Dinner, Dessert, & Dinero

As I have said before, my job can be hard. It takes a lot to stay motivated and motivation is the key to success. So, I made it a goal to see more and do more in VA and DC while I am here this year. Even though I knew, my slumber would feel the loss greatly, I decided to go ahead and take a night on the town. 

My Moxie BFF (you, me and JB) Trina, went to the shopping center at Fairfax Corner with the sole purpose of getting a CupCake. As to not waist the trip, we decided to make a day of it by going for dinner too. After walking around and looking at our choices, we decided on FanFare Eatery.  

We decided to eat out side because the weather has been amazing the last few days. 

They had one of those fancy Coke machines, which normally always have 

DDP. But this one didn't. However, before I could get too sad, I did see that

they had Pibb Zero. Never seen it before in my life but it was pretty good. 

These boneless wings were cheaper than the wings with bone in them 

which doesn't usually happen. And, I am not going to lie, I waited 

to eat them last but was too full, so they are in my fridge for lunch 

tomorrow. 

The mac & cheese was super good. 

These onion rings were probably the worst I have 

ever had in my life. I felt like I was eating a 

brick of salt. I couldn't even eat one whole one. 

It might just be me, but I didn't know that you 

get chili on nachos...? They were pretty average 

nachos, better than buffalo wild wings, but not 

amazing. 

We then made our way over to Cupcakes Actually for dessert. As we walked over there, we had to forge our way through hoards of people. Then, suddenly, Trina stopped mid stride. When I looked back to see what caused the conundrum, Trina was looking down at the ground at a folded up twenty dollar bill. After a good amount of time, with her staring at it, I finally nudged her to pick it up. "But I feel GUILTY." "TRINA, if you don't pick it up someone else will! Just get it!" She did pick it up, and it ended up being a good deal for me too because there were TWO twenty dollar bills and she shared her "dream" money with me. Needless to say, I guess I am heartless because I felt no guilt and she still does even after it is all spent. 

Any who, we made it to the cupcakes with cash in hand.

This is a raspberry cupcake with vanilla bean butter cream 

frosting, and it is the best cupcake I have ever had in my life. 

Yes it beats Sprinkles and DC CupCake Co. 

I am glad that I got out of the house for the weekend and even more glad to have had such a fun night. Thank you and I am sorry to the person who lost forty bucks last night! 

Get Your Garden Outa the Gutter!

Something else you gotta love about Virginia.

Not only are there weeds in the rain gutters but you can also see little old ladies trying to pick them with garbage picking tongs. :)

I was trying to be stealthy as I took this photo and I was a little far away
and the good ol Iphone just didn't know what to focus on.
But you can see her there, picking away! 

Peeves the Poltergeist

*** Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. If you are reading this and think I am talking about you or something you do, it probably is.

11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.

1. It drives me crazy when people leave the sponge in the sink. Do they not realize that if you leave it there, it will stay wet and the bacteria will multiply and then it will start to stink? 
2. There are some noises that drive me insane. Loud gulping noises (I can handle one or two but repeatedly? Just kill me!) and insidious scratching is worse than nails on a chalk board. 
3. Skirting around the issue. Sometimes, people like to just hint or beat around the bush when asking me to do something for them. HELLO, I AM A PUSH OVER. I will say YES so just ask me. 
4. At restaurants, don't bring me water with two cubes of ice. I don't want room temperature tap water, the least you could do is give me a lot of ice to cancel out the tap-ness of the water. 
5. I love the movies but I hate inappropriateness at the movies. What do I mean by inappropriateness? Well, I am a talker during movies, I will comment or ask questions, but they are pertinent to the movie. The 14 year-olds who just want to gossip about who likes who, get the heck out of the theater. I also like to laugh during movies, sometimes even loudly. The jr. high gigglers, need to leave, that is not appropriate. Opening weekend of big movies, I will cheer or clap at good parts but it is not necessary to go over board. 
6. It drives me crazy when people say they don't like things that they never tried. Do they not realize that being so closed minded will only lead to an unadventurous life? 
7. When people complain about things in their life that they can change and they don't. Don't complain to me about your job, boyfriend, life, school, religion... if you aren't going to do what it takes to change it so you can be happy. 
8. Fake people. Be who you are. Why be fake? Is there really any reason for you to talk, act, think different than how you really feel? If you think it is to make people like you more, they won't. 
9. It drives me crazy when members of the LDS church say "the church" says to do this or not to do this. Really? There are so many things that the "church" doesn't have an official standing on and when people say the church does, I just want to smack them. Don't just hid behind some rumor you heard or half-a listened to at conference, do some research and see what "the church" really thinks about it before saying that. 
10. My sister in-law is a Mexican who legally moved to the United States. I also grew up with parents who teach in the public school system and deal with many legal and non-legal immigrants from Mexico. I think it is a sign of ignorance when people who have never had personal experience with immigrants decide to take a stand against them and put them all in the category of lazy and destructive. 

Don't hate me after reading this. Almost all of these you will never know I am thinking or feeling, but deep down, I am being driven crazy! 

Be Optimistic, Don't You Be a Grumpy!

Dave wrote about the trip to DC. You can read about it here, here and here. 

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Sometimes, my job can be hard. I imagine, that any job can have it's hard moments. In fact, I know I have moaned, on the phone and in person, to Lindsay White Sherman about almost every job I have ever had. It is always nice to get work crap off your chest and wake up and go to work the next day all clear of the crappy stuff before. However, with this job (door to door sales), complaining is like shooting yourself in the foot. Complaining and negativism are contagious and become a chronic problem which end up losing you money and stripping any motivation away. 

So, I am writing this post about Virginia and the many things I see and enjoy everyday. 

Town homes are everywhere out here. 

I don't think I have ever seen any like this in AZ. 

It is fun to see so many people in one area with such 

different lives and stories. These particular town homes

are a godsend because they don't each have 18 stairs to go up. 

Homes out here are so cute and well taken care of. 

I worked in this neighborhood last year and wanted

to live there. The houses were so cute and the people

were pretty nice. (I can take the onslaught of "no" 

but at least be nice about it!)

You can't see it very well, but there is a ridiculous mansion

off to the left behind the trees. It is totally gaudy and

 in such a random neighborhood. The house to the right

and all around are tiny, old homes built a long time ago. 

But, east Indian's know how to do it! Buy cheep land in

a random place and you can build a bigger house! 

Ok, so this I don't get. People pay and have these

wood fences put up around their homes. Then, 

they never put a finnish on it or paint it, just leave 

them to look like rotting wood. WHY? A 

bucket of paint can't cost that much, or better 

yet, have the company who installs it, pain it.

Everyone out here has little figurines in their 

yard. Some are of dears, some have little pigs,

some have noms, cats, dogs, porkupines.... weird!

I kept seeing these crazy huge buds that resembled

rose buds but were round. 

It turns out they are 

these super pretty roses. 

I passed this old, closed down building and couldn't help but take some photos. 

Pink sunset. Such a nice welcome to the evening. 

I know this is blurry, I took it while driving, 

but I thought it still turned out cool. 

This is the sky right after it rained. 

When I imagine heaven, I imagine it looking like this. 

Green everywhere that invites happiness. 

It would have to be 15 degrees cooler with 

no humidity to really be heaven though. 

There you go, There is a little taste of my life here in the big VA!