Tights!

I love tights.

I recently found out that jeans are not allowed on Friday dress down day (what?!), and I was pretty bummed until I realized it's tights weather!

My favorite go-to black tights are ASSETS, Target's Spanx brand. I bought a pair on sale three years ago, and I'm still wearing them. They look brand new except for a little hole in the crotch where the seam has started to let go.
They're opaque enough to wear with a shorter skirt and not feel terribly inappropriate but not so thick that you feel like you're going to die if the heat kicks on. They stay up beautifully and even if you're not looking for a shaper (I wasn't when I bought my first pair), I'd highly recommend them. The fact that they make your rear look like you've been doing a million squats a day is just a happy bonus.

I'm also a huge fan of colorful, patterned, or textured tights and I'm so excited that they seem to be becoming more and more popular every year.
I've found a lot at local department stores. JCPenny usually has some fun options and Target always has fun solid color options.

Online I've found that ASOS has some fun, hilarious, or sophisticated options. Not to mention super hot. Hello? And come on, if my legs weren't short and chunky, how smokin' would these be? I should mention I've never owned a pair of these so I know nothing about the quality, but oh boy do I lust after them.

Hue also has some swoon-worthy options and Foot Traffic has tons of unique options.

I also like to wear fun colored leggings (most of mine are from Victoria's Secret) under a dress for a warmer option and I personally find it as comfortable as sweatpants so I can still be comfy on dress down day even without my jeans.

What are your favorite fall and winter fashions?

My First Time - The Neti Pot

I gave in.
I bought a neti pot.
People I know who have these talk about them like it's the most life changing thing that you will ever do for yourself.
I was skeptical and when you add that to the fact that I thought using one of these would feel like drowning myself with salty water, I was hesitant to run out and jump on the neti wagon.

After a day of incredible sinus pressure (which at the time I wrote off as allergies but have recently understood to be a terrible crippling cold - ick) I figured I may as well try it out.
I was at work and feeling pretty cruddy, so I took myself across the street and combed the aisles for medicine and the like when I came across the neti pot kit which comes with the pot and 30 pre-measured packets of saline. The instructions even included a delightful photograph of a lovely woman with the pot unceremoniously shoved up a nostril. Giggles ensued, mostly thanks to my nervousness at wasting $12 on something I'd never be able to successfully use.

When I got home, I figured I may as well give it a go.
I took my time, got the water to a comfortable temperature, carefully measured out my 8 ounces of water, took a deep breath, and stuck the thing in my nose.
Imagine my shock when without any real effort there was saline streaming out of my other nostril!
It was so easy!
I still haven't decided whether or not this is going to change my life, but it was so much more simple then I thought it would be.

My quick tips:

• Breathe through your mouth - this should go without saying as you'll be unable to breath out of your nose with water streaming through it, but just in case you thought you'd try, don't.
• Try not to swallow. You can without drowning or anything, but it does not taste good.
• Have your tissues or a towel ready. You're not going to blow boogers everywhere, but your nose is going to keep dripping the saline for a little while. From my personal experience, your spouse will probably not be too turned on my your drippy saline nose.
• Since I've been sick and super stuffed up, I have not been able to use the neti with much success. I will continue to attempt since it seems like this should be the ideal time to need to flush out my sinuses, but I guess if I can breathe out of my nose, there's no good path for the solution to follow either.
• For goodness sake, keep your face over the sink. You don't want that ick all over the bathroom!
  

Walgreens Deals!

Last weekend when I had to take a break at work, I meandered over to Walgreens and searched the sale aisle. I found some great nail polish deals!


First up, Wet and Wild nail polishes were on sale for only 99 cents.
I bought Gray's Anatomy.
It doesn't photograph well, but it's pretty neat in person. It's a really pretty iridescent which generally looks lilac and gray but occasionally shows touches of blue and green. Really unique without being obnoxious!
This color took three coats to look good, but it wore really well and is a fun color for this time of year. I also got lots of positive comments on it while I was wearing it.
This should be available at any drug stores that carry the Wet and Wild line.



