The Best Part About Changing Jobs

Today was the first day in about two weeks that I had to buy my own lunch.  Ever since I gave my notice, it’s been a whirlwind of happy hours, lunches, breakfasts, coffee breaks, etc.  First with the old job, and then this week with my new colleagues.

There was the Adele-planned happy hour at the Union Grill.  Complete with champagne (and a margarita for me!), great apps, and really nice and thoughtful gifts.  Then there was a delicious lunch at Eleven, where I had the best burger I’ve had in awhile.  Both of these excursions were PC…they included some people I am less than fond of, so it started another wave of events for just people we like

On one of my last days, two of my most important and favorite internal customers took me to Lucca.  I hadn’t been there in awhile and never for lunch, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  I had the turkey club sandwich, and oh my God, was it good.  It was enormous and came with lots of chips and a really large side salad.  (Just a note, if you’re a club sandwich fan, check this cool new blog out:  http://clubsaretrump.blogspot.com/ – it’s really neat!)  I also had the tiramisu for desert, and well, that was just a disgrace to tiramisu everywhere.  Over all the lunch was excellent both in taste and company.

My very last day, two of my fav co-workers and I went to a restaurant off the beaten path so we could enjoy a few cocktails.  A couple of glasses of prosecco later, and I was feeling GREAT as I handed off my badge and everything to HR.

Then I started the new job.  Day one was a retreat, so even though it wasn’t all for me, I can pretend it was.  Breakfast, lunch, and ice cream sundaes!  Day two and three…more lunches with new, interesting and great people.  One place we went that I really liked was the cafe at Phipps.  I had a great chicken salad…it was a good size too.  Not overwhelmingly large, but I left full.

Today…a quick bagel at Einsteins.  Not that exciting, but filling.  It’s fun changing jobs

Dark at the Roots

This month, my book club is reading Dark at the Roots by Sarah Thyre.  I only got to page 88.  It’s a memior about a girl growing up in the South.  Sarah writes well, but I just had an issue because I didn’t know where she was going with anything…the points of all of her stories were really unclear, so I didn’t finish it.

Book club should be fun though tonight.  We’ve gotten more people interested in it…last month there were I think 10 of us there.  It’s nice to get together with friends like this…even if I won’t really be participating in book talk

Surprise, Surprise

One of my best friends, Nur, turned 30 on Saturday.  She lives in New Jersey right outside of NYC, so I flew up for 24 hours to surprise her.  Turns out, her wonderful fiance also wanted to surprise her…he had a bunch of her good friends waiting at a bar to send her into her 30s with a bang

The best part was that Nur was so unsuspecting that she was literally in tears Saturday morning because no one was doing anything for her big day.  She was so happy and surprised, and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it!

Before the surprise at Quay’s in Hoboken, Kelly (who graciously let me stay with her in her awesome apartment in midtown Manhattan!) and I had dinner at 3Forty Grill.  Awesome filet…and they barely cooked it just the way I liked.  The mashed potatoes were to die for, as well…slightly garlic-y, but still so yummy.  The best part?  The martini’s.  I had a raspberry and 3Forty…which tasted like rainbow sherbert!

Little did I know when I was planning my trip that Sunday was Easter.  Opps.  I had a nice Southwest Chicken Salad from McDonald’s on my way home from the airport.  Definitely worth it…it was a great weekend!

Bridesmaidzilla Strikes Again

Remember Rosie, Gabby’s new sister-in-law and bridesmaid from hell?  She was a pain in the butt before and during the wedding.  My blood starts to boil every time I think about her in the bridal suite sitting in the corner making phone calls to plan her own wedding and not saying a word to anyone else…all while wearing her future mrs whatever hoodie. 

Well, the wedding is off.  Turns out Rosie McSlut found herself a new guy and started sleeping with him while she was still engaged and spending 40 hours a week wedding planning.  (Rosie actually told her mom that’s how much planning she was doing….either she’s a complete moron or entirely too inefficeint with her time.)  So, the wedding is off.  But, she instructed her mom to tell people that it’s just on hold.  Right.  She spent Thanksgiving with the new guy.  I think she just wants to keep the ring and pawn it for cash.

The timing of her engagement (about three weeks before Gabby’s wedding) and her antics during the wedding weekend always made me wonder if she wanted to be engaged at her brother’s wedding for some reason.  Well, now I know she did. 

Good luck to the new guy…I wonder if he has any idea just what type of person he’s getting involved with.

Gabby Turns the Big 3-0

My best friend since the sixth grade is 30 today! I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but it seems like we’re all grown up or something now. Maybe it should have hit me when my close friends started getting married (and some having BABIES!), but this kind of cements it for me…my twenties are quickly coming to an end.

I’m not exactly sure how Gabs feels about turning 30…I’m not exactly freaking out about it…yet. It is nine+ months away, but it is looming. The hardest birthday I’ve had so far was 22. For some reason, I felt so old and had nothing look really look forward to any more – especially after the long wait to turn 21. My friend actually gave me a subscription to Redbook for my 22nd…it caused me to burst into tears.

But, I think if you surround yourself with family and good friends and focus on what makes you happy, you’re off to a great start towards happiness…and all of the other stuff will seem incidental.

Happy 30th Birthday, Gabby!!!

Adele’s Surprise Shower

Adele is getting married in three weeks!  Yesterday, we threw her a surprise shower at work.  Well, it was actually at a bar and restaurant during work hours, but it was all work people there, so it counted as work

It was my job to get her there…my plan was to act like I was having a bad day (not a hard thing to do any more with all of the insane reogranization stuff going on) and tell her I needed Starbucks.  Then, at the last minute I would decide that no…I needed a real drink and tell her to stop in the Union Grill with me.

