Can you believe tomorrow is the first of February? I suppose I should start with Friday. After work I went home and did some cleaning. Because apparently that's all I do any more. The ex came over for a little bit to pick up a couple of his things still left behind and I took the opportunity to tell him (again) that he needs to stop effing around and realize that I'm not interested in having a relationship with him. He said he understood, and then not even 5 minutes later suggested us getting together for a movie.
:-/
Clearly, he does not understand. At least he finally got his crap out of my garage.
Click through to read the rest!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Random things from this week
I definitely got hit on by a super old guy in a speedo at the gym. (Ok, so this actually happened last week and I forgot to post about it)
"I've got a nice house with hardwood floors. 2 BMW's.....wait...are you happily married?"
No...I'm happily single....Definitely happy being single.
"Well I guess I'm wasting my time then!" and then proceeded to tell me all about his life as a proud alcoholic. And his daughters. And his passed away wife. All while keeping his speedo at eye level for me. How nice...
Remind me not to go swimming at lunch time ever again. (It was my day off, just for the record)
I found out my body hates bananas. A lot. Which sucks because I like them. And they're so portable!
I was in the steam room at the gym one morning this week, and a water droplet fell from the ceiling and landed directly in my ear. Sick.
My diet is still totally on track. Full disclosure: I totally miss pizza, ice cream, wings drenched in bbq sauce, and fries. Oh....how I love french fries.
I'm going to hang out with R tonight and then I get to play in a new closet on Saturday! I predict a good weekend ahead! What are you guys up to this last weekend of January?
Happy Friday everyone!
"I've got a nice house with hardwood floors. 2 BMW's.....wait...are you happily married?"
No...I'm happily single....Definitely happy being single.
"Well I guess I'm wasting my time then!" and then proceeded to tell me all about his life as a proud alcoholic. And his daughters. And his passed away wife. All while keeping his speedo at eye level for me. How nice...
Remind me not to go swimming at lunch time ever again. (It was my day off, just for the record)
I found out my body hates bananas. A lot. Which sucks because I like them. And they're so portable!
I was in the steam room at the gym one morning this week, and a water droplet fell from the ceiling and landed directly in my ear. Sick.
My diet is still totally on track. Full disclosure: I totally miss pizza, ice cream, wings drenched in bbq sauce, and fries. Oh....how I love french fries.
I'm going to hang out with R tonight and then I get to play in a new closet on Saturday! I predict a good weekend ahead! What are you guys up to this last weekend of January?
Happy Friday everyone!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Life Organized
One of the big things going on in my life is that for the first time in my life, I truly live alone. When I first moved out of my moms house, I shared a house with one girlfriend and 2 guy friends. From there I moved in with my then boyfriend and a friend of his. From there I moved in with a friend. And then I moved my things to a different friends (couple) house, but stayed with my then boyfriend....in his parents house.
I'm all class. What can I say.
We moved into a house together and then he left me. For about a week, I was alone in my house and then K went through the same thing and because we were going through similar situations and were already good friends, she started staying at my house. She never officially moved in, but it was definitely her place too, and she stayed there every night. She went through some fun life stuff, and moved out. By then, C already had a key to my house and would come to stay for weekends or sometimes weeks, when her and her then boyfriend lived in Washington. After about a week of "living alone" C was back for good and became my permanent couch surfer.
Yesterday, she came to get her things and I really, truly, have my own place. Everything in that house is mine. Well, so there are a few things of C's that she couldn't take yet, but they're stored in the garage, so I stand by my statement.
When I got home from work, I gave myself a tour of this house filled with my things. I checked out the new storage space I had where C had previously stored her clothes. I saw empty cupboard space where her coffee mugs used to be. The bathroom looked oddly empty without her things, and the pile of blankets and sweaters was gone from the back of the couch. It was almost like having a new house.
For a few minutes, I just stood in the living room and thought to myself "Wow, I'm really an adult. I'm really taking care of myself." Suddenly, I was ready to clean. Now that I had all this empty space, I was beyond ready to de-clutter other areas of my house. I've been slowly working on cleaning my life up, literally by cleaning and in a more broad sense by taking care of myself and learning to love myself as I am, 100%. At this moment though, anything felt possible.
I started with the cupboard where C had kept her clothes. There was now one completely empty shelf. Now, what I could have done, was gotten the blankets from my room that had no real storage spot and were just taking up floor space, and shoved them in that empty spot and called it good. Instead, I decided to pull out what was on the top shelf to see if maybe I could get rid of some of it. And then I opened the top cupboard and started pulling things off the shelves there. Some things needed to go to the bedroom cupboard, and when I opened that I realized, I could do some work in here too. So I started pulling everything off of those shelves. When some of those things ended up needing to go in the bathroom cupboard, I repeated the system. Somehow, I made it into the kitchen and all of those cupboards were open. It was basically a mad house. It looked insane! There were piles of things on the floor, on the counters, and a special pile just for Goodwill and the Food Bank. Every cupboard door was open and I think if anyone else had seen it they may have been scared.
But it didn't scare, or overwhelm me. I did have to take a break in the beginning for my dinner (delicious salmon) but after that I was basically non stop. I was excited to get rid of all the junk I didn't need. I was excited to have some sort of organization going on behind every door. I threw away a whole garbage bag of useless junk that I was holding on to for no real reason, and let me tell you, my house is too tiny for that much junk to accumulate. Don't worry guys, I recycled all the things I could.
Now, I open cupboards just to stare at them. I love that everything has a place. I love that I don't have piles of unknown junk anywhere. I know what I own. I know what I have and where it is. For the most part...I still have some work to do on a junk drawer I didn't realize existed and under the bed sure seems like a mess. I hardly ever even wear socks, so why are there so many lost socks under my bed?
When I was growing up, I don't ever remember yearning to live on my own so that I could organize my cupboards in the way I wanted to. I don't remember ever dreaming of spending nights cleaning. Yet, I had a blast. I had music on, I was smiling and every step I took got me closer to a cleaner, more functional home and that excited me so much that I kept going. At 10 I had to force myself to stop just before getting to the scary darkness under the bed.
I am super excited to continue and be all done with everything. I love what I've done and I totally want to show it off. So, I won't be mad if you come over to check it out. But text me first or something k? Cuz I am a single chick and you never know what's going on at my house. That sounds terrible...
Oh, and I'm gonna need some people with muscles soon, because I have a heavy TV that needs lifting and a pool table that needs some setting up. Someone help me! I can't pay you in money because I have none, but I will totally cook you a healthy and delicious dinner. If I have the food to do that I mean. I have some cup o noodles I'm going to donate. You want those? Ok, I'll stop.
Guess what? Tomorrow is Friday!
I'm all class. What can I say.
We moved into a house together and then he left me. For about a week, I was alone in my house and then K went through the same thing and because we were going through similar situations and were already good friends, she started staying at my house. She never officially moved in, but it was definitely her place too, and she stayed there every night. She went through some fun life stuff, and moved out. By then, C already had a key to my house and would come to stay for weekends or sometimes weeks, when her and her then boyfriend lived in Washington. After about a week of "living alone" C was back for good and became my permanent couch surfer.
Yesterday, she came to get her things and I really, truly, have my own place. Everything in that house is mine. Well, so there are a few things of C's that she couldn't take yet, but they're stored in the garage, so I stand by my statement.
When I got home from work, I gave myself a tour of this house filled with my things. I checked out the new storage space I had where C had previously stored her clothes. I saw empty cupboard space where her coffee mugs used to be. The bathroom looked oddly empty without her things, and the pile of blankets and sweaters was gone from the back of the couch. It was almost like having a new house.
For a few minutes, I just stood in the living room and thought to myself "Wow, I'm really an adult. I'm really taking care of myself." Suddenly, I was ready to clean. Now that I had all this empty space, I was beyond ready to de-clutter other areas of my house. I've been slowly working on cleaning my life up, literally by cleaning and in a more broad sense by taking care of myself and learning to love myself as I am, 100%. At this moment though, anything felt possible.
I started with the cupboard where C had kept her clothes. There was now one completely empty shelf. Now, what I could have done, was gotten the blankets from my room that had no real storage spot and were just taking up floor space, and shoved them in that empty spot and called it good. Instead, I decided to pull out what was on the top shelf to see if maybe I could get rid of some of it. And then I opened the top cupboard and started pulling things off the shelves there. Some things needed to go to the bedroom cupboard, and when I opened that I realized, I could do some work in here too. So I started pulling everything off of those shelves. When some of those things ended up needing to go in the bathroom cupboard, I repeated the system. Somehow, I made it into the kitchen and all of those cupboards were open. It was basically a mad house. It looked insane! There were piles of things on the floor, on the counters, and a special pile just for Goodwill and the Food Bank. Every cupboard door was open and I think if anyone else had seen it they may have been scared.
But it didn't scare, or overwhelm me. I did have to take a break in the beginning for my dinner (delicious salmon) but after that I was basically non stop. I was excited to get rid of all the junk I didn't need. I was excited to have some sort of organization going on behind every door. I threw away a whole garbage bag of useless junk that I was holding on to for no real reason, and let me tell you, my house is too tiny for that much junk to accumulate. Don't worry guys, I recycled all the things I could.
Now, I open cupboards just to stare at them. I love that everything has a place. I love that I don't have piles of unknown junk anywhere. I know what I own. I know what I have and where it is. For the most part...I still have some work to do on a junk drawer I didn't realize existed and under the bed sure seems like a mess. I hardly ever even wear socks, so why are there so many lost socks under my bed?
When I was growing up, I don't ever remember yearning to live on my own so that I could organize my cupboards in the way I wanted to. I don't remember ever dreaming of spending nights cleaning. Yet, I had a blast. I had music on, I was smiling and every step I took got me closer to a cleaner, more functional home and that excited me so much that I kept going. At 10 I had to force myself to stop just before getting to the scary darkness under the bed.
I am super excited to continue and be all done with everything. I love what I've done and I totally want to show it off. So, I won't be mad if you come over to check it out. But text me first or something k? Cuz I am a single chick and you never know what's going on at my house. That sounds terrible...
Oh, and I'm gonna need some people with muscles soon, because I have a heavy TV that needs lifting and a pool table that needs some setting up. Someone help me! I can't pay you in money because I have none, but I will totally cook you a healthy and delicious dinner. If I have the food to do that I mean. I have some cup o noodles I'm going to donate. You want those? Ok, I'll stop.
Guess what? Tomorrow is Friday!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Another Weekend
Not a lot went on this weekend. At least, not a lot that I would like to discuss here. I've got not so fun stuff going on at home but I feel like things are moving in a good direction for everyone involved and things are going to better than any of us had ever hoped for.
Though, these not so fun things that are going on are kind of making me insane. Sometimes, adult life is a lot harder than you ever expect it's going to be, and in ways you never saw coming. But it's all for the best. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
On the bright side of things, my mom got an adult trike and I'm so ready to try that em effer out! I went with her to pick it up from the store. It came unassembled in a box so she figured it would fit in the back of my car. Some grunting, sweating and a bruise to the back of my hand later, we find out it does not actually fit in the car, causing us to leave the awesomness behind to go and get my grampas truck. I always thought I hated big trucks until I got back into grampys truck for the first time in a long time. It was kind of nice to not feel invisible on the road. but parking would be a bear, and I'm not willing to deal with that. Looks like I'm sticking to a small car.
Click through the jump to read more!
Though, these not so fun things that are going on are kind of making me insane. Sometimes, adult life is a lot harder than you ever expect it's going to be, and in ways you never saw coming. But it's all for the best. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
On the bright side of things, my mom got an adult trike and I'm so ready to try that em effer out! I went with her to pick it up from the store. It came unassembled in a box so she figured it would fit in the back of my car. Some grunting, sweating and a bruise to the back of my hand later, we find out it does not actually fit in the car, causing us to leave the awesomness behind to go and get my grampas truck. I always thought I hated big trucks until I got back into grampys truck for the first time in a long time. It was kind of nice to not feel invisible on the road. but parking would be a bear, and I'm not willing to deal with that. Looks like I'm sticking to a small car.
Click through the jump to read more!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Weekend recap
I don't have much to say about this weekend. I had fun. Hung out with friends. Stuck to my diet. Even went to the gym.
You want more then that don't you? Fine.
I had movie night at my house on Sunday night. At first it was just going to be L and I, but then it turned into a mini party. Which was fun. I got take n bake pizza for everyone (I wouldn't be having any to stick with my diet) and stuff for vodka smoothies (mine would be a regular smoothie of course). Baking that pizza...smelling it....it was hard you guys...But I did it! I didn't have one slice. It helped that K2 took the rest of one of them home. We watched a couple of kid movies and went old school with Tommy Boy.
I went shopping with an old friend from high school on Monday. She invited me to lunch (thanks to her mounds of Chipotle gift cards she acquired over the holidays. Don't worry guys. I had chicken salad.
After we ate, since we were by the mall already, she decided to make use of my style dream and we went to Ross and she let me pick some things out for her to try on. Almost everything I touched she had a comment to make.
