I am a Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi addict.  It's what gets me through the work day.  Each morning, right around 10 or 11 I have a my first diet cola of the day.  On an occasionally very sleepy morning I will have a diet cola at the start of the day (8:30). 

Recently, though, I have been getting weirdly dizzy in the morning.  I have noticed that this dizziness comes shortly after a few sips of diet cola.  It's an awful feeling, this dizziness.  So awful that I think that I am going to cut out diet soda and other artificial sweeteners.  This would be a big change for me.  I start off the day having oatmeal or strawberries with Splenda, I drink diet coke during the day at work, and then I go home and drink Crystal Lite with dinner.  I consume aspartame every day. 

My big concern is the increase in calories that will come if I cut out this artificial sweetener.  I guess I wouldn't really drink much regular soda, except maybe at a restaurant or out elsewhere.  But I think it would be very tough (and boring) to drink only water all day, every day.  I wouldn't want to drink anything else - that would be so many empty calories!  Juices are okay every now and again, but on a daily basis the sugar is just not good for your health.  Not only does it add calories to your diet, but it also is bad for your teeth.  If only I liked black coffee...

Let's see how I feel Monday morning.. 

Bryan and I had a nice weekend together.  On Saturday his family came over to visit and see our new house.  We also went to the Detroit Boat Show together and had dinner at the Hamilin Pub.  It was nice of them to come over to visit!  Since we've been dating they have not come over, except for our wedding, so I was very happy that they made the trip.  :)

On Sunday Bryan and I did some furniture browsing and then spent the evening visiting my parents.  We had lots of family time..

And I feel like it's just been crazy busy for some reason!  Monday night we didn't really have the chance to relax much, and last night I went out to eat with Jamie and Elaine so I did not get home until after 10:00 p.m.  Late!  Dinner was nice though; it was fun catching up with Elaine.  :)

My emotions have been on a roller coaster this past week.  It is awful and it is exhausting.  I am sure Bryan can't stand it either..

I am currently enjoying an excellent breakfast of fresh strawberries cut up with bananas.  I placed the strawberries in a bowl first and lightly sprinkled them with a packet of Splenda before adding the banana on the top.  It's delicious.  The slightly sour straberries are balanced perfectly with the sweet taste of banana.

Yum!

I am supposed to run a St. Patrick's Day 5K with my sister Katie.  I am very excited to do so.

The only problem is...  I am not in very good shape right now.  When we made plans to do this about a month ago now I was walking/running a few miles each day.  Then I got sick, then we closed on our house, and now we're living in Clarkston, way far away from Lifetime Fitness.  These are excuses, but it's the truth!

Katie is running a few days a week right now.  She'd kick my butt even if I was able to run three miles, and now she's just going to kill me!  Hopefully these 5K people won't mind if I walk part of it..

The run is on Saturday, March 15.  That's 23 days away.  Yikes!  Let's see what happens...

I have a new project at work!  I get to re-do the BNP Fulfillment Handbook, last updated in 2003.  Now many people might think this sort of assignment would stink, but I am actually quite excited.  My reasons for liking this task are as follows:

1.  It gives me something to do!  I am never busy enough, and this should definitely help to fill some of my down time.

2.  Since starting here I have thought that we need a departmental handbook.

3.  I have complete freedom to organize everything how I would like it to be.

4.  With that freedom, I am going to create organizational charts of the department, since it can get confusing.

That's it!

My claim to fame here at work is that I interviewed for the position the day before my wedding.  From day one I have been introduced as the girl who interviewed the day before her wedding.  Awesome.

Here's how I am often introduced to a new employee or visitor: "This is Kara.  She interviewed here the day before her wedding!  Can you imagine?  That's how we really knew she was good at multi-tasking."

This is no joke.  I was introduced exactly like this to someone this morning.  It is a bit crazy.

It's been a busy few weeks!  I have not had time to post much at all.

This is just a really quick post, to say that I have a very hard time sitting still and doing only one thing at once.  I am constantly doing millions of things at once, and not always because I have to, but often because I can't stand doing only one thing at a time.  It's annoying.

Also, yesterday I took and HTML level one class.  Hopefully I will soon be able to update the layout of my blog, with the help of my wonderful husband. :)

Bryan and I had a nice weekend together.  :)  It's only our second weekend in our new house, so lots of time was spent doing house-ly duties...

Friday night: We made dinner (grilled chicken with a little Italian bread crumbs, baked potatoes, and salad) and watched a movie, Two Days in Paris.  I enjoyed the movie, Bryan not so much.  Probably about 20% of the movie was in French, something Bryan does not like.  He hates reading subtitles.  I guess I understand that, and I will admit that the movie was a bit weird.  I just have fun watching just about anything based on French culture.  The family in this movie was hilarious, and both Adam Goldberg and Julie Delpy are very talented.

