I decided I wanted to stop using an antiperspirant because of the aluminum in it.  I was looking at all the different deodorants available, and I had heard good things about The Crystal, and wrote about it a while ago.  I have wanted to switch deodorants for a long time, but wanted to wait until I was finished with my old one (I didn’t want to waste anything).  Finally, I gave up wanting to finish it.  It’s almost done, so I just decided I would save it, and keep it handy.  I keep a deodorant in my car, and one in my Destare purse so I always have one around if I forget to put it on in the morning.

Megan uses Tom’s of Maine, and I also looked into Burt’s Bees herbal deodorant.  I decided against The Crystal because I read that the underarm skin has to be freshly clean for it to work.  There are some days where I wake up and put deodorant on without showering.  Sometimes I don’t get around to exercising until later in the afternoon, and do other things in the morning.  I want a deodorant that can go on at any time.  I settled on Tom’s of Maine Fragrance Free because Megan and my dad both use it.  I started it on Friday, and so far, so good!  Friday afternoon after I had gone to the gym, I did a smell test.  Mom and Dylan were both home, so I asked them to smell me as well.  They both said I smelled fine, and my mom said “Usually the bacteria doesn’t start to smell until an hour after you exercise.”  Then I said “Oh, well, I always shower right after exercising, so that doesn’t really matter.”

I’ve been using it for four days now, and haven’t really had a problem.

Friday, I worked 5 hours at Macy’s, and then worked that night at Destare.  I did 20,013 steps.  It’s the most I’ve ever done.  I think I was at 19,878 as I was getting ready for bed, and I said to myself, “I’m THIS close to getting to 20,000, I need to walk around until I reach it.”  And so I did.  20,000 steps = 10 miles.  That’s a lot of walking in one day!

Oh, and I went to a concert last night at O’Briens Pub in Allston with Niles from work.  We saw the bands Close Friends and Quixote.  I got there, and realized that one of the band members in Quixote was a guy I know from Destare.  I was outside waiting to go in, when he walked down the street towards us.  I looked at him, and said “Heeey!!!  I know you!!!!”  I guess he’s friends with Niles, and a bunch of Niles’ friends were in the bands.  At the bar, I ordered a Jack and diet coke.  Niles took one sip of it, and said “Ick.  So that’s what it tastes like to be on a diet while trying to get drunk.”  Ha!  I’m not on a diet, I just eat well.  There’s a difference.  Niles drank yummy PBR (cause it was the cheapest beer they had at $3 for a pint).

We finally finished the poster!  We’re hoping the website will be completed by the end of day today.

Worked all weekend at Destare.  I always work every Thursday, Friday and Saturday,  It’s starting to be a bit much because I never have any free on the weekends to do anything fun.  It stinks! (said in the voice of Jay Sherman)  I don’t want to just have random Friday and Saturday nights off, because then I might end up sitting at home not doing anything, when I could be at work making money!  But I’d like to be free to do something.  I would LOVE to have a Monday through Friday job that I love, and then work the occasional Friday or Saturday night, and that will be my fun spending money.

Here’s another message I got on a credit card receipt at work.  This guy left a number AND his name (but I cropped out the number when I took the picture). Most of the doofuses only leave their number, and no name. Geniuses.  It wasn’t even a 20% tip, so he mustn’t have thought I was THAT cute. Plus, he left it on the credit card receipt that I have to pass in at the end of the night. Note to all guys who leave numbers to girls, DON’T put it on the credit card receipt!

Saturday, I worked till 2:30am, then had to wake up and go to Macy*s on Sunday.  After working the full day, we had our Christmas party that night to get ready for the busy holiday season.  We always do it on Sunday nights, cause the store closes at 7.  That way, even people who work can still get to the party. But once we get closer to Christmas, the store is open later on Sundays, which is why we had to have the party so early. Jenny and I got our makeup done by Lori at Clinique.  It was fun, but I don’t like wearing so much makeup.  It made it very obvious that I was wearing makeup.  I like wearing enough that the color in my face is well blended,  but I don’t look made up or anything.  You can’t really tell from the picture, but my eyes were pretty made up.  Notice my thyroid scar?  Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.  Everyone at works keeps asking about it, and they think it’s a scratch!  But then I tell them it’s a scar from surgery. Oh, and I just found out that one of the guys at work was gay (he’s on the right of the picture of Jenny getting her makeup). He was talking about some hot guy he saw at CVS, and I thought “jigga what?!” I had no idea. Then I told everyone that I didn’t know, and they all made fun of me. Kaleena said I had bad gay-dar.

