West Coast, Left Coast

Last Saturday, I left my heart in NY (in the form of a tray of lasagna & buffalo mac and cheese & a box of Lucky Charms) to head to The Golden State for a work conference. While I love to travel, I have realized that what I love a lot more is traveling with my husband or family. Yes, I've only been gone for  5 days, but when you never really spend more than a weekend apart from your husband, 5 days seems like a lot -- especially with a time difference that can make it hard to connect.

Anywho, I did have a great time while I was out here and was able to network, learn a few things here and there and also experience some very cool things. So, I will explain my trip through a series of pictures from this past week.

I got this awesome new necklace from Bauble Bar. Have I talked about them before? If not, you should all go visit it. Their mission is to provide awesome, fashionable jewelry at reasonable prices. And guess what -- they do! The pretty bib necklace was less than $40 and I also got the gold braided bracelet on my wrist from there. So anyways, stop reading this crap and go check it out!

 Yes, that is Pat Monahan of Train and yes, I was sitting a mere 4 rows from him. I've always liked me some Train, so when FM Global was throwing a free Train Concert during this convention, I obviously  planned to attend. He was charismatic and really had the crowd going and played for just the right amount of time. So, I rocked out to this on Monday night!

 This is made entirely of business cards and there was a guy there building even more buildings out of cards. How crazy is that? There was also a sand castle that was being built at another exhibit, but of course I didn't take a picture of that one...oh well!

 How fun is this dress? This is the champagne girl at Canada night. Enough said.

But probably the best part of the week was the Marsh party at Universal Studios. We hopped in the car and headed over with our broker and when we arrived they had a whole area shut down for us. We wandered around the "London" area of the park, ate, drank, mingled. Then they shuffled us down to some shuttles and drove us through the studio lot down to the Jurassic Park/The Mummy/Transformers area and I rode 2 rides, naturally skipping the roller coaster because my pansy behind doesn't do that sorta thang. I did love the Transformers simulator ride and as you can see, I got a pretty awesome picture with Bumble Bee!

This is me and our broker on a children's quarter ride. Obviously Roger didn't get the memo that the boat was "rocking," but I guess that's ok.

And finally, I can't wait to get back to this little pup I left behind, as well as my other little guy Muppet and my favorite guy, Brandon.

All in all, the conference was great, but I am headed to the airport at 5 am tomorrow in an attempt to fly standby on the 7 am flight. Until next time! (And hopefully a less boringish post).

Toodles.
L

Sunday Round-Up

Well, look at me, here went another week and now I'm here on Sunday giving ya'll an update. Well, it's been a big long week, both in national news and in the Sloane's Universe.

My week started like this: 

Yes, that is Tabasco sauce on Peeps. I sometimes lack this little thing called "self control" around anything with sugar, i.e. marshmallows (a fluffy sugar) covered in colored sugar. Also, this evening (while I am at a conference), I went to a reception that was a "dessert reception," i.e. Land O'NoControl, i.e. I ate a raspberry bar, 7 marshmallows, little blueberry candies, a cake pop and more.

On Monday, something devastating happened to this nation. During the world renowned and historic Boston Marathon, two bombs went off. Such a patriotic and amazing day, not just Boston, but throughout this nation was taken from us in a second. Lives were lost and many were injured. After five long and draining days, the manhunt for these terrorists ended with one being killed and one being captured. I only hope that we can find some answers in all of this and that those who are still in the hospital can heal. On a side note, I flew to California on Saturday and this plane was outside the window next to me. How fitting given the week. 

Phew. That was heavy, so on to other less important items, which is mostly what this blog is all about.

Many of you know of my obsession with Amanda Bynes and her rapid spiral into a future insane asylum. These photos were two gems I received this week from Whitney & Corinn. I gotta say, she's looking damn good in that left picture, so I'd have to guess it was taken pre-right picture, which includes extensions, cheek piercings and its likely that she's sucking on a Sour Patch Kid getting ready to go out. (If you haven't seen that video yet, find it and watch it. Now.)

So, in other news, I might just have to give myself credit as being an awesome wife. I took a sick day on Friday to go to the doctor for a lingering head cold that I had thought might be allergies. I have been sick with something cold related for roughly 4 weeks and with getting on a plane on Saturday, the last thing I wanted to do was have my ear drums popping. So anyways, back to being an awesome wife -- I know my husband and know that if I leave him home for roughly a week, he's mostly going to live off cereal (I got him Lucky Charms) and PB&J which he declared the other day that he, "just loves so much!" So I took it upon myself to make him both a tray of lasagna (pictured), Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese AND my personal favorite, these birthday bar things that were DELISH and that I'm glad I left behind or I'd eat the whole damn tray. Anyways the above + the below = awesome wife.

And finally, I am in Los Angeles right now for the RIMS Conference (risk and insurance) and they sure do know how to call out the "newbies" on their badges. I'll try to report back more later in the week, but for now, it took me 2 days to get this post up so, #dealwithit.

Sunday Round-up.

Well, since I was last on here, I can't say there were a ton of crazy things going on, but it was a good week.

On Wednesday, I went to Jack Rabbit Sports in Union Square to get new sneakers with Jenna. I have to say, the experience was great. I went there because they do a personalized fitting. They start with asking you a few questions -- what type of running you do, any injuries, any concerns -- then they put you on a treadmill and film you running for about 30 seconds. After determining that I am a "neutral" runner (i.e. I don't pronate -- turn my legs in when lifting for next step) they brought out a few pairs of shoes, let me try them on, you can hop back on treadmill if you want to test them out too. I ended up with the Mizuno Wave Rider and love it!