Next up was Nicole by OPI Party in the Penthouse for only $1.99. This is a glittery dark blue (shown here with a silver Konad pattern). By itself I thought this color was kind of boring but it's a nice base to stamp on. Unfortunately this one took three or four coats to get nice coverage and it chipped fairly easily.
Fortunately, I only paid two bucks for it and it's a different shade of blue from any other polish I have in my collection.
I don't know if this is still readily available. I wouldn't recommend it at the regular price tag of $7.99, but if you come across it at $1.99 like I did, go for it!

A Taste of Summer

My mother-in-law recently celebrated her birthday.

One of her very favorite things in the beach, and as a person who shares my child-like love of all things sappy and cute, I endeavored to create a cake as colorful and fun as her joie de vivre.

To decorate, I used vanilla wafers to create sand and some colored frosting to shape the waves with the help of a few Swedish Fish. The beach chair and palm trees were purchased at Create-a-Cake and and the beach towels are fashioned out of some Air Heads candy. George also created a sun (not pictured here) out of some melted yellow decorators sugar.


The inside was a little more tricky. I split a white cake mix into four parts and died each a different color (The most fun part for me besides the decorating was how fun the batter looked in the bowls - like something out of the feasts in the movie Hook). I then poured these into 9 inch cake rounds and baked them according to the box directions.
This was my first attempt and I haven't yet perfected getting the colors perfectly even, but it was still a fun surprise. I think this technique would be easier on a smaller scale like cupcakes where each layer could be smoothed out with less difficulty.
I also chose to use chocolate frosting between the layers and should have stuck with some white or cream cheese frosting dyed a fun rainbow color to add to the fun of the inside.

Have you baked anything fun lately?

Share with me in the comments below!

Stars and (Zebra) Stripes

Happy 4th of July, friends!

What better way to celebrate our great nation then with a patriotic manicure? None, say I.

Pretend I cleaned up the edges of my manicure before I took this picture.

This was done with a base of Avon's Nailwear Pro in French Tip White followed by the fishnet print done with Wet and Wild Fast Dry in Silvivor.
On my ring fingers I used Konad's special polish in blue and red to do zebra stripes for a punny play on stars and stripes and then did the stars in the same colors on all the other nails.

If you'd like to try it yourself, the fishnet and the zebra stripes are both from Konad plate m57. There are several plates that have stars on them, but these particular stars are from m3.
(If you're a real USA nut, check out m14. After all, we Americans love us some cupcakes and diamonds.)

Now, go have fun!
And be sure not to blow off any fingers with illegal fireworks... it'd be a shame to waste all that hard work!

Pottermore

Have you signed up for Pottermore yet?

Also, who else is excited for Google+?!?!
(Psst.... feel free to send me an invite)

I think Google+ will be to Facebook what Facebook was to MySpace.
Is that totally dweeby, or does it make sense?

Legs of Steel!

I so want this shirt.
I wish I rode my bike more often so that I wouldn't feel like a jerk wearing it while riding around in my big old Buick.

I've been sick.
::cough, cough::

Accept this instead of a real post.

What summer treat does Avon's Powerful Pink remind me of?

Summer Shine

Even though the weather here has been less than ideal (rain, anyone?), I'm so ready for summer to begin. I figure what better way to advertise that than with a fun, sunny manicure?

I started with a base of OPI's Bling Dynasty from the Hong Kong collection. It's a slightly older color, but is still readily available online.
I don't much care for this color on its own. I find it boring and too much of a yellowy gold, but I like it fin e as a base to stamp on.


For this manicure, I chose plate m64 - it's been one of my

new favorites - and used the pattern on the bottom right.

(Does anyone else look at this and think of the bad late 80s/early 90s laser photo background? I'm going to have to try bright pink and blue over a nice navy some time and see how it goes.)

For my stamping, I used Avon's Mirror Shine in Blaze (currently on sale for only $1.79). The mirror is less of a true mirror finish and more of a metallic look. I like this line a whole lot. It only takes one coat to cover well and it dries super fast, making it a perfect go-to for my toes. I figured this would be perfect to stamp with, and it was except for one thing - it dries too fast. I could barely transfer the stamp to my nail before it was too dry to adhere well.
Except for the edges, I did wind up getting a pretty nice transfer. I had to clean the plate after ever two stamps of so, but that's no big deal, and the colors look excellent together.

