April 2009 - Page 2 of 3 - Angry Julie Monday

Eat That Frog and a Giveaway!

April 20, 2009

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!!!

Filed Under: Reviews 45 Comments

Athlinks..Facebook for Athletes

April 19, 2009

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!

Filed Under: Just Julie 2 Comments

Baby Shower Report

April 16, 2009

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.

Filed Under: In The Home, Just Julie 9 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Easter

April 15, 2009

Filed Under: Holidays, Photography, Wordless Wednesday 8 Comments

Easter Time!

April 12, 2009

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!

Filed Under: Holidays, Parenting 4 Comments

Carlsbad 5000 Race Report 2009 Edition

April 9, 2009

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..

Filed Under: Just Julie 6 Comments

Sharpie….I love you….

April 9, 2009

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?

Filed Under: In The Home, Just Julie 4 Comments