hobby...or so proclaims my boyfriend...that might say something loud and clear...he is sick of me!

Ok, so I have been trying to figure out what do on Saturday and Sunday Afternoons. Those are the hard parts of my day to fill. Saturday mornings, I laze, make breakfast, drink coffee, shower, get dressed. Saturday nights are easily filled... but Saturday Afternoons...those pesky times between 1:30- 4:30pm....I never know what to do with myself. Since most of my friends dont live very close to me (45 min metro ride both ways) I feel like it is too far away (I guess we could meet in the middle) and I could work out...but I work out during the week so I like to break on the weekends...so what to do? I have tried to go to a local coffee shop and read, write my blog, and look up exotic locales that I want to go too...

So I am looking for ideas...what to do between 1:30-4:30pm on a Saturday and Sunday?

Some wise suggestions from London (always there with wise words):

"I’m kind of lame and love cutting pictures out of magazines/internet and putting them in my own personal style “look book”. I spend so much time looking at other peoples’ outfits, I feel bad just throwing away images I covet.. and I cut it out and put it in this big sketchbook/ personal style keeper. I also like to go running… but these seem to be solo jobs unless you join like a running group, which do exist…I feel like overcoming everyday dullness is one of the hardest things to deal with after college.. there isn’t that pressure to get important things done on a Saturday afternoon, so the activities calendar inevitably slows down. "

I have had strep throat for the past 2 days. I have basically been asleep for 2 days straight. I promise to update as soon as I feel better. Probably tomorrow!

Boo for being sick!

A girl's best friend and website!

So I have just discovered the best website.

WARNING: DO NOT LET YOUR BOYFRIEND EVER FIND YOU LOOKING AT IT!

Amazon has just made my afternoon...I have spent the past hour playing on their "Create Your Own Ring" website in the jewelery section.

You basically get to "Create Your Own Ring" by picking the type of diamond, shape, color, clarity, and then pick the band...I now know I am a "Princess Cut Girl" and these are some of my custom creations:

Gotta Love the Pink Saphires!

Buying a present for your boyfriend for under $30

My current problem: Trying to buy my boyfriend a meaningful, sweet, useful, expensive seeming present all for under $30.

My boyfriend has done the unthinkable this year, he has capped our gift giving at $30. He knows I usually like to go all out and buy the two of us a little weekend getaway. When he and I do gifts, I would rather create a memory than recieve something.

For his birthday it was a weekend getaway to Virginia Beach, (he had it in his head that he wanted to see the south and be a hick for a weekend, so I decided the furthest south he was getting me was Virginia Beach, and I actually went even crazier and got a suite with a Huge Jacuzzi in the main room, like next to the bed!! GROSS!! But absolutly amazing!!)

For My Birthday, he took me to Sanibel Island in Florida with London and Rice who came with and shared the bday weekend with.

We have played golf in Scotsdale, Arizona (tried to anyways), Annapolis romantic weekends, Carmel Beach weekends etc....

and now, not only can I buy a little vacation with my $30 limit I can barely afford to buy him a decent polo sweater or something...WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO!!

So please, any ideas would be welcome!


Or else he will end up with these goodies:



Pop-up Book for the Star Wars Galaxy...he would rue the day he made the $30 dollars limit.

He would actually probably love this book, I mean the regan book not the star wars one....

Quesdilla maker? He might like that? RIght???

A great weekend with London in the Capital City!

“Sigh…” Another Monday begins…

This weekend was amazing! My friend London was in town with her boyfriend from Miami. Of course it was a totally disgusting weekend for them to come and visit (especially since I was trying to convince her to move to DC). The snow was melting it was rainy on Friday and I was really nervous it would spoil all our sightseeing plans. But! The sightseeing Gods were smiling down on us because Saturday ended up being the perfect blue sky day for seeing the sights.
Friday night when London and Rice (bf) got here, I (being the jewish mom) had set-up pizza, chips and salsa, Shrimp cocktail, and anything else I could think of that they would want to eat. London, being a fat person in a skinny body, (close to my own heart) chowed down on the pizza which I helped and we got settled in, Talking and catching up. The boyfriends of course settled themselves in on the couch to watch football. After the initial catch up (and the guys got to half-time) we got dolled up and headed to Brickskellers. Guy, London’s BF loves beer! And in a town like Miami you wont find too many places that serve a wide array of beer from all over the world as well, there aren’t too many places to go for a low key night to catch up with friends. Brickskellers was just what we were looking for. We got a small table in the corner and ordered tons and tons of beers from all over the world (My fav was the Hoegarden (sp?) from Belgium). Our waiter, which I will refer to him as Dwight (like from the Office) was interesting…he totally upsold as wherever he could even pushing this nasty beer called Pinkus on the boyfriends for $10. But we did not let Dwight get us down! We get ordering to our hearts content, including a raspberry flavored beer, which is when London and I realized we were getting a little carried away (don’t go for the raspberry beer, EVER!). It was also sweltering in that basement, and after slowly peeling off each layer through subsequent rounds of beer we emerged into the icy cold to remember that we were in DC still and had not actually been in the sweltering heat of Miami…We popped over to Front page for one more round and the bathroom and found that as soon as we got there and ordered the lights came on, We had been drinking beers in the sweaty basement of Brickskellers for like 4 hours! We made our way to the metro for the long ride home where we all immediately passed out with lovely beer dreams floating through our drunken heads J
Saturday: After finally cajoling London, Rice, and Ten (my bf) out of bed, we headed off for the obligatory sightseeing… The best comment of the day that accurately describes London’s care for DC happened as we were approaching the Capital Building: “Hey Look! it’s the white house!” All three of us look at her… “WHAT! London, that’s the Capital”, “Isn’t that the same thing? I thought they were interchangeable…Like one was the front and one was the back side of the building…no…not right?”
AWW!! London…we still love you and will never let you live that down.

