sweet relief

Phew! My good friend Meredith's birthday was yesterday and I am relieved to say that she loved my gift. My relief may seem trivial to some, but I consider gift giving to be one of my love languages (except when it comes to Jake) and so the recipient's reaction is important to me... not to mention, I find Mere to be an extremely easy person to shop for! However, this year presented a unique obstacle, as she happens to be right in the middle of packing for a BIG move to St. Louis and it isn't the best time for acquiring trinkets, etc. This meant I had to make sure whatever I bought for her wouldn't be a nuisance to pack or move.

What did I get???

I ended up going with a variety pack of blank note cards (for keeping in touch) and the novel, Twilight. Before you judge me about the book, let me explain...

When I started reading the Twilight series Meredith mentioned that she was considering reading the books but was going back and forth about it. She told me that her hairdresser raved about them, but then later shared she was unhappy with how the series ended. This made Mere unsure whether or not she should read them at all. So truth be told, I wasn't forcing my love of the series on her out of nowhere- I just gave her the final push she needed to get started. Honestly, I thought a longer book was the perfect gift; she is about to move and have the summer off, affording her lots of free time. I figured if she ends up wanting to read the entire series she will have something to pass the time.

Also, please let the record show I checked with our friend Stacy before making this purchase. I knew everyone's first conclusion would be that I let the Twihard in me take things too far.

Step Masters

Well, well, well... our company has created a step contest with the winning team getting a paid half day off. Now, those are some serious stakes and my team is seriously set on winning. Currently we are in 5th place company wide, but it's only been one week and we've already heard some grumbling from teams that are ahead; odds are good that we will improve after week two (I'll definitely give you an update).

Just to show you how serious we are, I want to share the following facts:

1. We kicked off the week with an encouraging email from Jessie, commenting on our average steps and what our increased goal should be individually... and as a team.
2. We have a strategy for incorporating steps into the work day; which includes but is not limited to taking the long way to the restroom, stepping in place while at people's desks, pacing while waiting for the elevators, walking the entire garage (twice a day), avoiding options for a sedentary lunch, and always taking the stairs... from the 16th floor.
3. Our team captain, Meredith, emailed her "concerns" regarding accurate readings by our brand pedometers to the Dominion contact for the competition.
4. At one point someone suggested we have a mobile bible study... as in we walk around the mall, bibles in hand, with one note taker of prayer requests (I'll keep you posted if this happens).
5. There is some stalking of our competition; I can't go into details here because we don't want our ways to be discovered, but it isn't anything too creepy.
6. A reward system for most percentage improved from week to week has been established.
7. Personally, I've been baited with treats to exceed my daily goal.
8. Our team has started building their work attire around the potential to break a sweat. We're moving away from pants all together and are shifting toward skirts.
9. We've coined the term, "pedos" and we use it often.
10. One person on our team has a personal goal to have the most steps as an individual across the company; she is averaging 25,000+ steps a day, with the average person getting between 6,000-10,000.

Might I suggest a book?

I just finished the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society over the weekend and would highly recommend it for a quick read! It may come as a surprise to most of you, but the story had nothing to do with vampires (well, the Cullens are really the only vampires I care to read about)! Anyways, it was actually suggested to me by a few people... and Stephenie Meyer just might be reading it as well. Regardless, I figured since I'm trying to form this hobby it couldn't hurt to try it out... and I'm so glad I did. I can't say enough good things about this book. The main character is entertaining in her own right and I noticed that I had a constant smile while reading- it was a true pleasure!

The whole book is letters written back and forth so it is incredibly easy to read and remain engaged. I know this isn't a witty post, but I just thought I would share my experience. Does anyone have any other book recommendations? I've moved on to, The Host for now but I don't have anything lined up after that.