Utils in Bat Country

At the races

Tass' next door neighbor and I have become friends and we were hanging out a few days ago and were talking about the Triple Crown and I mentioned that I'd never been to any of the events but wanted to go to Preakness since am now conveniently located.  She said Preakness was on her 30 to do in 30 list and once we both clarified that we were of the attend in fancy dresses and hats mind and not the drunken infield one, we squealed and made plans to go. 

And now tickets and parking have been procured - yay!

I think I'm going to wear my blue Pezza dress but am debating what to do as far as headwear. It seems that the Derby is the most floppiest of floppy hat events so perhaps I can go the fascinator route? Something with peacock feathers perhaps? Or would that be a hat faux pas? 

On Sunday we stood out on our respective porches and modeled possible outfits. My gingerbread socks looked amazing against the blue :)  The neighbors were very confused. 

Now this is fun outfit planning.

Ode to my gps

As has been documented time and time again, transportation and I aren't the best of friends.

And then the gps was invented and choirs of angels sang.  I don't completely trust my gps and usually still look at a map/print out directions to rely on but it has recently been a stalwart helpmeet and I feel it necessary to sing its praises.

Not only was I able to drive around NJ to the bus station to go up to NYC to see Ally but when 95 was absolute gridlock coming back from Easter dinner, I blindly followed the monotone directions to get off the highway and drive around the winding, dark country Maryland roads in order to make it back before the caffeine wore off and I ended up sleeping on the side of the road while cars inched by.

And since I'm crowing about the magical GPS, am going to give myself a virtual pat on the back since the road back from work was blocked earlier in the week and I was able to pull up the map on my phone and navigate myself back to Tass' house. Thank you, little blue dot! Success is mine!

I'm not a fan of this particular recurrence

One of the odder things I've noticed at new job is that I nearly always resemble a hobo.  And not just in the oh, all the other girls and younger and cuter and more attired in zara than I am (though, yes, sigh, that) but outfit after outfit I wear has far too many unacceptable components.

Between the sweater I wore on my second day and then noticed when I got to my desk had holes in the sleeve (thanks cat!) to the scarf I wore on Tuesday that had bite holes all over the bottom (miss you too, Till!) to the Anthro tee I wore today that had a random yellowish stain across the lower abdomen.  I... leaned against some cheese sauce and didn't realize it?

And considering that the 5am wakeup means I haven't one worn makeup or done more to my hair than the bare minimum to edge to the acceptable side of stuck my finger in an outlet line, I really need my clothes to at least not be stained and full of holes.

Does this mean I get to go shopping?

(Lets not talk about how now all the clothes I left in MI have suddenly become spotless and perfect in my mind.)

Just keep swimming

Friday night and I'm trying to keep my eyes open.  Not because I'm out on some fabulous adventure but because it's my last night in the nest, such as it is.  Am up in NJ at my aunt and uncle's house (only an hour and a half away, yay!) hanging out with them for a couple of days.  Dad flew out of PHL so we were going to be in the area regardless.

Contrary to what I thought, I didn't sob when we dropped him off, just sniffled.  But then my uncle was all snap outta it, goober, which made me laugh.  We shall see how hard I have to grip the steering wheel when I head back down to Bmore tomorrow.

My addled brain has been coming up with truly terrible puns and metaphors all week and my latest is that I'm operating like a shark.  If I stop moving, I'll die.  As Dorrie says, just keep swimming.  If I keep swimming and moving, I won't be able to focus on the enormity of what begins on Monday.

Towards that end, I went with aj and up to their gym and did a zumba class with them.  That hour alone was worth all the hassle and uncertainty about moving.  Hifreakinglarious.  The instructor was some insane woo girl who said she didn't show moves, just follow along and do what feels good.  So there was wild, uncontrolled arm flailings everywhere.

Since I've danced, I picked most of it up pretty quickly but counting off the 8 counts.  Though I did trip over my own feet and get a case of the church giggles when I realized I had been staring intently at the instructors butt and muttering step, two three four, back, two three four, pivot around three four for an entire track. But girlfriend was doing some Beyonce level booty moves and if I just stared hard enough perhaps I could gain some groove by osmosis (I couldn't).

And when things get rough next week, I can pull up the mental image of UP shaking it to some belly dance moves to cheer me.

(Everything begins Monday - if you could spare some good thoughts and pixie dust for me, it'd be much appreciated)

Trading Up

Since this move is largely just take whatever can fit in my car, have been listing some furniture on Craigslist.  One of the items I listed were 3 stools I bought at Target years ago.

Simple, good condition, no problems.  Got an offer, the guy was getting them for his son. Son came over and looked at them for a few seconds, with a slightly alarming amount of enthusiasm. I was helping to load them up and we were chatting and he starts telling me about how the stools are going to be used at his lake house and will fit perfectly under the window overlooking the water.

Not only is it hilarious that the guy felt the need to assure me that he would give the stools a good home but my stools are moving up in the world. Off to live the good life, full of breezes and warming sunshine.  They certainly wouldn't be getting lake house views from me anytime soon.

Bonne chance, Target stools!

(Not gonna lie, both Tilly and I looked on enviously as the stools drove away.)

An amazing white elephant gift

I keep working on my reverb11 posts, never mind the fact that it's now 12.  And I don't know if it's the fact that I'm waiting for three different, yet vital, pieces of information before I can make the big 2012 decisions but I have no focus and ramble on (even more haphazardly than I already do) for paragraphs about an ornament and it's meaning to me and no one wants that.