I did this manicure on Monday, and it's still looking good.

(Pardon the terrible picture quality - I need new batteries for my real camera and have had to resort to the webcam.)

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

While attending a Royal Wedding/Birthday celebration, I had the opportunity to try out Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Purple Purple.

The color was great - really true to what it looked like it would be from the bottle. And best of all this picture was taken two days after I'd painted my nails and the polish survived a weekend which included washing dishes, doing laundry, and digging in my garden (sans gloves) with only the most minor chipping.

A day or two later while taking my break at work and perusing the cosmetics at the neighboring Walgreens, I was happy to see that this same brand polish was included in a BOGO free sale. I'm a nail polish junkie, so I looked for some nice springy colors and headed for the checkout.


The Purple Purple is no longer available, so I wound up with Plum's the Word seen at the right and I Pink I Can to the left below. I was really disappointed with the Plum color. In the bottle, it looked like a much creamier color and like it might even have a bit of a pearl glow, but on my nails, it turned out to look really muddy. Frankly, it reminded me of the color of Silly Putty when you've used it to transfer one comic strip too many.

The I Pink I Can was a much more fun color, I can really imagine myself wearing it in the time between my pastels of spring and hot pinks of summer. It's a little darker in person than it photographed, kind of a bubble gum pink with hints of coral. When I had it on, I couldn't help but think of Barbies and Disney princesses. I also got a few complements on it that day from 7th grade girls, so you know it's totally hip.

Sadly, the pink was really streaky, even after three coats (the plum took only two coats to cover my nails pretty well). In addition, both colors took FOREVER to dry! I found they were still slightly tacky over an hour later.

To add to the disappointments, these colors both started to chip around the tips of my nails the same day I had painted them even though I hadn't done anything that should have been very damaging to the polish. I was especially shocked by this after the experience I had had with the Purple Purple the week before.
After doing a little detective work I found reviews from users who had similar problems to mine, many of whom had loved the Complete Salon Manicure line before the company had revamped the formula.

So, if you have an older bottle of this, cherish it. Even on my toes this polish doesn't wear well. It's a real shame, there are some excellent colors I would have loved to try and the idea of having 5 steps in one bottle is really great. It's sad that this formula falls short.

Avon Custom Shade

Buy it here.

Love my eyeshadow, hate my awkwardness and voice.

Cat Toys

I have a mean cat.

As she's gotten older Harley's been biting less, but she's still a jerk a lot of the time. I'm sure that, like the class clown at school, a lot of her behavior is because she's bored and alone a lot of the day.

To try and remedy her behavior, I've recently tried a few new cat toys with some pretty excellent success.

First up was the Ba-Da-Beam. I've been thinking about getting her an automatic laser toy for a while and finally sprung for this one when I saw it on sale.
The advantage of this particular model is the nice wide base. Harley likes to knock things over, so this is a huge plus for me. She really likes this toy, but tends to bat the toy itself around the room and knock it off of whatever surface I set it on.
The big disadvantage of this toy is that the laser just goes around and around in circles pausing at regular intervals. Because of this, Harley tends to get bored with it pretty quickly but she does regain interest if I reposition it about half way though its cycle.

The next toy I got her was possibly the greatest toy for her yet, the Pawbreaker. I picked this up earlier today, and all afternoon she's been rolling all over it, kicking it, and licking it (the catnip's also mellowed her out a lot, which makes the Ba-Da-Beam even more exciting).
Soooooo... even though I've had this for less than a day, I'd call it a success.

What are your suggestions for kitty toys? Or even better, what are some ways to keep a cat from attacking my ankles?!?

Royal Nails

Has anyone else been constantly watching the specials about the Royal Family? Between TLC, TV Guide Channel, and the news stations, there's no shortage of coverage.

Thanks to this constant stream of fabulous, I've been inspired by upcoming wedding of Wills and Kate to try an understated manicure reminiscent of their official commemorative china.

I started with a base of Avon Nailwear Pro in Vintage Blue. (It's no longer available on the website, but if you love it let me know and I'll see if I can still get it.)




I wanted to give a nod to the china without being over the top, so I chose the floral paisley pattern on Konad plate m64 to overlay China Glaze in Jitterbug.