I don't do lace.
It's cute but....meh.
Not gonna happen!
Well don't ask for my advice if you don't want to hear it! I made her try on some things even though she made it clear she doesn't "do" sweaters. I mean why in heavens not? Warm is good! Ok, so the sweater I picked out was bright pink. She told me to help her inject some color into her closet! So it had some flowers on it? You're a girl...it's ok to look like it!
She totally bought that bright pink sweater. Score one for me.
So let's talk about this diet business for a minute. It's officially been a week and aside from my one time a week indulgence (last week was home made chicken pizza), I totally stuck to it. I've had a smoothie for breakfast every morning, I make a salad to take with me to work for lunch every day along with a bunch of fruit for snacking. I've made chicken, steak or fish with vegetables every night for dinner, except the nights that I had leftovers. I finally started going to the gym on a regular basis but I've been slacking on my hula hooping...
I'm not going to say it's been so easy. It's definitely been easier than ever before in my life. But I still crave everything I can't have like crazy. I'm only being super strict until the end of the biggest loser competition at work, but I do allow myself one indulgence per week. I'm making sure that this week it's chocolate. It's been a week since I had chocolate you guys. Whoa.
Plus getting up to go to the gym is a real bitch. I mean...I just hate getting out of bed in the morning. I just keep repeating to myself that it's worth it, and some how I keep going.
Also, I lost 5 pounds!!!! Do I kick ass or what?
I want to write more. I want to give more details and write more happy, funny things. But I just don't have it in my right now. I hope you all had a fun weekend and have an awesome week!
You want more then that don't you? Fine.
I had movie night at my house on Sunday night. At first it was just going to be L and I, but then it turned into a mini party. Which was fun. I got take n bake pizza for everyone (I wouldn't be having any to stick with my diet) and stuff for vodka smoothies (mine would be a regular smoothie of course). Baking that pizza...smelling it....it was hard you guys...But I did it! I didn't have one slice. It helped that K2 took the rest of one of them home. We watched a couple of kid movies and went old school with Tommy Boy.
I went shopping with an old friend from high school on Monday. She invited me to lunch (thanks to her mounds of Chipotle gift cards she acquired over the holidays. Don't worry guys. I had chicken salad.
After we ate, since we were by the mall already, she decided to make use of my style dream and we went to Ross and she let me pick some things out for her to try on. Almost everything I touched she had a comment to make.
I don't do lace.
It's cute but....meh.
Not gonna happen!
Well don't ask for my advice if you don't want to hear it! I made her try on some things even though she made it clear she doesn't "do" sweaters. I mean why in heavens not? Warm is good! Ok, so the sweater I picked out was bright pink. She told me to help her inject some color into her closet! So it had some flowers on it? You're a girl...it's ok to look like it!
She totally bought that bright pink sweater. Score one for me.
So let's talk about this diet business for a minute. It's officially been a week and aside from my one time a week indulgence (last week was home made chicken pizza), I totally stuck to it. I've had a smoothie for breakfast every morning, I make a salad to take with me to work for lunch every day along with a bunch of fruit for snacking. I've made chicken, steak or fish with vegetables every night for dinner, except the nights that I had leftovers. I finally started going to the gym on a regular basis but I've been slacking on my hula hooping...
I'm not going to say it's been so easy. It's definitely been easier than ever before in my life. But I still crave everything I can't have like crazy. I'm only being super strict until the end of the biggest loser competition at work, but I do allow myself one indulgence per week. I'm making sure that this week it's chocolate. It's been a week since I had chocolate you guys. Whoa.
Plus getting up to go to the gym is a real bitch. I mean...I just hate getting out of bed in the morning. I just keep repeating to myself that it's worth it, and some how I keep going.
Also, I lost 5 pounds!!!! Do I kick ass or what?
I want to write more. I want to give more details and write more happy, funny things. But I just don't have it in my right now. I hope you all had a fun weekend and have an awesome week!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Random things from this week
My mom is getting an adult tricycle!
A random old biker dude at Fred Meyers looked me dead in the eye and told me I'm very beautiful. Thanks for making my day biker dude!
Wednesday morning was terrible. I spilled my morning smoothie all over inside my car. It was berry. It looks like I slaughtered a small animal in there.
During work one day there was 3 people all standing around my desk asking me questions about my dates and blog. It was really kind of weird, but that's what I get for starting this thing. And I'm ok with that.
Guess who thinks I'm conceited?
I hate people that linger...well I hate people that I don't want to linger that linger.
I'm totally kicking this diets ass you guys! I don't weigh myself again until Tuesday, but I'm sticking to my eating plan and though I haven't exercised as much as I wanted to this week, I still did more than I used to and I know I'll be doing more next week. I think I've done a good job easing myself into this rather than just going full on, crazy obsessed style.
It's a 3 day weekend (at least for me and L) and I'm so excited! I hope you all have a fun filled, awesometastic weekend!
A random old biker dude at Fred Meyers looked me dead in the eye and told me I'm very beautiful. Thanks for making my day biker dude!
Wednesday morning was terrible. I spilled my morning smoothie all over inside my car. It was berry. It looks like I slaughtered a small animal in there.
During work one day there was 3 people all standing around my desk asking me questions about my dates and blog. It was really kind of weird, but that's what I get for starting this thing. And I'm ok with that.
Guess who thinks I'm conceited?
I hate people that linger...well I hate people that I don't want to linger that linger.
I'm totally kicking this diets ass you guys! I don't weigh myself again until Tuesday, but I'm sticking to my eating plan and though I haven't exercised as much as I wanted to this week, I still did more than I used to and I know I'll be doing more next week. I think I've done a good job easing myself into this rather than just going full on, crazy obsessed style.
It's a 3 day weekend (at least for me and L) and I'm so excited! I hope you all have a fun filled, awesometastic weekend!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Biggest Loser at work
Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
Ok, so that's a bit dramatic.
We decided in our last company meeting that we will participate in a Biggest Loser type competition within the office. Today is the first day of the challenge. We go through the 31st of March.
For every pound we lose, we will be donating $5 to the OR Food Bank.
That right there means I have to participate. There are hungry people all over the world and I'm hoarding (HOARDING!!!) pounds on my body. It's time to let go. Besides, not everyone in the office has a ton of weight to lose so I have to pick up their slack. People need to eat! Plus, I'll look like a jackass if I have all this weight to lose, which translates to money for the food bank, and I just sit back and watch everyone else.
And then there's the fact that I want to get in shape anyway. What better time to start? And if I can win a prize for it....well shit, I'm gonna try!
Ok, so that's a bit dramatic.
We decided in our last company meeting that we will participate in a Biggest Loser type competition within the office. Today is the first day of the challenge. We go through the 31st of March.
For every pound we lose, we will be donating $5 to the OR Food Bank.
That right there means I have to participate. There are hungry people all over the world and I'm hoarding (HOARDING!!!) pounds on my body. It's time to let go. Besides, not everyone in the office has a ton of weight to lose so I have to pick up their slack. People need to eat! Plus, I'll look like a jackass if I have all this weight to lose, which translates to money for the food bank, and I just sit back and watch everyone else.
And then there's the fact that I want to get in shape anyway. What better time to start? And if I can win a prize for it....well shit, I'm gonna try!
Online dating
Like I said in a previous post, K made an online dating profile for me. She wants to play matchmaker and thinks that this is the way to go. She used a picture of me and L at a bar a while ago and noted in the profile that I was the one on the left (the pic has been changed since, because it seems that most men don't have the ability to read and they kept asking who I was)
I went on one date from this thing and it didn't exactly go great...so on Monday I decided to log on and see if the guy I went out with had sent a message. Not that I was hoping to see something, just had some free time and figured why not.
There was no message from him but there were a bunch from other people. One guy did the "I'm new in town" thing. One guy just sent "Hi I'm M". One guy clearly was cut and pasting his e-mails because he said "I like your profile and pics ;)" There was only one picture on there and if he actually read the profile he would see that the messages should be going to K, not me. It seems like no one can understand that. The one guy who did actually read it just wrote to ask what a naughty pumpkin carving party is and to say we sound like a crime fighting duo.
I don't know why so many men over the age of 40 seem to think I would be interested but they keep messaging, and of course, just like the younger guys, don't read anything. Why even be on a dating site if you're not interested in dating? I'm pretty sure there are websites specifically for people looking to just hook up.
I went on one date from this thing and it didn't exactly go great...so on Monday I decided to log on and see if the guy I went out with had sent a message. Not that I was hoping to see something, just had some free time and figured why not.
There was no message from him but there were a bunch from other people. One guy did the "I'm new in town" thing. One guy just sent "Hi I'm M". One guy clearly was cut and pasting his e-mails because he said "I like your profile and pics ;)" There was only one picture on there and if he actually read the profile he would see that the messages should be going to K, not me. It seems like no one can understand that. The one guy who did actually read it just wrote to ask what a naughty pumpkin carving party is and to say we sound like a crime fighting duo.
I don't know why so many men over the age of 40 seem to think I would be interested but they keep messaging, and of course, just like the younger guys, don't read anything. Why even be on a dating site if you're not interested in dating? I'm pretty sure there are websites specifically for people looking to just hook up.
Shopping, girls night and family love
I headed straight to K's after waking up and showering Saturday morning. We were both super excited to go shopping. We had a list of things to look for and a whole day to find them. I probably should have had a plan for which stores to go to but I didn't. I just went where it felt right.
So of course I ended up at Goodwill. One that I don't go to often though. I got the list out and we headed inside. We definitely hit the jackpot and K had a lot of trying on to do. Even though some things ended up not working out, so much did that we had to spend a some time deciding what things to put back.
While she was in the fitting room a woman and her child waited near me for an open fitting room. The child turned and looked at me. And then sniffed. What the heck?
So of course I ended up at Goodwill. One that I don't go to often though. I got the list out and we headed inside. We definitely hit the jackpot and K had a lot of trying on to do. Even though some things ended up not working out, so much did that we had to spend a some time deciding what things to put back.
While she was in the fitting room a woman and her child waited near me for an open fitting room. The child turned and looked at me. And then sniffed. What the heck?
A new kind of double date
So....a couple weeks ago, K made a profile for me on an online dating website. She made it because I don't have a lot of luck finding men that don't repulse me or piss me off and she thought I would have better luck if she screened men for me. The profile makes it clear that she is screening them before they even have a chance at talking to me and that I don't drink (yes, I do have to point this out). I reluctantly agreed to let her go through with it because I was certain that the internet guys would show her just how little hope there is.
I should note that I do not think that it's hopeless. I do not believe that I will be alone forever. I just know that right now I'm not finding what I want at all, so I see no point in looking. Things will line up when they're right.
One of very few guys that actually happened to read the stupid thing sent a message and said he thought we had a lot in common and told K to let me look at his profile and send him a message if I agreed.
I looked.
I agreed.
I messaged.
I should note that I do not think that it's hopeless. I do not believe that I will be alone forever. I just know that right now I'm not finding what I want at all, so I see no point in looking. Things will line up when they're right.
One of very few guys that actually happened to read the stupid thing sent a message and said he thought we had a lot in common and told K to let me look at his profile and send him a message if I agreed.
I looked.
I agreed.
I messaged.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Random things about this week
1. One morning this week, as I walked the short distance from my car to my office (I only have to walk a block and a half) I saw a homeless man peeing on the corner of the building across the street. As I laughed about that I almost stepped in a puddle of vomit. Ahhh, downtown is full of such interesting things!
2. I won a free bag from one of the blogs I read! I'm super excited to get it. Winning stuff is always fun.
3. My grampas dog is super old and grampy was talking about having him put to sleep. That made me super sad but then grampy changed his mind. More happiness!
4. One of my coworkers attacked me with a can of air at work today. Made my thigh cold for a bit.
5. Did I mention I'm going on a date tonight?
Have a good weekend everyone!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wardrobe renovations
Like I said in the last post, I am really excited about this year. I was excited about this year from day 1. On day 4, we had our company meeting. Our company meetings are always good. Boss lady really wants us to be happy as people and that was her focus in this meeting. She bought us all a copy of the book The Happiness Project and is encouraging us all to follow our dreams.
Funny thing is, without knowing anything about this meeting, I had already set a date with K for that night and had been looking forward to it since we planned it. The plan was for me to go to K's place and go through her closet with her, to help her make new outfits with the things she already has and to help her figure out the things that were missing from her closet.
I want to be a personal stylist. I want to go into people's closets and put together outfits that make them feel like a million bucks, without having to spend it. I want to help people be able to look in the mirror and be totally in love with the reflection they see. And of course I want to go shopping too (which is something I have done with many friends before)! I don't know why I feel so silly writing this out, but there it is.
So, if that's my goal, to be a stylist, what better way to start then by playing dress up with my friends?
I want to play in a new persons closet every month. Just one a month. I know I can make that happen! Even if all 12 are friends.
