Daphne's Adventures

I've never really used these words/phrases before until I started working. Some of them drive me nuts (like who says that in "real life"?) but I guess they've become habit; a standard in my every day vocabulary. Do you use any of these words/phrases?

1) Cognizant (i.e. "So we need to be cognizant of this accounting issue when speaking to them on this conference call")

2) Out-of-pocket (i.e. "I've got a meeting from 2-4, so I'll be out of pocket during that time")

3) We noted that (i.e. "We noted that this increase was due to...")

4) Mitigating (i.e. "We need to find a mitigating control for their lack of approval on forms")

5) w/o/e or w/f/r (stands for without exception and waive further review)

6) Appears reasonable

7) Defeasance (i.e. "The defeasance of this bond took place in August")

8) Pro forma (i.e. "Can you get a pro forma of last year's document?")

9) Haphazardly (i.e. "We haphazardly selected two items to test")

10) Clerically tested/accurate

11) Foot (i.e. "Can you foot this schedule?")

12) Immaterial (i.e. "The $3 million variance is immaterial to our testing scope")

13) Touch base (i.e. "I'm calling because I wanted to touch base with you on this scheduling conflict")

Anyway, here's some of the places we went on our vacation: Braves Game Saturday night. They won the game, but we had already left after the 7th inning. I was just there to scarf down on hot dogs and fries. Sunday we went to church in the morning, and met a filipino couple (around my parents' age) who joined us for breakfast, and gave us some pointers on where to go. They got along well with my parents and we ended up having dinner with them Monday night. We also went to the World of Coca Cola. You'd think that would only take about 2 hours, but we were there for a long time. There was a lot to see and we spent over an hour at the gift shop, trying to figure out what to bring home to friends/coworkers. That night we had dinner with my friend Patti, and her husband Adam, at the Atlanta fish market. It's very similar to McCormick's and I ate way too much as usual. I was worried Patti and Adam wouldn't have much to say to my parents, since they (my parents) are more conservative than most people I know. It ended up being great though, and my parents now adore those two, saying they are a "beautiful couple."

Tuesday I went to Patti's and we had a tea party for lunch after picking the girls up from school. I've never been to one of these, and it was awesome. We got to dress up in girly furs and hats, and drink tea and eat scones and mini sandwiches. I'm going to google this some day and see if we have any around my area. We also went to a fondue place one night for dessert. We basically had 3 lbs of fruit per person, and it was insane. I've never had so much fruit in one sitting in my life. What's worse, is that it's about $25 per person, so you basically HAVE to stuff your face with fruit until you feel like it was worth the money.

Then to top it off, the owner of the place came to our table, and proceeded to tell us the whole history of chocolate. He was a nice guy at first, resembling Colonel Sanders, but then he just got... creepy. He kept saying I was his new girlfriend, and I should move to Atlanta to be closer to him. He then said if he were to get married again, he would marry an asian. Ok, red flag. Can we say old man pervert? Eww. I just laughed it out, even though I thought it was kinda creepy. I should've known he was creepy, the dude has live alligators in his fondue restaurant.

I didn't get to see Patti's new boat, but anyway the weather wasn't so great for that either. It kept raining every hour or so, but it would still be humid, and there were many cloudy days. In addition, Patti got sick and lost her voice by Friday, and I felt bad that she was even trying to entertain me when I knew she probably just wanted to be resting at home. Thursday night we went to the Punchline, a comedy club in Atlanta. The headliner was Bill Burr, and he was hilarious. Patti and I had a good time, despite the waitress spilling beer all over this guy next to me and getting some on my back and hair.

Friday, my parents picked me up from Patti's (they went to Alabama the day before) and we went to the CNN building and took a tour there. To my surprise, it wasn't boring at all. We then ate at a Cracker Barrel (they don't have these in California). I love southern food, but man, eating it for an entire week for both breakfast/brunch and dinner must've made me gain 5 lbs.

I had a fabulous time, and I'm really considering moving to Georgia. Not now, but maybe in two years, we'll see where I am in my career and what my options are.

My current audit engagement is a pretty big job. We have a big budget so we run through pretty much all our meals and snacks. I usually don't eat a lot of snacks or sweets, but for some reason, junk is all around me these days. Maybe it's also the fact that I work with mostly girls on this job, and girls just love having sweets. I prefer salty foods, but you know what they say... When In Rome. So here's my list of things I wish I hadn't eaten this month. I swear I've gained at least 5 pounds since being on this assignment....

1. Donuts - every Friday we buy them for the client and I of course grab either an apple fritter or those chocolate glazed ones.

2. Breakfast burritos - I've probably had about 4 of these in the last month. They don't look that big, but each burrito is so dense. It's got bacon, cheese, eggs, and breakfast potatoes. Weirdest part is that we eat them with siracha hot sauce or sweet and sour sauce. LOL

3. Pumpkin cream cheese muffin - from Starbucks.

4. Pumpkin spice latte - also from Starbucks. Just the color of the drink alone lets you know it's not a low-calorie drink.

5. Cold Stone ice cream - we bought this for the whole team one day to celebrate the intern getting an offer with the firm.

6. Haagen Daaz bar - Dark chocolate with chocolate ice cream. Had this during a meeting in the office.

7. Nestle Toll House Ice cream cookie sandwich - Found a stash of these in the client's freezer yesterday. This is the day AFTER I had just consumed #6.

8. Caramelitas. My staff Amanda gave me the recipe for these. Excellent.

INGREDIENTS

CRUST:
1 ½ STICKS BUTTER
¾ CUPS BROWN SUGAR
½ TSP BAKING SODA
¼ TSP SALT
1 CUP FLOUR
1 CUP COOKING OATS

TOPPING:
1 CUP CHOCOLATE CHIPS
1 CUP REESE PEANUT BUTTER CHIPS (OPTIONAL)
½ CUP WALNUTS
¾ CUP CARAMEL ICE CREAM TOPPING
3 TBSP FLOUR

9. Raspberry Chocolate Bar - from Corner Bakery

10. Golden Spoon - yes, it's fat free, but it's still Golden Spoon. Plus I put yogurt chips in it.

11. Bacon Ranch Buffalo Fries - From Charley's Subs. It's pretty much what it sounds like. Fries covered with ranch, bacon bits and buffalo sauce.

12. Happy hour food - I've been going to a few happy hours after work with colleagues and we eat a ton of crap. To name a few... quesadillas, $2 cheeseburgers, spinach artichoke dip, chips and salsa.

13. Starbucks. Every day. I really should stop. It's hurting my wallet too.

So, what's on your list?