The final result is fun and playful while still being understated. It may not have a monogram and golden crown flanked by bows and love birds, but when it's next to my Princess Ring, I think it gets the point across.

The blue is a little lighter in person - much closer to the color of the china.

School's Out FOREVER.

I have officially finished the last of my classes to get my master's degree. Although I am thrilled that I will no longer be paying for said classes and I'm pretty excited that when I get a real, full-time job (when, not if) I'll get paid quite a bit more, I m a bit anxious about the whole not being in class thing. I've been a student for about 20 years now with no more than a 6 month break in between. What am I going to do with myself? Although, I'm not going to worry about that right now - it's time to enjoy SUMMER.

I've been working quite a bit so far this summer, so between my time back at good ol' Malley's and all of the research work for my class my days have been pretty packed. This hasn't kept me from squeezing some fun in there, oh no.

Besides seeing friends, going to cookouts, and enjoying time in my garden, I've even had time for more!

I've already traveled to spend a weekend in Chicago for the graduation party of a family friend. Weekend festivities included seeing family and friends, eating too much, and swimming with Mackenzie in the hotel pool.

Since Miss Mack proved to be such a little mermaid, Uncle George and Aunt Amy took her once again to swim in George's family's pool. She had a blast, and besides jumping into the pool once without holding on to Aunt Amy's hands, seems to be really close to being able to swim.

Just last week George, Rachel, Jamie (George's sister), and I all went to see Joel McHale perform at the Civic Auditorium. He was hilarious, his opener Chris Hardwick (current host of Web Soup and former host of Singled Out) also made me laugh my butt off, so the evening was a success.

After my last class I went out with the girls, many of whom I've traveled through most of the EdTech program with for a while now, and I genuinely had a blast. I've been feeling a little anxious in social situations with people I don't know well lately, but something about this group was so dynamic and wonderful. I'm really going to miss a lot of the girls and the program in general.

The future holds two weddings (I'm super pumped for Irene's this weekend), another trip to Chicago, a week at the beach, and hopefully a lot more time with friends and my favorite niece.


I have been using Twitter, albeit poorly, but you can follow me @amypoporad.

This book is either the greatest or the most disturbing thing ever. You be the judge.

I'm saddened by all of these celebrity deaths lately, particularly Michael Jackson's. I've always loved his earlier work and I think he was an amazing performer despite all of the weirdness that surrounded him. But, that's all I'll say. There are plenty of touching memorials out there that are much better than I could ever do.

I would love to go see this collection. I particularly love the green and white number and of course the champagne colored dress on the second page. The queen was a fashionable lady, my friends!

I would like to answer a few questions right here so that they won't be asked of me every single time I see someone.
#1 How's married life treating you?
This is like asking me how it feels to be however old on my birthday. It's pretty cool, but really not that different. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my married life just fine, but in the long run there haven't been that many changes. I still go to work, come home, eat, and sleep. I just do it in a different house with a different person.
#2 When are you going to have a baby?
No time soon. And yes, I have gained some weight and yes, I'm probably not drinking tonight; but no, I am not knocked up. We are not in a place right now financially where it would be a responsible decision to have a child. Once I have a contract or once George starts to sell multi-million dollar homes we'll start planning, but until then, don't ask.


Help me to make this summer even more successful. Call me, invite me out. I'm free most days after 5.

A Few Things

First:

Heck yes, Mr. Rogers!
I also like that this is categorized as comedy on YouTube.

Second:
Why are lamps so expensive?
I'm looking for lamps to register for to put on our night stands, and I can't help but be shocked at the prices for some of these. Here I am, innocent little me. "Oh, hey... That looks like a nice, simple lamp. Wait? It's how much? Holy heck!"
That's not really one that I was looking at registering for, but can anyone tell me what would make that worth $359!?!! For that much I expect it to be made out of parts from an animal on the endangered species list or something like that.
I do kind of love some of the lamps at Urban Outfitters though.
I also like this one from World Market, but I can totally see the cat having a grand old time with that.

In other news, I've been working a lot. I just finished up a long-term job at school and now I'm looking forward to the possibility of a few days off. I'm also doing assistant manager at good ol' Malley's.

