A night to remember

Absolutely amazing.

I love America

Well, today I do. A whole lot.

After I studied abroad in Ireland, I think I lost a little of my appreciation for my country when I saw how amazing the rest of the world is (sorry, USA).

But now I'm back and loving it more than ever (well, sort of).

I was so proud to vote this morning (Woo Obama) and was practically giddy with excitement all day, wishing tonight would come faster. I can't wait to see how the night pans out...especially since Obama's big rally is happening right here in Chicago. The city has been buzzing all day and it's absolutely contagious.

So now that the night is finally here, I'm off to my friend's apartment to drink some tasty drinks and watch the night unfold. I never thought I would get this excited about politics, but I am...and it feels good.

So break out the patriotic tunes, American flags and the bubbly. Happy election night, everyone!

Workin' on a sugar buzz

Ross: Someone sent us a basket at work once, and people went crazy over those little muffins. It was the best day.
Chandler: Your work makes me sad.


Welcome to my office.

Whenever anyone brings in candy or some kind of baked good, people go NUTS. It's like they've never seen food before. Everyone gets all cheerful and chatty and it becomes the talk of the office. It's pretty funny.

So that lovely little quote from Friends was running through my head all day as I watched my coworkers go bananas over the plethora of sweets in our office today.

Of course, I was right there with them. And even worse, IT WAS ALL SITTING NEXT TO MY DESK.

At 8:51 this morning, I got to the office, walked to my cubicle and stopped dead in my tracks. The counter space next to my desk was FILLED with candy. I nearly went into a sugar coma just looking at it. There was a huge bowl filled with all the Halloween candy rejects and leftovers from my coworkers' kids and houses, etc. It was overflowing with big bags of peanut butter M&Ms and candy corn and cookies...the counter was completely covered.

And then I heard my coworker laugh. She must have seen my shocked expression. She just smiled and said, "Check out the kitchen, Pam.".

So I quickly grabbed my "healthy" Lean Cuisine to throw in the freezer, and practically sprinted to the kitchen.

And there on the kitchen counter was the most beautiful display I have ever seen before 9 o'clock on a Monday morning. There were BOXES of huge cupcakes covered in creamy chocolate and vanilla frosting and dotted with lovely little sprinkles. There was half a vanilla sheet cake with chocolate fudge in the middle and topped with chocolate icing and bright white whipped cream frosting. And there was a huge bag filled to the brim with dark chocolate-dipped marshmallows. Amazing.

Needless to say, my mouth was watering. I've never wanted a cupcake so badly in my entire life.

But like a good girl, I stayed away all morning. Actually, so did all my coworkers. Every time I was in the kitchen, there would be at least 3 other people staring longingly at the heavenly assortment, commenting on how delicious it all looked. But no one would touch them. I think everyone was overwhelmed. There was literally enough food to feed 100 people (my company only has 25).

The mystery of the baked goods was soon resolved. Apparently one of the senior people in my company threw a huge birthday party for herself and had so many leftovers she decided to bring them in to share. I didn't know whether I should thank her or beg her to take them away.

So instead of eating a cupcake, I thought I'd just eat some candy instead. Bad idea. I ate waaay too many fun-size Snickers and Kit Kats and Reese's Whips (which are weird, by the way). And since I sit next to the candy bowl, every time I heard someone reaching in to grab something, it made me want another piece. I have a huge weakness for Halloween candy, I can't help it.

Finally, after lunch, I saw my coworkers finally eating the cupcakes and I decided to give in and try half a vanilla cupcake...and a tiny little sliver of the sheet cake.

Surprisingly, I didn't like the cupcake at all. It was waaaay too sweet, and for someone who loves sweet things as much as I do, that's really saying something. It was no Magnolia Bakery cupcake, that's for sure. I only took two bites and then threw the rest away (hey, there were still 50+ uneaten cupcakes in the kitchen!) But the sheet cake was AMAZING. It was the perfect level of sweetness. Yum...I hope there is still some left tomorrow.

And now after I've spend the entire day eating candy, I still feel like I have a sugar buzz. But oddly enough, I'm craving something sweet now. Ugh.

Clark Kent is to Superman as Pam is to...

I'm baaaack. It's Sunday night and it feel likes WAY later than it actually is because it's been dark for ages already. It's going to take a couple days to get used to the time change...

Anyway, I had a wonderful weekend in Milwaukee with my boyfriend. We hit up a few of my favorite Milwaukee hotspots (ha), went to an amazingly touristy apple orchard and finally got to enjoy conversations lasting longer than 5 minutes (I hate you, cell phone).

