hello lover....

In case you missed it, I have ridiculously child-sized feet. I mean, ridiculous. Sometimes, I'm still surprised by the size I am forced to purchase. It is maddening. I got bored the other day and went shoe shopping and found the best ever company to happen to the child-sized shoe: Sugar.

Zappos kicks ass because I can shop by size (although it sucks to have to browse through the sparkly shoes, the overwhelmingly pink shoes and the light-up shoes). So I stumbled upon these first:

And honestly, I loved them and thought they were hideous all in the same thought....and that little grain of hate, sort of made me love them more. A bit twisted, but true. So I bought them. And received them about 36 hours after buying them (Zappos shipping? Always bumps me up from $0 standard to overnight). And I put them on and I love them passionately.

I also bought these, slightly more staid shoes:

And they also are quite delicious.

But...I think I could go down to a size 2. I refuse to return these shoes, because of the magnitude of my love. I know that's dumb, my plan is to get some of those heel support things...make them a little tighter. So my already ridiculously small foot is now smaller.

This post brought to you by Zappos and Sugar.

Easy...

Things that I decided I would like to have, right this minute:

• A rotary phone, with a long old cord and a heavy handset. Assuming I have it now, I would also have it in the future when I have a bookshelf full of old books. Phone would be lovely next to that shelf.
• A patio, a lawn chair, sunglasses and a glass of lemonade. To be used in one of two situations:
  • Lemonade is spiked, friends in similar chairs.
    
  • Alone, with a book (reading Harry Potter at the moment, but most books would do).
• A donut. And some garlic bread. Order of consumption not important.
• The will to do something...I have some ideas, I'm going to try to have the motivation to actually do them starting tomorrow.
  
• John Mayer, sans hair. I sort of hate him, but oh deliciousness.

Blankity blank...

Because I really have nothing to write about (which I will blame on my not doing anything but work lately)...here's my latest etsy wishlist (click picture to see listing/etsy shop):

Bobbypins...


Ring...


Clutch (which sold out from under me, sadly. But I still love it, from a pure place, one that knows I can't have it)...


Buttons...


Print...


Token robot items...

A departure...

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend...

In order to get back on this blogging thing, here's a list of things I sometimes kind of want, sometimes don't want at all and sometimes I think I can't be without...

1. Wii. Mainly so that I can get wii fit. But also, Mario Kart. Ok, fine, wii sports too.
   
2. Rock Band. Mostly I think I can't be without it. Then I look around my apartment and think...really? Rock band would force me to move furniture. But I could have an avatar! Or two. Or five. And I could try to sing (I do not have the confidence to sing in front of you for the first time). And my drumming skills would explode.
3. A trip to Vegas.
4. A kitten. Damned if I don't go into the adoption center at Petsmart and get hooked on the troubled kittens every single time. I have a weakness for cats in cages. And calicos exacerbate that. But this one is certainly on the list of things I DEFINITELY do not need.
5. A condo. I always want this.
6. This election to be over already, Hillary to leave in disgrace (and debt) and Obama to eke out a win (or not eke...to kill).
7. About 10 things on etsy every day. That site is killer. Ordered within the last month that I do not need: shirt, ring, earrings, bracelet.
   
8. Work to be less about deadlines and more about the actual work.
   

Because I like you...

Last weekend it became evident that the women I know are all hyper-critical of themselves. We all love each other and think the other is beautiful. But when we see ourselves in a picture, it's all "wow my nose looks big" or "Look at my back fat" or "I always get that double chin". So today I'd like to challenge the women I know to find 9 things they like about themselves physically. I've already done the personality thing (see birthday post), but I think that it doesn't hurt to do that as well.

Here are my 9:

1. I like my lips.
   
2. And following that, I like my smile.
3. I like my back dimples.
4. And right underneath that, I like my ass.
5. I like my chest.
6. I like my eyes.
   
7. I like my hands & fingers.
8. I love my haircut.
   
9. I really like being short.

Ok. I had a hard time there deciding if I should give more detail on each list item. I thought maybe that was a bit too much.

For my birthday, I got the green book. So every now and again I'm going to squeeze a tip into my post. Here's your beauty tip for the day:

Use bar soap instead of liquid wash. Liquid lasts longer, but it is more expensive per use when you calculate it out. If every US Household replaced a bottle of body wash with a bar of soap, roughly 2.5 million pounds of plastic containers could be diverted from the waste stream.

Wobble...

OK all, so this weekend I get my hair chopped off...and I have no plan. No plan. It's actually a little scary now that it's so close.

I don't have much to blog about, but I did want to outline my "build up your horrible body image/self-esteem" plan. Two of my friends were bothered by the last bachelorette party blog post. And after chatting, I realize I have some self-esteem issues. So, my short-term plan is to artificially inflate my body image/self-esteem through...artificial means. This plan involves:

• Hopefully hot new hair cut. I don't think it's going to be as short as I'm willing to go, so even if I hate the first cut, there will always be somewhere to go with it...right? Right.
  
