Thank GOD it's FRIDAY!

Less Stress = A Happy Audrey

Ok, so I'm much less stressed than my last post, although I still have a lot of the same issues, except, I don't have to drive 10 hours tonight. That means I now have the whole weekend to tackle the laundry pile, and don't have to drive 20 hours in one weekend. Ah, stress level diminishing, somewhat....

After almost six months working at the company, today I finally got my nameplate. I was so psyched when Caroline dropped it off at my desk. So, I took a picture.

In addition, I made my sales goal at work, and even had a few sales I wasn't expecting. It was a good sales day and I was okay with calling it quits for the day at quarter to six, although I did talk to clients and send out emails once I got home. I will end up seeing what happens by tomorrow morning then probably sending some contracts out this weekend with a deadline of the 31st to see what else I can bring in. That's because I'm driven.

My kids are happy. When they're happy, I'm much happier. I got to make them exceptionally happy when I promised them that if they found my misplaced debit card in the house, we would order from Wing Zone, a local favorite. It was found within minutes, and I made good on my promise. I'm still currently nibbling on celery sticks that came with my own order of boneless wings.

Weekend Extracurriculars

Now that I'm not going anywhere, I will be able to finish the laundry and tackle the regular housework that really, really needs to be done this weekend. But not until tomorrow. I just talked to my friend Cristin, and she's going to drive up tomorrow to come spend the weekend with me, as she has no plans for Labor Day weekend. So I'll have incentive to bust my ass in the house first thing in the morning and polish the bathroom tomorrow.

Yay! I'm excited that she'll get to come and visit.

I was invited to a couple different events this weekend, but I think ultimately, I'll probably use the time to just chill.

I have a date though, well... an informal date. I let this guy Mike know I wasn't going out of town, and he wants to finally meet me. We're going to a place I feel safe, especially knowing that some friends of mine will DEFINITELY be there. See, I met this guy online. I've talked to him extensively, but I haven't ever met him. His sister lives not far from here, so he's going up to stay with her for the night and then will meet me at the bar. It will be interesting.

I'm trying to get my neighbors to come hang out with me.

Overall...

I'm just thankful for my health. I bitch on occasion about being stressed, being lonely, etc... but the reality is I'm really grateful that I'm healthy. Overall, I am healthy, I've got great kids who are also healthy... and I've got a great job. At the end of the day, I really don't have much to bitch about.

So... With that said... bring on Friday!

Ain't Misbehavin'

I wish I had pictures from last night's get together. At work, a few of us went through the paper and noticed that there were some pretty kick ass drink specials at the Woodlands, out on the patio deck. We planned to meet up there after work.

It was a smaller group than normal, as some people went to Big Ugly's and others went home... but it was nice. I arrived around 7pm, as I was busy picking up kids, feeding them and then lined up the babysitter.

Of course, I arrived just as the happy hour specials (the first ones) ended. But, no worries. I sipped on two beers and waited for the next happy hour special to start.

As we sat on the patio, it was only four of us... and it was a blast. We actually had some fun conversation and then M-80 was supposed to play later in the evening. Around 8:30, we headed upstairs to Evolution, because for two hours, bottles and well drinks were only $1. Gotta love that!

As it turns out, one of the guys I work with, knew a bartender there, and he was doing a great job of making sure all our drinks were poured with a heavy hand. When we got up there, I switched to Vodka and Cran... with lime. This was probably not the wisest choice, in retrospect!

I met a very nice older Italian man, who introduced himself to me explaining that his last name rhymed with spaghetti. I found this humorous, of course. I kept trying to buy my own $1 drinks, but Mr. Spaghetti would not let that happen. He insisted even from his chair at the bar, that I did not pay for a thing.

Again, when combined with a bartender's heavy hand, me out with friends from work who are all my age (or real darn close), and someone buying every drink of mine... yikes.

I think I only spent like $15 out last night. And $5 was a cover to get into Evolution.

I realized somewhere during my drinking that I hadn't had dinner. I fixed Mac N Cheese for the kids, but I didn't want it, so I didn't bother eating it. Oops. Well, wasn't going to eat now!

Now, this is where the night kind of gets hazy for a bit, the vodka kicked in... but... I have been told that I went downstairs with the work crew, and we listened and danced like mad to M-80's tunes.

I had been texting with a few friends of mine all night, one in Nashville, and one up here. Well the few friends up in this area were looking to hang out for a while, and it was still pretty early, so I agreed to meet up with them at one of their apartments and the plan was to decide what to do together from there.

So I went.

We ended up drinking a couple beers and hanging right there at the apartment (which I was fine with because I'm being thrifty) for a little while, and then when it got a little later, I decided it was time for me to go home. I pondered getting "breakfast" on the way home, but eventually decided against it figuring I could eat at home instead.

I've been out a lot lately, but only because there's birthday parties galore, and I do like spending time with my friends from work.

Tonight, I am sitting at home, but I did make jello shots and I'm trying to talk a friend or two into coming over and watching movies with me. We'll see. If that doesn't pan out, I will probably just watch movies by myself and invite the neighbor to do a couple jello shots with me.

Next weekend I've got the weekend *off*, and I just talked to my friend T that I met in Nashville, but he lives just outside of Philly at the moment, and used to play in the band that contained members that I went to MIDDLE SCHOOL with! It was random that we met, and funnier when we realized how much we had in common.

Anyway, I was going to host a house party that weekend, but decided instead after talking to T that I'll meet him and his friends down in Philly when I drop off the kids to see their dad, and then we're going to go to Atlantic City for the day/night. His buddy has a house down at the shore. I haven't seen T in so long, so it will be nice to reconnect. I'm going to have to drive home Saturday or first thing Sunday morning.

And then, there's paintball with the Cacti Crew on Sunday. I look forward to traipsing through the woods and shooting off a gun. It's a WONDERFUL stress reliever! Shooting at people is awesome, and since you know you're not going to kill them, but just slightly cause them some pain... I don't know why I get such a sadistic kick out of it, but I do.

Plus, it's great exercise and I am just completely jazzed about going again.