She did it again! It's a good thing...

Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop baked these wonderful red velvet mini cupcakes for me. I had a Junior League committee function to attend. We were supposed to umm, bake red, white, and blue cupcakes. Yea, if anyone knows me well enough..Angry Julie doesn't bake, cook, or prepare any food-type substances. She branches out to her resources aka calling people to do bake for her.. Kristin has been a great resource to me recently.

I've also contracted Kristin to make cupcakes for Angry Toddler's birthday in May.

She is wonderful and her cupcakes are fabulous. Check out her blog for her Margarita Cupcakes she's been working on.

She's also on Twitter!

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Drink Wine

My poor BFF Stacey..she is the topic of many blog posts. I can't help it, she cracks me up. I don't think she realizes how funny she is.

Yesterday we were chatting via cellphone. She made a confession to me. She bought a bottle of wine at the grocery store, with a screw-off lid. She then also proceeded to tell me, she just might have screwed off the lid and drank some. This was during the afternoon. She was having a bad day already.

Last night was Tuesday night dinner. Stacey had a paper bag in her cute Coach Spring purse. Sure enough, she took the bag out of her purse, grabbed a cup from the pizza parlor, and poured some of that wine into the cup. She then also mentioned that she did not like the salad dressing at the pizza place. She brought out a bottle of salad dressing from her purse.

What else does Stacey have in her purse?

I told Stacey that her white trash-ness was coming out in full force. She laughed.

And she knew, yes she already knew I would be blogging about this.

Photo courtesy of gmonster25 from Flickr.

Sup for a Pup

A Wish For Animals is a 100% non-profit, no-kill rescue.

On Saturday, I attended a sample sale/fundraiser for "A Wish for Animals". It was a great event, several people brought their dogs, and their non-fur children. Everyone was local to the area and came together to support this foundation.

Our dog, Wolfie, was a rescue dog. We went through a very thorough process when we adopted her. The rescue made sure that we were educated about what it takes to raise a rescue dog and Wolfie's specific issues. I really embrace people who take out the time in their busy lives to donate time to volunteering.

From their found, Tori Eakes:

"A Wish for Animals" is a non-profit organization that has a big heart for animals. We rescue animals that are in need or in danger. We primarily rescue dogs and cats, but are always willing to try and help whenever there is an animal in need. We also provide medical assistance funds, food, vaccinations and spay and neutering to
low income families or families that can not afford large medical bills for their pets.

A Wish for Animals has been rescuing animals for the past 5 years and we are run 100% by volunteers so all of our funds go directly to the animals for food, medical and boarding until we are able to place them in a forever home.

Our mission is to help save as many animals as possible from suffering or death and to find them wonderful homes to spend the rest of their lives in. It's so amazing to see where these animals came from and where they end up in their new homes with so much love. They are so grateful to have what so many of us take for granted every day!

A Wish for Animals is run 100% on donations and depends on them to continue in our mission. Thank you for helping us in our mission to save these wonderful lives!

Of course, I took some wonderful photos while at the event!






The businesses that participated in the sample sale/fundraiser!
Kaenon
SURFTECH
Hinano Tahiti
Wahoo's
OluKai
StandUp Journal
LARABAR
Surfline
Pro Bar

I enjoyed a great lunch from Wahoo's that day and bought several raffle tickets!

I gave in!

I posted on April 6th about "Needing Caffeine". I was doing so well. I hadn't drank a Monster Energy drink since Fat Tuesday, the Tuesday before Lent started.

Like I said, I was doing so well...

But they are BACK! I had to give in. They were calling me. I swear. Everywhere I went, I saw Monsters...

I think I even got Suz addicted too. She was even twittering about Monsters this weekend.

I took the photo myself with Mac's Photo Booth program. That's why the writing on the can is reversed..

Dentists, Doctors, and Growing Up

Every year Angry Toddler has his "well check" at his pediatrician's office. I always make it months in advance. I actually look forward to this check-up. I save all my questions up and we discuss the milestones. I love his pediatrician, and was so delighted last year when she stepped forward and left the big practice that she was part of. We got tired of the long waits and getting stuck with the nurse or someone else from the office.

