Weekend Recap (Feb 26 & Feb 27)

Fridays = YAY and Mondays = BOOOO! Funny how that feeling never goes away as we age.

Our foodie friend, Van, text us if we wanted to hang out after work on Friday since we haven't seen her in ages. Technically, two weeks, but we see each other on a weekly basis so two weeks seemed like FOREVER. Dramatic much? Nah. Plus, she was feeling poopie so even the more reason to meet up right? She even brought us cupcakes from her work - she's such an awesome friend!

Left: Vanilla bean red velvet swirl with whipped cream cheese frosting

Right: White chocolate macadamia nut with white chocolate frosting

We even had a guest of honor for the evening - Elyssa!! We picked her up at her work place and we had to take a small detour to Babies R US. While en route to said place, dinner needed to be decided!

Van: "I've been craving something for awhile, but it's kind of far..."
Moi: "Where?"
Van: "Umm. Okay, I'll spell it. B!!!"
Elyssa and the hubs, simultaneously: "A!!!!" (with Elyssa demonstrating the letter with her arms - it's the former cheerleader in her coming out. Meanwhile, I'm completely loss. How in the world does Elyssa and hubs know?!)
Hubs: "B!!!" (Me: B.A.B - still no clue!)
Van and Elyssa: "E!!!!"
Van: "apostrophe and S!!!!" (me: ohhh. got it! Damn I'm slow!)

Babe's Chicken it is!! Yum!!! You pick your meat from a select menu and as much mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed corn, green beans, salad, and biscuits you can devour!!! *drool*

Waiting outside

Elyssa packing it down - JK

All the meats ordered minus half that was already eaten.

We take food very seriously!!

After a fulfilling dinner, Van needed an evening topper so we drove down the street to The Londoner Pub for a shot!

3 red headed sluts with a side of patron

After 3 hours of sleep, it was to the donut shop we go! We were spent by the time we closed so we took a quick nap then headed to dinner at Woo Mee Oak with Tara, Veraya and her hubby, Mike! Veraya took our engagement pictures and we instantly hit it off. She's currently 30 weeks preggers and we haven't seen her since she announced the news so dinner was absolutely necessary. Remember the Babies R US trip the previous day? Makes sense now? *light bulb* And because we're food savages, I once again forgot to take pictures! DOH!

This time, we got 4 hours of sleep (woot!) before the alarm screamed at us to get our asses up for the shop again. Just like Saturday, we crashed after the shop for a quick nap prior to the funeral viewing for Sid. We tried to be strong for Sid's wife, Mary and his son, Steve, but the closer we got to Sid, the harder it was to fight the waterworks. Mary was being super strong and didn't shed a tear. We paid our respects and cried it out on the ride home. This isn't going to be an easy week. We'll miss Sid dearly.


*all pics are taken by me except for the cupcake one. That's by Van!

...And a better tomorra!

Town population: 3,200
Location: 42 miles NE of Dallas, TX

GOOD MORNING! HOW ARE YOU TODAY? WHAT CAN I GET FOR YOU? That's how I 100% of the time greet my customers and yes I literally do shout it when they first enter our store. Why? Um, because I do? So judgemental! And when they leave, I calmly express my appreciation for their business with "thank you very much, you have a great day today!" *insert BIG smile* Repeat! Being in a small town you get to know everybody and their biz and vice versa. I mean, the entire town has the hubs cell phone number for goodness sakes. And no, I'm not exaggerating when I say the whole town does. He's kind of a local celebrity - the high schoolers even have a song made up for him!! Then again, who can't love him. He's such a social butterfly (unlike hermit crab moi).  On the up side, getting to know all the locals has helped us establish a large, loyal customer base and we love catching up with them and going to dinners/rodeos/get togethers with them. Mike and Lela are the hubs and I's inspiration as a couple. They are so much in love with each other even after 50+ years of marriage. The way Mike looks at Lela and gets all jello and teary eyed... *cue unanimous awwww* On the bad side, getting close to the locals is hard on us. We become very involved in their lives through their ups and downs. We've put in a good mileage at a few hospitals the past few months unfortunately. I'd rather rack up those hospital visitation mileage than to hear the unforgettable news of a dirt nap. Sadly, we lost one of our good customers turned close friends, Sid.

