Having Fun...Rain or Shine!

I had a very busy and fun weekend last week; got to see friends I haven't seen in a while, enjoyed a Burger & Beer with Jeff from PowerTV at Father's Office, drank Sangria by the beach in Venice for Brunch with Kristina, enjoyed LA being dreary and sunny, and laughed a lot!

On Monday I covered for Ian at Irish Times and got to Bartend for the first time in over a month.  It was my first time being solo at the bar and I had to close up shop all on my own.  Lucky for me, it went off without a hitch, and I had a very successful night.  I had a couple friends come in to keep me company and have some cocktails and even got a little late night Jack & The Box snack :)  It was really steady all night!  I'm still trying to find a permanent Bar Home and it's proving more difficult than I thought.  I know I'm being picky but I want to make sure I'm happy and comfortable with the bar I'm working at, and considering I was so unhappy for 6 months at the last bar I worked at, I don't want to put myself into a negative situation like that again!  Something will come along; I'm trusting it will.

Before I went into work I got in a great work-out and run in the park and later that afternoon was able to go to my Yoga Class.  There were only 9 people in the class, including me, so it was a really small and intimate class and she let us decide what we wanted to do.  It ended up being a day of twists and hip openers and the last 20 minutes we were able to concentrate on whatever we wanted to work on.  In fact, I did my first ever Yogi Headstand!  I was so proud of myself.  I knew I was going to be in a calm state of mind for the rest of the night, even if it was going to be crazy busy at Irish Times!

Tonight I Hosted Karaoke at Gabe's!  I'm getting a little bit more creative with trying new songs as I look up artists and songs during the day to see if it's something I could try or experiment with.  Johnny had added over 3000 new songs to our database and updated our computer with a new system that was easier to navigate and was there finishing up when I got to work.  It was really quiet when I got there and since everyone was singing slow music or love songs I decided to try Roxette's 'It Must Have Been Love' and when I was done Johnny told me I needed to learn 'Dangerous' so we could do that as a duet.  Done and done!  We found out we both own the album so we sang that a little later.  It was a great duet and we hit the harmonies perfectly; so I was able to try two new songs in one night!  The night ended up being really busy and the bar was packed (I was worried that the pouring rain was going to deter people but that brought everyone in)!  Jonathan was trying a bunch of new music as well and we even sang 'Need You Now' by Lady Antebellum.  We closed down just before last call and Debbie was my back-up dancer for my first ever solo version of 'Baby One More Time.'  Karaoke is all about having fun, right?!?  I love seeing people smiling and having a good time and last night was certainly one of those nights!  I hope Friday is just as exciting :)

The week is already half-way over but it's not stopping anytime soon for me...I've got a busy week ahead and I'm going out for a run this afternoon to enjoy the effects the rain has on LA...fresh clean and clear air!

Work-outs & Taxes

It's been a few days since my last blog and I sure have missed writing and sharing my crazy life with everyone!

After a very busy and fun weekend, I wanted to start the week off with a great work-out.  On Monday, I found an awesome Yoga video on-line that was 70 minutes long, and I'm still sore today!  I had no idea when I was doing it, as it seemed very easy and I flowed through all the positions with no problems, but I sure feel it today.  And that makes me feel good :)

Yesterday, I went on a nice long run and hit up the stairs for a good cardio work-out.  The stairs I go to are right by a school and in a nice neighborhood, so I get to see some beautiful houses, hear kids laughing, and get in an awesome work-out.  There's even a few of us that do the stairs weekly, so it was nice to run into one of the ladies I see, since I haven't seen her in over a month.  I usually run about 2 miles before I hit up the stairs, doing 6 sets, all different ways, so I'm targeting all the right spots, and then run back home, which is another mile.  I always feel like I've accomplished something after that work-out!

The next task of the day was doing my Taxes.  I'd been putting it off since I was worried about how my Unemployment would affect my return.  I actually really enjoy doing my taxes, because I like putting in the numbers (I really loved my Computer Programming Class in College), I know I'm weird.  Going through all the sections, things were looking really good, and then the dreaded Unemployment section came up, and sure enough, my return dropped drastically!  I went in and deleted all the info, and my return went back up, and then I just worked on other sections, trying to figure out how to make that money back.  I started doing all my Itemized Deductions and saw that brought it up even more.  Knowing I had to claim my Unemployment, I bit the bullet and put all the information back in, and sure enough, entering all my Deductions helped and overall only brought it down a little.  Thank goodness!  After going through all the alerts, I was able to e-file, and rest assured I was still getting a big return back!  Now I'll just finish up my State Return today!

Lots of organizing to get done after finishing up my taxes and clearing some of the clutter out, and it just always feel so good to be in a clean and orderly space!  Good start to the week, awesome work-outs, taxes almost done, and now a very busy work week ahead...Capri Sun Cheers!