So! While I wait for the phone to ring, my brain is soothing itself by analyzing the minutiae of my life's possessions.  And I've decided - one of the best white elephant gifts is a daily calendar related to a TV show. A friend of mine found one about Modern Family for all of $1 somewhere and gave it to me and it's so stupid that it's great.

My vignette today:

Mitchell: I have something I need to tell you guys. We didn't just go to Vietnam for pleasure. We, uh, kind of have some big news.

Jay: Oh, God. If Cam comes out here with boobs, I'm leaving.

So, I pronounce that if you know someone who's having a bit of a rough go, seek out comedy calendars. I imagine Big Bang would also have some humorous days.

Reverb 11 - Anniversary

Prompt for December 10: Anniversary: Tell us about an anniversary you marked in 2011; maybe one you noted for the first time.

I'm getting a bit off track with the dates and prompts but so it goes.

This particular anniversary is one I didn't even realize was an anniversary till a couple weeks ago.  Three years ago, my friends T&B came over to watch the Superbowl.  Wasn't a planned thing, more of a hey, we're not doing anything let's get together and eat chips.

Last year, a few days before the game, it came up in conversation that oh yeah, that was fun, lets do it again. Pizza was involved, recipes with more than open a bag of chips were used, fun was had. And then, as I'm not the hugest of sports fanatics (except for my beloved Jets. Not that I've watched them play a game this year...) sporting get togethers fell out of my head.

Till a couple weeks ago when T texted me and asked if I was planning on having the party again.  I'm tickled that they remembered and that it's something they want to get on their calendars in advance. Without realizing it, I've become the Superbowl party haver.

***pause while people who know me in real life recover from the doubled over laughing***

And now that I'm aware, come January (February? I should really look it up), the third annual Superbowl party will be super fabulous.

(Come on, with descriptors like super fabulous being used with football, don't you want to come to the party. You know you do.)

Movie Memories

I dropped my car off this morning to get the oil changed and tires rotated prior to the big drives on Wed/Sun.  While walking back from the mall to the office, my tired mind was thinking about the movies and I remembered a couple I used to babysit for said they never went to the movies but just bought everything on DVD.  I initially scoffed because that doesn't seem very smart but it actually seems to make a fair amount of sense.

1. Especially if you have kids, no babysitter.

2. With ticket prices as they are, two tickets is equal to if not more than the cost of the dvd.

3. The ability to watch the movie in bed, in pajamas.

And for any movie you watch more than once, you're saving yourself at least a rental cost.

Quite clever, actually.  Of course, these were the ones I later found out fled the state due to tax evasion.

Excuse Me

I had to stop and get gas this morning on my way into work and grumbled as I pulled in to the one with the higher cost because it's on the way to the office.  I was only going to put in a few dollars and then head over to the cheaper one on my way home (I had to get back for Tilly last night).  I'm the only car at the station and right after I swipe my card I hear "excuse me?"  I must have looked startled when I turned around because this woman was suddenly all I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.  She tells me she's not asking for any money but she's wondering if I could possibly give her a ride to jail.

Wait, what?

Apparently her sister was going in front of a judge this morning and she wanted to go and talk to her lawyer before the appointment (arraignment?) but her car broke down and by the time the bus shows up she'll have missed it.  In my brilliance, my response was I don't know where the jail is.  She assured me she knew where it was, she'd been there once before with her sister (ouch).  Ok then.  So I have to make a left out of the station (perilous at most times but thankfully was clear) and we head over to the jail.  As she's giving me direction, I realize where she's talking about and exclaim that I know where it is, I drive by there all the time on my way to Target.  Really there, self?

We get to jail [in with other county buildings so it's not like I've been driving by jail for 10 years and just never noticed] and I drop her off and ask if she's alright getting back to her car - which, she told me, had a problem with the oil pan that caused the engine to seize - and she said sure, she'd just take the bus. I felt a bit like a heel, her day is clearly more difficult than mine but I'm essentially inept when it comes to cars and car repairs so it's not like I'd be of much help.  She assured me she was fine so I dropped her off and headed into work.

And that's how I picked up a hitchhiker and went to jail.

Back

And pitiful

Is not uncommon for me to come down with some sort of cold after having a panic attack and that plus the two days of damp, squishy hotel provided a perfect storm (ha! with the typhoon!) and am now a head fogged, sore throated, groaning shell of a person.

But!  Even though I had a full on breakdown in the middle of the reception - I started to cry, you guys, the weather moved far enough west where the flight yesterday was nearly pleasant.  There was hardly any actual turbulence but I had asked the flight attendants when I boarded how the air was and they said rough the whole way and then the pilot came on (several times) and said he wasn't letting the flight attendants up because the air was so rough so I was pretty tense the whole time waiting for the roller coaster to start.  Was only once we started our descent into MI that the Tylenol PM finally kicked in meaning I slept the last 8 minutes of the flight (and then for 3 hours yesterday afternoon).  Given the state of the weather Saturday though, I'll take it.  Could have been so so much worse.  Thank you God and Baby Jesus.

And! As a balm to my sniffling self, was 144.5 this morning.  Who says theme parks can't be healthy? 

Well, that and only being able to eat two bites of cake.  My anxiety's hallmark: tears and dry heaves.