When I got to her place, she was totally ready to go. She showed me to her closet and for a minute I stood there with no idea at all what to do. So we started to look through what she had. She started to pull out some things that she had and loved but wasn't sure how to wear them differently or what to pair them with while I tried to decide how to best organize. Before I could get to organization we were already trying things on. I pulled a couple of pieces from her "I want to wear more pile" and handed them to her so she could change. Then we changed the shirt. Then added some jewelry. The found some jewelry she didn't even know she had. She decided to get all of her shoes out so we could see what we had to work with...and because she just wanted to lay her shoes out to ogle a bit. (For good reason too. She has some fantastic shoes!) I kept finding things that were amazing and I was completely mind boggled as to why she wasn't wearing this stuff more. She obviously likes it all enough to acquire it.
A few outfits in and we were totally on a roll. We were both having a blast and things were going great. We had a small break for dinner (that K2 lovingly cooked for us. Love you man!) and then went straight back to work. I started to rifle through a pile of clothes to look at what all was there and I did a little dance.
Dance dance dance
And then realized that K was side eyeing my dance.
"Uh...yea sorry about that."
"Hey, if that's what makes miracles happen!"
Miracles? Hahahahahaha! At least I knew she was having a good time and liking what she was getting out of it. I was having a blast too. Just like having a life sized Barbie.
By now all modesty had gone out the window. I was tucking her shirts in for her. She would be zipping something up at the same time I was wrapping a belt around her waist. There was no more changing in the bathroom. We were being efficient.
Before I knew it even K2 was playing along! Of course, K had been asking his opinion on every outfit we came up with, but now he was getting into his own closet. Which was great because that meant we could steal a couple of his shirts for her to play with. One bonus of a boyfriend is the extra clothes you get for free when you move in together.
K2 showed me a pair of boots he doesn't wear often to see what I thought. They are ass kicking boots! And then he was off...like a ghost. Or a guy who disappeared into the bathroom to change his clothes.
K and I were playing a game she suggested. She took one item that she wanted to wear more and put it on the way she would on her own. Then I would change it to something different using the piece we were working with.
Suddenly K2 was back in a different pair of pants, his ass kicking boots and now was adding a striped sweater. We had talked (all 3 of us) about his own wardrobe rut and now here he was, playing dress up with the girls. Hope it wasn't supposed to be a secret...
She has so many great pieces in her closet, and she really had no idea what to do with them. By the time I left she had more than enough outfits to keep her busy for a while and she was really having fun with it.
"This is all stuff you already had." I reminded her when she thanked me at one point.
"I had an idea of what I liked. I just didn't know how to wear it" she told me. The good news is, the things she likes are things that all happen to work very well together. She made this very easy on me by having a closet full of totally awesome clothes. She does still need a few key basics and has a couple of wants, so we're going shopping on Saturday to try and fill those holes. K2 was worried about money we might spend and then I reminded him I basically own stock in Goodwill and he felt better.
I am so excited to go shopping, so excited about how this went, so excited to perfect my process and so so so SO excited to do this again.
Now...who's next?
Wanna see how it went with K? Check it out here.
Funny thing is, without knowing anything about this meeting, I had already set a date with K for that night and had been looking forward to it since we planned it. The plan was for me to go to K's place and go through her closet with her, to help her make new outfits with the things she already has and to help her figure out the things that were missing from her closet.
I want to be a personal stylist. I want to go into people's closets and put together outfits that make them feel like a million bucks, without having to spend it. I want to help people be able to look in the mirror and be totally in love with the reflection they see. And of course I want to go shopping too (which is something I have done with many friends before)! I don't know why I feel so silly writing this out, but there it is.
So, if that's my goal, to be a stylist, what better way to start then by playing dress up with my friends?
I want to play in a new persons closet every month. Just one a month. I know I can make that happen! Even if all 12 are friends.
When I got to her place, she was totally ready to go. She showed me to her closet and for a minute I stood there with no idea at all what to do. So we started to look through what she had. She started to pull out some things that she had and loved but wasn't sure how to wear them differently or what to pair them with while I tried to decide how to best organize. Before I could get to organization we were already trying things on. I pulled a couple of pieces from her "I want to wear more pile" and handed them to her so she could change. Then we changed the shirt. Then added some jewelry. The found some jewelry she didn't even know she had. She decided to get all of her shoes out so we could see what we had to work with...and because she just wanted to lay her shoes out to ogle a bit. (For good reason too. She has some fantastic shoes!) I kept finding things that were amazing and I was completely mind boggled as to why she wasn't wearing this stuff more. She obviously likes it all enough to acquire it.
A few outfits in and we were totally on a roll. We were both having a blast and things were going great. We had a small break for dinner (that K2 lovingly cooked for us. Love you man!) and then went straight back to work. I started to rifle through a pile of clothes to look at what all was there and I did a little dance.
Dance dance dance
And then realized that K was side eyeing my dance.
"Uh...yea sorry about that."
"Hey, if that's what makes miracles happen!"
Miracles? Hahahahahaha! At least I knew she was having a good time and liking what she was getting out of it. I was having a blast too. Just like having a life sized Barbie.
By now all modesty had gone out the window. I was tucking her shirts in for her. She would be zipping something up at the same time I was wrapping a belt around her waist. There was no more changing in the bathroom. We were being efficient.
Before I knew it even K2 was playing along! Of course, K had been asking his opinion on every outfit we came up with, but now he was getting into his own closet. Which was great because that meant we could steal a couple of his shirts for her to play with. One bonus of a boyfriend is the extra clothes you get for free when you move in together.
K2 showed me a pair of boots he doesn't wear often to see what I thought. They are ass kicking boots! And then he was off...like a ghost. Or a guy who disappeared into the bathroom to change his clothes.
K and I were playing a game she suggested. She took one item that she wanted to wear more and put it on the way she would on her own. Then I would change it to something different using the piece we were working with.
Suddenly K2 was back in a different pair of pants, his ass kicking boots and now was adding a striped sweater. We had talked (all 3 of us) about his own wardrobe rut and now here he was, playing dress up with the girls. Hope it wasn't supposed to be a secret...
She has so many great pieces in her closet, and she really had no idea what to do with them. By the time I left she had more than enough outfits to keep her busy for a while and she was really having fun with it.
"This is all stuff you already had." I reminded her when she thanked me at one point.
"I had an idea of what I liked. I just didn't know how to wear it" she told me. The good news is, the things she likes are things that all happen to work very well together. She made this very easy on me by having a closet full of totally awesome clothes. She does still need a few key basics and has a couple of wants, so we're going shopping on Saturday to try and fill those holes. K2 was worried about money we might spend and then I reminded him I basically own stock in Goodwill and he felt better.
I am so excited to go shopping, so excited about how this went, so excited to perfect my process and so so so SO excited to do this again.
Now...who's next?
Wanna see how it went with K? Check it out here.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
2011 begins...
I can feel in my bones that this year is going to kick serious ass you guys. Can you feel it? I feel motivated, ready, excited, and more happy then I've ever been! I know that not everyone's year started off on a happy note but the good news is, that doesn't mean every day has to be that way.
My new years resolution is to be happy. To live life to the fullest as often as I possibly can. To do things that I love to do. To explore new things and find out what else is out there.
So, for the first day of this new, ass kicking year, I slept in. Duh! I love sleep and sleeping in isn't the same today as it was when I was in high school. I used to sleep in until past noon. I still can...but now a days, I wake up around 9:30 naturally and with no plans I can lie in bed and watch some music videos until the urge to dance is too much and I'm forced to get out of bed so I can move my body.
I'm a crazy person.
For the last 2 days of 2010 I had tried to curl my hair. My hair is a stubborn beast, and I've tried to curl it in the past to no avail. But I saw a video on a blog somewhere and the girl made it look so easy to curl her hair...I had to try it. So on Thursday, I got up early so I had time to curl before work. For 45 minutes, with the curling iron on it's highest setting, I curled and curled and curled. It didn't look anything like I was expecting but it looked awesome. I ran from the bathroom to the living room to inspect it in the full length mirror. By then, the curl had already started to fall out. I was disappointed, but had expected it so I just went on with my day.
Friday morning, I tried again, to curl my hair. This time with a different curling iron, still on the high setting, and this time curled every section 2 or 3 times and used hair spray. I hate hair spray. It smells and makes my hair feel gross. Crunchy hair is all bad. But I wanted curls. So I tried. It lasted longer this time...but not much. By the time I made it to A's with L that night the curl was gone.
So, when I woke up on the first day of this year, I made the decision to get curly hair. I bought some foam rollers months and months ago but never got around to trying them. Most people say you should put them in damp hair and then sleep on them. Wake up, take them out and BAM! Curly hair. The problem for me is, if I sleep on my hair I have to shampoo it in the morning otherwise I look like a grease ball and that's not cute. Since I had hours ahead of me with no plans I decided to try the curlers out while I did some chores around the house.
I had to leave them in for a minimum of 3 hours but I was hoping for 4... I quickly ran out of things to do. I didn't want to sit in front of the TV and be a zombie for hours so I tried to read a book, I washed some dishes, did some laundry, played with some clothes for a while, painted my nails, finally broke down and watched MythBusters (Pirate myths! ARRRRH!), and I still had forever to wait. I was finally ok with succumbing to New Years day TV marathon madness when K text me about dinner that night.
Her family is so nice. They invited me over for a New Years (belated Christmas) dinner because they know I didn't get any turkey over the holidays. It was mentioned that rolls were still needed, and since I had to go to the grocery store anyway (cereal just isn't the same without milk to put in it...) so now seemed like the perfect time to take my rollers out. I was tempted to go to the store with them still in though.
Oh. My. God. you guys...I love my hair curly! I love my hair. Period. It's awesome even on bad days. I look like a completely different person with curly hair. And I totally love it. I'll be using those more often. Though...when I'm not so sure yet.
I went to the store and did my shopping. I had a hard time finding rolls because I am blind I guess. I made it through the checkout and back home and barely had time to ogle myself in the mirror before I had to head over to K and L's parents house.
Their house is always so inviting to me. It feels warm and comforting inside. Maybe it's because the people inside are so nice and happy and definitely close to my heart. And they have dogs. That always makes for a comfortable atmosphere. In my mind anyway.
The table was set with a beautiful dark red table cloth and when all the food was done and on the table it was basically like looking at heaven. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and scrumptious fruit salad. Everything tasted so good. A warm, home cooked meal really tastes better than any other kind of meal. Up yours fast food!
After my second helping, I was in full on food coma mode. I managed to make it to the living room, which was now the designated digesting room. There was much less talking and movement during this digestion stage. Until they started getting into the pies. I couldn't have a piece. I would have exploded and that's just a mess no one should have to clean up, so I stayed away from pie. This time...
Once my brain started to function normally again, I could pack up the leftovers I was being sent home with (THANK YOU!!!) and head over to A's for an impromptu fight night. When I got there, I walked in without knocking the way I always do, and was faced with far more people than I expected...so I sat on the floor in front of the door so I didn't have to try and navigate through the sea of people in the middle of a fight. When the fight was over I could finally make my way into the kitchen to hang out with A and lil K.
After a while, when some people had cleared out and things had calmed down a bit (you know, cuz we're so wild and crazy all the time) A brought out a couple presents for me. She told me before I came over that she had something for me but not to get too excited because it was just a couple of little random things that reminded her of me. Those are the best kind of presents so I was excited even though she didn't want me to be.
I was so right to be! I opened up the first package and inside I found a small coin purse with a picture of a high heel. It says "If the shoe fits...But it!" and inside it was...A MONOCLE! My very own monocle. She even put a chain on it...with a little bitty smiley face at the end of it! I opened the second package, they go together I was told, and I could hardly contain my excitement. A Baskerville pipe! I immediately tried to put the monocle on and do my best Sherlock Holmes impersonation. But the stupid thing wouldn't stick in my eye socket. My eyes aren't sunk in enough for this accessory I guess.
After a lot of trying, and way more laughing I finally got it to stick and A happily took pictures.
Aren't they fantastic?! Answer: Indubitably!
My new years resolution is to be happy. To live life to the fullest as often as I possibly can. To do things that I love to do. To explore new things and find out what else is out there.
So, for the first day of this new, ass kicking year, I slept in. Duh! I love sleep and sleeping in isn't the same today as it was when I was in high school. I used to sleep in until past noon. I still can...but now a days, I wake up around 9:30 naturally and with no plans I can lie in bed and watch some music videos until the urge to dance is too much and I'm forced to get out of bed so I can move my body.
I'm a crazy person.
For the last 2 days of 2010 I had tried to curl my hair. My hair is a stubborn beast, and I've tried to curl it in the past to no avail. But I saw a video on a blog somewhere and the girl made it look so easy to curl her hair...I had to try it. So on Thursday, I got up early so I had time to curl before work. For 45 minutes, with the curling iron on it's highest setting, I curled and curled and curled. It didn't look anything like I was expecting but it looked awesome. I ran from the bathroom to the living room to inspect it in the full length mirror. By then, the curl had already started to fall out. I was disappointed, but had expected it so I just went on with my day.