This is Coleen, Jess, and Jenny at our table at the party.  We had a ton of fun, and danced the night away.  We did all the crazy group dances like the macarena, the electric slide (which I don’t know), the song that says “now glide to the left…. cha cha cha”, and of course, the YMCA (as seen in the picture). I got a cute Christmas tree decoration that has my name on it. I also did an awesome 17,000 by working all day and then dancing!

On a final note, I must be seriously stressed out or worried about something, because I am absolutely tearing my nails apart.  This is a picture Nicole took of my hand after she did my nails.  She went to nail school and she did my nails a couple times to practice.  After the nails grew out a bit, I decided to take them off because I didn’t want to have to pay for them.  However, now that they’re off, I can’t keep them out of my mouth.  I’m biting them so much that they’re bleeding, and they HURT.  I think I’ve decided to just get them on again, at least for the holiday season while I might be overly stressed (2 jobs, babysitting, school, and planning the Brew Year’s Eve party).  But I’m going to do a simple thing so they’re cheaper.  However, with babysitting, I pull in $50 a week, so I figure that can be my free money to spend how I please.  I know that fake nails are stupid, and pointless, and a waste of money, but when I have them, I keep my fingers out of my mouth.

Biting my nails was a HUGE deal when I had my radiation.  Because I drank my radiation, my mouth was a major hot spot (it was mixed in with strawberry Kool-Aid - seriously).  I couldn’t kiss anyone, share utensils or cups with anyone because my mouth was considered hot.  When I put my fingers in my mouth, I would get the radiation on my fingers, and then, of course, anything that I touched.  It was a big deal, and a bad way to contaminate things.  I got yelled at by my radiation safety officer for putting them in my mouth right in front of him.  Oops!  Being wary of that has not made me change my habits, though.  And so, the only way I know to keep them out of my mouth, is to put fake nails on them.

Ok, just a really quick update on something I thought was funny.  Lots of people say I either “don’t have an accent” or that I at least, don’t have a Boston accent.  I took a quiz on “what kind of accent do you have, and here are the results:

This makes sense because both of my parents are from Ohio, so I tend to speak more like them. However, my mom pronounces “towel” like “tale.” And she says “root beer” with root rhyming with “foot”. She also said “crick” instead of creek (to me, creek rhymes with geek, to her, it rhymes with lick). She says it’s because she’s from “southern Ohio.”

I went to Macy*s Christmas party tonight, so I’ll update about that tomorrow. I’ll also update on other various weekend things that occurred.

17,624.

Challenge failed.

I work another five hours on Friday, and then a full eight hours on Sunday.  We’ll see how many steps I do in a full shift.  I’m pretty excited.  I know I’m going to break 20,000.  I’m thinking it’ll be about 23,000 total, with exercising. I do about 2,500 an hour at Macy’s.  During my exercising, I do about 5,500.  According to my math, I should do 20,000 exactly at Macy’s, and then with my exercising, I’ll be closer to 26,000!!!  Crazy.

We’ll see.

Oh, and I just found out that my favorite manager at Macy*s is leaving at the end of November.  Son of a!  How come my favorite co-workers keep leaving?  I’m just glad I’m only signed up for Macy*s for a short 7 weeks, and not “forever.”  I’d be bummed if I had to keep working there with Kaleena for a long time.  I can survive the month of December.

Holy steps.  I worked my first shift at Macy’s today as a Christmas Manager***.  It was only a five hour shift, but I walked a whopping 12,000 steps.  SIX MILES!  Holy crapola.  I don’t do anything like that at Destare… sometimes I’m lucky if I do around 3,000.  I’m still hesitant as if I’m excited to be back, I love the job, and I walk around all day smiling (seriously, all I do is walk around)…. but I’m not sure if I want to keep going back week after week.  It’s only a 7 week gig, so it’s not terrible, and it will put some extra money in my pocket.  The woman I babysit for called me today, and she’s opening up her own acupuncture place in Leominster (hopefully, she’ll work on me for free!!!).  She’s asking if I can work for her every Wednesday starting in December from 12-5 or 1-6.  Sounds good to me!  That’s even more extra money.  Just from babysitting, that’s at least an extra $50 a week.  Awesome.  I was thinking that with all these jobs (especially with the extra babysitting money) that I’d have Nicole do my nails again.  When I don’t have acrylic nails on, I bite the crap out of my real nails.  Seriously.  They bleed sometimes.  I just can’t help it. Plus, the money would be going to Nicole, which is cool.  BUT, Nicole went and got a job at VH1 in New York City, and she’s moving away this weekend.  Damn her!  But seriously, how freaking awesome is that???  I’m super jealous, but I’m sooooo proud of her.  That is absolutely the best thing ever.  “Oh, yeah, I work at VH1.”  Niiiiice.  But now I’m sad that she can’t do my nails, and that we can’t hang out anymore (this is the Nicole I ran the 5k with, and hung out with Saturday night).  Blast it!  Oh, and she’s going to be the Production Assistant on the show “Top 40 Celebrity Divorces.”  Hilarious.