• Wearing a full face of makeup (for me that just means foundation + mascara) a few times a week. At least once a week to work, if not way more. I need, need, need to look in the mirror under those hideous fluorescent lights and not think "Oh, you look skeletal and dead tired today. Pretty awful really".
• Starting to gain muscle. See below for lengthy discourse on how I hate that I want to do this, but feel for my sake, I have to right now.

My sister wrote a lovely post about a book she read and about how awful it is that there is a societal pressure to be thin...and one of the comments said exactly how I feel (and yes, I'm going to quote a comment):

the saddest part is that I see my friends and think about what amazing, intelligent, truly beautiful women they are, but I can't see that in myself, because all I can see is the many ways that I don't measure up to the standard of beauty set by magazines

And I'm not sure how to fix that. So I'm going for the artificial ways. I'm not going to diet. I'm tired of dieting. But I do desire muscle. I would very much like my arms to have tone instead of being entirely like gelatinous blobs of spotty fat (spotty because of that pesky skin condition, keratosis pilarsis, which won't go away...and the only way to make it better is to use gross ointments and lotion. Not worth it).

So I'm joining the gym that is right around the corner from work and that is discounted for me. The only time I ever enjoyed...moving...was when I was using an elliptical. So, I'm hoping I can get back into the swing of hitting the gym...for 30 minutes or so. I also have high hopes for classes. I would very much like to try "Cardio Party" or spinning. Yes. Spinning.

That's the plan kids. And it starts Monday.

la cuarta caja candente de preguntas....

what was the most fun you ever had at a party?

This one is tough. Besides the fact that I'm not much of a partier...I still have a few parties that are vying for number one. I don't have specific reasons for why they were so fun...and I remember hardly ANY details.

1. Labor Day - Champaign, IL - Senior Year College. All of the high school girls managed to converge on rickety 402 on one weekend. I just remember laughing and dancing, and generally having a very merry time.
2. Random time - Geneva, IL- Junior Year High School. At a sort-of friends house (she was a spoke in our little wheel of friends, but one that I was far away from). I don't know how to explain why this was so fun - I just remember loving it. Her parents were away. It was an all night party. I remember laughing, being drunken on all levels of that house (finished basement, living level, sleeping level).
3. 21st B-Day - Naperville, IL - Junior Year College. I remember having pockets of fun at a friends 21st birthday party - I will NEVER forget that party or that apartment...or that screen door.....

I'm sure I'm forgetting loads and loads. Looking back on parties...it's like trying to classify which occasion of hilarity was more hilarious than another. It's truly impossible.

And once again, not the best question.

Early warning - I turned my first heel today (ie: knitting a heel on a sock). I almost took a picture of my newly heeled sock...but it's still got a bit to go before it's done, and since a lot of you aren't knitters you'll look at it and think, meh, who cares. But you all better be excited for next Friday (or close to then) when I debut my newly finished sock.

Red Hot Box O'Questions...try #2...

So, once again, the question is not all that interesting (a little more interesting than last time though). I've decided to keep up with this for a few months at least - give the box a chance to produce some interesting conversation. If it doesn't happen, the box will be relegated to only an "in person" game (a friend and I answered some interesting questions on NYEve).

do you believe hunting animals for sport is right or wrong?

I think it's absolutely wrong. I understand that marksmanship is a valid sport. But I think it's entirely unnecessary to kill animals because of it. If you want to see if you can hit things, shoot skeet. Or shoot paper in a shooting gallery. Or shoot animals, but with something entirely harmless (it probably exists somewhere). I do think there is some gray area - if you are a true "hunter" and hunt to eat/use the animal...I think that is slightly different. But only slightly. And I still don't like the idea of it all. But I do feel I should have a disclaimer that I am a sucker for all animals - have a serious soft spot there....

In other news, I am actually on the hunt for a new job. I already got a call back about something I applied to this week. And I have a few other applications out there. I think the interview I've been offered is for a job I'm not entirely qualified for. But they have seen my true resume...so it was their decision to call me back. We'll see what happens. Hopefully by the end of this quarter I'll have a job that actually involves web development...

Red hot box o' questions, card 1...

Let's give this a try...

would you rather live by the beach or in the mountains?

Ok...so I thought the questions were going to be more profound. But actually, I'm kind of glad it's going to be a mix of profound and superficial. Obviously this one falls into the category of superficial.

I have never lived in the mountains. But being that I'm afraid of heights, I can't imagine driving up and down a mountain everyday to get to where I want to be. I think it might be nice to live near the mountains...to have a lovely backdrop to look at everyday. As far as the beach goes...I do live near a beach. A lake beach, but a beach nonetheless. And I really don't take much advantage of it. I like the beach when on a relaxing vacation, but I find it hard to integrate in to my every day life. I do like the view when I drive on Lake Shore Drive though...so once again, it's all about the view.

I guess I'm just not the kind of girl to take advantage of nature....