Five on Friday: all-new 4 day work week edition!

Hello, friends! Today is a very special Friday because it's the first Friday that I am off of work as part of my new 4-day work week schedule! I feel very blessed to have a boss that has accommodated this request and idea that I had. Here's how it happened: when I came back to work after a month off around the holidays (mainly due to this, as well as Christmas vacation), I realized that my current work load was lighter because of the seasonal nature of some of my projects. Since we bill all of our projects individually and most are on retainer, I would actually need to overservice my current projects (read: do work we're not getting paid for) AND bill more time than usual to nonbillable overhead just to log 40 hours a week - which is crazy, because I am ALWAYS at the office past 5:30! (Sometimes I wonder if I'm that bad at tracking my time, or if I just waste a lot of time at work - I digress). My doctors were also encouraging me to take as much down time as I could and not stress out - easier said than done, right? So I talked to my boss about scaling back my week to a 32-hour work week for all of these reasons and he went for it. I am so, so blessed to have a truly awesome boss man! While I am losing 20% of my salary - which is slightly scary - I am SO looking forward to having every Friday off to enjoy with the ones who matter most and to have time for the things I really enjoy.

So the question is: what have I done with myself on this frigid Friday?

ONE. I had a coffee date with a new friend this morning, and I have to say that it was nice not to fight for a table at Starbucks like you have to on Saturdays! And having the time to actually enjoy my creme brulee latte - as opposed to gulping it down in the car or in front of my computer - was nice, too.

TWO. I returned the blender that we got for a wedding gift (almost 4 years ago!) because it has never worked right and has always leaked. I took it back to Bed Bath & Beyond because I'd always heard they had the best return policy for damaged or malfunctioning goods and let me tell you, they do! They barely asked any questions and were able to look up on my old wedding registry to see how much the blender cost in 2011, then I got to pick out a new blender! I chose this Ninja - not one of the super-duper Ninjas but it happened to be the same cost as the blender I was exchanging, so it cost me nothing. And while I was there, I picked up a new toaster. Because I heart you, BBB. You da best.

THREE. I picked up an order from Handpicked that was my Valentine's Day gift from Alex (that I picked out and ordered myself - it's just easier that way, ladies). This had been done and sitting there for a few weeks but I'd yet to pick it up. Can't wait to snuggle in these Comfort Colors shirts!

FOUR. I went grocery shopping...with the 70+ crowd, which is apparently the clientele at Publix on Friday afternoon. Much different than the after-work weekday crowd I'm used to. While it was less crowded, my fellow shoppers were much less in a hurry than I'm accustomed to...

FIVE. To satisfy my gluten free sweet tooth, I made GF rice crispy treats! You would think that Rice Krispies would be GF, but nope - you have to get the ones that are marked "Gluten Free." So I was excited to see that they were on BOGO at Publix (I heart you too, Publix) so I picked up a box and some marshmallows and whipped these puppies up in 5 minutes.



I'm sure I'll find some other things to cross of my list today, too - I'm feeling so productive! Anything I can do to stay inside and away from the below-freezing temps is a good thing!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and STAY WARM!

xo
KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci!