I'm lucky enough to have friends all over the place. I have lived a lot of places plus I'm old so that's a lot of friends. Even some family that I count as friends since those pretty much were my friends growing up.
But my Hollister friends right now are the ones I spend the most time with. We are all really busy so when we are lucky enough to have the chance to dress up and go out it's usually a pretty good time.
You will recognize some of the commoners in this picture. Kristen was the smart one who bought her flip flops. Beth and Lesli are always fun. Bill Parcels former coach of the New York Giants (He loves when I say that), his wife Debbie and on top Tracy our new secretary and energizer bunny.
Bill and Debbie hosted a pre party which I didn't make it to. I should have though because they bought everyone in an RV-well maybe it's good I didn't go in the RV after all.
You can't appreciate Tracy's Flintstone inspired knockout of a red dress in this picture. You also can't appreciate the fact that she is really tall and thin and lots of fun. She started dancing at the beginning and never once stopped. Not even once. Not at all.
Then there's my husband Rob. We decided we needed some men at the party and so Rob, Beth's husband, and our boss were forced to come. My husband is the only Irish Man that I know who doesn't drink anything. The fun thing though is it seems like he does. He cuts a rug with anyone and will even sing Karaoke.
You didn't have to worry about gaining weight at this party because the food was scarce. The bar was great though. We danced all night and had so much fun. I woke up this morning with no voice and still dancing.
This morning I woke up at 6 anyway so that I could go shopping in San Jose with another one of my local friends.
So today I salute the commoner's favorite-FRIENDS!
It's super late and I'm tired. But he's pretty much king of the world and all he choses to conquer.
Training for a marathon means I needed to listen to a lot of music. JayZ is my favorite when I need to feel tough. You need to feel tough to run a marathon or you'll never make it and if it takes JayZ's brand of success to get through mile 19 than that's okay.
In fact this morning I needed a little kick in the pants snap out of it to get to work and there was Jay.
But sometimes you just need a good beat. A song that is really up tempo and fun to listen to and that came from Macklemore
Thrift shop was a fun song with a great beat (Channeling my inner Dick Clark) but whenever I go shopping I say -that's $50 dollars for t-shirt. Also I used to wear my grandfather's cardigans because they were cool.
And who didn't love that summer song Can't Hold Us. Every runner I know has that song on their playlist.
I'll admit Macklemore is super tall and it scares me a little bit to watch him actually perform with super long arms and legs. But the songs on The Heist are really good. Every single one of them.
They even sing a song about a Cadillac. Did you know my next car is going to be a cadillac? I'm not even joking about that-it may be my graduation gift to myself.
What I like about them besides the beats they drop (Rap talk) are the words they sing. You have to listen past the curse words if they offend you because the songs they sing are pretty inspiring.
And they are from Seattle-I really like Seattle. I had a great time there -
So my favorite album of the year is The Heist By Macklemore and some other guy. Listen when you work out and remember 50 dollars is too much for a tshirt.
Let's be clear-I am not a fan of Oprahs. I don't like her giving me advise because she's a single billionaire. How can she possibly know what to tell me to do. But-we share a lot of the same tastes. Too bad I don't have her money to finance them.
One of her past favorite things are note cards from a company called R. Nichols out of Orlando. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big stickler for Thank You notes. I pretty much send thank you notes to you if you pass me and say hello-or don't harass me for something. I'll probably send you a thank you for that.
I'm also big on birthday cards although I suck at keeping up with them. You may sometimes get a card from me other times-not so much. It's very random but that is what makes them fun!
Any who. I found these note cards and I love them. People know I love things that represent New York and they make these great cards.
I love shopping and I love NYC-(I avoid cabs however-subway and feet are my favorite). Sometimes I'm in a San Francisco state of mind. So when I am? R-Nichols makes these
You may have received these from me. They are flat and I write on the front -whatever message I need. I couldn't have designed them better myself.
Because sometimes A Facebook Thank You isn't enough. The commoner presents her favorite stationary www.R-nichols.com
These are just two of their designs, they have many of all kinds of themes.
Check them out and then send me one thanking me for the tip!
This year I raced a marathon. That was great. This year I got Planter' Fascitis-I know you've heard about this right? It was the total focus of my life. It was a nice diversion from the ungodly amount of work I had for my Masters Program and my temporary not temporary job.
Now Planters took over my life. I would wrap the foot, ice the foot, massage the foot, compress the foot, cry, whine, hobble, I did all of these.
I looked like this soccer dude but none was helping me walk.
The one thing about my foot was that I now needed supportive, comfortable shoes and that brings me to Clarks.
I already had a vast collection of these from QVC and they are pretty nice for comfort shoes but when you wear them in my size they tend to look like this.
But I have to say I've learned to love them and they make some pretty nice styles even for me. The arch support is fantastic and my foot was ALWAYS happy when I wore them.
So today the commoner gives you her favorite shoe
This year I decided would be the year of the dress. Everyone knows when I do something I don't mess around. I must wear dresses 3 of the 5 work days a week. I love them. Here's why.
I'm not a fan of dressing down for work. You can ask anyone. They always ask on dress like a slob Friday why I don't dress down.
I can't. I can't teach and I especially can't really do my temporary not temporary job that I currently have dressed like this.
When I was in the classroom if I dressed down I really only wanted the kids to color all day. Heck I wanted to color with them. I'm dressed down -cocoa and coloring are called for.
When I wear a dress I always look put together because duh-as long as you pick the right shoes you are good. They are good in the summer when it's hot and better in the winter with tights and boots. You know what else? They are the MOST comfortable thing you can wear.
So you I love to wear Jeans people? You must feel all binded in the legs in that denim. I have big runner thighs, before that I had big fat thighs, before that I had big cyclist thighs. Jeans hurt.
Dresses-comfy-cozy, classy.
So today? My favorite thing is dresses and YES I am wearing one tomorrow.
It's December and that means it's time for my favorite things! I may be repeating some I'm not sure. I honestly don't have time to do the research into that.
I can't give you my favorite things but ask Oprah. Maybe she can help you out.
I'm starting with something I absolutely love. I'm a little nostalgic about it because it was the first ever Apple Product I owned before I owned every Apple product.
Here's why I love it!
Yes that is what it looks like, but mine is purple.
Here's the story.
I always listened to my running list on my my IPhone when I ran. I spent months perfecting that list. But as my marathon training kicked in my IPhone battery couldn't handle the amount of time I needed it to run and the battery would inevitably die.
I knew for the marathon I needed something to get me through the last hour of my run and here is this 45 dollar jewel which I now take with me on EVERY run.
I programmed it to play only the best of my running list. It's so light and small I hook it to my waste band and off I go. Hopping through songs is easy and so is adjusting the volume. So on runs when I'm bored I can play DJ while I run and not miss a step.
Loading the playlist is easy and charging is too. If you work out? You need this. It's one of my favorite things.
Who Knew?
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