Saturday: We started off the morning doing house chores; Bryan shoveled the driveway (again) and I hand-washed our kitchen floor, hardwood floor, and bathroom floors.  Let me tell you - our driveway is the best on the block, and our floors are dirt free!  :)  Excellent!!! 

Around noon I met up with my mom, Aunt Becky, Aunt Sharon, Aunt Laura, and cousin Andrea for lunch at Deer Lake.  Becky's birthday was last week, so the lunch was a celebration for that.  It was fun chatting with all of them. 

After lunch I went back to the house to clean the bathrooms while Bryan worked on getting the TV and cable box situated just right.  The Comcast guy installed our cable and Internet so Bryan was just finishing all that up.

We went to see Carolyn perform with the Novi drumline in South Lyon, but we missed the show. :(  We left about 10 minutes late, and then followed the Magellan and took an awful route there..  So instead we went to Costco to get salt for our water softener and then to Target to get all of our bathroom fixtures.  Our house did not have any towel bars or toilet paper holders.  Crazy!  Now it does, though!! 

Saturday night: Bryan and I met up with Jamie and Ryan for dinner at the Hamlin Pub, right around the corner from our house.  We had good conversation and good food, and left around 10:15 p.m. when a live band started.  I think Bryan and I will definitely return some Saturday night to enjoy the live music.  :)  After the Hamlin Pub, Jamie and Ryan came back to our place to check out the new place.  Bryan and I made chocolate-chip cookies from scratch on Friday night, so we enjoyed lots of those while just hanging out together.  They left a little after midnight.

Sunday: What a cold and windy day!  I did not venture outside once, it just looked too cold.  I was lazy for the entire morning, just reading in bed.  I think Bryan was doing stuff on his computer, not sure what he was working on.  I read on and off the entire day, and also watched some TV.  After not having TLC for quite a few months I am now hooked on the show Jon & Kate plus 8.  It is funny and entertaining, and their kids are very cute. :) At times Bryan wanted to shoot himself because of the crying children, but he pulled through. ;) 

At night we watched a bad movie, The Great New Wonderful.  The good news is it was only 87 minutes long.  The bad news is that those 87 minutes are pretty lacking...  This movie featured about five different, separate stories.  I am not a big fan of movies like that.  I like movies to have one big plot, with every character interacting with one another.  Bryan also thought this was a strange film.

And that was our weekend together.  Nothing too crazy happened - it was nice to just spend time together in our new home. :) 

Now it's Monday, the start of another thrilling work week.

As part of Works for Me Wednesday, I have listed my favorite online stores below.  As a frequent online shopper, this was an awesome WFMW.  I love shoes and clothes, so keep that in mind. 

SHOES:

www.Endless.com -This is a great shoe store!  They have super quick shipping (I usually receive my order the very next day) and a great selection. Their prices are often lower than many other stores, including Zappos, and you can search by size, color, and more.  Very user-friendly.  My favorite part about Endless is their great selection of shoes on clearance.

www.Piperlime.com - A new affiliate of Gap and Old Navy, Piper Lime has all sort of funky shoes.  They’re usually a little pricey for what I like to spend (I am a big fan of clearance shoes), but it’s fun to look at what they have.

CLOTHES:

www.Gap.com - Gap offers a great selection of online clearance items that is a lot larger than what’s offered in the stores.  I like their tops, but never order their pants.

www.OldNavy.com - My husband is a big Old Navy fan, and a large majority of his clothes have been ordered on oldnavy.com.  They offer even more sizes online than in the store, and the shipping is quick and inexpensive.  By signing up for their emails I get notification of free shipping periods, as well as coupon codes throughout the year. 

BRAS/SWIMWEAR:

www.FigLeaves.com - The best selection of bras and swimsuits around.  This site offers gorgeous items to fit any size.  Better yet, they also have fast, usually free, shipping and free returns.  My favorite part about the site is the customer reviews for most items offered.  They provide an unbiased opinion about the fit and look of that particular item; such a review is hard to find elsewhere.

www.CanyonBeachSwimwear.com - I have a very difficult time finding swimsuits that fit properly in the stores, so I have to come online to find the best selection.  Canyon Beach can be a little expensive, but the quality and fit is definitely worth it. 

MISCELLANEOUS:

www.Costco.com - On Costco.com I have found all sorts of great deals.  They offer a huge variety of products and services.  A few of my favorites include vacation deals, mattresses, and flowers.  They offer all sorts of flowers that are great for weddings or big parties.   

EVERYTHING:

www.Amazon.com - Amazon is great.  I did 70% of my Christmas shopping online at Amazon.  Not only do they have free shipping thousands of items, but they’ve also hooked up with tons of other online merchants.  You can find almost anything at Amazon, and generally at prices lower than anywhere else.