Friday morning, I tried again, to curl my hair. This time with a different curling iron, still on the high setting, and this time curled every section 2 or 3 times and used hair spray. I hate hair spray. It smells and makes my hair feel gross. Crunchy hair is all bad. But I wanted curls. So I tried. It lasted longer this time...but not much. By the time I made it to A's with L that night the curl was gone.
So, when I woke up on the first day of this year, I made the decision to get curly hair. I bought some foam rollers months and months ago but never got around to trying them. Most people say you should put them in damp hair and then sleep on them. Wake up, take them out and BAM! Curly hair. The problem for me is, if I sleep on my hair I have to shampoo it in the morning otherwise I look like a grease ball and that's not cute. Since I had hours ahead of me with no plans I decided to try the curlers out while I did some chores around the house.
I had to leave them in for a minimum of 3 hours but I was hoping for 4... I quickly ran out of things to do. I didn't want to sit in front of the TV and be a zombie for hours so I tried to read a book, I washed some dishes, did some laundry, played with some clothes for a while, painted my nails, finally broke down and watched MythBusters (Pirate myths! ARRRRH!), and I still had forever to wait. I was finally ok with succumbing to New Years day TV marathon madness when K text me about dinner that night.
Her family is so nice. They invited me over for a New Years (belated Christmas) dinner because they know I didn't get any turkey over the holidays. It was mentioned that rolls were still needed, and since I had to go to the grocery store anyway (cereal just isn't the same without milk to put in it...) so now seemed like the perfect time to take my rollers out. I was tempted to go to the store with them still in though.
Oh. My. God. you guys...I love my hair curly! I love my hair. Period. It's awesome even on bad days. I look like a completely different person with curly hair. And I totally love it. I'll be using those more often. Though...when I'm not so sure yet.
I went to the store and did my shopping. I had a hard time finding rolls because I am blind I guess. I made it through the checkout and back home and barely had time to ogle myself in the mirror before I had to head over to K and L's parents house.
Their house is always so inviting to me. It feels warm and comforting inside. Maybe it's because the people inside are so nice and happy and definitely close to my heart. And they have dogs. That always makes for a comfortable atmosphere. In my mind anyway.
The table was set with a beautiful dark red table cloth and when all the food was done and on the table it was basically like looking at heaven. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and scrumptious fruit salad. Everything tasted so good. A warm, home cooked meal really tastes better than any other kind of meal. Up yours fast food!
After my second helping, I was in full on food coma mode. I managed to make it to the living room, which was now the designated digesting room. There was much less talking and movement during this digestion stage. Until they started getting into the pies. I couldn't have a piece. I would have exploded and that's just a mess no one should have to clean up, so I stayed away from pie. This time...
Once my brain started to function normally again, I could pack up the leftovers I was being sent home with (THANK YOU!!!) and head over to A's for an impromptu fight night. When I got there, I walked in without knocking the way I always do, and was faced with far more people than I expected...so I sat on the floor in front of the door so I didn't have to try and navigate through the sea of people in the middle of a fight. When the fight was over I could finally make my way into the kitchen to hang out with A and lil K.
After a while, when some people had cleared out and things had calmed down a bit (you know, cuz we're so wild and crazy all the time) A brought out a couple presents for me. She told me before I came over that she had something for me but not to get too excited because it was just a couple of little random things that reminded her of me. Those are the best kind of presents so I was excited even though she didn't want me to be.
I was so right to be! I opened up the first package and inside I found a small coin purse with a picture of a high heel. It says "If the shoe fits...But it!" and inside it was...A MONOCLE! My very own monocle. She even put a chain on it...with a little bitty smiley face at the end of it! I opened the second package, they go together I was told, and I could hardly contain my excitement. A Baskerville pipe! I immediately tried to put the monocle on and do my best Sherlock Holmes impersonation. But the stupid thing wouldn't stick in my eye socket. My eyes aren't sunk in enough for this accessory I guess.
After a lot of trying, and way more laughing I finally got it to stick and A happily took pictures.
Aren't they fantastic?! Answer: Indubitably!
NYE
NYE was definitely fun and I am blessed to be able to say that I got to spend time with the people I love most on the last day of 2010 and on the first day of 2011.
I'm also blessed to say that I had Friday free from work. What a glorious way to start the weekend. I slept in (as per usual) and took my time rolling out of bed and into the shower. You know why I take my time? Because my bathroom is an ice box. Fer realsies. You open the door and get smacked in the face with a cold breeze. Yes. Really. No joke. I have to turn the heater on in there and close the door for 5 minutes before I can actually go in to take a shower. You'd think the extreme cold would wake me up. Instead, it drives me straight into the loving embrace of my cozy bed.
L and I had plans to check out the happenings in Pioneer Square for New Years, but we had plenty of time to hang out before we headed down there, so when A sent an invite to her place that night, of course we agreed to go.
I knew we'd be out in the cold later that night but still wanted to look cute so I bundled up with all the cuteness I could and headed out to pick up L (aka my date). L decided we needed dipped cones because it had been so long since the last time we had them, so we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way to A's. Turns out, the distance from the Dairy Queen by my place to A's is exactly perfect for consuming a dipped cone.
It was the usual scene at A's, only with more children than usual. Uh...oh boy....
Apparently they were watching R's brothers little girls. And one of them had some serious attitude going on. Like hand on the hip, side eye, death stare giving kind of attitude.
L, A and I were sitting at the table when the 2 girls walked by. The youngest of the two didn't even look at us. Meanwhile, 'Tude sister stared L down the whole time as she walked past the table. And when she got closer to L she muttered under her breath "DON'T. Look at me."
I don't know if I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. We all know that's not true. If a child does something with a touch of evil in it, I totally know it's a fact.
Later on in the night, I had to pee (like a racehorse I tell you!) but the bathroom was occupado. As soon as I saw my opportunity I ran for the bathroom...and was thwarted! Thwarted I say! 'Tude sis somehow beat me there! And she sure took her time...the whole time I stood at the end of the hall, containing myself with the always trusty pee-pee dance, the younger sister just stood in the hall, in front of the open bathroom door where her sister was (deliberately) taking forever to pee. Staring at me. Just....staring. In to my soooooouuuuuullll! Everyone laughed at me. Except the stare sister and 'Tude sis. They hate me. Which is fine by me.
While K and I talked accessories and cute things, A mocked us. And made up her own words for headbands. We played Mario on the Wii (which is totally addicting btw) way too much and basically just had a good time. Like we always do. Because we all rock.
Before I knew it, it was around 10 and L and I were ready to head downtown. I always forget that I really hate driving downtown. Even when there is no traffic at all, I hate it. Stupid one way (going the wrong way of course) streets all over the place, crazy pedestrians, and no parking anywhere. Ugh.
We managed to find a parking garage not too far from the square and headed on over. It was pretty empty. L had been down to the square for past NYE, and said that there was usually a band and a ball to watch drop and tons of people. Not this year. Apparently people got a little freaked out with the tree lighting bomb scare...So this year there wasn't much going on. What a good year for us to choose to go down there. Can you sense my sarcasm?
While standing in the middle of the square, pondering what to do next, 2 guys walked up to us. They asked us if there was anything fun going on for New Years. Can't they see that's exactly what we're trying to figure out? One guy uses the "I'm not from around here" line and the other stays pretty quiet. They both look (at least in my opinion) young, and aren't exactly the best looking guys around (might be mean, but hey, you can't change what you're attracted to naturally. And this guys face was not on my natural attraction list.). L some how talks us away from them and we go on the hunt for a bathroom. At least we know we look good enough to get hit on.
We walk a few blocks, wondering what could possibly be open this late on a holiday for us to use a bathroom. Inspiration! Mcdonalds! It's not even that far from where we are and L remembers seeing it on our drive to the parking garage and it was definitely open.
Walk walk walk walk walk turn the corner...and there are those boys. We slow down a bit. They keep walking and disappear around a building. Unfortunately, it's the same way we're going. We make it around the corner just in time to see the boys walk in to Mcdonalds.
Crap.
Good news! Subway is directly next door and still open! L hesitates because she thinks you have to buy something to use their bathroom. No problemo! I have a couple bucks, and a sweet tooth that won't die, so we decide I will buy cookies while she takes care of business. It almost didn't work because they only had a few cookies left. Luckily 3 of them were double chocolate chip. Mmmmmm tasty.
We finally made it back to the square, now sugared up and bladders emptied. I made L check out the echo chamber near the chess blocks. Have you ever checked it out? You definitely should! I've lived here forever and only just found out about it a few years ago. L has lived here forever and has never heard about it.
We had to wait for some other people to get done playing around there, and then I made L try it. First I had to show her that she wouldn't be embarrassed in any way by trying it. She stood on the circle and said a couple words and started laughing. It's the weirdest thing!
You want to know what I'm talking about don't you? (Of course, I mean if you don't already know) Click here and check out number 3. If you go to the square, and stand on that circle and speak, the sound of your voice is amplified and it sounds like you're using a microphone in a big, huge, echo-y hall. To everyone around you, you sound totally normal. But to your ears, in that one spot, the sound is amplified, for your ears alone. Trippy.
Which is why when I saw a couple walk by and hesitate to try it out, I egged them on. The girl was totally scared, thinking it was something Portlanders make tourists do to have a laugh (I don't even know if she was a tourist. Where do my thoughts even come from?) but once L showed her there was no danger she tried it out. And then almost ran away when she heard herself. And then made her boyfriend (husband? cousin? roommate? How do I know. Stop asking.) try it to. They asked how it worked. Pah! Like I know the mechanics of these things.
They were a fun distraction for a minute. We noticed the square starting to fill up as midnight drew closer. More and more people finally started showing up, but there was still no ball in sight for us to watch drop, no band playing us into the new year, not even an accurate clock to tell when midnight really struck. So, for about 20 minutes the square was just a place where people went to scream. Lots of hootin n hollerin and screaming and laughing. I watched the time on my phone and then all of a sudden it was midnight. People were screaming, but I saw nothing exciting. I wonder if we're missing something...
L tells me the girl behind us just got proposed to and that's why there is so much commotion.
"Oh. Well that's nice."
"Wanna go?" She asks.
"Yea. Car's that way" I turn and point in the direction of the parking garage and we both start walking.
Proposals are exciting and all but I already missed the best part where the asking happens and there's all the suspense of wondering what she'll say because we all know she'll say yes but what if...just what if she doesn't (just like that one girl in that youtube video I saw one time)? Since I tend to be bitter about love and men and such, it wasn't very exciting to watch this girl and her friends jump for joy on this exciting moment in her life.
So we walked back to the car and headed home for the night. Looks like my New Years Eve tradition is no midnight kiss. At least this time I didn't get rained on, or locked out of my own car, and I didn't lose anybody this year. I'd say that's a success!
I'm also blessed to say that I had Friday free from work. What a glorious way to start the weekend. I slept in (as per usual) and took my time rolling out of bed and into the shower. You know why I take my time? Because my bathroom is an ice box. Fer realsies. You open the door and get smacked in the face with a cold breeze. Yes. Really. No joke. I have to turn the heater on in there and close the door for 5 minutes before I can actually go in to take a shower. You'd think the extreme cold would wake me up. Instead, it drives me straight into the loving embrace of my cozy bed.
L and I had plans to check out the happenings in Pioneer Square for New Years, but we had plenty of time to hang out before we headed down there, so when A sent an invite to her place that night, of course we agreed to go.
I knew we'd be out in the cold later that night but still wanted to look cute so I bundled up with all the cuteness I could and headed out to pick up L (aka my date). L decided we needed dipped cones because it had been so long since the last time we had them, so we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way to A's. Turns out, the distance from the Dairy Queen by my place to A's is exactly perfect for consuming a dipped cone.
It was the usual scene at A's, only with more children than usual. Uh...oh boy....
Apparently they were watching R's brothers little girls. And one of them had some serious attitude going on. Like hand on the hip, side eye, death stare giving kind of attitude.
L, A and I were sitting at the table when the 2 girls walked by. The youngest of the two didn't even look at us. Meanwhile, 'Tude sister stared L down the whole time as she walked past the table. And when she got closer to L she muttered under her breath "DON'T. Look at me."
I don't know if I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. We all know that's not true. If a child does something with a touch of evil in it, I totally know it's a fact.
Later on in the night, I had to pee (like a racehorse I tell you!) but the bathroom was occupado. As soon as I saw my opportunity I ran for the bathroom...and was thwarted! Thwarted I say! 'Tude sis somehow beat me there! And she sure took her time...the whole time I stood at the end of the hall, containing myself with the always trusty pee-pee dance, the younger sister just stood in the hall, in front of the open bathroom door where her sister was (deliberately) taking forever to pee. Staring at me. Just....staring. In to my soooooouuuuuullll! Everyone laughed at me. Except the stare sister and 'Tude sis. They hate me. Which is fine by me.
While K and I talked accessories and cute things, A mocked us. And made up her own words for headbands. We played Mario on the Wii (which is totally addicting btw) way too much and basically just had a good time. Like we always do. Because we all rock.
