Random Thoughts

I know it's very late, but I am still awake waiting for laundry to finish washing so I have clean clothes for work tomorrow. I know they had good intentions, declaring a Jeans Day for Good Friday, but it did complicate things a bit.

Now that I've finished cleaning my bathroom countertops and mirror, I thought I'd pop in while trying to relax enough to sleep.

Today was garbage day. It always manages to cause a difficult morning--even when I gather everything in the garage at night. This was the first time I've taken the garbage out in at least three weeks. When you eat at home once a week, tops, there isn't much garbage to take out! When I was bringing in the can after 11 o'clock tonight, I was very grateful that all of my neighbors have Master bedrooms facing away from my driveway and were most likely NOT spying on me. Normally, had they saw me, I would expect them to assume I've had a fun night and am just now getting away from a bar or wherever I "supposedly" was. As you all know, that is definitely not the case! I made sure to carry my lunchbox along with my purse while walking in a straight line to bring in the garbage can. Just a little added hint that I have been working all day and not rolling in after having more fun than a weekday should allow!

I'm getting sleepy and my laundry is almost done. Goodnight!!

Finding an Easter Dress...

...otherwise known as go shopping during your lunch break and don't be gone for over an hour.

I bought a dress on sale at Marigail's back in January that I was saving for Easter. However, I didn't realize Easter was so early when I bought the dress. Since its going to be cold and rainy, my unlined dress simply will not do unless I want to be laughed at while simultaneously freezing to death. I'll save this dress for a warmer day...if it ever decides to warm up and stop SNOWING!

Anyway, I decided last night that I really needed something else that would be more weather-appropriate. I searched online at my go-to store, Banana Republic. There were several things I thought I might like, but most of the dresses were not available in-store in my size. I also thought about risking it and waiting to go to Marigail's before closing on Saturday, but decided that was a bad idea.

I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to check out the Anthropologie online store. I found several things I liked and narrowed it down to my favorite dress which also happened to be in stock. The traffic gods shined on me and I made it into the store within 10 minutes of leaving the office. I immediately asked to try on the dress that caught my eye online, but unfortunately they didn't have my size. I tried on the size above and below what I needed before deciding to try other things. I probably tried on about 5 more dresses and liked two of them--my biggest complaint with the others was the length. I'm a bit too old to be wearing dresses that hit WAY above the knee!

I ended up buying the two dresses I liked that were in-store and ordering the one I really loved that wasn't available in my size. I'm hopeful that it will arrive Saturday before I leave, but I know which of the two remaining dresses I will wear otherwise. I made it back to work in just over an hour. Not bad considering how productive that hour was! Ha

I'd never bought anything from Anthropologie before today. I'd only been in the store at Bridge Street in Huntsville and wasn't really looking to buy anything at the time. Everything seemed to be priced similarly to what I would expect from Banana or J. Crew instead of very overpriced, as I'd always been led to believe.

Everyone needs a little retail therapy, right? Anthro definitely helped to cure my Monday blues. Plus, I won't freeze my (in the words of my Grandmother) "tee-hiney" off at church on Sunday morning!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

In the spirit of being more optimistic despite working all the live long day, I decided to participate in What I'm Loving Wednesday today!

 

 

 

First off, I'm loving having sweet work friends that go out to lunch with me to get away from the office for a few minutes.  I'm really lucky to have these ladies as my friends--yes, we work together, but we like to do things together outside of work, too.

 

Me, Melissa and Sandy at Arrington Vineyards for part of Melissa's Bachelorette weekend last summer.
 



 

Next, I'm loving late night chats with my friend, Molly.  She's in audit, not tax, but she definitely understands how bad busy season is.  Sometimes it's nice to have someone that you don't work with, but still understands the jargon to complian talk to.

Molly and I during my visit to Memphis last summer.
 

 

 

Finally, I'm loving my sweet family.  I'm still so happy that I got to spend some QT with them last weekend.  My sweet Mama is worried about me eating when I'm working all the time and is trying to figure out how to send me food when Dad comes for a conference tomorrow (I think).  Plus, my precious Grandaddy is feeling better, too, which is a huge relief to say the least!

 

 

 



 

It's terribly obvious to me that I do not take enough pictures since the most recent one in this post is from over six months ago and the oldest is from when I still in the MAc.  I'm going to have to work on that! :)

A GREAT weekend!

This was the best weekend I've had in AGES!!

Friday was the filing deadline for corporations, so the first big deadline of busy season is behind us. I didn't think we'd make it on Monday, but we did!

After work, my friend, Sandy, and I went to our favorite nail salon for pedicures and then went next door for Moe's for dinner. I'm so lucky to have good friends at work that I enjoy spending time with. After dropping Sandy off, I went home, watched some DVR with a glass of wine and was in bed at 10:30. It was AH-MAZING!

Saturday morning, I worked for about four hours before hopping on 65-South to go home to Florence. I did have to swing back by my house for my medicine that I managed to forget when I packed. :(

After getting home, Dad and I went to Muscle Shoals for a few minutes before he dropped me off at Grandaddy's house. We visited for a while before Mom and I went to Sam's. I think everyone knows how much I dislike Wal-Mart, but I really like shopping at Sam's. After that, we ordered dinner and Dad and I waxed my car. Then I went over to Grandaddy's to visit with him and Mother before going back home for the night.

