Letters, we've got letters! 2

Today I am bringing you this link up because I've got a lot of posts on my mind, but want to save them for next week while I'm on vacation!  

So here goes Friday Letters!

Dear New Boss - it is called casual Friday, not business professional Friday.  Maybe when I develop a good relationship with you, I will suggest this amazing concept!

Dear Nashville - you are a new show and already have random weeks of no playing a new episode   Why?  You are an amazing show...don't leave your watchers hanging!

Dear Southern California - make your mind up already!  Are we still in winter or are we heading into spring.  One week it is in the 80's and the next is is in the 60's.  Yes, I am used to this ever-changing weather...but in the northern states...not here!

Dear Roscoe and Grizzly - please quite going outside and eating all the poo and weeds you can find.  I'm really tired of your smelly burps and green teeth.

Dear Starbucks - Why do you keep coming up with such amazing drink options like the Hazelnut Macchiato or the Passion Fruit Lemonade?  It is not good for either my bank account or waist line.  I hate you and love you all at the same time!

Dear Husband - Thank you for letting me tag along with you to your conference next week.  Can't wait to have some quality time with you away from the house, cleaning, dogs and work!  Plus hanging out by the pool will be quite amazing!


Have a fantastic weekend all! 

Throw Back Thursday time again!  This week I am again going to throw it back to another previous gem of an employer...I attract dysfunction as you will soon notice.

I worked for almost two years at a global outsourcing firm that mostly worked as a collections agency.  While I was never a collector, I did get the privilege of managing some of them!  

Let me throw you back to some of the things I read and heard  working for this company.

"Please remind your employees not to flush their bras and underpants down the toilets"
 -  building management 

"Please tell your employees that we will get rid of the paper towels if they continue to stuff them in the toilets" 
- building management

"Calls may be monitored or recorded for quality insurance purposes"
 - collector

"Why can't I wear leggings and a halter top?  They wear this stuff in LA!"  
- collector in MN when it was -10 degrees outside

Conversation between a collector and a debtor (this is more of a summary of the best parts) The collector was collecting money from an overdue student loan.

Collector:  "You owe $$ on this bill, how much would you like to pay today"

Debtor:      "I don't have any money to pay"

Collector:  "Why don't you use that degree you're not paying for and go get your ghetto a$$  a job at McDonald's then!"

Debtor:      "you asshole" - Hangs up -

            -one minute later the collector calls back-

Debtor:     "I just hung up on you leave me alone, don't call again". - Hangs up

                                                  -1 minute later Collector calls back-

Debtor:      "$&^$#%#^^"

Collector:  "can I get a small cheeseburger and fries from your ghetto a$$"

 The next day he was terminated



There you have it, just some of the wonderful and ridiculous things I encountered on a daily basis working for an interesting place!  
Hope you enjoy your "Throw Back Thursday"

Got a Secret! 3

I have a secret to share that I have just discovered and it is called Urban Home!

This store just opened next to Mecca (Anthropologie) at the outdoor mall near my house.  I decided to head in there this past weekend to browse to see what I couldn't live without.  

Let me tell you...pretty much everything in this store is amazing.  It is really similar to Pottery Barn, but almost half the price!  For anyone looking to decorate their apartment/house/living space you MUST check this place out.  

Buddha head - $19.99!

"Spiritual Inspiration" $129.00

Bordeaux Clock $19.99

"Chalk Castle" $99.00

Robins Nest Cabinet $999

Zoe Cabinet in Aquamarine $899

Orbit Lounge with Canopy $899

Venetian Cabinet $399

 Those of some of the things that Rams and I discovered that we absolutely loved.  Here is the website Urban Home.  There is way more stuff in the store than they show online, but all the things are pretty great!

Has anyone else discovered this place and love it as much as I do?

I can't wait to share my next discovery.  Have fun shopping and dreaming everyone! 

Lessons Learned 4

I want to apologize for another two day blogging hiatus!  Now that I have a normal schedule once again I will hopefully get back to a normal posting schedule!

Now onto more important issues!

  I learned two lessons this weekend.  The first is something I should have known and the second is one I thought I learned back in my college days!

Rams and I had a some friends over for dinner on Saturday night.  It was the first time they had been to our house so we wanted to make the dinner exciting with some delicious drinks and a new fancy pants meal!  Here is where we went wrong...

1.) Don't make an experimental meal for the first time for guests!  Rams is quite the foodie so he wanted to try a new recipe that sounded really good.  Is was basically a pork loin marinated for a bit and then you wrap it in pork belly and roast it! Along with the pork I made a parsnip purée and some steamed veggies....sounds good right?  No!  The pork was salty, under-cooked and not very good.  The parsnips were weird tasting.  The veggies were fantastic, thank you Birds Eye Steam Fresh! The poor guests...they pretend they liked it, but I am fairly certain that they didn't....I don't even think my dogs would have eaten it!