And now that my day is over, I have walked a total of 19,346 steps.  10 freaking miles.  I wonder if I can beat that tomorrow?  I’m working the same 5 hour shift.  Challenge!!!!

Work all weekend was fun… especially Saturday night.  Saturdays’ are always the most fun night because they are the busiest.  Nicole got out from work early, and I only had two tables left.  The rest of the lounge was pretty dead, so I asked Lance if I could sell my tables to Caroline, so I could start drinking with friends.  Surprisingly, he said yes.  At Destare, I had two Pink Lemonade martinis, and a rum runner.  Then, we all went down to Grillicious, because they’re open until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.  Jill and Caroline both got quesadillas, and we all got tons of free fries.  Then, we went back to Nicole’s house and hung out, and two more martinis while watching Kevin James standup.  Too many drinks. But so much fun!  I really hope that I hang out with Nicole again, she’s a fun girl.  She gave her two weeks notice at Destare, which bums me out.

I was very tired the next day, but I got up around 10:30, and mom and I went to Good Wil down at the Fitchburg armory.  The food was okay, I had great pancakes and clam chowder, but mom wasn’t impressed.  The music was also nice, but they were having a lot of trouble with sound feedback, which makes me worried about our Brew Years Eve.

Unfortunately, they used styrofoam everything. Cups, bowls, and plates, along with plastic cutlery.  I was very disappointed, and mentioned it on their “suggestion letter.”  Whenever there is an event (or I go to a restaurant) and get plastic cutlery, I always clean it, and bring it home with me.  When I’m with my parents, I ask them to also clean their cutlery for me to bring home.  We wrapped it in mom’s napkin, and she placed it in her bag.  As I was saving them, I asked her something along the lines of “Does me saving silverware make me a freak?”  Something along those lines.  She said no.  I admit that it’s a little peculiar, and not many people would think of saving it and reusing them… but I think it’s pretty smart of me.

Oh, and the title of the blog today is lyrics from a Jimmy Eat World song.

I’m so dedicated to the gym, and walking, and not using my car, that I occasionally (whenever it’s raining) walk to the gym in the rain with my umbrella!  I even have it placed right next to my gym bag in case I need to grab it on my way out the door. I look so somber in this picture because it was raining, and I was walking and taking a picture of myself at the same time.  But I’m sure I was in a good mood!

As I was leaving the gym, I saw this.  The recycling bin, and trash can right next to each other.  There are freaking water bottles in the trash can.  What the crap?  I don’t understand that.  What is wrong with people that they don’t throw their plastic bottles in the recycling bin that is RIGHT next to the trash can.  It baffles me.  So, of course, every time I see it, I have to reach into the trash, and move them.  And then I need to wash my hands.  I need to start bringing anti-bacterial gel to the gym so I can sanitize my hands after reaching into the trash.

Then, at work, I got this awesome little note from Rob.

Oh, and here is a little something to educate my readers. The Daily Show said that Sarah Palin couldn’t name all the countries in North America. Well…. I bet you couldn’t either.
North America Includes:
Canada
United States of America
Mexico
Greenland
and ALL of Central America

There are FORTY ONE countries or terrorities in North America.

And so, Jon Stewart, I challenge you to name them.
I understand that Sarah Palin may not be a genius, but don’t make fun of her for something that you got wrong on your own show. He stated the countries were “America, Gay America to our north, and Burrito America down south.”   I wasn’t positive about Central America (I mean, is it part of North, or part of South America?  Answer:  North),  but I at least knew that Greenland was part of North America!  Come on!!!!

The more you know. **flying star**

. . . That was the message on a bottle cap on Magic Hat #9 that Niles found while he and I picked up garbage yesterday! We went up Highland Ave through the college, and then down a bit on Highland Ave, where all the college students have apartments. That’s the college behind the trash in the picture. Niles wanted the college to be in the shot.

That afternoon, I went out to the store, and saw Hydrox.  That’s right, Hydrox cookies.  They make them again!!!!!  I know that I googled Hydrox a year or two ago, and they had been discontinued.  But they’re back!!  When I was a little kid, my mom would buy Oreos, she would buy Hydrox. Oreos had lard in them, but Hydrox didn’t, so that’s what she got.  I don’t think there really was a difference in taste, but this is what we had at my house, and we all loved them!!!!  Now, I most definitely wouldn’t buy them today (If I’m going to eat cookies, they’re going to be homemade), but I thought it was nice that they were back.  My sister will appreciate this picture.