Sid was one of the first customers I got close to and has a blunt but hilarious sense of humor. He always orders an apple fritter, and almost didn't make it to our wedding. He was a tough cookie and recovered well enough to attend. We were ecstatic to know that his presence will preside on our big day. When I pipe out my farewell line at the shop, he always responds with, "And a better tomorra!!" It never fails to make me smile from ear to ear and giggle. Now, I will never hear his response at the shop again nor see his smile and hear his crazy sense of humor when we visit him on an off day. Sid - thank you for being a part of our lives and never failing to make us smile when we see you. Rest in peace our dear friend.

Taken by Colorband PhotoArtisans

Cropped by me

Bittersweet Fridays

While most people are exclaiming TGIF and have rocking (or relaxing) plans for the weekend, I wrap up my week at the corporate job to get ready to start my donut job on the weekend. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to work there so that I could sleep in and be lazy bum bum or at least take the opportunity to clean up our can't.stay.clean house. During the crazy winter storm, I got to work from home so I took advantage of it and did a thorough cleaning of the house. It took me literally 2 days, and not even a week later, it looks like I never cleaned it. What the crap?! Or when our friends and family come into town, we could spend quality time with them or stay out late. With working hours of 3am till 1pm, nap time comes around 4-5pm and we're lights out for the remainder of the day. Boo!! As mentioned before, I love our shop and the loyal customer base we've built and I know that this rough schedule will set us up for something greater in the future!! Enough of the waa waa waa stuff!

Earlier in the week, I mentioned my lame wardrobe and am in desperate need of a closet face lift. So here's my work wardrobe this week. (I totally need a new camera btw! This point and shoot just isn't cutting it anymore. Sorry for the blurry pix below. Sigh... Any camera suggestions??)

please excuse the water marks in the mirror.

 I was at my parent's house and um yea!

No Tuesday because we drove home and I totally forgot

before we left the parent's house and when I got home

 to our house - boo!

I just realized all I wear are sweaters that make me look frumpy! No bueno!! I have put on some weight during the past few months, but that's another post. It's definitely not hiding that fact, it's actually adding to it!! Super sad face!

What do I need to add/change to spice up my closet? Suggestions of different articles of clothing are welcome too!! Any camera suggestions also?? Happy Friday!!

(Previous) Home Sweet Home

I was born and raised in Oklahoma (BOOMER SOONER!) and moved to Texas after I graduated for my first career job as an IT Consultant in the field of Sarbanes-Oxley and IT/Internal Audit. OK is pretty mellow and has very few things to do aka your friends house, the mall, and the movies were the only hang out places. Despite everyone constantly claiming they were bored, I loved it in OK! Aunt Kate was the coolest aunt ever and when her two sons were born, they were more like brothers to me than cousins. I mean, they practically lived at my parent's place and went everywhere with us - literally. I acted as the parent on one of my baby cousin's (he's not a baby anymore at 14 years of age and standing at 5'9", but I still consider him as such) school field trip and he didn't know how to introduce me to his classmates so he identified me as his sister-cousin. HA! So when the hubs prompted me to go visit them, I couldn't be more excited!! 5 months and 3.5 hours later - we made it! Baby cousin, Damon, even made me a pair of penguin pajama pants in his home economics class as a welcome present!!

Close up of the pattern

I totally heart pajama pants to the point of an unhealthy obsession.

Another Oklahoma-ite that the hubs and I miss terribly - our dog, Wrigs (Wrigley). I bought Wrigs for the hubs back in summer of 2006 during my Dallas internship from a college friend. My mom eventually fell in love with Wrigs and asked if she could babysit him for us while we went on our Spring Break trip. Money saving opportunity - heck yea! Upon our return from an awesome ski trip, mom requested another week with Wrigs. Well, you know where this is going already... Mom eventually refused to give Wrigs back. We're happy with the decision though with me being so far away from home and my brother away at college. He provides excellent company. When he comes down to visit us or when we get the rare opportunity to visit him, he always always always sleeps with hubs and I - smack dab in the middle of the bed in between us.

