I'm back! Only to leave again

I stopped blogging. Not sure why. Yeah, I was busy- but I'm always busy. I think I started getting self-conscious. Weird, I know. Anyway- I think I'm going to try to start up again, only because I know have something exciting to blog about. As exciting as work and school is- I'm going to Paris! So, I have my last final tonight- and then I'm going to start packing and then off we go- my husband and I. Honeymoon round 2!

Murder Mystery Idea Board

Murder in Sin City by worklaughlove

Steve and I are very excited to be hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner this weekend! We got the story line from this site and its called "Murder in Sin City". I read it over (yes, I cheated) and it seems really cool. A little bit of romance, suspense, and of course murder. Sounds like a good combination to me! So here are my ideas of how to pull it all off.

Food: a buffet of random foods- kind of like the buffets at Las Vegas

Decorations: Vegas themed decorations, maybe try to make the house look like a casino

Venue: our house

Budget: $70

People: 11 including us

Attire: costumes!

Entertainment: the murder mystery game, and also casino games

Baby shower Cake

Tonight I made the cake for the Book themed baby shower this weekend! A little early perhaps, but that marshmallow fondant is resilient- that cake could last forever if covered with that stuff! I wish I had time to actually make my own from-scratch cake and icing, but I got home from class at 8 tonight and just didn’t feel like it. Terrible, I know. I just made a sheet cake out of a box and then cut three of the same sized squares out.

I then plastered them together with the (again, store-bought) icing.

I will eventually post my recipe for marshmallow fondant (super easy), but I rolled it out and completely covered the cake with it.

I then used food dye to make yellow and blue ribbons.

To be honest, I’m not proud of this cake. If I had the time- I would have made a really cute book themed cake, or even just made a better one of these. But oh well, here it is. Its pretty cute and did the trick.

pattys day

This past weekend was the second biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the whole nation! And of course Steve and I were there; no way would we miss an opportunity to dress in completely ridiculous outfits and drink green beer! And drink we did! We even took the bus downtown to eliminate the argument of who has to drive. The whole debauchery started at 8am with kegs and eggs at our friend’s apartment and continued until around 9 that night when we caught the bus and proceeded to sleep for 13 hours. No joke. Totally worth it thought, we had so much fun!

I'm A Slacker

I’ve been a terrible blogger as of late, which I guess is okay- since I’m pretty sure my husband is the only one who actually reads this… and that’s only sometimes (love you!). Little update- one of our best friends got in a really bad accident this past week. He was working on his car when it exploded and a piece of metal his him in the forehead. Luckily, after surgery and a metal plate, he’s home now and doing well. But it was pretty scary there for a while. I have a picture, but I don’t think I should really post it… Anyway, I’m going to try my best to post more consistently. Not because people read it (who are we kidding?) but just because I enjoy it!

Polka Dots and Red Ribbons

Its super hard to tell in this picture- but I promise that little blue number is polka dots! I actually was a little afraid when this month’s challenge was announced. I didn’t think I had anything with polka dots! I walked into my closet and all I could find was polka dot underwear… not sure how appropriate that would have been! So I busted out my summer clothes and found this tank top! Honestly, I’m not sure how crazy I am about this outfit- its not very flattering on me. Makes it look as if I don’t have a figure underneath all those layers- so I added that red ribbon to try to make it a little better. Was it a success? Not so sure, but I am looking forward to seeing what the other ladies came up with!

Kids and Blisters

#25


Kids are ruthless! Oh man, I went to Chuck E. Cheese today to spend some time with one of my best friends and her 3 year old son. He is crazy! First of all- so much energy! If only some of it would rub off on me! His mom, JL is pregnant- so it was up to me to crawl around in the pipes with him. At first- I had a blast! I hadn't been able to climb around and go down slides in such a long time! At least not without getting really creepy looks. Why people look down on my inner child I'll never understand... haha. Please don't read into this- but I have bruises on my knees and blisters on my hands from all that crawling around!

