Packing (for) heat

So I have finally figured out my route to North Carolina this weekend! Though I have somehow managed to schedule another meeting this afternoon, thus prolonging my inability to get home, relax, and pick up some last minute road trip supplies, I am still really excited to gear up for making a long trip to the south all by myself and seeing some really great people and places along the way. Since I’d rather write about my time there after I get back, I thought I could share the anticipation with you a little to figuring out my alternative packing list with you. By alternative, I mean the stuff beyond the basic toiletries, and why I must have them on my trip!

First is sugar-free red bull, an energy drink which many people dislike because of it’s diety taste and because they are anti-energy drink in general. To them I say this – have you considered, likely coffee-drinker that you are, that a 300 calorie Starbucks drink has 225mg of caffeine per cup, and comparatively less vitamin content, albeit synthetic, than a 10-calorie red bull? (Not to mention that there are less likely to be lots of pit-stops along the drive down with this smaller-sized drink). Also, as a friend and fellow coffee addict myself, I hardly ever drink alternative forms of caffeine, and there is something that says “road trip” about waking up before the sun and guzzling down something in a skinny metallic can before I venture forward. Secondly, are some new summer dresses from Target (1-2). With the move, I have really not spent anytime shopping for clothes this summer (Furniture is expensive comparatively!), and I think it is important given the hot weather and the lack of air conditioning in the car and on the boat once I get down there to have clothing items looking okay, appropriate, and free of pit stains. I am thinking of getting a maxi dress or two, as these seem comfy and are really in style right now, thus they will be mass-marketed by the discount store in which I can afford to shop.

Thirdly, in addition to the sunscreen and sunglasses I’ll need to pack to stay unburnt, I am definitely going to drop by the drug store and see if they have Oxy pads. For those of you that were not teenagers in the 1990s, Oxy Pads are these great little pre-moistened facial cleansing clothes that dry up acne and remove dirt and oil from your face via a really harsh chemical astringent. I love these things and have been complaining to S since it got warm that I need them to freshen up quickly after work or on a weekend when I get all “dewy” after moving stuff. I can imagine myself sweating buckets while on the road, beads dripping off my forehead, being completely depraved before I arrive at my destination, then breaking out an Oxy pad from my bag and looking (and feeling!) fresh as new before I greet family and friends.

Well, I am a lady who will have it all together this weekend, and I look forward to telling you how I fended soon. Happy (almost) weekend!

Youth in the library

So I am in at library of my undergraduate institution for the evening, finishing up some research evaluation work and hanging out while S is...hold on...yes, it is confirmed, playing an online RPG a few kiosks over, and wow, people here are young! I mean, the library at my college is a pretty intimidating place, since we are known as a fairly cutthroat class of coeds, and where else would I be in good company during July with a ton of pre-meds studying for MCATs, and ton of others studying for LSATs, GREs, XYZs, and then a ton of people re-taking Orgo (poor fools!)? But how can I be intimidated by the great minds of my peers when they are no longer peers, but wee thoughtlings? It is sweet, I guess, but another part of me is feeling a bit wrinkly.

Another sign of my age - I facebook friended my boss yesterday.

Props and prospectives

So it's been a fun week leading up until Independence Day, but I didn't want to forget about my promise to try and promote random blogs I like, so hear goes..

When I am at work and I begin to freak out about paying rent and student loans and 7-eleven slurpee tabs, I force myself into a relative calm by seeking online financial advice, figuring that by reading an article or so on Kiplinger.com in between editing a report or pulling together a meeting might keep me on this side of the insanity cliff and even teach me a thing or two about economics (read: tell me where to get free stuff).

During one of my "moments," I stumbled upon this blog:

http://millionairemommynextdoor.com/

I was so impressed by the author's independence, her good-heartedness, and her absolute determination to, well, determine her own life . Despite her trying to actually teach me something about money, I fell in love. Like Suze Orman says, it is a blessing to have money to worry about, so even when I complain, I should never consider taking financial responsibility for myself to be a burden. The blogger, in addition to having an adorable little daughter (more brownie points for her), brings up some great points, and even though I might not want to achieve financial success using every life opportunity she has, I certainly admire her and want to use the skills she has honed and the voluntary simplicity she upholds to fulfill dreams of my own that are bigger than any paycheck.


On the lighter side, I have also really come to enjoy this blog, by a friend of a friend of friend's:

http://iloveyoumorethancarrots.blogspot.com/

I really relate to this lovely woman's joy of coffee, her young urban environment, and her ability to live a sweet life filled with quirky little pleasures. Once I get more situated, I would like think my day-to-day will be as down-to-earth and as fun as hers.

So, 'tis all for now. Except that I think my surprise phone interview with surprise job #5 went pretty well today, and that in honor my new sense of time (having more of it), I am going to go to the beach tomorrow...after I get ice cream with S tonight!