And I was SO excited when I realized that not one, but TWO radio station in Milwaukee are already playing Christmas music 24/7. Though I agree it is a bit too early for that, I was still insanely jealous. The Holiday Lite doesn't come on until 11/22 here...darn it. I am so ready to get in the holiday spirit! Oh wait...I think I already am.

I got back early this afternoon (woohoo Amtrak) and my day has been way too stressful for a Sunday. I blame it all on my phone. First I was talking to my sister and she couldn't hear a word I was saying and when she finally could hear me, the phone dropped my calls. It happened about 3 times. Then a voicemail from my Mom magically appeared on my phone from hours before...she was wondering why she couldn't get through to me. Then my sister called back and still couldn't hear me...so I picked up my phone and chucked it at the wall (I was just a little frustrated). And the damn thing didn't break. Wishful thinking, I guess.

And since then, it dropped me 4 times while I talked to my Mom for 20 minutes, and dropped me again while I was talking to my boyfriend. When we finally did get to talk, the line was so garbled I couldn't understand him. SO FRUSTRATING.

So I am currently trying to figure out if it is my AT&T service that is failing me or if it's just my phone being a huge pain in the bum. I really, really want to get an iPhone soon so I'm hoping that it's not AT&T. I also heard that even if AT&T isn't the best service, the iPhone tends to get really good reception anyway...so if anyone out there has any experience with AT&T, iPhones or anything like that, please let me know! I need advice!

While I wasn't dealing with the phone from hell today, I was out running around like a crazy lady with my sister. We are going to a superhero party in a couple weeks and we both need costumes. The invitation says we can dress as superheroes, villains or a create-your-own costume pertaining to the theme.

So we have been discussing this ALL week since we knew we needed to get costumes ASAP before the Halloween stores close. I suggested we dress up as the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West. It would be easy and they were villains...but apparently that wasn't "superhero-y" enough.

If you think about it, there are barely any female superheroes/villains. Super Girl? Lame. Wonder Woman? Eh. Bat Girl? Really? Cat Woman? I refuse to wear a spandex body suit.

I REALLY wanted us to dress up as Hermey the Elf Dentist and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...even though he's a reindeer, he is TOTALLY a superhero. He flies, he has a hot red nose AND he single-handedly saved Christmas. How else was Santa supposed to get through the blinding snow to deliver presents to all the world's children? Pssh. Totally amazing, I think.

I was vetoed. Still not superhero-y enough. Four stores and two hours later, my sister decided to be Mighty Mouse. And I still have no costume. I want to be cute, but not slutty. And if I'm going to spend money on a costume, I want it to include something that I can wear again...like a cute dress.

So right now, I'm thinking I could be Poison Ivy from the Batman series (I LOVE green and I'm already looking for a green dress for the holidays anyway) or the Wicked Witch of the West (already have a perfect black dress). The problem with Poison Ivy is that I need to be able to find fake ivy to pin on me/put in my hair in the city...and with no car, that could be a problem. The problem with the second one is that after today, I'm pretty sure it will be nearly impossible to find a witch's hat in a store..and it's still not very superhero-y.

Oh well.

I need help. Does anyone have any good ideas as to what I can be? I could also create my own superhero costume, but I have NO idea where to go with that one...if you think of anything, please let me know! I'd love some help! :)

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to throw out a great big "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" to everyone in blog world. I hope everyone has a thrilling, fun and safe Halloween weekend.

I love to hear about Halloween costumes...is anyone going as anything really cool? Funny? Crazy? Scary?

If I was going to dress up this year, I would probably be Pam from The Office. She has an awesome name and the fiance of my dreams...lucky girl.

I'm heading up to Milwaukee after work today, so I won't be around to say too much this weekend. But I'm so glad the week is over and I'm very happy to report that my mood has vastly improved. Yay!

Have fun everyone! See you on Sunday when I post again. :)

A bit of a funk

It's one of those weeks.

I'm in a funk. I feel out of sorts, tired, frustrated, stressed, annoyed, friendless, alone, bored, antsy, disappointed and pretty much blah about everything.

Whew. That's a lot to feel.

It's not that it's been a bad week or anything, I just feel melancholy. It's like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the whole week. I'm frustrated with a project at work, I feel like a frump lately and now that I realize I am busy every single weekend until mid-January, I'm getting claustrophobic.

And my cell phone is worse than ever lately...the reception is absolutely terrible. It cuts in, it cuts out, it gets fuzzy, it drops calls all the time...it sucks. And it's especially problematic when I'm trying to talk to my boyfriend. We're doing the long distance thing right now. He lives in Milwaukee, I live in Chicago. I think we do a great job with it, but sometimes it gets difficult..especially when all I want to do is talk to him after a long day and my damn cell phone keeps cutting out. We both end up getting frustrated and then it just adds to the stress of everything...