Laser Tag!

#24


I'm just going to put this out there- Laser Tag is some serious fun! Granted, its marketed towards pre-teens; Justin Beiber music and all. I was walking downtown Friday evening on my way towards the bus and as I round the corner- I just thought ' this would be so much better in the dark with a headset and a fake gun!'. So I immediately called 2 of our best friends- Mr and Mrs H. They were totally down! We had so much fun shooting at each other! hahah, and here is what I wore- of course I took the white top off to be stealthy. Oh, and by the way- they kicked our butts- twice! Next time you guys are so going down!

2 for 1 deal

Outfit #23

Outfit #24

This could very well be considered cheating, or… the whole point of this challenge! Here are outfits #23 AND #24! Yup- that’s two for the price of one! Throw my hair up and grab a pair of jeans and wham- new outfit. And don’t mind my pants tucked into my socks; that is considered uber cool in these parts.

Outfit 23 and 24 by worklaughlove

The 30 for 30

Outfit #22

I feel awful for saying this- but I am so done with this 30 for 30 challenge. Don’t get me wrong- I’m so glad I did it, and I definitely learned a ton! But I’m ready to start wearing my other clothes and go shopping! So what did I learn? Well, I learned that I shouldn’t pick such obvious clothes for a challenge like this. Let’s be honest- black slacks, button downs, and cardigans? I really could have stepped out of my comfort zone a little bit- even if just having some more color! One orange sweater is certainly not enough. So, in conclusion- I’m super glad that I did this challenge; I have certainly learned how to put my closet to use. Mixing and matching pieces that I never would have thought would go so well together, and even meeting a really great group of fashion bloggers. I will undoubtedly use my closet to its full advantage now- and always keep in mind how I can mix a piece before blindly buying it (unless of course it is amazing and cheap as hell at Goodwill…eek! Maybe I need another 30 for 30).

Outfit #22 by worklaughlove

Are you high?

Outfit #21 I may or may not have just asked a client if he was high. Of course I was just kidding, but it got me thinking about the repoire that I have with many of my clients. The business I’m in isn’t technically ‘customer service’ but we are dealing with clients constantly. Being friendly with these people helps me out in so many ways. Not only does it make my job more fun, but it can get me out of trouble. Not that I get into trouble very often…- but my job does tend to lend itself to a good amount of smoothing things over. Being able to laugh with your customer or client certainly makes things quite a bit easier when there is no laughing involved.

Out #21 by worklaughlove

Take That, Books!

Outfit #20

You see that?! Oh yes- that is me standing on all my school books for this semester! Take that, books! But don’t worry we will be back to our love/hate relationship next week, once spring break is over. But until then- Ha! This is me not doing homework! This is me being home before 7 every night!!! Oh man, I’m having too much fun this week!

Outfit #20 by worklaughlove

Penny Slots

Outfit #19

Sunday was our friend Bill’s birthday. So what do you do to celebrate on a Sunday? Go to the casino of course! We only lost $10, and it was all on penny slots. And don’t even think about making fun of my penny slot dependence! Pennies make me feel safe and secure- I even bet a whole quarter a few times (but only a few times). On second thought, do make fun of me and my penny slots.

Outfit #19 by worklaughlove

"Movie Night"

Outfit #18

Steve and I went to a friend’s house Saturday night, for some civilized, married people ‘movie night’. We all got together and talked about being married and the weather- you know, boring married conversation. Then we settled down for some popcorn and watched an economically stimulating movie (or some animated Owl movie). All very civilized and refined. Well, that is until we busted out the Wii Dance. That is when things got a bit crazy. Couches were moved, music got blasted, clothes started coming off, bodies were dancing everywhere. Good times were had that night. I do have video evidence if anyone is interested(I promise its PG!).