P.S. - Speaking of Suze Orman (I can't help myself), have you seen her financial protection gear?! The box is waterproof, can hold twice your body weight on top of it, and has a flashing light attached internally so you can locate it during a tsunami. What's not to like?

The Abundant Life

In honor of my first official day as a non-student, part-time worker, part-time job seeker, and a full-time member of the 'wish I had more money for food and gas' club, I would like to promote a wonderful website I found when looking for financial/investment advice online.

Eat up, everyone!

(S just bought 4 twelve packs of this stuff during our last grocery trip, so yes, my family practices what we preach).

In other news, I had a really great last meeting with my former boss (job #2) where she told me she just gave me a really great reference for potential job #4! Life is good, no?

Stop.Go.Stop.Marco?

This past weekend was really wonderful.

I thought I was off to do some healthcare canvassing with a UM friend, but our plans got a little whacked out of shape as she realized we would need to be speaking Spanish the entire time (she speaks none, I speak little) and after that sang in the road, the organizer ended up cancelling the day of service event last minute anyway to visit someone in the hospital (oh dear).

So I made my way to College Park anyway, since I missed JJ alot and never get to see her enough. We ended up swimming at her sister L's community pool, which was a beautiful place, but the situation was kind of aggravating towards the beginning since the lifeguard was 90 minutes late and no one could swim before he got there! JJ and her wonderful guy A hung around with me, A much more enthusiastic about the water than JJ, and we had fun like little kids with doing flips, relaxing on and pestering each other with those foam noodle things, and being otherwise aquatic.



After hanging with L and helping her unload some groceries for a roommate's going away party (she got JJ fresh cherries from the store, and we devoured them immediately after our laborious - not really - water workout) JJ and I abandoned A to go to Value Village, an amazing thrift store where JJ helped me find brand new Gap jeans for $14 and some funky tops for work (think shirts with wing-like features and swirls). I figure, when one is barely employed by three mental health groups, why not dress to express one's own mental oddness? Or at least I think this now, since it is my last work week at job #2 (goodbye dresscode!!) and I will be super-scrounging until full-time days to fill up my work week with honestly billable hours at jobs #1&3 (so all shopping should be second-hand shopping). From the Village of Value, I also got S a happy, fat Buddha, since we have a Jesus and some Hindu dudes in the new place but nothing in keeping with the Asian persuasion of religious figurines. Hopefully he will be a good luck charm for the new place (My recently re-Baltimored friend J is into feng shui, so she should be able to tell me what this little chubs guy can do for us).

Speaking of Asian, after shopping, A asked JJ and I to a pho restaurant, where we ate pho. If you haven't ever had it, stop to think about what it could possibly be, and then click here! It was really good, and paired with some plum sauce, some hot sauce, and a bubble tea on the side (and minus the meat!), the whole experience was delicious.

After eating, I really had to head back to Baltimore so S and I could go dancing. That's right, we dance. We just don't invite anyone we know or love to join us when we do, so we can really cut loose without damaging our reputations as simpletons of movement. We went to Red Maple's Michael Jackson tribute (RIP from your little fan at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, Mike!) and before we got in the cab to go there, I forgot my ID not once, but twice after leaving the apartment. Chances are if you ever take a cab with me, you should personally take an inventory of the survival items I have or haven't forgotten, or else I might not make it wherever we're going together.

On Sunday we had family time, during which K won Trivial Pursuit (What is it with the guys winning all the board games recently?! I say conspiracy!!) and M gave us some yummy gummy snacks to take home.

Then last night we saw The Hangover, which was great, but forgive me, Mike Tyson can box/chew ears better than he can act.
It was a perfect weekend until O the cat became possessed with the spirit of Satan, no exaggeration. We had to lock him in the bathroom twice so he wouldn't claw us to bits in the middle of the night, and the second time we contained him, he started eating the door. This is all because we fed him two small evening meals instead of one giant one. I worry for our safety.

Well, with a fun weekend like that, it is safe to say that the week has begun just so-so, but I am excited to get home and to cook something very creative after a 2 granola bar lunch and an applesauce breakfast. And I have high hopes for Tuesday too..

Feet (Getting back on them)

So this week so far has not been as good as the weekend. (Big surprise!)

Saturday wasn't a crazy time or anything, in fact the main event included hauling this really weighty cedar chest from one apartment to the other, creating yet another mess in my old place from all of the random papers and projects that had been stowed away in said chest for the past 2 years (the thing would have been completely unwieldy had I left all these packed in there).

After some needed relaxation, I became truly disgusted with all my messiness, and decided I needed to clean at least one room. I opted, for some reason, for the kitchen.

But the Saturday story ends well, because, after 4 or so hours, I had washed all the dishes, scrubbed the counters, cleaned the microwave, cleared and cleaned the table top, 3times mopped and shined the floor, and started what will be a multi-day process of de-junkifying the stove top (trust me, this took up 90 minutes or so on it's own - with minimal progress actually being made on it). The result - an impeccably clean room in an otherwise disaster of an apartment.

