Irrepressible Perserverence

Wow, guys, I think I've found a stylist that I'll keep going to while I live here.  My mom recommended her guy, Frank, downtown and I set up an appointment for 5 with him.  He's great - real down to earth and funny; he and his wife own the Galloping Grape, a store in town that does wine and horse stuff (real horse stuff, like saddles), so we talked about wines, beers and cats (they have five cats at home, two barn cats and one that lives at the GG).

I'm really liking the cut, though the bangs are taking some getting used to (and I'm secretly afraid that the style makes me look old; I'll try and post pics tomorrow when I've got WiFi for the iPod).  He cut off a lot of hair without killing the length, so it's so much lighter now.  I knew people could do that but no one really ever has for me so it was kind of an eye opener.

Without tip but with a bottle of shampoo that he recommended (look, I know they always try the sell but Frank's pretty straight with you.  If he didn't think it was going to work, he wouldn't have talked to me about it.  Also, it was 40% off.), I spent $65.  Which considering that was what some people in Alexandria / Arlington started me at, is really good.

Also, I left work early (40 minutes) because I was afraid of hitting traffic.  But I forgot that to get to town it's only 55 minutes (20 extra to get to the house), so I wound up in town an hour a head of schedule.  So I took myself to the used bookstore since I have $25 in credit.  I left with five books and $15 in credit left.  I loved used bookstores for that exact reason.

So, now I'm now going to go open a bottle of cider that I thought was pear but only turned out to have a pear on the label (what the hell?  At least it's still tasty) and try to get through some e-mails.  But with the rain, if I can't get to them tonight, I'll be hitting them pretty hard tomorrow.

Oh.  Since I want to be almost completely packed for the move in time for me to go to DexCon, I have to start seriously packing in the next week or so.

...that's a bit depressing and exciting at the same time.

It's hoooooot.  *whiiiiine*

And I'm cleaning.  Which, actually, is a good sign.  It means I've shaken off the blargh that's been piling up around my head for weeks now.  I know it's bad when the mess doesn't even bother me anymore but I reached my breaking point this morning.  On top of the clutter, I was running out of room for all of my TBR books so I had to do a little bit of rearranging.  (I shuffled over the little bookcase and my desk to the right and moved the three drawer night stand on the light side of the desk were there's now room; the books run across the entire tops of all three now. ...XD!)

So I've dusted, swept, cleaned off and threw stuff into the closet (what?  It's a project for another weekend).  The bed has stuff on it because I'm waiting for the laundry to be done and then it all goes up.  And maybe I'll take pictures because my mom is always amused when my room is actually, you know, clean.

And now, because I like lists, my TBR books:
( Booooks )

...this is not to indicate that I don't want books for my birthday or gift cards to bookstores.  Because I'm addicted.  ^.^

One of the things I found while cleaning out my car was a Smart Trip card that I had lost about a year, if not more, ago.  Since I get mine through work, they just replaced it and I gave up trying to find the old one.  So when I found it again, I had no idea how much - if anything - was still on the card; I decided to bring it with me when we used the metro to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival.

I would have been happy with $10 - I ended up with a surprise of $77 on the card!!  I nearly did a happy dance because this means I'm only going to need to put, like, $20 towards metro fare for the second half the month.  ^.^  I'm so glad I cleaned out the car today.

I think my roommate's cat is stuck in my window.  (I opened it up a little bit for a breeze and she wedged herself under it - now she's wiggling about a lot and I can't figure if it's because she's stuck or has an itch.)

(I'm feeling a little better than I did earlier - I felt like I was crying out for attention which is why the no comments but I needed to get it out. XD  I still feel all weird and I've a headache from crying [half the room was crying with me] but the weather melted some of it away, as did sticking my nose in a book or two.  And, well, watching the cat wiggle around in my window is something else, too...)

I'm completely my own worst critic, especially when it comes to food.  I didn't quite realize how long it would take to boil water to get the peppers going, so the dinner I promised at 8 isn't going to be done until 9.  If this was for just me, I wouldn't care.

(I realize I'm probably just a slight PMS-y because the feelings of guilt are really not warranted here and yet I can't shake it.

On the other hand, I've apparently lost 3 lbs.)

The house is starting to look pretty good but my room hasn't even been touched yet, le sigh.  I just finished up the living room - dusted, swept, random bits of stuff picked up - identified and then delivered to whoever it belonged to, carpet put back down, some light rearranging.  No, I mean that literally.  I rearranged the lights.

Next is the bathtub, sink and toilet since Todd attacked the bathroom floor yesterday.  And then the bedroom.  *groan*  Will take a ten minute break, though, to enjoy a glass of pomegranate lemonade (nggh) and maybe flip through my book.  It's taking longer than normal for me to get through it because of the style of language that the writer decided to use.  Not a bad book but one that I'll get the sequal only once it's in actual paperback and not the inbetween hard cover and paperback that this was in.

I swear I'm tired of having to take days to clean the house - I'm going to try for once a week because then it means it doesn't take forever.

I totally forgot how cracky Big Trouble in Little China is and how much I actually do enjoy Kurt Russell (dear brain, Jack Russell is the dog, Kurt Russell is the actor XP).  For the crack. I also just had sweet Italian sausage and there's vegetarian Indian for dinner tonight for Amanda's birthday - which I get to pick up Lauren for. :D  And then we go back to Baltimore to finish celebrating at Howl at the Moon (I have fond memories of that place ;) ), at which point I throw myself on Lauren's mercy (and her apartment) so we can hang out tomorrow.

\o/

Why have I never shopped at Old Navy before?  How could I have missed out on it's awesomeness?  No, seriously, I got this adorable shirt there for like $6 (yay sales!  Though the general prices weren't bad at all).  I should have just stayed there and gotten a few more things instead of dragging my unamused butt around town to places I couldn't afford.

Finally ended up at Annie Sez and got two cute blouses for like $25 total.  It's the time of year where I have to start putting away summer casual and bring out the work casual stuff again. :P  Luckily, with the exception of actual t-shirts, most of my clothes can be worn with either jeans or slacks.  I just need new slacks.  *sigh*