Outfit #18 by worklaughlove

Long Day

Outfit #17


Friday was an incredibly long day- but I don’t mean to say that in a bad way. It was an incredibly long day in a totally awesome way! Work from 9 to 6 as usual then swap out the slacks for jeans, grab a belt, roll up the sleeves and off to happy hour I go! After a 3 hour ‘happy hour’ we decided we just weren’t quite done. So, four of us headed down to where Steve used to live back in his grad-school days and got some drunk pizza; ‘drunk’ because it only tastes good when you have been drinking all night. Unfortunately I was DD (designated driver) that night, but oh well- an extra large pizza for $4.90- you can’t go wrong! We then headed to Ashley’s where we just relaxed and talked for a while. Overall- it was a very good night. Although the cats weren’t too happy when we did finally get home… Hope you guys all had a great weekend!

Outfit #17 by worklaughlove

A Shift In Thinking

Outfit #16


‘A shift in thinking’ is the ability to think outside of the box, but not only outside of your box- but into someone else’s. Get your minds out of the gutters ladies! I’m talking about a mindset here. Specifically, in this case: outfits. About two years ago, when I first started in my current position I was all ‘come to work, do the min, wear slacks.’ I didn’t really care to go above and beyond. Of course that didn’t get me anywhere. After reading a few –much needed- books I fully embrace the idea of ‘dress for the job you want, not the job you have’. And boom- now I’m all fancied up when I come to work (let’s ignore the fact that I just sit in my cube all day). I shifted my thinking- to be more in line with someone else’s. The biggest thing here is to make sure that someone else knows what they’re doing. Things could get ugly. But anyway, back to the point- now that I’ve been in this 30 for 30 challenge, I’ve had much more exposure to what you ladies are all wearing. And yes, my thought has shifted once again. I still have a long way to go, but I really think that by using other bloggers as inspiration, my knack for remixing outfits is coming all quite nicely. So, thanks! And have a great weekend!

Outfit #16 by worklaughlove

JersDay

Outfit #15

One thing that pretty much anyone who knows me can tell you is that I love being busy. I’m always up to something- and I don’t mean that in a scheming way (although that can sometimes be true…). I like keeping my plate full, working on current project while thinking about the next big thing. And right in the middle of my first semester of school, I’m finding that perhaps something needs to give. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics most of us spend 8.68 of the day sleeping, 7.78 hours working, and 3.45 hours watching tv. Seem about right for you? With my 9 hours of working and 1 hour of tv, this statistic is just slightly off for me. I’m just wondering- what do you get out of watching so much television? But I can’t talk too long, its JersDay (lol)....

Outfit #15 by worklaughlove

Cannot Wait

Outfit #14

I got nothing today- sorry folks. I’m drawing a blank. Midterm went well last night (woot!) and now I’m working on my take-home Law midterm due tomorrow. Oh man- I sooo cannot wait for Spring Break next week! What am I going to do? Actually take my lunches! And go to the gym! And get home before 8! Excited? Haha… just a little.

Outfit #14 by worklaughlove

Brand Positioning

Outfit #13

With my Marketing Midterm tonight- I’ve been thinking (read: studying) quite a bit about marketing and branding, which made me think: how am I branding myself? The answer to that would have to be way too complicated to write down, since my brand positioning differs depending on my channel. So- the channel is who I am marketing- be it my coworkers, my game night friends, my going out friends, my fellow students, my blog readers, etc. Since I can’t often change my ‘product’ or ‘personnel’, its my image that often gets altered. I try to maximize everyone’s value (perceived economic, functional, or psychological benefits). So- to tie this all up with this blog: I’m trying to determine exactly what it is that I can write about that will interest people. What should my brand positioning be for this blog? Its only around 2 months old now, so yeah- I think its ok to have waited this long to determine. Alright so brand positioning consists of: product, personnel, channel, and –most importantly- image. To the drawing board!

Outfit #13 by worklaughlove

Downtown Stroll

The weather Friday was absolutely gorgeous! I don’t usually have time to take a lunch at work- but I made sure to today. It was just too nice of a day not to take some time to walk around downtown.

Outfit #12 by worklaughlove