My favorite month!

It's February! Possibly the best month of the whole year if you ask me! Who doesn't love a short month? (probably those people born on 2/29!). There's a holiday for those of you lucky to get President's Day off. For those of you with someone special in your life, valentine's day is right around the corner! And, the most important reason I love February, it's the month that I was born!

Yes, almost 33 years ago I came into the world, 2/20 to be exact. I (like a few people I know, ahem, Mylene!) like to celebrate my birthday all month long! It only comes once a year so why not! So happy birthday to me! One of my co-workers (Ben) had his birthday yesterday and was the recipient of a singing telegram. Yes! A giant chicken with balloons came in and sang him a birthday song. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time and his face was so red! My office is like that Seinfeld episode where Elaine's office was always having cake for some reason. Everyone gets a cake for their birthday so we're having cake today for Ben's birthday. It gets a little out of control when it's a big birthday month....you end up having cake once a week! I already told the cake purchaser that I wanted the Mississippi Mud Cake from Fresh Market. It's not a mud pie, it's the most decadent chocolate cake one has ever tasted!

Can you believe it's already the 2nd month of the new year? January was a very relaxing month! After going to Miami every weekend in December, I put my foot down and said we're staying in Fort Myers in January. We spent some time at the new outdoor mall that recently opened, Coconut Point. It's got all my favorite stores, lots of restaurants (yay, CPK and Panera!), and a huge movie theatre. We went to the beach one weekend and had a picnic lunch. It was a little cold to go in the water but we had fun nonetheless. Last weekend Catherine flew down from New York. She was my first visitor of the New Year! We stayed in town Friday and made dinner and caught up. Saturday we had lunch at a great Tapas place with Leslie who runs a Bed and Breakfast downtown. Leslie used to work for Catherine's aunt and uncle at their house in the Hamptons. After lunch we headed up to Orlando! We had dinner with Sean and Debra who were there for the week with the kids and Deb's family. It was so good to see them! Sunday we hit Epcott and did all the rides and walked around the World's showcase.

This weekend we are heading to Miami though! On Superbowl weekend! We must be mad! Hope the New Year is treating everyone well so far. This is the last calm month before the weddings start. Only two more months until my sister gets married in Hawai'i!

Cheers!

New Years Resolutions Anyone?

I'm curious what everyone has resolved to do this new year. Exercise more? Eat better? Spend less? I've been reading a lot of magazines lately and of course the big topic is losing weight in the new year. Many of you can probably empathize with me in that I've found in my thirties, I can no longer get away with eating things I used to eat before! Gone are the days of late night Taco Bell or Del Taco runs, no more quick fast food lunches, farewell white rice (except for the usual Chinese food treat), french fries, and burgers. I fondly recall the days where I could live off this food and not gain an ounce. Now I look at a burger and feel my thighs get bigger! So what have I done to combat the getting older food angst? Basically change the way I eat! So here are a few tips from me to you to help you get started on a New Years resolution of a healthier life style.

1) Eat 4 squares a day. Instead of snacking throughout the day, eat 4 mini meals. This is something I do during the week. For example, I'll eat breakfast then a few hours later I'll have a frozen mutigrain waffle with fruit or a veggie burger without the bun. The thought process is you'll avoid mindless snacking if you eat a small meal, saving yourself lots of calories! It's a lot more difficult on the weekends when you're out and about but with the right mindset you can make it work.

2) Try to have at least 3 different colored vegetables with lunch and dinner. I know, it sounds crazy but did you know that the recommended serving of fruits and veggies has been upped from 5 per day to 9? This little trick will definately ensure that you are getting your 9 servings a day!

3) EXERCISE! Now, I'm not talking about killing yourself at the gym everyday (definately NOT my idea of fun!). I usually do 3 30 minute cardio sessions a week plus 4 days of strength training exercises I got out of a fantastic book called Lean, Long, and Strong. This book is a gem for those of you looking to get healthy this year. Definately check it out! The point about exercise is to do something fun that you enjoy doing and that gets you moving. Make sure it's enjoyable because if it isn't, you won't stick with it!

Here are a few websites that I've found to have some great information/tips/recipes, etc:

http://www.shape.com

http://www.ishape.com

http://www.weightwatchers.com

May you have a very happy and healthy 2007! Remember, don't think of it as a diet, rather a lifestyle!

