The Shame Squad

I've been sick since the snowstorm, so I went to my usual doctor (who I'm really starting to dislike) on Wednesday.  He told me that it was just my asthma that was exacerbated, gave me a steroid inhaler, and told me to move on with my life.  I was suspicious that it was only asthma, but also don't want to be one of Those People that demands unnecessary antibiotics. Out of love for me (and also love for his own sleep, I suppose) Chris took me to urgent care this morning.  The doctor was awesome, and actually did things like, you know, LISTEN TO MY LUNGS.  Diagnosis?  Sinus infection and the very beginnings of bronchitis.  In addition to giving me an arsenal of prescriptions, she also recommended a new doctor that's closer to my house and better at doctoring.  Thank you, Urgent Care Doctor. So I've been hanging out on the sofa for the majority of the week, interspersed with periods of trying to work.  My activities include coughing, drinking h...

My poetry writing abilities are once again put to the test, as I compose verses for the fabulous donors to my Krispy Kreme Challenge .  I should mention that most of my poetry studies happened in high school AP English, during "zero period," which is the time frame BEFORE first period, and an excellent way to torture teenagers at 7:25 a.m.   I did a Google image search for AP English and this came up. I do have to give props to my Agnes Meyer Award winning teacher, Mrs. McMahon--because of her, I scored a 5/5 on the AP Exam, despite never reading any of the books that year.  My English teacher father was constantly after me that I would never even get an okay score (a 3/5) on the exam if I didn't read books, and instead focused on magazine and newspaper articles.  However, I should point out that my dad is a successful author, and I'm just here writing this blog. Speaking of this blog, you can make me write about a topic of your choosing by becoming a fabulo...

As mentioned in yesterday's post , Chris and I are running The Krispy Kreme Challenge (12 doughnuts, 5 miles, 1 hour, no barfing allowed) for charity .  As promised in yesterday's post, Fabulous Donors will receive prizes as follows: $10 - I will write a poem for/about you, to be featured here $25 - You get the poem AND a postcard from me, on which I will write terrible life advice specific to you (postcard to be featured on the blog in a later post, after you receive it) $50 - The poem, the postcard, AND you get to pick what I blog about for one blog post $100 - Poem, Postcard, Blog Post AND a RepliKate ! I've already had many fabulous donors, and am halfway to my goal!  Let's get to some poem writing, shall we? My first poem is for my fabulous former coworker,  Andrea.   Andrea always makes me laugh, and her Ad Exec husband is hilarious as well (in fact, he does Stand Up Comedy on the side.)  For you, Andrea, I have written a limerick. ...

Chris always takes me to the most romantic places, like last year when he whisked me away to Raleigh, North Carolina for Valentine's Day.  While there, we walked a mile in 18 degree weather before breakfast so that we could run 2 1/2 miles to a Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen doughnuts, and run 2 1/2 miles back.  We romantically avoided college fraternity brothers vomiting, and I in particular felt young and full of life as dogs, babies, and college kids in shopping carts passed me.  Because I decided not to eat my doughnuts, but rather run with them to the finish line, the left side of my body was covered in a fine sheen of doughnut glaze.  (For those keeping track at home, Chris finished nine doughnuts.) So naturally, we are doing it again.  Specifically, we're running the Krispy Kreme Challenge to raise funds for North Carolina Children's Hospital .  Your donations will help families receive treatment for their children, regardless of their ability to pa...

I've been meaning to write this post for a looooong time, but it's a BEAST, and I've chosen to prioritize other things (like going to Hawaii, or hitting recruiting metrics at my job, or exercising--I make no apologies).   With the snow storm in full effect, though, I've had the time to work on this.   In the event that you think that I'm writing this because of YOU, I assure you that I am not.  On a "slow" week I get 2-3 requests to review a resume, and on a busy week, I get 5-6.  If each one takes me a few hours, you can see how this quickly becomes a part-time job for me.  Coupled with the fact that a former employer is laying lots of employees off, I decided that it's high time I put this together.  So without further ado... How to Write An Effective Resume If you only take two things from this post, they should be this: 1) Your resume should SCREAM "I'm an awesome HR Lady/Lion Tamer/Project Manager/Columbian Drug Lord/what...

This morning began with coffee + whole milk, because it was a Monday.  A very sleepy Monday.  This was followed by a hard boiled egg and some blueberries & raspberries.  Hooray for responsible choices! Lunch was parking lot barbecue .  Parking lot barbecue is actually named The Pit Stop, but we call it "parking lot barbecue" because it is in the parking lot of the roundabout at Routes 15 and 50.  We tried it one day when we were on the way to Purcellville, because it smelled SO GOOD.  Turns out it tastes SO GOOD.  A little pricey, but worth it.  Plus, they take Visa. Also from the parking lot: salsa, raw honey, homemade hummus, tiny delicious macaroons, and vegetables aplenty.  (Plus lobster rolls in the summer.)  Loudoun County, you're a thing of wonder.  So I had some barbecued chicken that we got yesterday, a salad, and some fruit snacks that I bought at the grocery store when I went shopping when hungry.  Note ...

Prior to visiting Hawaii, I did not realize that they had palaces and royal residences there.  (I was vaguely aware that they had a monarchy at one point, being forced to memorize that Queen Liluokalani was the last ruler of Hawaii for some sort of middle school history class.)  Alas, many of the palaces and residences burned or were bought, then turned in to hotels or parking lots.  Boooo. But! At this point, over multiple trips, I've visited three of the (very few) remaining ones: The Iolani Palace, Queen Emma's Summer Palace, and Hulihe'e Palace.  So, here's a super brief and abbreviated history of the Hawaiian monarchy and pictures of some of their palaces!   The Hawaiian monarchs were tight with the British Monarchy (heeeey Queen Victoria, hey girl!) so there's some entertaining connections.  But let's start at the beginning.  Kamehameha the Great "unites" the Hawaiian islands in the early 1800s. And by "unites" I actually mean k...