Well, I was beyond excited about her surprise and couldn’t must up a “i hate work” act.  I was in too good of a mood!  (Seriously, that should have tipped her off right there!) So, we met and actually did work for about 15 minutes, and then I just interuppted and said that I needed Starbucks. 

The best part about the walk down Craig St was that Adele was telling me all about how great her fiance has been…it was so sweet.  She was going on and on about it – in a very cute way – so as we got to the Union Grill door, I literally just had to grab her arm and pull her in.  She followed me in with ease.

And waiting inside were about twelve of our coworkers.  Adele was surprised, and I think it was a really fun afternoon.  Now, I just can’t wait until the wedding!!!

Fake Starbucks Coupon

Yesterday, Nora forwarded Adele and I a coupon for a free Starbucks drink of our choice. All you had to do was print the coupon, and take it to Starbucks. It looked very legit – it even had starbucks.com listed as the referring URL.

Well, it’s a fake. The three of us just walked down to our corner Starbucks and got denied. We were a little wary over whether it was real or not, but thought since they’ve been closing hundreds of stores, maybe they needed a little marketing boost. We voted on Adele to present it first to test it, and that’s when the girl told us they were fakes.

At least we tried! But, if I forwarded you the email yesterday…sorry!

Back to Reality

Returning to work after a vacation is never fun. This blog pretty much sums up what happens when you return from a long weekend.

My work inbox had 236 unread messages this morning. I was actually surprised there weren’t more…I think a lot of people took time off over the 4th. I only have it down to 79 unread now – and it’s already 2pm. It’s hard to even start to figure out what needs to be accomplished to get your head above water when you spend all morning in meetings. Luckily, my meeting this afternoon was canceled, so perhaps I will be able to start sorting through the mess.

All of that said, I wouldn’t give up one second of my five day paradise vacation in Naples. It was amazing. I didn’t think about work once. There was really, really great food, lots of sun, fun times with family and friends and time to relax.

We found a new favorite restaurant, too – Trulucks, right off of 5th Ave, was good beyond words. My boyfriend can’t stop talking about the quality of the menu – he had a really tough time choosing, but loved his ahi tuna entree and some type of crab as an appetizer. (I don’t eat any type of seafood, so the different kinds of crab choices just flow right over my head.) I had a filet – prepared extra rare, and it is now my second favorite steak in Naples. It was wonderful. And the parmasean mashed potatoes were the best I’ve had in awhile.

I also read 2.5 books – Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger…one of my new romantic comedy favorites. I read Lauren’s first book, The Devil Wears Prada when it was released a few years ago, and liked it, but this one was better. The characters were more developed, the story flowed really well, and the different character perspectives kept me really interested. I am also now completely jealous of her career. The first book she wrote accomplished more than most authors or writers could hope to accomplish in an entire career! Now, she’s written a third, and in my opinion, even better book. Did I mention she’s only 31? Yeah, thinking about that over a birthday weekend marking the near-end of my 20s was not so fun. But it did make me really start thinking about writing a book. I’ve always wanted to be a published author, and there’s no time like the present, right?

The second book, The Last Time I Was Me by Cathy Lamb, was also good. It took a few chapters for me to really get into it, but I kept wanting to find more about the main character and her nervous breakdown, so I kept reading. Then once she was running along the river naked and ran – literally – into a new love interest, I was hooked. The writing was witty and honest, and although the story wrapped up a little too neatly for my tastes, it was a really great story about facing your fears, rediscovering your self and facing a tragic past.

I’m almost finished with Ellen Baker’s Keeping the House. I’ll let you know how I feel about it once I finish.

If only I was still at the pool or beach with a frozen raspberry margarita in hand…

Vacation Time

At this time tomorrow, I will be on a flight to Naples, Florida. I can hardly wait! I have so much to do between now and then….getting some work stuff finished, running some errands, most importantly to Sephora, and driving Bruin out to my sister’s so she can watch him.

Naples for the 4th (and my birthday) is going to be so much fun. Gabby and her husband will be there, along with her parents, my boyfriend’s family and friends of Gabby. This will be my third trip to Naples this year so far – fourth overall to Florida – I love the real sun, beaches and great shopping. Oh, and the amazing restaurants. So far, my favorite is Chops – best filet maybe ever!

I also hope the smell of smoke clears out of our house before we leave. Last night at 1030 pm, the boyfriend decided to make three pizza rolls. He stuck them in the microwave, accidentally turned it on for 10 minutes and went upstairs. I was on the computer and smelled smoke and screamed – the whole house filled with this awful smelling smoke. We opened all of the windows and lit candles, but I could still smell it this morning.

Right now, it looks like Angelina Jolie will be popping out her twins soon. First, the husband-stealing Jolie steals my name and now she’s trying to steal my birthday weekend thunder?! Whatever!

Nothing will ruin this vacation…I am so excited. Happy 4th of July!

My Book Club

Last night was book club night.  They are always pretty fun, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint.  This month’s book was Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea…if you need about a hundred good laughs, go out and buy this book right now!  My favorite chapter was Prison Break.

There were only four of us there last night.  Pammie, Ang, Gabs and myself.  We spent most of the time last night discussing Gabby’s awful new sister in law, piecing together the events from Saturday’s girls night out and figuring out how we can get Chelsea Handler to be our friend.

We meet at the Library on Carson Street.  It’s a really fun little bar and restaurant.  The food is great, and the wine is even better – although we were all taking it easy last night and ordered diet cokes!

Next month’s book, chosen by Gabby, is Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian…I’m going to pick it up before vacation Thursday…it sounds like it will be great!  Hopefully more of our book clubbers will be able to make it.  We’ve only been doing this since January, and I’m really glad we started it.  Not only does it get me to read things I might not otherwise pick up, but I know I’m going to see good friends once a month….and with our busy lives and schedules, that definitely helps.