Onward to 2007!

Christmas has passed and many of us are either back at work or enjoying some time off between the holidays. Hopefully everyone had a very merry day! It turned out to be a really nice day yesterday even though it was my first Christmas without any family around me. I spent the holiday in Miami with Stuart and his family. I even made Christmas breakfast for everyone before we opened gifts. I got so many wonderful presents this year. I am calling it a Victoria's Secret Christmas because so many of my gifts came from there (nothing racy! pj's, perfume, bath sets, etc.) I even won a gift card from there at our work gift exchange last week! My favorite gift was from Stu though and it came in a little blue box! I loved it so much I want to share it with all of you.....it even has a bit of bling!

Yesterday afternoon we went to Stu's cousin's house and I had my first Jamaican Christmas. There was lots of family and food (curried goat & a whole pig), many pomegranite martini's, and chocolate fondue for dessert.....YUM! After we stuffed ourselves, we faced the long drive back to Fort Myers in the rain. Thankfully it didn't rain the whole drive home but enough to slow us down a bit. We made pretty good time and opened our last round of gifts (thanks mom & Abbie!) after we unpacked the car. After a phone call home to mom, we called it a night and fell asleep with visions of sugar plums (and curried goat!). The house is now a disaster with presents everywhere so my mission tonight is to get it back in order.

I'm back at work today, happy that it is a short week! To those of you who have the week off, enjoy! I'm very jealous! Have a safe and wonderful New Year & don't forget to cheer for my Trojans next Monday!

Cheers & happy '07!

6 more days!

The countdown begins! Christmas is in 6 days....have you finished your shopping? I'm digging the online shopping this year. So easy and way better than fighting crowds at the busy malls. We did have to buy gifts for Stuart's family but we got lucky and didn't hit too much mall traffic. My dining room has turned into Santa's workshop with all the presents, wrapping paper, ribbons, and other assorted items. I'm going into present-wrapping anxiety! I meant to wrap gifts last night but got caught up in watching the 5th season of 24. It was my Hannukah gift! We are celebrating both this year, thanks to the menorah that mom bought me last year. It's actually been kind of neat, especially since this is Stu's first Hannukah. He even recited the blessing over the candles last night. I think he especially likes the presents for 8 days in a row! I'm even going to make potato latkes one night this week. I'm really getting into Hannukah this year!

I've turned into the cookie monster this year. I've never been a big sweets fan but for some reason I cannot resist the cookies this year. For the past week we've been bombarded at work with cookies and then Catherine sent me some of her home made cookies which I devoured on the spot. One of my co-workers has the same weakness, even hiding cookies in his deks so other people won't eat them!

My cards went out in the mail so be on the lookout as you should be getting yours any day now. I love all the photo cards people are sending out, it's so fun to see everyone and how fast their little ones are growing! I still can't believe it's the end of 2006, what a crazy year! Here's to many more great memories in 2007!

Cheers,
Sasha

Tis' the Season!

Wow! It's December already......Monday was my 1 year anniversary here in Fort Myers. It went by so fast; I can hardly believe it's been a year since I moved here. Who's done with their Christmas shopping? Mylene I'm sure! I actually did a lot of my shopping online the day after Thanksgiving (while @ work!) and found some good "cyber sales"!

Since I'm staying here for the holidays, I bought everything online and just had it shipped to everyone. Much easier than last year! Now I just need to do my Christmas cards. I even put out my holiday decorations. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We had our annual company holiday party this past Saturday. It was a fun evening, kicked off by a pre-party at my place. decided at the last minute to have a pre-party and almost went mad trying to clean, buy food/beverages AND get my hair and nails done for the party. It all ended up going smoothly though and everyone had a great time. So great we were all late to the party! The only bad part of the evening was USC losing to UCLA! There goes my trip to Arizona in January.

It actually works out for the better since I'm trying to save my vacation days for Abbie's wedding in Hawaii & Stuart's brother's wedding in Jamaica next year. Busy first half of the year travelling!

Hope all is well with everyone and that you're having a great December so far!

Cheers!

Welcome to Fall!

Fall is here, bringing with it football, slightly cooler weather (mid-80's!), and stores promoting the upcoming holidays. Our office has become a haunted house with everyone decorating their cubicles and planning their costumes for Halloween. I can't believe it's already October and I will have been in Florida for a year soon! I made it through my first summer here without melting. It definately was a hot one but the humidity wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. That's not to say I'm not glad it's over with though!

