I Don't Recall...

Today, my work calendar informed me that tomorrow is the last day of July, meaning this year is well beyond half way over. First of all, kind of sad that my calendar has to remind me what day (/month.../year) it is, but also, August? Really?

I'm currently racking my brain trying to think of what I've done in the last seven months, and sadly, not much stands out (Sasquatch, and.....laundry?).

As a working person, it's easy to fall into the rut of: work yourself into the ground all week, and spend the weekend running all the errands you were too tired to run during the week, but otherwise being lazy and doing nothing to compensate for the exhausting workweek/prepare for the upcoming week. Unfortunately, this living pattern doesn't produce any sort of memorable events, which is why I can't put my finger on what I've been doing all year.

My hope for the final 5 months of the year (and probably the rest of my roaring...awkward...20s), is to incorporate a few activities into my weekends that I'll actually remember when I look back on the year.

Lying About My Buns

Last week, one of our summer interns made the observation that I wear my hear in a bun fairly often.
"It's a habit," I explained. "I used to be a dancer."
"Oooh," the intern said. "That makes sense." The other interns nodded in agreement.

Okay, so it's not a lie that I used to be a dancer, but using that as my reason for wearing my hear in a bun all the time is complete crap. The real reasons are:
     a) I only give myself 20 minutes to get ready for work, and my hear is the last thing on my to-do
         list. Usually at minute 19.5, I realize that my hear is still slopped on top of my head. Bun it is!
     b) I'm way too lazy to have hair this long, but I'm also way too lazy to cut it. Bun it is!
     c) I sleep on my hair wet probably 3 or 4 nights a week. What it will look like in the morning is a
         total crapshoot. Bun it is!

The Honeymoon

I've been working on a studio lot all week (apparently this company thinks their materials are particularly confidential - ha!). My coworker and I have been donning our snazziest power suits and spending most of the day in our little glass conference room that is reserved for only us. I was so excited to be working from not-my-office, but after three days, I think the honeymoon is over.

Day 1: What a novelty! Sound stages, celebrities in the commissary, Yogurtland, and my employee badge lets me get discounts at the company store (so, if anyone wants any DVDs, merchandise, or electronics, I have an in until I have to give my badge back). I barely noticed the lack of mobility in my arms thanks to my suit jacket.

Day 2: Still a bit of a novelty, but more work and not many opportunities to take breaks (and yet still falling behind on our deadline). This lot seems a lot like a college campus (lots of bikes, random events, people on tours, and people sitting outside doing nothing (jealous!)). My suit jacket is becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

Day 3: My coworker and I are killing ourselves to meet the deadline our manager has set. Everyone else on the lot seems to be sitting around doing I-don't-know-what. People are staring at us like zoo animals through the glass conference room wall. My suit jacket is pissing me off.

So that was my 3-day honeymoon. Tomorrow, I get to go back to my regular old desk, and I couldn't be happier. I might even kiss it (second thought...I can't remember the last time I wiped it off).

What Goes Around Comes Around - for $7

Funny story of the day:

As today was my first Friday off in a while, I had a huge list of errands to get through. And, though I slept in until 7 this morning (that is me poking fun at my absolute inability to sleep in), I hit the ground running as soon as the places I needed to go opened.

By lunch time, I was done. As a reward, I decided to walk to the delicious frozen yogurt shop a few blocks from my apartment. And it was....delicious. On the way home, I walked past the Goodwill store. Since I had nothing better to do (and was in somewhat of a post-frozen yogurt euphoria), I went in to see if there were any accessories to put on the new coffee table (one of the morning's errands was waiting for the delivery men). The accessories weren't great, so I ventured to the clothing section. When I reached the jeans rack, a little voice in my head (not schizophrenia, thank-you-very-much) said 'you should look thoroughly. This is a decent neighborhood, and people probably give away nice pairs of jeans to make room for newer, nicer ones.' About 15 seconds into my search, I spotted a lovely pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans in my size.

Flashback to 2005.....

I was a junior in high school, and the premium/designer denim craze had recently hit. After ordering three pairs of Seven for All Mankind (remember those?) jeans on ebay, I needed more. My mom and I headed to Nordstrom (with gift cards, of course), and I picked out a lovely pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans (the ones with the cursive 'h' on the butt). I decided to wear them to school the next day. My last class of the day was advanced dance, so everyday I'd change out of my regular clothes and into dance clothes. I usually left my clothes and all my stuff in the changing room during class and grabbed it on my way out (I was usually too sweaty to change back into nice clothes, so I'd keep my dance clothes on to drive home from school). But that day in particular, I stayed well after the final bell to keep rehearsing a piece that wasn't finished. About two hours after school, I finally came back into the changing room to get my stuff. No jeans.

To this day, I'm not sure if they were stolen, if I left them at school, or if they were stolen because I left them for too long, but I never found them. And I was way too cheap to buy a new pair (at $100+ a pop).

Flash Forward to today

As soon as I saw the jeans, I knew that I couldn't not get them.  After 7 years, we were reunited.
And the price? $7. I feel avenged, AND my butt looks good (mom's words, not mine)

THESE jeans! But why is the model standing at such an extreme angle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You Look Tired"

If I had a dollar for every time a coworker said that to me this week, I'd be taking myself out for a fancy dinner this weekend. But I don't, so I'll probably be eating cereal or something.

Even if I only look half as tired as I've felt lately, I can see how people might feel the need to comment. I blame the deadly combo of post-move settling (dealing with all those stupid details such as transferring accounts and keeping track of which bills are going to which apartment), and it being the week after a holiday (transitioning from 8 hour workdays back to 10).

So tonight, after a wild night of Thursday-partying (ie. cleaning the kitchen, putting dishes away, vacuuming the apartment and finally doing the load of laundry that's been glaring at me all week), I've decided that my mid-year resolution should be to get more sleep...But also, I don't really mind cleaning/vacuuming/laundry because it means that I actually have some free time at my discretion.

So, that makes two mid-year resolutions:
1. Get more sleep
2. Find more pockets of free-time (and/or add more hours to the day)

Apartment Photo Shoot

Oh, and this came in the mail the other day:

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

...And neither was a perfect apartment. During my blogging absence (thanks to not having internet), I've been packing, moving, unpacking, decorating and gardening up a storm. Photos to come.