Before I knew it, it was around 10 and L and I were ready to head downtown. I always forget that I really hate driving downtown. Even when there is no traffic at all, I hate it. Stupid one way (going the wrong way of course) streets all over the place, crazy pedestrians, and no parking anywhere. Ugh.
We managed to find a parking garage not too far from the square and headed on over. It was pretty empty. L had been down to the square for past NYE, and said that there was usually a band and a ball to watch drop and tons of people. Not this year. Apparently people got a little freaked out with the tree lighting bomb scare...So this year there wasn't much going on. What a good year for us to choose to go down there. Can you sense my sarcasm?
While standing in the middle of the square, pondering what to do next, 2 guys walked up to us. They asked us if there was anything fun going on for New Years. Can't they see that's exactly what we're trying to figure out? One guy uses the "I'm not from around here" line and the other stays pretty quiet. They both look (at least in my opinion) young, and aren't exactly the best looking guys around (might be mean, but hey, you can't change what you're attracted to naturally. And this guys face was not on my natural attraction list.). L some how talks us away from them and we go on the hunt for a bathroom. At least we know we look good enough to get hit on.
We walk a few blocks, wondering what could possibly be open this late on a holiday for us to use a bathroom. Inspiration! Mcdonalds! It's not even that far from where we are and L remembers seeing it on our drive to the parking garage and it was definitely open.
Walk walk walk walk walk turn the corner...and there are those boys. We slow down a bit. They keep walking and disappear around a building. Unfortunately, it's the same way we're going. We make it around the corner just in time to see the boys walk in to Mcdonalds.
Crap.
Good news! Subway is directly next door and still open! L hesitates because she thinks you have to buy something to use their bathroom. No problemo! I have a couple bucks, and a sweet tooth that won't die, so we decide I will buy cookies while she takes care of business. It almost didn't work because they only had a few cookies left. Luckily 3 of them were double chocolate chip. Mmmmmm tasty.
We finally made it back to the square, now sugared up and bladders emptied. I made L check out the echo chamber near the chess blocks. Have you ever checked it out? You definitely should! I've lived here forever and only just found out about it a few years ago. L has lived here forever and has never heard about it.
We had to wait for some other people to get done playing around there, and then I made L try it. First I had to show her that she wouldn't be embarrassed in any way by trying it. She stood on the circle and said a couple words and started laughing. It's the weirdest thing!
You want to know what I'm talking about don't you? (Of course, I mean if you don't already know) Click here and check out number 3. If you go to the square, and stand on that circle and speak, the sound of your voice is amplified and it sounds like you're using a microphone in a big, huge, echo-y hall. To everyone around you, you sound totally normal. But to your ears, in that one spot, the sound is amplified, for your ears alone. Trippy.
Which is why when I saw a couple walk by and hesitate to try it out, I egged them on. The girl was totally scared, thinking it was something Portlanders make tourists do to have a laugh (I don't even know if she was a tourist. Where do my thoughts even come from?) but once L showed her there was no danger she tried it out. And then almost ran away when she heard herself. And then made her boyfriend (husband? cousin? roommate? How do I know. Stop asking.) try it to. They asked how it worked. Pah! Like I know the mechanics of these things.
They were a fun distraction for a minute. We noticed the square starting to fill up as midnight drew closer. More and more people finally started showing up, but there was still no ball in sight for us to watch drop, no band playing us into the new year, not even an accurate clock to tell when midnight really struck. So, for about 20 minutes the square was just a place where people went to scream. Lots of hootin n hollerin and screaming and laughing. I watched the time on my phone and then all of a sudden it was midnight. People were screaming, but I saw nothing exciting. I wonder if we're missing something...
L tells me the girl behind us just got proposed to and that's why there is so much commotion.
"Oh. Well that's nice."
"Wanna go?" She asks.
"Yea. Car's that way" I turn and point in the direction of the parking garage and we both start walking.
Proposals are exciting and all but I already missed the best part where the asking happens and there's all the suspense of wondering what she'll say because we all know she'll say yes but what if...just what if she doesn't (just like that one girl in that youtube video I saw one time)? Since I tend to be bitter about love and men and such, it wasn't very exciting to watch this girl and her friends jump for joy on this exciting moment in her life.
So we walked back to the car and headed home for the night. Looks like my New Years Eve tradition is no midnight kiss. At least this time I didn't get rained on, or locked out of my own car, and I didn't lose anybody this year. I'd say that's a success!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Vacation part two: Car Troubles
On Thursday, I took my car to the mechanic. I looked around the Better Business Bureau's website to find a place that seemed reputable with good reviews and all that (because as a woman I feel like I'm going to get taken advantage of by mean ol mechanics). Sure, I could take my car to a friend of a friend, or so and so's boyfriend or the guy that's trying to get into my pants this week, but that takes planning and a whole lot of trust. I had time right at that moment and was really only going in for an (desperately overdue) oil change and to find out what the hell that rattling sound is coming from under the hood. The professionals can tell me all the things wrong with my car and I can plan to have other, cheaper, alternatives fix it all up.
I call the place I find online and head over that afternoon. I walk in to the very plain reception area. Behind the counter is an older, really tall man. Quick chat about my plan for the car and then he sends a mechanic to get my car. While he's away from the counter I take a look around. Business cards, random book about fears, key chains, pamphlets about the company...with the same old guy in the picture. The guy in that picture is the guy behind the counter! Trippy! Ok, not really.
He gives me a voucher for a free drink at Burgerville, which is just across the street, since I am choosing to wait for my car to get done and there isn't much going on in their waiting area. I gladly accept and go get fattening deliciousness to eat while I read and wait. I eat slowly and read for a while. I feel kind of awkward sitting in this place all by myself. Reading a book and eating food, all alone. I must look like a loser. Quick mind set change! I look like someone who's eating and reading a book while waiting for her oil change to get done. Sometimes, I really think too much.
When I was finally done eating, I gathered up all my things (how do I have a pile of things to cart around with me everywhere I go?) and headed back to the shop. I expected to have to wait some more, even though it had already been an hour, but as soon as I walked in the door, he was ready to talk to me.
And talk he did...He had an actual printed list of all the things wrong with my car. Oy vey. I expected it really. I know there are a few issues my car is having right now. But I can only afford to take care of so much at a time ya know? I avoid going to Jiffy Lube now because they always look at me so judgy when I get an oil change there. It's because I'm always late getting it done, and because there are always so many other problems that my car needs fixed. They seem to think that I'm a moron. Hey! I pay you guys to change my oil. Not to judge me. I bought this car. I can run it into the ground if I want to! (Not that I do. Not at all)
So, for starters, of course the stupid sound I wanted checked out didn't make a peep for the mechanics. So they said I can bring it in when it starts making it again (incidentally it started literally as soon as I pulled out of the mechanics driveway). Next up.
"There was oil everywhere."
Uh huh.
"Like, everywhere. You've got a couple leaks. Made a real mess."
Uh huh...
"Your rear brakes are worn down. Your front are at 45% but your back are down to 4% and you should start worrying when it gets to about 20%."
Boy that seems like something I should get taken care of eh?
"Engine seal mechanic jargon mechanic jargon water pump mechanic jargon gasket mechanic jargon."
I see. So...how much do all of these things cost? I just got some Christmas money, I can take care of some of it. And C gets back to town tomorrow. I'll have rent shortly after that from her so I'll still have some shopping money for presents.
"Well these will cost about...."
And then he proceeded to call for prices and part availability and made a very thorough list of all the things I would need done and how much it would cost. Suddenly the total jumped to over $800 and I stopped listening. I would be better off buying a new car. So I ask him what things I should get fixed first. Which were the most important things to get taken care of? Brakes apparently won that. Ok, cool. Those only cost about $200. I can handle that. I make an appointment for the next day (they have to order the parts so they can't do it now, while I'm already here, of course) and go back home.
This time I actually had to set an alarm and make a point of getting out of the house before 10. I don't have a set time to get to the mechanic but he did say morning and I know most people don't consider anything after 11 "morning". As I was filling up my gas tank the mechanic called me to make sure I was still coming in.
5 minutes guys. 5 minutes.
I drop my car off and stay at the shop this time instead of going to Burgerville again. I walk down the hallway to the waiting area where 2 or 3 other women were waiting for there cars. From what I could tell while I was there (for over 2 hours) is that men do not wait at the mechanic shop for their cars to be done. They have someone else to drive them around and free them from the dull, boring, quiet waiting room. There was one small poofy love seat and a bunch of lightly padded wooden chairs. I chose the puffy love seat over the uncomfortable looking wooden chairs even though the love seat looked kind of....grimey. I chose to ignore the dirt because I'm sure that everything was equally dirty, even though you couldn't see it as easy.
I read and read and read and read. When the florescent lights started making weird clicking noises, I watched them too see if anything excited would happen. Nope.
When other customers got on their phones to work or give directions or make plans I stared off into the distance because I couldn't focus on reading any more. I listened as people came and went. I head car diagnosis after car diagnosis. I think my brain shut completely off for a little while.
The way the old guy talked to people about their cars and the issues they had, reminded me of the way doctors on TV talk to patient's families. Soothing, calm and precise. No one ever seemed worried when he told them about problems their car had. No one questioned his judgment. He was goooooood.
Finally my car was done and it was my turn to stand at the counter and hear about my poor car. I never felt like he was judging me. In fact, he seemed to pick up on the fact that I had no money and actually meant it (you know how when you go to buy a car and you say "I have $3000 (or whatever) to spend on a car!" and the sales guy shows you everything just outside of that price range? This guy didn't do that).
"Ok, if we're going to do this by priority..." He pondered my cars charts for a minute. "This, then this, then this one if you can. No rush on this one but it will have to be done at some point. Here are all the prices."
He handed me a pile of papers after making me sign a couple of things and charged me exactly the amount he quoted, even though a part of me was sure the cost would surpass the quote. New brakes, a new battery and almost all my Christmas money later, I was finally on my way back home.
On Saturday (I think...It may have actually been Sunday) I headed to my moms for whatever we had planned for the day. The drive from my house to my moms house isn't something I would describe as a long, but I suppose some people would consider 20 to 30 minutes of driving a bit of a drive. My point is, it's not a long drive (to me) but when I was about 2 thirds of the way to my moms when I saw a cop in my rear view mirror. Why would this make me nervous? It's possible I have a small issue with my brake lights not working (and now that you mention it, that isn't one of the things the mechanics noticed. Like...at all). The tail lights work just fine...they just don't get any brighter when I step on the brake. In order to throw the cop of my tail (yea...I said it) I switched lanes so that he wouldn't be behind me long enough to see my lights not work and thus have no reason to pull me over. Ha. I sure fooled hi.....oh...he's changing lanes too. And now there are no cars between his car and my own. Crap. I was definitely about to get pulled over.
There are the lights.
Greeeeaaaaaat.
I pull back into the right lane and then all the way over to the curb and unlike most times in the past, he actually pulled to a stop behind me instead of going past me to chase someone else.
Now that he was getting out of the car all I could think was that I still didn't have my license. Why didn't I go to the damn DMV last week? Ugh! I rifle through my glove compartment and pull out my insurance card as I roll down the window.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?"
My non working brake lights? "No...I don't." I say instead.
"Your tags are expired. In September actually."
Oh no...Crap. What? Really? Damn it.
"License and registration please."
"Well, my purse was actually stolen a while back so I don't have my license right now..." I told him as I handed him my insurance card and reached into the glove compartment for the registration. I grab the registration card and look at it. Hey...that's not my name.
"Is that your name ma'am?" he was looking at the registration in my hands that I wasn't handing over because it didn't have my name on it. Who are these people? Is this even for my car? Yep...there's the make, model, year and license plate number...Ah crap. "No...I don't..."
"Do you own this car?"
"Yes. I just...this isn't... I don't understand..."
"This insurance is expired. Do you have anything with your name on it?"
"Here's my birth certificate"
He took it and looked really confused. "Do you always carry this around with you?"
"No...my purse just got stolen so I needed this to get my license but"
He sounds mean huh? He wasn't. He was smiling the whole time. Apparently my confusion was endearing. As soon as he walked away I started looking for a different insurance card. Rummage through the glove box some more, look in my purse, my wallet. Oh thank god! There's a current one! And just in time.
"Here's a current insurance card". He inspects it for a minute and hands it back "Ok, that's current. Thank you. Can you tell me your address?"
I recite my address. "Good, that's what the system says. Haha."
"Do you have anywhere you need to be right now?"
My moms...
"You should give her a call and let her know where you are. I'll be right back."
What am I, 5? Wait...does that mean I'm going to jail? Why should I call my mom if I'm just getting a ticket? Oh my god!and he walks back to his car again.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod! I'm going to jail. This certainly isn't how I pictured my day going.
I call my mom. She sounds depressed. She asks if they've asked to search my vehicle. What? Why would they do that? I gotta get off the phone with her. She's not helping and the cop will be back to take me away soon...
"I'm feelin like Santa today!" he says as he walks back to my car. I look up at him through my window and for the first time see him as a nice guy instead of an evil non entity. "Get those tags taken care of ok? There's guys like me out here and when we get bored all we have to look at are license plates." All with a huge smile.
