I'm back!

Hello again.

I'm currently eating cherry cheese kringle and drinking my third cup of coffee. Life is good.

I have major shopping fever. I'm considering taking a day off of work so I can hit a local outlet mall alone for a full-blown buying day. I don't know where this came from, but I am having huge shopping cravings. On my list: sandals, day dresses, and necklaces.

I also have some clothing chores to do. I need to iron. Yesterday I popped a button off of my button-fly pale pink shorts, and I have a couple pairs of trousers in need of shortening. I also have a stack of hand-wash-only items that need hand washing, one of which has a mascara stain. Fun times.

I've given up on finishing the book I've been working on (avoiding) for the past few months. I'm starting Kathy Griffin's book. My guess is that this will be infinitely more entertaining.

Sunday on the couch

I promise that in two weeks, I'll be back to blogging with some normal frequency.

I mentioned earlier that I'm planning to run a 5k with a friend. Since I've been so busy, I haven't really had a chance to do much in the way of training or building up my non-existent stamina. Today I made it 2.5k, so I'm half way there - although I wasn't running the whole time.

I have a new channel on my Directv - The Cooking Channel. Oh, Nigella, how I love thee. I'm thoroughly entertained.

I miss my old roommate, bridesmaid, and friend "A". A lot. She's one of the few people I lived with that was relatively normal. I bet she and I would have a blast sitting on the couch today watching Nigella. But I was crappy at staying in touch, and now that I've moved I'm even more removed from our friendship. That sucks.

Can I say that I don't like the new chambray shirt trend? Dear 1991, please take back your chambray. Please.

Happiness is a new skirt

If I haven't told everyone about my love of shopstyle.com enough already, I'm going to reiterate it. I was shopping this weekend at Ann Taylor LOFT, and saw a skirt I had to have. I was in love. LOVE. Even my mom said, "that's so you!" Problem was the $80 price tag. $80 for a basic that will last forever is no problem - a little black v-neck dress, a grey wool cardigan, a pair of leather pumps. But I just couldn't pull the trigger on a shimmery gold animal-print pencil skirt.

That night, I went to shopstyle.com and located the skirt. I set a sale alert; you can have them notify you when the price drops on an item. Two days later - AMAZING. I get an email saying the price is now $25. This, THIS is why I love this website. $25 for a skirt is very palatable.

Being that I'm super busy and managed to not get my mother something for her birthday, I feel like the worst daughter ever. However, I just made a purchase online and I'm having it sent to her house which should improve my status: the adorable cupcake apron from Sex and the City 2. What woman wouldn't want this? I hope she loves it!

Lady Gaga - Amy Winehouse with 50% less coke?

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been MIA as of lately. Another thing you may not have noticed is that Martin+Osa’s website is now “All Sales Final”, which means the end is near. Get over and check it out before it’s gone – and with 50% off this week it’s a good time to stock up.

I saw Sex and the City 2 last night. Of course I went on opening night, why wouldn’t I? The critics had complained ahead of time that the movie lacked substance, so I went in with low expectations. But really, by the last couple seasons of the HBO series it had taken a turn from being Carrie-sex-column-based to more relationship-based. The upside was that the fashion and the big-city living glamour were still part of the background appeal, but not the story line. The first movie tried to tie up loose ends while moving fashion to the front. I didn’t mind the first movie. I wasn’t looking for something earth-shattering, I was looking to reconnect with the characters I enjoyed.

So, back to SATC2. I went in with low expectations. It really was not as bad as critics made it out to be. Yes, Samantha was terribly un-politically correct. And no, it wasn’t another Shawshank Redemption (but who expected it to be?). And I definitely could have used 25% more Mario Cantone. But otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Great cameos. I got home and into bed by 12:30, and what did I find on TV while flicking around trying to find something to lull me into sleep? Well, an episode of SATC of course. So I watched the episode where Carrie meets Berger and has her book release party, with Samantha’s terrible chemical peel. It was a nice end to a girly day.

Spring Clean

I'm compiling a list of things that often don't get done as often as they should for some final spring cleaning this weekend. Maybe my list will help someone else:

1. 1. The bed - it's probably time for you to wash your mattress pad on a hot-water sanitary setting (kill all the dust bunnies), and if you're taking that off you might as well rotate the mattress, and while you're at it you should probably vacuum under the bed. And wash those random socks that you'll most likely find under there.


2. If you have one of those one-piece shower/tub fiberglass surrounds, you should probably clean that ledge around the top.


3. Dust your lamp shades, and take a damp cloth to glass shades on your other lighting fixtures. They literally become hot messes.


4. Vacuum the lint from your dryer lint trap.

And here's a good tip - start from the top down. Clean light fixtures, wipe upper cabinets, clean counters, dust tables...and THEN vacuum/sweep/mop. There's no use doing the floors before anything else.

This weekend there are 30% off cardigans at The Limited, free shipping at Lands End Canvas (become a FB fan to get a code), and deals on fragrances at VS. I have a $15 Off Any Purchase coupon for The Limited which I plan on using for an Outback Red tank that I tried on last week.

Photo - thelimited.com

Run Run

So, I think I’m going to run a race with my friend. Or at least try. It’s a 5k. OMG.

See, I was a “runner” in high school. I use that term with quotation marks, because I don’t consider myself to be a runner. I was a sprinter. Here was the daily drill – two laps jogging around the track (a shortened track, as my HS’s track was a 5-laps-to-a-mile track versus a 4-laps-to-a-mile which is standard for most schools). I often showed up late for the jog so I could get away with just doing one lap. This was followed by stretching, calisthenics, and then either sprinting drills, running stairs, ladders, or some other sprinter-related workout.

I literally have NO endurance. I would occasionally get put into a 4 x 400 m relay, and I’d have to be put into the second runner spot, which was reserved for the worst runner. I was terrible. I wasn’t quite as bad at the 200 m. I was much better at the 100 m. I was GREAT at the 60 m, which is a shortened version of the 100 m reserved for indoor meets. I’m great out of the blocks. Good ol’ Moye starting blocks. And this was younger, fitter me more than 10 years ago, that had to stop running after a stress fracture my junior year. So, you can see where 5k is really intimidating with this kind of background.

My brother is much better than me at this sort of thing. He’s done a couple races. He’s built for distance. And his girlfriend….well, she just won an 8k with a record time recently, and she does triathlon training. So I’m also preparing myself to be embarrassed by my terrible race time. I guess I’ll just have to remind those two that I could TOTALLY beat them in a race across my back yard.

Self Promotion

I haven’t informed a lot of people about my blog; I didn’t post about it on Facebook or send out a mass email when I started it. I listed it as my website on Facebook, mentioned it to a few friends, and assumed that people would just find it organically. Well, I realized that many of my friends don't know about it, and that there aren’t a whole lot of readers. So today I plugged it on Facebook. We’ll see if my readership changes...