Then, late last night, I had a meeting at the Fitchburg Armory to discuss the Brew Years Eve party we are planning for this New Year’s Eve. It’s a fundraiser to purchase books for the Fitchburg Public Library. The library had their budget cut by 65%, and they currently have no money for new books.  We’re throwing a kick ass New Year’s Party with great craft winter beers, live music (featuring New Pond Fondle and the Allstonians), and delicious appetizers to go with the beer (really good cheeses, a nice soup, kielbasa skewers).  Last night, we got to see the draft copy of the poster.  Liz’s husband, Jordan, is a graphic designer and does all of our artwork.  This design is on a piece of 11×17 paper, and we’re going to put two bottles on one piece of paper, and then cut it in the middle.  Then the poster will be very long and slim, just like a beer bottle.  We need to get the graphic completed because we need to get a “save the date” e-mail out!  It’s November already, so people are probably already thinking about their New Years plans.  We also want to get a website up and running, so people can have a place to find information on the event (and about the library).  This is the second event that we’ve planned (Trevor, Liz, my dad, and myself), and Liz thinks we should get a production company name and have that be the website.  That way, people know “Ohhh… this is put on by the same people who did the beer fest this summer!  That was awesome, we’ll definitely go to their New Year’s party.”  Liz suggested “River City Productions” and I like it!  But we NEED to get something together so people can start learning about the event, and can start mark their calendars! We also need volunteers to help set up (decorate), help out the night of the event (if you’re TIPS trained, we could use you to pour beer!), and also cleaning up on New Years day. We’re going to all bring brunch food that morning while we clean up, so we can have a celebratory brunch together. If you’re interested in helping, let me know. It’s a guaranteed great time.

So here are some questions:

Would you like to volunteer your time to help out?  (Emiliano, you can volunteer to do our site design!)
Do you have any other ideas for food items that will go great with winter (dark) beers?  (We’re meeting next week to go over the menu)
Do you have a name for our production company? (They’re all Fitchburg based events, and Fitchburg is “The city by the river”)

There were two wonderful things about Election Day yesterday.  First, we elected a wonderful new president.  I have absolutely great, high intentions about Barack Obama.  Last night, I asked Niles, “Wow, I wonder what the next four years are going to be like.”  One of the people on my buddy list has an AIM away message that says “Ugh, get ready for $5 gallon of gas.”  I’m okay with that.  In Europe, they pay $6-$7 for gas (Megan, is that about right?).  And they walk a lot.  A LOT.  And they use public transportation.  We should be more like that.  I am okay with $5 gallon of gas.  I bought gas on October 8th, and paid $34.  I have not gotten gas since then, and it is November 5th.  If I hadn’t had to go get Dylan (damn him!), I would be able to go a lot longer without having to get gas.  Another friend of mine has a message that says “I’m moving to Europe.”  Ok, first of all, I think they are MORE liberal and more anti-Bush/McCain than we are here!  What good is that going to do?  And there, you will definitely pay more for gas.  Wow, these people are morons.  They’re all people I went to FSC with a long time ago.  I think their comments alone are reason enough to take them off my buddy list.  Plus, I haven’t talked to them in years.

The second wonderful thing about Election Day, was the ALL DAY marathon of House, M.D on the USA network (USA!  USA!).  ALL day long.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I watched 3-4 episodes yesterday, and taped 4 more when I left for work.  I would have taped more, but I was worried that I would run out of room on the DVR.  I was really surprised at how many episodes there were that I had never seen.

Oh, and that tree atop the new Fitchburg State building?  I guess it’s something called a “tree topping ceremony.”  It’s normal to do that for new buildings, I guess.   According to Google, the tree topping ceremony follows from an old pagan ritual to honor/appease tree gods for providing the building material for construction. Pagan ritual!!!  Awesome.  So it’s not a “Christmas” tree, but really, it is.  Well, it’s the same kind of tree as a Christmas tree is.  Balsam Fir?

In other awesome news, I just saw an ad for The Snuggie!!!  The blanket with sleeves!  (Warning, the link opens up a video).  Now, I have my own blanket with sleeves that I got last year as I was recovering from my surgery.  It was awesome, and I waddled around the house in it.  But it was not as awesome as the Snuggie.  However, mine looks thicker.  But the Snuggie has a built in turtle neck!  I want one.  Sersiouly.  If they had  a black one (cause black is more chic), I would wear it out of the house, too.  Throw on my fake pearl necklace, and my fake Ugg boots, and I’d be a fashionista!  Oh yeah, I’d do it.  Too bad they don’t come in black.  Curses!