2.) Vodka is NOT my friend!  I don't know why I didn't remember this, or think before deciding to drink a few Moscow Mules and more than a few shots in the course of the night!  The outcome was not pretty and I won't divulge in the details which you all don't want to know...trust me!  Because of this extremely poor decision all I did on Sunday was sit on my bum, drink a lot of lemon water and watch the first season of Homeland with my husband and dogs while trying my hardest not to move too fast!  Blah...next time I get offered Vodka I hope I say no!

Moscow Mules!

Roscoe cuddling with me trying to cure my hangover!

 So there you have it, the things I learned this weekend that I will never learn again!  

Throwback Thursday - the ghetto characters 30

Today I'm linking up with Ady over at When in Doubt Just add Glitter for Throwback Thursday!



I used to work in an interesting place to say the least.  It seems like all the places I work are dysfunctional and they always are full of fun stories to fill my day or to tell years down the line.  I'd like to introduce you to a few of the crazies people that I encounted in my day to day life working in the ghetto.

POTC  
Passion of the Christ aka "Passions"- this is not a mean name, but an honest nickname.  POTC loves God - if she were a catholic she would be a nun.  

Since she isn't Catholic and doesn't live in a convent she thought it would be a good idea to work in the ghetto with kids that partook in daily drug use and profanity!  
She only gave religion related gifts (even to those who are not religious), read Guidepost on all of her breaks and I swear has multiple personalities that come out depending on what she is doing and/or saying - see the below video clip, the chicken lady is how she speaks
...no joke.  
Don't get me wrong - she is a nice lady - but she is just a little nutty. 
 She also was frugal to a fault.  She kept Tupperware in her desk at work just in case someone brought food to share.  If this happened it was a mad dash to the kitchen to fill all of her dishes with free food.  Most of the time she took ALL of the food before anyone else got a chance.  Oh yes...she also wore bright red lipstick daily and also sold her own Gospel Voice CD for $12...I was laid off before I got to buy this treasure!

411

 This is the lady that knew everything about what was going on in the company.  She was the one we go to if we need to know the gossip.  Most of the time it is wrong, but always entertaining!  I wonder if she knew I was getting the ax.

iChat

 Where do I start.  iChat was my counterpart at work.  She does (thanks to senority rules) the same job as I did, just with a different group of clients.  She was on the phone CONSTANTLY!  She was on the phone so much and got so many complaints that my boss had to move her desk so people couldn't see her!
 When her cell phone rang she answered it - even if the CEO was speaking with her (really - this happened).  I heard conversations about how she hates her husband, her daughters oozing ear infections and the boils on her bum! Basically iChat never stopped talking!

Little Man

 This is a high up man here at my old POE. Nobody that I associated with at work liked him and there were many people that quit because of him.  He walked around talking at a decibel level that I swear made me more deaf each day.  He is over 50 and thinks he is "street" because of the clients he worked with.  Word on the street is his brother donated a lot of $$$ to the company, so he will be there until the bitter end!

T.

He didn't have a nickname, he just made me smile.  He always seemed a little on edge.  He would walk by my desk and say "Oh Hi" then honestly 30 seconds later he would walk by again and say "Oh Hi"...as if I was a whole new person.  You never knew what you would get with this one, he is a little coo coo!

There you have it folks - just some of the lovely people I used to encounter on a day to day basis!  I will miss these characters - but hopefully I will find a new POE that is a bit more on the normal side!
Who are some of the characters you have the pleasure working with?

My Girl Crushes 2

There have been a lot of people blogging about their blog crushes lately.  Since I am really new to this blog world, I decided to do a little crush writing of my own.  Now, I'm not talking about my blog crushes, I'm talking about the celebrity girl crushes I have going on!

I have a few girl crushes that I would like to discuss. Rams thinks it is a little strange that I love these people so much.  Maybe I need to be a guest on "My Strange Addiction" - celebrity girl crush version!

Carrie Underwood

 She is my BFF and I LOVE her.   She loves dogs as much as I do, she loves country music (obviously), she is vegan (I dabbled in that world back in the dizzle),  and she is a known Christian!

I envy her voice and her legs.  I mean have you seen those things?!  I don't really think that they are real!  Oh yes...and she wears booty shorts under all of her dresses so she doesn't pull a LiLo!  That country girls got some class ya'll!

Hayen Paineteirre

  My crush on her just started when the show Nashville started.  I have no other reason for really liking her other than the fact that she is on my new favorite show!  I never knew she could sing and act.  She is tiny and adorable (all the things I never will be, especially the tiny part)!

Kate Middleton

 The Dutchess of Cambriage, Princess Katherine,  the pregnant princess! 

I have always had my little day dream about meeting Prince William, falling in love, having a forbidden and secret romance...until I realized that was IMPOSSIBLE. 

So now I live vicariously through Kate.  I hate her and love her all at the same time because she is so darn likeable! Damn you Kate Middleton!

Selena Gomez

  I have to admit something, I watched the Disney Channel up until about 5 years ago. 