I can't wait to tell her that yes, he was potty trained last year. He knows his ABC's. He can count to 35. And even the fact that he kicks butt at the Wii. Especially Mario Kart. I know she appreciates hearing all of this, because you see, Angry Toddler was a preemie. He has asthma, and has had over 15 febrile seizures. She will be glad that she hasn't seen us since January, that he's grown, and he's doing excellent in pre-school.

But when the kids come into your life, you sometimes let your own health issues slip. We've (Angry Husband and I) have spent the last 4 years making sure that we had Tylenol, Motrin, asthma meds, and everything else in stuck 24/7.

But during this, we have also gotten sick. Angry Husband has had pneumonia at least 2-3 times. I've had several upper respiratory infections. But life goes on.

I don't have a regular doctor. Every time I get sick, I hit up the Urgent Care. I wish I had someone like Angry Toddler's pediatrician. Who actually cared about what's been going on with me for the past 33 years. Someone who knows that I was actually hospitalized over 20 times as a child for bronchitis and several related issues. That I spent almost every Christmas singing Christmas carols with nurses.

This past week, I went to the dentist. This check-up had been cancelled at least five times. I finally went and discovered that I needed three crowns. THREE! Do you know how much money that's going to cost? A lot. I've known about these crowns since last Spring. But I've been neglecting myself. I'm scheduled to get two of them done in about a week. If I don't cancel the appointment, that is.

Now Angry Husband. He went to the dentist about two weeks ago. He has a ton of work to be done. He already has a follow-up appointment that was scheduled next week. Is he going to go? Nope. I already had to cancel the appointment.

Oh yea, and Angry Husband has pneumonia again. I made him go to the Urgent Care yesterday. He's on meds, which I also forced him to pick-up.

Since the beginning of this year, I've decided to stop neglecting my own personal health and take charge of it. It's part of being an adult. The older I get, the problems just keep hanging around longer. Angry Husband knows this. I give him the same speech every time, "Well duh, you knew that, what are you going to do about it?"

Sometimes, I just want to be a kid again and have someone make these appointments for me, and drive me there at my allotted time.

Eat That Frog Giveaway Winners!

On Monday, April 20th, I announced my giveaway for the book, "Eat That Frog". I had 44 entrants into the contest.

I asked people what they procrastinated on..most people wrote about something to do with cleaning their house. I definitely procrastinate on that too!

On to my winners!



#4 is Amy from Life of a Nguyener



#32 is Jinxy and Me


Please contact me with your name and mailing address for your copy of "Eat That Frog".

Thanks to everyone who entered and commented!

San Clemente Carnival

After work, preschool, and everything else...we headed to San Clemente last Friday for their Carnival. It was a small carnival set up in the Talega area. We were meeting up with my BFF, Stacey, and her family.

Before we we went to the Carnival, we wanted to get some real food. We stopped over at First Class Pizza in the Talega Village Center prior to the Carnival. It was PACKED. FCP has a good thing going on. They are a family friendly restaurant. Everyone from San Clemente seemed to be there. Luckily we were there just in time to get a table. I highly recommend getting the Family Special there. It's $26 and well worth it.

We then met Stacey and her family at the Carnival. I bought $20 worth of ride tickets...thanks Angry Toddler for that. I did not participate in the rides. I made Angry Husband go with Angry Toddler when it required an adult to be present.

Angry Toddler and Stella Enjoying Their First Ride

Stella and Angry Toddler on the Motorcycles..Stella was scared of the Creepy Castle in front of the Motorcycles.

Angry Toddler and a Pink Elephant

Stacey and I..We both look crazy..ack look at those lines in the corners of my eyes.

What I Learned This Week

I always learn something new every week. I got excited when this Blog Carnival first got started. It's been going on for a couple of weeks, but this is my first post.

1. One of the major things I've learned this week is the you are your best advocate. I had a doctor's appointment this week. I actually got into an argument with a doctor. He then threw his pen down and put his hands up in the air. I was finally sticking up for myself. I said I know myself, this is my body. You are wrong. Can you trust me on this? Please give me a chance for 30 days. He is giving me that chance.

