Category: this is my life

You guys remember back when I used to dress like a butch lesbian? Obviously there’s nothing wrong with that, but as I was not in fact a lesbian, it was a misleading look for me. I remember having to make a conscious effort to start dressing in a more feminine way (motivation being twofold – I wanted to stop being mistaken for a man, and I wanted to maybe possibly start attracting more attention from potential dates). It was a slow transformation, mostly because I didn’t give a flip about fashion at that point anyway and makeup was far, far, far too troublesome to be bothered with.

Anyway, that as a preface for this: I’m actually wearing makeup this Monday morning. Yeah yeah, it happens from time to time. I’m also wearing pink. I view this whole decade-long transformation as being something of a liberation; my high school and early college fashion choices were based on 1) the modesty I was taught growing up, and 2) the idea of feminism as being a rebellion against traditional feminine ways. I have since realized that modesty is a good thing but that there’s no reason to go overboard, but more importantly that feminism means I can do whatever the fuck I want. If I want to wear pink cardigans and matching pink heels, that’s perfectly fine. If I want to dress like a man, that is also perfectly fine. Probably because I am more normal than I like to admit sometimes, wearing feminine clothes makes me feel pretty. (Oh yeah, and so does this coconut shampoo.)

And I’m feeling pretty today. It’s nice. So I thought I’d share it with the blog. You’re welcome.

In other news. I had a pretty fantastic weekend.

Saturday morning was spent in bed, as a good portion of Saturday mornings ought to be spent. Saturday afternoon was spent driving down the Natchez Trace with a friend, then going to an Ashley Cleveland show in Bon Aqua. Some of you may recognize her name. It wasn’t a show I would have attended had this friend (we’ll call him Stephen) not invited me, but I really enjoyed the music.

Sunday morning was spent luxuriating in bed, which is one of my favorite Sunday morning pastimes.

Monty Python just put on their (supposedly) last performance, and I went to Opry Mills to watch it with my Russian friend who grew up with the Pythons. I really enjoyed the show; yes they pretty much just performed skits everyone already knows, and no it was not perfect or novel or anything unexpected. However. I really enjoyed it, like I said.

I’m thinking of going through my DVDs and taking a bunch to McKay’s. I need new books. (Please don’t ask me to define “need” here.) I keep trying to read Cold Mountain on my Nook…but I think my charger is bad because it just will not hold a charge. I suppose I could invest in a new charger rather than a paper copy of the book, but sometimes I don’t think clearly when it comes to new books.

I have plenty to say. Let’s see.

Amanda got married on Saturday. I ended up spending Friday night in Joelton, along with a good chunk of the bridal party and Amanda’s family. It was an enjoyable night (maybe not so much for her family, but the rest of us had a blast). The wedding was simple and beautiful and I’m really happy for Amanda and Tim. I feel bad for skipping out on the after party on Saturday night, but the thought of drinking more alcohol was making me want to throw up, and I was just completely peopled-out by that time in the day anyway. So I went home.

Emily stayed with me Saturday night so she could wait until Sunday to drive back to KY, and we got Cracker Barrel for breakfast which was the most human interaction I had all day. After she left and I got back home, I did my best to ignore my phone and focus on Astrud (if you want to know, and I’m pretty sure none of you actually do, I spent most of the day hunting down the 24 Stones of Barenziah and then finding the crown; kind of anti-climactic, but the crown is very, uh, bright and shiny anyway…).

So that’s your extremely condensed version of the weekend. I would go into more detail…but I don’t really feel that it’s too important anyway.

Made these fruit tarts last night and I was pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out. I just made a basic cream cheese filling, but made a honey lavender glaze which I was afraid was going to taste too much like lavender. Personally though, I thought it was perfect.

I have somehow waited until the absolute last day to get my emissions test and renew my tags. Oops. This is what you call “Don’t hide the registration renewal letter.” I accidentally remembered it last Friday. Thankfully, I do have time to renew them, though that doesn’t mean I won’t necessarily get pulled over until the tags come in the mail. Blech.

Had a good weekend overall, which is not why I’m writing. I’m writing because I so much prefer this over making phone calls. If I don’t get a huge bonus after this quarter, I’m going back to customer service (or finding a job working at Cheekwood – damn that would be awesome). Only a huge bonus would make up for how much I dislike my job now. On top of not liking to talk on the phone, I also feel kind of guilty trying to upsell things like Styrofoam. I know that I’m making SOME progress but it’s really hard to be motivated when I am so not motivated by things like money. I really do not like being annoying or being pushy at all, and in my experience, sales reps are almost always either annoying (nice usually, but still annoying) and pushy.