 Yes folks, that means I watched all the Disney shows geared towards preteens until the ripe old age of 23! 

This is where I discovered my girl Selena!  She is gorgeious and talented - she has the whole package.  And now that she isn't dating the Beibs any longer I like her even more! I can't wait for her new movie to come out so I have even more reasons to love her! 

 Zoe Dashenell

 I could go on and on about this girl.  She is cute, funny and quirky.  I DVR New Girl weekly and read her blog religiously.  Rams said my antics occassionaly remind him of her...one of the best compliments he gives me!  Zoe seems like the type of person that would be friends with anyone and everyone and I love that!

There you have it folks, a few of my favorite celebrity girls!  Even though it may seem like I have a little unhealthy obsession with a few of these...I assure you...I do not stalk!

Who are your favorites?

Travel Tuesday - Sri Lanka 3

 Today I'm linking up with Helene for my Travel Tuesday story!

Let me tell you about an adventure that I had to Sri Lanka!  My parents, Ramesh and I went back in 2010!  Rams if from here, and came to the states for college and hadn't been back since...it was about time!

It took us 21 hours to get there and 4 different airports; 

Minneapolis - Chicago - Abu Dahbi - Sri Lanka!

The 21 hours was LONG but so worth it.  Here is what we did:

Ram's dad was a GM for a Resort in a town called Unawatuna.  It is a little resort town on the southern tip of the country (right next to Galle - check out the map). 

So we headed there... to the Unawatuna Beach Resort - UBR.

 Let me tell you, this place is beautiful!  The beach we stayed on was rated one of the top 10 in the world a few years ago and I couldn't agree more.  During the first few days, we slept, sat on the beach, did some swimming, ate some FRESH lobster and Sri Lankan cuisine and relaxed!  It was darn near perfect!

Restaurant at UBR...right on the beach

UBR

another view from the restaurant

After a few days of doing nothing but relaxing we headed on a 11 day tour of the country.  We had a guide and a driver that made things a lot easier (people there drive like it's their last day on earth).  

Kandalama

 Here we stayed at a hotel that over looks what some people say is the eight wonder of the world, Sigiriya.  The hotel was one of the first certified green hotels that is built between two rocks so the wildlife can roam freely throughout the property.  

Kandalama hotel

Monkey chillin' outside of our balcony

pool at the hotel

                          While in Kandalama (3 days) we went to the following places:

    Sigiriyia - an ancient rock fortress and palace situated in central Sri Lanka.  Was built around 477 AD!

Sigiriya

hike to the top

From the top of Sigiriya

                     Polonnaruwa -  a medieval capital established in the 11th Century AD

    Anuradhapura - this is where one of the largest Dagabas is found.  A Dagaba is a dome shaped memorial that contains relics of Lord Buddha or a Buddhist saint.  They are built brick by brick in order to protect the relic inside. 

 We also went and saw the Bodhi tree.  This is the tree where Buddha sat during his Enlightenment...this is the oldest verified specimen of the original sapling that Buddha sat under.

a Dagaba - tallest in the world

Bohdi tree held up by gold pillars

carving in Polonnaruwa

 Kandy -

Kandy has been a center of the Buddhist faith since the 17th century.  Here is where you find the "Temple of the Tooth".  It is believed to house the left upper canine tooth of Buddha.  It is enshrined in a series of nested jeweled reliquaries and only brought out for special occasions where is is paraded around on the back of an elephant!

Rams at the Tooth Relic Temple

Tooth Relic - you can see where it is housed in the center of the picture.

                                                                Nuwara Eliya:

       This is  tea country.  In this area you can find the tea leaves that make Lipton tea!  We toured a tea factory and stayed in a hotel that used to be a tea factory.  It is the high country, so it was a little chilly there!

At the Glenloch tea plantation

Rams and I in the tea Country

My parents and I during the drive

                                           Tissamaharama (say that 10 times fast)

We went on a safari!  It was super neat, saw some elephants, wild boar, eagles, water buffalo and more!  

On our safari we also stopped Yala beach...this is one of the places that was hit hardest by the Indian ocean Tsunami.  There was a memorial there for a group of Japanese tourists who lost their life at this spot.  

Tsunami memorial 

Safari!

Rams and the parents 

Also, while is Tissamaharama I got locked in a bathroom!  It was traumatic, hot and just plain awful!  After an eternity hour my dad finally broke the door open! My dad and husband still laugh at this - I still get anxiety!

trying to get me out of the bathroom

After the 11 day tour we came back for our final week at the UBR.  We got to meet Ramesh's  friends, and his extended family.

Ramesh's family - don't mind my weird smile

My dad is so white and SO TALL

Ramesh and his family!

One of our last nights at the UBR

This trip was amazing and one I will never forget.  I want to go back all the time and we are planning to next year! If you ever have the chance to travel to this tiny country in the middle of the Indian ocean...DO IT!!!