Front? Back?

Then the best part of the weekend took place. The vegging!! We sent the boys upstairs to go watch football or basketball or whatever boys do, and we got down to the serious gossip, ANTM, and snacking session.

The provisions included:
-Every gossip, celeb magazine available courtesy of L’Oreal and London’s travel budget (She travels 70% of the year).
- Humus and carrots, chips and salsa AND guacamole, Organic Chedder Cheese, Wheat thins, left over shrimp cocktail *which I devoured on my own…
-Large liter bottles of water,
-ANTM marathon on MTV.
Needless to say it was just what the doctor ordered and now I miss London more than ever. We bonded over the Jennifer Love pictures, which we sympathized with but totally wanted to know why she couldn’t do a lunge every now and then, and of course the scandal involved with Vanessa Hudgesen (We even went so far as to look up the naked picture which know is horrible and wrong and bad, but we couldn’t trash talk without the full information, we felt very dirty and wrong after finding it…) We talked about old memories. London and I spent a semester in Mexico City together when we were 15. Both of our dad’s were there for work and we bonded over the mutual hatred of Chile on everything, the Spanish Fresas (means snobs), and the General Motor brats (Americans) that were in school with us. We got drunk together for the first time when we were 15, which involved being VIPs in an all-you can-drink club in Acapulco, nudity, London forgetting how to speak English (she is fluent in Spanish, I, on the other hand, am not), cold showers, and a crying episode on the roof of London’s family house (this was all just one night, when we were in Acapulco with her family…) We have some great memories that really bind us together and it was nice to just veg out, be fat kids in a candy store and talk about old times!!

Oh, Café Asia!! As bad as the interiors are, and even though I feel like I am eating in a cafeteria, I love LOVE the sushi and always have a good time there. The boys, one of my bf’s roommates, London, I and Cambouri (YAY!! Back from NY for the weekend, Already!) went to café asia. None of us held back. I ordered 18 pieces of sushi!! London, being the Chic and classy girl, ordered the Sashimi dinner, and Cambouri, being the petite ballet dancer ordered 2 rolls and then proceeded to help me finish off the 18 pieces I had ordered, the mooch J and of course why I keep her around, because I find my eyes are bigger than my stomach most of the time.
We also ordered Saki Bombs and Wine. YUM! I love saki bombs!! I don’t know what it is about them, but I do them in “my size” amounts and they just taste so good!
We ate and drank there for about 3 hours and then was told it was last call…We thought the restaurant was closing and so we had to leave. We are all paying and finishing our last drinks, and we notice that we are the only ones leaving and a dj is setting up right next to us so I guess we weren’t invited to stay…(we thought maybe the requirements were to speak Japanese) So we headed over for a rival of Science Club. Our memories where so fond of the free drinks last time we thought why not…Luckily this time, it was not as crowded, we found a great place to stand and ended up drinking to our hearts content (V&T’s for London and I, and G &T for Cambouri, for a ballerina she is hardcore)
Highlights of the night:
1. Taking numerous outrageous pictures *typical in the digital camera age
2. Ten (my bf of 3.5 years) wanting to talk about our future and marriage and oh my goodness! (mind you I am not wearing a ring yet!!) I had to have Cambouri and London come steal me from his clutches to the bathroom where he immediately forgot about anything he said, when he proposes I would like him to be semi-sober and be a few years older J
3. London, Cambouri, and I are taking a picture and we are all chatting away not ready to take it yet, when London yells at me, and she is like “Are we interlocking hands?” We both look behind Cambouri and we have been holding each other hands, like interlocked fingers and everything!! HAHA, gotta love those lesbian moments with your best friends!