I went to Home Depot yesterday and got three different kinds of basil, and six different succulents. I now I have basil growing in my library, and succulents scattered throughout the house. They’re looking pretty cute. When Joel was staying here, several plants ended up dying because they were in the library and not getting watered, so now I’m feeling much better about my houseplants. Cleaned the kitchen/living room yesterday as well which always help me feel good.

I took a couple of pictures of my new terrariums but they look so-so (the pictures) and I’m not posting any.

In lieu of spending any money this week, I think I’m going to re-dedicate myself to exercise – whether it be hiking in the evenings, or staying home and doing DVD workouts. Much cheaper and more gratifying in the long-term to do this.

Sometimes I think I blog because I don’t want to bombard people with random and unsolicited texts. Especially at 8:30 in the morning. And the reason I’m hesitant to sent that kind of text all the time is just because if I don’t get a reply, I feel sad. So this is better since I don’t really expect replies (though they are welcome and cherished).

Anyway. So I was able to knock out the lawn and the laundry from my to-do list yesterday. Didn’t dye my hair though, which is OK. It’s not like it really looks bad. It just doesn’t look red.

This morning though, I’m realizing that since the weather has gotten hot, I’ve gained some weight. Because instead of wanting to get up on a weekend morning and go hiking, now I just want to stay in bed with the a/c on and the fan blowing directly on me. I guess it’s not all THAT hot in the mornings, always, but still. I should really get over my aversion to hot weather though, as long as it’s just going to keep getting hotter.

The thing I learned the most from my solo hiking expeditions this spring is that I can certainly turn off my brain and just get stuff done without thinking or being miserable. With hiking, all I have to do is move one leg in front of the other. With yoga, I just have to be still and breath. With cleaning the kitchen, I just have to clean the damned kitchen. So I’m sure that I could overcome this hatred that I harbor for hot weather. It’s just going to take some umph.

That said, I can’t exercise tonight anyway because I have dinner plans. And gaming plans the day after. But maybe I’ll get up Saturday morning and go to Beaman Park. Maybe before it’s too hot. I’ll just have to remember to bring a bottle of water.

Today.

I need to…..

Mow the lawn. Each time I plan to do it, it rains. I have the worst timing.

Laundry. Towels AND clothes. I’m about to start drying off after showers with a hand towel.

Dye my hair. My drab brown roots are showing. Dyeing it will definitely make me feel better about it.

In unrelated news, hung out with my Russian friend last night and watched this movie called My Joy. It’s an apt but misleading title, as the movie is anything but joyful. I really, really liked it though.

So yeah, that’s all. Mostly I wanted to record the to-do list so that I’ll be more likely to do it all.

Obviously, I haven’t been writing enough lately. Sorry. This week has been another of those overly social ones, where I spend time with people every evening and then remember after a few days that the reason I feel dreadful is because I’m introverted and need a break. So that’s what I did last night. Stopped by Fat Mo’s after work for dinner, which I ate in bed while watching Grand Budapest Hotel. OMG it was such a good movie. After I finished that I wanted to stay in bed watching Wes Anderson movies for the rest of my life, so I put in the Darjeeling Limited. Also such a good movie. But after finishing that one I just went to sleep. Maybe more tonight.

Another consequence of being social during the week is that my lawn is, yet again, rather overgrown. Going to mow tonight, blah. Also going to clean my kitchen and bathroom, which always seem to be dirty somehow. (The magic of entropy!)

Lately I’m trying to curb my irresponsible spending habits which means not buying new clothes. I’m re-remembering that this is a not-any-fun habit to break. Even if I manage to avoid going to Target for a few months (thankfully, Publix sells everything I NEED from Target and nothing that I just want — e.g. clothes and shoes and DVDs and the like) — there’s always internet shopping. Plus I’m in a wedding here in a few weeks and have been shopping around for a dress, with no luck. Well….I shouldn’t say NO luck. I did find this really adorable sun dress that’s way too casual for a wedding (if you’re in it) and the wrong color anyway – but I went and bought it regardless. It’s SO adorable. Wish I was wearing it today! I think it’s too casual for work too though.

I’m going to see Elvis Costello at the Ryman tomorrow BTW. 😀

I think that I need to be reading more poetry.

I also am thinking about putting all of Joel’s stuff (which is currently scattered all over the floor of my library) into trash bags and stowing them in the closet so that I can actually use that room again. I mean hell, as long as he’s not renting it or anything, why not? I really miss that room!!!

Anyway. There’s your update. Back to work now. Good thing it’s Friday.