Already in the middle our first night there

His innocent "what mommy??" look

He also loves to lean on us and use us a pillow. Leaning on the hubs thighs like a big boy.

 

Awkward moment:
My parents wanted to go to the mall so we all went. When I asked them where did they want to go shop at, they responded, "Where ever you want". Hubs and I just leisurely walked and they just trekked behind us - the entire time!! Um... why??

Check out this bra and panty set inlaid with Swarovski crystals from Victoria's Secret at the mall:

Only $50 for the panties!

Do your family members act a lil weird/awkward around you when you haven't seen them in awhile?

Honey!!! I'mmmmm Hoooooooome!

Our trip to Oklahoma was a quick one and it was great seeing all my family again. Some odd incidents occurred, but I'll discuss that in a later post. Today's post will be short since I have some work to catch up on, but here's a little snip bit into dinner at one of the new places in Oklahoma, Hibachi Supreme Buffet. Rating on a scale of 1-10: 1. The only yummy thing about this restaurant, the ice cream!! It was Blue Bell in those little cups you get in grade school and they had a variety of flavors! If they only had those lil wooden spoons too...

This sign was also on the host's podium

More than 4 items on the buffet had inaccurate labels:

Last time I checked, I think that's orange chicken...

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

...seductively sang by the eternally beautiful Marilyn Monroe. Stock market is closed today so that means no work for me today at the corporate job AND my awesome mother-in-law is working for me at the shop so no work there either! Which means... I get to take a mini vaca with the hubs to Oklahoma to visit my family, whom I haven't seen since our wedding in Sept. 2010! Yikes! We drove up Sunday after we closed the shop and will head back South on Tuesday. We plan on eating food we miss in OK and spending quality family time and most importantly - relaxing and sleeping in! WOOHOO!!

Mi familia

My favorite aunt, uncle, and cousins

Both pictures were taken by Colorband PhotoArtisans.

Lost: Feminine traits

1 week into blogging, and this will be the third time my woman card is getting pulled, but I digress. Truth about Alice #2: I don't do shopping. I have zero patience for shopping and have the lamest style - ever! Kelsey at Minted Life (she has such a natural beauty and her wardrobe is fabulous) is doing a weekly showcase of her wardrobe so I'll do that next week and show you what I mean by lame. I see what I like, but it's usually rather simple and boring. Items purchased also have to be able to double dip aka work with dress slacks for corporate world and with jeans for the weekends - cost savings 1 point, variety in clothing - 0.  For instance, LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress, but for $150, not so much.

Source

Anyhow, my awesome hubby and awesome friend Lilli do my shopping for me. When they go shopping, they just keep an eye out for something I might like and just pick it up. Lilli picks out clothes I wouldn't take a second look at on the hanger nor pick myself, and yet I find myself loving those articles and the hubs likes the spice in my wardrobe. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE looking at the different outfits everyone wears and wish I could dress like them, but either a) I'm too cheap to buy "nice" clothing, b) I'm too wallflower to try anything new, or c) both a and b. Once again, I digress. The main reason for this post - I'm a bridesmaid in one of my good friend's wedding! YAY!!! Which means... dum dum dummmmmm - I gotta pick out a bridesmaid dress! *cue scary knife in horror movie sound*  The bride even sent me a lil prayer via text because she knows how flippin difficult this might be for me:

Her colors are charcoal gray and blush pink, and has left us to our own discretion on choice. Great! Leave can't.shop.for.herself.with.no.sense.of.fashion.girl a blank canvas. *cringe* At least this will give me a great opportunity to start stalking browsing WeddingBee again! Anyone have suggestions for a charcoal gray and/or blush pink dress for me? I'll buy you Starbucks!

All the... New Things: Meet Mr. Gucci

A little spin off of Blink 182's song released at the beginning of the new millenia. Loved them, then they broke up, then they got back together, but it's just not the same. Guess that's how it is with relationships sometimes too right? ANYWAY! Onto happier notes! The hubs surprised me with this when I got home the other day (apologies on the horrible quality - iPhone pix ahead):

Gucci?!