Wedding and house things are starting to fall into place.
Don't get me wrong - I still have a shit-ton of stuff to do, but I'm finally starting to see results.
In the house: We have a mostly done master bedroom (complete with a furniture set!), a bathroom that just needs a nice coat or two of paint, a guest room done except for some sanding and painting on the ceiling, a beautiful dining room, and a kitchen that's starting to look a little more like a kitchen.
For the wedding: I've got a sting quartet for the ceremony, a DJ for the reception, my dress, flowers, and a man.
Things are looking good.

I started planting things outside and this excites me.

On Saturday, I had a fun filled day with my college roomie, Megan.
I met up with her and some of her boy toys for breakfast and then we went to the Westside Market. I love the Westside Market and need to start going there more often. Volunteer chaperones are more than welcome to join me.

thanks Karrie

Hello old friends.
I've fallen off of the blog wagon and I'm a little worried that I have forgotten how to blog.
Hopefully things will come back to me (not that I was ever an excellent blogger to begin with, but whatever).

Alright, so... things that I have been up to.
Starting over the summer, I had the opportunity to pick up yet another part-time job working with Heather and Karrie at Liberty.
I read a lot, had a fun time, and very much enjoyed most of the people that I worked with. Although working three jobs was tough, I had a great time doing it and got a good start on a book collection for once I get my very own classroom.
Sadly, in early January, the store closed.
I barely know what to do with myself - between not having a great supply of (free or at least nicely discounted) books and having my evenings free, I'm just a lost soul. I also have far too much free time in which to spend all of my hard earned cash (which is slightly diminished anyways due to my lack of a third income).
I'm still slinging ice cream and shaping the minds of America's youth, so it's not like I'm an unemployed slob or anything like that, but I do very much miss my bookstore.

I've had quite a few regular jobs this year in the subbing world.
I had the opportunity to work with a teacher for a week and a half while her team-teacher was doing an exchange program in Turkey.
This was amazing because not only did I get to pass off all the tough stuff to my colleague, it was also like a little mini field experience. To top it all off, the teacher I was working with was amazing and the kids were great too.
In December, my entire month was spent in a long term subbing position for the woman I student taught with.
Several of her students were little shits, but for the most part, I enjoyed my time there.
I'll probably be back for her again in May.
Later on this month I also have a two week job for a teacher doing contract negotiations.
I've spent almost the whole year in the middle schools which has been excellent.
It's given me the opportunity to get to know a lot of the teacher and to suck up to the administrators an awful lot too. Let's hope I've gotten my foot far enough in the door this year that I'll get a full time position soon.
I should probably start coaching something soon so that my chances will be greater. Too bad I'm the least athletic person on the face of the planet.

Wedding plans are going slow. A lot of it has fallen in place, but there are still quite a few details that need some more planning.
If all else fails, at least I've got the big things - a dress, a ring, and a man.

I've been horribly socially awkward lately.
Sweatpants and the couch have been my best friends. The worst part though is that every time I don't go out and do something, I regret it horribly the next day. On the other hand, if I do go out, I feel awkward and out of place no matter what.
So I'm a loser no matter what.
Boo.

New and exciting things:
1. I have a doggy.
He's cute and cuddly and I like him an awful lot.
Goliath is living with George and his family until we move in and get settled in the house.

2. I got my ears pierced.
I've been talking about doing it since Becky got married, and I finally manned up and did it.
My deformed nubbin ear still hurts like all get-out and has been just a little crusty, but considering it's funky and deformed, things seem to be going well.

Okay blogging world, hopefully this hasn't been too painful.
Thanks for welcoming me back with open arms.

Joel Stein makes me laugh.

A holiday for sluttiness - Los Angeles Times

I would just like to point out that it's only 5 in the morning and I just got a call for a job.
Sometimes this subbing stuff really stinks.

Dear Friends,
I wear a 9.

I'm not much of a hip hop fan, but damn, Chris Brown's VMA performance is awfully entertaining.

Wanna know what I did on my day off?

Today I did this.

Blah, blah, blah.

I've been working a lot lately. This is kind of okay because I'm making mad, fat bank. This is kind of stinky because there are other things that I would like to be doing.
I spent a week at the beach with George's family and that was nice. Since then, I've been totally back in the groove of things with barely any Amy time. There's a certain part of me that looks forward to the school year starting so that I can be back into the subbing thing and then there's the part of me that thinks about waking up at 6 every morning and cringes.
Either way.. boo.