Picture Credit & Shoe can be purchased here!

Gave it a little test-run this past Saturday when I met up with Emily to run in Central Park. We got a solid 7 miles in and it felt really good. I've been struggling to work out because I've basically been sick non-stop for about 4 weeks with different ailments. My first half is just 2 Sundays from now in DC and perhaps one of the only things getting me through it is that I'll get a Tiffany & Co. necklace at the end. But, that is enough to get me there!

We then went to the Yankees game with Jenna, Andrew & Mark and had a fun time. It was absolutely freezing out at this point, the Yankees lost and we were in the nosebleeds, but it was all in good company, so who cares!

Props to an amazing photobomb by Jenna. Also, someone pointed out that we look Photoshopped into this and I'm thinking that's because I put a filter on it in Instagram, but we do in fact look Photoshopped.                                                                                              

We then hit up Rudy's which is amazing and had some supa cheap beer, free Hebrew National Hot Dogs and did weird things with this pink foam finger that we naturally bought at the Yankees game. All in all, it was a fun little Saturday.

And I am happy to say that our little Lola has had her cone taken off. Her eye has healed perfectly and we're soooo happy we had this surgery done. We got a few fun walks in today and the weather was perfect, so I know that both our little puppy nuggets loved it!


Alright people, Mad Men is on in T-minus 9 minutes, so until next time, peas out.

Tuesday.

A few quick updates, because I'm in a mood and I don't want to spoil this blog with it...

• Lola baby had her surgery and it went as great as can be. Her eye stitched up perfectly and she looks normal again. When I went to pick her up I asked the vet if she was mellow at all and he simply told me that she was "mellow by boxer standards..." and that she "woke right up" from surgery. Well, with the exception of a large cone around Lola's head, you would not know she was put under at all. She bounced right back, which I guess I really shouldn't complain about!
• We had a nice little weekend in Jersey. Kim & Kyle came over for a nice little dinner on Friday with the fam. We all had a good time and had some delicious kabobs that my mom and I made!
• The weather finally seems to be taking a turn for the better (Thank goodness!) which is promising that there will in fact be a spring this year. Though I guess spring is questionable considering today was about 78 degrees.
• Louisville won! We're big Georgetown fans (for obvious reasons), but if they couldn't win, we got a Big East team to win. Especially after the whole Kevin Ware drama, it was nice to see a team like that win. So, I am happy for them!

Ok, thats all for now, maybe I will have some more updates later this week, but right now I feel swamped with work, continuing education, trying to run/train/not die for my 1/2 marathon and playing soccer (oh yea, we won our first game! yay!). 

Toodles!

L

T.G.I.AlmostThursdayWhichIsMyFriday

Tomorrow is my Friday! Yee haw!

I took Friday off this week because my cute little pup Lola needs to have some eye surgery. We're doing it in Jersey because the cost is about 1/3 of what it would cost us here in the lame state of NY. You can see from this picture that she has a little cyst (or thats what they think it is) on her eye, so they'll take a little pizza pie slice out and stitch it up. They say she'll be a little squinty eyed until it stretches out to normal, but anythings better than whats going on now with it.

I also particularly like the little photobomb in the back of this picture by our other little nugget, Muppet.

So, tomorrow will be a long day -- work, then soccer game in city, then Brandon picks me up, then we head out to Jersey before Lola has her surgery at 8:00 am on Friday morning. I am looking forward to the weekend in Jersey, getting my hair highlighted and getting our laundry done.

I'm realizing that this is pretty much the most boring post ever, but oh well -- that will happen sometimes I suppose, after all, my life can be boring...I know, its hard to believe ;-)

Well, until next time...Sayonara Sloane Spot.

MacBook Monday

I do have to admit, as if you were unable to tell, I tend to struggle with what to title my posts, so here we are. Well, its Tuesday, but I got my NEW computer on Monday! (Also my birthday!) And it is a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I settled on the Air, got some extra memory on it to enable it to last longer and it is just light as a feather and so pretty!

My AWESOME husband picked me up from the train, we went to get my computer, then we headed to a surprise Asian dinner in Flushing. We ended up at Joe's Shanghai where their specialty is soup dumplings. They were delicious and the dinner was very low key and I got some amazing presents. I got this Marc by Marc Jacobs laptop case and anyone who's anyone knows my fave color of all time is red! So good job there! And then I got a gift certificate to Bauble Bar -- if you haven't ever checked it out, then do it, ladies! It has awesome trendy jewelry at normal people prices -- aka: affordable.

I also got some bracelets from my Mom, Dad, Sister Whit and Nana, a necklace from Whit, a skirt and scarf from M&D, highlights to come this weekend from them and a dinner out during our trip to Charleston from MIL & FIL! Phew! Coworkers bought me an ice cream cake and all in all, it was a stellar day!

Now, I'm trying to kick this damn cough that I've had for over a week now. It's really driving me up a wall and I'm pretty sure its starting to drive others up the wall. Tomorrow is my Thursday because we have Friday off. We're headed to Jersey for the weekend, Lola will get the thing on her eye removed and I'll get to see family and some friends while there too!

Adios for the night!