Um... Yea... First word out of my mouth - return it. STAT! Don't let that big ole smile on my face in the pic above (or below) make you believe I was OMG!I.CAN'T.BELIEVE.I.GOT.SOMETHING.GUCCI.! Shriek! That was taken 30 minutes later after some major argument with the hubs and our good friends Van and Andrew (aka Vandrew). I'm super cheap remember? And I don't have the slighest clue about anything "fancy". I just know brands like that means major $$$$$$. Not cool. Prior to opening it, I totally knew what it was going to be - a purse.

Horrible lighting - yuck!

Gosh this box is huge! $$$$ is all I could think about. :(

Sigh. Can we please return it?!

See my purse somehow magically got attacked my something super tacky one day a few weeks back and refuses to let go. I was bummed, but life moves on and I didn't whine and kick and scream for a new one. It's a purse - it carries my crap. Job accomplished. I was totally okay sporting my good ole outlet Coach purses the past 9 years. Why all of the sudden the major jump?! Hubs response, "Because you deserve it my love. You need a purse that reflects the sophisticated you and you work at a corporate job and see clients and important people all the time. You need a better purse." Me, "Um. So! It's not like my current purse is dumpy, torn, or shaggy! It's a freakin purse! I highly doubt people judge me by what kind of purse I carry. Plus, I sit in a cube all day." Argument ensues when Van interrupts, "Can I have a box of bandaids? My feet have like a dozen blisters." The hubs took Van along to help him pick out a purse and since they were in such a hurry to go before I got home, Van was rocking her awesome heels while running through Dallas Galleria. The result of such pain:

15 bandaids to be exact

After adhering literally half a box of bandaids, Van retorts, "My feet suffered for you. You have to keep the purse! Plus, I can totally borrow from you!" As you assumed from the get-go of this post, yes, I kept the purse. Ugh! Only con of this purse - there's no dividers in it! How the heck am I supposed to keep my sh*t separated and organized?! No wonder people have such a hard flippin time finding their stuff!

hello?hello?hello? It even echos!

Me admitting defeat. Sigh.

Has someone ever bought you something that you thought was just too much? Or maybe it wasn't enough?

All pix were taken by the hubs!

Kate Spade - swoon

This image popped open when I opened up my email this morning:

Source

Seems like I couldn't click on the link fast enough to check out what goods were available with the awesome $5 ground shipping on the order - sweet! The selection was slim, but everything Kate Spade hits a little pitter patter in the "want" department right? Here are a few of my faves:

 Some cute everyday purses

Thompson Street Noel Stevie

Kent Stevie

Bexley Alessandra

I absolutely love this wallet 

Wellesley Remy

Okay, back to reviewing the 10K. Don't tell my manager I slacked off for 20 minutes to do this post okay? Thanks! :) What are some of your favorite Kate Spade items?

10K for the win

No, I didn't win the lottery for $10,000 although that would be fantabulous also! I-could-go-on-a-shopping-spree or put-it-towards-our-1year-anniversary-trip-to-Bora-Bora or invest-it-in-my-IRA or.... *looks over and realizes the you're giving me the I don't give a sh*t look* My bads. Got excited about what I could do with $10,000 - heck you know you were daydreaming about the possibilities also. Anyway, what I was saying was I just started my blog a few days ago and I have to take a temporary hiatus from posting this week. Boo! I know, I'm a bad blogger. My team at my corporate job has been delegated the task of reviewing the 2010 10-K for our company, which means we have to tick and tie each number within the report to various support documents. Major task and we have a deadline of 3 days - yikes!! Their providing breakfast and lunch if that tells you how tight the timeline is. Maybe I'll get to sneak in some time to do a quick update, but no promises! I'm just hoping to survive this week with as little wrinkles, zits, and gray hairs as possible. Wish me luck and see you sooooon!!