Niece update:
Miss Mackenzie has been a delight.
She's little miss personality and about this close to walking. She's got crawling down now, that's for sure.
Today I painted her toe nails bright pink. That makes me giggle.

Wedding update:
George and I went to look at our reception hall and we're going tomorrow to give them the downpayment.
Things are really rolling now.
There's the dress, the church, the reception hall.
It's a bit crazy (especially since I'm still 16 in my head) and totally exciting all at the same time.

Also, my parents tennants are currently moving out meaning that pretty soon I will be moving in to a big ol' house. I even have a possible roommate, so things they are a changing.

My cat somehow managed to break the keyboard on my desktop which explains why I haven't been around the internet as much lately. If you'd like to get a hold of me the cellular device would be the best bet.

I'm probably working, but call me.
I miss you.

A lot of things have been happening in my life lately.

If you haven't been updated via facebook or a phone call, I am engaged.
This has been a new adventure and George and I are already starting to plan.

I also recently started a new job at Liberty Books and News.
So far I really love it and I'm also enjoying getting to see Karrie and Heather.
I'm still doing the Malley's thing since I'm most likely a lifer there.
Two summer jobs have proved to be detrimental to my social life, but not nearly as bad as having to wake up at 6 to sub.

I finished my classes for this semester. I am now about half way to having my masters degree.
I find this to be crazy since I've been going slow. It seems like I just started grad school a few months ago.

In much sadder news, my itty bitty kitty passed away.
I'm really missing my Darcy Anne.
It's been tough not to have her around when I need a furry friend to cuddle. I keep trying to tell myself that she had a great stay with us and I know that had I not picked her up that day five years ago that she wouldn't have lasted long, but loosing a pet is always rough.
I've been further depressing myself by browsing Petfinder.
If you ask me, I'd tell you that I'm searching because I want a new buddy for my dad, but the real secret is that I'm missing Darcy and I need something to help heal the hurt.
Right now Tomato is high on the list for babies I want to rescue.

Speaking of rescue, I plan on saving my flesh from Harley Trouble Cat (how was that for a segue?) with some softpaws.
The toughest part now is going to be picking a color.

In yet other exciting news, I have added a new feature to my little old page here.
Check towards the left of the page there under my friend links to listen to my very own playlist.
I'll be adding new stuff there on a regular basis, so feel free to stop by and have a listen.

That's it.

I want a pet rat.

I have a few confessions to make.
One: I've actually started to enjoy watching basketball. I think rooting for the winning team is always a little more uplifting.
Two: While watching the game last night, I came to the conclusion that Drew Gooden has really nice skin. I think that this is just about the most ridiculous thing to notice while watching a basketball game, but really; with all that sweating and running around, how does he keep his skin so smooth and even complected?
My final confession; I know that LeBron should be my all time favorite player, but in the Cavs world, my number one spot goes to Daniel Gibson. Something about his personality makes me feel like it may actually be fun to be an athlete. I generally think that most professional basketball players seem a little too scowly for their own good, but I suppose when your nickname is Boobie, you've gotta be a pretty easy-going guy.

So, long story short, I'm excited that the Cavs are #1 in the Eastern Conference and I guess I may have joined the Cavs Nation.

I have to take a second to tell you about something terrifying that I saw driving home from class tonight.

There was a man riding a bike with a child carrier on the back of it. This is not the scary part. The scary part came when I observed that his head was tilted in a funny way to HOLD HIS CELL PHONE TO HIS EAR. WHILE RIDING A BICYCLE. WITH A BABY. ON THE BACK.

Holy cow.

In other news, classes are in full swing and kinda stink, especially when 8:30 rolls around and it doesn't seem that we'll get out early (or on time for that matter).
Boo.