4. On the metro ride home, my boyfriend being the drunkard he is, pulls Rice up to the front of the train and is like look out the front. They spend the entire 20 min train ride staring through the front of the car looking at the tracks ahead…best moment, was when London and I look up, and Ten has his arm on Rice’s back and they both are staring through the window (into the future), we have a great picture of it.

Sunday: Our final day…being totally hung over and tired we went and walked around Georgetown, I mean I had to show London Georgetown!! But we were both so tired and blah there we no great purchases to speak of.

Anyways, hope everyone has had a great weekend! I look forward to all my friends coming home for the holidays. Until then, I guess I will just save my money!

PS: SO EXCITED!! London brought me the Skinny Bitch in the Kitch book!! I love the book Skinny Bitch, as I said before I am not a true Veg, but I am trying to be and this is just another step! Yay for being healthy and organic!

Swimmer's Ear...or Psycho Sid

So I remember being a kid and spending all day in the swimming pool. When my mom finally dragged me out I always ended up with the worst swimmer's ear. I felt like I spent the rest of the day slightly disoriented because I one of my senses was off....

One of my bosses (famous for her chesire cat smoking a cigar laugh) I think has the above problem...Not the swimmer's ear but the disorientation....she is legally blind and cannot CANNOT see a thing, the whole office double checks every email, check report, name spellings etc because she is famous for ALWAYS making typos (which get me into trouble all the time i may add)....So I believe that since she can't see well it makes her a little well...Loopy....

Today's incident (not the only one, just one of them):

My assignment today has been to take all the 2006 files in our filing cabinet and put them in boxes and get them to the storage room...(not the easiest takes for 5'2, 98 lb me...) Then I have to move all the 2007 files into the filing cabinet where the 2006's were and then make all new files for 2008. So I have been running around the office all day, hauling boxes around the office, making labels, not only that the top shelf of the files are so tall that I have to be on a spare chair in the office to make all the files for Jan-March.

So i am standing on the chair, obviously sweaty and gross from all the work, and my boss comes in and is like have you checked your email. I look at her like "Does it look like I have checked my email?" and She says, "It would be fabbbbuuuullloous (as she says) if you would send this friend of mine an e-birthday card. Do you think you could search on the internet and get a GRRREEAAATTT funny, cute card and sign it from all of us in the office?..."

I just look at her as if "You've got to be kidding, can you tell I am busy...I am just balancing files on my arm for tips..." not only that, have you ever tried to find a decent, funny e-card on the net, it takes hours and basically it is not possible!

What can you really say to your boss...you can't say no to questions like the above, at the same time, BUY YOUR OWN DAMN BIRTHDAY CARD!!!! I swear if I ever make my assistant buy MY friends birthday cards, you can all stop deciding to be my friend. So that is how I will be spending the rest of my day...searching for a great e-card for my boss.

This is just one example of the craziness/disorientation of my female boss.

and I mean she is out of her mind sometimes...We shall refer to her in the future as "Psycho Sid."

Yay, I have figured out one name for one of my bosses!

HAPPY HANUKAH! Celebrations with the family will be tonight!

Fish out of water is like...

flowers in the snow (I saw these little flowers on my walk home and thought they looked just the way I was feeling)

Hiding under my covers in my room...away from the cold and scary snow...I cant figure out what shoes to wear tomorrow...

This is where I should be....

23 Year Old Has More Than One Job Offer...Never heard of it...

I never thought at 23 I would actually have career opportunities. and definitely not more than one! So the place where I work has just been sold. As a lowly sales and catering coordinator, I have been thinking about what this means for me. I have never been through a merger before. I dont know exactly how it works. Not only that our department does work for two hotels and only one of them is being sold, so even more confusing but...my big boss pulled me into his office after the announcement and said:



"I dont want you to ever worry about anything. The General Manager and I have been speaking and he has asked specifically for you to stay on at the other hotel (the one not being sold). Not only that, it would include a promotion to Conference Sales Manager".....



WOW!!! I have barely worked one year in the hotel business and already a promotion in the works! and not only that but there are so many opportunities since there are plans for a fabulous renovation on the hotel!



and now here comes the drumroll...Not only do I have one option...I have two!!



The General Manager of the Restaurant at one of the hotels (this is just any restaurant mind you, this is one of the best in the country), met with me in a private covert operation because....dah dahn naaaa..... he wanted to discuss with me possible job opportunties

He basically needs an assistant for himself, the PR Rep for the Chef, and the event planner needs help with private party planning! And as I learn more and more, they will be needing me as a sales and event planner the bigger the restuarant grows (which it is growing with 2 new ones in California which also means a connection to cali! Yay!)