Hugs and Kisses

First things first, I suppose - Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Want to know a secret? OMG! I can't believe I'm about to tell you this because you are more than likely going to pull my woman card. Well... the hubs and I don't really celebrate this holiday. Okay, for those of you who are completely baffled - yea yea yea, whatev. For those of you who can relate - yay us! I'm cheap. As in I won't buy the item if it's not on sale, and even if it is - it's gotta be on super sale or I have to have a badass coupon. Which is why I can't imagine the hubs spending our hard earned dollars on some flowers that cost 5x the amount on the day before or after, and they die faster than I can finish saying supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Oh, and I don't like chocolate either (oh dear, this is already going to be a "beat some sense into Alice" post) except for once a month because my hormones can dominate the entire universe if it wanted to. BUT! Not all is lost as we'll take any excuse to go out and eat. So this year, we rounded up our closest friends and headed to a mom and pop Italian Restaurant, Bellisimo's, for dinner and wine. And because we're savage pigs when it comes to food - no pictures were taken. We also went to go see Cirque Du Soleil's OVO.

Cirque Du Soleil: OVO

The hubs and I are frequenters to Vegas and have seen all the Cirque Du Soleil shows, so in comparison with the others, it was somewhat disappointing. The comedy was hilarious, but the acts were meh. Don't get me wrong, the skills of all the performers are absolutely phenomenal, but the context of it left little to be desired. If you haven't seen other Cirque shows, I'm sure OVO is amazing! With our ungodly work schedule, being able to go out with some friends and enjoy each other's company was completely blissful for us so we can't complain too much!

Oh! And Penga of Sakacon (go check out her site because her and her hubby are crazy talented. They HANDMADE her wedding dress y'all - enough said!) made a valentine's card that was to die for (for me at least because it totally reflects who the hubs and I are) and she was so generous to mail them out to various bloggers. This will be the hubby's vday card with some hubba hubba writing on the back.

sakacon

Do y'all celebrate Valentine's Day? If so, what do you look forward to?

Lost: Wedding Ring, Reward if found!

I know what you're all thinking, I've lost my wedding rings. Actually, it's the hubby that's lost his wedding ring! Here's how I was informed via text:

Hubs: My love, you're going to hate me forever.

Moi: Babe, I could never hate you forever. I might be mad at you for awhile, but never hate, never the less forever!

Hubs: Yes you can because I hate me now! My ring slipped off somewhere today and I don't know where...

As you may recall, the hubby works at the donut shop and with his hands all day so I guess I should have known that this might happen sooner or later. Regardless, I was absolutely heart broken at the news. I know it's just a material item that can be easily replaced by going online and clicking on the "Add to cart" button and then patiently waiting a few days for it to arrive on my doorstep. And our love for each other is what matters most, not some materialistic item. Yet, I can't overcome the sentimental value behind the original ring. It's the one all our friends and family blessed at our wedding a mere 5 months ago. It's the one that I put on his wedding finger as I declared my love and vow to stand by him, love him, and encourage him for as long as we both shall live. The one I always catch my self smiling at when I glance down at his hand. So what now??? Have you ever lost something of immense sentimental value? How did you overcome that heart break??

Picture taken by Colorband PhotoArtisans

Greetings!

I used to blog quite often when it was the thing to do back in middle school, but stopped in high school because I joined my fellow nerd classmates in the competition of being valedictorian! After reading and following various blogs the past year as I planned my wedding, I figured I'd give it another try. I'm still trying to find a niche for my blog, but until then, it'll be a recap of my wedding in Sept. 2010 to my now hubby, Sothea (aka Mr. Donut Man), and my thoughts of life working 7 days a week / 60+ hours a week. *disc scratch* That's right - I'm a workaholic. I graduated from college in 2007 and hit the corporate world running at the age of 20 with hopes of climbing the corporate ladder to one day be a C-level excutive. Hello 9-5! In 2008, my now husband was propositioned by his brother in law in buying a donut shop and a little over 2 years later, we know every citizen in the quaint town and (not always) loving it. I only work there on the weekends, but I enjoy seeing the regulars and running our business as husband and wife (even if our hours are 3am to noon). Yikes! I know no post is ever complete without a picture so I'll leave you with one of Mr. Donut Man and I's engagement picture!



Picture taken by Veraya Gachacoop

P.S. Please leave comments on how I can improve my blog via tone and whatever else! Tell me how you started your blog and found your niche and blogging voice!