2. I get things done when I speak up. I deal with a lot of conflict when I'm at work. I want to sit on the sidelines sometimes when I'm on my own time. Sometimes it feels nice to not be so confrontational. Angry Toddler was having some issues at school with another kid. I finally had enough and went to the school's director. I can't stand her. No one likes her. I knew that she would throw Angry Toddler's issues from last year back at me. I was ready for that. Every time she came at me with something about Angry Toddler, I came back at her with something. I did not get emotional. I did not let her control the situation and bully me. This was last Thursday. By Friday, the problem was solved.

3. I'm also learning about dealing with Angry Toddler ADHD. I know that I'm in this for the long run. I'm reading a lot about ADHD. I know that AT needs structure and guidelines. I'm also educating Angry Husband about what I've learned. He is also learning to be firm with Angry Toddler.

What Have You Learned This Week?

Please check out Musings of a Housewife for what other people have learned this week!

Eat That Frog and a Giveaway!

Recently a friend recommended this book, Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. Of course, I totally procrastinated on buying it. I had it in my wish list on Amazon for about a month. I finally purchased it about two weeks ago.

I read the book in about a day and a half. It's a really quick read. I loved it. I think everyone who procrastinates and is totally A.D.D. like me. I've read a lot of self help books in my life and this is one of the better ones.

Why Eat That Frog?

"Using "eat that frog" as a metaphor for tackling the day's most challenging task, Tracy shows readers how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize their time. He details 21 practical, doable steps to stop the procrastination treadmill and get more of the important tasks done."

Here is an example of some of the tips that the book gives:

1. Select any goal, task, or project in your life which you have
been procrastinating and make a list of all of the steps you need to take to
eventually complete the task.

2. Then take just one step immediately.
Sometimes all you need to do to get started is to sit down and complete one item
on the list. And then do one more, and so on. You will be amazed at what you
eventually accomplish.

I'm amazed by this book, so much, that I'm going to give away two copies! That's right, two lucky people will win a copy of this book!

How do you enter to win this book?

1. Leave a comment. What do you procrastinate about? Is it home related? Work related? Blog Related?

2. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AngryJulie. Tweet about my giveaway and leave the tweet in my comments section.

3. Post about the giveaway on your blog.

Giveaway ends Friday, April 24th, at noon. I will choose two winners randomly. This contest is open to U.S. Residents only.

Good Luck!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED, WINNERS TO BE POSTED SOON!!!

Athlinks..Facebook for Athletes

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you can tell I'm a runner. I think I can finally feel comfortable calling myself that. I guess if I partake in the sport of running three or more times a week, I'm a runner, right?

I try and do at least one race a month. It keep me going and it's something to look forward to. Otherwise, I can get pretty lazy.

About a year ago, my friend, Casey, told me about this site, Athlinks. I like to think of Athlinks as a Facebook for Athletes. I was able to input my information on their site, and I pulled up races I had run up till 2002. I could see all my various times. I was also able to put future races on my calendar. You can "friends" on there also.

Per their blog:

What is Athlinks and why should I join?
Athlinks is both the largest and most complete results database for endurance races on the planet, and a fully-featured social network built specifically for the endurance athlete community.

We add well over one million results to the database each month from several thousand endurance races including running (road races, track and field, cross country), triathlon (any multi-sport), swimming, cycling (TTs and crits), mountain biking and more.

Athlinks is not just another place to park your blog. The community features are deeply integrated with and built on top of your race results. Track and communicate with training partners, club and team members, favorite vendors and more.

You can contact me through e-mail to get my info to add me as a friend on Athlinks!

Baby Shower Report

On Tuesday, I threw a baby shower for my friend, a co-worker also. Why Tuesday? Because we all work the weekend and don't want to use our vacation time. We are being time frugal. Especially my friend since she needs to save her time for Maternity Leave.

Of course, I'm Type A, which means I had to over plan and stress myself out completely. It also means that I waited to the last minute to do everything. This is typical of me. I got up extra early that morning, took Angry Toddler to school, and went off on my way.