Sunday was an even better day, because it was Father's Day and I was meeting M&K for an early dinner. I slept in, stopped at Starbucks (broke me got the sweetened iced coffee instead of the white mocha) and traveled north to the cabin. I got there in time to catch up about the week after the wedding, and enjoyed M's dismay when we got to the restaurant and the only non-meat entre was the plate of onion rings (I opted for the salad bar instead). After dinner, we got the movie Dan in Real Life to watch, which was adorable and had great people in it like the lady who plays Holly on the US version of The Office and the lady who played Susan on Friends. After sampling the evening cartoon lineup, we just sat outside on the porch and talked. It was so nice!

This week, however, has been a tough one. I have had so much trouble sleeping at night and waking up in the morning! On Monday I arrived 2 or 3 minutes late for my first meeting of the day, on Tuesday I barely worked from home, and on Wednesday, I actually told S, "I hate going to work," evening though what I meant was, 'I hate having this dysfunctional morning schedule that makes me crabby everday before work.'

Tomorrow I have an early morning meeting, so I really need to get out of this funk (today I got to sleep somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning). What I wouldn't give right now to be one of those automatically or regimented-through-discipline persons (I am thinking of my freshman buddy P and the gentleman in my life junior year that we lovingly know as "pre-med") who can "turn-off" at midnight and wake up by 7 the next day no matter what. I might sell a soul or two to be, beyond that, the kind of person who only needs 5 hours of sleep a night, and who can get in a gym workout or class before their shower, coffee, full breakfast, and morning devotions before getting into work at 8am like clockwork. Aah, if only I weren't so fortunuate as to have these petty issues be my only problems, right?

So this week is plodding along - hopefully things will start looking up, as I need to browse for fold-up deck furniture some time soon (MORE IKEA!) and I will be cavorting with JJ this weekend to do a healthcare day of service a few towns away (TRAVEL/VOLUNTEERISM/JJ!).

Before I know it, I will moved in, my bare feet on my deck, sitting on my fold-up deck chair, morning coffee in hand, planning the outfit I plan to wear (by outfit, I mean lame costume I am too old for) to the Harry Potter movie with JJ and L. Before I know it, so I plan to hang in there, and not sweat the small stuff (and wake up on time!).

Hope all is well in the land of other people. It's a sunny day, and I've got the "Heroes in the fight" mug on my desk, so all is truly well here.

Snooping

So, in honor of the newly re-designed blog, I have decided to do a semi-weekly, perhaps weekly, post on my favorite random blogs via the next blog function on Blogger, whereby I simply click and find something I'm really impressed with and then show it to you!

This week, I have 4 selections:

#1: http://darirantau.blogspot.com/

I was immediately taken with the family photos, the tradition, and the beauty of it all. This blogger has a pretty incredible life or so it seems, and is very generous to document it online. I would really love to sit down and just ask about all the goings-on, the generations, the weather, the language, the everything..

#2: http://bixodotrapo.blogspot.com/

What can I say? - Art, jewelry, color, buttons, SOLD! I obviously don't speak the language, but I am still trying to figure how to acquire these incredibly charming designs or how to hone the ability to make some of one's own.

#3: http://qualityinprint.blogspot.com/

This is where the nerd in me comes out. Do I know anything about printing, or paper? Other than S telling me that the Chinese invented it, along with Slim Jims, unicorns, and vacation time, absolutely not. However, this blog is a truly intriguing read, and it mixes humor into a highly critical, highly technical, and certainly professional web space. Bravo, and I will be checking in with you whenever I need a random factoid to freak out friends and family.

and finally,

#4: http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/

Being an email subscriber to Stuff White People Like, I have to say this is a great blog with a similar feel, whether one is Christian or not. The blogger being Christian, there is reverence where reverence is due. The blogger being awesome, there is a ton of wit, gentle mockery of the hypocrisies of our common human nature, and wonderful examples of how God is great, but we often as believers are just a hot mess.

As icing on the cake, blog posts include parody song lyrics like the following:...

“Just pray. Gonna be okay.
Da-doo-doo-doo
Just pray. Spin that Bible babe.
Da-doo-doo-doo
Just pray. Gonna be okay.
Duh-duh-duh-duh
Pray. Pray. Pray. Just pray.” (To the tune of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance")

...And re-interpretations of biblical encounters like the following line from the Lord:

"I'm Jesus. Don't try to play me out."

...I'm in love!

Well, kids, have a happy Father's Day weekend.* I'll be back next week with another 7 days' worth of my own brand of blogging bravado.



*Have you noticed that there aren't a lot of funny Father's day cards out there that are not also gross and/or immasculating? Most I have seen involve in the "humor" a) farting, b) letting Dad know Mom wears the pants, c) asking for money.