We're having our annual admin day outing this Friday, heading to Tampa for a day at Busch Gardens. Since I'm not a big roller coaster fan, I can't say I'm too excited about it but it definately beats a day in the office!!

Since it's been such a long time since my last post, let me fill you in on what's been happening. Trips included a visit back to Seattle (thanks Ebeth for letting me stay with you!), a quick hop to St. Louis for training and I got to spend some time with Lee, Matt, and Rob, Indiana for the US Grand Prix, a weekend in Gainesville to see Julie, many trips to Miami for the weekend, and a week in California to visit the fam and help celebrate Mom and Abbie's birthday. Thanks to my visitors so far this year, Taz, Mel, and Ebeth! It was great seeing you! As the weather is cooling down, it's ideal time for guests, so make those travel plans!

Work has been going really well. This group is definately transitional though! We've seen many department heads go and have an all-new team. My boss just got promoted (congrats James!) so I will be reporting to someone new. I'm excited about the change and look forward to another successful year here at ERAC (can you believe I've been here 10 years!). Hopefully in another year or two I will be able to start throwing for another group spot, something a bit bigger. My department is fully staffed and plugging away. We've made some great accomplishments during my time here and I'm looking forward to getting my team members promoted soon! Congratulations go out to Miss Jenna White! Jenna worked for me in Seattle and was recently promoted to Loss Control Supervisor in Group 17. I'm so excited for her and look forward to hearing about her adventures in her new group.

Of course most of you know that Steve and I broke up (actually he just sort of vanished into thin air!) but it turned out to be for the best because I met someone new and we've been dating for about 5 months now. Those of you who have met him know that he's a great guy, very funny, and definately supportive! He moved here from Miami so we're both missing big city life. Fort Myers is nice, but definately small town! I took Stuart with me to California, his first trip to the west coast. He enjoyed it so much we're going back next month. It is homecoming after all and he's got to experience a USC game! (I went to Formula One at Indy, so it's his turn!). How bout them Trojans! While some of the games have been close, it's good to see the team still winning after losing so many great players.

So that about sums up the last few months. Some exciting events on the horizon include mom visiting next week, our trip to California, the holidays, and next year a trip to Hawaii for my sister's wedding! Yes, her and Jeff are tying the knot finally! I'm looking forward to a long vacation there, especially since I'll get to visit my college roomie, Tracie, who recently made the move there.

Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all and hope to continue to keep in touch with everyone. Come visit if you can and I'll keep you posted on travel plans so I can catch up with you if I'm in your state!

Cheers!
Sasha

Happy Heart's Day!

Valentine's day is fast approaching! Did you buy your sweetie a gift? Remember, I am available for consult in the gift category!

Things are settling down nicely after the holiday rush. I've still got one room left to furnish but other than that the house is all done. Let me tell you, these tile floors are driving me crazy! They get dirty so easy and I've almost broken my neck a few times walking around in my socks! Don't worry Melissa and Tannaz, I'll have the second bedroom furnished by the time your visit rolls around....you will all have a cozy place to sleep!

Work is busy as usual but I've hired two more people and my staff is great. They're very hard working, those busy little bees! It's very different managing 4 men that it was 3 women. I miss my girls!! Who's going to decorate my office for my birthday this month! That's right, I turn 32 in about a week! I can't believe I'm going to be 32! Steve is taking me to Nassau to celebrate this milestone, I can't wait for our vacation (white sandy beach, here I come!). The hotel we're staying at looks amazing, the Atlantis in Paradise Island. Check out their website, it's insane! Things with Steve are going great as you can tell! We really hit it off and enjoy spending time together, we're both just so darn happy!

So other than trying to get caught up at work and spending time with Steve, there's not too much else going on here. I'm enjoying the wonderful weather here in Florida. I'm dreading the arrival of the humidity though! I've joined a gym and have been working out with a trainer 3 times a week. She's really fun and makes me look forward to my workouts....she's a tyrant though! I'm trying to get in shape for year-round swimsuit season here! Especially in the summer where every spare moment will be spent out in the water on the boat trying to keep cool.

I hope everyone out there is doing well! Drop me a line and let me know what's new in your world! Miss you and love to you all!

Cheers!
Sasha