I met Kristin from Meringue Bakeshop at Peet's, a local coffee shop. I got annoyed with Peet's because they don't have Sweet'N Low. I only like Sweet'N Low and none of the other artificial sweeteners. It's my choice if I want to poison myself with it, don't take away this choice. I had to use the blue stuff, ack...

I then went on my way to the grocery store. I had pre-ordered a platter of sandwiches and fruit. I ended up buying several other things there. Did you actually think I was going to cook the food?

I headed to my friend's house and set everything up. I even prepared the candy buffet. I did a candy buffet as party favors because it was really cute and easy. I would like to thank Kristin for that idea. Party planning and cupcakes, she is fabulous!

It was a perfect shower. Plenty of food, chatting, and cute little baby gifts. My friend is very particular. She stated, "no glitter, and no cheese". I didn't do any games since it was sort of an open house. I did have to get one of those "It's a Girl" signs. My friend gave me that look.

Next month is Angry Toddler's birthday. I have to plan for that now. There's always something.

Wordless Wednesday: Easter

Easter Time!

I'm going to enjoy this day off today with my family. I've worked (2) 16 hour days at work in the last 48 or so hours. My co-worker is on vacation so I signed up for the overtime. I am stimulating our bank account.

I pre-brought almost all of Angry Toddler's Easter goodies on Amazon.com. We got him Mario Kart for the Wii, a Power Rangers DVD, (2) coloring books, and some candy. I didn't get him too much candy, but Angry Husband thought it was a lot. But my most favorite purchase was the two pairs of Birki's I got. I got the fish and camouflage ones. My friend, Londie, recommended them to me. She said that her daughter, Lauren, loves these. I got them $14.89, regular price $48.95. Angry Toddler won't take them off.

At the beginning of the week, actually Tuesday, they had an Easter Event at Angry Toddler's preschool. The got to hunt for numbered eggs, paint rabbits, and dye eggs. He even had some cute paper bunny ears on. Angry Husband and I both went to the event.





Later today, we are going to do a small Easter egg hunt in our front yard. Then we are going to my cousin's house in San Clemente. We usually go to LA County for Easter, so staying in Orange County will be nice. Hopefully Easter will be good this year and Angry Toddler won't get sick. Last year, Angry Toddler had a febrile seizure in the car on the way to my aunt's house.

I'm still trying to figure out what to wear. Stay tuned! I'm trying to decide on a dress or some casual denim capris.

Happy Easter everyone and I hope you have a great day!

Carlsbad 5000 Race Report 2009 Edition

We left Orange County around 7:30am to drive to Carlsbad. Carlsbad is in San Diego County, so it was about a one hour drive. The drive is not to bad because most of the time you get an ocean view from the Freeway. Plus I wasn't driving, Monique was. We ended up parking on a side street a few blocks away from the race start.

We were able to walk around the vendors and even check out some of the races that had started earlier. Our start time was not until 10:20am, because we were in the 30-39 age group. There were so many people that they had to divide everyone into different groups with various start times. Additionally, we had to work around the train schedules. There were 8,609 registered runners for the race.

It finally got to our race time. The sun had popped out and was blazing down on us. I hit mile 1 and was looking up thinking, what the hell? I was very tired from running Seal Beach the day before. It really hit me at mile 2, how sore I was. I kept looking forward to street signs and cars. I kept thinking, "If I make it to this street sign, or red car, I'm good." I finished with a decent time, not my best, but hey I finished.

I waited at the end of the race for my friends, Monique and Anna. They were not far behind me. Plus, we needed to take some end of race photographs.

I wore another running skirt for the race. Do you did the cheetah print? It was from runningskirts.com, along with the tank top too. I wore running skirts for races a lot last year, they are very comfortable.

My next race is in May. It's the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, "Reaching for the Cure". I'm running this one with my run club that I do on Thursday nights.

That's the end of my race report. I hope it was eventful for you..

Sharpie....I love you....

I have an addiction to Sharpie permanent marker pens. I usually have 2-3 of them in my pocket of my work uniform. I have them all over the house. Even Angry Husband carries them around. Obviously he does, I found one in the washing machine tonight that came out of his work uniform, in the washing machine. Luckily the seal is so tight on the pens that it didn't leak all over my laundry. I had a $60 running skirt in that load of laundry.