Things that I am excited about:
-I cancelled my subbing job for tomorrow to stay home and watch my niece. I would much rather do this than hang out with some jerky 5th graders that I don't know.
-Today after I was done subbing I went to Plant Crafters with my sister. While there, I bought myself a mint plant which I am going to put in my backyard and then harvest to make my tea even yummier than usual.
-You may not know this, but I have a problem with my sweatpant obsession. If I am not in public, I am most likely wearing sweatpants or some other clothing item with an elastic waistband. I know, I know... not stylish. I am furthering this problem with my new purchase, this skirt. Wonderful. It's way more comfy in person than that picture makes it look.
-Target now sells Mango slushies and loose tea leaves. Oh my gosh. I could totally live there now.

Things that I am not so excited about:
-Classes started a week ago. They are long and boring and require reading tons of things I don't want to read.
Yeah, that's really the only terrible thing going on right now.

Between my jobs and classes, I've been keeping far more busy than I would like to be. Once the school year is over, I'm looking for someone to call me and take me to the fitness trail in the Metroparks so that I can have rippling abs by the end of the summer.
Hook it up, yo.

Oh, and P.S.
Someone is 5 months old now.

Hey guys.
My internet's back. Did you miss me?
What? You didn't even notice I was missing.
Oh.

Well, it was out for about a week and the phone company was a dick about it, but other than that and my lack of contact with the world, I survived.

Yay me.

U.S. History T-Shirt

I'm pretty sure I need this.

Four months already.

Yesterday I went to Lakewood Public Library (number one in the country, baby) to work on the research project I have due tomorrow for my class (hey there EDU512, I can see the light at the end of your terrible tunnel).
It was a very successful trip for several exciting reasons. Let me list a few of them for you now.
1. I got a ridiculous amount of work done in a very short about of time. I felt all Hermione Granger up in the library being all crazy smart. I'm sorry, that's a very nerdy and uncool reference to make, but I was just watching part of the 3rd Harry Potter movie the other day.
2. Children come to the library and this really made me happy. Now, I realize that they're probably just latchkey kids using the library's computers to look at myspace or something, but in my happy little world, I saw a glimmer of hope.
3. Crazies are always entertaining, and Lakewood's finest had turned out to keep me amused yesterday. There were your usual crazies; an older man fighting with the librarian about something, a woman practically screaming into her cell phone in the "quiet" section of the library, little kids with backpacks and no parents running around like they were in gym class... but there was one lady in particular who has now raised the bar for local crazies, at least in my mind. She came off the elevator (which I was sitting fairly close to) talking with very few pauses. She was older and fairly frazzled looking. Her arms were burdened by several plastic shopping bags as well as one of the library's newspapers, the ones secured on a long wooden dowel. I didn't think much of her narration at first, I just rolled my eyes to myself a little and thought about how rude it was that people just walk around the library talking so loudly on their cell phones. After she made a few more passes then then decided to sit at the table right next to mine, I finally noticed that among the things she was carrying, a cell phone was not present. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I glanced her way hoping to see a bluetooth light flashing in her ear but as I'm sure you can guess, there was none. Now, I've run into crazies that babble before, but this woman's narration was amazing. I wish I'd taken a break from my paper typing to record a few of the gems she had, but I was on a mission to get this stuff done so I neglected to get many of the highlights. They were just out of control and made me think that this woman was going to freak out at any second and attack ("well, you may as well just walk up those stairs and kill yourself then") so I discretely packed up my things shortly after she got there and headed home but not before absorbing a little of the greatness that is the patrons of the public library.
4. The library has wifi but they also block certain programs from running on your computer. Now, while this sadly made it hard for me to navigate the databases I was using for my projects, it also didn't allow AIM to work. Normally this would be a bad thing, but yesterday it really helped to contribute to my getting ridiculous amounts of work done.
Alright, so thost were really the highlights, but considering I was only there for about an hour and a half, it's pretty impressive.

Totally unrelated (although some of the people enrolled there are crazies, but in a much happier and fun to be around way), this past Saturday I went to be a model at Aveda for my friend, Britt.
It wound up being a spa day for Amy with tons of primping and pampering. Here's another (slightly more abbreviated and list-like) list of the exciting things I had done:
1. scalp massage
2. hair washed twice and conditioned
3. facial and hot compress
4. hand and arm massage
5. haircut
6. hair styled
7. make-up application
By the end of the day (I was there for over 4 hours of pampering and tea-drinking) I was feeling pretty amazing. This is maybe something I could get hooked on.
Anyone who wants to practice massage, I'm available.
Yowza.