So I was going to write about the time I met Jake Gyllenhaal, but I think I'll have to pass on that today. I need to be back to my normal excessively excited self to retell that story in all its glory. I don't want to waste in on a bad mood. Plus, I want to dig up the pictures from that wonderful evening...

Apparently I'm a total space cadet this week, too. I just finished washing a HUGE pile of dishes...ugh. But while I was washing them, I must have completely spaced out, because the next thing I knew, I was standing over my amazing $1 stemless wine glasses (woo World Market), and I was "playing" them. You know...when they're filled with water and you run your finger around the rim and you can make "music". I must say, I created a few nice notes. And then I realized that my poor hands were raw (I had A LOT of dishes to wash), so the play time had to stop (sigh).

So I'm sorry to those of you who have to cross paths with me (or have to listen to me rant on gchat) this week...I'm not normally this flustered. I'm absolutely positive that I'll be in a fantastic mood next week. After all, the Starbucks holiday drinks are coming out...what's not to love about that?!

And now I'm going to pop in Love Actually, immerse myself in the lovely little world of Colin Firth and Huge Grant, and polish off my glass of pinot noir. Goodnight.

Are you selling me a scarf or a cheesy line from a romance novel?

My name is Pam and I'm a copywriter.

Ok, ok...a junior copywriter. I prefer not to mention the "junior" part. It makes me sound like a girl scout in training or something. But you have to start somewhere, right? And copywriting is what I love to do. It's my realistic dream job. (My REAL dream job would be to be the next Samantha Brown...it could happen).

And to those outside of the world of advertising, my job lets me play with words all day. I brainstorm, come up with concepts, create headlines and teasers, write body copy in ads, etc. It's a blast. And clearly it has altered my ability to write in complete sentences. After writing in the ad world all day, I tend to write conversationally. Short, choppy and easy to read.

As I've learned in my 1 and a 1/2 years in the profession, it can be very difficult to make really, really uninteresting things sound interesting...irresistible...something everyone wants. I've had to do it for everything from insurance policies and cell phones to tractors and eye-glass cutting machinery. It can seem nearly impossible, but I've learned there are always ways to make the product "pop", no matter how mundane it may seem. All you need is a little time and a lot of imagination.

So today was a slow day at work and I decided to spend some time virtual window shopping. I was perusing the Old Navy web site, looking up scarves on sale, when my eyes caught the little box of copy in the upper right hand corner of the page. Naturally, I had to read it. And this is what it said:

As soft and romantic as a lover's whisper, this gossamer light knit scarf adds enchanting texture to any ensemble.

Seriously, that's what it said. I laughed out loud. A lover's whisper? REALLY?

So of course I had to keep reading. And some of the descriptions absolutely amazed me:

Ruby slippers might have been de rigueur for Oz but neither the wily Wizard nor the Wicked Witch will stop you from easin' on down the Yellow Brick Road in style with our shiny, patent polished ballet flats.

Long on looks and short on sass, this fleece hoodie dress gives her an effortlessly stylish base on which to build her own personal fashion statement. Accessorize appropriately.

You've been waiting for these. Just so you could catch yourself in the mirror and think how cute they are on your feet, and how happy they make you. Soft, chenille, fuzzy slippers make everyone happy.

Everything from cars and computers to sodas and DVDs are getting upgrades, so why not flip-flops? Meet the Old Navy Flip-Flop 2.0. It's got the same great style and value, only with new bells-and-whistles, like improved materials and enhanced comfort.

Even in the dead of winter, your boxers will have plenty of life left in them, thanks to bright seasonal patterns and durable double-stitched cotton that keeps its shape after repeated washings.

Tehehee life in the boxers. Very sneaky, Old Navy copywriter. Have you ever heard $3 flip flops sound so jazzy? Or a pair of ballet flats sound so bewitching?

It's copy like this, though a tad cheesy, that makes me appreciate my career even more. Sure, people may laugh at a detailed description of the psychological lift you get as you wear your Old Navy slippers, but I love the fact that the writers were able to come up with that many ways to describe every article of clothing on the web site. Each one is different...it's amazing. It must be quite difficult to come up with different ways to say "comfy long-sleeve t-shirt" or "silver flats". So cheers to you, Old Navy copywriters. Your work is hilarious...and a bit inspiring, too.


Sidenote: I just finished the fourth and final book in the Twilight series. AMAZING. If you haven't read it, you need to. Now.