Shopped 'til I dropped

Thanks to Black Friday and other assorted Thanksgiving sales, I can proudly say that I am 95% done with my Christmas shopping before December has even begun. WHAT?!

This never happens. I usually am scurrying around the week before Christmas trying to think of what to get everyone that I buy gifts for. Huzzah! That will not be me this Christmas. I've taken care of it all, right down to the wrapping paper, bows and gift tags. (Thanks to Michael's Crafts for having a ridiculous sale on Christmas products yesterday.)

Considering I woke up a 2AM to stand in line at Best Buy on Black Friday, I obviously needed to pick up a few things for myself along the way. A few of my favorite purchases from the weekend:


Barnes & Noble Nook: I've been fighting the urge to get one of these since they first came out, but I finally caved in. They were on sale at Best Buy on Black Friday and I decided to see what all the hype was about. Let's just say, I couldn't be more obsessed with it if I tried. I've already read 2 books and I am slowly regressing back to my days of wanting to stay home and read instead of going out. If you are looking for a cute case for your Nook, I recommend the "Punctuation" case by Johnathan Adler. It was only $29.95 and it's really cute.

Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture: I've been surviving on the last drops of my Vera Wang Rock Princess perfume for weeks so I figured it was time to find something new since Sephora doesn't carry it anymore. After spraying tester upon tester, I was deciding between this one and Marc Jacobs Daisy. I'm saving Daisy for next time, I fell in love with this one. The bottle is a tad overkill, but it smells wonderful. I also got a free sample of Miss Dior Cherie -also lovely!

Compaq Netbook: I've wanted a Netbook for a while now...it's much more portable than my regular laptop and who can resist such a cute little laptop? I can't wait for my flight to D.C. in a couple of weeks, definitely going to use this for movies on the plane. Only drawback is no CD player, but that's what flash drives are for! Less than $200 at Best Buy - definitely worth it.

Now it's time to lock up my wallet in a safe until my next paycheck. Did anyone else fight the sea of crazy shoppers this weekend?

I voted, did you?

I voted today and I hope you did as well. I've been too wrapped up in my own life (work, family, sleep, etc) to be a political junkie (let's be honest have I ever really been a political junkie?), but I buckled down and decided to educate myself on the election so I was not just aimlessly filling in bubbles on a ballot tonight.

There is no way that any of the candidates would be perfect and fulfill all of my wants and needs, so I decided to pick out the issues that are important to me and see who was worthy of my vote. Health care and education are my points of interest, based on a lot of past work I've done in non-profit.

Regardless of the outcome of the races, it was nice to see so many people out on the streets with signs right up until the point that I was pulling into my old high school to vote. Even if everyone doesn't agree, it's nice to see that people still have passion....hopefully they make the right choice when they are filling in those bubbles.

I'm not one to start a political debate, but I hope you all were able to vote or send in an absentee ballot! Let the races begin.

What I appreciate about Japanese culture

As much as I bitch and moan about my job, I have to admit that there are some days where I actually enjoy it and have fun. One of these said days was enjoyed on Friday afternoon where we celebrated a long-ass month of non-stop sales craziness to sumo wrestle. Yes, folks, I said sumo wrestle.

Thank GOD for party-hosting companies that create the fat suits for laypeople to sumo wrestle in, because it provided me with heaps of entertainment last week. Even though it was 45 degrees and windy out, we all piled outside to the park across the street from our building to enjoy the festivities:

The obligatory sumo wrestling tournament bracket.

A sweet action shot.

I swore I'd never give in

For so long I refused to submit myself to the world of Sex and the City. I did not want to be one of those girls who were entertained by ridiculous shoe collections, sexcapades and lavish parties - but I am coming clean.



In a fit of boredom I downloaded the two SATC movies, and after I watched those I was hooked. That led to me downloading the full SATC series and I'm currently halfway through season 3.

I cannot stop watching.

Hotlanta, Here I Come!

Welcome to Atlanta where the players play. Do the players play there? What's so special about Atlanta?

Anyways, tomorrow afternoon Atlanta will be welcoming me with (hopefully) open arms for a few days of concerts, food, friends and general debauchery. This break from work is much needed and I can't wait to get on the plane. Going from 50's and rainy to 70's and sunny makes me want to get a head start and run to the airport now.

Pictures and reports on southern hospitality to follow soon after my return.

Cheap Eats in Boston

The Boston Globe just put out their latest '50 Cheap Eats in and around Boston' on Boston.com and it got me thinking. I always hit the same spots over and over again - I should probably branch out more. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a repeat customer, but this list opened my eyes to all of the places that sound delicious that I have yet to try.

A few of my personal favorites made the list, Genki Ya and Punjab Palace.

Genki Ya is by far my favorite place to get sushi in the Boston area. It's in Coolidge Corner, which already makes it awesome, and the food is just great. The sushi is made with mostly organic ingredients and you have your choice of white, multigrain or brown rice. My favorites are the classic spicy tuna roll and the refreshing fruit roll. Unfortunately, Genki Ya has spoiled me and now I compare every restaurant I get sushi at to this one.

Punjab Palace may not be a restaurant that I visited frequently in person, but every time I ended up on Foodler.com during a late night of studying while at BU my mouse always ended up clicking on this as my food of choice. I'm pretty picky when it comes to Indian food restaurants, having been highly educated in this department by my freshman year friends - and Punjab Palace definitely makes the cut. My personal favorites are the palak paneer and channa masala.

As for places that I would love to visit, this list was full of them. The Friendly Toast always gets great reviews and I love breakfast. No idea how this hasn't happened already - but that will need to change. Also, the sports fanatic in me feels the need to enjoy a cold one and a game at Jerry Remy's Bar & Grille. Walls full of TVs, delicious beer and a menu of tasty (read: unhealthy) food....bring it on.

Full article here.

NBC's new fall show: Outsourced

Has anyone else been watching this? Originally I was pretty skeptical, as the creators of this show were also behind The Office (which I cannot stand). Go ahead, slay me. I figured I'd give this new show a chance (thanks Hulu!) and I was not disappointed. This could partially be due to me relating to the jokes since over 50% of my friends in college were Indian...or the fact that I work in sales right now. Either way, I'll keep watching. The only complaint I have about Outsourced is that it's only 30 minutes long.

If you haven't checked the show out, watch here: Outsourced on Hulu