I feel like I never end these things well, but duty calls and it's time for me to get up, pretend I'm an adult, and go to work. (Luckily it's only a half day!)

Well, I'm home.
I had a pretty excellent trip. Highlights included drinking a lot of sweet tea, having my picture taken with a George Washington impersonator (reinactor?), petting a chicken, and having a generally nerdy time.

I have posted some of my pictures on flickr and a bunch on facebook if you'd like to be vicariously dweeby through my adventure.

Also,

I love this.

Hey, just in case you were worried about my whereabouts, I'm going to be on vacation starting tomorrow for about a week.
I'm going to nerdy places like Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, and Washington D.C.
I'm pretty pumped about it.

Expect me to come home with some Founding Father swag and maybe a Lincoln Memorial something-or-other, too.

Why Intelligent People Tend To Be Unhappy

Kinda interesting.

Trivia of the Day

Before I get started with your trivia, let's all first shed a little tear over what a nerd I've become.
However, this picture does have some relevance (besides just showing off my awesome new shirt and greatest Christmas present) as my trivia does in fact include my Benny (as all good trivia does).

Did you know that it was Benjamin Franklin who originally suggested daylight saving time? The idea behind it was not only to make better use of the light but to also in turn save money and energy. YAY BEN!
Even though my Benny came up with it, no one really did anything with this little bit of his brillance until during World War I when it was used as part of an effort to conserve fuel.
In the United States, the act to preserve daylight and provide standard time was enacted on March 19, 1918. It was only in place for seven months before being repealed by Congress.
World War II once again saw a brief return Daylight Saving Time thanks to FDR. It was called "War Time" and lasted all year from February 2, 1942 to September 30, 1945.
After this, there were no laws dictating DST so states were free to choose whatever they wanted.
On April 12, 1966, LBJ signed into Public Law The Uniform Time Act of 1966. Under this, DST was to begin on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last Sunday of October. Any State that wanted to be exempt from Daylight Saving Time could do so by passing a state law (ahem, Indiana, ahem).
In 1974, Nixon did something wonky with DST too, but no one cares about him, so I'm moving on...
So anyways, if we'd just listened to Ben was back in 1784 then there would have been none of this fooling around.
And the point of my story is:

Don't forget to change your clocks on Sunday!

(Spring forward, in case you forgot.)

Mackenzie

Originally uploaded by tase83.

My little girl is getting big.

I am having trouble with my nose today.
I can breathe through it just fine and if I try to blow it next to nothing comes out.
My issue comes with the fact that every now and again, it will just randomly drip.
So, it drips. I try to blow it... Nothing. Twenty minutes, another drip.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Another issue I am having right now had to do with my television.
It broke today. Luckily it up and broke after 24 but now I'm sad because I'm missing I Love New York and also because I like to fall asleep to the TV.
Boo.

I have to pick a retirement plan before the end of March.
Shouldn't I have a real job before I have to decide on a retirement plan?
This makes me feel really old - the retirement plan, not the lack of a real job.

I've been crazy tired lately. Ridiculously so.
I think I'm bored with winter.
I never even went sledding or made a snowman either. I always have all these plans that I never follow through on.
Now I just want it to warm up so that I can ride my bike.
I also wish that I liked jogging, but no matter what I will probably always think that it stinks.

Today I registered for classes for this Summer. I'm still not sure if I'm going to take them all or not. I only scheduled one class for the second session because I think I'm going to drop it and just take some me time. Actually have a vacation before the school year starts up again.
Also, I'm not sure if I can really afford to pay for all three of them. I'd much rather work and save money than be stuck in class all summer paying tons of dough to the college.

Sometime in late March my parents and I are going to Williamsburg and probably Washington D.C.
I hope the cherry blossoms will be in bloom.

Most days, one of my most dreaded parts of subbing is lunch.
Every time I go into the teacher's study, I feel like I'm 12 and sitting at the end of the lunch table with no friends.
All by myself.
When the other teachers do talk to me, I feel all awkward.
The other day, one even commented under her breath about how I was sitting in someone else's seat.
Oh well.
Hopefully this won't all last forever.