Thank you!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Oh my effing god THANK YOU! I had been imagining all the costs. Tags: Cha ching. Ticket for not having tags: Cha ching. License: Cha ching.
Now, I felt much lighter. I tried to wait for him to pull away first because I still wanted to avoid him noticing my non working brake lights...but he was busy on his vehicular computer so I had to leave first. Thankfully he didn't move.
I laughed the entire rest of the way to moms. When I parked in her parking lot I took a second to look for the registration card with my name on it. I found it in under 20 seconds. Har har. I was so happy with the way that had all turned out. Mom seemed really surprised that I didn't get a ticket. She always seems so surprised when things work out for the best. I guess that's what happens when you're always expecting the worst.
First thing Monday morning I headed straight to the DMV closest to my house. Expecting to be there for most of the day I brought my book with me again. I checked in with the woman by the door who gave me the forms I needed to fill out and sent me on my way. After looking into my tag situation I realized they had sent me a notice months ago. Which I filled out and sent in for new tags before they expired. There must have been a mix up because I can now clearly remember doing this. I filled out the one page for I had and then my number was called. Already things were moving quicker than I expected. I went up to the window and handed the guy my forms. I told him I needed a replacement license and tags. We start with the license. Easy peasy. Got the paperwork filled out, paid $26, and all that's left is the picture. He tries to send me to the picture area.
"My tags?"
"What about em?"
Gosh they're friendly here. I need tags man. I filled out the thing and sent in the money but I never got tags.
"Ok, I can look that up in the system." Clickyclickyclicky. "No, you're not in there. We haven't received anything from you."
Well, I have had some mail theft issues at my house...but I don't remember where I sent that from...
"I can check in DEQ's system if you went there."
I know I've been there...but was it for this car? Hmmm...
"No, DEQ has no record of you either."
Ok, no I'm really confused. How often do you have to get tags? I've had my car for 4 years...these tags expired 4 months ago...I'm sure I've done this process before.
He gives me 2 forms to take with me to DEQ. "Take these. Fill out only the yellow portions. DEQ can give you tags so you don't have to come back here."
Oh, well that seems reasonable. Ok. Thank you sir. Moving on. I put my license form in the yellow box by the picture thing and sit down to wait. I pull out my book.
"Kay....lyn?"
Boy that was quick. Put my book back, grab my coat, and my scarf. "Yes?"
Oh, nothing. You need nothing? Ok, I'll just sit back down. Thanks. This is more of how I expected this to go. I sit down, again. Number after number gets called. Name after name.
"They sure are moving fast today." the guy sitting next to me remarks. Uh...yea.
My turn again! Time for the picture. Where should I put all of this stuff I have? I'll just hold it I guess.
"Sit down please. Good. Look here. Now left a little. Chin down."
I laugh at all the instructions and of course that's when he pushes the button.
"Nope! Haha do that again. Too much smile!" I feel like he's mocking me. Now other people waiting are watching me. Oy. This is awkward.
"Ok. Sit up. Towards me. Chin down. A little more. Left. Now scoot forward. Up a little more. Chin down."
Click.
Was I really moving my chin back up that much? I have to wait for the machine to finish so I'm told to sit back down again. Awesome.
I wait and wait some more. Seems like 10 minutes go by before it's done. That's when I find out it's not even a real license. It's paper. Why did it take 10 minutes to print this if it's not even in color? Fine. Whatever. Oh god! You gave me a double chin! Damn you picture taking man! Damn you! I knew my chin was too much down. Why was he so crazy? I take pictures of myself all the time. I know how to look at a camera. Can't you just trust me man? Now I have a double chin immortalized on my license until 2013. Now, every time I get ID-ed I'm going to have to put my chin down and point to the double chin I create while point at it and shouting "See it now?! Do you see it now!?"
Ok, so that's a small exaggeration, but there really is a lot of double chin action going on there. Damn it.
Oh well. Now I have a license and I can feel better.
Time for DEQ. I head home first to look up the address (Ok, add another minute to my time spent online while on vacation) and grab a quick lunch. With my stomach happy, and the directions in my hand, I headed downtown. But when I finally made it to 6th and Taylor, where the DEQ website had told me to go, I realized I had been lied to! Ok, maybe not lied to. 6th and Taylor downtown happens to be the square. Unless they meant the other corner...where the bank is. Or that corner...where the old courthouse is. There is no DEQ here. Damn it. I text my mom out of frustration expecting her to be able to look it up online for me. Turns out she is on the bus and decides to ask bus goers. The address she sends to me is no where near downtown Portland. I look up the address on my phones web browser. Ugh. Ok, another downtown address but different than the first one I had. Drive the other direction. This is dumb. The address numbers are growing larger and larger...but I can see the freeway ahead. If I don't find the address in the next block then it simply doesn't exist. This is such BS. Ah ha! There it is...a tall high rise? But...don't they have to test my car? How will they do that if I have to get in an elevator....This can't be right. There isn't a sign for DEQ or anything. This is wrong. I know it is. I'm frustrated and it's almost 5 and I so don't want to be stuck in downtown rush hour traffic on my vacation. I go back home, promising myself I'll find the real DEQ tomorrow.
In the morning, after showering and eating, I get back on DEQ's website. This time, I call their main line. I tell them I need tags and want to make sure I'm going to a DEQ that can give me tags so I don't have to all the way back to the DMV today. I confirm the address before getting off the phone...and it's in NE Portland. The address my mom had gotten on the bus. That was simply too far for me to make it before it closed. This address isn't on their website and doesn't pop up when you go to Google. Ugh. Go figure.
I am determined to be a legal driver today damn it. I head to DEQ, in NE this time. It's way out, surrounded by nothing. I thought I was at the wrong place at first. Finally, my car and I are in line waiting for our turn. The light turns green for my lane and I pull forward. The guy is nice and makes everything seem so simple. I get out of my car so he can do his thing.
"Ok, you're all set. That'll be $145"
Say what?! Uh... I...wow....
"$21 for DEQ and the rest is for the tags."
Right. Yea. Of course... Pull my wallet out and take out the last of the cash I have. I'm left with $18. Awesometastic.
Whatever. I got tags! Yay!
I call the place I find online and head over that afternoon. I walk in to the very plain reception area. Behind the counter is an older, really tall man. Quick chat about my plan for the car and then he sends a mechanic to get my car. While he's away from the counter I take a look around. Business cards, random book about fears, key chains, pamphlets about the company...with the same old guy in the picture. The guy in that picture is the guy behind the counter! Trippy! Ok, not really.
He gives me a voucher for a free drink at Burgerville, which is just across the street, since I am choosing to wait for my car to get done and there isn't much going on in their waiting area. I gladly accept and go get fattening deliciousness to eat while I read and wait. I eat slowly and read for a while. I feel kind of awkward sitting in this place all by myself. Reading a book and eating food, all alone. I must look like a loser. Quick mind set change! I look like someone who's eating and reading a book while waiting for her oil change to get done. Sometimes, I really think too much.
When I was finally done eating, I gathered up all my things (how do I have a pile of things to cart around with me everywhere I go?) and headed back to the shop. I expected to have to wait some more, even though it had already been an hour, but as soon as I walked in the door, he was ready to talk to me.
And talk he did...He had an actual printed list of all the things wrong with my car. Oy vey. I expected it really. I know there are a few issues my car is having right now. But I can only afford to take care of so much at a time ya know? I avoid going to Jiffy Lube now because they always look at me so judgy when I get an oil change there. It's because I'm always late getting it done, and because there are always so many other problems that my car needs fixed. They seem to think that I'm a moron. Hey! I pay you guys to change my oil. Not to judge me. I bought this car. I can run it into the ground if I want to! (Not that I do. Not at all)
So, for starters, of course the stupid sound I wanted checked out didn't make a peep for the mechanics. So they said I can bring it in when it starts making it again (incidentally it started literally as soon as I pulled out of the mechanics driveway). Next up.
"There was oil everywhere."
Uh huh.
"Like, everywhere. You've got a couple leaks. Made a real mess."
Uh huh...
"Your rear brakes are worn down. Your front are at 45% but your back are down to 4% and you should start worrying when it gets to about 20%."
Boy that seems like something I should get taken care of eh?
"Engine seal mechanic jargon mechanic jargon water pump mechanic jargon gasket mechanic jargon."
I see. So...how much do all of these things cost? I just got some Christmas money, I can take care of some of it. And C gets back to town tomorrow. I'll have rent shortly after that from her so I'll still have some shopping money for presents.
"Well these will cost about...."
And then he proceeded to call for prices and part availability and made a very thorough list of all the things I would need done and how much it would cost. Suddenly the total jumped to over $800 and I stopped listening. I would be better off buying a new car. So I ask him what things I should get fixed first. Which were the most important things to get taken care of? Brakes apparently won that. Ok, cool. Those only cost about $200. I can handle that. I make an appointment for the next day (they have to order the parts so they can't do it now, while I'm already here, of course) and go back home.
This time I actually had to set an alarm and make a point of getting out of the house before 10. I don't have a set time to get to the mechanic but he did say morning and I know most people don't consider anything after 11 "morning". As I was filling up my gas tank the mechanic called me to make sure I was still coming in.
5 minutes guys. 5 minutes.
I drop my car off and stay at the shop this time instead of going to Burgerville again. I walk down the hallway to the waiting area where 2 or 3 other women were waiting for there cars. From what I could tell while I was there (for over 2 hours) is that men do not wait at the mechanic shop for their cars to be done. They have someone else to drive them around and free them from the dull, boring, quiet waiting room. There was one small poofy love seat and a bunch of lightly padded wooden chairs. I chose the puffy love seat over the uncomfortable looking wooden chairs even though the love seat looked kind of....grimey. I chose to ignore the dirt because I'm sure that everything was equally dirty, even though you couldn't see it as easy.
I read and read and read and read. When the florescent lights started making weird clicking noises, I watched them too see if anything excited would happen. Nope.
When other customers got on their phones to work or give directions or make plans I stared off into the distance because I couldn't focus on reading any more. I listened as people came and went. I head car diagnosis after car diagnosis. I think my brain shut completely off for a little while.
The way the old guy talked to people about their cars and the issues they had, reminded me of the way doctors on TV talk to patient's families. Soothing, calm and precise. No one ever seemed worried when he told them about problems their car had. No one questioned his judgment. He was goooooood.
Finally my car was done and it was my turn to stand at the counter and hear about my poor car. I never felt like he was judging me. In fact, he seemed to pick up on the fact that I had no money and actually meant it (you know how when you go to buy a car and you say "I have $3000 (or whatever) to spend on a car!" and the sales guy shows you everything just outside of that price range? This guy didn't do that).
"Ok, if we're going to do this by priority..." He pondered my cars charts for a minute. "This, then this, then this one if you can. No rush on this one but it will have to be done at some point. Here are all the prices."
He handed me a pile of papers after making me sign a couple of things and charged me exactly the amount he quoted, even though a part of me was sure the cost would surpass the quote. New brakes, a new battery and almost all my Christmas money later, I was finally on my way back home.
On Saturday (I think...It may have actually been Sunday) I headed to my moms for whatever we had planned for the day. The drive from my house to my moms house isn't something I would describe as a long, but I suppose some people would consider 20 to 30 minutes of driving a bit of a drive. My point is, it's not a long drive (to me) but when I was about 2 thirds of the way to my moms when I saw a cop in my rear view mirror. Why would this make me nervous? It's possible I have a small issue with my brake lights not working (and now that you mention it, that isn't one of the things the mechanics noticed. Like...at all). The tail lights work just fine...they just don't get any brighter when I step on the brake. In order to throw the cop of my tail (yea...I said it) I switched lanes so that he wouldn't be behind me long enough to see my lights not work and thus have no reason to pull me over. Ha. I sure fooled hi.....oh...he's changing lanes too. And now there are no cars between his car and my own. Crap. I was definitely about to get pulled over.
There are the lights.
Greeeeaaaaaat.
I pull back into the right lane and then all the way over to the curb and unlike most times in the past, he actually pulled to a stop behind me instead of going past me to chase someone else.
Now that he was getting out of the car all I could think was that I still didn't have my license. Why didn't I go to the damn DMV last week? Ugh! I rifle through my glove compartment and pull out my insurance card as I roll down the window.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?"
My non working brake lights? "No...I don't." I say instead.
"Your tags are expired. In September actually."
Oh no...Crap. What? Really? Damn it.
"License and registration please."
"Well, my purse was actually stolen a while back so I don't have my license right now..." I told him as I handed him my insurance card and reached into the glove compartment for the registration. I grab the registration card and look at it. Hey...that's not my name.
"Is that your name ma'am?" he was looking at the registration in my hands that I wasn't handing over because it didn't have my name on it. Who are these people? Is this even for my car? Yep...there's the make, model, year and license plate number...Ah crap. "No...I don't..."
"Do you own this car?"
"Yes. I just...this isn't... I don't understand..."
