Stress Eating

Okay, so I was listening to the radio one morning as I was going to work (NOT NPR because it was one of those "way don't care about the news this morning" days) Chunga (don't judge my music in the mornings) was interviewing a nice man from the U of U about stress eating, and other similar stuffs. I thought it was irrelevant to me because, I don't know if you KNOW me, but I don't just eat without thinking about it. But then something strange happened...

Exhibit ONE: Sarah's hand full of Swedish Fish she is going to snack on.



Exhibit TWO: Sarah starts working and eating the Swedish Fish.



Exhibit THREE: Sarah looks down and says (sometimes out loud) "Where the hell did all my Swedish Fish go!?!?"


Ladies and gentlemen of my blogosphere, I am not convinced I am a stress-eater, but am convinced I'm going to call facility services and have them start looking out for a VERY CHUBBY gnome who steals my candy. (I mean... it's the most likely answer, is it not?)


Hey, and in WAY different news... if you want information on events going on at the Salt Palace, use a nice little tool Ima call "Google." Mostly because 8 out of 10 times (yeah, that's also 4 out of 5. Way to pay attention in school...) all I do is google the conference and tell you what I find online. PEOPLE ARE STUPID.

Ask and ye shall recieve

As I was walking into work today I had to go through exhibits. See, since the new year we've been parking in what I respectfully call "Egypt." And the path to get to Egypt is either a lot of up and down stairs or through our exhibit space, which usually isn't a problem, but there's a ginormous show in right now... the biggest one all year, so the path to work is walking down exhibit isles. It makes walking fun. Plus, as I was walking past the New Balance booth, someone said "would you like a waffle?" (that's like saying "would you like a $10 bill I just found?") Obviously, I said I would love a waffle and ate it on the rest of my hike to my office.



Alright, so (confession) this isn't what I wanted to blog about, but I love waffles. They're like my favorite food. And they weren't even Belgian Waffles, they were the Standard Waffle (the Preferred Waffle of Sarah's). Anyway, I thought that might be a pretty good omen to my day. And as it turns out, it was...


Today was a monumental day in the world of Sarah Timms' finances. I paid off a credit card that I put housing/tuition on in 2001. I know, a collective gasp of a) why did I put it on a credit card? b) why haven't I paid it off before now and c) Mostly B. (and I have to say, it's really easy to get a low-interest card, make regular payments on it and forget about it...)

Anywho, not the point. We're still coming to that. So I called to close the card and they said "do you want to leave it open and we'll give you a lower interest rate and 3% cash back and refund your last 3 months of paying for ID protection?" Well I've never said no to free dollars from banks PLUS available credit in case I need it... so I caved and didn't close the card. Instead I just got a lower interest rate in case I need one, and keep a good credit score because I have years of good history with them.

And then I got to thinking... this new rate of interest is pretty low. And they lowered my rate just because I asked... maybe there's something to that...
So I decided I'd just call my bank and tell them I wanted a lower interest rate. So I did and they gave it to me. WHAT THE WHAT!?!? All I had to do was call and say "I don't like my interest rate" and they would CHANGE it for me???

This. Is. Awesome.

And interesting to think about because what awesomeness is just out there in the world for our very asking for it! Sometimes things fall into your lap (you walk past and people give you a waffle) but sometimes by politely asking, people will just hand things to you. It makes sense... after all, people don't know what you're thinking. A best friend who is unhappy with a skirt you've coveted for a year doesn't know that you want to wear it for a while. A man working in a booth doesn't know you want to have one of his nifty bouncy balls he's giving out. A bank had no idea I was concerned with getting a lower interest rate today. And a significant other had no idea you needed a little boost in your self-esteem just because.

I am SO guilty of not asking for things. I never do, I always think it would be rude, or put someone out... but in reality, sometimes it's really easy. After all, the girl at the bank isn't like "ooh my gosh, a crazy lady wanted to lower her interest rate." (if she is screw her). and all I did was ask.

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!

I'm so hungry in my tummy

I love food. I love to savor interesting and complex tastes. I love to spend WAY more money than I should on a good "going out" experience. It could be true that i've spent over $80 on a meal... for me... It happens, because I love food. Yum. Yum. Yum.



I also love breaks. I love going to lunch, exploring downtown, going to a galery, walking around with friends and generally going back to the office refreshed. It's my favorite part of the work-day.

So why is it that I find myself (more days than not) at my desk, doing work, eating THIS (ish)?:


(no free use my FACE! HA HA HA!)

Charlie Brown Day...

Do you ever have one of those days where where everything you do sucks? I can't get a phone call without an issue coming up that just feels like something I missed the ball on. In every facet of my life today I feel like I've stopped short of awesome and landed in "you totally suck, dude."

A little bit Austen

I love Jane Austen. I do. I once spent a summer reading nothing but her works. And, yes, it's super girly and, yes, she didn't ever marry so she's not really much of a role model in that sense... but still. Who else could write something that would make me watch a 6 hour movie?



And now we can all take a quiz to see which Austen heroine we are.

Take the Quiz here!

Who are you?

Shiny New Year

What the no blogging? I must have said "ooh man, I'm going to blog about that" or "toates blogging 'bout that - frills" (depending on who i'm talking to) no less than 20 times in the last few weeks. But did I blog? No. Clearly. But fear-not beloved blog readers. 2009 is a whole new year, and a whole new blogertunity. (he he he... blogertunity... I am lame.)


NEW OUTLOOK:
Okay, so 2008 was... there were awesome parts. And I loved a whole lot of it. But also there was a lot of crap that happened. So I'm happy to be rid of it. Anne Shirley said "tomorrow is a new day without any mistakes in it yet." And I think that way of the new year. And, yes, by this point there are SERIOUSLY some mistakes in 2009. But I haven't hit a new personal low like I did in 08, so already it wins by default. I have a good feeling about 2009. I think I personally, the country, the world... we all need a new start. Besides, never before have I seen so many up-beat and happy facebook status' then on Jan 2.
(note: this does not mean that the Sarah-blog will be rant-free. In fact, I think all non-rant posts are a little bit stupid/cheesy so I guarantee more of them in the future.)

NEW NAMES:
It has recently come to my attention that some people are concerned about private information becoming public. It's true. To that end, I now announce that if you wouldn't like your name mentioned on the Sarah-blog, please let me know and we will think of a blog-nickname for you. This way I can still write about my life, and you can still have your privacy. HOORAY! (also, I am not above thinking of my own blog-nicknames so WATCHOUT.)

NEW YEARS:
This New Years I was in St. Louis Missura (yes, I said Missura) visiting BF's family and meeting his BFF/Soul Mate, Joe. (By the by, Joe is in a rockband that is totally awesome http://www.fundamentalelements.net/ and there are songs to listen to on the right-hand side.) Anywho, I had the best New Years I've had in a long time. Ever? Maybe ever. I think the key to a good New Years Eve experience is to have something to do. It's one of those holidays like Halloween where if you have nothing to do, the whole thing sounds really lame, but if you have plans, it can be totally bossome. This was the latter. Plus, as a bonus, I really liked everyone I met there. And apparently i'm good at shooting guns (NOT done on New Years, but in the same trip). Who knew?

Anywho, welcome to 2009 everybody. It's a beautiful new year.