This morning, I slept through the start of early church, so I decided to only go to the late service instead of both. As I was getting ready, I discovered that I left all of my hair styling products in Nashville besides my hairspray. As a result, I ended up looking like a mess. For a while, I thought I'd also left my foundation. I luckily had it and could still go to church. There's no way I would have gone without it. I don't allow many people to see me without makeup, so there was no way I would stand up in front of the congregation to sing with a bare face! :)

I made it to church in one piece and got to visit and sing with good friends who have become like family over the years. It always makes me happy to have an opportunity to sing (and get the good gossip, too)!

I practically ran out of the Sanctuary to get to my hair appointment. It had been seven weeks and I was looking rough! I had the ombré look--and not in a good way! The sweet man that does my hair graciously offered to do my hair on Sunday since I work weekends during tax season and can't make it for my usual Saturday morning appointment. I know it sounds superficial, but I feel so much better when my hair looks good!

(On a hair note, for the first time EVER I needed my hair thinned out. Just in the side opposite my part because I bring so much over, but still. When I was sick, my hair was so fragile and thin. I've always envied people with thick hair, but apparently I'm one of them--even if my hair is baby fine. I'm so grateful that my body is confirming outwardly how good I feel!)

I went back to Grandaddy's afterwards and finally decided to drive home instead of leaving early tomorrow morning. I am NOT a morning person plus it looks like its going to storm, so I decided I was better safe than sorry.

All in all, a GREAT weekend. I'm ready to repeat parts of it in 13 days for Easter weekend!

Checking In

I'm in the home stretch of the first big deadline of tax season...March 15th is the deadline for corporations to file their tax returns.  Thankfully, with the help of codine cough syrup, a Z-pack and a little TLC from my Mama, I'm finally feeling like my usual (exhausted) self.  It just worked out perfectly that she needed to be in Nashville at the same time I thought I was getting pneumonia.

Work is crazy.  I worked more last week than any other week ever besides the one immediately before April 15th.  I'm almost 40 hours ahead of where I was last year which is scary.  I'm ready for a break.  The quote (below) describes what my busy season has been like so far:

While I'm grateful for the opportunities my promotion has brought and for what I'm learning, I'm so tired.  I wonder how I'm going to make it through another month.  There's no option other than to power through, so that's what I'm going to do.  Like I told a good friend earlier, "it all gets done somehow!"

Nothing Interesting

Not much is going on at La Maison de Katie. I worked yesterday and then went in again today. I think I have bronchitis (despite the PA at the urgent care I went to after work yesterday). I must really feel bad since I went to work with no product in my hair and not a stitch of makeup. Thankfully, I only saw one person (a guy) at the office. I don't think I scared him TOO badly!!

Busy season is still busy. I'm working more than I've ever worked before, but somehow I feel like I'm getting less done. I guess it's because in working on much more complex projects instead of more straight-forward first year returns. At the time, I thought those were hard...haha!!

I started talking with Mom about what we're going to do after April 15th. We will probably go to the condo for at least a few days, but I also suggested visiting my parent's best friends in Houston. I haven't seen them in a while, but they will always feel like family. I'm also hoping for a friend's trip to NYC sometime this summer. I haven't been since college and I think it's high time to go back!

Mother and Daddy got a subscription to Amazon Prime recently and I finally linked my TV to the video service. After I got home from work, I turned on a movie instead of going straight up to bed. I'm looking forward to seeing what all Amazon Prime offers! We've had Netflix for several years, so I'll see how it compares.

I guess I should go upstairs and get ready for bed. My alarm will go off before I know it and it'll be time to start another week. One closer to April 15th! Yay!!

Slug Day

Last week was rediculously busy--I worked crazy long hours to get a few big projects off my desk!  This week is looking like a crazy one too, but I have a visit from the family to look forward to tomorrow!

Now, on to the title of this post--Slug Day.  This is a reference to the day (or week) after Show Choir weekend during high school.  We had shows on Friday and Saturday night and then a Sunday afternoon show.  Between school, rehearsals and the actual performances (not to mention preparing for AP exams, too), everyone was completely exausted when Monday morning rolled around.  Normally, we didn't waste a minute of time in Chorus.  We sang until the bell rang every day!  However, on Slug Day, we did absolutely nothing.  We just sat for the entire class period and talked and rested.

In true Slug Day fashion, I was useless yesterday.  I went to bed shortly after 9PM on Saturday and didn't wake (the first time) until 10:30AM.  I was awake for a few hours, but stayed in bed until I went to sleep again at noon.  I slept until 3 o'clock this time.  Then I laid in bed until 5 o'clock when I finally decided to get up and do something productive.

Despite my utter laziness, I did get a few loads of laundry done and cleaned upstairs to get ready for Mom, Dad and Emma to visit.  I don't want to get the "stink eye" from Dad if my house is not clean enough.  I got enough of that in college. :)

I was feeling pretty horrible during and after work on Saturday and I didn't feel great yesterday, but all that sleep certainly made me feel better today.  I actually woke up when the alarm went off and was at work before 7:30!  I can't remember the last time this happened.  I guess being motivated to get my hours in today so I can leave early tomorrow was what I needed to get going this morning.