"This insurance is expired. Do you have anything with your name on it?"
"Here's my birth certificate"
He took it and looked really confused. "Do you always carry this around with you?"
"No...my purse just got stolen so I needed this to get my license but"
He sounds mean huh? He wasn't. He was smiling the whole time. Apparently my confusion was endearing. As soon as he walked away I started looking for a different insurance card. Rummage through the glove box some more, look in my purse, my wallet. Oh thank god! There's a current one! And just in time.
"Here's a current insurance card". He inspects it for a minute and hands it back "Ok, that's current. Thank you. Can you tell me your address?"
I recite my address. "Good, that's what the system says. Haha."
"Do you have anywhere you need to be right now?"
My moms...
"You should give her a call and let her know where you are. I'll be right back."
What am I, 5? Wait...does that mean I'm going to jail? Why should I call my mom if I'm just getting a ticket? Oh my god!and he walks back to his car again.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod! I'm going to jail. This certainly isn't how I pictured my day going.
I call my mom. She sounds depressed. She asks if they've asked to search my vehicle. What? Why would they do that? I gotta get off the phone with her. She's not helping and the cop will be back to take me away soon...
"I'm feelin like Santa today!" he says as he walks back to my car. I look up at him through my window and for the first time see him as a nice guy instead of an evil non entity. "Get those tags taken care of ok? There's guys like me out here and when we get bored all we have to look at are license plates." All with a huge smile.
Thank you!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Oh my effing god THANK YOU! I had been imagining all the costs. Tags: Cha ching. Ticket for not having tags: Cha ching. License: Cha ching.
Now, I felt much lighter. I tried to wait for him to pull away first because I still wanted to avoid him noticing my non working brake lights...but he was busy on his vehicular computer so I had to leave first. Thankfully he didn't move.
I laughed the entire rest of the way to moms. When I parked in her parking lot I took a second to look for the registration card with my name on it. I found it in under 20 seconds. Har har. I was so happy with the way that had all turned out. Mom seemed really surprised that I didn't get a ticket. She always seems so surprised when things work out for the best. I guess that's what happens when you're always expecting the worst.
First thing Monday morning I headed straight to the DMV closest to my house. Expecting to be there for most of the day I brought my book with me again. I checked in with the woman by the door who gave me the forms I needed to fill out and sent me on my way. After looking into my tag situation I realized they had sent me a notice months ago. Which I filled out and sent in for new tags before they expired. There must have been a mix up because I can now clearly remember doing this. I filled out the one page for I had and then my number was called. Already things were moving quicker than I expected. I went up to the window and handed the guy my forms. I told him I needed a replacement license and tags. We start with the license. Easy peasy. Got the paperwork filled out, paid $26, and all that's left is the picture. He tries to send me to the picture area.
"My tags?"
"What about em?"
Gosh they're friendly here. I need tags man. I filled out the thing and sent in the money but I never got tags.
"Ok, I can look that up in the system." Clickyclickyclicky. "No, you're not in there. We haven't received anything from you."
Well, I have had some mail theft issues at my house...but I don't remember where I sent that from...
"I can check in DEQ's system if you went there."
I know I've been there...but was it for this car? Hmmm...
"No, DEQ has no record of you either."
Ok, no I'm really confused. How often do you have to get tags? I've had my car for 4 years...these tags expired 4 months ago...I'm sure I've done this process before.
He gives me 2 forms to take with me to DEQ. "Take these. Fill out only the yellow portions. DEQ can give you tags so you don't have to come back here."
Oh, well that seems reasonable. Ok. Thank you sir. Moving on. I put my license form in the yellow box by the picture thing and sit down to wait. I pull out my book.
"Kay....lyn?"
Boy that was quick. Put my book back, grab my coat, and my scarf. "Yes?"
Oh, nothing. You need nothing? Ok, I'll just sit back down. Thanks. This is more of how I expected this to go. I sit down, again. Number after number gets called. Name after name.
"They sure are moving fast today." the guy sitting next to me remarks. Uh...yea.
My turn again! Time for the picture. Where should I put all of this stuff I have? I'll just hold it I guess.
"Sit down please. Good. Look here. Now left a little. Chin down."
I laugh at all the instructions and of course that's when he pushes the button.
"Nope! Haha do that again. Too much smile!" I feel like he's mocking me. Now other people waiting are watching me. Oy. This is awkward.
"Ok. Sit up. Towards me. Chin down. A little more. Left. Now scoot forward. Up a little more. Chin down."
Click.
Was I really moving my chin back up that much? I have to wait for the machine to finish so I'm told to sit back down again. Awesome.
I wait and wait some more. Seems like 10 minutes go by before it's done. That's when I find out it's not even a real license. It's paper. Why did it take 10 minutes to print this if it's not even in color? Fine. Whatever. Oh god! You gave me a double chin! Damn you picture taking man! Damn you! I knew my chin was too much down. Why was he so crazy? I take pictures of myself all the time. I know how to look at a camera. Can't you just trust me man? Now I have a double chin immortalized on my license until 2013. Now, every time I get ID-ed I'm going to have to put my chin down and point to the double chin I create while point at it and shouting "See it now?! Do you see it now!?"
Ok, so that's a small exaggeration, but there really is a lot of double chin action going on there. Damn it.
Oh well. Now I have a license and I can feel better.
Time for DEQ. I head home first to look up the address (Ok, add another minute to my time spent online while on vacation) and grab a quick lunch. With my stomach happy, and the directions in my hand, I headed downtown. But when I finally made it to 6th and Taylor, where the DEQ website had told me to go, I realized I had been lied to! Ok, maybe not lied to. 6th and Taylor downtown happens to be the square. Unless they meant the other corner...where the bank is. Or that corner...where the old courthouse is. There is no DEQ here. Damn it. I text my mom out of frustration expecting her to be able to look it up online for me. Turns out she is on the bus and decides to ask bus goers. The address she sends to me is no where near downtown Portland. I look up the address on my phones web browser. Ugh. Ok, another downtown address but different than the first one I had. Drive the other direction. This is dumb. The address numbers are growing larger and larger...but I can see the freeway ahead. If I don't find the address in the next block then it simply doesn't exist. This is such BS. Ah ha! There it is...a tall high rise? But...don't they have to test my car? How will they do that if I have to get in an elevator....This can't be right. There isn't a sign for DEQ or anything. This is wrong. I know it is. I'm frustrated and it's almost 5 and I so don't want to be stuck in downtown rush hour traffic on my vacation. I go back home, promising myself I'll find the real DEQ tomorrow.
In the morning, after showering and eating, I get back on DEQ's website. This time, I call their main line. I tell them I need tags and want to make sure I'm going to a DEQ that can give me tags so I don't have to all the way back to the DMV today. I confirm the address before getting off the phone...and it's in NE Portland. The address my mom had gotten on the bus. That was simply too far for me to make it before it closed. This address isn't on their website and doesn't pop up when you go to Google. Ugh. Go figure.
I am determined to be a legal driver today damn it. I head to DEQ, in NE this time. It's way out, surrounded by nothing. I thought I was at the wrong place at first. Finally, my car and I are in line waiting for our turn. The light turns green for my lane and I pull forward. The guy is nice and makes everything seem so simple. I get out of my car so he can do his thing.
"Ok, you're all set. That'll be $145"
Say what?! Uh... I...wow....
"$21 for DEQ and the rest is for the tags."
Right. Yea. Of course... Pull my wallet out and take out the last of the cash I have. I'm left with $18. Awesometastic.
Whatever. I got tags! Yay!
Vacation: Part one
I suppose I had plenty of time to hop online and do some blogging about what I did while I was on vacation, but I think I only got online once in all the days I had off of work and that was only to check movie times. So, let's play catch up shall we? (this might get lengthy...*edit* I split it up into multiple posts because it was just way too long. I might have missed some stuff...but oh well!)
Wednesday the 15th was my first official day of vacation. I had no plans on traveling anywhere and no big plans for the holidays because holidays just aren't that big of a deal for my family. I was just planning on living life as if I didn't have to work a 9 to 5. Let me tell you...it was magic! I don't need to sleep in until noon every day, but getting up before I'm really ready is hard to do, so being able to wake up on my own was truly amazing. I was never in a rush to get ready for my day and I had all the time in the world to relax. I had plenty of time to finish up my Christmas shopping (though with all the crowds it wasn't something I was particularly excited to do) and finally get to the DMV to get my license replaced. Only...I put that off for the first few days of vacation.
I know, I know! I should have gone at my first opportunity. I should have gotten up early on Wednesday morning, and headed straight to the DMV. But....I really, really wanted to sleep in and really mean it for the first day of vacation. So I did.
Seems like all I did was take care of my car. Well that's just simply not true. Wednesday night, before all the car mess, I met up with someone I knew in high school but hadn't seen since. Good ole Facebook, connecting people all over the world. Er...something like that. We had a brief message exchange on Facebook and a couple of failed attempts at hanging out before this finally worked out. We decided to meet at the Delta on Woodstock. At least I knew the food was going to be good.
Let's be clear about something here, dear readers. This was not to be a date. This was 2 people getting together as friends just to hang out. That being said, I'll continue my story.
I was late, of course and he called to make sure I was on my way while I was indeed on my way. I got a parking spot on the street in front of Delta, the last spot left on this block. Score! D was at a table in plain view from the door which made finding him easy. He looked basically like I remembered him. I sat down and started to unravel myself. Purse, jacket, scarf. We made some small talk and things seemed awkward for a couple of minutes. Once food was ordered (White trash meatloaf for me thank you very much) the conversation settled into an easier rhythm as we tried to catch up on our lives after high school. He had moved, gone to college, started dating boys and suddenly there was a bond. Stupid boys was it. I got to tell some dating horror stories and hear some new ones for a change.
The check comes and D asks the waiter to split it for us. The waiter comes back after only a minute and looks at me. "Yours is $8.95." He looks at D and says "Yours is the rest." Back to me now "You only ordered one thing." shakes his head and walks away. HAHAHAHAHAHA!
After we were done stuffing our faces with deliciousness, we headed to my car with no real plan in mind. Now there were plenty of parking spaces on the street. And much closer to the restaurant. Where were all these spots when I got here?
I toss my leftovers in the trunk so that it won't reek of meatloaf inside the car for days, watch D test his blood and give himself an injection with tools found in his handy diabetes pack...that is eerily similar to a fanny pack...And we're off! I head towards downtown and try to think of something we can do or somewhere we can go. We pass by Rimskys, a favorite of both of ours, and see the lights are on and it is indeed open! I thought it was only open on weekends so this was a nice surprise for sure. D is hoping to hop on the piano like he used to when we were in high school. There was a performer already there though so his plans were foiled. We grabbed a couple menus and a table and waited (far too long) for our server. The service there is something I expect and accept from them. I accept it because the chocolate pot de creme is the most amazing thing in the world and when it melts on my tongue it's like I've been transported to heaven for a moment. So of course, I order that. And a mocha. And some vanilla ice cream. Because I am a pig. D gets water. Now I feel like a bigger pig. And I so don't care. As soon as my order comes out I dig in. Bit of chocolate with a scrape of ice cream and a sip of mocha to wash it all down. Mmmm, sooo good. D laughs at me. Oh...right...I am in public. Whoops. Apparently it looks like I'm having a serious moment with my chocolate pot de creme. D offers to leave us alone. Har har.
The customers thin out and the performer starts packing up. I can see D getting antsy. He's basically yearning to play the piano. He asks the other tables if they mind some piano music and before they even answer he's at the keys making beautiful noises. I look around for the waiter to get the check, since I'm finally done. He's no where to be seen. Great...But I do see a couple getting up to leave. The only reason this interests me is because the man is a big man...a round man...wearing suspenders. They're crooked and 2 of his belt loops are broken. His partner seems to have lost something...so I get the pleasure of watching suspender man crawl around under the table. Fun.
It looks like other people are waiting for the same thing I am. The guy at the table closest to the door marked "employees only" gets up and pokes his head through the door in search of the waiter. Bold move. And it works. I expect that will make it easier for me to get waiters attention. I expect wrong. Waiter disappears before checking on anyone else. D offers to go find him the same way that guy near door did. Eventually the waiter brings the check out and we can finally leave. I've never had to wait so long to give someone money. Sheesh. Still totally worth it.
Back in the car I find out that D has never been to Wonderland. Well, now that is just unacceptable. I drive to Wonderland. And find another pretty kick ass parking spot on the street out front. Lucky rock, you're serving me well! We go inside, grab a bundle of nickles each and I decide to take a different approach this time. Let's pick a prize that we want to win and try to get enough tickets to get it. D picks a "fountain" that looks something like this:
Only...with soda, not beer. And actually quite a bit different but this is the closest I could find and trust me...it's better then the picture I tried to draw in paint.
Oh...you want to see what I drew anyway? Um...alright...but remember...I'm a 5 year old inside.
I drew that just for you guys. Cherish this.