While I was thinking about Sharpies, I went on their website. I saw that they have all kinds of different pens besides my favorite Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker. They have a pink one especially for City of Hope and Breast Cancer Research. They even have a personalized Sharpie. You can have your design put on the barrel of the pen.

I go through Sharpie's too much to get a personalized one. I use a new one every few days at work. I like the ink bright and the tip of the pen sharp.

Just wanted to share another one of my addictions with you all? Do you have certain types of pens that you use, or other office supplies?

Wordless Wednesday: MacBook and Photo Booth

Need Caffeine Now!

Dear Baby Jesus,

I gave up drinking my fabulous Monster Energy drinks for Lent. Not that I'm a practicing Catholic. I probably haven't been to church since my First Communion. I needed to break free of them. I was drinking at least one 24 oz. Monster a day. They are not good for you.

I was good for 2-3 days. I started getting very bad migraines from not having my fabulous green drinks. Angry Husband told me to stop bitching and have a Coke. One Coke turned into 2 Cokes..and you know the rest of the story.

So once again, I'm now giving up Cokes. I'm on Day 4. I'm dying!

How does one make it through 10+ hours of work without caffeine?

Maybe I should attend Church or something? I can learn patience...good virtues, and all of that.

Maybe I need a new addiction..oh yea, I have one, my MacBook.

I will get over my caffeine addiction, I've done it before...

P.S. That picture above was taken my little ole' me with my Blackberry. Angry Husband was also a Monster Energy Drink addict. He is reformed.

Seal Beach 5K

Today my friend, Monique, participated in the Seal Beach 5K run. This was my first time doing this race, but Monique has done it several times. I was unfamiliar with the course, and I did not know what to expect next. We had to leave for the race early, because parking can be kind of hard down in Seal Beach. It's also very difficult to parallel park my HUGE Tahoe.

We arrived and started walking to the starting line. There were people just hanging out. I mentioned to Monique that there weren't that many people there. Yea, well all of the sudden people appeared from everywhere.

We started the run and we were off. I keep a good pace for the first two miles and then I lost my energy. I kept going but I was not finding my second wind. I finished with a PR, I was almost a minute faster than my last race. I could have done better if I hadn't hit the wall at mile 2.

I wore one of my favorite shirts at the race, my Nike Human Race shirt, and a black athletic running skirt from running skirts dot com. I wore running skirts for a few races last year. They are quite comfortable.

After getting cleaned up, we headed down to Carlsbad to get our race packets for the Carlsbad 5000, tomorrow's race.

We took (2) pictures while we were in Seal Beach. Hopefully we can get a ton more tomorrow. Monique and I kinda lost each other at the finish line.

Spring Cleaning

I'm in the midst of it right now.

I've been on a roll for about three weeks now. Exactly when I started my vacation. I do this every year, without fail. I purge, I organize, I recycle, I sell. This is what Julie does. I'm pretty successful at it too. I've even had Angry Husband join in. I've sold over a $1000 worth of stuff on Craig's List. I've gone to Tar-jay and bought some organizing accessories. I've thrown away a ton of stuff. So much trash that I had to take my stuff to my friend's business trash dumpster yesterday. My trash was FULL.

But after going through boxes in the garage, I found the following items:

1. Outfits for our dogs. We got the dogs about a year before Angry Toddler. They were well dressed. These outfits included Halloween costumes.
2. Pictures. Of me, not soo skinny..Almost want to burn them.
3. Exercise equipment. Including my broken-in softball glove that I got in the 6th grade.
4. Bags. I seem to collect bags from the stores at the mall. (You know, the nice handled ones.)

I found a ton of stuff that either I was looking for and/or I didn't need.

Angry Husband has been telling his partner at work about all of my cleaning, selling, etc. His partner asked if there was something going on between us. Angry Husband replied, "Nope, this is Julie. She does this every Spring."

Seen on the Road Today

This frightened me..soo tiny! Is this our future?