So what does a 23 year old, career oriented, infectionsly excited about life do?



If anyone has any advice, maybe you have been in this situation, I would love to hear what you did!



I never thought I would be asking this question yet: But what is worth more...



1. Money and Job Possibilities now...

0r

2. Something I love with Job possibilies in the future....


(Just a hint, London suggested that I go for number 1, she says with my career aspirations I should take every step I am given to continue climbing the corporate ladder....)




Me in the future of course... :)

Shot me with a Boring Bullet!

Good Morning (I guess Afternoon now but I meant to write this morning),


So this was a pretty great weekend! I love having those times where you are like I had a lot of fun last night, this weekend, I feel like it really makes me not miss California so much and I think that is the point right now. I have to get over my "homesickness..." and learn to appreciate DC as a completely different place and not expect the same people, the same clothes, and the same nightlife atmospheres.

What I did this weekend:


- Friday: I spent some quality time with my boyfriend. He has been very busy with grad school and working full time so we finally took a night to enjoy each other's company. We see each other all the time since we live in the same building but there is a difference between seeing each other and really spending quality time....and here is the great great part and basically why I have the best boyfriend in the whole world...


He spent the evening watching Gilmore Girls Season 7 Disc 1 with me!!!


My little sister has always been obsessed with Gilmore girls and finally I decided to watch it and was hooked immediatly. I now own seasons 1-5 and am Netflixing the last two seasons. and I had just gotten the first disc and Season 6 ends with a very crucial cliff hanger and I was dying to watch it and that is when my boyfriend said those very important words that take your relationship to the next level...



"I 'll watch it with you"


YAYAY!!!! So we spent the evening cuddled up drinking red wine *yummy Cab wine from Argentina called La Tosca and watching my two favorite Loreleis...*I will be naming my daughter Rory and there is nothing my boyfriend can do about it :)



Saturday:

- Oh Macy's how I love you!!! So all day Saturday Macy's and Express took all my money :)






http://dealnews.com/Macys-Friend-Family-Sale-20-off-coupon-even-on-sale-items/199436.html


20% off of everything at Macy's till tomorrow!! Don't miss out, even Coach stuff and jewelery and sale stuff!




It is the friends and family sale and I have always wanted one of those coach wristlets and I finally decided yesterday that I had never see coach on sale and would not pass it up. I also bought a great scarf (org: $30, Sale: $15), I bought my mom a really gorgeous sterling silver bracelet made with shell and onyx (Org: $70, Sale: $26) all sterling silver is %50 off as it is plus the coupons of friends and family!





I also went to Express and they were having great sales as well.




I bought their Essential Shirt (Org: $44, Sale: $20) and I bought this great grey vest that goes over it and is sooo cute!! So I would suggest to go to the mall and not only that:

It is tax free week in DC!

So I spent a lot of hard earned money and bought gifts for my family and my next paycheck will be for my friends (I have never opened up a credit card and at this moment, this is when I wish I had because I only have 15 dollars left in my bank account....)

However, the best part of the weekend was last night:
A group of friends braved the sleet last night and trecked from Farragut to Science Club to send off my best friend from high school, Cambouri, the one who has basically been keeping me sane here in DC is moving to New York today. :(

Science Club is on 19th street and is about 2 blocks North of Farragut and 2 blocks South of Dupont next to Mezza Luna. At first it was awful, we were about to leave because it was packed to the gills. It is a small place with even smaller standing room, which leads to it being almost impossible to make it to the bar, and to make it even worse (or better after the crowd died down) it was free Miller High Life's all night long!! Cambouri and I were headed to the bar to grab two white wines (usually I am a vodka soda with lime type of girl but tonight I wanted to keep clear headed and actually remember celebrating Cambouri's last night.) When we heard it was free beer all night long. normally we would never and I mean EVER drink Miller High Life's I dont think I had actually ever had it before but being poor young professionals we thought we should take advantage I mean we were there to mingle with locals :) And so we raised our glass to the "Champagne of Beer!" and to Cambouri's last night in DC (she is coming back next week to get more stuff and London is coming to town...)
So as I said, at first it was packed to the gills and uncomfortable, but everyone started to leave probably due to the sardine status and then it became enjoyable. We had a great night chatting about her new job in New York (fundraising for a hospital while hoping to join a Ballet Company and continue with her auditions...Cambouri is an amazing ballerina has been written up in the New York times but unfortunatly for the world she is a little too tall...I know I know...too TALL!! So sad.....


Anyways...my internet is about to expire at Caribou Coffee so I will make this post and hopefully get to post later!

Hope the weekend was fabulous for everyone! If anyone has suggestions for great bars, lounges, and nightclubs in DC let me know, I love trying new places!

(i'll explain the boring bullet come next time!)