Back to the story... Our goal is the fountain! At 3000+ tickets, it won't be easy but having a goal is a good thing. At least, that's what I'm told. We head to the room towards the back of the building and start trying to choose a game to play. Anything that gives tickets is what I'm going for. Until I spy the claw machines. The claw machines with ball pit balls in them. Those balls are worth 30 to 60 tickets. There is one machine with big spiky bouncy balls and those are worth 80 tickets each. I know I can get the smaller ones, but I've never gotten one of the bouncy ones. In fact, I've only seen one person get one of those before. Not that I spend so much time at Wonderland that I think I know everything about everything. Just sayin... I go for the ones I know are a sure thing (and after spending almost all of my 5 dollars I walked away with 4 worth 60 tickets each and 2 worth 40 each. Basically I kick ass at that claw machine) and D tried for the harder ones. And got one! Holy crap! High five for that! He sticks with it a gets a few more. Worth 80 tickets each people! We have to peel ourselves away from the machines before we're out of nickels completely.
We walk around and try a few more games and then head to the other room of games closer to the door. I make a quick stop for a couple more bucks in nickles. Play a couple of the new games they've added since the last time I was there and a couple rounds of ski ball (I suck at that game). After spending the last of my nickles we decided to cash our tickets in. He has a few hundred and I have just over 400. Not enough for the fountain, but plenty to get other cool things. I take my time and look around at all they've got. Out of the corner of my eye I see something shiny... What's this? A magic wand?! I need to see that. Good thing I ask to see it before declaring it mine...because the first one turned out to be broken. The second one was perfect though. The guy behind the counter pushed the button and the wand glowed to life. Red, blue, green, sparkly, shiny, amazing. I was totally in love you guys. In. Love. I had 40 tickets left to spend and grabbed a rubber chicken to finish off my prize getting. D opted to save his tickets for future use by getting these future use-ish tickets.
The packaging for the wand didn't even make it out the front door (because they happen to have a garbage can right in front of the door). I was making light saber sounds and slashing it this way and that. D laughed at me some more. I'm a laughter inducer. We head back to the car and I roll down the window so I can drive with my wand properly displayed for all to see. My car must look like a beautiful, mystical unicorn like creature with its magical, glowing, fantabulous horn/wand/amazingness. Like I said....In love.
We drive around some more looking at Christmas lights and D takes the opportunity to tell me I'm awesome (thank you very much sir) and that he should have asked me out on a real date instead of a friend date.
Uh...
By now it is pretty late and we're already near D's house so we decided to call it a night...after he invited me to in t check out a video game we had talked about earlier. No thanks man.
The next day I met with L for a lunch at Olive Garden. Of course there were children and of course one sat in the booth behind ours. All I could hear was a very loud "BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH"
Sure do love kids....
N was in town for the holidays from Tennessee and it as been a long time since the last time I saw her so of course we had to get together. Of course, we have a lot of mutual friends so suddenly we had a mini middle school girls reunion. At Olive Garden. She brought her new baby boy and S brought her little girl too. My friends sat and laughed about my relationship with kids. S's girl gave me side eye and N's boy looked at me like I was an alien. Why must they always stare into my soul?! Then I notice kids that are just walking past me, to get to the bathrooms I'm standing near, are doing to soul looking thing too! Even older kids. All kids can sense my evil and they stare at me to keep me in line. That's what's going on. Except I'm not evil so I have no idea what's really going on.
We had a nice dinner and it was really good to catch up and hang out with these girls that I've grown up with for most of my life. Half of it at least. It's crazy to me to see how different all of our lives are and how similar I once thought we all were. We're still similar of course...but of the 5 of us at dinner, 2 had kids. One was married. Only 2 of us are single. Some of us have changed our looks a lot and the others hardly at all. What makes us all choose different paths? How do we start from the same point and end up in so many different places? Obviously, going to middle school isn't starting from the same point. We all had lives before that, that shaped us and helped each of us come to the places we are now in life. Anyway... That's what I remember pondering at one point.
I know that more happened, and that there was a lot of funniness and good times, but this is what I have written down as of now, so this is what you get.
Stay tuned for Vacation part two: Car troubles!
Wednesday the 15th was my first official day of vacation. I had no plans on traveling anywhere and no big plans for the holidays because holidays just aren't that big of a deal for my family. I was just planning on living life as if I didn't have to work a 9 to 5. Let me tell you...it was magic! I don't need to sleep in until noon every day, but getting up before I'm really ready is hard to do, so being able to wake up on my own was truly amazing. I was never in a rush to get ready for my day and I had all the time in the world to relax. I had plenty of time to finish up my Christmas shopping (though with all the crowds it wasn't something I was particularly excited to do) and finally get to the DMV to get my license replaced. Only...I put that off for the first few days of vacation.
I know, I know! I should have gone at my first opportunity. I should have gotten up early on Wednesday morning, and headed straight to the DMV. But....I really, really wanted to sleep in and really mean it for the first day of vacation. So I did.
Seems like all I did was take care of my car. Well that's just simply not true. Wednesday night, before all the car mess, I met up with someone I knew in high school but hadn't seen since. Good ole Facebook, connecting people all over the world. Er...something like that. We had a brief message exchange on Facebook and a couple of failed attempts at hanging out before this finally worked out. We decided to meet at the Delta on Woodstock. At least I knew the food was going to be good.
Let's be clear about something here, dear readers. This was not to be a date. This was 2 people getting together as friends just to hang out. That being said, I'll continue my story.
I was late, of course and he called to make sure I was on my way while I was indeed on my way. I got a parking spot on the street in front of Delta, the last spot left on this block. Score! D was at a table in plain view from the door which made finding him easy. He looked basically like I remembered him. I sat down and started to unravel myself. Purse, jacket, scarf. We made some small talk and things seemed awkward for a couple of minutes. Once food was ordered (White trash meatloaf for me thank you very much) the conversation settled into an easier rhythm as we tried to catch up on our lives after high school. He had moved, gone to college, started dating boys and suddenly there was a bond. Stupid boys was it. I got to tell some dating horror stories and hear some new ones for a change.
The check comes and D asks the waiter to split it for us. The waiter comes back after only a minute and looks at me. "Yours is $8.95." He looks at D and says "Yours is the rest." Back to me now "You only ordered one thing." shakes his head and walks away. HAHAHAHAHAHA!
After we were done stuffing our faces with deliciousness, we headed to my car with no real plan in mind. Now there were plenty of parking spaces on the street. And much closer to the restaurant. Where were all these spots when I got here?
I toss my leftovers in the trunk so that it won't reek of meatloaf inside the car for days, watch D test his blood and give himself an injection with tools found in his handy diabetes pack...that is eerily similar to a fanny pack...And we're off! I head towards downtown and try to think of something we can do or somewhere we can go. We pass by Rimskys, a favorite of both of ours, and see the lights are on and it is indeed open! I thought it was only open on weekends so this was a nice surprise for sure. D is hoping to hop on the piano like he used to when we were in high school. There was a performer already there though so his plans were foiled. We grabbed a couple menus and a table and waited (far too long) for our server. The service there is something I expect and accept from them. I accept it because the chocolate pot de creme is the most amazing thing in the world and when it melts on my tongue it's like I've been transported to heaven for a moment. So of course, I order that. And a mocha. And some vanilla ice cream. Because I am a pig. D gets water. Now I feel like a bigger pig. And I so don't care. As soon as my order comes out I dig in. Bit of chocolate with a scrape of ice cream and a sip of mocha to wash it all down. Mmmm, sooo good. D laughs at me. Oh...right...I am in public. Whoops. Apparently it looks like I'm having a serious moment with my chocolate pot de creme. D offers to leave us alone. Har har.
The customers thin out and the performer starts packing up. I can see D getting antsy. He's basically yearning to play the piano. He asks the other tables if they mind some piano music and before they even answer he's at the keys making beautiful noises. I look around for the waiter to get the check, since I'm finally done. He's no where to be seen. Great...But I do see a couple getting up to leave. The only reason this interests me is because the man is a big man...a round man...wearing suspenders. They're crooked and 2 of his belt loops are broken. His partner seems to have lost something...so I get the pleasure of watching suspender man crawl around under the table. Fun.
It looks like other people are waiting for the same thing I am. The guy at the table closest to the door marked "employees only" gets up and pokes his head through the door in search of the waiter. Bold move. And it works. I expect that will make it easier for me to get waiters attention. I expect wrong. Waiter disappears before checking on anyone else. D offers to go find him the same way that guy near door did. Eventually the waiter brings the check out and we can finally leave. I've never had to wait so long to give someone money. Sheesh. Still totally worth it.
Back in the car I find out that D has never been to Wonderland. Well, now that is just unacceptable. I drive to Wonderland. And find another pretty kick ass parking spot on the street out front. Lucky rock, you're serving me well! We go inside, grab a bundle of nickles each and I decide to take a different approach this time. Let's pick a prize that we want to win and try to get enough tickets to get it. D picks a "fountain" that looks something like this:
Oh...you want to see what I drew anyway? Um...alright...but remember...I'm a 5 year old inside.
Back to the story... Our goal is the fountain! At 3000+ tickets, it won't be easy but having a goal is a good thing. At least, that's what I'm told. We head to the room towards the back of the building and start trying to choose a game to play. Anything that gives tickets is what I'm going for. Until I spy the claw machines. The claw machines with ball pit balls in them. Those balls are worth 30 to 60 tickets. There is one machine with big spiky bouncy balls and those are worth 80 tickets each. I know I can get the smaller ones, but I've never gotten one of the bouncy ones. In fact, I've only seen one person get one of those before. Not that I spend so much time at Wonderland that I think I know everything about everything. Just sayin... I go for the ones I know are a sure thing (and after spending almost all of my 5 dollars I walked away with 4 worth 60 tickets each and 2 worth 40 each. Basically I kick ass at that claw machine) and D tried for the harder ones. And got one! Holy crap! High five for that! He sticks with it a gets a few more. Worth 80 tickets each people! We have to peel ourselves away from the machines before we're out of nickels completely.
We walk around and try a few more games and then head to the other room of games closer to the door. I make a quick stop for a couple more bucks in nickles. Play a couple of the new games they've added since the last time I was there and a couple rounds of ski ball (I suck at that game). After spending the last of my nickles we decided to cash our tickets in. He has a few hundred and I have just over 400. Not enough for the fountain, but plenty to get other cool things. I take my time and look around at all they've got. Out of the corner of my eye I see something shiny... What's this? A magic wand?! I need to see that. Good thing I ask to see it before declaring it mine...because the first one turned out to be broken. The second one was perfect though. The guy behind the counter pushed the button and the wand glowed to life. Red, blue, green, sparkly, shiny, amazing. I was totally in love you guys. In. Love. I had 40 tickets left to spend and grabbed a rubber chicken to finish off my prize getting. D opted to save his tickets for future use by getting these future use-ish tickets.
The packaging for the wand didn't even make it out the front door (because they happen to have a garbage can right in front of the door). I was making light saber sounds and slashing it this way and that. D laughed at me some more. I'm a laughter inducer. We head back to the car and I roll down the window so I can drive with my wand properly displayed for all to see. My car must look like a beautiful, mystical unicorn like creature with its magical, glowing, fantabulous horn/wand/amazingness. Like I said....In love.
We drive around some more looking at Christmas lights and D takes the opportunity to tell me I'm awesome (thank you very much sir) and that he should have asked me out on a real date instead of a friend date.
Uh...
By now it is pretty late and we're already near D's house so we decided to call it a night...after he invited me to in t check out a video game we had talked about earlier. No thanks man.
The next day I met with L for a lunch at Olive Garden. Of course there were children and of course one sat in the booth behind ours. All I could hear was a very loud "BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH"
Sure do love kids....
N was in town for the holidays from Tennessee and it as been a long time since the last time I saw her so of course we had to get together. Of course, we have a lot of mutual friends so suddenly we had a mini middle school girls reunion. At Olive Garden. She brought her new baby boy and S brought her little girl too. My friends sat and laughed about my relationship with kids. S's girl gave me side eye and N's boy looked at me like I was an alien. Why must they always stare into my soul?! Then I notice kids that are just walking past me, to get to the bathrooms I'm standing near, are doing to soul looking thing too! Even older kids. All kids can sense my evil and they stare at me to keep me in line. That's what's going on. Except I'm not evil so I have no idea what's really going on.
We had a nice dinner and it was really good to catch up and hang out with these girls that I've grown up with for most of my life. Half of it at least. It's crazy to me to see how different all of our lives are and how similar I once thought we all were. We're still similar of course...but of the 5 of us at dinner, 2 had kids. One was married. Only 2 of us are single. Some of us have changed our looks a lot and the others hardly at all. What makes us all choose different paths? How do we start from the same point and end up in so many different places? Obviously, going to middle school isn't starting from the same point. We all had lives before that, that shaped us and helped each of us come to the places we are now in life. Anyway... That's what I remember pondering at one point.
I know that more happened, and that there was a lot of funniness and good times, but this is what I have written down as of now, so this is what you get.
Stay tuned for Vacation part two: Car troubles!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)